Letting go of Herbie shouldn’t really have mattered nearly as much as it did. He was just a rock, after all. But he was a rock that I’d had with me from the very moment this whole crazy life had really started. He came with me through that portal and had been at my side basically ever since. In a way, he was a connection to my old life, as well as a constant companion through this one. Having that rock in my pocket this whole time had been comforting in a way I couldn’t actually explain. Sure, he was just a rock, but he mattered. He would always matter, regardless of what changed or how much I grew. He had helped take Fossor’s power away, and helped us kill him in the end. And, of course, that was why he would always matter to these people as much as he mattered to me. Herbie was the reason they were all still alive. He deserved to be here with them, an artifact from Earth for these people to have. I knew he’d take care of them, and that they would do the same for him. If he was going to be safe anywhere in the universe that wasn’t my pocket, it was here on this world. This was the right thing to do.
Besides, this just gave me even more reason to come back and visit this place a lot, as if I needed that. So, after allowing the priest to take Herbie to find a special case to put him in where he would be safe for everyone to see and admire, I opened and shut my hand a couple times, feeling the loss of his comforting weight. Boy, this really was harder than it should have been.
Avalon stepped beside me, her voice serious. “Are you going to be okay?”
The question made me chuckle softly despite myself, raising my gaze to meet hers. “We’ve come a long way from you calling me a freak for having a pet rock, haven’t we?”
She snorted in return. “We’ve come a long way, period,” the girl reminded me. Her hand rose to gently cup my face. “And I’m glad I’ve been able to do it with you.”
We kissed briefly before I cleared my throat and turned back to the others. “I know, right now we’ve got bigger things to think about than a rock I’ve been carrying around in my pocket. I’ll be fine. It’s all good. He’ll have a whole planet worshiping him now. That’s what he deserves.”
From there, we all went over more details about what was going to happen with the defense of this planet. The whole Revenant thing, which still sounded crazy but really was their best chance at having enough time to develop more defenses of their own, had more specifics that had to be ironed out. I couldn’t contribute very much to that, but I could help teach their budding necromancers to sense and control the Revenants when they had to.
And boy didn’t that seem really weird. I was the one giving necromancy lessons? There was something really wrong with that, especially considering where my power had come from. Or maybe that made it perfect. I had helped kill Fossor, and now his power was being put to use helping to protect the world he had spent so long grinding under his heel.
Another couple weeks passed like that, as I helped teach those Necromancers while the others put the rest of the planetary defensive system into place. Now it was Friday, March 15th. Which meant we officially had about two and a half months left before the Seosten leadership decided whether to extend the truce or not. I just had to hope that everything we had done so far, between defeating Fossor to clear him off this world so he wasn’t a threat anymore, to showing them how the anti-possession spell could be potentially modified to help them with their pregnancy problem, to even introducing them to a whole new world full of their unmodified people that could also help with that, would be enough to convince them to hold off on the whole invasion thing. Or that something else would happen before we reached the time limit.
Oh, and maybe the fact that I was supposed to help stop the Fomorians with my Necromancy once I was strong enough. Maybe that would help too.
In any case, I really hadn’t planned on being away from the school for this long, not in the slightest. But there wasn’t much choice. These people deserved to learn everything we could teach them, and that sort of thing didn’t come quickly. As it was, this was a pretty big crash course. I even brought Brom Bones in to help, since he knew more than I did when it came to a lot of this stuff.
There were about twenty Necromancy students, of all ages and from all over the world. Twenty people might have seemed like a lot at first glance, but when drawn from the entire world’s population… yeah. Fossor really had done everything he could to stomp out every possible rival to his own power. Besides, they all had almost no understanding of their own gift, since it had been far too dangerous to actually practice with. But still, they were ready and eager to learn how to help protect their planet.
That whole time, I kept wondering when I was going to get answers from Sun Wukong about why he was here and what he had come to see me for. But he simply insisted the time would come for that. Then he disappeared. For about a week and a half, the man was gone entirely. I thought he’d gotten bored and disappeared possibly forever and that I would never get answers about what he wanted, but he turned up finally, simply saying that he’d had something else to take care of. Which, from what I’d seen, could’ve meant anything from fate of the universe stuff, or he could’ve simply seen a shiny bird and followed it around for several days.
I also checked in on Robin, Stasia, and Judas through that time. It had turned out that Rasputin lived far out in the wilderness, in an area that wasn’t very well mapped or anything and was apparently pretty dangerous. They had to find a guide who could take them out there, which took awhile. But finally, they had gotten everything they needed and set out for that. I tried to offer help, yet they insisted I could do more good back here and that I was already busy enough as it was. They could handle it just fine. Plus, they had everything they needed to call for a quick pickup from the Jitterbug once they were finished out there.
