Brielle hands us a couple of bowls of vanilla porridge which we pretty much immediately start eating while we keep her some more company in the kitchen.

“Are you sure you two are going to be safe with just the two of you?” Brielle asks as she turns down the fire. “Not being disrespectful to you and your power of course.” She looks at me.

“There will be others joining us, just not the people who regularly travel with us.” Sam explains. “We will definitely not be going alone. That’d be a little bit too dangerous, even for us.”

“And that’s also why we can’t really stay much longer. We agreed to meet up in just a little bit.” I add.

“Ah, that’s why you are not sitting down to get a meal.”

“Exactly.” Sam nods. “Sorry if it’s too impolite for your tastes.”

“Don’t worry about me. I know what it’s like from my soldiering days.” She smiles and walks over to one of the cabinets. She takes out two small loaves of bread and hands them to us. “Here, you can take this along on your travels. It’s from a recipe I learned from one of the army cooks. It’s bread stuffed with nutritious nuts and a lot of sugar. It might taste a bit unusual but it’s great to fill your energy levels with. I sometimes make it as a treat for myself because I grew quite fond of it.”

“Oh, thank you!” I reply, giving the bread a quick sniff. It actually smells pretty nice.

“You’re most welcome. I’ll teach you the recipe once you get back. If you want to, of course.”

We smile at Brielle and put the bread away while we finish off our porridge. When we are well and truly done we say goodbye to her and head to the main hall so we have plenty of room to teleport away. There we also wave goodbye to Henri who was just about finished with the staircase.

Our teleport out of the mansion goes off without a hitch as we arrive near the crossroads where we had agreed to meet with our godly friends. From the looks of it, it’s going to be a rather nice day, at least concerning the weather, as there is just a soft mild breeze with just a couple of white clouds dotting the sky.

“They should be somewhere around here, right?” Sam asks.

“Yeah, the message said they were ready to receive us. But I don’t see them around either.” I look around while we walk to the center of the crossroads.

“Surely they didn’t go to the wrong crossroads, right?”

I shrug. “Let me send them a message and find out.” I open my message interface but before I can start typing I can hear Gamma’s voice coming from out of the woods behind me.

“Amicia, we are here! We were just staying out of sight so we didn’t look like we were trying to hold-up merchants on the road!” Out of the woods Gamma walks, wearing a leather coat, quite reminiscent of the one I’d imagine Captain Taylor would really like. Completely filled to the brim with matchlock pistols hanging from it. I count at least 8 of them. By her sides hang two shortswords just to emphasize her piratey look.

“Isn’t hiding in the woods pretty suspicious by itself? People would think you are trying to ambush them, right?” Sam asks as she watches Gamma walk up towards her.

“Only if we are seen.” Gamma retorts after which she starts inspecting Sam, maybe a bit too close to my liking. “Oh, so this is what you look like in Haurchefaud. Not bad, not bad.” Gamma cups her chin with her right hand and nods. “Being a Nekote suits you. Sure you don’t want to look like this on Earth too?”

“I’m pretty sure, yes, thanks.” Sam is quick to reply.

Before Sam can tell Gamma to stop flirting with her, the other two Gods also appear from the woods, walking side by side.

On the left there’s Veanya, who actually looks quite similar to her grandma form, albeit aged down by like 50 years. Still looking very different from how she looks back on Earth. Donning a brown braided ponytail going down her back that almost touches her but. As for her clothing she’s wearing brown leather heeled boots which are mostly covered by her dark blue robe. On top of which she’s wearing a dark forest green cloak.

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On the right there’s Sidolphus, looking pretty much identical to his Earth self, just as tall to say the least, if not even a little bit taller. His equipment only accentuates the proverbial wall of a man he is. Donned in a shining set of steel full plate armor, casually resting his huge spiked maul on his shoulder while his great helm is attached to his belt.

It really makes me wonder how the hell I couldn’t spot him from the spot we were standing at because his armor is practically radiating in the sunlight.

