***Eternity***

***Angrod***

“You mean, right now?” I ask and point at the barrier which is the only safeguard between this room and the unknown of the strange dimension outside.

“No better time than now. The less time Moonray has to think about what my presence might mean, the better. That, and I want to get this over with quickly, if possible,” Celes answers with a flippant tone. “Didn’t you notice how his eyes flicked towards me every few seconds? I bet he is already trying to figure out what changed in this iteration for me to be here.”

“No, I didn’t notice,” I grumble and raise my hand towards the barrier, annoyed with myself and the situation as a whole. It doesn’t happen often for me to be overwhelmed by unexpected circumstances.

But it seems like Celes has a plan, or more like, Seria had a plan. And while I would question my wife’s ability to control her warring personalities – which would disqualify her to make rational decisions – my daughter was always a schemer who got what she wanted in the end.

It isn’t the worst of ideas to follow her lead as long as I lack the knowledge to see the greater picture of our situation.

In any case, the current scenario seems to call for quick action rather than long planning and Celes had more time than I did to think about everything. “After this is done and over with you will give me a detailed explanation of what is going on. Without leaving anything out.” I raise my hand. “Palace, deactivate the barrier.”

The AI does as ordered and the barrier falls, allowing Celes and me to take a step outside of the vault and into the white plane. The vault-room behind us is a perfect cube of Mana Crystal which was left intact. Everything else was cleaned away by my spell.

Aside from ourselves and this remainder of the past multiverse, we seem to be alone. Still and silent, our surroundings make the impression of awaiting with halted breath for what is going to happen next.

“Okay!” I comment, patting my belly and chest to reassure myself that nothing went wrong. “We are still in one piece, nor are we mutating into some horrible creature, nor are we reduced to sub-atomic particles.”

My wife’s left eye twitches. “That was a possibility?”

While nodding vehemently, I gesture at our surroundings. “Definitely. Didn’t I warn you that this is another dimension? There is no way to tell what rules it might follow.” I shudder at the memory of travelling certain regions of the chaotic plains. “I thought you and Seria were aware of the risk when she sent you after me.”

“Well, maybe you could elaborate on the risks of dropping the barrier in a little more detail the next time around,” Celes grumbles. “Preferably before I convince you to do something. I am only following our daughter’s instructions, but I would like to know what I am getting myself into.”

“Sorry, but you gave me the impression that it is all about changing things! For example, I would have never left the barrier!” I sigh. “So, what now? There is no Moonray around. If he is, he is very good at hiding.”

“Invisibility spell?”

I scan our surroundings. “Nothing I can detect.”

“Okay, so it’s not any normal magic,” Celes mumbles and jumps, landing with a single leap on top of the crystal cube that remains of the former vault-room. “He isn’t hiding on the other side either. That would have been too easy.”

“Of course not.” I cross my arms, imagining how pathetic it would have been if it were that easy. “At least a few of my other iterations must have had the idea of dropping the barrier and exploring this dimension!” At the very least I would hope so.

Celes rolls her eyes and sits down on top of the vault-room, dangling her legs over the edge while curling her tail behind herself.

I wait for almost a minute until I finally give up. “So, what’s the plan? Do we pick a direction and start walking?”

“We wait.” Celes scans the distance with her narrowed eyes.

“For what?” I look around, wondering whether she actually has a plan.

“Something to happen,” Celes answers unhelpfully. “You know, this place is somehow relaxing. So silent, even for my enhanced senses. Perfect for meditation. There is no need to rush if Moonray doesn’t want to come out. I doubt it would get us anywhere to search this place by choosing a random direction.”

I huff. “That’s the grand plan then? We wait until the bastard gets bored and shows himself?”

She nods and lies down, raising one leg in a manner that’s clearly meant to show off. “You know, we could use the chance to get busy while nobody else is around.”

Great. Now the other personality is in charge. “Celes, I think you have to control yourself. Do you really think that this is the right time and place?”

She tilts her head, humming to herself. “Strangely enough, I believe myself to be in perfect control of my two sides. More than I have ever been. Could it be some effect of this place?”

I eye her warily and study our surroundings. “Possible. I assumed that the last observer could change anything he or she wanted about the multiverse. Maybe it’s also possible to influence your soul if you really believe that you should be… yourself… or different?”

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Celes closes her eyes. “I think I will try just that. You do whatever you can think of to find Moonray in the meantime.”

After staring at Celes for several long moments, I turn away from my meditating wife, not expecting her to be any help at this point. Why did it have to be her to accompany me to this place?

But I am missing my goal. First, I have to make sure that Moonray is really dead.

Only, how to go about this is an entirely different matter.

Originally, I thought that everything in this dimension would work out just by wishing for it, so I close my eyes and concentrate, wishing for Moonray to appear in front of me.

And, of course, nothing happens.

Should I try to use my mana at the same time? Is there some flow of energy that can be sensed?

“Come back! Appear! And there was light!” I wave my hands, feeling pretty stupid as I try to conjure my enemy from the nothingness without any result.

How embarrassing! Trying to give commands with my voice!? Okay, at least I tried and can cross that point off my list.

Then what if I need an exact image of what I want? Maybe using self-hypnosis? I turn to watch the vault-room behind me, seeking some inspiration without luck.

Minutes and several failed attempts pass, leaving me curious about the situation.

Hours float by and my mental state turns to bewilderment and annoyance at my wife’s refusal to do anything. She only insists on perching on top of the vault, waiting for something in her meditative trance.

Days pass and end in frustration, but I refuse to give up!

