All that going on, and I still had no idea what Kwannon and Felicia were actually doing.
Sunny was over in Europe, turning the Euroforce into one of the best super-teams on the planet. Europe was a hotbed of mad scientists, alchemists, and wizards right now, with super-science crossing streams with Artifice to make all sorts of weird and wild shit for this faction to unleash upon that faction for slights from who knew when to be inflicted on their descendants by those other descendants.
The pressure from Briggs on the ‘free’ nations of Europe had never let up. Russia hadn’t made the slightest efforts to gain territory, but nor had they given any up. Expatriate Germans especially had been vocal in trying to gain back their homeland from the Iron Curtain for many years, and the Great Bear had not wavered.
The Iron Curtain was not there to keep the people in, it was to keep Europe out. The Great Bear had not cared in the slightest if people chose to leave and flee. He had cared if they wanted to come back and infect the citizens with their nonsense, encourage rebellion, plot unrest, welch off the nation, and steal the fruits of the people’s labor.
In the first hard decade after the Second World War, many people had indeed left from behind the Curtain, only to find out that all of Europe had been rebuilding, and had no time for homeless refugees. The Great Bear had let them go, but he had not let them return.
A whole generation and more had risen behind the Curtain since then, with their cultural conflicts ruthlessly quashed under the Great Bear’s fist, Human replacing the many languages spoken there, and one law being imposed across the lands under his hand.
Survive, obey, prosper. Get greedy, protest, rebel, and die or be exiled.
Net emigration from Russia itself had long gone negative, and had only increased over the years since. Whole communities of people from other nations had been known to express their desire to move to lands in the Eastern Bloc, and the Great Bear had found a place for them. Their children had grown up to be members of the greatest nation on the world, and were proud of their country and the people in it.
The Great Bear accepting the Turkish Armenians and Europe’s Jews pre-WW2 was still quietly lauded as two of the greatest charitable actions in political history. Both communities were among the staunchest of his supporters. New Israel and New Armenia had been two of the great contributors to modern Russia, and to the world as a whole, their scientists putting out discovery after discovery to help lift other nations into the modern age.
Germany had become sort of the transit territory for the Eastern Bloc, the doorway to the rest of the lands. The Curtain was fairly strict everywhere else, but people came and went in Germany with relative freedom. It even contributed separately to the Euroforce, traded freely with the rest of Europe... and almost nobody there wanted to leave, either.
After all, they were a modern nation, and the rest of Europe was a generation or two behind them...
Sunny’s experiences with the state, racial, and religious politics, as well as castes and cliques, were infuriating to go through. There had been some breakthroughs since the spread of Human had forcibly taken care of language differences, and the older, dead languages were starting to fade despite concerted efforts to keep them alive. Human was the genetic tongue, it would always be primary, and now the wonders and intricacies of the old languages was something for scholars, specialists, and those trying really hard to keep old barriers in place.
Still, there was lots of history in the Old World, lots of embedded interests, and cracking such things open was definitely a cause for violence on the part of many parties, lasting change hard to make as people reverted to the way things had always been done once again...
Sunny dealt with it by focusing on the arts, the positive history, and touring the many landscapes and scenery. She also did a lot of skiing. It helped being able to go anywhere there was good snow, and she had single-handedly popularized snowboarding there, a trend rapidly extending to other countries.
She went to a lot of museums, operas, ballets, concerts, and festivals, too, and her name was often linked romantically with high-profile figures, sometimes even truthfully. Being a Duplicate, she couldn’t get pregnant normally, so having flings and affairs was completely in style and she indulged when she saw someone worth her time. She rather quickly got a reputation as a Golden Muse, because the only people who ever heard her play the violin were her lovers and the other members of the Euroforce.
While she got on well with all the other members of Euroforce, she was most famous for her team-ups with Laynia Petrovna, the Darkstar, one of the Russian members of the team. While their powers were complete opposites in source, Sunny had worked out a resonance effect where, instead of debilitating the Darkforce that Laynia drew upon, it was enhanced and came out in equal and opposite force.
In effect, when Sunny used Light, Laynia was equally powerful using the Darkforce if she was within Sunny’s Song of Light and Dark. Sunny could also materialize her Light then, just like Laynia could the Darkforce, and they could mix and wield the two energies together to enhanced effect.
If they occasionally indulged in one another after-hours in private, well, Laynia’s arms were very cool, and Sunny’s were very warm.
Well, time to see Ursula soon, then, and deal with that issue...
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The next day...
My statuesque brunette Duplicate Thrice was the only one present at this time of early morning/night, save for the Simulacra around who maintained the Church. Disciples and students slept in the attached abbey.
I’d gotten Dragon Man fixed up with a new speechbox of sorts. He’d been up on top of the Baxter Building testing out his vocal range when I’d left him. Hank McCoy had sat down to help him and give him a proper edumacation on dictationtiontion and other Schmot Stuff.
