One moment Lia was eating lunch, the next she found herself standing in some strange ballroom, wearing a formal dress. Before she could take stock of her surroundings, though, Amelia had grabbed her hand.
“Are you alright, Lia?!” Amelia asked. “You haven’t been hurt, right?”
“No, I’m fine, what’s –”
“Reuben, what is going on here?!” A woman demanded loudly. “Explain!”
Lia turned her attention over to the woman, and her eyes widened. The woman was standing next to a man who looked just like the pictures of the Ruby Emperor, and a short distance behind them was a man matching the description of the God of Commerce. She…she had to be dreaming, right? The Ruby Emperor and the woman who must have been his wife were dead, and the gods didn’t just appear in the mortal world.
Before the woman, who must have been Ariana, the Ruby Emperor’s wife, could continue, Amelia was in front of her, reaching for her neck. However, Amelia was stopped by some force before she could make contact, and instead resorted to getting her face as close to Arian’s as she could. “You do not speak to him like that.” She snarled. “We’re not in the Ruby Empire, and your status means nothing here.”
It was then that Lia processed that Amelia was still holding her hand. “Do you have a sister?” Lia whispered.
“No.” Amelia replied tersely. “Give me a moment, I’m going to cast some divination spells and figure out what’s happening.”
“And who do you think you are?” Ariana said imperiously. “Reuben, deal with this ruffian!”
“I can’t believe I used to be you.” Amelia’s duplicate spat. “Reuben, she doesn’t love you, and she’s not worth your time. She left you at the first sign of trouble, you have no obligation to her.”
“Be that as it may, it hasn’t happened yet.” The Ruby Emperor said. “I’m going to have to ask you to step away from her, or I’m going to have to make you.”
“You can try.” Amelia’s duplicate snorted. “Believe it or not, you’re significantly weaker than I am. And, as to who I am, I am Amelia, my generation’s Hero, and, unfortunately, the reincarnation of this pathetic excuse of a woman.”
All of a sudden, the real Amelia dropped Lia’s hand and took off at a dead sprint. Lia whirled to find that Amelia had appeared in front of what appeared to be an idealized version of Lia herself, standing next to a tall woman who, for all the world, felt like a statue of a goddess had sprung to life. Unsure of what to do, Lia could only run after Amelia, hoping that her friend wouldn’t get them into trouble.
“You better thank whatever force is causing my powers to fizzle, because you’re going to be dead the moment I can use magic.” Lia heard Amelia snarl. “Do you think this is funny? You’re not Lia, Lia’s back there, and I’m not about to let a fake like you get away with pretending to be her.”
Lia’s duplicate took a step backwards. “Amelia, I’m going to need you to calm down.” She said. “I know you’re feeling –”
“Calm down?! Try all you like, you’re not going to –” Amelia was interrupted by the other woman stepping forward and placing a firm hand on her shoulder, forcing her away from Lia’s duplicate.
“Amelia, we’re from your future.” The woman said. “This is Lia as she is in the future. Her magical signature is different because she died, and you brought her back to life. Look at her, surely you can feel your handiwork, right?”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Amelia yelled, thrashing wildly in an attempt to escape the woman’s grasp.
“A-Amelia, I t-think they h-have a point.” Lia stuttered, finally catching up with Amelia. “B-before you kill, let’s t-think about this.”
“What’s there to think about?” Amelia growled, still trying to escape the woman’s iron grip. “She’s pretending to be you!”
The tall woman grabbed Amelia with her other hand, immobilizing the girl. “Amelia, right now you’re feeling all weird because the Urge isn’t in effect in this place. I know it’s hard, but you need to stop before you get yourself hurt.”
Amelia froze. “How do you know about the Urge?!”
“I’m a Hero myself. Things have gotten very complicated in the few years between your time and ours.”
Lia took a moment to study her copy, then nervously walked forward and tugged on her sleeve. “Are you really…me?” She asked meekly.
Her future self sighed. “Yeah. When are you from? You look to still be in school, what year?”
“U-um…it’s my second year.” Lia said. “How far in the future are you from? You look…different.”
“To be honest, I’m a little fuzzy on the specifics.” Future Lia admitted. “I think it’s four years from your time? We spent about three of those dead, so my grasp of time isn’t exactly the best.”
Lia frowned. “But people don’t come back to life.” She pointed out. “That’s not possible.”
“It is. Amelia is the most powerful Hero to ever live, and she caught our soul before we could go to the afterlife, then spent the next years figuring out a way to bring us back.”
