The lion-man's sword cuts into my abdomen. He twists it around and attempts to cut further into my stomach. However, I place my gauntlet onto the blade and slowly pull it out, fighting against his strength. When I manage to completely remove it, my taint physiology mends itself back together as if I was never stabbed to begin with.

"W-what!? What are you?" The man asks in shock. "How is this possible?"

"Do the sorcerers of your land not have healing techniques?" I ask him with a slight mocking tone to my voice. "Why are you surprised?"

The two guardians of the cave look at each other worriedly. They nod before raising their weapons to me again. I quickly socket my time-stopping spell focus into my gauntlet and freeze them in their tracks. I position them so that when time unfreezes, they will fall off of the mountain face. Hmm... out of mischievousness I also punch them both in the face. When time resumes, they are both left clinging to the edge. "What the hell just happened!? How did we get here?" The woman asks. "You coward! Come back and fight us!" She attempts to pull herself up, but the lion-man is also holding onto her ankles.

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As I walk into the cave, my flux breaches wards and magical traps of all kinds. My thaumium armor is slowly repairing itself with the local aura, and my runic shielding is repairing quickly, so I am well prepared to fight this goddess.

The woman I saw in the scrying mirror now sits in front of me, cross-legged on a carpet, surrounded by candles and furniture.

"Woman," I say. She slowly opens her eyes.

"Well this is unexpected," Yana says. "It's been about four hundred years since anyone has been able to defeat any of my guardians."

"Tell me, did you bring those two from another world?"

"Actually, I did. How did you know I used summoning magic to create them?"

"Just a hunch."

"Why are you here, anyhow?" Yana narrows her eyes. "Are you here because you want immortality? Power? Wealth? The greed of men never fails to disgust me."

"Do not speak about humans so negatively. It was mankind that was made in God's image, not you or any of the other pretenders. I am here because I have a single demand for you: You will stop practicing summoning magic."

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"Why? I am saving people from death! Those I summon are permitted to go to Ingald when they die for their service to Krag."

Perhaps I can settle this diplomatically. "Where I come from, we tell stories about phenomenon like this. I suppose it is simply human nature to want to have a better life than one can hope for in Primis Mundus."

"What are you talking about? Primis Mundus?"

"Don't worry about it. Have you ever stopped to consider whether or not these people want to serve you? You reincarnate humans into unfamiliar bodies, unfamiliar lives, and unfamiliar worlds. I have experienced it myself. You deny them the judgement of their birthright. Frankly, it makes me so angry that I scare myself sometimes. So here's what will happen. I heard that the reason you summon heroes from other worlds was to fend off the demons of the witches. If I go there and stop them from summoning more demons, would you swear to outlaw summoning magic not only in Krag but the rest of the world?"

"If you did that, then there would be no reason to use summoning magic, so yes, I would. But a mere mortal cannot possibly hope to stand against the witches!"

"I will be back here within a week. Do not underestimate me. Oh, and one more thing, about your guardians and heroes..."

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As I walk back outside, the two guardians are still holding onto the edge. I telekinetically lift them into the air with my casting gauntlet and set them on the flat area. They both pant in exhaustion.

"Fuck... you..." says the woman.

"I could have let you die, but I chose to save you. Listen to me carefully. I have been made aware that you are both from another world. Is this correct?"

They both look shocked. "Yes, Yana brought us here with summoning magic," says the lion-man.

"It's like that one animated TV show about the blue blob... I can't think about what it's called now, but when we first got here, I could hardly believe it," says the four-armed woman. Then they're from Primis Mundus.

"And how do you feel being brought here? To another world? Against your will when you were supposed to be dead?"

"It feels wrong, somehow," says the man.

"My previous life was... awful, to say the least. Here, I have a purpose, and I have strength. I like it here better." Interesting responses.

"Very well. I offer you both a deal. Come with me and we can travel the omniverse, gaining power and saving people."

They look at each other hesitantly. "Can we talk about it for a moment?" Asks the lion-man. I nod, and they walk a ways away to talk. After about seven minutes of discussion, they return.

"We agree," says the woman.

"Since we will be traveling together, we should introduce ourselves. I am The Thaumaturge. And your names?"

"That's no name," says the man, "that's just some fancy word most people have never heard."

"It's name enough. I haven't renounced my true name, but I don't find it necessary to use anymore. What are your names?"

"I am Claudius," says the man.

"I am Rebecca," says the woman.

"Very well, Claudius and Rebecca. Welcome to the crimson cult."