Chapter 152: 142. The Lows and Highs

Jay stirred awake, feeling groggy and unsure of what had happened. The ground was cracked and covered in small debris. The air smelled of sulfur, rotten flesh, and fire. Lots and lots of fire. His eyes adjusted quickly thanks to his high Perception, and he noticed the gray sunlight of a new morning beaming through the broken church windows. He quickly noticed he was not alone. He had Frank and Brit slowly waking up next to him. He also had thirty other people waking up along with them.

Four strangers lit up like human-shaped Christmas lights because of his [Slayer of Assassins] Title. Jay’s brain pushed through the mental fog to piece together why he was waking up next to assassins in the demolished nave of a church.

It took a split-second for things to click for him. He’d just come back from a dungeon crawl. This happened before. Jay panicked, scared that he might’ve lost another piece of his memories. But everything was there. It just seemed to be a theme with dungeons– they left you hungover after completing a successful crawl.

“Ugh, what the heck just happened?” asked a Level 39 Artillery-Man. He was a member of the new U.S. military program for Systemized. But instead of wearing special-ops gear, he was dressed in magical pirate cosplay, a mix of Good and Great Quality gear with a belt loaded with spatial-magicked pouches. He had a mini-cannon strapped to his side and a bandolier of bombs.

“I think we got ejected from the dungeon,” said a Level 40 Sniper Mage. She was the one girl among the Systemized U.S. Military. Held close to her chest was a special-looking Mana Rifle. Instead of breeches and a shirt, she wore a gray Victorian Gothic dress and dark heeled boots. She might have been at one of the Sea of Death’s vampire balls.

There was a man in the far corner who didn’t seem to know anyone here. He crept away. Jay didn’t pay him much mind since this man wasn’t an assassin, but he had the traits of someone foreign. Maybe an agent from a different nation? Probably Russian. Not really Jay’s concern right now. Jay was more concerned by the Level 45 Shadow-Reaper making a play to assassinate Jay.

The guy submerged into a shadow while everyone was still recovering. Then he resurfaced from Jay’s shadow and stood behind him. Jay raised his hand and halted Brit from acting. Frank was just a touch too slow on the draw to do much. By the time the Systemized U.S. Military recognized the danger, the assassin raised his shadow sword and chopped it for Jay’s neck. It would almost seem too late to save the Pantheon Commander of the Protectorates.

YoAnna deflected the shadow sword with one nail. Appearing from thin air, the [Godling] of Challenge and Change stood at her mortal height right next to Jay. But the weight of her power status was far, far, far heavier than a mortal. It was far greater than usual for YoAnna, as if an almighty behemoth had squeezed herself into this puny church.

The assassin stumbled backward from his sword colliding with YoAnna’s nail. He hesitated in the deity's presence, a costly mistake.

“You dare threaten my Pantheon Commander after he saved our world?” YoAnna asked, her golden eyes beaming like high-powered lights. “For such foolishness, I want you to perish slowly and quietly, little pathetic thing.”

YoAnna turned her attention away from the assassin as he slowly fell apart into fine dust particles. He couldn’t even scream since his throat disintegrated first while he remained alive as long as possible.

“High Divinity YoAnna,” Brit said reverently, answering the question hanging in the air. Low Divinity YoAnna wouldn’t have been able to step against the Level 45 Shadow-Reaper without more effort– the Chance Status would’ve weakened YoAnna and boosted the assassin to help him survive her. YoAnna was supercharged right now from a narrative standpoint, so she was free to do outright godly things for an unknowable duration.

“May I take out my fury on the other three?” YoAnna said with a scowl. The scar on the left side of her face made her look more wrathful. Her lion’s mane for hair wavered like a flaming golden waterfall behind her.

Before Jay could say anything, the assassins tried to run for it.

YoAnna’s scowl deepened.

With a flex of her divine will, YoAnna slammed everyone down other than her Champions. Jay let out a whistle as the grown military men, the sniper woman, and the assassins fell into kowtowing positions. There was no humble or careful YoAnna to be found here. She wanted to let out her monstrous side and have everyone outside of her pantheon be made feeble before her.

