Part 55 A Question of Extremes ***I should be dead. I *am* dead. So why am I *here*?*** I gazed with a dream-like indifference as Isilblius appeared to be choking Belldandy. She was bound to a tree by ropelike bands of translucent bright blue light. The temple grounds were enshrouded by a thick orange mist, creating a necropolitan sense of haunted abandonment. A visitor to this reality, I felt like I had been bounced against a cinderblock wall. Looking at my outstretched arm, I cringed at the terrible sight. My arm looked like a length of burnt steak. Reacting with panic, I questioned once more about why I was *here*. I should be dead! I remembered yelling something at Isilblius, and then I was covered by flame-instance of the most intense physical pain I had felt in my life...and then I felt nothing. My thoughts were skittered as I heard Belldandy gurgling for air in bursts of gasps. Isilblius was *killing* her! Nothing in the Enigma Book mentioned anything about *this* being an afterlife! Why was I witnessing Isilblius' attack on Belldandy? Why was he attacking her? The very sight of gentle, sweet Belldandy being strangled by this...murderous things...was torturing my consciousness. Was I brought back to this scene of tragedy...simply to witness this horror? Faced with the complexity of ideas in the Enigma Book, I had abstracted several conclusions about the afterlife. Every being, every thread of life that had ever combed the essence of TimeSpace with the slightest spark of creative freedom...everything that had ever lived...when its life had spanned its allotted course, the Soul that remained evolved, joining an Instrumentality of Light. The Instrumentality served as an engine of sorts; a place where the individuality of the sentiences attached to the Souls was broken down. By separating sentience from Souls, the raw matter of the leftover Souls could be combined there. The sentiences...which represented every aspect of a being's individuality in the living world...were then harnessed, forming a pool of vast creative energies from which Love radiated forth to power everything in the Everything. The Souls were then parceled out whenever a new life was created. Upon death, each life would lose its awareness, but its Soul would live in, providing the raw material for each and every new life. Urd had explained the Yggdrasilian perspective concerning the afterlife in great detail. She taught me that the afterlife was a Mid-light which existed at the center of all things. She instructed me about the Mirrors of Soul; a state of being after death where renewal of Soular energies occurs. There, the Souls reflect upon each other like an endless array of facing mirrors, transforming themselves into energy. But her orientation was limited by the confines of the body of knowledge available to the Gods. Urd... This *thing* had killed Urd! I just *knew* this, somehow. Inside of me, a silent void screamed into my kokoro. An acute, naked emptiness sorrowed my thoughts like an unbidden invader, tugging at my awareness with disconcerting persistence. And when I touched my emotions....part of my heart was missing, snuffed out. With an effort, I turned my head. My horrified eyes were greeted with the cruel sight of her crumpled body lying close to mine. Her lifeless eyes, still open, burned scrimshaw tapestries of grief into the marrow of my Soul. A corpse outside of me...inside of me. My heart died in that moment. Had Urd tried to save me? Did she witness my death at the hands of Isilblius...and then reacted with blind rage? Did she die protecting her two younger sisters? Did Isilblius snuff her essence out with callousness? I would never know. "Please come back, Urd..." I whispered to her corpse. "Please..." In this afterworld of Isilblius's destruction and murder-greed, there obviously wasn't any wishes to be granted. My words fell upon silent ears. A burst of empathy filled me, reluctantly I sensed how her noble heart must have been shattered when she saw me being killed by Isilblius! What a tragic end to our love, to the aspirations and joys and fears and intimacies. All I could understand was the fact that she was still alive when Isilblius set me on fire, killing me... And Belldandy had witnessed the death of Keiichi! This sorrowful madness overwhelmed me. Never in my worst nightmares could I have imagined how my presence in Japan could have led to this. Was it my fault? If I had never come here, if Urd had never been summoned to visit me on that fateful night a year ago...would this sequence of dark, sorrowful carnage have never been enriched into bleak reality. Was *I* responsible for Isilblius? There it is again...the misery of my confusion! I *was* killed...I definitely felt my life being snuffed out. Everything had turned into nothingness in a split second of agony. And then I was here, as if I had awakened from a dream. My body was a charred husk of its former self; but yet my consciousness was intact... But yet I *am* here! If this is a story, then how could I be part of its conclusion? All I could do now was watch Isilblius drain the life out of Belldandy. Even if I was dead, if I was powerless, I could at least protest before doom claimed me. A voice reached out of my deepest being, demanding that I *do* something to bring an end to the killing. ***"STOPPPPPPP!"*** * * * * * * * * Isilblius relaxed his grasp on Belldandy's throat as he heard the unexpectedly loud shout. Everyone under this shield was dead...there was no being, either God or mortal, who could shout such a challenge! The only living being remaining...was grasped between his constricting hands, the pneuma of her Soul bleeding out its last clutch of gasps. He looked into her eyes, expecting to see raptures of dread terror. Instead, he saw softness and forgiveness... "You Bitch!" he shouted, pulling his hands away as if they were afire. Enraged at her disconcerting calm, Isilblius screamed a litany of shrieks. He had wanted Belldandy to die bearing a mask of cowering terror; her last split-seconds of existence leavened with a soulwrenching despair. He wanted her death to be the absolute proof of his Evil...a shadowplague of black hopelessness that would stretched endlessly through all Time, representing so fittingly his total domination of the Gods and Demons. His plan was flawless. With all the Gods and Demons eradicated, their Souls and sentiences would join the Instrumentality. He could then complete his conquest of the Everything by draining the Instrumentality of all power. Once he killed every being in both Multiverses, the Instrumentality would possess the maximum amount of the power of Souls and sentiences. He would then destroy the Reaper and claim all the energy there for his own ends. With all the energy of the Everything at his disposal, he would create a new order. His order. Everything would have to die. Not one single instance of life could remain, otherwise his power would be diminished away from totality. With all life extinguished, all the power would rest in the Other Side...the Realm of the Reaper. By killing Death, he would have mastery over all possible energies in all nine dimensions, for they would be collected in the Mid-Light. There would be no Ultimate Force to thwart him, because