Chapter 25: Chapter 23: A Change of Plans

Lilith returned to the room in which they had arrived to find Carmen with a still-sniffling Raphael. Raphael was somewhat curled up in Carmen’s lap, eyes closed and looking like she was half of the way to falling asleep.

I’ve got this here. Carmen said, raising a finger to her lips as she communicated mentally. You go find everyone else, I think they were going to go back to the dorm.

Lilith nodded, quietly withdrawing and making her way back into the halls. She wasn’t quite sure what building she was in, so she couldn’t just directly make her way back to her dorm. But, after a few minutes of wandering about, she was able to find the building’s exit and from there it didn’t take long to figure out where she needed to go.

So, she was soon knocking on the door to her dorm. “Hey, it’s me.” She said. “Can I come in?”

The door quickly opened, and Judy pulled her inside. “How did things go with your parents?” She asked. “I mean, I know they were let into Familial Bond, but beyond that…well, they seemed kinda overwhelmed when I talked to them.”

Lilith shrugged. “They definitely were, but they were accepting. Dad was having a harder time of it, but they both seemed to get over it pretty quick once they got into Familial Bond. They, uh…got a little…excited after that, so I left them to get to know each other.”

Judy gave her a relieved smile. “That’s good to hear. I suppose if they’re feeling up to that then they can’t be too out of sorts.”

“Did…you tell them she was a dragon?” Lilith asked. “I just realized that I didn’t mention it, and if you didn’t…”

“No, I didn’t mention her at all, at least not directly.” Judy said. “We should…probably let them know.”

“On it.” Lilith replied. She cast her attention outwards, mentally reaching out to Siph. Um…we just realized that my other parents don’t know you’re a dragon yet. You should…probably tell them.

Already done! Siph replied happily. They were surprised, but they’re fine with it.

Oh. That’s…good. Lilith said. Just, uh…figured I would let you know.

Thanks for bringing it up, though, I’m happy you’re thinking of us!

Of course, mom. Just let me know if you need help understanding something, alright? Lilith replied.

I’m sure I can figure everything out, that’s going to be part of the fun! Siph said confidently. Oh, and, by the way, your other mom and I were talking, calling both her and me “mom” is going to get confusing. So why don’t you call me “mama” and your other mom “mom”? That way it’s always going to be clear who you’re talking to.

That’s a good idea, mama. I’ll do that.

Good. I’ll let you go now so you can get back to what you were doing. And don’t forget to come see us when you’re done, alright?

Yes, mama. Lilith turned her attention back to Judy. “They know. Mama says they’re fine with it.”

“Mama? Oh, you must mean Siph, right?”

“Yeah, she said that she and Mom got together and decided it would be confusing if I called them both mom and so they decided it would be best if I called her Mama.”

“Sensible. It seems like they’re already figuring stuff out, which I think is a good sign.” Judy said.

“Right, so…how’s everyone else?”

“Alex went to bed for the night, and Vithi’s taking a shower. They seem…at least as fine as they have been these last couple of weeks. They’re not breaking down now that they’re back here, if you were worrying about that.”

Lilith shrugged. “I think it’s worth checking on them anyway. Raphael really broke down, though she was in sort of a different situation.”

“What did Elenoa want with you three?” Judy asked.

“Well, to start, she wanted Raphael to go back into their house so she could be ‘fixed’, and Raphael said no. She wants to ride out her punishment until she feels like she’s properly taken it all, not just skip out early.”

Lilith frowned as she recalled the next bit. “Raphael sort of escaped into the portal instead of going to the house like Elenoa instructed, and then things got…ugly. Elenoa talked about punishing me for being complicit in Raphael’s punishment, and Kali said no. They ended up getting into a shouting match, it sounded pretty serious.”

“She didn’t try to have that Winston do anything to you, right?” Judy asked, worry visible on her face.

“No, but she threatened to. Who is he, by the way? Mama seemed to back down after Alex said something to her and…well, he just doesn’t seem normal.”

“Good eye. Apparently, he’s one of the other Perfect Chimeras, so he could probably have taken all of us if it came down to a fight. At least, that’s what Alex and Vithi said, I can’t really say anything either way.” Judy responded. “How are you feeling after all that? Do you want to talk about it?”

Lilith shook her head. “No, I’m fine. It was a bit sudden and listening to people argue is never fun, but it was directed away from me pretty quickly.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a door opening, followed soon after by Vithi walking down the hall towards them. “I thought I heard talking.” She said. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, fine.” Lilith replied. “How are you holding up?”