“So, about the last three assassins,” Jay said. “You can play with two. I kind of want to see if we can get more info out of one.”

“I am very grateful for this offering, Commander Luckrun,” YoAnna said before slowly dissolving two assassins.

One of the big military guys wet himself while next to an assassin getting dusted in slow motion. It was a mildly amusing execution to watch, but Jay had too many things on his plate to wait around as a godly girl let out her fury.

The moment he was fully awake in the overworld, he’d been contacting Kleo through their shared bond. She was finishing up with something and planning to head down to Miami. He didn’t have a specific clue to what was going on with things, but it felt like it would be easier for her to come to him rather than him to go to her.

Jay was also back to his fully powered self. So he could scan up to 1350 feet casually. He had a lot of messages to sift through from successfully completing the Sea of Death crawl with Bondye’s ‘defeat.’ It was a lot to look over right now since this included the total loot Team Dante had left with, but he zeroed in on a specific section. Without asking, Jay used his executive powers as Commander and Vice-Chair to redirect 100 Free AP to Brit and 50 Free AP to Frank. Brit’s AP share would just touch the Chance limit of how much Brit could have gifted or traded to her. While the System Admins might be adamant about restricting Attribute Crystals with their Dungeon Incursions, the Hell Circles still gave them out as part of the final rewards for total completion.

Brit looked at Jay with wide-eyed shock. She would know that she earned all of Jay’s share. That was him paying her back for all the times she’d saved his butt on that crawl. And Jay couldn’t help but stay on theme with something Lilith had started a while ago– feed their greatest healer more AP whenever possible.

Frank nodded in thanks. The Champions quickly interacted with their profiles and slotted in the new AP, becoming even stronger. YoAnna’s soured mood lightened a little as she examined her Commander and Champions. Everyone else stayed on the ground, praying silently to avoid YoAnna’s ire.

Then a new heavy force entered the air. It joined with YoAnna’s divinity, empathizing with the deity’s ire. And without mercy, it added a little more weight to the backs of the Systemized U.S. Military. This resulted from Brit reaching 300 Conviction and replacing an old Talent with a new one: [Conviction Crusader II].

“Ladies, as much as it’s fun for me to see you flex your powers,” Jay said with a lazy smile, “let’s not be too mean. Unless there’s a reason for it.”

“They disregarded my request to not dive the 6th Hell Circle,” YoAnna said as she paced around the Systemized U S. Military. “They could’ve helped us on the perimeters to keep the zombie outbreak contained. But no. Your leaders threw the best they had into the dungeon, which left gaps in the quarantining effort, which cost civilian lives around Miami.”

Jay winced.

Brit’s Conviction grew heavier. Whether or not conscious of it, Brit fell in step with YoAnna. The great deity and proud follower seemed to fit well together more than Jay had ever seen before.

Jay looked over at Frank. The Dragon [Fighter] did the smartest thing and kept his opinions to himself.

Jay groaned, feeling the weight of responsibility.

“And even with all of that, we have to let them go with no further hostility,” Jay said calmly. “The United States is supposed to be our friends. That includes their military.”

“They haven’t been acting like friends,” YoAnna grouched, the church shaking violently with her anger. It might just fall down upon them. “The president completely ignored my call over this ordeal. And this is while I had to fight tooth and nail to keep the System Admins from escalating their inquiries in their mockery of an audit.”

Brit mirrored YoAnna’s anger completely, swept up by the divinity of their [Godling]. It was almost as if Brit was possessed, which added a dangerous mix of High Divinity and terribly strong [Medium] more than willing to lord their powers on the little people who had sinned. The military NPCs looked to Jay for help while stuck in their prostrated positions. The narrative was against Jay, too, so his Chance was down while YoAnna and Brit’s Chance were way, way up. He could see this through Brit.