“Holy hells.” Sam comments and I don’t even need to guess which of the two gods is provoking that reaction. “That is Sidolphus?”

“The one and only.” Sidolphus smiles as he closes the distance between us.

Sam looks at me, bewildered.

“He didn’t look that intimidating in the apartment, he wasn’t wearing that armor.” I don’t really know what else to say, really. His appearance baffles me almost just as much as it does her.

“See, Sid, I told you that this was going to pull too much attention to ourselves.” Gamma replies.

“Gamma, you are basically wearing an arsenal.” I reply. “I’ve not seen that many guns around, you know?”

Gamma looks at me and shrugs. “I’m just going to pretend to be a rich merchant kid.”

“As for me.” Sidolphus taps his chest. “I thought it would be a good idea to look impressive as the rest of your party is not present. The people need to be convinced that we can be trusted to keep you safe.”

“Well, I suppose there’s something to be said for that...” Sam bobs her head from one side to the other. “In any case, it’s nice to meet you Sidolphus. I’m Sam.”

“Nice to meet you as well.” Sid uses his free hand to give Sam a, presumably very sturdy, handshake.

In the meantime Veanya is just standing there, smiling. “It will all be fine.” I’m honestly a bit surprised that she is the one who is the most ‘normal-looking’ of the three of them.

“So, what are you going to do, Veanya?” I ask.

Veanya innocently tilts her head a little and gives me a gentle smile. “What do you mean exactly?”

“Well… Gamma is clearly going to pew pew people and if they get too close she will use her swords.”

Gamma nods. “Pretty much, yes.”

“Sidolphus is going to be our front-liner to stop the enemy in their tracks with his big hammer.”

“Yes.” He gives me a happy thumbs up.

“Going off your clothing, you are some kind of wizard?”

“I’m a witch actually.” She lifts her finger.

“What elements?” Sam asks.

Veanya turns around to face Sam and tilts her head again. “All of them.”

“All of them?” I ask. “Is that possible?”

Veanya shrugs. “It’s not unheard of. It’s very rare, granted, but not impossible. Besides, we are a party of extraordinary adventurers who have gathered here to face untold evil. I don’t think anyone will bat an eye at how many elements I can use.”

“And as we won’t be fighting close by, they probably won’t even see her cast spells anyway.” Sidolphus states.

“See, we will be totally fine.” She smiles.

“Talking about fine.” Gamma raises her finger and then starts looking for something in one of the inside pockets of her jacket. It takes quite a couple of seconds which makes me think the inside of her jacket is not as straightforward it seems. In the end she pulls out a necklace and holds it in front of her. It is a silver necklace with a little Greek gamma symbol dangling on it. “I made this for Sam.”

“And what is it?” Sam opens her hand after which Gamma lets it drop in the palm of Sam’s hand. “It’s a little bit of a countermeasure I prepared to counter the Diaboli’s influence for a time.” She explains. “Veanya told me you were coming along and asked for another layer of safety so nothing happens with your body back on Earth. This will provide that for you.”

“I feel a but incoming.” Sam replies.

“But, when I say ‘for a time’ I really mean just for a couple of moments. This necklace can completely nullify the influence for three seconds. After that, it breaks.”

“So if we want to be sure that nothing happens, if she were to get hit by a bolt like my sister did, we need to get it out in three seconds?”

“Exactly.” Gamma nods. “If you are slower, it still does not mean anything will happen, but it can. So the risk will go up. This is basically a ‘get out of jail free card’ for three seconds.”

“Did you only make one?” I ask.

Gamma nods once more. “The materials you need to make this are exceedingly rare. The material I used is what Veanya managed to salvage from the bolt she destroyed at your house.”

“Thanks.” Sam replies and hangs the little necklace around her neck. Although I need to help a little with the clasp. “I will try not to use it and give it back in one piece.”

“That’d be appreciated.” Gamma smiles. “Do tell me what you think of how it looks though.” She continues. “I might want to make a necklace fashion line at some point and I quite liked the simplistic design of that one.”

-Gamma… please…-