Flashback: Granberia and Tamamo

The event had intrigued me. I knew that Promestein was giving something resembling a TED Talk on dimensional travel and alternate universes. The existence of my adopted world had become officially acknowledged about twenty years before, and it was quite the earthshattering revelation. We hadn't found space aliens yet, but we'd found something even better: an alternate universe with a livable planet that was somewhat easy to get to if you had the right qualifications. As in, you were male. That seemed unfair to Promestein, so she was working on the problem. That's what this TED Talk was about.

She hadn't invited me. In fact, we hadn't spoken in over fifty years. I had to admit that I was lonely and it would be good to see a familiar face from that world. I'd been isolating myself for the past few years, living large off of my money but otherwise keeping to myself. That didn't mean I no longer cared about Alice's world. Any news about it, I consumed with interest. And the idea of making immigration to that world easier was a very interesting subject. Although I wasn't quite clear on why women would want to go there. I wasn't quite sure about the men either, for that matter. Sure, unlimited numbers of beautiful women who wanted a piece of any healthy male that wandered by was a pretty big draw for many males, but there was quite a big catch.

Given the large number of women at the talk, it did seem that a lot of women wanted to go there. The room seemed to be about 75% female. I sat towards the back, waiting for the familiar, never aging face of Promestein to appear on the large screen that would sit above her on the stage.

Punctual as always, she came out at precisely 3pm. She wasn't alone. A rather pretty girl, also wearing glasses, with her hair somewhat shorter than Promestein's, joined her. A colleague, perhaps? An assistant? Promestein did all the talking. The woman with her merely demonstrated some concepts with models. Sometimes she'd write equations that were simple enough to understand on a white board while Promestein explained them. The summary version was that while there was still only one known way for anyone to visit the monster world, that was not the end of the story. Promestein was working on many promising leads, although she didn't get very specific. Still, the mostly female audience was enraptured.

When the question session began, few of the questions were of a scientific nature. The questions lobbed at Promestein told me two things: they explained why women were so interested in my adopted world, and why Promestein had brought a colleague with her. Since most of the questions weren't scientific, Promestein deferred to her colleague. And what were the questions? Mainly, the women were interested in learning more about a society in which women were dominant. The smartly dressed colleague of Promestein's poured some cold water on that idea. Human women didn't have it any better than they did on Earth, although the monster world had never developed a patriarchal system the way most Earth cultures had. Since humans in general were lower in the food chain, men and women had found it necessary to compete and sometimes fight against a common enemy. Pointless traditions of female subservience had developed only in isolated places, such as Witch Hunt Village in Sabasa.

When the talk was over, the two women did a meet and greet. Promestein looked distinctly uncomfortable socializing, but her colleague took a lot of the pressure off by being excellent at schmoozing. I waited until the crowd had thinned to get Promestein's attention. When the angel scientist noticed me, her face lit up. Which for Promestein, means she cracked a slight smirk.

"Luka!" she exclaimed. "Wow, how long has it been? About fifty years?"

"About," I said, shaking her hand. Given all that we'd been through together while she had worked for me, I should have been disappointed, but I understood how Promestein was. "Is Earth your permanent home now?"

"Only as long as I'm researching this particular scientific dilemma," the scientist replied. "I don't think you've met my colleague. Luka, this is Sonya Duncan. She's been invaluable at keeping this research…. Ethical."

Sonya took my hand and gave me a dazzling smile. "I've heard so much about you, Luka!" she said.

"Really? Promestein talks about me?" I asked.

"From time to time," Sonya said with a grin. "Are you just visiting your home world, or do you live here now?"

"I…. don't really know," I admitted. "I've been here for four years now. I do consider the other world to be my home, but I just haven't gotten around to going back."

"You've been here four years?!" Promestein asked. "Why? Oh, I think I can guess."

"Yeah," I said. "Immortality has been a blessing and a curse. I just thought I'd…. age a little. The ring doesn't work here. So on to happier subjects, it sounded to me as if you weren't telling all you knew to that audience."