“Okay,” Jay said. He took out Mary from a pouch. She glowed a dull blue. Her spirit was not happy. Then Mary’s glow became duller and duller as Jay walked over to a random guy. A Level 41 Vehicle-Operator.

YoAnna and Brit paused in unison.

“Jay, what are you doing?” they asked, their voices in sync.

Jay raised Mary high while aiming for the Vehicle-Operator’s neck. Before anyone could stop him, he chopped hard and fast to behead the innocent guy.

Mary’s blade slipped from Jay’s grasp and sliced him across the cheek.

“Whoops. Sorry. Mary can be a little finicky when executing innocent people. You know how she is. Knife of Slaying Justice and all that. Let me grab her and try again.”

“Stop,” YoAnna and Brit said.

Jay tried to behead a different person. Mary slipped from his grip again and stabbed him in the gut. Jay winced more from Mary’s discomfort than from the pain. She had to thrust really hard to penetrate his Great Quality clothing, which made her sad for hurting her master. He still yanked her free from his body and started prepping to behead–

YoAnna pulled back her angry divinity. She coaxed Brit back into being herself instead of being caught up in YoAnna’s wrath. Then YoAnna released the pressure off the military guys.

“Go,” YoAnna said bitterly.

The military NPCs skedaddled with their loot. Jay could only imagine what the military would do with all they’d plundered from the Sea of Death Subsection. Those guys might’ve hit spots that Team Dante and the Dauntless Pirates had to skip past in order to reach Bondye with time to spare. Even with thirteen ships bulging with loot, Jay had a sense that he could’ve gotten more if he had more time.

“Thanks for helping me with that, Mary,” Jay said. “And sorry for putting you through so much discomfort.”

Mary pulsated with understanding. She was tuckered out from that ordeal though. Jay slipped her back into her pouch.

“Come on, everyone, let’s walk and talk,” Jay ordered softly.

Frank grabbed the assassin and kept a strong grip on the back of the man’s neck. Brit took YoAnna’s helping hand to get back to her feet before both girls settled at Jay’s side. They exited the ruined church and faced a Miami neighborhood that was in smoky ruins. It was covered in dead bodies and had screaming, gunfire, and sirens sounding off in the distance.

“I’m going to ask for the good news first,” Jay said.

YoAnna sighed tiredly. “Kleo and I deflected the more pressing inquiries. We didn’t get all of them, but we are currently in no danger of a hostile takeover for my position. We have until the Uk-Guk-Gara finale to build a case.”

“One of our gains includes correspondence that Bondye had with other Benefactors, which might help us,” Jay said.

YoAnna’s mood lightened further. “Really? I didn’t inspect it all. It was such an impressive earning, and I stored it home right away.”

They stopped at the corner of a street where a Level 25 Hell Zombie dragged its feet. Minor Hellfire burned inside the monster’s chest and eye sockets. Jay’s [Analysis] concluded that the dungeon entrance had magically infected corpses nearby to turn them into green brimstone and fire undead.

Jay sighed. He was going to have Brit cleanse the creature to death-death when YoAnna pointed at herself, asking for permission. Jay gave it. YoAnna obliterated the monster with a look. They kept on moving through the demolished streets of Miami.

“The Benefactors are a name that’ll be talked about for quite some time,” YoAnna informed. “I had little room for side-projects, but I gave Hailey and Emily my help to fan the media flames toward the Benefactors. It seemed like a short solution, but for today at least, the story is set against our enemies. And I’m keeping close watch of any media channels that harshly turn against the current narrative.”

“I bet the Benefactors would pump money into the pockets of their big media friends to turn that around,” Jay said, before looking at the assassin Frank had by the neck. “Ain’t that right, buddy?”

The assassin tried to spit in Jay’s face. Brit hit that little glob with a cleansing ray of light. Frank gave the assassin a squeeze with his one hand, making the guy squirm painfully. The assassin was only a Level 38 Poison-Expert. He was no match for Frank, Brit, or even Jay.