there would be no energy for the UF to draw from... But this one weak Goddess had denied him the satisfaction of total victory, stubbornly refusing to give in to her fear. She had even forgiven him! The fact that she was behaving like a benevolent Goddess to the end...was a nothing more than a resolute scorning of all of his perfect designs! Filled with disgust, Isilblius realized that the force field was still in place, protecting this wretched place from the ocean above. It remained only because he hadn't killed its creator, the Norn of the Present. "No matter...I'll simply dissolve it...and that will kill her and whatever geist is making those sounds!" he said to himself. With a grandiloquent gesturing of his hands, the dome suddenly disappeared. An instantaneous mountain of ocean pulverized everything underneath it... *That* will kill the Norn! * * * * * * * * Belldandy coughed the ocean water out of her lungs as she bobbed in the salt water. In all directions, all she could see was deep-sea tides and waves. Nearby, Isilblius floated a meter above the water, surveying his handiwork with a smug grin. Somehow, she was alive! The last thing she remembered was a scream...a voice in her mind and in the air. It wasn't her voice; Isilblius had choked her into speechlessness. Seconds later, a charred body arose out of the water, pausing to hover lifelessly against the daylight. Behind the crisped corpse, Belldandy noticed that the Moon loomed *hugely*...its orb azured in the midday sky, filling a corner of the horizon. It was much larger than it should be. "Cevn!" she sputtered in recognition as an ocean wave splashed her in the face. Isilblius had hoisted his body above the water to taunt her, to frighten her, to remind her that her beloved Keiichi was dead as well...buried underneath this ocean of seawater. "" an impossibly calm voice thoughtcast to her. Isilblius turned towards her, making her regret the fact that she had shouted. "Leave her be, Isilblius! Your real threat lies elsewhere!" she heard someone say with a passion of determination. Belldandy looked again at the corpse. It was moving! Cevn had felt the black ocean crush everything around him, literally atomizing the temple and its environs. The sudden decompression of a five kilometer deep segment of ocean was enough to smash anything flat...but as he struggled against the pressing walls of water, he envisioned himself passing knifelike through the depths, towards the surface. A split second later, he was hovering over the surface of a huge ocean...just as he had pictured in his mind! Cevn realized instantly that the entire Boso Peninsula had been covered by water once Isilblius had melted the polar icecaps. In fact, most of Japan was underwater. He saw Isilblius approaching Belldandy again, intent on finishing his murdering spree. Because she had unsealed her Goddess Powers, she had been somehow spared. Maybe *she* was the reason that he was 'alive'! But if he was alive, why not the others? Why not Keiichi, who was as true a soulmate to this Goddess as any being in existence? Cevn could feel an emergent sense of confidence...a *something* inside of him, awakening with each second... Belldandy emerged from the ocean, levitating upwards in the air as the sea winds dried her off. She watched as Cevn shook himself like a cat shaking itself dry after a bath; the charred viscera and skin flaking off of his body. A few seconds later, he looked exactly like he did the moment before Isilblius had killed him. *Almost* the same... In the middle of his forehead, she noticed a luminous sapphire- blue circle encircling an equally brilliant ruby-red diamond-shaped square, its corners intersecting the circle, creating four amethyst- purple colored points. It was like...a Goddess marking! Isilblius paused in his advance, distracted by the Goddess and the mortal that were still alive. "You're *dead*! I killed you!" the Ultimate Demon screamed in angry disbelief, looking back-and-forth at the two survivors. "I burned you to a crisp! And I made you die by the pressure of tons of ocean water!" he shouted to Cevn, then Belldandy. "Well, I guess the fact that I'm still here means that you aren't so 'ultimate' as you think you are, Isilblius! Do I look dead to you?" Belldandy heard Cevn taunt the Demon. Isilblius ignored him and reached out to strangle her again. Belldandy levitated herself away from the approaching Evil... Isilblius decided to finish Belldandy straightforth, figuring that the appearance of the dead mortal was a deception. In a final desperate act, this hateful Goddess was trying to delude him by creating a false image...so that she could escape. "But there is no escape from Evil," he chuckled to himself. * * * * * * * * It took a moment for me to realize that I was filled with an inexplicable fund of raw energy. I felt more alive than I had ever felt before. For some reason, my body was whole again, unscarred by the torching I received from the Ultimate Demon. This *thing* the Enigma Book had called Isilblius. I 'knew' that Isilblius was neither God or Demon. He was something else, something entirely unwarranted within the existence of the Multiverse. Somewhere inside of me, I could see so clearly what had happened to bring him into this reality. He had used the legend of "the Ultimate Demon" as a ploy, hoping that some Demon would resurrect him. Mara's pride and desperate desire to wreck grief on Keiichi and Belldandy had done the rest. She had brought him back, thinking he was a Demon. But he certainly wasn't a Demon...he was worse! The implications were staggering. This embodiment of Anti-life had destroyed both Yggdrasil and Vanagdrasil. I felt an emptiness inside of my mind, a clearly perceived void where the two Multiverse- trees *should* be. An unknown pattern of force coursed through my being, wanting to use me in some manner. Beyond the sense of strength, I felt another presence. It was like a completely new personality that had been slumbering inside of me...which had been roused to consciousness. All around me, all through me, I felt raimented in the awareness that reality had become a maw of madness. "Instability needs to be gentled back into symmetry," I heard my voice echo in my thoughts. As Isilblius grasped towards Belldandy's throat, I imagined a *different* span of reality...a moment in TimeSpace where his athuggeed intentions were thwarted. In a brief cage of Time, I tried to compose a scene in my mind where his hands were slowly pulled away from her soft neck. So I pictured it... "Let...her...go!" I yelled, repulsed and angered by his aggressive attack. To my utter amazement, Isilblius's hands slowly slid to a halt a meter short of Belldandy, as if they were being manipulated by unknown strings of energy! Bracing my efforts, I continued to elaborate the mental image formed in my mine, imagining his body being pulled away from Belldandy... "What!?" I heard Isilblius shout in dismay as he was slowly, invisibly lifted away from Belldandy. I focused my mind with an even greater effort, as I could sense a rash of invasive thoughts trying to frustrate my concentration. Belldandy looked at me with an expression admixing horror and generous awe as a mysterious tractive power pulled Isilblius