Giana blinked at them. "Eternals?"

"Yup." Victoria nodded.

Giana hesitated. "What- is an Eternal?"

"I would like to know as well." Christine commented, turning to frown at the four of them. Tanya glanced at them as well, though most of her focus was still on Giana as she tried to come to terms with the fact that the Abductors were freaking vampires!

"Eternals are- Chris, put away the damn pamphlets!" Victoria snapped, glaring at him. Chris let out a sigh and the pamphlets disappeared. Victoria shook her head as she refocused on Giana and Christine. "Right, anyway, Eternals are… basically just us. We're… basically gods? Avatars of the foundational elements of reality?"

"I thought we were going with building blocks of creation?" Greg interjected.

"Same thing." Victoria waved dismissively. "The point is that we're basically forces of nature you just kinda have to deal with."

Christine slowly nodded. That fit with what she knew about Chris. Giana just gave them a skeptical look. "You- think you're gods?"

"Well… yeah?" Victoria replied hesitantly. "Depending on how you define gods, I suppose. But we have power, we can't die, we're unbound by the normal rules of reality… what else would you call that?"

"Demons?" Christine offered.

"Ha!" Greg laughed, before pausing. "Wait, hold on, that actually makes some sense."

Andrew's expression twisted. "Can we just stick to being Eternals? Both gods and demons have connotations I'd rather not be associated with."

"But that still begs the question of what an Eternal is." Victoria pointed out.

"An Eternal is an Eternal, just as a god is a god and a demon is a demon." Chris shrugged. "Our nature is self-defining."

"Okay, but no. A god is a powerful being with some sort of authority over reality, that may or may not be a subject of worship. A demon, on the other hand, is also a powerful being, with some sort of ability to take advantage of people, usually through temptation, feeding on their weaknesses and corrupting them in some way." Victoria retorted.

Greg paused. "So we're both?"

"I don't take advantage of people!" Andrew protested.

"You eat people's souls." Greg pointed out. "Pretty much peak demon right there."

Andrew grimaced. "Damn it."

""He does what?!?"" Both Christine and Giana exclaimed in unison, while Tanya just looked horrified.

"He possesses people, grinds their Spirit to dust, and becomes them." Greg replied, chuckling evilly.

Andrew covered his face with a groan. "Greg, why?!?"

Greg cocked his head. "I think it might be my demonic nature."

Victoria pinched the bridge of her nose. "Greg, we are not demons! And it's not an excuse for being an asshole!"

Greg paused, before turning to the girls with a sigh. "I should emphasize that while Andrew may have these capabilities, he has never used them on anything sapient."

Andrew coughed awkwardly. "I- did use it on the frog-goblins."

Greg blinked at him, before turning back to the girls. "Well, he's never used it on anyone he wouldn't kill anyway. And we only kill assholes."

"That doesn't make it better!" Giana retorted.

"Bitch, you eat people. Not exactly in a position to judge, you know." Greg rolled his eyes.

"I do not!" Giana protested.

"Okay, fine, you kidnap people to breed them and drink the blood of their descendants. Not better." Greg reiterated.

Giana flushed. "It- it's what we have to do to survive…" She muttered.

"Still though." Greg shrugged. "You can't really judge someone else for what they're capable of when you actively use your capabilities to hurt people." Giana's expression twisted as she fell silent, withdrawing into herself. Just because she believed what they did was necessary, didn't mean she didn't think it was horrible all the same.

"Okay, that's interesting and all, but this still doesn't say anything about what an Eternal is." Christine interjected.

"I'm gonna go with demonic gods." Greg chuckled.

"Or godly demons." Chris shrugged.

"A group of people with more power than they should probably have." Victoria sighed.

"A fucking mess." Andrew grumbled.

Christine grimaced. "So a bunch of chaotic bastards. Fantastic." She sighed. "But then I suppose we already knew that from our dealings with him." She added, gesturing to Chris.

*

Chris sent Giana to stay with his subordinates in the copy of the Maze, since the town would be a bit bright for her, while the rest of them headed back to Earth to finish setting up the teleportation beacons. "I'm sorry, but can we address the fact that you people actually captured an Abductor?!?" Tanya asked incredulously. "That one just showed up while we were setting up the beacon?!? That they were a fucking vampire!?!"

"Eh, that kinda stuff just sort of happens around us." Greg shrugged.

Tanya blinked at him. "That sort of thing just happens?!? An Abductor practically dropping in your lap just happens!?!"

Greg raised an eyebrow at her. "That's what I said, yes. It's a part of the whole 'demonic gods' thing."

"No! That is not how we're referring to ourselves from now on!" Andrew interjected. "Just- go back to Eternals, okay?"