“The Benefactors would be wise to hide deeper into the shadows,” YoAnna said, smirking with the scarred side of her face. “The creature known as Thor-Wolf-Snake is rampaging around Houston now.”

Jay paused, and everyone stopped with him. He didn’t mind tipping into the fourth dimension here. The events spiraling around the country were huge. They had some heavy gravity ripples he could easily observe and trace. And he had his deity in high divinity status right now. He was as safe as he was going to get while dealing with 4D headspace. With a few glances at past events given greater context thanks to meta-g, Jay saw that Thor (Loki at the time) had fled across the gulf to evade Lilith, Emily, and Casey. Jay didn’t see anymore than that.

“Whose where?” Jay asked since getting it from YoAnna was faster than pushing 4D headspace further.

“Rick is our sole home guard. Gatanna and Fuzzy are in the gulf, slaying sea monsters and acting as a water deterrent to Thor-Wolf-Snake. Dennis remains in the Carolinas while facing Systemized gangs, terrorists, and hate groups. Tim, Hailey, and Macy are in Houston,” YoAnna informed as she turned to dust half a dozen Hellfire Zombies in their way. “They have quite the task ahead of them. The immortal as he is now has thrown aside his humanity to be a Rank 4 chimera of our world’s viking myths.”

“That’s combining Thor with Fenrir and Jormungandr, right?” Jay asked. Once he got an affirmative from YoAnna, he said, “he’s as dangerous as he’s going to get. The Thor name is a relentless fighter that keeps getting stronger when he’s hurt. The myths of Fenrir and Jormungandr come more to light with Ragnarok, signifying the end of the world. That guy wants to go apocalyptically nuclear if he knows he can’t escape from us.”

“If he goes,” Frank said, “he is going to want to take us with him.”

Jay felt the urge to fall straight to Texas and help Tim’s team out. That monster needed to get taken down quickly before it became too strong. Would that force YoAnna’s hand to deliver a huge high divinity attack, killing Thor-Wolf-Snake? But that could cause utter destruction of huge metropolitan areas, killing hundreds of thousands to millions of people. Jay felt through his Vice-Chair Title YoAnna could only reduce so much of her high divinity power. To strike down the immortal would tear apart a chunk of Texas.

“Let Tim and his team deal with that monster,” YoAnna said.

“Are you sure?” Jay asked, ready to go to the next battlefield.

YoAnna placed a hand gently on Jay’s shoulder.

“My Commander, you’ve pushed yourself so hard. All three of you have.” YoAnna scanned her Champions.

“Jay pushed more than us,” Frank said. “We did a good amount of fighting. But Jay was always pushing his limits. And he trained more than me.”

“He sure did,” Brit said. “So, I’m going to step ahead of the chain of command here and suggest that the Pantheon Commander takes some leave.”

“I don’t need it,” Jay said.

Before anyone could speak further, Jay’s attention honed in on the thing that was drawing him. He pushed the range of his Perception to about four thousand feet until he found them.

Jay started running. He didn’t care if the others kept up or not. He launched into the air, fell a few blocks, then hit the ground in Downtown. He ignored the U.S. soldiers working the perimeter around the famous basketball arena. He ignored the civilians pointing and shouting at him. He entered a spacious army tent, finding Mike, Lilith, and Emily. They were standing around a frozen corpse, its chest and eye sockets burning lowly with Minor Hellfire.

The flaps opened behind him.

“Commander!” shrieked Sarah, coming to a dead stop with Ivan right next to her. The two had gained more levels than when he’d last seen them. They also looked ragged, worn out, and very frightened.

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“We’re sorry,” Ivan said.

“It’s my fault,” Sarah blurted out. “I just kept talking about how bad I felt we can’t help people after you guys left. And then Cutie–”

“Shush,” Jay said.

Sarah clenched her jaw. Ivan held her hand. The two trembled behind Jay as he drifted forward and picked a spot at the table beside his Champions.

“What can you do for her?” Jay asked.

