Apparently whatever Ehn had in mind next to boost my power even further, it wasn’t going to be an immediate thing. He thought it was time to rest, and I couldn’t exactly argue with that. Nor could I argue with the idea that being right here in the middle of what would one day be Wyoming was a bad spot for that. The place might have been slightly more of a hotbed of supernatural things than I’d thought growing up, but I was pretty sure it was still pretty dead back in these days. At the very least, I was going to be very surprised if there was anything special out here. Which probably meant there was about a fifty-fifty shot, the way the universe seemed to like to mess with me.

But in any case, if there was some sort of super special secret supernatural thing hiding out around here, it wasn’t one that we were after. Instead, Ehn informed me that I should relax while I had the chance. Which sounded pretty damn good to me, considering how much I had already been through that day. And now I didn’t have Tabs, Valley, or Shiori to talk to about all this stuff. At least I had Percy and Cerberus. I have no idea what I would’ve done without them. Hell, not even just counting having someone to talk to. If I didn’t have them with me today, I probably wouldn’t have gotten through that whole business in the cave.

And that was the whole point, wasn’t it? If some future version of me had set that whole thing up, then of course I had known that I would have Cerberus and Percy with me. I had simply remembered that they were there. Or rather, I would remember.

Time travel… still stupid.

Fortunately, I had something else to distract me from all that. Before my ambitious tour guide could start in on anything else, I quickly asked, “What about everyone back in that village? We have to go back and get them out of there before Maestro decides to take his anger out on them. You know, for what I did.”

Ehn raised an eyebrow. “That could be unnecessarily dangerous, you realize. If he has taken the time to show up there, going back might be a bad idea.”

I met his gaze evenly. “You’re supposed to be so strong, I think you can handle getting us in and out, right? I’m not abandoning those people. You just showed me how easily I can go back there if I want to. So if I have to do it myself, I will. But then you’ll risk losing this super special Necromancy you’ve been working so hard to get into your arsenal.”

Yeah okay, this was probably really stupid. Not just talking to him like that, or essentially demanding he help, but going back in the first place. As dangerous as that Maestro guy was from everything I had heard, and seen through that connection, the idea of going to a place where he might show up at any point sounded like one of the dumbest possible ideas on the face of the planet.

And yet, I wasn’t bluffing. Those people back there didn’t ask to be controlled by that monster. And now, after what I had done, there was a good chance that he would take his anger out on them.

Ehn seemed to consider the best course of action for a moment. Then he exhaled. “You are too valuable and vulnerable to risk to something like this. Wait here. I will handle it. The people will be safe.”

I wanted to question that, but something told me I had pushed far enough as it was. I didn’t think he’d react very well to me suggesting that he might not keep his word if I wasn’t there.

While Ehn quickly disappeared from sight to go help the villagers, I finally took the man’s advice and slumped down completely. Practically falling into the dirt, I let myself breathe in and out several long times. My body was shaking a little from everything I had put it through. Sure, I tended to keep myself busy, to say the least. But the situation was a bit much even for me. And the weird thing was that it wasn’t just exhaustion. Sure, that was a big part of it. On the one hand, I wanted to curl into a ball and close my eyes for about three weeks. But on the other hand, I also wanted to jump up and down and scream until I completely lost my voice. I was tired while also being totally exhilarated and energized in a way I couldn’t explain even to myself. How could I be so exhausted both physically and mentally, yet still want to do so much? I had energy but I didn’t. I wanted to fall asleep and not move until we reached the actual present day, Rip Van Winkle style. But the idea of sitting still somehow also made me almost nauseous. I wanted to be active, but I wanted to go to sleep. God, this was weird.

“Are you alright, Flick?” Persephone was staring at me with what looked like a mixture of hopefulness and uncertainty. “You keep making funny expressions. But I don’t think you’re trying to play the scary face game.”

Flushing a little at the realization that she had noticed, I shook my head. “Sorry, it’s just weird. I’m super tired, but part of me isn’t? I feel totally exhausted but some part of me wants to go run around and explore.”

“I am sorry, part of that might be us.”

The unexpected voice was preceded by the sensation of a ghost materializing. Already knowing what I would see, I turned to blink at Kehchul, the ghost goblin with the fancy clothes and Tricorn hat from back in those woods around the village. A moment later, I realized he wasn’t alone. The other ghosts who had come out of the haunted forest to help in the town, several hundred of them, were all here. They were spread out around this wide open area, though most of them were invisible at this point. I’d been so distracted by everything and so exhausted that I hadn’t really noticed them until now.