Vithi blinked. “Fine? Like…not much different from yesterday, really. I’m not really that fussed by all of this, I’ve always wanted to see more of the world, so it was fun, in a kind of weird way. Well, fun after Siph took us in and we were safe, that is.”

“Oh.” Lilith replied, slightly taken aback. “Uh…that’s good to hear, I guess.”

“Yup. How are things on your end? I haven’t interacted much with Elenoa, but she seems like a real piece of work. She didn’t do anything too crazy, did she?”

Lilith shrugged. “Yelled a bit, threatened to sic Winston on me, but other than that it was nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“If you say so.” Vithi replied, clearly unconvinced. “How did things go with your parents?”

“They seem to be settling into everything just fine.”

“Right, right.” Vithi said, still sounding like she didn’t fully believe Lilith. “Well, I’m gonna go crash and watch some TV, just…let me know if you need anything, I guess.” Vithi turned and walked into the living room, and shortly after Lilith heard the sound of the TV turning on.

“Well…um, I guess I’m gonna go talk to my parents now?” Lilith said. “They wanted me to check in on them after I finished talking with everyone here so…”

Judy nodded. “I’ll let you know if anything comes up or if people start acting funny.”

Lilith gave her a somewhat relieved smile. “Thanks. I shouldn’t be gone for too long, so hopefully nothing will fall apart while I’m away.”

Judy nodded, and Lilith left, beginning the five or so minute walk back to where her parents were staying. When she got there, she knocked on the door, and after a few moments of frantic shuffling, the door opened to reveal a disheveled-looking Siph.

“Ah, you’re back earlier than we expected.” She said, panting slightly. “How’s everyone doing?”

“Fine. I mean, I still need to check back in on Carmen and Raphael, and Alex is sleeping, but Judy and Vithi seem to be none the worse for wear. I’m gonna go see Carmen and Raphael, and then…well, we’re probably going to go back to the dorm for the night?”

Siph nodded. “Good. Um…how are you? Are you doing alright?”

“I’m doing pretty well, to be honest. I’ve been lowkey worrying about telling my other parents about…everything for a while, so having that off my chest feels good. And now that we’re back here, we’re all pretty safe, so I really don’t have that much I’m worried about.”

Siph smiled, giving her a quick hug. “That’s good to hear. Would you like our help with anything?”

Lilith shook her head. “No, I’ll let you uh…” She paused, glancing once again at Siph’s clearly hastily put on clothes. “Get back to it, I guess?”

“Thanks.” Siph replied, giving her an embarrassed look. “We’ll talk in the morning, alright?”

Lilith nodded, shutting the door. She hadn’t been expecting them to immediately…get down to business like that, and she wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it. Yes, it was good that her parents were getting along, but practically walking in on that certainly wasn’t something she had ever wanted to do.

So, it was with a red face that she went back to Carmen and Raphael. By now, Raphael had completely fallen asleep, and Carmen still had her on her lap, an unusually gentle expression on her face as she looked at the sleeping girl.

Once Lilith entered, though, Carmen quickly wiped that look off of her face and gave Lilith a curious look. What happened? She asked.

I think our parents are…getting busy in their room. Lilith replied. But I really don’t want to talk about that right now. How’s Raphael?

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Fine. Tired, emotionally shaken, but I think she’ll get over it. I think she’s known for a while that Elenoa isn’t perfect, but didn’t want to admit it. This is probably for the best.

So, what are we gonna do with her?

I’m gonna wait here until she wakes up. Carmen said. If it ends up being more than a couple of hours, I’ll carry her to my bed and then we’ll figure out what to do then.

Alright, sounds good. Um, I –

Lilith was cut off by the portal flaring to life, Kali stepping through with a less-than pleased look on her face. She took a second to look around the room, spotted Raphael, nodded to herself, and then bent down, messing with the magic circle around the portal. After a moment the portal vanished, and Kali turned to face Lilith and Carmen.

Carmen raised a finger to her lips, but Kali shook her head. “I cast a spell that’s going to keep Raphael asleep, don’t worry about that.” She waved a hand and the door shut. “We need to talk.”

The air in the room changed instantly. All of a sudden, Lilith felt that same weight she had felt when she first saw Kali, but multiplied tenfold. Yet, with that weight was an overwhelming wave of what was almost nostalgia, a comforting feeling exactly like the one she had felt around the elder gods and the object that had first made her into a Perfect Chimera.

“I didn’t really want to come out this early.” Kali said. “But Elenoa’s forcing my hand. Look, I’m not who I say I am.”

