“Little John?” the newly-Named Golden Sun Fire Titan Father John repeated blankly.

Reynard yipped several times in appreciation. “Oh, yes! Humans are like Monkeys, very humorous and chaotic. The little Archmage is called Big John, yes?” Father John nodded slowly. “He was so named by his other Monkey-tribesmen, because he is very Big, even though he is quite small, yes? A reminder that being small does not mean something cannot be powerful...”

Father John tilted his head to solemnly consider that point, and slowly nodded agreement. In terms of magic, the little Human had towered over all of them!

And this Fox in front of him was also dangerously powerful for its size...

“And yet, here he looks upon Little John, standing next to Father John.” The Golden Sun Fire Titan looked down, and realized how he stood over his son in all ways, who was unlike the little Human in that way. “It is a reminder, yes, that no matter how big we are, there is always something bigger.” Reynard pointedly turned his muzzle and horns in a certain direction, and the head of Father John turned that way.

The direction of Fire Titan High Emperor’s molten throne! Truly, if he was large to his son, what was he to Fire Titan High Emperor? Smaller than that Human in both size and magic...

The Titan turned his head back to where the Portal to the Mortal Realm had been. “A Phoenix Fireland,” he murmured gravely. He had heard of such a wonder, so different from the firefalls and dark stone of Fire Titan lands, but he had never seen one himself...

“Would Father John and his family like to be marked by the Sigil of Big John, so that he might Summon them to the Mortal Realm? You would be able to gaze upon and look about the Phoenix Fireland for a short while, at least...” Reynard asked brightly.

Father John contemplated that. Being marked by the Sigil meant he could also be Summoned to do battle... but also that he would also be receiving some power from the little Human in return, helping them grow.

And Titans were not afraid of fighting!

“Yes,” he agreed solemnly.

A moment later, that massive Four-Element Seal spun into existence in the air above them again, pulsing with power. All the Titans looked up at it as miniature versions of the Seal, mere Sigils of acknowledgement, flickered down and emblazoned themselves upon stony hides.

“You are now the Titan Clan of John!” the little mortal’s voice rang out about them. “Come! Come and see the wonders of Fire Phoenix Emperor’s Fireland!”

A silvery Portal, more than large enough to tower over even Father John, manifested among them, drawing them towards it. Mother John, Sister John, Aunt John, Uncle John, Brother John, Son John, Daughter John, Baby John, Brawny John, Nephew John, Niece John, Grandmother John, Cousin John, Hefty John, and Silent John all stepped through the Portal to the Firelands and Mortal Realm beyond.

“Success!” Reynard yipped in delight as he watched them go. Marked Titans could be brought forth as part of a Beast Tide, only they weren’t stampeding now. This number was actually far below what Big John could sustain, but when the Titans returned, they would bring their tales with them, and no doubt more Fire Titans would be willing to be so Marked.

The Titan Clan of John was no doubt going to get quite large in the future!

Reynard laughed and brought up his own Portal back to the Broom Closet. There was no need to retrace his long path getting here, after all...

============

Weeks later, the North Pole...

I had a very firm protocol in place that I would not work on a Pyramid for the Emperors without them attendant and watching me. I really didn’t care if they trusted me to do the job or not; I wanted them monitoring what I was doing, seeing what I was making, verifying what everything did, and leaving them completely satisfied that there were no tricks to take control of or sabotage their Pyramid’s Domain while I made it.

The North Pole project was a little bit trickier.

I still had Littoral Defenses to undertake, but the Pyramid here was going to be a big project, because it was not one Pyramid, but two!

Leviathan Emperor was naturally getting a Water Domain under the polar ice cap, but White Death Wolf Emperor was getting an Ice Domain right atop it. Secondary Domains of Psychic and Air actually harmonized nicely, but a Pyramid for Ice naturally couldn’t be on the ocean floor, and one for Water should naturally be all or mostly submerged.

So, this Pyramid was actually a huge spindle, each side forty tiers high. Furthermore, since they hooked into one another, they harmonized and extended the Domain to the equivalent of eighty levels, or one hundred and sixty miles in radius.

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The sea bed under the North Pole was thirteen thousand feet down, so the first thing I had to do was lift a column of rock from the sea floor all the way to near the surface, so I had a source of stone I could draw from for the Blocks I was making, refilling it from below as I scooped out chunks to make my Blocks. I could just send the stone back down when I was done.

I usually made Pyramids from the bottom up, but this time it was from the top down. By the end of the first day, I had several layers rising up from the depression in the sea and surface ice where I was working. White Death Wolf was watching from overhead and next to the depression as I did my thing, following everything with great interest as the Blocks were carved, floated into position in rows, assembled into layers, and then rose to fuse with the rest of the Blocks.

Layer upon layer rose into position, floating on the surface of the water and rising ever-higher as they did.

170,000 Blocks at 720 per twelve hours of work was 236 days of work, assuming no breaks in my working schedule, or White Death Wolf or Leviathan not having to attend to other matters. Realistically, that wasn’t going to happen, so I was probably looking at a full year to get this particular project done.