“I have a limited supply of preserving fluid with rejuvenating properties,” Lilith said. “But this procedure to humanize her monsterization might be beyond my scope without more reagents.”

“We have the reagents,” Jay said. “We came back with thirteen ships filled with loot. Half of that are precious fungi, grown from the islands of the Sea of Death.”

Lilith, Mike, and Emily flinched with shock. Mike nearly dropped the magical instruments in his hands. Emily looked from the corpse of a Protectorate to their commander, her shock subduing quickly as she looked at Jay with sorrow. Before she could say anything, Brit entered the tent and took a spot next to Emily. Nearly everyone buckled from the weight of Brit’s overall power and her 300 Conviction. Jay put on a good poker face as if he didn’t feel it, too.

“YoAnna, do you think I could reverse this?” Brit asked as their [Godling] entered. Frank went off to deposit the assassin somewhere else.

YoAnna looked down sadly at the zombified Protectorate, slowly trying to break free from the ice. The Hellfire Zombie wanted nothing more than to cause havoc and harm. It was not the girl it had once been. Not currently.

“No, Brit,” YoAnna said. “Your Chance is powerful. And your Conviction is heavy. But you are far too late to help her.” YoAnna looked across from Brit to Emily, the lesser of the two [Mediums]. “Lilith and Mike can do much with magic science. But it is up to you, Emily, to stabilize their work and show our dear Soldier a new life after death.”

“Please, Emily,” Jay said. “The O’Kellys told me to watch out for her. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.”

“I’ll do it,” Emily said boldly, holding her Conviction tight. “But not here. We need to head back home.”

“I agree,” Lilith said. “I need my laboratory. And I’ll have to [Devour and Digest] some of the loot to figure out what can help.”

“Are we sure this is okay?” Ivan piped up awkwardly.

Sarah shook like a leaf while staying next to Ivan. In a room with so many motivated Champions, and their [Godling], Ivan was just one tiny voice in the face of a magical tsunami. But he spoke anyway.

“Maybe Cutie prefers for things to end,” Ivan said shakily. “Once and for all.”

Before anyone could crush the kid with a counterargument and their Conviction, Jay placed a hand on Ivan’s shoulder. “Three people had small death flags while coming down to Miami. Sarah, Frank, and Cutie. But you were all essential pieces that I couldn’t go without. And other than the Champions, Cutie’s the one whose story has seen her shafted time and time again. It’s not just about saving her. There’s juju at work. And I think our Champions can succeed here and now with the narrative we have. We have to do this.”

Ivan and Sarah shared a wide-eyed look. Then Ivan’s eyes found Jay’s again. “Jay, I think I’ll prefer to be a part-timer after this.”

Jay smiled wanly. “I won’t stop you if that’s what you want. But for now, step aside and let my Champions do the work that nobody else can.”

Mike gave Jay a squeeze on the shoulder before he left with Lilith and Emily. They took Cutie in an encased elemental box Mike filled with more ice to keep her contained and preserved.

With their quick departure, Jay scanned the area and found Casey was fully engaged with tearing apart zombies. She was a Level 33 [Fighter] now. No affinity, yet, but many of her older Skills had fused together to make one of the most interesting sounding Skills yet: [Punishing Paws of the Dancing Tiger Princess Who Rises Greatly].

“Will you prefer to head home now or continue helping here?” Jay asked Ivan and Sarah.

“We can help further!” Sarah said for both of them. Ivan nodded submissively.

“Go on and make our [Godling] proud,” Jay said.

Sarah and Ivan glanced nervously at YoAnna’s statuesque form looming behind Jay. YoAnna’s mood was up and down right now, but she gave her Soldiers of Challenge a warm smile before they ran off.

“Alright,” Jay said. “Onto the next problem. If I fall fast enough, I can help Tim’s team against Thor-Wolf-Snake.”

“YoAnna.” Brit reached over and grabbed the deity’s hand. “Will you be okay to handle everything while Jay and I are on leave?”

What was this business about leave? Jay didn’t have time to rest. But he couldn’t find it in him to speak out. The narrative blew hard around Brit and YoAnna.