Carmen snorted, gingerly removing Raphael from her lap and placing the girl on a chair nearby. “Yeah, I knew that much already.”

Lilith gave Carmen a confused look. “Since when? You never told me about this.”

Carmen shrugged. “You’d do something stupid if you knew, so I chose not to share my memories of my conversations with her about this. So, who are you, then?”

Kali tapped her chin thoughtfully. “How best to put this…well, I’m one of several beings who deal with creation, maintenance, and expansion of universes, and we call ourselves Administrators. Earth, Haven, and a few demiplanes collectively make up my universe. It’s pretty small by Administrator standards, but I’m still relatively new to all of this.”

Though it sounded outlandish, it also felt…right to Lilith. Something about it just made sense on a fundamental level that she just couldn’t bring herself to disagree with. Like, deep in her gut, she knew that this information was true, no matter how much her logical mind protested. Carmen seemed to be feeling much the same, if her expression was any indicator.

“Alright, but…why are you coming out now?” Lilith asked. “What does that have to do with Elenoa?”

Kali blinked. “You’re…not going to question me on that?” She looked over to Carmen, an odd expression on her face. “Not even you?”

Carmen shook her head. “No. I don’t know, on some sort of…instinctual level I know what you’re saying is true. Couldn’t tell you why; it sounds outlandish, but I can’t bring myself to disagree.”

A brief, joyful, look crossed Kali’s face before she managed to school her expression. “That…makes things a lot easier. Like, way easier. Um…it’s kind of thrown me off of my rhythm, to tell you the truth. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I didn’t expect this.” She giggled nervously, much of the previous tension that was visible on her face having been blown away.

“Well, basically, Elenoa’s gearing up to try and get as much power over you as she can. It’s not going to be safe for you here, not if we want you to keep your freedom. And I do want you to keep your freedom, that’s vitally important to the plans I have.”

She waved her hand, and suddenly everyone in the room was transported to what looked to be a bedroom of sorts. It was fairly spacious for a bedroom, decorated liberally with all kinds of stuffed animals and cushions. To one side, there was a bookshelf next to a desk with a computer. Directly across from the bed was an entertainment center filled with gaming consoles and games, situated directly below a TV mounted on the wall.

That weight Lilith had been feeling vanished, Kali letting out a sigh of relief as she collapsed into a beanbag chair on the floor. “I know you’re not asking, but I can’t really give you satisfactory proof that I am who I say I am. I mean, this might all be an illusion I’ve somehow put on you, despite your growing resistances.” She twirled a finger and her outfit changed into pajamas, something Lilith found odd considering the subject matter.

“I just like being comfy in my own home, not like there are any guests here or anything.” Kali said, not even attempting to hide the fact that she was reading Lilith’s mind. “Yeah, I know, it’s super rude, but right now it’s really important for me to know what you’re thinking, I don’t want to overload you. Anyway, go ahead and sit down, we don’t need to stand on ceremony here.”

“But…” Lilith protested weakly. “Aren’t you…like…god?”

Kali shrugged. “I mean, you could say that, but in my opinion you’d be wrong. I’m not omnipotent, and I’m definitely not omniscient, or we wouldn’t even be here. What’s important is that I’m the same person I’ve always been, I haven’t been putting up any fronts or playing any characters around you, so nothing’s actually changed.”

Lilith tentatively sat down in a beanbag chair across from Kali, Carmen taking a seat next to her. Raphael, she noted, was sleeping on a small cushion to their side, face having relaxed a great deal.

“That’s better.” Kali said, beaming. “We need to talk about why I’ve brought you here, though.” She took a breath before continuing, a hint of apprehension visible on her face. “You’re here because I need your help.” She paused, studying Lilith and Carmen’s faces. “No, don’t look at me like that, it’s true. I don’t know if you noticed, but I kinda royally messed up. Most of the universe’s population lives in complete ignorance regarding magic, and that was not my intent.”

Kali sighed. “Part of it was that I let the population grow far too fast, but part of it is also that I made a really bad magic system. Magic systems require a sort of…upkeep to maintain, a currency that we Administrators call Worship. Think of it like Mana, just…for Administrator things. We gain Worship from…well, acts of Worship, pleas to a higher power, that sort of thing.

“Before I was the Administrator here, I was born as a regular person in an entirely different universe. To make a long story short, I ended up becoming a ‘sub-Administrator’, basically an assistant to the Administrator, and from there I graduated to being a full Administrator. I thought I was hot stuff, so I tried to design my own magic system that had a lower maintenance cost while providing similar if not better results.”

