“Hey, so…can we talk?” Lia asked the Amelia next to her. It had been something of a surprise when Lia had found that past versions of her and her lovers were present at this party, and even more of a surprise when the past Amelia had attempted to kill her. She had never been treated roughly by Amelia before, and she had to admit that it had rattled her a little.
“I don’t know what there is to talk about.” Amelia huffed. “I’m not going to be buddy-buddy with you; you’re not my Lia, and that’s what’s important.”
Lia sighed. “Amelia, look, just read my mind, okay? Do as deep a scan as you need, read through my memories of the future, whatever, just as long as we can put this past us.”
“I can’t. My magic’s sealed, remember?” Amelia said sulkily.
“Yes, but only for things that’ll cause conflict.” Lia said patiently. “As long as you make it so it doesn’t hurt me, I think it should work fine.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “Fine. If it’ll prove that I’m right, I’ll humor you.” She worked a quick spell, and her eyes widened as it went through. “I already tried this!” She protested. “It didn’t work then!”
“Were you trying to hurt me with it?” Lia asked.
“Whatever.” Amelia replied. “Be quiet and let me read your memory.”
Amelia’s face flashed through a series of emotions as she conducted her scan, eventually ending in what could only be described as the expression of a child that was caught doing something bad. It was almost exaggeratedly apologetic, and Lia was confident Amelia didn’t know kind of face she was making, or even properly know what she was feeling.
“So…it’s really you, then.” Amelia said quietly. “And I almost killed you.”
“It would never have happened.” Lia replied. “This party doesn’t like that sort of thing and for some reason it’s the most powerful entity I’ve ever heard of. Nothing else is capable of doing anything even close to what it does. I couldn’t tell you what it wants or why we’re here, but I’ve learned to just not question it, it’s easier that way.”
“Aren’t you upset?” Amelia asked. “I mean…I just…I’m sorry.”
“As you’ve seen, I know your situation by now.” Lia said. “I know that you’re not used to feeling normal emotions, and you don’t have a lot of self-control right now. It’s fine, just don’t do anything to anyone else here, okay? It could cause problems, and it’ll make for a less enjoyable night for both you and me.”
“Okay.” Amelia said obediently. “Um…what do we do now?”
“Now, we wait.” Fortune said, strolling up to them with a young human man in tow. “Anyway, for the sake of Amelia, let me introduce myself; I’m Fortune, a goddess from another set of planes. I’m from the time of the future-most Lilith, and this is Lucas, Lilith after she was reincarnated but before she learned about magic.”
“Um…nice to meet you, Lucas.” Lia said. “My name is Lia, I’m…it’s complicated, and probably best saved when we have everyone here so I don’t have to explain more than once, but I’m from a few years before the future-most Lilith, and this is Amelia from a few years before me.”
“Um, nice to meet you too.” Lucas said awkwardly. “You’ll have to forgive me if I’m quiet, this is all so new and I’m still coming to terms with the fact that I’m the reincarnation of someone important and am destined to become a woman in a year or two.”
“You and me both.” A blond teen said, walking up to the group with Ellie. “I’m Thomas, and this is Ellie. We’re also from before our future selves learn about magic.”
“And I believe I am likely the last of us.” Reuben said, looking around as he reached the group. “Just in terms of numbers, there are nineteen of us, and we seem to be splitting into three groups. I haven’t seen anyone else heading this way, and I make for the seventh in this group, so I’ll be surprised if anyone else is supposed to be here with us.”
“That makes sense.” Lia said. “Um, I assume Fortune, Reuben, and I are the only ones here who have been to one of these things? Reuben and Fortune, do either of you want to explain how this works or should I?”
“You’re probably the best fit.” Fortune said. “How the evening goes is different depending on the group you’re in, and you’re the most experienced one here with this specific group dynamic.”
“I concur.” Reuben agreed.
“Right. So, um, basically, what generally ends up happening is that we have a dinner, then, once that dinner is over, we go play some games together or something. The games here are supposedly…basically whatever we want, we just walk in a direction and we’ll find what we’re looking for.” Lia explained. “So, I think we should go get a table, then go get food and go from there.”
“Tables are that way, from what I see.” Fortune said, pointing off to Lia’s left. And, true to Fortune’s word, when Lia looked over, she could see the tables sitting there, occasionally obscured by groups of people walking past.
“Let’s go claim one, then. Uh…is someone willing to stay behind while the rest of us get food, to make sure no one takes it?” Lia asked.
“No need.” Reuben said. “I’ll leave a clump of materialized magic on the table, that usually serves to keep people away.”
“Oh. We usually left one of Lilith’s bodies there, but if that works, then that’s even better.” Lia replied.
The group quickly made their way over to the tables, picked the nearest one that would fit their group size, then scattered to go get their food. To Lia’s surprise, she was followed by Reuben, as well as Amelia. Lia wasn’t surprised that Amelia had joined her, of course, but she had sort of expected Reuben to go get food by himself.
“Lia, I must admit you have me curious.” Reuben said. “What happens in the future that makes my future self have such a low evaluation of Ariana, my wife, that is, and why did she choose to reincarnate?”