“What–” Belatedly, I realized the truth. “Oh, oh shit, I dragged you guys with me when I used my new Necromancy teleportation, didn’t I? I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t even know I could do it until now.”

Kehchul shook his head, straightening up to his full though still quite diminutive height as he adjusted his fancy hat. which still looked a bit funny to see a ghost doing. “No apologies necessary, Caller. Our job in the forest home was finished. The object was protected until the right time, and now that job is over. As you were the one to complete it, and to request our aid, we had hoped that you might see fit to allow such a relationship to continue.”

One of the other ghosts, another European settler type, floated forward and became a little more visible. “What my friend here is saying is that you gave us the most excitement we’ve had in a long time. And now you have brought us away from those woods so that we might see something new for the first time in… ages. Your life seems quite extraordinary, and we’d just like to be part of it instead of going off to guard another empty forest.”

Well, what was I supposed to say to that? Especially after it turned out these guys kind of already were my ghosts to begin with. Although when I thought about what sort of power and skill I’d have to have to set up that whole thing in the forest, it made my knees tremble a little. Seriously, somehow I had enchanted the whole forest to give these ghosts free will so they couldn’t be ordered around, turn anyone who died around there into a ghost, programmed them with the duty to protect the recording in the coffin, and I did all that without physically being there through most of it. How the hell was that possible?

Come to think of it, I’d also enchanted the forest so no one else besides the ghosts could find the coffin in the first place. Honestly, that was just as impressive as the other stuff, if not more so. How did I do it? How would I enchant a forest so that no one could find the object I hid there and keep that spell going for so long? Yeah, the idea of what future me was supposed to be able to do was a little staggering.

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But, of course, I agreed to let these guys stay with me. Summoning up Seth, Grover, and my other ghosts, I introduced all of them once more, officially this time. Then I told them they could relax and let them spread out to go explore around the empty fields. Not that there was a lot to see around here, naturally, but I was pretty sure they were just getting a kick out of finally being in someplace new after being stuck in that forest for decades in some cases and centuries in others.

Once that was done, I looked back to Percy, who was watching me with a smile. “You know,” I remarked idly, “I’m starting to think this is going to be a busy trip. Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t pack my Switch after all. I don’t think I would’ve had time to play it very much.”

The Revenant girl giggled a little before patting one of Cerberus’s heads. “If things do go awry and you become very bored, we will entertain you. One of us knows a very good juggling routine, and it’s not the one you think.”

Snickering despite myself at that, I shook my head. “Well, now I definitely have to see that as soon as we get a chance. But really, thanks for being here, both of you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Percy, however, shook her head. “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit, Flick. You could have done everything back there without us if you had to. And not only because the future version of yourself would have set it up so you could.” After pointing that out, she winked at me. “You are stronger than you think.”

Flushing a little bit, I started to say something else, but Ehn reappeared in a bright flash of multi-colored light. And he brought with him a lot more people. It was everyone from the village, a couple hundred people, who all spread out around us and started looking at their new surroundings.

Ehn’s gaze found me. “I was uncertain how much you would believe my statement that I had taken them out of there. And this seemed to be as good a place as any for a new settlement. Or rather, a new place for an old one.”

As he said that, the man held up a coin between his fingers and snapped them. The coin vanished, and there was another, even brighter flash of multi-colored light. All around us, the buildings from the village appeared in roughly the same arrangement they have been back there. Not only there, but fixed. The buildings had been destroyed, torn apart throughout all that fighting. But now they were intact. Of course, that evil church was missing, but other than that, he had brought everything here. One more snap of a coin and another flash of light, and all the livestock were brought over as well.

Once that was done, the man spoke simply. “I assume this is satisfactory.”

Yeah, he had been showing off. That much was clear. But I wasn’t going to argue with him or call that out. Not after he had just done so much for these people. I’d expected him to just dump them off somewhere at most. But he brought them here and even transported their homes, shops, and food stocks along for the ride. These people could actually start a whole new town here, where they would hopefully be safe.

So, I kept my voice completely respectful and let the man see the gratitude in my eyes. “Thank you,” I replied sincerely. “Are they okay now? I mean–”

“We’re no longer being controlled by that creature.” That was Dune, the sheriff. He came forward, head bowed a bit with his hat in one of his four hands. The blue-scaled man gave a soft sigh of regret and annoyance. “You… have our deepest apologies, ma’am. None of us knew what that monster was. He was simply our priest. Or we thought he was. It seems he was more than that. Worse than that.”