She shook her head. “I failed. I mean, it does cost less, but it’s way more of a headache to work with and it’s nowhere near as strong. Because of that, I couldn’t really acquire more planes like I should have been able to, and between that and the whole ‘let the population rise too quickly’ thing, that nasty old war broke out.

“I had to beggar a plane from one of my colleagues, which is where Haven came from. But, being a much larger plane, the magical concentration on it is a lot higher, leading to more powerful native inhabitants, which people using my magic system really aren’t equipped to handle.”

She alternated her gaze between Lilith and Carmen, looking them both in the eyes. “So, I’m changing the magic system. It’s going to end up being something much more like the one I had in the universe I was born in, minus a few of the gripes I had with it. At the same time, I’m reintroducing magic to Earth. They’ve been without for far too long, and this is going to be a good opportunity to give back to them.

“But…I need someone to help oversee that process. The moment I make this public, Elenoa’s going to try and use her superior power and influence to annex a lot of Earth, and I can’t let that happen. So, I want an enforcer of sorts to keep people from doing really bad things, and that’s where you come in.”

“So…you want us to act as an interdimensional peacekeeper.” Carmen said slowly. “Why us?”

“I wanted someone from Earth so that they had a vested interest in making sure Earth stayed free.” Kali replied.

“Not what I meant. Why us, specifically? There were surely people who were far more qualified for the position. People with power and influence, not some random nobody who was still in school.”

Kali looked to the side. “I…liked your personality.” She said. “And you were…well, you were in a very convenient place for me. So, I pulled some strings, messed with Tunem’s divination, made sure I would order Alex to get sent to you so Tunem focused on you, and…here we are.”

“Back up. You said you were the one that ordered Alex to get sent to us?” Lilith asked. “Does that mean you’re part of the Society?”

Kali shrugged. “One of the higher-ups, actually. Same reason I’m part of the Council, I wanted to be able to influence affairs directly.”

“Then the raid…” Carmen began.

“I helped them pull it off, but I also made sure it would be effectively harmless. To tell you the truth, they’re not that dangerous without me. They’re a little dangerous, yes, but not nearly to the extent they have been these last couple of years.”

Lilith frowned. “Why the raid, though? What was the point of that?”

Kali shrugged. “I wanted to give you some time to develop without them knowing everything you’re capable of. I was planning to slowly try and wean you off of their influence, but thanks to Elenoa I would like to move the schedule for that up a little. The schedule for everything up a little.”

Kali struggled for a moment, apparently trying to keep her apprehension off of her face and failing. “So…what do you think? Will you help me? I’m not going to make you if you don’t want to, you can feel free to refuse. I’ll have to wipe your memory of this little encounter, of course, but other than that it won’t change how I feel about you or anything.”

Lilith turned to Carmen, who just shook her head. “I’m not making this choice for you.” Carmen said. “But, for the record, I…don’t think there’s anything fishy about it. It all feels above board to me, even though logically there are probably a bunch of things that normally wouldn’t…quite feel right. And I checked for magic, if there’s any in play then it’s so subtle that I can’t find it. Just…do what feels like the right thing.”

And Lilith knew what the right thing was. Somewhere, deep inside her, she knew this was something she had to do. It felt like if she declined, she’d not only be letting Kali down, she’d be letting herself down. Even the idea of declining felt like anathema to her very core of her being.

“I’ll do it.” She said. “What now?”

Kali broke out into a relieved grin. “I was really hoping you’d say that.” She said. “I’m going to send you back, go ahead and pack up your stuff, then meet me back in the room where the portal was when you’re ready. I’ll explain everything then, alright?”

Lilith nodded. “Alright.”

Kali waved a hand, and suddenly her, Carmen, and Lilith were standing in the portal room.

“Wait, what about Raphael?” Lilith asked.

“I’ll let her sleep there for now, we’ll deal with her after I finish explaining everything later.” Kali replied. “I want your opinion on the matter before we decide anything.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow. “I suppose that’s fine.” She grabbed Lilith’s hand, gently pulling her towards the door before stopping and turning back to Kali. “What are we going to say if anyone else catches us packing?”

“They’re asleep too. Everyone in this demiplane is but us. Well, uh, almost everyone. Your parents aren’t, since interrupting them like that would be…awkward and super rude, but I cast a spell that’ll prevent them from even thinking about leaving their room for a while.”

Carmen looked back to Lilith, snorting when she saw her face. “Sounds good. We’ll be back in…let’s say half an hour, we don’t have much.”

Kali nodded. “See you then.”