I frowned at Zouaia for a moment before deciding not to cast a light spell since I didn’t know what part of a torch the Keepers didn’t like. The fire or the light itself. The tunnel on the other hand simply grew darker as we continued, it went farther than I’d expected. We were probably almost out of the city—and we were definitely out of light—by the time Zouaia stopped.

  I was reminded of the time I’d explored the palace dungeons with Illila. At least this time my companion wasn’t freaking out. As much. Well, if she was freaking out then I couldn’t tell in the darkness, so there.

  “Are we-”

  “Shh!”

  I blinked, confused at the violence of the shushing. After a long moment, the walls began to glow. Or rather, three spots on the walls did. I stared at them, my mouth forming into an O as they brightened the room into a comfortable dimness. That was the same kind of crystal that covered the between so thoroughly back on Virna. How in the world had it gotten here?

  I was staring at one, trying to figure out who had managed to carve a statue out of it when a voice spoke. “You are the immortal, I take it?”

  I glanced toward the voice, startled to see that one of the other crystals—which also looked like a statue and was probably not a statue now that I thought about it—was speaking. Her voice was pleasant, not grating or anything that I’d expect from someone who was literally a rock. But if she hadn’t been fashioned of crystal, she might have been human, albeit a hand or two taller than most humans I knew. “I… yes.” I finally responded, shaking myself out of my shock. “Are you the Keepers then?”

  The not-statue tilted her head at me. I realized that the glow deep within her was pulsing, as was the glow in the other two. “I am Nenfein, leader of division six of the Keepers. Voice and present vessel of Zolinal herself.”

  I inclined my head slightly, not sure who Zolinal was or what half of that meant, but it certainly sounded important enough to kill me if I did something wrong. “I call myself Eliax, though you may also know me as Foralen.”

  She watched me for a moment longer before looking to Zouaia, and then to the other two statue people. “You may leave, I will speak to the immortal alone.”

  The three did so, Zouaia seeming more relaxed to not be in the same room as me anymore. Interestingly, the two statue people simply nodded toward Nenfein before retreating deeper into the area. I watched their glows fade into the distance, the clarity of the room growing less with their absence. “So, what did you want from me exactly?”

  I paused with shock as she spoke in clear accentless Melorian. “I wanted to speak with you, my agents had a hard time tracking you down though, freedom of movement is difficult on most worlds for them.”

  Nenfein regarded me for a moment, and something in her eyes too seemed different, as if something else was looking out of them for the moment, “Astral broke his word because of you. We all agreed to keep travel between worlds as short lived and subtle as possible for the next thousand years. They all expected me to be the one to break the truce, never in the worlds would anyone have expected Astral to be the one to do it.”

  I blinked at her, getting over the shock of hearing my native tongue. This was like when Kalteii spoke through Aymi, even down to the different bearing and attitude. Was Zolinal a goddess? “I… didn’t know that. He broke it then when he brought me here? I assume that’s bad?”

  Zolinal shrugged, “This particular agreement was not hinged on anything. A certain race spread itself among the stars not terribly long ago, and it sets a bad precedent if we let that happen too often. It was a preventative measure and nothing yet has even happened.”

  I frowned at her odd way of speaking, but I got the idea. The gods didn’t want too many races to go doing that all at once. “And you will break this eventually too? That’s admirable I think, to try and do it anyway because it needs to be done.”

  Her eyes moved across my face, “Astral said you were odd. But yes, it needs to be done, even if the presence of a divide pains me.”

  I finally felt confident enough to make a guess, “You’re the goddess of… unity?”

  She smiled and shook her head, “Unity is my great grandson. I am CONNECTION.”

  I suddenly felt very very stupid. Nenfein and the other Keepers looked like that specific kind of crystal, and that gaze… well I finally recognised that it felt like I was looking into the between itself. I found myself stuttering, eyes wide, mouth agape, “Y-you’re!” I opened and closed my mouth several times before finally continuing, “You’re in charge of the between? Really?”

  She nodded, amused.

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  “Oh my goodness I didn’t even know that I’ve been waiting to meet you my entire life. I think that your realm is… it’s just amazing… and… ah…..” I trailed off as my brain had begun to malfunction. “You’re very good at your job and… and….”