“To be honest, I’m not totally sure why she chose to reincarnate, and Rose isn’t, either.” Lia said. “It happened in the afterlife, and while Rose remembers your life completely, she had no memories of the afterlife as of yet. All we know is the bits and pieces the gods have told us; Connie knows, if we end up seeing her again tonight, I would ask her. But, from what I heard, you two had a minor disagreement, and instead of choosing to stay and work things out, she chose to reincarnate and be free of the situation.
“And as for why Rose has a dim view of her, well…this might sound a bit self-important, but I think it’s because of me and my family. When she realized what people who really love each other look like, and what it feels like to be in an actual loving relationship, she realized Ariana was only ever using her for her status.”
Reuben nodded sagely. “I see.” He said. “And what makes you think that?”
“Well, she basically said as much.” Lia said. “Or at least, said the family bit; when my mother told her that a mother-in-law’s job was to essentially treat her as her own child, she said she thought a mother-in-law’s job was to further her daughter’s standing at any cost. Admittedly my family is closer than most, but…I don’t know, the using-her-for-her-standing thing is mostly just the feeling I’ve gotten from a lot of little things I noticed throughout our relationship.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, but why’d you choose her to marry?” Amelia asked, a sour note in her tone.
“It just sort of happened.” Lia admitted. “Before you get upset, though, you’ll probably be marrying us soon. It’s just a matter of time at this point.”
“Us?” Amelia asked. “I only love you, and that’s not going to change.”
Lia sighed. “Would you ever break us up?”
Amelia stopped, frowning as she thought on that. “If it made you happy and she wasn’t taking advantage of you, then…no.”
“You wanted in, and the only way I was willing to accept that was if everyone loved everyone in the relationship, so you made it happen.” Lia said.
They reached the tables, and Lia grabbed a plate and began to pile food onto it. “I’m happy to say that every day you are becoming a better, more realized person, free from the constraints of the Urge and that you seem to be happier than ever. The events we’ve set in motion are big, and there’s a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, but you and Rose seem up to the task.”
“You as well.” Reuben said. “You are a part of this, correct?”
Lia paused. “Yes, it was just a slip of the tongue.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Amelia rebutted. “I know you better than to believe that.”
Lia sighed. “I have a lot of stuff I’m working through at the moment, and now isn’t the time to unpack it all.” She said. “Let’s just eat, okay?”
“If you insist.” Amelia said.
The three of them quickly got their food and returned to their table, where Lucas was already waiting, a small plate of food in front of him. “Not hungry?” Lia asked. “I thought the party picked people when they’d be hungry.”
“Huh?” Lucas asked, looking down at his plate then back up at Lia. “No, I’m hungry, I just don’t as much as most people. I cut back to pay for college, and after a while my appetite faded, you know how it is.”
“Oh. Lilith just gets bigger plates than you, so I had assumed it was something else.” Lia admitted, blushing slightly. “Sorry.”
“Well, she does look bigger and more active than me, I wouldn’t be surprised if she needs more food than I do.” Lucas replied.
“Actually, she’s reached a point where food is superfluous for her.” Fortune said, placing her plate down at the table, Thomas and Ellie following closely behind. “She can just absorb biomatter and leech off of the nutrients that way. She’s got enough stored to last her for centuries at this point, but she still likes to eat for the taste and to help keep her human. Or, well, not human, but normal. Even with magic there are very few people that don’t need to eat.”
“Wait, what do you mean normal?” Lucas asked. “Do I become abnormal even as far as the magic community is concerned?”
“Sorry to say it, but yes.” Fortune said. “Properly speaking, Lilith is an eldritch being, so she’s almost abnormal by definition.”
“But I’m normal!” Lucas protested. “I…think. What happens to me?!”
“You are normal. Mostly.” Fortune replied. “No one here is fully normal, at least, not in any of our groups, but that’s a story for another day. But, as for what happens to you, well, you end up reading an eldritch book called The King in Yellow, and that’s when it happens. I’ve been given to understand you went into a sort of trance during it and that you didn’t feel anything particularly unpleasant.”
“Nothing like that is going to happen to me, right?” Thomas asked anxiously.
“Uh, not really.” Fortune said awkwardly. “You go into your transformation voluntarily, rush into it even. Evan tries to warn you but…well, stuff happens. It’s sort of my fault, too? It’s complicated.”
“I feel it being your fault is kind of important.” Ellie said reproachfully. “I mean, at least he becomes an absolute bombshell, but it’s still not cool of you.”
Fortune sighed. “Sorry.” She said. “We’ve already dealt with this and made up by my time, and in my defense, I’m pretty sure I can’t even be held fully responsible for my actions. We’re ninety-nine percent sure the decision was heavily influenced by outside forces that none of us had any possibility of detecting.”
“The eldritch?” Reuben asked.
“Yeah.” Fortune said. “It seems that whatever entity has taken an interest in us likes turning boys into girls, and meddled with the process. Look, again, this is complicated and a bit much to get into right now. Uh, Lia, how are things with the swarm in your time? Have you gone to war yet?”
“In the middle of it.” Lia confirmed.
“Are you holding up okay? I know it was rough on you.”