away from her. So that's it! If I think something...then it happens! If this was so, then I could undo the recent past. I could bring Urd back to life! I could prevent the deaths of all my friends! Perhaps I could even prevent the creation of Isilblius... I labored feverishly in my mind to try and envision a different reality...an altered course of reality. To change things, to change the last few minutes. Nothing happened. I almost wanted to scream in frustration as I realized that I had come up against a unbreachable wall. There was a limit to these powers that had suddenly welled up inside of me. I tried to visualize a living, breathing Urd... Nothing happened. I tried to remove the flood of waters... Nothing happened. "WHY?!!!" I screamed. "Why doesn't it change? Why can't I just make things the way they're supposed to be? Why am I powerless, when I have so much power?" Belldandy looked at me, trying to comfort me with her eyes. I knew that she had experienced the loss of everything that was dear to her. As much as I wanted to make things right for me...her pained expression only added to my sense of inadequacy. I couldn't even bring back Keiichi, or her sisters, or her parents... How can I possibly restructure reality when I don't even know what reality is? I could prevent events from happening, but I lacked the ability to change events that had already occurred. In order to do so, I would have to objectify *reality itself* with a precision that was impossibly to apprehend within the realms of cognition. I would have to *think* reality... On the heels of my self-doubts, I could feel a tension straining against my thoughts, trying to make me question my belief that I couldn't hold Isilblius at bay. It mounted past fascination...past deliberation...past concentration...past conviction...past belief...and past reality... He was free! Somehow, Isilblius had reached into my mind, forcibly convincing me that I could no longer restrain him. Or had my mind simply resigned itself away from the phenomena? The parable of Jesus walking the Sea of Galilee came to mind. In Christ's mind, it was an absolute, unquestionable certainty that he could walk on water. There was no 'ifs' involved in the process of belief-as-fact. So he walked on water, based on faith as surety. But when his apostles attempted the same feat, they were unable to maintain a rational detachment...or even a modicum of faith. "Oh ye of so little faith..." I heard in my mind. The miracle collapsed. "Two can play this game!" Isilblius shouted, glaring at me with a baneful condescension. I could sense my hands slowly pinning themselves against my side, as if they were being controlled remotely. It recalled the several times Mara had tried to possess me...only this source of will was much more potent! I could struggle against Mara, but I was too weak to stop Isilblius. In the recesses of my reasoning, I could sensibly intuit what Isilblius was planning. He was going to use my hands, forcing me to strangle myself. "Belldandy...help me!" I gasped in a beggared thin voice. Belldandy heard my plea...and reacted by splattering Isilblius with a white-blue blast of arcane energy. Just enough to distract him for a split-second... "All right!" I thought in my mind as I snuck a sliver of thought within the bulldozer of Isilblius's will. Enough to shudder his mental takeover of my being to a halt. Enough for a momentary reprieve... The Beast glared angrily at Belldandy and I. I had to do something! For Urd, for Keiichi and Belldandy, for Skuld, for Megumi and Genji, for Tomohisa, for Tamiya and Ootaki, for Sayoko, for little Sora...for all humanity...for the Gods and the Demons... An arc of righteous anger filled me as I willed myself to live, fully releasing myself from his mental grip. "Let go...surrender!" my 'other' voice urged. I wanted to struggle against it...against everything. I didn't know what to believe in anymore. Empty of heart, life making no sense, hope dashed under and over me...I had to trust in the fact that Belldandy trusted me. Anything I do from now on cannot be the actions of self. Cannot involve the means and ends of my own personal willpower. I resigned myself and surrendered. "We Go!" I shouted, following my intuition...and leapt away from the surface of the Earthrealm. * * * * * * * * Hovering above the surface of the ocean, Belldandy watched as Isilblius turned his attention away from her...and disappeared. He was gone! Looking down where Makuhari used to be, where her *home* used to be, where her *love* used to be...Belldandy was finally able to cry out her agony... An unswallowing of grief filled her. She realized that there was nothing left for her, not even witnesses to her profound pangs of sorrow! She screamed Keiichi's name to the furthest wisps of the ocean... * * * * * * * * I furtively traveled out of the atmosphere and hovered about the Earth. The sheer beauty of the Earth from this superorbital perspective was profound in a way that defied description. I was amazed that I was *here*, outside of the troposphere...yet still alive. Was I body...or spirit. Or maybe even something else. It seemed that I could 'fly' through space with the ease of swimming in a pool. As I scanned the Earth for familiar geophysical outlines, I realized with a shock that the ocean coastings were grossly disfigured. Obviously, the oceans had flooded hundreds, if not thousands of kilometers inland. There were no icecaps on the north and south polar regions of the globe! Apparently, once he had instantaneously converted the Antarctic and Greenland icecaps into water, Isilblius had released enough water to cover the entire surface of the Earth almost 50 meters deep. Billions had died in the space of seconds... Then I noticed the Moon. Its Selene facial features were crisp; it was visibly much closer than it should be at aphelion. I could sense that it was slowly moving towards the Earth like a harpooned whale being reeled in by a whalship. "" a bullhorn strong voice shouted in my mind. I had hoped that once I left the surface of the Earth, Isilblius would be drawn away from Belldandy. At least I could save her. If Isilblius was prone to transports of rage and confusion, it would mean that he wasn't inflexible...that he could be coaxed into making impulsive decisions. "" I answered back with a thoughtcast. "" he explained. "" I shot back. To accent my point, I 'pushed' the Moon back into its former plane of orbit. "" he challenged, trying to wrest the Moon from my mental grasp. "" I challenged him, trying to sound insolent...and realizing I *was* insolent! I wasn't just insolent, I was nettled with anger. I vouched to myself that I needed to curb my resentment before I ended up matching his vindictiveness. With this, I tried to look beyond the physical dimensions...and experience the TimeStream. It was like surgery, only the 'patient' was quantum reality itself. In my mind, I was peeling back the 'skin' of visible space...visible physicality. Eventually, my searching revealed the 'tissues' of the TimeStream. With a startling insight, I recognized that the Enigma Book had appeared into my life propitiously. With a *purpose*! I had studied the mysterious arcane text hundreds of times, often in the company of the