“So, what’s your plan, mistress?”
Shivers. Every time she said that word, I felt nothing but shivers.
Daniella and I were walking down the stairs from her tower in the castle, me in my armor, Daniella in her green and gold halter dress. The corridors in the woman’s wing of the castle were eerily empty, but there was also no speck of dust or sign of age on the stone walls and wooden floors. Either the archmage herself was able to clean everything spotlessly on her own, or the castle staff were invisible. My bets were on the former.
“My plan?” I thought about that, then shrugged. “Don’t really have one beyond the broad strokes. I’m making things up as I go along.”
“You… don’t have a plan?”
“Broad strokes, like I said. I need powerful translocation magic to return everyone to Earth. That’s guaranteed to take a long time, so I’m not rushing it. I’ll keep everyone alive, and that means carefully teaching and training them to survive.” I firmly decided not to mention my true motives just yet. Humans had that pesky concept of trust, which apparently meant outright lying was the wrong move. Carefully vague statements, go.
“I tried to retire. Being powerful and snapping my fingers to get most of what I want? It’s not the life I wanted. I needed time alone, interspersed with goals that got me out and about. But then this happened.” I gestured vaguely at the castle and world beyond. “Now I’ve got people to save. Hero work to do. I refuse to give up my retirement completely just to slave away at returning everyone in the shortest time possible, which I’d guess to be about a decade.
“I’m looking to pace myself. Besides, it’s more fun this way.”
I gave her a meaningful look.
Daniella returned it with a slightly concerned expression, her eyes revealing a bit of disappointment. “So you’re planning to leave in the end? Most heroes stay. Have families. There are a dozen branches of the Sword Heroine's lineage. I had three siblings myself, and I’m the only one who never had kids of her own. Rotten little things.”
I briefly paused at the sheer venom in her tone.
She stopped a few steps later, turning back towards me, eyebrow raised. “What? They make all sorts of noise. When my frustration hits the limit, I can’t be around them for fear my annoyance would drain them dry without meaning to. Of course I never wanted children with a risk like that.”
“You… can’t control your own light magic talents?”
She shrugged in a sort of ‘what can you do’ kind of motion. “Mage Hero descendant. We got a distorted mix of his talents. I got the control over wind magic of a prodigy, but almost no control over the light aspect. And S class power in both, if you can believe it. Seriously, how are you even standing right now, after last night and this morning?”
“I’m just that good.”
With a mutual dark chuckle, we continued down the seemingly endless hallway that connected the tower to the main keep. Only to realize the endless hallway connected from one tower to the other, with only a singular doorway in the middle. That doorway was warded as much as Daniella’s bedroom was. The archmage opened it without concern, predictably.
Beyond that was a strange dead zone, where normal and magical senses didn’t penetrate. It didn’t stop me, but there was a heavy sort of silence to the place when it came to the mortal body I inhabited.
“The queen’s residential wing. I try to keep it clean, but nobody actually lives here, since she spends so much of her time away.”
I took a few minutes to glance around, peering through the arched openings that led into austere offices and plush sitting rooms. The bedroom wasn’t warded at all, and the interior was… red. Red carpets, red tapestries, red drapes, red curtains around a bed sized for six to sleep with extra space. In one corner, where no wardrobes—redwood ones, obviously—stood? There were metal hooks set into the ceiling and walls. Soft, silken ropes hung from the hooks.
I whistled in appreciation. “The things a shibari enthusiast could do with a permanent setup like that in their room.”
“Shibari?” Daniella asked from over my shoulder.
“Decorative and ornate rope art framed around a human body. I think it began as a way to show honor to captured generals in historical battles. The more ornate the binds, the more honor showed to the captive. It became an art form later. It’s often mistaken for the bondage aspect of sexual play. Personally, I’m unopposed to either.” I winked at the archmage, then retreated from the room. “Now isn’t the time. Let’s go see the heroes. Before they find a way to burn down the castle.”
Daniella nodded, leading the way to a large courtyard arranged as a practice grounds for the knights stationed in the castle. The moment we strode out to find it absent of knights, and instead full of bruised and beaten Earthlings, all motion stopped save for one person.
A resounding crack split the air before a twenty-something boy collapsed, holding his head and groaning in pain.
I looked at the culprit, whose eyes burned with rage, wooden sword in hand.
“Hello, Fukushi,” Daniella strode right through the slumped and dejected forms of the beaten challengers without a sideways glance. “Nice of you to go easy on them all.”
“H-high Magus,” Fukushi stuttered a little as she bowed, hiding the warming of her cheeks, “what brings you to the training field?”
