54  Where it all starts anew?

"So Seria is Sofie!" I am shocked! If Celes's story is true.... I looked at my daughters ass and had perverted thoughts about her! Urgh! 

And she died to make us gods again? Hasn't she learned anything about soul-magic while I taught her? What did I teach her for twenty years if she just goes off and dies like that. Oh, I will give her hell if I ever manage to piece her together with her memories intact. 

Actually that's a point I am a little worried about. Loosing all your memories isn't much different from dying. The soul is immortal and all that stuff isn't really helpful. Who cares if your memories are gone? 

Getting your soul injured or dying is really scary in that regard. Think about it. You die once and you may forget the name of a loved one. The second time you may forget an important event and you ask yourself why you ever loved that person and live a live without ever thinking much about him or her. The Third time the person is completely forgotten. 

On that hand... I messed up Celes's soul pretty heavily once... she surely has some black holes in her memories from that. Even more amazing that she still clung to the memories about our life as Johann and Sandra. 

…... I should remember to never talk to her about it. If she realizes it she will give me hell for real. 

So Seria was our daughter Sofie all that time..... I never had any suspicions about her. Snake! She is a lying double tongued snake! To keep that act up for a whole lifetime is really commendable. And that's not meant in a good sense. 

"So what should we do about this?" Celes points towards some pretty awesome explosions on the horizon. 

"Seems like some people took Seria's wish to heart and are already bashing up Tjenemit. They will have problems though.... they just got their powers back and their memories of their past lifes should be pretty bad. Reintegrating old memories into a complete personality is pretty troublesome. Even more so if the owner developed a completely different personality from his old one. Tjenemit has an eternity of experience and who knows how much power." I grumble while I analyse the situation. 

"But if this is really our old world …." It should still be there. For a second I concentrate and search for a familiar place. Deep down in the planet. "Go and distract Tjenemit for a few minutes. I will be right back." 

"What?" -Celes 

But I already teleport straight down into the planets core. 

"Mwahahaha!" I laugh, as I turn in a circle and look at the wonder around me. An eternity ago during the great war between me and Celes I started a project. 

I wanted to create something worthy of a god! The inspiration for it was given by the crystal city of the Council. I often tried to recreate those crystals, but it was insanely difficult. 

Imagine a substance that's durable enough to withstand even the power of a god. That's the crystal city at the middle of all things. I wanted that technology! But I was unable to recreate it. No matter what I tried, I ended up with failures. 

Then one day, as I was watching a crystal grow, I had an enlightenment. The crystal city wasn't created! It grew like all crystals do! If you gather enough mana in one point, it crystallizes and you end up with something that looks and feels like solid matter but isn't. It's pure mana. 

So I created a seed and set it free down here inside the planets core. It should have taken hundreds, thousands of years to mature. But on the other hand I guess that much time really went by since then? 

I am inside a room made out of mana-crystal. The same crystal which the Council used to build it's city. I step forward and leave the room. I need to get to the core. 

There is no need to search for it. I can feel the huge power, which is collected inside the core. After a few corridors I reach a room with a huge crystal inside. It looks wild and naturally grown. But it's the heart of this structure. 

I touch the crystal and feel the power inside it. After a little concentration I give it the command to rise to the surface. The crystal hums as if it wants to reassure me that it understood the order. 

Then I instruct it to teleport me to the armoury. The world shifts smoothly and I am inside an immense room. 

It is filled with rows and rows of weapons, armours and artefacts. They are all out of crystal. Weapons which can strike down even gods. 

But I avert my eyes, those weapons are of no interest to me. I walk to the end of the room where a staff is resting on a pedestal. 

It looks like an ordinary staff, about the same length as my height. But if you look closely, you can see that it is riddled with countless fine runes and circles. 

I grab it and feel the power pulsing through it. This is my masterpiece. A weapon worthy of a god. 

But suddenly I see the reflection of my savage grin in the mirror. Damn, do I really look that scary every time Celes complains about my expression? 

Uuuh. Why am I wasting time here. I concentrate again until I have found Celes. Then I teleport. 

I arrive at a battlefield. Multiple soldiers are trying to stop Tjenemit with their regained powers. He is hovering a few meters above the ground while he sends out blasts of pure power at everyone who decides to attack him. Among them are Celes, Arthur, Tanja, Gabriel and Nicosar. But short of Celes, everyone else looks like a baby fighting an adult. 