“There’s no way I would let her die!” Amelia shouted. “Stop lying!”
“Let me handle this.” Future Amelia said, walking up and taking her past self from the tall woman. “I know you don’t believe us, but this is reality, and you’re going to have to face it. I’m going to make you face it.”
“You can try –” Amelia said, then went rigid.
“Nothing to worry about, I’ve just paralyzed her so she can’t interrupt us.” Amelia said casually, giving the tall woman and both Lias a smile. “Fortunately, the party seems to be willing to let me do that, probably because she’s causing a scene.” She turned back to her past self, and continued to speak. “We were away meeting with Brom, and a mage’s spell went haywire and struck Lia with lightning. She died instantly, and when our monitoring ward tripped, we busted out of the castle and scooped up her soul using Hero power.
“We spent the next three years honing our magical prowess and constructing a new system so that we can give her what she deserves. Now, stop struggling and actually take a moment to read our circuits instead of doing a surface-level scan, you’ll see it’s really us from the future.”
As Amelia’s duplicate tried to convince her past self of the truth of what was happening, Lia was shocked to hear the voice of the Ruby Emperor, who had walked over to the group. “Rose, right?” He asked the tall woman. “Are you really my future self? What…happened?”
“It’s a very long story.” Rose replied. “Where’s Ariana?”
“Gone.” The Ruby Emperor replied. “She demanded to be sent home, and the party complied.”
“Typical.” Rose snorted. “Amelia’s right, though, she’s not worth our time. The only thing she was ever good for was helping bring our little Ariana into the world. If it wasn’t for what Amelia calls the Urge, we wouldn’t have married her. Trust me, once we get our emotions back, we realize how toxic she is.”
“So…we do get them within our lifetime, then?” The Ruby Emperor asked hopefully. “I had assumed I would be stuck with this burden until I died.”
Rose was silent for a moment. “Not in our lifetime, no. But it’s not all bad, the gods will grant us mercy and allow us to die sooner than you think.”
The Ruby Emperor frowned. “Then what does that make you?” He asked. “And…were we really a woman underneath it all?”
“It’s very, very complicated.” Rose said. “I can’t say for sure whether or not we were really a woman, but we get reincarnated by Lia, and we keep our memories, unlike Amelia and Ariana. Nowadays, we’re in a very loving relationship, and happier than ever. We even have our little Ariana, though she goes by Chrys now, just as we go by Rose.”
Lia, feeling completely lost, pulled her future self away. “Did we really reincarnate him?” She asked quietly.
“Yes.” Future Lia replied. “It came as a shock. We…we have Mom, too. Things are different now, but not necessarily bad.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Lia’s heart raced in her chest as her future self said that. She had always wanted to see her mother again, and if there was a chance…well, she would have done anything. “Different how?”
“We rule two countries, technically four if you count the ones that we control the leaders but not the citizens.” Future Lia said. “No, we’re not used to it yet, we’re doing our best, but it’s hard. Eventually the aim is to control the world, and then the other planes.”
Lia recoiled. “Why?”
“As Rose said, it’s complicated. Amelia set us on this path, and a lot of the gods have decided to support us. We’re even dating one now, she’s…where is Connie?”
Lia wasn’t even sure where to begin with that. “We’re dating a god? And… a girl?” She asked.
“As part of our resurrection, Amelia made us a lesbian. Um, everyone will be, the way things are going. Like I said, it’s complicated.”
Lia opened her mouth to respond, but quickly closed it, as the Ruby Emperor and Rose approached. Once they arrived, Rose took the hand of Future Lia, smiling at the Ruby Emperor. “Reuben, this is my wife, Lia. She’s an absolutely wonderful woman, and she’ll end up helping us through a lot. I’m eternally grateful to her, and actively thrilled to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Lia stared in shock at her future self. That was…her future self was married to Rose, who was supposedly the reincarnation of the Ruby Emperor himself. Many of Lia’s friends had fantasized about what it would be like to be married to someone important, and the Ruby Emperor had always come up in those conversations. And…to apparently be living those fantasies in the future? It was unbelievable.
Future Lia turned away from Lia and towards the Ruby Emperor. “Um, nice to meet you…uh…Your Majesty?”
The Ruby Emperor smiled. “Reuben is fine.” He said, grabbing the hand of Future Lia and giving it a kiss. “If you’re married to me in the future, then it’s a little silly to stand on ceremony with me now.”
Then he turned to Lia, giving her a smile. “Are you holding up alright?” He asked. “I’ve seen that frazzled look you have before, is the time-bending nature of this party getting to you?”