Strex, the little humanoid grasshopper guy, came forward next to his boss and bobbed his head rapidly. “Yeah, yeah, we’re sorry. I guess there was a reason that communion stuff at the church always tasted funny.”

Dune explained that there had apparently been something in the communion wafers that allowed the priest guy to take control of them back there. But when he died, it was washed out of their system. Apparently quite violently considering the way they had vomited. Which didn’t exactly sound fun, but I supposed it was better than being turned into someone’s puppet.

Either way, the people were grateful to be out of that situation. They all kept coming up and thanking me, as well as apologizing for what they had tried to do. I just kept telling them it wasn’t their fault and that they should go explore their new home. Finally, I managed to step over to where Ehn was. “So, what are we going to do– wait, did I just change history?” The sudden thought practically exploded in my head as my eyes widened.

Ehn gave a soft chuckle of amusement. “You mean did convincing me to bring all these people over to this brand new location so they could put down roots and create a whole new town change history to the point that we are going to go back to a present you no longer recognize? Perhaps that man over there was supposed to die back where he was, and him living creates a butterfly effect that leads to the country of Great Britain being sunk deep under the ocean, or transported to the moon.”

He held my stare for a moment before relenting. ”I’m not that foolish. I know what can be done in the past and what cannot. If doing this would have changed things that way, I would not have done it. No matter how many sad puppy eyes and firm recriminations you sent my way.”

Okay, now I was really embarrassed. Blushing deeply, I started to object that I didn’t do sad puppy eyes, but decided it probably wasn’t worth the argument. Instead, I cleared my throat and thanked him again. As much as I pushed the limits of his patience, I knew I also needed to show him gratitude whenever possible. Not just to suck up to him or whatever, but also to make up for the times when I annoyed him. I was walking a bit of a tightrope here.

“In any case,” the man continued after letting that sit for a moment, “I believe you were about to ask what we are doing now. And the answer to that is nothing.” He gave me a knowing look. “You may have phenomenal stamina, but this has been a long day even for you. Accomplishing what you have, seeing what you have, it was a lot. So, what we are going to do right now is relax. There will be time for our next steps soon enough. Right now, the townspeople here have graciously agreed to let you use one of their rooms to get some sleep. And I want you to get as much as you can. Tomorrow we will jump straight into the next step of your actual training, now that you have the basic building blocks.”

Okay, yeah that was fair. I was still exhausted both physically and mentally. Some part of me had been terrified that he was going to forget that I was still mostly human and go right on with the next thing now that I’d had a chance to sit down for like five minutes. Which, considering how things had been going so far, probably involved going down to the ocean to beat up the giant evil squid Kaiju or something equally terrifying.

Instead, I was going to get a chance to actually sleep. So, I thanked him again, as he pointed me to Deputy Strex to find out where I could rest.

The man himself greeted me enthusiastically again, and led me to a small house on the outskirts of the village. He kept going on and on about how sorry they were and how they were ready and willing to do anything to make up for what happened. I assured him I just needed a place to sleep and maybe clean up a little.

“You can use this place,” he informed me while gesturing at the small building. It was basically a cabin. “Follo used to live there, but he passed about a month ago. His place is still pretty clean and stocked though. You should find everything you need in there. And uh, you know, if not you can just ask. Anything you want, anything at all.”

It was his turn to blush, and I belatedly realized he wasn’t just guilty about what happened. It was my stupid Succubus appearance. Was this how Avalon felt all the time when people were tripping over themselves just because she was really pretty?

Putting that thought out of my head, I started to tell the man I would be fine, when Dune stepped over. “Well, the people want to name this place after you. I told them you probably wouldn’t go for it.”

My head shook rapidly. “Uh, no thanks. That’s probably a really bad idea.”

Dune gave a slight nod. “Figured you’d say something like that. So they’re going with their second choice. Our priest, or the monster posing as one, did a lot of damage to the people here. We… don’t want to forget that. We don’t want to forget the sort of evil that’s out there. But we also want to remember that he failed, that in the end, people like you are going to keep stopping the monsters like him. We want to remember just how good it felt to see him fall. We’ll name our new town after that.”

That made me get a double-take. “Wait a minute, see him fall? Hold on, so you’re gonna name this place… Oh god, what was his na–”

“That’s right,” the sheriff confirmed. “Welcome to ‘Elder Laramie Falls.’”