"They were more interested in the social aspects anyway," Promestein shrugged. "They aren't interested in science so much as their misconceptions of what a world dominated by women looks like. But as humans, they wouldn't get to enjoy any of it except vicariously. Still, women should be able to visit our world for more than a few hours. We can't have only Earth men immigrating."

"I agree," I said. "So what have you learned?"

"I'll let Sonya explain. She's so much better at breaking down complex ideas into simple concepts that imbeciles can understand. No offense, Luka. You know I've never regarded you as stupid. But this stuff gets highly technical."

"I have to admit that I have three degrees myself, and even I barely understand any of it," Sonya admitted. "So you know how you got to that world. Someone from that world has to come here, engage in sexual intercourse with a man, and then he's bound to her and his presence in the world becomes stable, at least until she dies."

"Yes, I'm…. very familiar with that," I said sadly.

"Obviously a woman can't be brought over that way. Believe me, some have tried. Bringing human men from that world to have sex with women didn't work either."

"The sexual magic is the key," Promestein added. "There are many powerful arcane forces in our world, but sexual magic is one of the most powerful, even though it's innate to all monsters. Even the most powerful summoners can't keep people from Earth stable on our world. Sexual magic is one of the most powerful and yet confusing magics I've ever studied. It's so powerful, as you well know, that it can disable a man even better than throwing fireballs or ice bolts at him. Weak men succumb to a mere touch. So it's not terribly surprising that such powerful magic can also allow for transport to other worlds. I just wish I could isolate what about it makes that possible. It seems that you could do even more useful things with it."

"Imagine if you could have sex in a field and make crops grow!" Sonya said. "Or have sex on a rocket and it could get you to other planets. We know that semen can be used as a power source according to the physical laws of that world."

"Isn't the main challenge that there's almost no magic here?" I asked.

"That is a major obstacle, yes," Promestein replied. "I have figured out how the ritual works. I understood that pretty well when I had Ilias do it to you. I assumed it would require her level of magic, but it turns out that I was mistaken. Any monster or angel can do it. Since monsters don't belong in this world any more than Earth humans belong in mine, they can simply will themselves back home."

"Like Dorothy and her red slippers," Sonya said, smiling.

"Yes," Promestein continued. "So what happens during the ritual is that the monster, while in an intimate embrace with a man, wills herself back to her world. Since he is inside of her, he can come with her. When he ejaculates, it increases her magical power to a critical enough mass that an involuntary binding takes place. Thus, he can remain in that world for as long as she lives. But just because we know of one way doesn't mean there aren't others."

"And what other ways might be possible?" I asked.

"One thing I learned from your experience is that it wasn't just Ilias' sexual magic that bound you. The mind block she put on you also helped to anchor you. It wouldn't have been sufficient by itself, but it contributed. So I theorize that any contact with magic from our world would create a binding effect."

"Which means," Sonya added. "That we could create a spell over in that world, put it in a device that can hold powerful magic, and infuse an Earth person's body with that spell."

"It wouldn't matter what the spell does," Promestein continued. "It would simply have to be something that stays with the person. It could be a harmless curse, say, a craving for anchovies, or excessively long nose hairs."

"The trick, though," Sonya said. "Is getting the spells to work here. Ilias was the most powerful being from that world, and even she couldn't put a mind block on you powerful enough to secure you in her world."

"Yeah, I remember when the Dark God spent five years exiled here in an alternate timeline," I said. "She explained to me that her god level magic was the equivalent of first level D&D spells here."

"And your own magic isn't any stronger here on Earth," Promestein said. "Remember when you tried to make my soda bubble when we were eating at California Pizza Kitchen?"

"Yeah, I felt like I was trying to rend worlds, that's how much effort it took."