“Uh, me?” Lia asked in a small voice. “Um…a little, but I’m more overwhelmed to meet you, you’re kind of a big deal.”
The Ruby Emperor took her hand, giving it a kiss as well. “I assure you, little of whatever reputation I have in your time is an indicator of who I am as a person. I’d rather wash my hands of the whole ruler business and retire to the countryside, but I’m afraid that isn’t an option. Please, call me Reuben while we’re here.”
“Um, hey guys.” Another woman said awkwardly, walking up to them. “Do you think we need to…do something about Amelia?”
“Ah, Connie, I was just wondering where you had gone!” Future Lia said. “Everything alright?”
“I was just talking with my past self.” Connie said. “He felt he needed to leave and hang with Jerry and some of the other gods, though.”
“Oh, makes sense.” Future Lia said. “Amelia’s…I’m not totally sure what’s going on with her, but the past Amelia sort of tried to kill me and our Amelia is holding her down with magic until she’s calmed down enough to not attack me again. Honestly, I’m kinda surprised she can, she still hasn’t regained her full strength.”
“The past Amelia only has some stats on the present one.” Connie replied. “In the years she was working on the system her understanding of magic has grown significantly. The skill gap is more than enough to make up for the gap in raw power. Plus, the party probably isn’t letting the past her resist much.”
“You look familiar, have we met?” The Ruby Emperor…Reuben, asked, sticking a hand out to Connie.
“Ah, right. I’m Connie, the Goddess of Commerce, but before…all of this, I was Connor, God of Commerce.” Connie said. “We’ve interacted at these parties once or twice.”
“Ah, I should have realized.” Reuben said. “Rose did mention you briefly.”
Lia had to fight the urge to slink away as the conversation proceeded. She just didn’t know what to do; everyone here, her future self included, apparently, was some big shot, and she felt painfully out of place. Yet, even though that was the case, it wasn’t like she could just wander off on her own. She didn’t know anyone outside of this small group, and that was daunting.
She was saved from her predicament by the arrival of a group of four people; two demons, a human man, and some sort of half-angel half-demon woman. “Hey everyone.” The hybrid said. “You have your past selves here too, I see.”
“Hey, Lilith.” Future Lia said, looking over at the group. “Yeah. It’s been a bit of a…situation here but it’s mostly under control.”
“Amelia?” Lilith asked.
“Amelia.” Future Lia confirmed.
“Right. Well, I suppose we should wait until we’re with everyone before we do introductions, but, in the meantime, Lia, uh…Past Lia, are you holding up alright?” Lilith asked, turning to Lia and giving her a smile.
“Um…me?” Lia squeaked.
“Yes, you.” Lilith chuckled. “This is your first party, and I know it’s probably all quite overwhelming for you.”
“How do you…do you know me in the future?”
“I’d even go so far as to call us good friends.” Lilith replied. “We have reason to spend a lot of time together in your future.”
“Got them!” A childish voice rang out.
Lia turned to find a young angel, no more than twelve, walking towards them with a group of six in tow. Lia didn’t get to hear their introductions, however, as her attention was taken away by her arm being grabbed.
“Are you okay?” The Amelia from Lia’s time asked. “They haven’t hurt you, right?”
“N-no.” Lia said. “I’m just a little frazzled. Um, are you okay? You were just…paralyzed or whatever.”
“Fine.” Amelia huffed. “I wasn’t actually hurt, my pride’s just been bruised. As much as I hate to admit it, the other ‘me’ is better with magic than I am, and she does magic the same way I do. This place seems capable of arbitrarily sealing my magic without me even noticing, so this is probably some rule-bending space and them being us from the future isn’t out of the question. It doesn’t mean I’m going to like this whole thing, though.”
“Hey, um…so…you’re a Hero?” Lia ventured. “And…what was that about an urge?”
Amelia sighed. “Yes, I’m a Hero. I didn’t want you to treat me differently if you knew. You’re the only person I can remotely call a friend, and…the Urge, as I call it, it tries to make me do things. It stops me from hurting people who don’t attack me first, makes me focus on the Lord of Monsters, and I think it makes me not feel anything else. The only time I actually feel anything is when I’m with you. And even that was going away before I used my magic to make those feelings stay.”
Lia looked at Amelia, stunned. She wasn’t sure how to react to that revelation, but she was, fortunately, bailed out by Lilith clapping her hands.