I finally got to lose the Wrecker Buffs and get down to a less imposing build. Looking at Ursula, I had the sudden impression that might be a little more difficult in the future.
“I see the random attacks have tapered off,” I noted to her as we sat down.
“The enthusiasm with which we pursue those who dare to offend us has created some caution in the heathen scum in the validity for the rightful warrior mentality of our faithful,” Ursula said piously, clasping her hands. “And we also have a survival camp in Antarctica for the recalcitrant to learn the meaning of tolerance, brotherhood, and the importance of fish gruel.”
I smirked. There were indeed advantages to having a true Archpriestess of whatever kind as your Hierophant.
“Do you think I missed that Shrine to Hercules on the edge of the property?”
“He’s a brother warrior god to Thor, and suddenly we have the biggest muscle gym in the city around. Lots of cross-worshipping eye candy around. If it irritates the Christians, eh. I’m not raising a temple to the Olympians. Most of them are the definition of jerks.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“They’ve already complained to you?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Hermes himself came down to deliver the proclamation. I reminded him that Hercules has permission to set up his church, and Zeus and the rest of his family do not. If they wish, please proceed to San Francisco and file an immediate protest, because I wasn’t going to overrule the Golden Hag.”
“He bowed and ran away, I assume.”
“Well, he did offer to take me dancing, and I let him. I did caution him that he might be messing about with Loki if he tried anything here, but he’s not totally reprehensible. Raven and Coyote might or might not enjoy having him around.”
I nodded. “And the most important point?”
“I’ve been through Amora’s entire life. I know her life better than she does, and her magic, too.” Ursula’s face twisted. “Bloody goddesses and their tempers and lack of emotional control. All that potential wasted because she couldn’t get over the idea of becoming the wife of Thor and the eventual Queen of Asgard, and can’t understand the warrior mentality and really earn his approval.”
“Is anyone going to come looking for her?” I asked calmly.
“No.” Ursula took no pleasure in the word. “Her sister is a rival, not an ally, and her servants were as much slaves to her charms as anything else. The only one who might care is Skrurge, and he only needed a minor message to go off and do things until she calls for him. With godly timelessness, if she’s gone for a century, he’ll scarcely bat an eye.”
“Karnilla?”
“Also rival and instructor. Loki considers Amora just another pawn to manipulate, of course, and would only come to her aid to gain her services.”
I sighed, clasping my hands. “I don’t like taking out gods, but damn, there’s some idiot Asgardians around, too.”
“You have no idea, but you will soon.” Her smile was lopsided as she put her staff-spear on the table between us. The Godstone was located inside the head, and gave her enough power to defy Odin Himself if she had need to... and something else to send power into the Pocket, or upgrade her Ultra Core.
I put my hand on her Staff, which she had simply Named Believe, and drew my Duplicate back inside.
There was a swirl of power as she discorporated, a second golden-haired face momentarily visible in the magic, and then it was all sucked into me.
Amora the Enchantress was promptly Sealed in my own Bindings, which were tied to my Totem Pact and so far more redoubtable than Ursula’s.
Memories that had started diverging at the time of her creation reunited and came together seamlessly. The whole fourth life I’d been living as Ursula was returned to me.
She had naturally Reformatted herself to accommodate her different drives and motivations, and her personality was represented by my Faithful thoughtstream, as Sunny took my Artist one, staying perfectly intact even as her active skills and Classes had to revert to my own.
Fifteen hundred years of other memories came with her, as Amora’s entire history was laid out for me, fully comprehended from childhood to her current times.
Amora could have been a goddess of love, and effortlessly earned Thor’s love thereby. Unfortunately, the warrior culture of the Norse had different views on such matters, and it was Balder who was beloved of the Aesir. Her charms and beauty could only devolve to passion, and the ‘womanly arts’ were not things that held power in Asgard, where Odin and Odin alone ruled all, and masculine power was the rule of the day and the millennium.
Unable to compete with the likes of Sif and Brunhilda in the warrior arts, she had chosen a different path to gain her desires, embracing skills that were generally disdained and looked down upon in Asgard, and so embracing the powers of sorcery.
Unfortunately, Amora was more charismatic and willful than clever, and so hardly a genius, if very astute at reading situations. Ursula’s/My comprehensions of everything she had learned completely eclipsed her own, which I could tell both impressed and frightened her greatly.
Ursula had placed a memory-lock on her, so that if she were freed from her Binding, she would immediately lose any memories gained after she was Sealed. We had nothing to fear from her if she got free of us, and knowing her better than she knew herself, we could destroy her at our leisure.
She knew it, too, and had effectively given up trying to get out, settling down to living our life with us. Godly timelessness helped with such matters greatly, giving her a patience mortals just didn’t have.