“I will try,” YoAnna said. “I am filled with power that wants to be unleashed. But I do not want to be a walking nuke right now or that will set the wrong precedent.”

“I understand you’re concerned about the technical stuff. But I mean on the inside. Will you be okay until Jay’s good and ready?” Brit pressed.

“Even if I won’t be okay, it is important that Jay gets some time to rest and rejuvenate before his evolution,” YoAnna said. “I wish I could do more. But there are complications. I appreciate your willingness to be an intermediary for me.”

“Trust me when I say I’m more than willing,” Brit said. “Even with the world feeling like it’s falling apart, I think this is the perfect time to do this.”

“Do what?” Jay rasped, finally finding an opening to reinsert himself.

Brit slipped away from YoAnna and grabbed Jay’s hand. The Holy [Medium] smiled widely despite the horror and realities of the overworld. Her words came out with such charm, they nearly floored him.

“To be in love. As an active worshiper of YoAnna. And as a devoted woman belonging to Jay.”

For a moment, Jay felt the instinct to run away. He couldn’t truly even if he wanted to right now. Brit’s declaration was heavy with Conviction, and it warped reality to keep hold of Jay like they were glued together. Even so, that little instinct to run away existed not because this was bad news, but because this was an enormous change in Jay’s way of life and understanding.

What would happen if he let Brit take him and help him rest and relax? Would he still have the same fire that burned for YoAnna? And what if some teensy bit of YoAnna wanted to use this to lock in a friendship with Jay once and for all?

Then Jay realized this was par for the course with all that he’d done. Regardless of the good and the bad, he’d earned Brit’s love and devotion somehow. And when he saw the encouraging smile on YoAnna’s face, he also realized this was not the end of romancing the deity. But it was still hard to fully come to terms with.

“You are deserving, Jay Luckrun,” YoAnna said softly. “For you have been so devoted to me when I’ve been so troublesome for you. Please understand that I have come to an accord with Brit, and we wish to work together to….”

YoAnna clenched her jaw. A dangerous, destructive light pulsated from her eyes. Jay only suffered -1 HP of damage. Just the bare tip of some sort of malevolent power that wanted to destroy the person YoAnna liked– Jay.

“Love you,” Brit finished for YoAnna. “We want to work together to love you. So, when you evolve, you’ll know we have plenty of love to fill whatever emptiness you feel you have.”

Brit kissed Jay on the corner of his mouth. It was the best kiss Jay had ever received and nearly melted him on the spot. Brit’s full and soft lips left a tingle that echoed loudly through his body. She pulled him close against her, hugging him.

Her body stopped feeling like a warrior who had speared through undead wretch after undead wretch. She felt more like an invitation to explore her from the front to the back and more. And how could he refuse when she had a face that would make men kill other men for the right to make a wife of her?

“Do I truly deserve this?” Jay asked, almost timid. His doubts returned stronger than ever. This was too good to be true.

Brit scooped him up, walked him out, and entered the air with a flap of her wings. She looked into Jay’s eyes the whole time as they flew away together, YoAnna waving them farewell from the ground.

“Seriously,” Jay stammered. “Is this real? Did I do enough to deserve this?”

“It shouldn’t be that way,” Brit said softly. “For you to work so hard and hurt yourself and risk your life. For you give and give. It shouldn’t be that way for you to feel you deserve affection and love.”

“But that’s why I’m getting this, isn’t it?”

“No,” Brit said.

Jay’s confusion deepened. He felt like he’d been at peace with how things were going between him and Brit inside the dungeon. But he was imbalanced out here in the overworld. The grim reality of life was getting in the way.

Brit powered through as she flew high and energetically.

“It wasn’t the death-defying fights, or the Free AP, or the loot you tracked down as if you’re going to make it rain on the pantheon,” Brit said. “It’s the man behind all of that who I fell for, who I want to love, and who I want to help. You’re deserving, Jay, because you’ve shown time and time again how much being a hero of comedy means to you, even when its hard.”