“Okay, there are a lot of us here today, and this is the first party for half of us, so I think it’s prudent we get any questions out of the way now. This place is…well, it’s complicated to explain, especially since some of you here haven’t even been exposed to magic, but we’re in sort of a place outside the regular flow of time. Every so often people get whisked away here, we have a party, and then get plopped back wherever we were, none the wiser.”
Lilith paused, smirking. “Or, that was the case. As of my time, we have figured out a way to keep our memories of this place, and we’ve made a point of making sure all of you get yours back. You won’t get them back until my time period, so it’s anywhere from three to fifty or sixty years off, depending on which group you’re in, so it won’t affect your lives immediately, but just don’t do anything embarrassing because you think you won’t remember it.
“A couple of you are probably already wondering if I have knowledge of future parties from your future selves, and the answer is no, we’re ninety percent confident those haven’t happened yet. Don’t worry about it too much right now, this place is way outside the normal rules of time and it’s not worth hurting your head thinking about it right this second.
“Alright, now, the big one. There’s going to be a lot of talk about Higher Beings and Administrators; to keep it short, you can think of Higher Beings as the gods and Administrators as the head of the gods. The three main groups here are from planes ruled by three different Administrators that are in an alliance with each other. Full disclosure; my wife Kali and I share the duty of Administrator for our planes, but you don’t need to worry about standing on ceremony or anything.
“As of my period in time, all of you are Higher Beings. It may seem strange, but you absolutely have the qualifications to stand on this sort of stage. Even if you weren’t Higher Beings in the future, just being here makes you more important than even some Administrators. I’m not kidding; only seriously important people get an ‘invite’ to these things.”
Lia stared numbly at Lilith. If everything else was unbelievable, then that last bit was so completely and utterly unthinkable that she didn’t even know how to react.
“All that being said, I’m getting the feeling that we should split into groups for this one. This party has a way of drawing you to where you need to be, just walk in a general direction and you’ll end up with the right group. And don’t try and fight it either,” Lilith said, looking between both Amelias, “whether you like it or not, you’ll end up where the party wants you to go. People have tried, it never works and generally makes for an annoying and unfun night, so just go with the flow. Alright, now…let’s get to it, I guess!”
Amelia grabbed onto Lia’s arm, but she was quickly torn apart from Lia by Future Amelia. “You, you’re with my Lia.” Future Amelia told her past self. “And don’t be like…we are; I’ve tried, we’re not the strongest person here.”
“I’ll take it from here.” Lilith said, walking over to them. “Amelia, should I do the thing?”
Future Amelia paused, then nodded. “Yeah. She’s not going to listen otherwise.”
Lilith nodded in return, then turned to the current Amelia. “Amelia, in three seconds after I finish talking, I will cast a spell that would instantly kill you if I wasn’t making it nonlethal. You are welcome to try your hardest to resist, but it’s futile.”
“Yeah, I’ll be the judge of –” Amelia began, but Lilith snapped her fingers and then Amelia crumpled to the floor. Lia hurriedly crouched to try and help her up, but Lilith snapped her fingers again and Amelia took a breath, standing up with an increasingly red face.
“Don’t worry, about her, Lia.” Future Amelia said, grabbing Lia’s arm and gently pulling her away. “Lilith healed her, and she just has to understand that, as much as she thinks she might be, she’s not the strongest person here. I went through the same thing in the last party, and I needed it after I spent time learning how to cope with normal emotions, she needs it even more than I did.”
Future Amelia stopped, turning to face Lia before suddenly pulling her into a hug. “I know this is sudden, but…I’m sorry.” Future Amelia said, her voice thick with uncharacteristic emotion. “I’m not gonna be there for you when you die, and when I bring you back things are going to be rough for a little bit. I’ll have done some things that I’m not entirely proud of, things that affect the lives of a lot of people and that I didn’t realize were wrong, or just didn’t care. I know this is sudden for you, but…I just needed to say that, for myself.”
“Um…it’s fine?” Lia said, tentatively returning the hug. “You…bring me back to life, so no harm done, right?”
“There is harm done, and some of it was even done to you.” Future Amelia replied. “But I appreciate that you’re willing to forgive me.”
“I have to ask, though, were you the one that made me look like that?” Lia asked curiously. “You know how it is with foxkin tails, it’s not exactly fair to others if I get to cheat with them.”
Future Amelia chuckled, pulling away from the hug and beginning to gently pull Lia along again. “No, that wasn’t me, and if anything, those tails undersell what your magic power is like at the moment. Now…let’s go see who we’re paired up with, okay?”