“I’m…fine enough.” Lia said. “I’m struggling a bit, yeah, but I’m doing my best to learn and get up to snuff.”
“What’s this swarm?” Thomas asked.
“Ah, um…long story short, Amelia has retooled the system and given us the capability to…uh, well, transform people into female versions of themselves that are loyal to the swarm, and then they can sort of evolve nigh-infinitely and…okay, I know it sounds bad, and that’s because it is, but…”
“It’s fine, Lia.” Fortune said, smiling faintly, then turned to the others. “She’s doing her best to stay as moral as possible.” Fortune said. “After Amelia brought her back to life, she removed the capability for Lia to see conversion as wrong, and by the time that bit of manipulation was undone, they were past the point of no return. And it’s not like the swarm has no benefits, either, most prefer to think of it as a one-off sin in exchange for the elimination of war on those planes. A trolley problem situation, if you would.”
“What’s the trolley problem?” Ellie asked.
“Ah, it’s a philosophical question from Lucas’s plane. Essentially, there is a trolley heading down a road that will kill five people tied to a track. You can, through some mechanism, divert it so it kills one person instead. The exact mechanism changes from problem to problem, sometimes it’s throwing a lever, sometimes it’s pushing someone onto the tracks, which would somehow stop the train…basically, it’s to test what it takes for a person to consider not diverting the trolley.
“Everyone knows it’s better for one person to die than five in a vacuum, but what if it was four people instead of one? What if that one person was the person you’re closest to? What if the difference in the number of people was so small as to be a rounding error? You get the gist.”
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t hung out with this many men in a long time.” Lia admitted. “The closest I’ve gotten since I was reincarnated was being out in a public street incognito and being at an international negotiation, both of which were one-time things. It’s kind of refreshing, really.”
“There are three of us here.” Thomas said doubtfully. “Surely you’re joking, right?”
“Like I said, the swarm is women only.” Lia said. “And right now I’m kind of the enemy of most sapient life on my plane that isn’t part of the swarm, so most people who know who I am would be out to kill me.”
“Why haven’t you done anything to us, then?” Lucas asked. “Is it because the party won’t let you?”
“No, not at all!” Lia said quickly. “I mean, yes, the party wouldn’t let me, but you’re not from my universe, and there’d be no reason to, since I’d just get in trouble. And even if I wouldn’t…well, you’re my allies, and I’d rather keep the swarm confined to my universe unless, for some reason, some other Administrator wants it on theirs. I wouldn’t just go on a spree converting everything if I was able to.”
“Oh, sorry.” Lucas said. “I should have realized.”
“It’s fine.” Lia replied. “It’s normal to have some misgivings about what I do, and in one of these parties I said something sort of similar to you, so it evens out.”
“To me?” Lucas asked.
“One of your future selves, Eve, does work sort of similar to what Lia does.” Fortune said. “She works as the ‘Queen of Monsters’, a shared enemy for sapient people to defeat. I’m guessing it was in regards to that.”
“It was.” Lia said. “I was surprised that she wasn’t wanting to kill everyone. But, uh, anyway, I have to ask, how is life without magic?”
“Normal, I guess?” Lucas said. “Probably a bit worse off than if we had magic, but I can’t really make a comparison if I don’t know what life with magic is like.”
From there, they launched into a conversation about what their individual lives were like. Fortune’s experiences ended up being the most insightful of the lot; while she had only personally lived with magic, her work with Tess’s home plane led her to understand what sort of things differed when magic wasn’t involved.
That lasted them most of dinner, and when they finished, they elected to go find some games to play. Thomas and Ellie suggested laser tag, and Lia was pleased to find that, this time around, she actually felt good at it; Reuben, Amelia, and Fortune were better than her, yes, but in turn she was better than Thomas, Ellie, and Lucas. She couldn’t help but feel accomplished; those three had more experience int his game than her, but Lia’s experience with actual combat was enough to easily surpass them.
After that, they just sort of wandered, playing whatever games caught their fancy until Lia got the feeling that she was about to go. “Well, everyone, it was a nice night.” She said, giving them a smile. “It was nice meeting you all, but it feels like time is up.”
“Yup.” Fortune agreed, slinging an arm around Thomas and Ellie. “And it was a nice blast from the past to see you two like this.” She said fondly. “I know you won’t be able to remember this until my time, but hang in there, okay? It all gets better.”
Reuben turned and grabbed Lia’s hand, giving it another kiss. “I look forward to meeting you in the future.” He said. “It sounds fantastic. Thank you for such a nice evening.”
“Um, yeah.” Amelia said awkwardly. “And sorry I can’t save you before you die.”
Lucas scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Well, I think it was nice meeting you all as well. Uh, how do we leave, do we just –” He vanished mid-sentence, and Lia chuckled.
“Yes, we just disappear.” She said. “Just let it happen.”
Lia stifled a yawn, turning a page in her workbook. She was almost done with the homework for the lessons Nailah and Ophelia had been giving her, and after she had finished, there would be dinner with her lovers. It had been a strangely long-feeling day, and she couldn’t think of a better way to cap it off than spending time with some of the people she loved most.