Until, one day, Celes suddenly jumps up with a shout of triumph, causing me to twitch out of a concentration exercise of my own.

“What?” I ask warily while I watch Celes performing a little victory dance.

“The thoughts are gone!” she exclaims and jumps down from her spot on top of the vault-room. With a smile that could melt worlds, she hugs me and takes my hand, forcing me to join her in a little waltz.

Then I remember that she tried to consolidate her conflicting personalities and feel like jubilating myself. “For real? How?”

I cup her cheeks in between my palms and send my energy into her body, trying to sense her fracturing soul. Instead, there is only what seems to be one whole inside her, body and soul. “That should have been impossible! Neither Katrine nor I could think of any solution to your problem. And now it is solved just by being here? Just like that?”

Celes pouts and wraps her tail possessively around my upper thigh. “Hey, I did my fair share of meditation while trying to wrangle myself together! Admittedly, this place helped. We have to assume that there is a different set of rules for this dimension. And I feel like there is more I could achieve, given some more time.”

I roll my eyes. “How much more time do you need?”

“Oh, months, years?” She shrugs. “It isn’t like we are on a deadline.”

I try not to look crestfallen. As gods, we don’t have to fear starvation or thirst as long as we keep circulating our mana, but living that long without the little conveniences of modern civilisation is appalling, to say the least. “Can’t we-”

Celes places a finger on my lips while reaching for my belt. “Say nothing. I know how we can make the time enjoyable…”

“Oh, come on!” Suddenly, Moonray appears with a shout. “I am not gonna watch you-”

His complaint is cut short by a fireball to the face and myself dashing towards him with a scream of insane murder emitting from my throat. My hands already reach for his chest to rip out his heart when his hands come up and catch my own with impeccable precision, stopping my advance completely.

As the fire around his head fades, I get treated a close up of his burned skin-replenishing itself with orange cinders flaking away, leaving behind his unblemished and smiling mien. “You really thought that you could stop the immortal phoenix with fire?”

I purse my lips. “I hoped it would blind you at the very least.”

He brings up his knee, burying it in my side, and then the world tilts as I double over. Moonray inhales and I manage just in time to evade his exhaling breath of blue fire, smelling the stench of burned hair in the next moment.

With my hair just a little singed, I manage to reverse his hold on my arms as I pull myself back to my feet with a roar, my left hand on his throat as I punch the other into his belly, raising him above my head. Summoning my armour at the same time, I cast directly against his lower abdomen.

The chaotic energies of my most destructive spell ripple out of my palm with the intention to rend flesh and soul alike while living shadow erupts from my arms to bind my enemy in place.

Moonray’s mid-section is blown apart, showering me in blood and gore as his lower and upper body separate.

I take a deep breath before dropping the mutilated corpse to my left and right. A moment passes and then I smile in glee before turning to face Celes. “Finally! I must admit that luring him out by boring ourselves to death almost did me in! Couldn’t you have come up with a less annoying plan?”

Then I notice Celes’s skeptical expression only a bare second before the blood which is all over me ignites, leaving me screaming and trying to put out the fire.

Thankfully, the fire doesn’t stay stuck to me for long enough to do any real damage. Instead, it flows away and somewhere behind me like water down a river.

Whirling around, I am just in time to witness Moonray’s fist cracking into my chest, driving all the air out of me. The force of the impact causes something to break and I am sent flying backwards. I land on the ground on my back and slide the rest of the way until I stop in front of Celes’s feet.

“Hi… dear…” I reach for my chest, wheezing air in and out of my lungs. “That… hurt…”

She frowns down at me. “Need help?”

“Just… a… minute…” I sit up. “Hits… like… a… baby… nothing… compared… to… you.”

“Yeah.” She steps around me and walks towards Moonray who is waiting a few feet away and smiling like an idiot.

Celes gestures for me to stay back. “You just sit down for a while. I think you may be a bad match-up for this one.”

Moonray spreads his hands, utterly confident in his victory. “What do you think you can do? I am the immortal phoenix. Kill me and I will just reform! Harm me and the fire will heal me. There is nothing you can-”

Celes leaps forward and punches him lightly right in the face, forcing him back a step.

Following, she starts jumping on her toes as if this is only a light warm-up. Left, left, right, her fists start impacting Moonray’s face in quick succession until he falls back on his behind, spitting blood.

“Thwat-” He wipes at his mouth and spits out a set of teeth. “Will awchieve nothwing. I will hweal…”

Celes kicks him when he tries to get up. “Yeah, so? I don’t believe it! That wouldn’t be right. I believe that I can hit you and that you won’t heal. After all, punishment has to be dealt according to one’s evil deeds. There is no way for someone to avoid Karma.”

“Wha…” He shakes his head and tries to get back to his feet and Celes only steps down on his foot before kicking out and breaking his shin.

Moonray falls back down, howling. “Whyyyy nwot hweal?”

“Because this dimension is all about what you think should happen.” She gestures at me. “My husband is a god of Chaos, so he doesn’t even question that anything could be possible. He will assume that you might be capable of anything you claim.”

She tilts her head while looking down at Moonray and places a hand on her hip. “I don’t share that belief. I am Order, and I am very certain that it wouldn’t be right for you to heal from anything I do to you. That isn’t how my world works. My wishes are Order, and the world has to obey what I believe is right.”

“Stwill immwortal!” Moonray retorts with a rebellious fire in his eyes.

Celes sweetly smiles down at him and raises a hand, forming a fist with it. “I wonder how often I will have to hit you until you stop believing that being immortal is that great of an idea…”