Greg clicked his tongue. "That's no fun though." Andrew leveled a glare at him. "Alright, fine, fine. No more demonic gods." Greg sighed.

"Can we get back to the part where you apparently warp reality to your benefit?!?" Tanya exclaimed.

"Well, it isn't always to our benefit." Victoria commented. "It's more that things tend to be… eventful around us. Not to the point of ridiculousness, but if something could happen, there's a decent chance that it will."

Tanya frowned. "So… because there was a possibility that the Abductor might appear in front of you, it actually happened?"

Victoria shrugged. "Supposedly. Not sure why it was possible, but evidently it was, so it happened."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Because of your… nature?" Tanya continued hesitantly.

Victoria nodded. "Yup."

"How- how does that work?" Tanya asked.

"Well… so you know how we said the World is based on books?" Victoria replied, Tanya nodding tentatively. "And you know how things tend to be more eventful around main characters?" Tanya nodded again, eyes narrowing. "And you know how main characters tend to be unique in some way?" Tanya nodded yet again, starting to grimace. "Well, Worlds took that and decided that unique people should lead eventful lives, so the more unique you are, the more eventful your life becomes, and… well, there aren't many people as unique as we are."

Christine snorted. "That's one way to put it."

"Yeah, we're weird as fuck." Greg chuckled, stepping out of the alley and into the sun, the light hitting his skin as smoke began to billow off him. "Case in point… I think I'm melting?" Greg muttered, examining his hand as he wiggled his fingers, bystanders stopping to stare and point at him, a few pulling out their phones to take videos.

"Greg, you're a vampire! No sun!" Victoria exclaimed as she realized what was happening.

"Ah, right." Greg nodded, turning back into a human as the smoke stopped billowing off him.

Tanya covered her face, suppressing a scream, unable to fully process how this day had gone. She was an assistant! And administrator! She wasn't supposed to deal with vampires or demonic gods! She was just here to make sure things went smoothly with the local government! She just wanted to go home and forget reality for a few hours, but they still had dozens of cities to visit… Tanya let out a whimper. This was going to be a long trip.

*

"So…" Victoria began as they got back into the plane. "Looks like we really need to get to the surface now, huh?"

"If we want to deal with the Damir, then yes." Chris agreed. "Even with these teleportation beacons, I doubt we'll be able to fully prevent them from taking people. The amount of surveillance necessary to spot them and respond in time would take an inordinate amount of people and resources."

"Unless you used Gaia." Andrew commented. "I bet she could handle it pretty easily."

Chris cocked his head. "True. Something to consider once we get the true AI working."

"How has that been going by the way?" Greg asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Chris shrugged. "Code is pretty much gibberish to me, and the level they're working at even more so. They seem to be making progress, but I couldn't say how much or how close they are to success."

"Fair." Greg muttered. "Victoria, have you checked it out recently?"

"Dude, I was in my first semester of computer science. What they're doing is basically Greek to me." Victoria rolled her eyes. "Besides, I don't think we should focus on the AI. We need to get to the Damir, and getting the Abductors won't help with that."

"Well… it could." Chris muttered. "As long as we capture one before they use up all their ability energy, we could connect them to my world and have them go back, giving me a portal straight to them."

Greg frowned. "Wait… couldn't you just connect Giana to your world and feed her some ability energy to do the same thing?"

Chris blinked. "Huh… that would work, wouldn't it?" He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe… It depends on how much ability energy she needs and how quickly she can absorb it. I'll have to talk to her."

"I actually wouldn't get your hopes up on that one." Victoria sighed. "Based on how long she's been operating and how many people she's taken in that time, the odds are she needs about a decade to get all the ability energy she needs for a trip. I'm going to assume the Damir prioritize getting their jumpers as much ability energy as possible so they can grab more people to further supply their needs, which means that a decade is probably the fastest they can do it. Assuming you can supplement that with mutation, I'd still put getting enough ability energy for a return trip at around a year at best. I'm pretty sure we'd be through the Maze by that point."

Chris cocked his head. "Do you think it would change things if we start from Azza?"

Victoria frowned. "Maybe? You'd have to talk to Giana for that one."

"You should probably get more information on these Damir anyway." Christine commented. "Walking in blind would go poorly… though now that I'm thinking about it, that probably wouldn't matter to you people." She sighed.

Greg chuckled. "Now you're getting it."

Christine rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure it's healthy to get used to your lackadaisical mindset. Just because you can ignore the consequences doesn't mean we can."

"Well, you could if you wanted to join the… what are we here?" Greg asked.

"The Eternal Tribe." Chris replied.

"Bleh, fine." Greg grimaced, turning back to Christine. "Anyway, if you join the Eternal Tribe, you get immortality, access to the system, mutation, and the ability to ignore consequences just like us!" He finished, grinning and giving her a thumbs up.