I had expected that. But it's a little worse than I imagined. Tjenemit has grabbed Tanja at her neck and is shaking her like a light doll. Others are trying to get up again after they were obviously beaten down. 

Tjenemit seems to be disturbed. It has to be shocking if mere mortals, who should be nothing more than insects, suddenly put up a fight. 

Using the distraction I teleport directly in front of Tjenemit and touch his chest with the tip of my staff. A blinding flash of light erupts and the Council member is send straight down to the earth like being hit by something far more powerful. 

I grab Tanja at her foot before she can fall too. "Are you still alive?" 

"... Yes …. my king. Though I don't feel that good." She nods. 

"Then retreat and try to lessen the damage to this world with the others. Put up a shield and shut me and Tjenemit inside. I don't want him to get away." I let go of her and teleport down to Tjenemit. 

Celes appears beside me while a big shimmering bubble appears around us and Tjenemit. It has a diameter of roughly fifty meters. Multiple people join Tanja in her efforts and new arrivals join in as they arrive at the scene. 

Tjenemit gets to his feet. His chest is visibly dent in where I touched him with my staff. "How is this possible. Do you know what you are doing!? You are resisting the Council!" 

"The Council has nothing to say on this world. Here, I am the ruler." I inform him of the circumstances and he turns red. 

"You will suffer! We will crush this rebellion and seal you all away." He lashes out at me but I counter with my staff. Waving it, the surge of energy is dispelled like a stick would destroy a spiders web. 

He looks at me agape. "I like that thing. Could you lend it to me for a second honey?" Celes tugs at my sleeve with a strange expression in her face. 

"Um. Be careful with it. I can't replace it." I reluctantly give her my staff. That expression was really scary. 

"Don't ignooreeee meeeee!" Tjenemit screams with rage and jumps at us but Celes jumps towards him, wielding the staff like a club. 

The following fight …. ahem.... the following beating was ….. thoroughly done. After half an hour I had the honour to witness a Council member crying like a little child. 

I doubt that a single bone in his body was bigger than the nail of my thumb by now. Celes somehow managed to avoid killing him while she …. punished.... him. 

The shield to contain our power flickered multiple times during that time. Once I even feared that it would break. All the people outside could hear only screams of pure pain and terror! 

After even the low whimpering of Tjenemit subsided, she came back to me and pressed the bloody staff into my hand. "Thank you honey, I hope I can borrow it again if I should need it." 

"Ahem..... sure?" I am not certain if I should give it to her again. 

It was easy to collect Tjenemit's soul afterwards. There wasn't much of him left after all. I sealed him inside my staff for the time being. 

Later I would have enough time to interrogate him. Maybe I would let him resurrect again after a thorough deletion of his memories. 

After a while the shield fell and we were welcomed by a mass of people.... or gods I should say? Apparently everyone rushed here as soon as they overcame the shock of getting their powers and memories back. 

After a short talk with Arthur, Nicosar and Tanja I could settle down a bit. To my great relief, nobody was really changed by his new... or old memories. They were still the same people I knew before. 

From their explanation, accessing the old memories was like remembering a movie. They didn't feel like they were your own. I guess it will still take a long time for everyone to settle down. 

This will surely have a big effect on society too. I don't even want to imagine the consequences. After Arthur and Nicosar had ordered some volunteers to clean up the mess in the north, we went back to Midpoint. Teleporting around the world wasn't a huge issue for anyone any more. 

Ireth and Rose stayed back in our summer residence in Midpoint. The palace was still in ruins. As we approached the door, it flew open and Ireth stormed out with tears in her eyes. 

"Help Meeeee! He is asking so many questions and I don't know how to answer them myself!" She shoves Aengus into our faces. 

I can feel a mental connection being build up and a stream of questions hammers down on me. 

-Mommy! Daddy! Good you are home! Grandmother is a little overtaxed at the moment. Can you explain all those weird dreams to me? I remember a weird blonde hottie helping me to escape from some old farts after I refused to become a god. And why are you looking at me like that? Mommy, I am hungry! And Daddy, can I play that funny game with the red dots again!?-