"So you understand the difficulty. We may not be able to find a way to do it with magic. And I have yet to figure out any scientific solutions. Earth people can walk through our portals well enough, but they've described it as trying to stay inside a dream. If they don't concentrate on staying, they'll just slip back to Earth. For some reason universes don't like any beings to exist that don't belong. Inanimate objects can move between worlds without issue. But living beings... is it something about a soul? Anyway, even though it's not as bad for me, I still feel a constant buzzing in my ears, as if Earth wants to pester me into going home."

"Well, if you decide to go home, take me with you, okay?" I asked.

"Luka, are you saying you'd need me to…?"

"Yeah, I guess I would," I said glumly.

"I see. You know I'll gladly do it. I plan to go back in a few months to continue my research on that side, as well as some other projects I've been neglecting. Let me give you my phone number."

Promestein pulled out an index card and wrote her phone number down for me.

"I'm a cheap date," she said with a smirk. "If you want to go home, you could do a lot worse than binding yourself to me. I'm immortal. You'll never have to worry about it again."

"Thank you, Promestein," I said gratefully. "I've missed you. Have you been well?"

"She's a mess," Sonya laughed. "But I've been working on her."

"Sonya keeps my research wthin ethical and legal bounds," Promestein explained. "At least in this world. Obviously she can't follow me into mine."

"Well I'll definitely call," I said. "And not just in a few months. I want to go out for pizza again. Like… often."

"I think I'd like that," Promestein said, her special smirk that she seemed to only reserve for me showing on her face again. I was determined to get a real smile out of her one day.

I went home to my luxurious condo. I had moved from Florida to Atlanta and owned a pretty nice midtown penthouse. I loved the big city, and had also learned to love smaller living spaces after spending sixty years in the Monster Lord's castle. The home Alice and I had shared on Hellgondo had been cozy. We'd had a lot of good years there, over one hundred, actually, free of the stresses of politics and duty. But all good things come to an end. I sighed in remembrance and gazed at one of the many pictures of Alice I kept around my penthouse. Nero and Neris were also represented on my walls, as well as a few of my grandchildren. All of them had died a long time ago.

I showered and decided to turn in early. I may have been physically less than twenty-five years old, even after four years of aging on my home planet where my ring didn't prevent it, but mentally and emotionally I felt very old. I spent twelve hours a day in bed. I don't know that it would be fair to say I was depressed. While there was a lot of sadness in my heart, I still enjoyed life. I went out, I did things, I had fun. But there had been a cost, and the most noticeable cost was my unwillingness to get close to anyone. They'd just die in the blink of an eye anyway.

I exited the shower, toweling myself off. I looked up and screamed.

"Granberia!" I yelled, trying to cover myself.

"I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with that body," Granberia said curtly.

"I know… it's just…."

"It's just been awhile?" Granberia retorted. "For you it's been how long? A few years? How long do you think it's been for me?"

I felt immediately guilty. I was still unfamiliar with the calculations, as our universes didn't revolve around each other in a perfect circle. But I knew it had to have been at least fifteen, possibly twenty, years.

"I'm sorry, Granberia," I said. "It's been… tough."

"I do understand," Granberia said, her visage softening as she slowly put her arms around me and hugged me. "It couldn't have been easy finding out that way."

No it hadn't been. I was bound to that world through Alice. I knew that she had passed when I awoke in my bed back on Earth, a bed I hadn't occupied in many years, although I'd kept up the rent payments just in case. We'd gone to bed that night as we had so many other nights. Monsters, unlike humans, rarely caught disease. There were no long declines from failing health. Absent a violent death, they simply grew old and without warning, expired. Alice had lived a normal life span for her race. I'd watched her grow old while I stayed young, normally the fate of the monster in the relationship, not the human. But Alice had retained her beauty to a remarkable degree, and her health had never flagged. She had simply become more frail, and slower. Days before her death, her appetite had declined sharply. It had been the only sign that she was about to die and both of us had missed it. And then one night, we'd gone to bed together, and when I awakened in the morning, I was no longer in her house. I was in my own bed, wondering if my whole life with her had been a dream.