most able of tutors in the persons of Belldandy, Urd and Skuld. Each Goddess had offered me a distinct interpretation of its contents. Magical. Spiritual. Technological. And most recently, I had devoured its quintessence in a desperate all-out effort to devise a means to save Urd and her sisters from the wasting illness that threatened them. It dawned on me that amidst this process, I had somehow inadvertently inculcated the sum knowledge of Yggdrasil *and* Vanagdrasil! The mechanism that oiled the cogs of my intellect...was love. Always had been, always was. Driven by an approaching grief, I had unlocked the secrets concealed in the Enigma Book finally and fully by virtue of the love in my heart for Urd and her sisterse! By creating the 'master schema' of the twinned Multiverses, I had synthesized the acme of each body of knowledge...a hylolistic integration of everything that there was to know. All for love. As I beheld the myriad strands of the TimeStream, I realized that I was treading where only the Three could travel. The streams of Time were much different than the omnibus representations of the Multiverse, which I could grasp only in terms of dimensionality. The glowing, jewel-like threads of the TimeStream were each a distinct aspect. The individual fluidic stretches each represented a different thread of Time; a unique pattern chronologically distinct from any other discreet 'slice' of Now. Each segment of the TimeStream possessed a history unto itself, independent of all other forms of reality. Each TimeStream was woven with individual TimeWeaves...the "moments" of time in that particular historyspan of Time. In my mind's eye, the nearest visual accommodation I could create was that the individual bunches of TimeStreams suggested long strings of bundled spaghetti pasta... During our Enigma Book sessions, Skuld had confided to me one day that she strongly suspected that *dimensionality itself* was contained within these threads of Time. She didn't know for certain, but the concept rang true in her mind despite its tenuous indemonstrably. To Skuld, this was an enigmatic truth. "One of those things you just know without thinking," she had said to me. With a mindtaxing stretch of thought, I saw that the strands *curved* ever so slightly, once I refrained from viewing them in NowTime. The past...the future...extended away from the present with a definite arc. If I could just breach the 'barriers' that separating each strand, each weave of Time within the TimeStream...the point where each individual thread of Time ended and another quantum of Time began...then Everywhere would become EveryTime. Then I could travel back in time and undo the dark deeds of Isilblius. A voice challenged me, reminding me that I had to play out my confrontation with the *cause* of the havoc, before I could even attempt a restoration... What could be beyond Time? If Isilblius was neither God nor Demon, could he possibly manifest himself in Non-Time? My metallect reasoned that, if all the quantums of time converged...Time wouldn't exist, because it would be EveryTime. By removing the element of Time, I might be able to undo the damage Isilblius had caused. But I just didn't know how. Just like I didn't know how to revivify Urd, Skuld, Keiichi and the others. The horror of Urd's lifeless emerald eyes filled my heart with a blinding grief... I would need to buy myself some time. If it took a billion years, I would learn how to save her! I would learn how to return everything to how it was before Isilblius had fucked it all up. Or I would die in the midst of the effort. I promised myself to devote all of my being to undoing all the agonies that the archfiend Isilblius had manifested. He had hurt everyone and everything that was important to me. If it were in my power to prevent this, to recast all of reality, to spare my friends and millions of fellow Earthrealm mortals the deaths they had experienced, than I would. But I just couldn't do it. Not yet. I had power, but I lacked experience. Reluctantly abandoning this Time and Space to its fate, I slipped into the nearest TimeStream, hoping to evade Isilblius long enough so that I could fully grasp the capabilities of my gift of power... * * * * * * * * After locating a TimeWeave strand in the bundled ropelike TimeStream, I 'blinked' into existence near the Koi pond in front of our temple. And I saw Belldandy. And Skuld. And Urd. Apparently, I was sitting on one of the viewing rocks, looking at the orange-gold fish swimming lazily in the water. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see movement. Momentarily panicked, thinking it was Isilblius, I turned to its source. I saw Peorth rushing up to me, all out of breath and fired with excitement. As they looked on, she floated into the air the last few meters and then wrapped herself around me, hugging me tightly. "Mon cherie amore, I *knew* that you would come back!" she shouted, trying to kiss me passionately amidst an explosion of roses. Different Time. Different World. Different Rules... Same Peorth. I was momentarily disarmed by her passionate hug. It wasn't the type of embrace one friend gives another. Her 'attack' when I was bathing last year loomed strongly in my mind, causing me to flinch and push her away. She looked at me with mystified eyes... Recovering my wits, I reached out with my mind and tried to glean through her thoughts, trying to learn some essence of the motives and memories passing through her mind in that instant of her kiss. Seeking anything that could explain the history of this TimeStream I had popped into. I couldn't apprehend all of Peorth's knowledge. Apparently, transporting myself into a different reality of Time had caused a significant amount of disorientation...a form of chronological 'car sickness', as it were. At least she was speaking Japanese, instead of some language that had never existed on the Earth. At least the Earth that was my homeworld, back in my "home TimeStream". I was so jumbled up, I could only grasp her memories constellatively as I probed into her mind. The fragments were like a windswept jigsaw puzzle. But I could make out a few details... In this reality, Peorth was the Goddess who had been assigned by Yggdrasil to grant my wish. With cinematic blurity, I witnessed her mind replaying the moment she had granted my wish. My wish had been to not be afraid of women any more. As I searched her memories, I found out that it had taken Peorth *three years* to convince me that I was 'safe' around her and other women. During this time, I had fled out of Makuhari several times in absolute panic in reaction to her efforts to desensitize me. Even Urd's 'love potions' didn't work! Then my breath fell out of me like a dropped carton of eggs as I saw *myself* walk up...and put an arm around Belldandy. It was definitely me; a mirror image of myself. Same eyes, same hairstyle, same walk... "Keiichi, it's good to have you back among us!" I heard myself say to me... Same talk... **Keiichi?!