Christine frowned at him for a moment. "I assume this would involve being connected to Chris's world?"

"Well, yeah. That's the Eternal part, you know? No connection, no immortality, which means consequences carry all their usual weight." Greg shrugged.

"And that means I'll have to obey him, and by extension you, yes?" Christine continued, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, right, you have the old card." Chris commented. "My control is less and more than I previously thought. The passive of simply being connected is essentially just a directing of your attention, but I do have the ability to force my will on you, though that takes me effort. So yes, there's a risk of you being ordered around, but I highly doubt I'd ever do such a thing… can't think of anything I'd want you to do."

Christine raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, before shaking her head. "In any case, my loyalty is already accounted for."

Chris shrugged. "That's your choice. If you change your mind, we're here."

"Okay, back on topic, our current focus is on getting to the surface of Azza somehow, right?" Victoria interjected.

"I'm already up there." Greg shrugged.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Yes, but that doesn't help us, because Chris can't attach a portal to your smoke, and you're too weak to actually do anything on your own."

"Hey, I could explode the shit out of them!" Greg protested. "Technology is its own form of power."

"That's true, but the point isn't to kill all of them, it's to get them to the point where they don't need to prey on people anymore. Just like with the monstrous races." Victoria shook her head. "And for that, we need all of us, not just you."

Greg shrugged. "Sure, I'm just saying it isn't a power concern."

"So, what I'm getting out of all this is that we need to beat the Maze, which we already knew." Chris commented. "The question is, is there anything we can do to speed up our progress?"

"You could grab more subordinates?" Andrew offered.

Chris shook his head. "No. The stronger the individual, the harder it is to force the connection, which means I'd only be able to get a handful of subordinates a day. Or a mass of weaker subordinates, which wouldn't exactly help. Plus, I don't want more subordinates. Too much of a hassle. I'd rather do something more like the Army, where people join and work with us, but I'm not involved in directly managing their lives."

"So… we could recruit in the City?" Andrew countered.

Chris paused, before nodding. "That could work."

"I could work on making tunnels to the upper levels." Greg commented.

Chris grimaced. "Making what essentially amounts to a direct line to the surface defeats the whole purpose of the Maze. We still need it to protect the City."

Greg shrugged. "If you say so."

"The fact that we're having such a hard time getting through this thing is actually a rather significant endorsement of its effectiveness." Victoria muttered. "Makes you wonder how the Dopple-" Victoria cut off, before facepalming. "Chris, have you considered asking your parents whether they know a route to the surface?"

Chris frowned. "No, why- oh… I feel dumb." He sighed, rubbing his temple. For someone with an ability based around gathering and using people, he was pretty bad at actually utilizing the people he had access to.

"We also have those Elves we captured." Andrew commented.

"Also true." Chris sighed. He'd essentially just tossed them into his world and forgotten about them. Not in a literal sense, but the moment he'd realized they were basically grunts, he'd dismissed them as useless.

"Actually, since the Elves obviously know how to get through the Maze, wouldn't it behoove us too… switch things up a bit?" Greg asked, wiggling his eyebrows with a grin. "In fact, if I worked on taking over the whole Maze… man, I don't think the Elves would ever make it through." He chuckled.

Christine frowned at him. "You really enjoy playing into this demonic god thing, don't you?"

Greg flushed, coughing awkwardly. "Actually, that's just my natural laugh…"

"Are you naturally evil?" Christine asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Greg paused. "Maybe? But you know, I have a handle on it."

"Uh-huh." Christine replied blandly.

Victoria shook her head. "Okay, it sounds like we have a plan. Chris will get routes from his parents and the Elves, we'll work on recruitment in the City, and Greg will work on taking over the Maze, changing it enough that the Elves no longer have an easy route to the City. Sound good?"

"I also need to talk to Giana and see if she can get us to the surface. Though I suppose that depends on how much she wants to cooperate." Chris added.

"You also need to get information on the Damir from her." Christine nodded, glancing at Victoria. "Maybe take her as well, in case she isn't forthcoming."

Victoria's expression twisted. "I'm not sure how I feel about reading her mind again… that really freaked her out."

Christine leveled a look at her. "So? Ultimately, Giana is our enemy, someone who had been preying on our species for centuries. She may seem sympathetic based on our interactions, but if she hides necessary information from us, she only reaffirms her opposition against us, and this isn't an enemy we can afford to be kind to. Not while they prey upon our people so freely."

Victoria grimaced before letting out a sigh. "I suppose you have a point. Fine, Chris, we'll address Giana together."

"Sure." Chris shrugged. "Now?"

Victoria sighed again. "Might as well."