Well, it wasn’t like I had so many other things to do now, right? Besides, I was working on alternatives...

========

The Broom Closet...

I opened my eyes, my breath hissing out calmly. Briggs and Sama regarded me intently, knowing what I’d just done was important, if not exactly why.

“The Faith is pouring into Heaven,” I told them calmly, and both of them smiled widely. Hands came up, and high-fives went all around.

“Using the inter-planar position and the Pyramid here to follow your Pact up to Heaven was a stroke of genius,” Briggs sighed happily.

“It’s because this place is actually my expanded Sanctum Sanctorum, and so I am really closely attuned to it,” I nodded, the Disk I’d been meditating on warping and flowing into the form of a more comfortable chair. “More to the point, we can now really start doing things that defy reason.”

“Oh?” Sama’s heaven’s-blue eyes widened in expectation. “Like what?”

“With Faith and Heavenbound energy, I can now expend some Sage-tier energy to Cast Miracles.”

Both of them blinked. “Oh, sunuvabitch,” Briggs murmured. “Forget the crazy stuff, we aren’t going to warp reality unless we have to, but that allows Inherent Bonuses for everyone, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” I confirmed calmly. “Subject to the amount of Faith available.” Divine magic, after all.

“Thirty Miracles for a full set of Inherents is a lot of Miracles,” Sama mused. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you can probably use up that Faith faster than it’s coming in right now...”

“Yes. It is growing, and it will grow more as we start returning the effects of it to the people, and their doubts clear as their Faith is rewarded.”

“But... we don’t have Divine Omniscience to know where to put those Miracles for best effect. If those Miracles come from a Caster, it’s just another spell wrought by a Sage,” Briggs reasoned. “That’s not going to increase Faith much at all.”

“Yes. You both know that the biggest spur of Faith we have is the Allegiance itself, working for a higher purpose, and showing people the Color of their souls, proof that there IS a more profound force out there.

“But rewarding their Faith and Piety to everyone who prays and believes is a different matter. I may be smart, but I am not a god.”

“Can you grant someone the ability to take a Heavenbound Pact, if they qualify?” Sama asked thoughtfully.

“Probably?” Anyone could technically take a Pact; it was that there were no Patrons in Heaven, and the existing powers didn’t use them. A Miracle could simply duplicate the effect I’d had, piggybacking on my connection with the innate Will of Heaven.

“A Heavenbound Pact is an incredible boon to any Novice or Adept,” Sama pointed out. “It also doesn’t drain Faith once in place, and never runs out of power. This is a world that reveres martial ability. Unending magical ability is definitely going to be something that causes awe and veneration, even if it’s all internal, as it was with you for so long.”

“So that gives us an Order of Heavenbound, people blessed and chosen to be Servants of Heaven. That’s a nice focus for Faith,” I had to agree. If we could do it.

“Magic can coalesce into Elemental beings. Dark Magic can form bodies for netherworldly spirits. Could a Miracle form Celestials and jumpstart the rewards of the afterlife? Pulling the spirits out of limbo?” Briggs went on, always about making the numbers go up.

“Leave it to the Warlord to start recruiting the army,” I muttered under my breath, tracking further along that line of thought, and slowly nodding. “Standard Valence Monster Summoning spells operate on the paradigm of using Astral Templates of the creatures that are Summoned, effectively making them out of materialized ectoplasm and then dispersing them when the spell’s duration is expired. Every time they are created, they are born anew from randomized versions of those templates.”

“Normally that allows them to function immediately in pitched combat, but it should also mean they also know how to do their Celestial duties,” Briggs nodded thoughtfully. “Can you Summon something that can escort deserving souls from Limbo into Heaven?”

I started at the top of the list and went down, which didn’t get too far. “The job of psychopomps can be done by any number of powers. However, Trumpet Archons are often escorts for Good souls returning to life or Good heroes who have died in service, and Astral Devas are the apex of lesser Angels, having served all the lesser tasks beneath them and so will be able to also perform the task.

“I can Summon both and either. With Sage-tier magic, I can extend the duration of their existence as long as the Mana remains committed to them, reducing my maximum. However... if they are also escorting worthy souls to Heaven, they can use that opportunity to recruit those souls into themselves via a Miracle, becoming a true Named existence of themselves, and no longer a Summons.”

Both their breaths hissed out in appreciation. “You can build a Heavenly Host out of the dearly departed souls who’ve been waiting millennia and more in Limbo...” Briggs said with a soft sigh. “Do it, Fae. You know you’ve got nothing more important to accomplish. Once it hits a certain point, it should even be self-sustaining.”

“A minor addition. Make sure the descendants of those souls in Limbo have a dream or something that their ancestors, if they know of them, are finally released and are ascending. I think that alone will drive the whole engine of Faith to new heights of glory,” Sama added in.

=========

Names... are Everything.