Between that and the fact that Brom Bones was willing to stay here and keep teaching these people as much as they needed, it was finally time for the rest of us to head home. For now, at least. Obviously, we would be back to visit later. That much we had promised repeatedly. But we really needed to get back to the Fusion School after all this time. It felt like I had spent more days doing homework and study sheets to catch up with classes then I had spent within actual classes this year. There was just so much to do. But still, I didn’t mind that much. Not when spending time out here on this world meant that these people had a better understanding of what was going on and how to protect themselves.
Of course, these people were grateful, to say the least. They kept bringing various trinkets as gifts. I wanted to tell them to keep everything, but I also didn’t want to be rude. So I made it a point to accept simple stuff, the sort of gifts that wouldn’t really affect them in the long run. I would keep everything they gave me safe, as a reminder of just how much we had managed to help these people by getting rid of that monster.
Shiori, Avalon, and I were loading some bags up with those trinkets at the moment, standing in the upper room of one of the houses that had been given over to our use. I had been against the idea of using one of the houses belonging to these people, but they made it clear that the house wasn’t in use anymore anyway. Not at the moment. We had stopped Fossor from killing every last person on this planet to save himself, but he had still killed many of them.
With that uncomfortable and sad thought running through my mind, I continued to talk with the other two about what we were going to do once we got back. It felt strange, knowing how much more still needed to be done back on Earth while also getting closure on this world. All of the ghosts who wanted to be let go here already had been. Those who were staying to help out would be led by Rahanvael, all the rest had simply disappeared.
Shaking my head at how much quieter the haunted mansion was going to be without about half of its occupants, I looked toward Avalon. “So, were the Starburst good?”
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She raised an eyebrow at me. “You mean the ones the Wandering Woman gave us after taking Aylen and me completely by surprise so she could tell us how to save Gaia by finding one of Chadwick’s descendants and a Reaper who might actually help?”
“Don’t forget Dare,” I pointed out. “You need someone with the blood of Gaia, a helpful Reaper, and Dare.”
“But she’s someone we already have,” Shiori put in. “And I guess the Reaper is too? Wait, you talked to Gwen or Michael about that, right? Didn’t you say they were supposed to know someone like that?”
“That’s what the Wandering Woman said,” Avalon agreed. “Or Sawyer as she called herself, I guess.” She frowned thoughtfully. “And yeah, I talked to Gwen, actually. She uhh, she was pretty curious about Sawyer and how she could possibly know about all that. But she did say they know a Reaper who could help. Jones, just like Sawyer said. So now I guess all we need to do is find that descendent. There’s just one major problem with that.”
“Let me guess,” I replied, “all the descendants that we know about are being watched by the loyalists, so it’s impossible to get near them without calling down a huge fight.”
Avalon sighed, folding her arms as she confirmed, “Pretty much. It’s not even that they have any idea about the descendants being used to find Gaia. It’s just that the Seosten have always been paranoid that one of them could be the way Arthur gets woken up, so they taught enough of the hardliners that it would be a really bad thing. These people, the ones who know anything about it at all, have been taught for like a thousand years that if any of Arthur’s blood relatives are disturbed, it could cause a massive calamity.”
“They didn’t want anyone on either side getting ideas about making a super Heretic by bringing in someone related to Arthur,” I muttered while looking out the nearby window at the bustling city. The people out there were putting actual laser turrets on several of the various roofs throughout the city, thanks to a delivery from Athena’s people. Just in case any invaders got close enough to teleport directly onto the planet and bypass the Revenant defenses, we wanted them to have another way of defending themselves long enough for help to arrive. Those turrets would be given to every major city on the planet, and they would be taught how to use them.
Beyond that, Athena had brought in experts to teach these people how to fight and use other weapons, magic, all of it. Obviously, Fossor had made certain not to let them do anything of the sort while he was in charge. He wanted them to be completely and utterly helpless without him.
After watching that for a moment, I spoke again. “So I guess we have to find a descendant who isn’t already known to them?”
“That’s the idea,” Avalon confirmed. “But you know, that’s gonna take awhile. More time wasted.” She gave a heavy sigh. “We’re so close to getting Gaia out of there, but it’s like there’s always one more thing in the way.”
Before I could say anything, Shiori put a hand on the other girl’s back. “Don’t worry, if anyone can find a descendant who isn’t under constant watch, it’s Professor Dare. She wants to save Gaia too. She’ll find someone we can get to. Or find a way to get to one of the others safely.”
Valley gave a short nod. “I know she will. She’s already got some leads. I just want it to be done right now.” Giving a rueful chuckle, she offered a shrug. “I guess I’m impatient.”
“You deserve to be,” I pointed out. “You’ve already waited more than long enough.”
“I’m not worried about how long I’ve been waiting,” the girl informed me. “I’m worried about how long she’s been waiting. Who knows how bad they’re treating her or what they’ve told her. They’ve probably been lying to her about how this rebellion is going. I’m pretty sure she knows better than to believe anything they say, but still. It’s just… we have to find her.”
“We do. There’s a lot riding on finding Gaia,” I agreed. Which was the moment my phone changed with a notification. Glancing at it, I coughed. “Oh, it’s that time again.”
