Heretical Edge

Ehn seemed happy enough when we came back with Odysseus and confirmed that the man had agreed to take us to the rift. Granted, he didn’t jump for joy or shout yippee or anything (and to be honest, I really would’ve paid good money to see something like that so I could share the memory with others), but I had a feeling he wasn’t exactly the type to ever show that sort of over-the-top reaction. Just the fact that he seemed visibly pleased and grateful probably said a lot about how he actually felt. Unless that was some sort of trick and he was intentionally letting me see just what I expected t--

Ooookay, Flick, yes, definitely leaning toward the completely paranoid side of things. Now really wasn’t the time to start obsessing over what sort of facial expressions Ehn could’ve been faking in order to make me think he was opening up to me or something. Not when we had far more immediate and serious issues to focus on. Though to be fair, there weren’t many things out there that didn’t get immediately shoved far onto the backburner when the other situation involved the Fomorians.

So, I stopped letting myself dwell on that--

Not me, I’m just fine with dwelling on what that bilge-sucking picaroon is up to.

Yes, Fathom could think about that. I, in the meantime, stood on the deck of the boat between the ghostly Odysseus--

Odysseus whooooooo! Guitar riff! Drum solo!

Ahem. I stood between the ghostly Odysseus and Ehn, taking a deep breath while the men stared at one another as though they were two dogs doing their best to figure out if they were going to have to fight. “Okay then. So yeah, he’s agreed to take us to the rift. But he has a few conditions first. He uh, said he wanted to tell you himself, but they’re nonnegotiable. You refuse the requests and he takes back the agreement.”

“Well then,” Ehn began in a simple tone that betrayed no emotions about the situation one way or another, “I suppose I should hear about these conditions so we can set about fulfilling them to the absolute best of our ability.” With that, he added a very faint, almost entirely humorless smile. “Which, judging from everything you have already accomplished even without my presence so far, should be quite high indeed.”

Before I could respond to that, Odysseus spoke sharply. “I have three conditions for taking you to the place and time of the rift you’re looking for. As the girl said, I will not negotiate on any of them. First, if you are extracting a living subject, I want your vow that you don’t plan to intentionally harm, torture, or kill them. If we are bringing back a living relic of an essentially extinct species, they are to be treated with absolute care. By extension, your oath must include a promise to do whatever is in your power to protect the living Original Fomorian subject. Or… subjects.”

While Ehn raised an eyebrow at that, Odysseus continued. “Which, yes, brings us to my second condition. We aren’t taking one subject. I’ve seen through that rift. I’ve studied their people, at least as much as possible in that situation. As far as I have been able to deduce, these beings are divided into three biological sexes as we are divided into two.”

“Largely, not uniformly,” I muttered softly under my breath, shaking the men off as they looked at me. “Never mind, this is a deep enough subject as it is.”

Odysseus went on after a moment of consideration. “Three primary biological sexes among them. I want your word that you will attempt to collect at least one of each of those. All of whom must be protected and cared for.”

“You want to see if we can bring the original Fomorian species back,” I realized, giving the ghost a wide-eyed look. “Not just study them to find out how they work so we can stop the monsters they’ve turned into, but actually try to bring back the original species in the future. You want to Noah’s Ark the whole thing or whatever.”

Sniffing a bit, Odysseus pointedly replied, “I believe you’ll find that what I wish to do is Utnapishtim it. I’ve met the man, and he’s rather annoyed about this Noah character stealing his story, to be perfectly honest. I wouldn’t bring up that name around him if you can help it. But yes, in essence. I am fully aware that a mere single example of each biological sex would not be enough, on its own, to genuinely restore a species from the brink of complete extinction. But between magic and the technology I’m certain you have access to, it won't be impossible. You can find an expert in biological manipulation. One who, ahh, is not one of their… other selves.”

“I think I have just the person in mind,” I confirmed, smiling just a little to myself. It’d been awhile since I spoke with Seller, and I already had a lot to tell him as it was. Did Gaia tell him about Jacob? How would he react to find out that guy was me?

Probably not nearly as much as he would react to us telling him that he needed to try to use three living Original Fomorians to bring back their entire species. That seemed like the sort of subject that would dominate a conversation.

“Very well,” Ehn agreed a little too easily for me to believe he hadn’t thought about this whole thing already on his own, “that would appear to be the first two points of your request. Assuming I’m counting correctly, there should be one more left.”