** Did this mean that I *was* Keiichi? I looked at my hands, sucking in a breathgasp of shock as I realized that they were all wrong. My skin was darker, the fingers just a tab shorter, there were no scars and collapsed veins on my hands from shooting up dope... I wasn't in my own body! For a brief second, my mind struggled with the paradox. I mentally dialed up a rerun of an American TV show called "Quantum Leap" from my childhood memories. The series' story plot was focused on a scientist who was trapped in a quantum slipstream, falling randomly into people's lives...becoming both himself *and* that person whose body he inhabited. Retaining his sense of identity while everyone around him thought he was someone else. Could it be that I was somehow in Keiichi's life? Sensing my uncertainty, Peorth grabbed my hand and gently pulled me towards the temple house. My proprioception felt all different, and it took a moment for me to learn how to walk... The temple house looked almost exactly like the temple home I had lived in for over a year. I stared at my doppelganger, who was regarding me with an amused expression as I stumbled along the rock path towards the front door. "Keiichi, we were so worried about you! Don't you know that we have an important major race tomorrow?" Chihiro said, emerging to stand in the temple doorway from somewhere in the house. She regarded me with her hands on her hips. As Peorth and I approached the house, she didn't move an inch. It seemed that she was poised expectantly, waiting for something. When I was about two or three meters away, I halted myself, surprising Peorth. I could notice a definite saturation of tension between us as I sensed my proximity to Chihiro's personal space. Suddenly, Chihiro ran up and kissed me on the lips. I almost pushed her away in shock. Peorth giggled and went off to where the others were grouped in the yard. "What's the matter? Can't you handle a joke?" she said in a sweet voice, then wrapped her arms around me and kissed me *for real*. The unexpected passion of her kiss jolted me physically, like a brick dropped on my foot. Chihiro eyed me warily... I taxed myself, trying to quell my shock, my self-disgust, my fear of women, and the sudden surge of lust that seemed to press in on my consciousness from all sides. I knew that I needed to blend in, otherwise I would stick out like a sore thumb. Anything else would possibly alert Isilblius to my presence in this new TimeStream. "Urd...forgive me," I thought as I reluctantly kissed her back, not knowing what else I could do to avoid arousing even more suspicion. From the moment I had arrived, I had felt dispossessed by my entrance into this new TimeStream. Not only were the external scenara confusing...but now I was inexplicably *getting into* kissing Chihiro! The interpersonal dynamics were bound to be different, for sure. But I was *reacting* differently! In 'my' reality, if Chihiro had kissed me...I would have been numbed with shock for a split second, and then I would have definitely pulled away from her as quickly as possible. It would have felt wrong. Despite the fact that I felt that *this* was wrong deep inside my soul, my initial reaction of fear, embarrassment and a chilly detachment...was fading in intensity. In its stead, I was experiencing a sudden burst of passion! Was it me, or was it Keiichi? Could it be possible that I was somehow *sharing* the emotions of this TimeStream's Keiichi? It seemed that his emotions were interpenetrating with mine... I guessed that my partial grasp of this TimeStream's reality could be the result of a tension between my Soul and the Soul of the body I was 'riding'. I fought to control my confusion even more, attempting to graft rationality onto this very weird scene. Chihiro was kissing me like a newlywed. I tapped her on the shoulder gently but insistently, trying to communicate the fact that I needed to come up for some air. She pulled her lips away from mine with a smack, and then rested her head on my neck. "Keiichi, we all thought Tamiya's little joke was funny, but you ran out of here looking rather offended," Cevn explained to me. "What is the joke here?" I asked myself. Chihiro kissing me? Peorth's lustful embrace? Just as my thoughts started spinning wheels, Skuld pointed at me and burst into belly laughter. "Go look in the mirror and find out!" the little Goddess instructed amidst bubbly girlish giggles. I was stared at them, thoroughly confused...which provoked even more laughter from everyone as they followed Chihiro and I into the living room. Chihiro stepped behind me and pushed my shoulder blades, guiding me playfully down the hall in the direction of the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom, she giggled as I gawked into one of the mirrors. Reflected back at me was Keiichi's face. His soft acorn brown eyes, his clear complected skin...lightly toned for a Japanese man, his backcombed shaggy bangs of short black hair, his gentle sway of chin and his compact mouth...they were all here. His eyes stared back at me with an expression of confusion. Beyond this, the resemblance to the Keiichi that I knew ended. The rest of his/my face had been 'decorated' with a scrawl of black inkpen designs and words. I repressed an urge to laugh, realizing that either Tamiya or Ootaki had drawn a moustache on my face, not to mention a number of mildly obscene characters and a black eye. I must have been caught napping by the sempai! "Here...shall I help you wash it off?" Chihiro offered in a cooing voice, soaking a washcloth in hot water and soaping it up. "Mm..hmm!" I assented, closing my eyes as she gently daubed at my face with the washcloth. "By the way, I chewed those two goons out *good*! Nobody gets away with playing a dirty trick on my Keiichi! You're my employee at Whirlwind, but my juniors still don't realize that you're *much more* than just an employee!" Chihiro remarked with cheerful feminine braggadocio as she dried my face with a towel. I settled into a relaxation under her ministrations; any free moment where I could get away with saying nothing was greatly appreciated at this point. I needed to reflect on my situation more carefully. Up to now, I had discovered that I inhabited Keiichi's body, that both Peorth and Chihiro seemed be in love with me, that I was supposed to drive in a race tomorrow, and that Tamiya and Ootaki were still pranksters. "There!" Chihiro announced, just as I was questioning how in the hell was I going to drive in one of Keiichi's races. Driving in a racing competition wasn't covered in the Enigma Book. I opened my eyes and examined myself in the mirror. Keiichi's brown eyes stared back at me once more. For a moment I thought I could blink the image away; just a blink and I would see myself in the mirror. Trying not regard my reflection in the mirror with rapt amazement, I attempted an expression of scrupulous interest. "Thank you, Chihiro," I said with genuine appreciation. Even though I was in another man's body, I somehow felt relieved that I wasn't walking around with Tamiya's handiwork on my face. "Do you want to...take a nice hot bath with me?" Chihiro asked. Not so innocently, I noticed. A second later, she wrapped her arms around me from behind, pressing herself against my back. Her voice possessed a lingering sensual edginess to it that I struggled to ignore. My nostrils filled with a sweet smell; she must have found a moment while scrubbing my face to put on a dash of perfume. I felt myself startling into a