Shiori looked at me curiously. “You have to do that today too? Even though we’re leaving in an hour?”
“It’s training,” Avalon pointed out. “Of course she has to do it every day.”
I offered a helpless shrug. “It’s the deal I made with them. You know, since they’ve been waiting to do this for so long and everything kept interrupting. Being here on this world to do all this other stuff was the best chance to really work on it without something else getting in the way. Besides, we’ve got it now. They just want to make sure. It’s kind of like a final exam, I guess. Even though they’re going to keep working with us after this. It’s just… we’ll be going back to Earth and everyone knows there’ll be more interruptions. They want to see for themselves that we can do it if we need to.” Pausing, I amended, “When we need to.”
So, promising to be back in a little bit so we could attend the goodbye ceremony the people of this place had planned, I left the room, made my way downstairs and out of the building and walked through the city. The people, most of whom were rebuilding or working with Athena’s people to set up those defenses, kept waving and greeting me, calling out various things as I returned their cheerful words. Eventually, I made it out of the place, past the walls, and toward a by-now familiar grove on the outskirts. It was really pretty there, with a small stream running through grass that was a very deep purple, surrounded by tall orange trees.
Tabbris was already there, sitting cross-legged on the ground as she examined the magical fishbowl on her lap. With the permission from people of this world, she had added a few specimens from here to get along with her other fish. And of course, she had named all of them. Seeing that, I smiled and spoke up. “How are the new neighbors doing?”
She, in turn, grinned while popping to her feet and leaving her fishbowl sitting there for the moment. “They’re really good! I think Sasquatch and Lipadip are dating.”
“Well at least they got over that rough first meeting,” I noted. “So have you seen–”
“Good,” another familiar voice announced, “you’re here.” It was Jophiel, emerging through a portal right by the water. Elisabet was right behind her. The latter was still dressing basically like she had on the Meregan world when she had been lost there for so long, with leathers and a much more… militaristic style than the soft silks and all that she had worn the year before.
“Yup,” I confirmed, giving a casual salute. “We both made it, right on time. So are we gonna do this?”
“There’s little left for us to teach as far as making the initial connection,” Elisabet reminded me. “We can help you learn to hold it for longer, or to be more efficient. But first, let us see you do it without any input from us. From the top, with blank slates, if you would.”
So, Tabbris and I exchanged looks before each of us pulled a small metal plate from our pockets along with a field engraver. We had others we had already set up for this, but these two wanted to see us do it from the top. Together, we drew on the metal plates, each about half the size of a smartphone. There were much smaller engravement plates that could be used, but this particular spell was pretty elaborate and needed more room.
It took us about fifteen minutes, down from our previous record of eighteen, to get the enchantment done. Obviously, in a real fight, we would simply use the previously prepared ones. But still, it was nice to know that we were getting faster with this. Over the past weeks of working, we’d gotten pretty good at it.
Once the enchantment plates were finished, we each placed them against one another’s arms and spoke our individual command words. There was a bright flash and a rush of power. I saw my own golden aura as well as Tabbris’s own, which was an indigo color. They flared up and merged into one another, twisting around before fading from sight.
“Good,” Jophiel noted with a small, satisfied smile. “Can you do it?” she asked Tabbris.
The younger girl, in turn, scrunched her nose up in concentration. A second later, she extended her hand sharply with a small baggie that had simply appeared there. The baggie opened, sending a cloud of sand into the air. Sand which froze after coming into view, then began to spin in a circle. A moment later, it dropped to the ground, and she leaned back before spitting some thick resin that way to cover the sand. Finally, Tabbris dropped the bag, then recalled it right back to her hand.
She was using my powers. That was what we had been working with Jophiel and Elisabet on. It was the same spell they used to share powers. We’d had a few lessons over the year, now and then. But the past couple weeks had been a real bootcamp for learning to do it. We couldn’t both use the same power at the same time, since there was only one real ‘copy’ of the power. But still, the fact that Tabbris could use any of my powers if she really needed to, it was… big.
“And you?” Elisabet prompted with a look my way.
Taking a breath, I focused. A moment later, flickering angelic energy wings appeared on my back. I wasn’t very good with them yet, nowhere near as good as even Tabbris was. And I couldn’t hold them for long. They only appeared for a couple seconds before vanishing once more. It was hard to use her Archangel wings. But I could feel the immense power they had even for that very brief time.
“Oooh!” Another voice cheerfully announced. “Now that’s interesting.”
It was Sun Wukong. Blinking that way, I managed, “Oh uh, hey. Interesting?”
The monkey man gave me a broad smile. “Sure, it’ll be great to show off to the others once you get there.”
The way he said that made me blink. “Wait, once I get where? What others? What do you mean? Are you coming with us back to the Fusion School? I could show you around the place if you want.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure the others can do all that,” he informed me. “You’ll be far too busy on your own trip.
“After all, Ehn’s been waiting a long time to meet you.”