Odysseus bowed his head without taking his eyes off the man. “Yes. And that final condition is that we embark on this endeavor not immediately or even imminently, but in one month. This girl here has been run ragged for far too long, I can see it in her eyes and taste it in the air around her. I refuse to take her into a situation of that sort until she has more time for herself and her needs. One month where you do not request anything else from her. Then I will tell you where we must go to find the rift.”

Okay, I really wasn't expecting that. Neither was Percy judging by the surprised sound she made. But then the woman smiled and stepped over to put her hands on my shoulders. “It is very difficult to get Flick to take anything resembling a vacation,”she announced solemnly. “Her loved ones have lamented at length on that subject.”

Blushing deeply, I shook my head. “Hey, I sort of just did have a break for a while, basically. Remember that whole couple of months thing where I was mostly just training and setting a few things up for the school? And, uh, building the school.” When Odysseus opened his mouth at that, I added, “It’s easier than it sounds, the school mostly built itself. The point is, I got a lot more of a break over the past couple months than I usually do.”

Percy moved one hand off my shoulder and around in front of me to my forehead. “Yes, and then you immediately got into a big fight with the future headmaster of Crossroads in order to save your future hometown. I’ve been reading books, Flick. Lots of books about Heretics. For most of them, something like that would lead to a vacation to--um, I believe the word is rewind.”

“Unwind,” I corrected.

“Rewind makes more sense,” she insisted. “Rewinding back to a previous, less stressed state. I prefer that, so I shall stick to it. For most of them, something like that would lead to a vacation to rewind. But you went straight to Ehn to check in, a trying process all on its own--” She gave the man in question a brief glance and a thumbs up before continuing. “And now he wants to take you from meeting the very famous and overwhelming explorer ghost--” Odysseus was treated to the thumbs up then. “--straight to the original Fomorian homeworld where who even knows what might happen? The entire purpose in using time travel in this regard was to give you time away from constant crises, so you can get better with your Necromancy.”

She wasn't wrong about that, or about anything else, really. And I really wasn't looking forward to having anything to do with the Fomorians any time soon. Still, I had no idea how Ehn was going to react to that.

“That is eminently reasonable,” he announced. So, as it turned out, the answer was not that badly. He gave me a brief look. “I agree that giving you a little more of a break and time to train in peace would be for the best. And you can use that time to get to know Odysseus here a little better. As I'm certain he would prefer to stay with you.”

And it was settled just as easily as that. Ehn would be leaving for a month, giving me time to do whatever I felt like. Then he would be back and it would be time to go to that rift. I had one month before we were going to see the original Fomorian home world from before everything had changed for them, and for the universe. Or rather, just as it was changing. From what these guys were saying, the rift connected to that world right as everything was going down, right as the original Fomorian people were in the middle of their last war. A war they were destined to lose, which would plunge the universe into a much bigger war that would last for hundreds of thousands of years.

Yeah, it was probably a good thing that it had been fully established to me that changing the past would simply create a new timeline, not change the one you were from. Otherwise, I probably would have been left crippled with guilt over the question of whether I should just try to stop that from happening, no matter how much it changed.

And God, what would a universe like that look like? If Cronus never changed the Fomorians, there would be no humans. None at all. We wouldn't exist. And the Seosten would have become very different as well. Hell, the entire universe would be different across the board.

It was a staggering thought, but didn't really matter. I didn't want to change timelines. Besides, even if I did, Ehn didn't. He wanted to save this one. And there was no way I would be able to do enough to change the outcome of Cronus’s invasion while Ehn was there to put a stop to it.

But at least I didn't have to think about that for a month. And boy howdy would I definitely stick to that. No way would I spend the entire time constantly thinking about what was going to happen when we finally went to the rift, and about what it was going to be like to actually step foot on that world. I absolutely, definitely, totally would not obsess over that for hours every single night.

*******

No sir, that was only what I obsessed over half of those nights as that month passed. The other half were firmly devoted to missing Avalon and Shiori. And the rest of my friends and family. Really, it wasn't that much of a vacation when I kept thinking about all the people I wanted to be spending it with. But it was better than nothing. It gave me time to rest again, to think, and even to visit Gaia and those kids at the school in Desoto a few more times. And, of course, it was time I could use to train even more.

I trained with Percy, Laein, even Doctor Manakel. He was still teaching me things he’d learned over the millennia about Necromancy. Between him and what Percy knew, they both had a lot to share. Not just with me, but with Laein too. And she was an incredibly eager student. It was both adorable and funny, seeing what a teacher's pet she was when it came to this sort of thing. She studied ahead, asked a thousand questions, and essentially demanded homework after every class by telling them to write down a list of what we should work on before the next one. When it came to learning Necromancy, I was pretty sure Laein was an even more obsessive student than Vanessa.