plummet, watching the expression of shock play across the features of 'my' face in the mirror. Watching Chihiro's face in the mirror grin with bemusement right next to mine. "What's the matter? Have you forgotten? It's *my* turn tonight! Peorth took a bath with you yesterday. Oh, you're such an idiot sometimes, Keiichi! But that's why I love you, darling!" she said, resting her chin on my shoulder. As I gazed into the mirror, her Native American wishfeather earrings were shaking slightly as she regarded me with humorous suspicion. "W..what are you t..talking about?" I blurted out defensively before I could check my tongue. I watched as the reflection of Chihiro stepped away and then tapped her forehead with a very Japanese gesture of frustration. "Let me refresh your memory, o null-minded one! Four years ago, you phoned up a soba noodle delivery service for a quick meal. Instead, you reached a Goddess...Peorth at the Goddess Relief Office, Earth Otasuke Division. Peorth came to Earth and offered to grant you a single wish. Somewhere in between all those girly mags you kept hidden in your dorm room and all those times you were turned down by Sayoko Mishima, you found yourself in a fit of confusion...and you made a wish. To no longer be afraid of women. Once your wish was registered with the Earth Otasuke Division, Peorth had to stay here until your wish request was fulfilled. Being who she is, she assumed it would only take a few weeks. But she had *no idea* how stubbornly shy you are! Instead, it took several *years*! During all that time while Peorth was working so closely with you...she ended up starting to fall in love with you, Keiichi. "Three years later, enter one beautiful Chihiro Fujimi into your life! Remember our first meeting? You met me when I returned to Makuhari from my stint working for Krauser Motorcycles last year. Remember how I challenged you to a race with the microbikes...and how badly I beat you! Yet, there was something about your funloving, yet diffident manner that caused me to feel *really attracted* to you! I knew it from the first time I saw you...that I would make you mine! Remember that night after the hillclimb race when I confessed that I was in love with you? I can recall the exact words of your reply..." she said as her brown eyes softened with the remembrance. I felt like I was a voyeur, listening in on the most intimate secrets of *another couple*. This Chihiro had shared secrets with this Keiichi...and she was confiding them to me without a hint of distrust! I wanted to close my ears, out of the loyalty to the Chihiro that I knew back in the Makuhari of 'my' reality. Out of respect to the Keiichi of this TimeStream. I had no business being here... "'Why?' you asked! My heart sank when you said that, because I thought I had lost you as a friend...but then you surprised me by admitting that you were attracted to me. You were so *shy* back then! And since you fell in love with me, Peorth was released from granting your wish. But she decided to stay on the Earthrealm, because once she had fulfilled your wish, it became possible for *her* to admit that she was in love with you. Then we all got Bonded last spring! Remember our honeymoon in New Zealand, on that private beach near Christchurch? Now do you understand? Now do you know why I must take a bath with you, Keiichi darling?" she explained, pinching my cheek for emphasis and reaching inside of the waistline of my jeans. "Bonded?" I asked, pulling her hand away before she started undoing my zipper. I could understand the part about falling in love...Chihiro's narrative closely paralleled that summer day in Beijing when Urd and I first exchanged our heartsongs... "Yep! You are Bonded to me and Peorth, for the rest of your life! This place we live in *is* Yamato, last time I checked! Here in Yamato, every man has two wives. It's required by law, in case you've forgotten, dunderhead! Geez, what am I doing explaining these things to you as if you've never heard of them before! You shouldn't tease me like this!" Chihiro explained matter-of-factly, finished her 'lesson' with a kiss on my cheek. I almost blurted out "you're kidding!" "I..I don't know if I belong here," I mumbled. Feeling dizzy all of a sudden, I leaned against the wooden walls of the bathroom. **snap** I felt the sting of a towel cracking across my hips. I looked at Chihiro, who was giggling with passionate excitement. "The next one's going to be aimed at your..." "Okay, okay, I get it!" I said, alternating between waving my hands in an "I surrender!" gesture and covering my crotch. With a grin, Chihiro walked up to me and slung the towel over my head, pulling my face right up to hers. "Keiichi...you *are* going to win for Peorth and me tomorrow, right?" she purred sensuously. I gulped and nodded my head, overwhelmed by her closeness. Her eyes were too close to mine...much closer than a woman's should be. Not to mention that she was giving me "the Look". I felt myself being pulled in, drawn to her because of her proximity. To add to my confusion, Chihiro was just so damned...beautiful! "And just to make sure you do, Peorth and I are going to give you something...special...tonight! Something that will...arouse...your winning instincts!" she said, whispering in my ear. That was it! I was becoming putty in her hands...or was it Keiichi's natural reaction to her strong feminine aura? Didn't make a difference...I needed to escape from this one, or I would wind up an all-too-willing participant in the bathtub a few feet away on the other side of the sliding shoji doors. And I knew I wouldn't be alone in that furoba, either! "Chihiro...I gotta go. I mean, I..I gotta pee! I'll be out in a minute, promise!" She frowned with disappointment, making it obvious to me that I had spoiled the mood. Then she recovered her lighthearted poise... "Okay, loverboy!" she said, winking at me over her shoulder as she walked out of the bathroom. * * * * * * * * I sat out on one of the smoother rock outcroppings, looking at the moon as it reflected bright silver linings on the nightsky clouds. I was so wrapped up in trying to decipher the reality of this particular TimeStream...that I had momentarily forgotten why I had sought refuge here. Peorth and Chihiro could really be insistent when they wanted to be. During dinner, I discovered that my counterpart in this TimeStream had two wives as well...Belldandy and Megumi. It was disorienting enough when I chanced upon him kissing Belldandy in the kitchen. Belldandy was Keiichi's girlfriend, not mine. I waxed grateful that Belldandy wasn't one of my 'wives'...that would have been over-the-top on the uncomfortability scale. But then I almost choked on my food at dinner when Megumi came home late from school, and my 'double' bounded up from the dinner table and hugged her passionately. For a moment, I felt self-disgust wash over me...an instant snap of betrayal caused by actions of the 'me' of this TimeStream. For a year and a half, my relationship with Megumi wavered between friendship and an elder brother/younger sister dynamic. Consequently, I viewed her as the little sister I never had. Besides, she was Genji's girlfriend. Yet, here she was kissing this TimeStream's 'me' with selfless abandon! After the shock of the apparent impropriety wore off, I had to surrender to the fact that the Cevn in this TimeStream wasn't a jerk...in fact, I had little ground in which to judge *any* of these familiar faces. Oddly enough, this TimeStream's Cevn was *my* brother-in-law, because of his marriage to Megumi... I still couldn't fathom why Belldandy and her sisters were here, if Peorth had been the Goddess who had fielded my...er, this TimeStream's Keiichi's wish. Could Belldandy have dispatched to grant the wish of my counterpart in this reality? Later in the evening, I skimmed a "History of Postwar Yamato". Two women for each man...the aftermath of World War II on this world. Japan had retained her ancient name of Yamato in this TimeStream's reality. I learned that, in 1945, she had never fallen under the shadow of the Enola Gay like the Japan that I lived in. Instead, the Allied Forces were forced to invade Yamato herself in a series of pitched battles, which lasted five years before the militant Emperor surrendered. 