I looked down at my hands, back up to full Asgardian mode as I drew off Amora’s power instead of Function. This wasn’t a Buff, this was actually ‘natural mode’ at the moment, the natural basis of an Asgardian goddess.
Amora was naturally very curious about this entire process, and could feel the power of my Matrix pulsing as Ursula’s experiences were added to my own, and vice versa. My Divine Tranche definitely popped a full Level instantly, and Amora could feel it. Our magical power far exceeded her own, and our understanding of it was even deeper.
More importantly, I was touching on her Divine Awareness as to matters of Faith and Belief and the like, able to sense the power of mortal souls in this matter. I didn’t have any mortal worshippers, nor did Amora, as Odin had decreed that such were not allowed in the past. The one exception was the Faith flowing through the church of the Aesir, although prayers to Thor from around the world could be dimly felt by me as the Hierophant of the faith.
Amora the Enchantress wasn’t among the gods Ursula was representing here, either, which she both resented and unhappily understood.
I Cast the Duplicate spell, and sent Ursula forth again.
My Faithful thoughtstream was replicated and sent forth to incarnate, and Ursula rematerialized where she had been sitting. Even her Reformatting was already accomplished, having the prior template to work from.
Amora was transferred back out of me, meaning I shrank back down to normal size. She wanted to be at a center of power, a power in the Court of the Aesir... and being the archpriestess of their mortal Church was as close to that power as she’d ever come.
Also, Ursula now had a copy of my Ultra Core, completely empty but present.
I removed my hand from Believe, and Ursula reclaimed it. Her blue eyes shimmered as she gazed at it, and I felt a stream of constant energy spring up from it.
Cosmic energy, accenting the Divine Reserves she was also sending into it, along with Asgardian magic.
Building a Divine Core, and effectively working to turn herself into a real goddess of Asgard if she desired, using Amora as the template to do so.
She should be able to manage a link to the World-Tree of Yggdrasil, and draw in more power that way, too.
There was literally nothing more to say now, as I was literally talking to myself at this point. I nodded to her, and was off, flittering through the Interdiction permission with perfect Attunement, and leaving the most powerful priestess on the whole planet behind to run the Church of the Aesir.
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Ursula Thrice, The Faithful, Hierophant of the Church of the Aesir, The Enchantress*, Wielder of the Godstone
Female Augmented Powered Human/5, Base Spider Totem Template, Asgardian (Bound)/10*
Ur-Priest/1, Wizard/1, Mystic Theurge/9 (Wiz/Ur), Archmage/3 (Wiz), Hierophant/2, Warshaper/1; Learned Sorceress/1, Arcane Theurge/10 (Sorc/Wiz), Arcane Hierophant/8 (Sorc/Bard); Arcane Fist/4, Melee/6, Bard/7
Strength: (14) 18->26 [40/50*] Height: 6’3*
Dexterity: 18->31 [38] Weight: 450 lbs.*
Constitution: (16) 18-> 25 [35/45*] Hair: Brown
Intelligence: 20->48 (52 Cold) Eyes: Blue
Wisdom: (12) 18->30 Age: 20 (1500+)*
Charisma: (12) 18->32
Health: 334*
Soak: 606
Movement: 180’
Nova Core/Mutant Core: 6 (00%)/214 PP (fixed, integrated)
Arcane Pool: 51 (3+ ki (19) + Song (29))
Theurgic Caster Levels: Ur-Priest/10 (54); Sorceress/20 (29); Wizard/20 (29); Bard/15 (24)
Notable Talents/Traits: Naturally Focused, Dauntless; True Believer, Faithful; Charming*, True Beauty*; Slayer: Ninja, Tong, Werewolf, Skrulls/Dire Wraiths, Brood, Fiends, Mutates, Undead, Constructs (robots) (acquired); Sealed Identity; Master of Three Dragons (Sun, Moon, Ocean)
Templated Powers: Enhanced Might; Enhanced Reflexes; Increased Fortitude and Stamina; Poison Resistance and Acquired Immunity; Radiation Immunity; Perfect Balance; Enhanced Speed and Jumping; Impact Resistance
Ultra Core Powers: Non-powered
*Asgardian Heritage (Binding): Aesir Resistances; Aesir Might (Elite); Aesir Endurance (Elite); Aesir Longevity; Aesir Vitality; Divine Awareness; Goddess (Love/Passion)*
#Mutant Core Power: Superspeed, Flight, Increased Reaction Time at Speed; Increased Invulnerability at Speed
Acquired Powers: Immune to Fire and Cold extremes, affinity for Fire and Cold Magic; Spellcaster (Weaver Magic); Pheromonal Control; Sunstone Attunement (Crystal Bones); Rune-Carved Bones (+5 to Physical Stats**(not Included), Unbreakable), Attuned and Wielder of the Godstone, Ultra Nova Core; Beaubier Core (integrated)#
Spells per day: ...
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