I closed my eyes and rocked back, ignoring the startled exclamations behind me as the magic of the world went away.

No pressure, no flavor, even my Heavenbound link choosing to quiet down a bit as her Null locked all magic in place and refused to move, like an utterly serene pool, or a somehow immaterial stone of adamantine or something.

It was just quiet on so many levels, in a way no other place could be, even with all the racket around.

I felt her hand take mine, and pause. I took a long, deep breath, and opened my eyes to meet hers. “So quiet! And hello, Sama.”

“That is definitely the most unusual reaction I’ve ever gotten to my Null, Fae,” she replied wryly, pumping my hand once, not needing to dominate me in strength, as I wasn’t bothering to contest her. She looked back at the staring men behind me, who might all have gone a little bit white, as now they couldn’t feel the magic around them at all. “The KIA team, is it?” she asked them, and they nodded stiffly as her eyes raked over them. “Well, I’m a beach bunny from California. Briggs here is from Michigan, so we set up shop here.”

Their eyes all dropped then, but although she had a waist and hips and legs and an ass to absolutely die for, there was nothing to see there at all.

Then she smiled, and eight canines gleamed at them. They stared, and I was quite certain all of them shivered as a predator looked them over once, and they knew there was nothing they could do about her, even if they wanted to.

Then Briggs stepped up behind her, her head only reaching his shoulder, and her Null receded like a melting stone. The boys probably wanted to gasp in relief, but that’s when Briggs’ Sun replaced it.

His pale violet eyes didn’t glow at all, but the force of his personality reached out through his Sun and utterly suppressed their magical Auras, bearing down on them like tons of somehow-solid light sweeping over them. I definitely noticed their knees tremble under the weight of it as they stared at him in gawking shock, also fully aware that right now they were as helpless as kittens before him.

“Gentlemen, Fae,” he said, the deep smoothness of his baritone rolling over them as the floor seemed to shake. He extended a massive hand, I cordially grasped two fingers to his visible amusement, and I shook them firmly. “You’ve got some fans in the compound, gentlemen. You’ve made a good showing for the state, be proud of yourselves.”

They puffed up as if the President of America had gotten down on his knees to praise them, all their nervousness evaporating as they basked in the glow of his approval. I barely resisted breaking out laughing at them as he shook each of their hands, and he knew them all by name and Elements, too.

I’d had never seen them look even vaguely starstruck before, but they definitely were overwhelmed by him!

“Dirk, these gentlemen look like the sorts who can appreciate some fine vehicles. Why don’t you show them around while Sama and I sit down with Fae here and get our bona fides out of the way. I’ll give you a call when it’s time for lunch, and we can all sit down together.”

“Yes, sir, Master Briggs!” Dirk answered fervently. ‘Lady’ Fae still came uneasily off the lips of the lads, but I could tell they would never call him anything but Master Briggs for the rest of their lives now, unless he said otherwise.

“That is absolutely hilarious to watch, and I was expecting it,” I murmured to Sama under my breath.

“Mah Fuzzy rulez!” Sama smiled, giving me a wink. “Damn Sources and their beamy-warm fine-ness!” she said somewhat more loudly, reaching up to drag down his chin and exchange eskimo-kisses with that lethal smile of hers.

Briggs’s pale violet eyes just gleamed with approval for his Hag, before turning back to me. “That’s a bunch of good lads you fell in with, Fae. Good job.”

“Luck, but that’s a story for some place less noisy. Shall we?”

Sama pointed and we headed into the office area.

------------

“Are you really a goddamn Heavenbound?” Sama blurted out as we swept into her office. There was a very big chair there obviously made for Briggs. I looked at it, raising an eyebrow, and momentarily considered sitting down in it just to see how small I’d feel.

Eh, I could live without it. And given its size, they probably made out in it.

Sama hopped into her own chair, spinning it around lazily once before it came back to me. Briggs sat down with an easy grace that totally belied his size, and I sat down in one of the fixed guest chairs.

QL 35 makes for a nice chair. After the back of the cruiser for near a thousand miles, I was quite happy to enjoy it.

“Yes.” I hummed, the White Zone reverberated to the Sublime Chord, and I brought up the eldritch fires of Heaven. Despite themselves, they both leaned forwards to stare at its mix of gold, silver, and rainbow flames.

“Damn it all,” murmured Briggs. “We’ve quietly been trying to find a connection to the Upper Planes, especially with the Dark Realm having such an influence here. The closest we found is the Realm of Light, which is not the same thing.”

“Heresy, Master Briggs?!” I asked in mock disbelief, letting the Wrath fade down as I put my hand on my chest. “You dare put forth that the Church of the Light is not the highest form of faith on this world?!”

Their faces fell flat and feral. “Those fucktards of the Church and its pet Synod couldn’t moralize their way out of a fucking dungheap,” Sama spat. “I gather you haven’t run into any of them.”

I shook my head. “Although I heard a few envoys showed up at Fort Hood after some videos of new Novice-class offensive magic spells were posted. They were looking for the one who distributed such unproven and unregistered spells.”

“Sixty percent Blue, thirty percent Red, ten percent White among the upper echelons,” Sama scoffed dangerously. “They have no knowledge of or awareness of Alignments or the conflicts thereof, so that shouldn’t be surprising. It swings the other direction among the less powerful, who are unaware of the merciless politics and purgings the higher-ups regularly undertake.”