95% of the male population had died defending their homeland during those years! During the Allied Occupation after the surrender, Yamato ratified a pacifist Constitution in 1954. One of the provisions of the new Constitution was a "Two-Wife Policy". Any man who wished to 'marry' and have children...could only do so if he married two women. This law was to remain in effect until a male- female balance was achieved. Two generations after the war ended, the Two-Wife Policy had evolved from an awkward necessity that flew in the face of universal sociocultural norms...into a practice that was seamlessly integrated within every stretch of life in Yamato. Yamato was besieged by requests for men to emmigrate to "the Land of a Thousand Beauties" as it was nicknamed all around the world. A number of comedy series on TV were devoted to those early days of Two-Wife Policy and the craziness that ensued as the gender marital roles were turned upside down. The Beatles of this TimeStream were from Edokyo, Yamato's version of Tokyo. Russia had won the race to the Moon. Great Britain had discovered nuclear energy first; there were no bombs, just N-reactors. China was a democracy. India was the intellectual leader of the world, as the Gupta Dynasty experienced a renaissance a century earlier than Europe. America was a socialist country... It made for amazing reading. In Yamato, three quarters of the Parliamentary Diet officials were woman. Yamato was ruled by Empress Michiko, who had assumed the regency after the execution of Hirohito by the United Nations in 1952. In fact, the book predicted that a population balance of the sexes would be achieved by 2025. At least there had been an absence of the vast numbers of infanticides which marked the early years of China's "One Family, One Child" policy, back in the TimeStream I lived in. In traditional China, a son was strongly preferred to a daughter, because only a son could carry on the family name. Thus, when a daughter was born, she was often abandoned as an infant. Millions of infant girls had died because of this in the last 30 years in China. I learned that here in Yamato, a male born into the family meant a sizable annual stipend from the government. This was almost a financial necessity, since a husband was supporting two wives and a large family unit. It was common to see families of ten or more; the large number of siblings resulted from efforts to 'try' and have as many male children as possible. Also, the large family units made it difficult for many women to pursue careers outside of the home...resulting in a reemergence of the more traditional feminine 'homebody' role. Most women in Yamato viewed this as their loving duty to the nation's repopulation efforts...albeit reluctantly at times. But the idea of sharing a husband with another woman had become quite natural and liberating to many women. The 'other' wife was often her best friend before the marriage...or became her best friend over the years of the bonding. And quite often, women looked for men in pairs... But what was natural for Chihiro and Peorth...was distastefully *unnatural* for me! Yet, I had to honestly admit to myself that I was momentarily tempted; my imagination was pricked by the concept of having a relationship with two women. Obviously, this TimeStream's Keiichi must really enjoy it...as I felt an almost magnetic urge to join his two "wives" in his bedroom. Without a doubt, if I wasn't sharing the inhabitance of his body, he would have already joined the two women in a love nest. He would have...but I wouldn't. As tempting as a melange de trois with two beautiful women might be, my heart already belonged to another. So I had explained that I was going to sleep on the couch tonight; a decision that brought pouts of disappointment to the faces of a Goddess and a beautiful mortal woman. I had to get out of this world, out of this TimeStream! I expected things to be different than what I was used to...but I didn't expect *crazy*! I mused upon the awareness that this particular slice of Time only differed in slight degree from the 'real' time I had just left. It could have been much worse. If I was having such a struggle to deal with life here, in a minutely skewed milieu...how would I be able to survive in a TimeStream where the Earthrealm was *radically* different? Perhaps so different that I could do no better than to swim like a drowning sailor in an oceanic strangetude... The ocean... *That* thought snapped me back to reality! In just a few hours, I had become so gripped by trying to fathom this TimeStream's 'reality' that I had almost forgotten why I had come here! I knew that the next time I shifted to a new TimeStream, I had to be *me*! I couldn't replace an alternate version of myself...or anyone else. What if the body I inhabited in the next trip was that of Sora Hasegawa, for example? I felt myself shudder at *that* possibility. Because of this, I knew I couldn't share lives with someone who was already present in that TimeStream. Here, I was ghosting my life over that of Keiichi's, which was causing all sorts of problems...not to mention that it was unfair to him, as well as Peorth and Chihiro... But how I was going to enter another TimeStream while retaining my identity of being...I didn't have a clue. The last thing I expected was to arrive in Keiichi's body in *this* TimeStream! I realized that this "shared existence" would wear me down in a few days. I would have to leave this TimeStream...and soon! I focused my attention on the stellar firmament overhead, deciding to challenge the extent of my powers by making the stars glow in a rainbow of colors. With a flash of concentration, the nightsky veil of clouds disappeared. I imagined the rabbit in the moon to be grazing on cheese...and the moon was rendered a light green. Focusing my attention on the stars, I pictured the stars as twinkling in every color of the light spectrum. I knew better than attempt to actually change the colors of each star; who knew what harbors of life circumscribed each star? So instead I slightly altered the light spectrum properties of this Earth's atmosphere to cause changes in how it refracted their starlight. "Pretty colors!" Skuld commented, her voice