"Why did you never return?" Granberia asked. "The portal still works. I stepped through it myself, right into your home. We even set it to open automatically once per week, Earth time, for one hour, so that you could step through if you wished. I would have been informed immediately had you done so and we could have…. Bound you."

"Granberia, I feel so bad about that. I don't want you to think I abandoned you all. I was going to come back. I just… I don't know, I just wanted to get a little older. It seemed so unfair that I stayed young, while she….."

"Often, Luka, when someone you love says they know how you feel, they are saying empty words. But look at me, Luka. What do you see?"

I looked at Granberia. As a dragonkin, she was longer lived than all but the most legendary monsters. She was not yet two hundred and fifty. There were no wrinkles, nor streaks of gray in her hair. She had put on a little weight, not a lot, as she was a workout fiend, but middle age spread had obviously been making some progress against her. Her prominent abs were not so prominent anymore. But unless I looked very closely, she was the same Granberia I had met so long ago in Iliasburg. She knew exactly what it was like to stay young while those she loved grew old.

"I'm sorry, Granberia," I said. "I guess you do know how I feel."

"I feel guilty as well," Granberia admitted. "I knew you were grieving, so I gave you space. The years passed, and I thought of you daily, but I was afraid to disturb you, because I knew that time on Earth passed much more slowly."

"What made you decide to check on me now?"

"Luka…." Granberia seemed to choke up. She could barely get out the words. "Alma Elma…. She's gone. She passed away yesterday. It was peaceful. I was with her in her final moments. She begged me to find you, and tell you that she was grateful that she got to live the long, happy life that you made possible. She was destined to die young, a fiery death in battle. Thanks to you, that destiny was altered. She became a better person. She found love. True love. She married. She has always credited you with that. I don't think anyone, even Alice, has died with more satisfaction than Alma Elma. She truly felt that she had lived the best life anyone could ever hope for."

I had no words. I clutched Granberia so tightly that I feared I'd crush her, but she was Granberia, so there was no risk of that. I had been away from my loved ones too long, and as a result I had lost the opportunity to say goodbye to one who I had loved deeply. I resolved not to repeat that mistake. It was time to go home.

"Granberia," I whispered. "Would you… take me home?"

"I prayed that you might ask," she said, scooping me up in her arms and carrying me to my bedroom. As we made love, I resolved that it wouldn't be the last thing I asked her to do that day.

We lay in bed in Granberia's spartan room in the Monster Lord's Castle, exhausted. I hadn't had sex in four years. My pent up lust had combined with my bottled up emotions to create the most fiery lovemaking session I'd ever experienced with Granberia, and it hadn't even started with combat. Her ardor had been no less fierce than mine.

"Granberia?"

"Yes, Luka?"

"Will you marry me?"

Granberia sat up quickly. I couldn't understand why she was shocked by my request. I was the only living person with a Dragon Seal Tattoo. She literally had no other prospects. She had long desired to be with me. She had to know that eventually I would ask. Maybe I had simply asked too soon? From her perspectivShe hadn't seen me in twenty years.

"No," she replied. "I will not."

"I'm sorry. I know it's too soon. I just got back and Alma Elma just passed."

"it is not that. I want to marry you. More than anything in the world. I have always wanted that."

"Then say yes," I urged.

"I cannot," she said, unaccustomed tears coming to the warrior woman's eyes. "I will not hurt you that way."

"Hurt me? How could you marrying me possibly hurt me?"

"Because you will bury me as you did Alice!" Granberia exclaimed. "You are human. It is not natural for you to have to bury your wives. Your children. Your grandchildren! I will not put you through that again. I see what it has done to you."

"Granberia…"

"Be silent!" she ordered. "I will not be swayed. I am satisfied with our relationship. I already get everything I want from you. You are my closest friend, my only remaining confidant, and a lover, although not a claimed lover. You have taught me so much over the last two centuries. I have been fortunate to know you. And I love you. More than I have ever loved anyone. For that reason, I want what is best for you. As a nearly immortal being, you need someone you can enjoy immortality with."