Meanwhile, I tried not to laugh myself into hysterics over the idea that I wanted to start teaching Necromancy to others. I wanted to run this school, and I wasn't even a master at this stuff myself. Who the hell was I fooling? Was this all a weird, elaborate joke? No, it could be. I wouldn't let it simply be a joke. This wasn't about being an ordinary school. Well, not even by very not-ordinary standards. The whole idea was that there would be different people in the school who knew different things. We’d all be able to teach each other, and make one another better by sharing our knowledge, by pooling it together. Those who knew more than others could teach the ones who were much newer. And eventually, we could grow into taking on students who didn't know anything about it at all.

In any case, that was basically how the vacation went. Well, that and the time I spent talking to Odysseus. He didn't want to get into anything too serious, but he did tell me a bunch of stories about adventures he'd been on throughout his life. Fathom always wanted to be out to listen directly to those stories, hanging on his every word.

That entire month flew by in what felt like a blink. It seemed like we had barely made it back to the Roundabout (the time dilation spell had worked exactly the way Ehn had said it would, with only a few days passing for Laein while we’d jumped several months) before it was suddenly over. Ehn came back, met up with us to check in, and just like that, we were on our way.

Honestly, it almost felt like we had been in some sort of time dilation spell ourselves. One that had made the month pass much faster than it should have, yet incredibly slowly at the same time. What kind of magic could be something like that? I missed the people I cared about every single day. I spent hours thinking about what they would have said to any particular situation. Realizing none of them had ever met Laein had been a bit of a shock. They had no idea who she was, but I'd known her for going on four months now.

A lot had happened in the time since I'd come back to the past, to put it mildly. And it seemed like a hell of a lot more was coming before I would get a chance to see all of them again. But it was time to set those thoughts aside and focus on the present. Which was actually the past. No, I had not gotten tired of making those jokes yet. Maybe I would in the future, which was my past, until it became my present again.

Boo, hiss, Extra, who was the one out at that particular point, exaggeratedly protested. You may not be tired of them, but some of us are.

Well that's just absurd, I sent back. You guys are basically me, and there's no way I'd ever get tired of it. Checkmate.

Extra probably would have argued that point, except I had stepped through a portal that Ehn had created, leading back to the grounds just outside that lumber camp from before. At first I had pointed out that I could simply teleport there without the portal, but he informed me that doing so would have set off multiple magical alarms he'd rather not have to deal with. It was better for us to arrive through his own effort, so whatever.

The point was, we were back at that lumber camp. And there was a figure waiting for us. She was a black woman, standing about an inch shorter than me, with long, elaborate braids and casual clothing. Casual by modern standards, even. She wore loose red pants and a gray, white, and black flannel shirt. Her feet were bare. Looking at her, I abruptly realized she was the invisible person who had escorted me into that cavern before, the one who had been amused when I made it clear that I knew she was there. That… right, she had to be the lieutenant Ehn had mentioned.

Percy, Eurso, and Cerberus came through the portal next. Laein would be staying back at the school. She had been just fine with being left behind after hearing where we were going. For all her bravado, she apparently had no interest in going to the original Fomorian homeworld for some strange reason.

“Felicity, Persephone…. Cerberus and Eurso,” Ehn politely began while gesturing toward the woman, “I’d like you to officially meet Dah. Dah, meet our new allies.”

The woman herself shrugged while speaking with a distinct accent that I was going to guess sounded Brazilian. “We’re on Earth, you can call me Mekkta.” She offered a wide smile, actually almost looking kind of goofy in that moment. “I would very much prefer that.”

“Okay then, Mekkta, whatever you like,” I agreed. “You can call me Flick. Decided to be visible today, huh?”

That grin got even wider as she showed a flash of brilliant white teeth and gave a low chuckle. “It seemed to be the polite thing to do, under the circumstances. Tell me, do you like futebol? I would very much like to play with someone, and Ehn won’t allow me to teach his workers here how to play it. He is afraid making it popular will change too many things. To which I say, how could I possibly make it more popular than it already is? Futebol transcends timelines.”

“I uhh, never really got into it,” I admitted. “But I do have a few ghosts who could probably play with you.”

“Certainly a worthy thing to look forward to,” an impatient Ehn put in. “But now, I believe the time has come. Ms. Chambers, would you mind calling forth Odysseus’s ghost?

“We are going to the Fomorian homeworld.”