sounding from behind me. "Skuld!" I shouted in surprise. I had hoped to perform this practice test unobserved, but the little girl-Goddess had witnessed everything. "I saw you all alone, so I came out to see what you were doing. What *are* you doing...Cevn?" she observed casually. I started to try and formulate an explanation, then my mind locked shut for a second. I looked at Skuld in astonishment; she had somehow recognized my true identity, despite the fact that I was in Keiichi's mortal body! "So you knew all along?" "Of course, silly! Can I ask you something?" "Sure," I replied cautiously. "Do you want me...like you want Peorth and Chihiro?" she asked affably. I felt a shock of disgust at her question. "They're in your bedroom right now, waiting for you! I can join them if you wish," Skuld said sultrily, looking at me with narrowed eyes. How could she have known the words that Chihiro had told me in private when we were alone in the bathroom? Unless... "You can have me, just like..." she started to explain as my hearing sprang an audio leak. I shuttered my ears with my hands, not wanting to hear another word. Each word leadened the shield of my confusion with another layer of fear. Skuld was actually coming onto me! Not only was this sick and perverted...but the little Goddess seemed to enjoy my discomfiture. She was more than enjoying it, she was amused! It was as if she was taunting me with by playing the Lolita-virago. But I sensed that her coquettishness was fueled by a vigorous *anger* rather than any overtly sexual motives. Then I noticed that her eyes were glowing orange. Skuld watched me with a piercing expression, grinning broadly as she knew that I knew. "Isilblius..." "Yes, you guessed correctly, dullwit mortal! Do you think that your feeble attempts to evade me by jumping into another TimeStream would gain you any kind of an advantage?" she boasted in Isilblius' grating, angry voice. The juxtaposition of his rueful aspect manifested in Skuld's waif-lithe form enwebbed me with a moment's discord. Filled with fear and rage, I was almost rooted to the ground as I remembered that he had *killed* Skuld, back in 'my' reality! Now, he was mocking me by appearing as the Norn of the Future... I felt totally offended by the appalling impersonation...the Ultimate Evil manifesting in the being of the Goddess of Kawaii- ness...and using this manifestation to intimidate me! "I will be generous and offer this opportunity to you just once. Submit to me now and bow in supplication before me. If you do what I command...I will let you remain in this reality unscathed. I will isolate this TimeStream from all the others that I have destroyed or conquered, so that it will continue on without interruption. Think of it! A Time and Place where there was never any war between the Gods and Demons! Where none of your so-called friends died! You can live out the rest of your days with a beautiful mortal and a Goddess to attend to your *every* need in this place. Peorth and Chihiro *love* you in this reality! And...isn't love what you wanted from the start? I will even avail myself to wipe your memories clean; making you forget that you had ever encountered me, or that you had ever lived in another TimeStream. You will live the rest of your days in a leisurely paradise!!!" he said, resuming Skuld's girl-voice to voice his offer. "No!" I answered without a moment of hesitation. "Consider this carefully, Earthrealm mortal. This reality, this particular segment of the TimeStream...it's a pleasant place, is it not? Compared to so many others, it's relatively free of Evil! Obviously, you haven't learned how to 'read' the TimeStreams! You couldn't even jump into this one without having to take over the existence of a being who already resides here! This just shows how weak and inexperienced you are!" The discord I felt hearing his words in Skuld's sweet girl-voice unnerved me, hoisting me away from my resolve. It was almost more frightening than if Isilblius was standing before me in his true form. "I've traveled within a few of the other TimeStreams...and your petty Earthrealm suffers some tragic fates in *those* slices of time. I've witnessed an Earthrealm where the Nazis won World War II. An Earthrealm that never emerged from barbaric wars of feudalism. An Earthrealm where humans are kept as sentient pets by a hivemind of telepathic insects. An Earthrealm with less than a year remaining before it is engulfed by an extinction level solar flare. An Earthrealm where psychologists govern the masses, using mneumogathic drugs which recreate people's worst nightmares...so that they are forced to conform to a strict social regimen. An Earthrealm where men are enslaved by a race of assexual women, their bodies used as genetic material to repopulate the animal life of a planet wasted by natural disasters. An Earthrealm wasted by the ravages of a nuclear winter... "You *might* step into one of these realities..." As Isilblius droned on, I realized that this particular TimeStream was a comparatively nice place compared to the others that he had described. I had been very lucky; with a gnawing reluctance, I had to admit that he was right. I *didn't* have much experience in learning how to differentiate between the histories of the individual TimeStreams. It had been taxing enough just to breach my way into this one! "Make no mistake. I can trap you at *any* point in *any* TimeStream. With so many TimeStreams where the Earthrealm suffers a horrible fate...it's quite possible that your feeble attempts to defy me will land you in a TimeStream where you'll experience a fate much worse than this! And if you refuse my offer, I won't hesitate to trap you in the first TimeStream you encounter that is possessed of sufficiently dire circumstances, so that you end up suffering suitably for your disobedience!" he threatened. I didn't believe Isilblius' assertion. Looking at Skuld's fiery red eyes...*his* red eyes...I realized that if he could accomplish what he had claimed, then I wouldn't be here. He would have prevented my leaving the original TimeStream in the first place. "I don't buy your threats...all you're doing is posturing! I *refuse* your offer! I'm willing to risk the chance that I'll be able to move freely about in any TimeStream I wish to, regardless of whether you want me to or not!" I countered, trying to project a poker face. Skuld-Isilblius clenched his fists at his side and screamed angrily into the air. "Then I will kill *everybody* in this TimeStream! And each time you visit a different TimeStream...I will kill everybody in *that* TimeStream as well! Again and again and again... You will be forever cursed, forever fleeing my wrath, forever witnessing the ones you care about the most...die horrible deaths over and over again! This is your final chance, mortal scum! Either remain here in peace...or be the agent responsible for the destruction of every segment of Time that you touch!" "Then you'll just have to catch me!" I shouted, responding to his attempts at intimidation by leaping out of this TimeStream. I felt a moment's hesitation, because I was wagering on the fact that he couldn't destroy this particular history and pursue me at the same time. There had to be a limit to his powers...