Brit kissed him on the corner of his mouth again. Once more, he melted in pleasure and joy. His brain was overwhelmed from the mere brush of her lips. It made him feel jittery. An explosion of emotions filled the inside of his chest.

“For however long it takes,” Brit said, “I’m going to serve you and love you until you are ready.”

“Ready for what?” Jay asked unthinkingly.

“To become the goodest and most powerful Rank 3 ever.”

All resistance to this new change in Jay’s life melted. He placed himself at Brit’s mercy as they landed at a different penthouse further away from all the grimness of reality.

Jay tried to stop worrying about the pantheon, which was a bit of a challenge. But Brit guided him gently and patiently every step of the way. She used her experience and powers masterfully.

She took Jay’s virginity.

There was a lot of cuddling, and a lot of kissing. And lots of homemade food Brit cooked for Jay. They danced and sang and tossed jokes at each other– although Jay would sometimes push it a teensy bit too far and earn a bonk here and there. But Brit never held a grudge. She was loving. And she was patient. She was okay with sitting and watching Jay play video games since the penthouse came with such.

She wasn’t much of a gamer, but she loved to watch others play, especially if the games had good stories. Jay kept the gameplay to a minimum. They had lots to do together. He wanted to drip feed Brit some anime by getting her to watch Princess Mononoke and other classic films. She loved them, which invited more cuddling and kissing in random bursts and fits, letting their whims take over fully.

For Jay, it was like a fantasy come to life. All he could do was smile and enjoy. Brit was one of two of the most beautiful girls ever. Her body was curvy. Her chest alone was worth getting lost in. She had one of the single greatest backsides anyone could have. And she was always encouraging of Jay to touch and play whenever and wherever. She did the same, of course, but in one area that Jay was not short of. And no matter how the flow of their fun went, Brit happily and proudly put Jay and his needs first.

And then came a time when Jay finally felt ready.

It happened four days after Jay let go of his virginity. He rose out of bed and kissed Brit goodbye. Then he flew from the balcony and reunited with Kleo. His [Faerie] had used her time in Miami to cause mayhem and mischief for monsters and bad people. This was the best way for Kleo to unwind and enjoy herself after all her hard work.

The duo hugged before they fell upward, falling higher and higher despite the difficulty. Despite the weakening gravity. They kept going, knowing this was the way even when it had not been planned. They stopped at an imaginary line where it was less of Earth and more of space. The air was nearly nonexistent here. Gravity was weak.

Kleo entered her master’s chest. Then Jay started the evolution process for them both. He floated in the lotus pose at the border between Earth and space. This forced the duo to extend their power beyond the gravity of Earth. They felt for the gravity of the universe.

“YoAnna, guide us,” Jay said softly before concentrating inward. He felt his [Godling’s] presence briefly. He felt her excitement to see him evolve after waiting for so long.

Jay and Kleo did not know how far they could reach out as they evolved. They were certain their evolution would lead to something extraordinary. They knew instinctively Kleo’s fairy nature and Jay’s lack of original Earth magic granted them freedom. More freedom than most would have while part of the System.

The gravity of their reach moved past their mere universe. It touched the vast multi dimensional corners and the distant fabrics of the Multiverse, even if minimally. Gravity could go far and affect nearly everything, after all.

And the vision Jay had inside of his head took him on a journey only a handful of the Multiverse would take at his level. It was a journey that even the most powerful and devilish monsters of the Hell Circles would fear. A journey into the deepest and darkest depths of the Multiverse. And in Jay’s vision of his journey, he was surrounded by a large spiritual power that glowed like a mini-purple sun– Kleo.

Kleo’s presence protected her master as they dove deeper and deeper, going where nobody else but a few would go. Their only link back to Earth was the holy grace Brit had imprinted in Jay with a love blessed by their [Godling]. It was a strong link, a lifeline, letting Jay descend further with Kleo.

Their willing descent into the abyss did not go unnoticed.