“Huh.” I wasn’t surprised, either. I also knew the Realm of Light wasn’t Heaven, because I’d seen and felt Heaven, and it didn’t reverberate in the Light Magic. “Well, you’re not going to like it, but when I Called for my Pact, it was answered basically by the default magic there, basically by Good itself. I have no Patron.

“As far as I can tell, Heaven here is completely empty.”

Both of them sat back in surprise and dismay, glancing at one another. They were Mark-talking, so I just sighed and waved my hand. “I have a Mark, too. If you’d care to take this into the mental arena, we can totally mix up the Markspaces. I also saw you have a working Allegiance, and I’m not at that point yet.” Mr. Charles and the crew in the garage all Assayed to the Allegiance of Coralost.

“You have Marks?!” Sama was astonished. “How did you get them?! There are no succubi here!” she protested.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “Your Prime, of course.” She blinked again, wrong-footed once more. “I told you I’m a Soul-shard of Aelryinth the Ringlord, right?” She nodded slowly. “Your Prime figured out the trick to killing the succubi after they delivered a Blessing and sacrificed them to it to form a Null-Anchored Mark. She gave Ael a Mark, and its shadow was reflected on me.” I tapped the bridge of my nose. “Moved it inside the nasal cavity, of course.”

“Of course.” Sama just pulled up her somewhat dirty Property of Fuzzy Bear t-shirt, revealing a fantastic set of bronzed abs and multiple Tats running around her waist. Arakne Arms and a Manticore Tail set of Soultats wound about the nine ebon Marktats of demonic sigla with Primal white empowerment.

I also saw the lower edge of the Dragon’s Heart pyramidal Tattoo, and smirked despite myself. Only nothing to see if she so desired it...

“So, you are acting so familiar with us because you inherited the memories of Aelryinth interacting with... the original Sama and Briggs?” Briggs asked pointedly, frowning somewhat.

I lifted my hands calmly, keeping a reassuring tone. “I know you are not them. I know you have entire life experiences nothing at all like they had, and you’re on an entirely new world, with new families and friends.” Despite all that, I smiled helplessly. “But I’m sorry, you are so familiar, even if there are little differences. You look almost the same, you move almost the same, you sound almost the same, your Null and Sun are so reassuringly intense, and you still feel so damn grounded.

“I doubt you have more than a passing impression of Aelryinth inherited from the game, so you don’t know him or anyone else ‘for real’, but I’ve already done the Aural Scan, and I’m quite happy to trust you completely. I’ll Swear in under Briggs, and if you have any plans, I’m happy to pitch in and help out.”

Their faces were caught in a mixture of chagrin, disbelief, approval, and intense curiosity. “Just so we know,” Sama asked, “what’s it mean to be the ‘Prime’?” she air-quoted.

“Oh, the Primes are people who played Sama and Briggs in the game, the first ones to get your Templates. I don’t know what circumstances replicated your Templates across Creation, but I received passing word from another Soul-shard before I ended up here that there are more of you, probably working off anywhere the Hag Curse exists, and you’ve got some nasty power-ups somewhere and somehow, with an incredible Racial Class to go with it.

“So, I’m sure you both know you aren’t the originals, you’ve got a copy of their memories and personalities from the game, and you’ve done what you wanted in your own ways. But that level of knowledge and awareness has its own weight, and you’re a Null and a Source, not some flighty chaotic Powered twat who’d promptly take all the power and go abuse it for themselves. Forsaken aren’t radicals and don’t change all that much, and judging by how close your Auras are to the Primes I recall, that’s pretty much held true here.”

They didn’t know whether to smile or frown that they were so predictable, and settled for a glance at one another and another sigh. “You realize that such trust comes a little bit slower from our end,” Briggs rumbled cautiously. “We’ve not had a lot of good experiences dealing with the local Powered. Some, but not a lot.”

“And they weren’t Heavenbound, were they?” I asked rhetorically, raising a finger.

“TRUTH.

“HOPE!

“VALOR!!”

The power of Heaven rang in the air, echoed in their souls. The world got brighter, the future soared with possibility, all reality was laid bare with power, purpose, and great potential.

All things are possible, and it can be wonderful!

Sama and Briggs sat full back in their chairs, eyes flaring wide, staring at me as the intrinsic power of the Words of Creation washed over their souls. It wasn’t something they could resist, as they weren’t opposed to the power of the Words. They were trying to act in harmony with them, only it was difficult in this place, where magical strength was such a determiner!

Three Virtues streamed over their souls with all their power behind someone who actually understood the essence of those Virtues. Sure, I had the Wrath. Sure, I had Silver Sign. But you couldn’t voice the Words unless you understood them and accepted them, and although it didn’t mean I was a saint, it definitely showed that I was someone Good to the bone.

I was both proud and humble to know that I could still speak them, and I took the steps I needed to in order to keep being able to say them. The Words were damn important to me!

“Huuuuuuuu,” Briggs exhaled long and low, staring at me. “Words of Creation. I think I heard some of those in the game a couple times. That ain’t nothing like hearing them live.”

“Good is not a recording or called datafile,” I agreed easily. “You have my complete trust. I ask for yours.”