  “Oh dear, please don’t break, I don’t want to have to explain to my favorite nephew that I broke his mortal.”

  “Wh- where…. Please, where does magic come from?”

  She gave me a startled look, “You’d be vaporized immediately if you went there!”

  “I just really need to know. I’ve been trying to figure it out for at least twenty years now, and I always feel like it’s just out of reach!”

  Connection herself regarded me for a long long moment, “I feel distinctly that it would be a horrible idea to tell you. But it’s nothing against you specifically.”

  I deflated visibly.

  “Regardless, I was simply curious earlier if you knew what Astral had done for you. The real reason I’ve asked to meet you is far more pressing.” She paused, and I had a hard time telling if it was theatrical or had a purpose behind it. She watched me, her eyes narrowed and knowing. “I cannot force you, for I would like to be on your side in what happens next. However, I find myself with an abundance of followers who know nothing of the worlds they guard. They are disconnected from their own worlds. Until this agreement for me to keep places from leaking into each other is dissolved, they will continue to fall away from their world and in turn myself.” she scowled slightly.

  I blinked at her, not really surprised at her predicament since it made sense, but more surprised that she was telling me about it. “So what is it that you want from me?”

  “I will provide you and up to ten of my followers with illusions and transformation potions. I want you to connect them with this world.”

  I stared at the goddess housed in mortal flesh, taking in the look on her face. I could tell that she was annoyed that things like illusions were necessary, but from her perspective it was much better than the current state of things. I swallowed, remembering Fora and how much fun she would have with a task like this. “I… I’m going to need a moment to contact my true self. She would be absolutely pissed if I decided something like this without her input.”

  The goddess smiled slightly, “Take your time.” She didn’t seem at all surprised that this was a clone, because of course she wasn’t. Why would a creature like this not be able to tell?

  I nodded quickly and reached out toward Fora and Eliax. Because we hadn’t had to learn the spell from scratch all over again for this modification, none of us were really sure how this part even worked. Which annoyed Eliax to no end. But it worked, which was enough for Fora.

  I felt the two of them stop in their respective tasks at the communication, sending me curiosity. After a moment of gathering them, I managed to shove the relevant memories toward the two, waiting for them to be digested.

  Eliax always preferred efficiency over dwelling on details, and it showed with how quickly she skimmed through the contents while Fora pursued them at a much more leisure pace that was paradoxically impatient. As it was, Eliax finished first, sending me interest and respect.

  ~I vote yes. This would help us get closer to Connection. We want her to like us.~

  Fora didn’t seem to get most of the memories yet, and her mental voice was a bit confused, it didn’t help that she kept looking back at the full on mural she was painting. ~ah… why do we want that?~

  I sent annoyance, ~Because she has dominion over the Between. There is no way we can avoid using her realm even if she decides she hates us. It’s just better to be on her good side.~

  ~But she also said that we don’t have to.~ I reminded her.

  ~Why are you pointing that out when you know I already considered it?~ Eliax sent ridicule. ~Use your brain, you have one.~

  Fora still seemed a bit confused, ~I say yes? But sparks guys, can we not share memories like this, it’s giving me a headache to process them.~

  ~Stop being a baby.~

  ~Eliax…~ I started, ~you’re having a bad day, aren’t you.~

  ~Of sparking course I am! First I had to make a sparking clone this morning, and apparently that decided to drain half my mana, and then Vilvav decided not to tell me that they have festivals when they’re feeling capricious… it doesn’t matter. Just leave me alone, I’m sure you won’t do anything too stupid.~

  Eliax cut the connection and I sighed internally, focusing on Fora, who seemed annoyed at Eliax now, ~Seriously? She hates me again, doesn’t she. Why does this always happen?! What did I even do? You know what, spark her!~

  I massaged my temples, ~Fora, Eliax doesn’t hate you.~

  Fora grumbled for a moment, ~Well I say yes for what Connection wants. It sounds like it would be fun.~

  Then she cut the connection too.

  I opened my eyes to see an amused Zolinal watching me, “That’s certainly a disconnect you don’t see every day.”

  I felt my face heat up slightly, sparking clone body, only doing the annoying things… I hesitated, wondering if I should try to get something more out of this, but it would be a monumentally stupid idea to accidentally offend her with something like that. I cleared my throat, “We decided to agree with your request.”