"Granberia, you're going to live at least another two hundred, maybe three hundred years!"

"I am already middle aged, Luka. I have preserved myself well, and will continue to do so. You are the only one who knows about my obsession with feminine products. I am vain about my beauty, even though I have always prided myself on being a warrior first and foremost. Yes, I will live another two centuries at least, but physically I am already twice as mature as you and the gap will only grow. You would be tethered to an old woman for a very long time if you were to marry me. But there is another whom you love, and who loves you back just as fiercely if not moreso."

"Tamamo," I breathed.

"Tamamo," Granberia repeated. "She will never age. In fact, since your ring does not give you true immortality due to the finite life of its enchantment, she will bury you. You will never experience the sorrow of losing a wife again. Neither of you will even grow old until the enchantment on your ring fails, centuries from now, if not millennia. Go to her, Luka. For me. If you truly love me, then you will give me the joy of actually seeing you happy."

I didn't know what to say. It was overwhelming. I did love Tamamo, and was well aware how much she wanted me to marry her. She had expressed the desire flippantly before I'd even married Alice, offering herself as an alternative should Alice decide that her responsibilities as Monster Lord would preclude marriage. As we had gotten closer, her love for me had grown, until it had become unbearable for her not to express it. That had been nearly two hundred years ago.

"I'll give it some thought, Granberia. I promise. But please, I want you to think as well. I love Tamamo, but you and I have a connection. We like the same things, we do things together."

"I will give it thought," Granberia replied. "Perhaps I am overly emotional at the moment. But I do not believe I will change my mind. I did not come up with this idea in the moment. I gave up on the idea of marrying you the day you married Alice. I came to enjoy our relationship as it was. I do not believe marriage would improve upon it. It would make neither you nor I any happier with each other than we are now. But Tamamo…. You are correct that you have done very little together over the years. Except one thing: you have been each other's emotional rocks, always there for the other when needed. And that is something that marriage can enhance. You have always valued my advice, Luka. Heed it now. Go to Tamamo, tomorrow if you can. She will make you happy all the remaining days of your life, and those days are considerable. She is a fun person. You will find plenty to do together. Do this for me, Luka, and for yourself. I'd give you away at the wedding, but kitsunes don't have proper wedding ceremonies."

I didn't go to Tamamo the next day. I held out hope that Granberia would reconsider. Two weeks later, she still had not, and her urgings that I go to Yamatai Village were only becoming more insistent. It was almost as if she needed me to do it, that she couldn't stand the idea of me being alone, but couldn't bring herself to cure my loneliness herself due to her hang-ups about aging and dying. So after two weeks, I gave in. Since I had no confidence in my ability to teleport, Granberia brought me to Tamamo's doorstep herself. Granberia hugged me one last time, my last day as a free man, before teleporting back to the castle, leaving me standing in front of Tamamo's door.

I tried to work up the courage to knock. Would she be bappy to see me? Angry? She was immortal, so maybe twenty years of my being absent was insignificant to her. This didn't seem like the right way to do this. Hey, Tamamo, long time no see! Wanna get married?

I'd forgotten that Tamamo would almost certainly be aware of my presence already. The door opened and I was face to face with a lovely women that I hadn't seen in years. Even though I'd known her unsealed far longer than I'd known her sealed, for some reason in my mind she was always that laughing little kitsune child who seemed wise beyond her years because well… she was ancient. Seeing her in her full glorious beauty for the first time in years was overwhelming. I tried to come up with something to say.

"Shhh…" Tamamo said, putting her finger to my lips. "You don't have to say anything, Luka. Please, just… come in. I know why you're here. I'm afraid there's been a bit of a conspiracy against you. So the only word I want to hear from you for the next hour is 'no', if this isn't what you want. If it is…. Then you don't have to say anything. Sometimes silence can convey more than words ever could."

It didn't take nearly an hour. Fifteen minutes later, it was official. Tamamo and I were married.