Daniella chuckled at the shorter girl, reaching out to pat her head. Fukushi blurred, dodging the gesture with an indignant glare.
“She was guiding me here, since I needed a bit of special care and couldn’t make it sooner.” I joined the duo in the sparring ring, and felt my polite smile broaden into a winning smirk at how Daniella tensed from my choice of words.
Fukushi’s mouth hung open a tiny bit as she stared at me, then flicked her eyes to Daniella, then back again, before a hint of pain entered her expression. The look faded into a neutral composure almost as fast as the blur of her movement moments before.
I approached her, hand extended in a friendly manner. “I’m Eileen. Nice to properly meet you.”
Fukushi eyed my hand, then took it, squeezing with all her considerable might. I matched it, then leaned towards her, dipping my head to her height just as much as I dropped my tone and volume to a sultry, inviting tease. “Don’t be jealous. I can make time for you as well.”
I straightened, smiling politely as her expression shifted from embarrassment to outrage in mere fractions of a second.
“It seems I must teach you manners just as much as your countrymen.” The shorter woman tightened the grip on her blade, hiding her blush with a bit of red-faced rage.
My smile never wavered. I took several steps backward, then raised my open hands in a half-hearted stance. “I’m a mage, but very well. I will duel you to your heart’s content. I won’t use [Lightning Armor]. Come at me until you are… satisfied.” I cast the briefest glance at Daniella as I finished the last word.
Oh, that really set her off. She’s actually in love.
Fukushi, despite her four inch heels, vanished from the spot. She clearly intended to make me try.
“[Whispers of Wind],” I intoned aloud.
The air around me rippled, sending complex feedback of shifts in the air currents. My hand snapped out to the right, joined with another incantation. “[Airgetlam]!” A silvery hand interposed itself between my fingers and the approaching wooden sword.
Fukushi was fast, certainly. Hard to keep up with. The solution to fast opponents would usually have been to use a wide area strike to make dodging impossible. Except, I found myself surrounded by the people I tasked myself with protecting. I had to make them look up to me.
Which demands style points, I internally sighed.
Earth’s scientific approach to the world around them made for something of a shocking revelation. Their study of fifth, sixth, and seventh dimensions? String theory? Along those lines of questioning and study lay the truth of what we, as gods and goddesses, truly were. Sapient creatures of higher energy that existed beyond sight and identification.
I got bored reading about their theories somewhere along the line, though. It wasn’t fun. But a few tidbits still tugged at my attention, giving me ideas about applications of our power. The average deity was an incurious sort. Like a human who didn’t care to think about how their own bodies worked.
Not me, though. I noticed a few things while picking up new aspects. Putting Earth’s science together with my ability to play with reality?
I grinned, reaching into the higher dimensions and gripping light itself. Outwardly, I vanished from sight. Beneath the hood, though? I told light particles to stop bouncing off me. Instead, they passed through as if I was no obstacle. Halting their flow around me would’ve only created a mess of lightless space, untouched by color. I blinded myself this way, but my senses went above and beyond humanity’s mere five.
“Ohhh… It works!” I laughed, reveling in that moment. I could do terrible things with Earth’s scientific knowledge. Things I wasn’t allowed to do on Earth.
Fukushi had stopped, eyes narrowed, senses honed. She could hear my words, but not see me at all. My wind spell called the subtle shifts of the air to me, but a minor adjustment allowed me to deny her the vibrations that could give her my location that way. I silently denied her senses one by one, watching her concerned look shift.
I felt myself tapping into more and more of the fabric of reality as I peeled Fukushi’s senses apart like the peel of a fruit. I could somewhat feel the nuances of her psyche. It was like I could process her fear, tension… and arousal?
I tried to think back on what Daniella had said about the woman. Something about capturing her in order to… ah. Fukushi was the sort who enjoyed difficult challenges. She enjoyed being pushed to her limits. It thrilled her. And being hunted? It made her feel alive.
“Hmhmhm…”
I allowed a dark chuckle to reach her ears, and she slashed with her sword in response, cleaving the air in twain.
“So fast.”
The next words made the woman bite her lip. The emotion I tasted was frustration that time.
I closed the distance, raising one hand, settling my blissfully unsightly expression into one of victory. When I appeared, spells collapsing all at once, I stood just before her, mere inches beside her readied sword, with one hand moving to cup her cheek.
“You are a cute one.”
She bristled at the quiet compliment.
I made a mental note that she disliked being called cute. That was the lesson to be learned from the duel, of course.