Sometimes I like to take nightly flights when I need to relax. I had to fly high, like beyond the planet’s orbit high...deep space high... because the skies, and shallower heavens, of the Sigfrid Union’s worlds, were often congested with airships, starships, and superhumans. I didn’t mind having to leave the planet for my little jaunts. It was often a great relief on nerves. The noise, sights, and scents that normally assailed my senses would fade and I’d be able to finally breathe easy for a bit.
You might be wondering why I’d need to relax when this whole job is basically one-third waiting game, one-third observation mission, and one-sixth pleasure cruise with only a small amount of intense labor, but even then I still managed to get stressed. The mortal authorities keep looking at us. They know not to pry, but it’s like a little league team looking towards the professional scout. Nevermind, that they are an eternity away from being on a level where we’ll look at them seriously, the players on the little league team still try to get our attention to see if we can do something for them.
The immortal authorities were an even bigger pain because they were making use of the time that we were in the system to try and bend our ears so we’d favor Sigfrid Galaxy and the surrounding universe. I tried to be firm but polite about keeping our distance, and being left alone, in both cases. Using the reality of the dangerous blob of living music and eldritch magic as an excuse. Yet, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t send invitations to things, or come calling on our many painfully obvious moments of idleness.
Besides having to deal with the immortals, there was still the small but infrequent amounts of remote work that I’d have to do, regarding the Empty-Network, and the Empty-Dream. Then I think sometimes I might just be missing Jack and Kal too much. I know I can probably just go and see them, but even if I’m super quick about teleporting out of the Empty-Bell Complex and teleporting back, that’s still a moment where I’m not paying intention, and that trick our enemy tried to play with the Empty-Bell Complex’s cycle of life, death, rebirth reminded me that I couldn’t afford to be playing those kinds of games.
Jack and Kal would occasionally come and see, but they had more than 122 multiverses to look after. As well as our business in the immortal realms of all those multiverses, as well as our own Shattered Heaven. The point being, my wives had their hands full. I also think they were trying not to descend and steal the show too often, because I was technically supposed to be completing our little household while I was on this mission.
This is why I generally didn’t fly alone when I took my late-night flights. Doing my best to try and invite either Hong Soomin, or Kian Greenscale, or occasionally Yuval when she wasn’t busy with her restaurants. On the few times when the other three weren’t available and I figured I’d get to fly alone for a bit, Ms.Scholar would show up. Quietly reminding me of her presence, in her quietly persistent way. I’m still not sure about that one, but over the years I’ve at least grown less wary of her.
Blue-black bodies with uneven limbs and heads that were roughly shaped like horns burst and disintegrated under the influence of violent nothingness, and brilliant flames of green and iridescent black. An army of eldritch creatures quickly ceased to be and soon all that was left were asteroids, moons, and shining stars, amidst the quiet night sky. Funnily enough, getting rid of these kinds of minor pests never felt like work. The real trick was getting rid of the trap the enemy would send while we were supposed to be distracted. Fortunately, I was generally able to figure out the Dark Song Orchestra’s angle, and if not, I had a full team of capable teammates and subordinates who’d pick up the slack.
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“Qu-....Quite the night. Isn’t it?” said a voice at my side.
“Nhm,” I grunted in agreement.
Tonight, Kian was flying with me. She flew alongside me in a simplified version of her dragon form. It was still the same elegant, serpentine, green-scaled body. She still had the same mane of feathers and fur. There were still the same graceful stag-like horns. However, she was much smaller, in her “mortal” form, at only four or five times my human form. She also only had four legs and two sets of wings in this form.
“So, I was thinking of visiting a certain private collection of ancient secrets later in the week...Would you be interested in coming with me?” said Kian.
“Sure…” I said. Nodding. Agreeing easily, because I’d been meaning to visit that same Wizard’s tower as well, and well, even I wasn’t dense enough to miss that this wasn’t just two friends visiting an ancient sorcerer’s lair together. I was being asked on a date, and from the time I’d spent with Kian, I’d found that we had enough in common, and enough that was complimentary, that this was maybe something worth seriously pursuing.
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After the two immortals headed back home, a team of three superhumans appeared shortly afterward. One wore a black and orange costume that resembled a form-fitting pilot’s flight-suit with armor padding, and armor plates around the chest, neck, shoulders, and the edges of her limbs. She wore no mask, because she was one of a large number of heroes and villains that recognized that “secret identities” were more of a cultural, legal, and professional affectation than they were an actual thing.
The other hero was dressed as some kind of cyborg-knight with a voluminous mage’s cloak. The third hero simply wore a spandex bodysuit and a cape. The classic costume of a caped crusader.
“Huh...It’s supposed to be around here,” said the Knight. The hero known as Platinum-Magic.
“I think it happened again…” said the hero in orange. The now well-known, and well-seasoned superhero known as Sunset. Having long ago left behind the “Kid” part of her hero-name as she matured as a full member of the Sigfrid Radiance.
“What happened again?” said the third hero. The man in the classic, green and purple, caped-crusader costume. Mister Evergreen.
“Oh...Sunset has this theory that there’s some other group out there dealing with the extradimensional threat...I still am a bit...eh...on that theory since I haven’t been able to find anything solid even after doing some digging, but well, eldritch signals as large as the one that ‘had’ been out here up until a few minutes ago don’t just vanish...So maybe there’s something to it…” said Platinum-Magic.
“Huh...So, just to confirm we came out here for nothing…” said Mister Evergreen. Sighing.
“No...We came out here to deal with, and or check out a possible transdimensional threat…” said Platinum-Magic. Rolling her eyes inside her suit.
“Let’s just take some samples...Get some readings...And get out of here, guys…” said Sunset. Sighing. Feeling disappointed to have shown up on the scene too late, yet again. Yet again, somehow filled with a sense that there was someone, or something, she was supposed to meet out here, that she just kept on missing. A feeling that had been with her ever since she’d discovered her powers.