Book 15

The Sunlight Conquest

Vividly Alive

Zeathean’s soul floats in a sea of light. It feels like an infinite amount of time
is passing, or maybe it has been no time at all. He feels like he is caught in the tide
underneath a wave, underneath the water, a wave of white light, swirling around
and uniting energy from distant places into one place, he feels a sense of
togetherness, like countless glittering souls near by, all around him. Zeathean feels
like layers of something are being striped away, removed from around his soul.
Layers and layers of pain, fading away.

Zeathean finds himself surrounded by people. “Lyra.” They say. “You love
Lyra.” They are all taking to Zeathean. He feels this overwhelming feeling of
aliveness, unlike anything, something he has only felt once or twice in an entire
life time.
“Lyra is on her way.” The people say. “She is here.”

Suddenly Zeathean finds himself in a new place. This scene is more vivid
then the last. It somehow feels even more real than reality. He is standing on a
stone path that leads up a hill. On top of the hill he hears a crowd, he hears voices,
he hears cheering… and music.

In his heart their is this feeling that takes him a back. This feeling of
aliveness. And a feeling of nervousness, of suspense, of young teenage yearning.
Zeathean climbs the steps. He realizes he has walked into a rock concert. And on
center stage there is a girl. She sings her heart out.

“Now you’ve gone far far away. But I know you will come back some
day. Take my hand and you will see there’s no need to wait for
miracles. I long for the day when I can show you how strong I really
am. I want to face all the darkness in your heart. Together we can face
anything, eternally godless.”

It was a strange song, deep yet also cutesy with some mysterious lyrics. Her
voice was full of innocent passion and yearning, yet also jaded somehow.
Zeathean gets a closer look at her. She looks like Skarla, a women he once
loved yet was torn away from him suddenly. Yet she looks somehow more like

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Skarla then Skarla did. She looks familiar. Yet she is not Skarla, she is more than
Skarla. He feels he has known her… always.

She is dressed in a gothic outfit, holding an electric guitar. Glitter falls from
the sky. She has brown hair, brain eyes, and golden hoop earrings.

Zeathean looks right into her eyes, 100 yards away, she looks right back at
him like she's hoping he will come and talk to her.
Zeathean walks forward through the crowd. The crowd seems to make way
for him. He moves fluently like everything in the universe is drawing him forward.
He reaches the five foot tall wooden stage. He climbs up on to it, just as her song is
coming to an end. He walks up to her, now he’s just a few inches away from her.
She looks right into his eyes. She is fiercely attractive, and her expression of
bewilderment and yearning is adorable.
Zeathean leans forward and kisses her. Then he pulls away a bit. She looks
back at him, mesmerized. Then she leans in for another kiss, he moves in to meet
her. They exchange a long passionate kiss.

“Fuck yeah Zeathean!” A voice in the crowd shouts. It’s a familiar voice, it’s
Jace Mcdevin, Zeathean’s best friend. Jace raises his fist into the air.

The crowd cheers.

“Woo!” Someone shouts.

“Make babies!” Shouts another.

Zeathean and the girl just gaze into each others eyes for what seems like a
full 20 seconds.

“It’s been… a long time.” The girl says to Zeathean, curious and intrigued.
“It’s been lifetimes.” Zeathean says back to her.

A crowd of people approach them from the right of the stage and the girl
runs into the crowd. But first she looks back at Zeathean, her eyes are beaming
with this expression that is both devious and joyful, as if to say ‘Do you think you
can handle me?’
“Do you want to go to the festival!” Someone says to her.
“Yeah, lets go!” She says.
“Come on Zeathean, we are going to the festival.” The girl says to him.

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 Zeathean feels this blissed out feeling rising in him, it’s pleasant and he’s not
really thinking about what is happening. He begins to feel a bit dizzy, then the
entire scene fades into white light.

Spiteful Afterimage

Zeathean wakes up in a garden of light. Everywhere around him people

seem to be having an experience that is similar to his. They all seem to be ‘waking
up’ for the first time, not sure where they are, even who they are.

There is a girl people seem to be gathering around. She is taking care of

people, telling them they will be ok.

Zeathean walks over to her.

“Hey! Help me with these people.” She says.

Zeathean sees her face. She is very clearly the same girl from the rock
concert just now.

Zeathean sits by the people and tells them they will be ok, not sure if he is
helping. Not even sure if he is ok, or who or where he really is.

Zeathean looks into the girls eyes. They are a deep brown. She has lovely
brown hair. For a moment he feels afraid, he is not sure why. She reminded him of
something, but then it passed, and he saw in her eyes that she was good.
Profoundly good. He felt a deep connection to her.

“It’s good to see you Zeathean.” She says warmly.

“Yes.. that was my name.” He says with suddenly recollection “So you know
me?” He is really surprised that this lovely woman knows him. Some of his past
life memories begin to return to him.

“I’m Lyra.” She says.

“It’s good to see you!” She says again and pushes her hand off him in a
friendly way.

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 “I know you somehow don’t I?” He says.

“Does it matter, maybe we’ve always known each other, maybe we’ve never
met, I don’t know.” She says with a warm smile.

“I just have this good feeling, like everything is going to be ok!” Lyra says.

That voice, it’s so exuberant, he is completely enchanted by it.

“I want to go do something fun.” Lyra says.

“But first we should help out these people.” She adds. “We should all decide
together what happens next!”

Suddenly there is a loud bang. Zeathean and Lyra both look over. Zeathean’s
heart sinks. Suddenly he feels a pit of despair open inside him. And 1000 memories
all come flooding back to him at once. The person standing there is… the man in
white, the man called God. Shadowy hands are coming out of the ground,
assembling his glowing bright body back together. Zeathean recalls the intensity of
their battle. The horror he wished to forget, and the monster he, Zeathean, truly
was.

The man has blue eyes, long white hair, pale skin, long white robes with
gold linings. He is a godly man, in the way he appears and carries himself. He
walks forward, seeming to enjoy himself. “So I survived the death of Hell.” He
says.

Zeathean sighs to himself. ‘I though perhaps this was finally over… I was a
fool.’

Lyra seems to recognize the man in white. “Everyone stand back!” She
commands, her voice has confidence and resonant, and everyone backs off. “It’s
the level 42 God class entity. I never through that I’d see him face to face.”

“Run!” Zeathean says. “That person is a God. I’ve fought him. We can’t win.
It’s over for us.”

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 Lyra smiles. “Stay right there Zeathean. Look at him. It’s over, he’s lost over
90% of his power.”

Lyra grins. “It’s over Armas!” She calls “Killing you will bring me no
pleasure, yet at the end of the day it comes time to take out the trash.”

Armas smiles. “Lyra, Lyra, I’m glad to see that you still have some sparkle
after all this time. I’m used to you just laying there and taking it.”

Lyra’s brows twitch for a moment. Then Lyra holds out her hand and the
man in white is forced back by a powerful light. He falls down to one knee.

When Armas stands back up he has changed. His face is covered in glowing
blue scars, and behind the blue scars deeper inside him are hints of a glittering
blackness, like scars inside the scars. It looks like a claw has been dragged over his
face and down his chest.

“Did you just do that to him?” Zeathean says.

“No, that is his true from.” Lyra says.

Armas grins. “Finally, a real challenge!” He says. His pace quickens as he

walks forward.

Lyra runs towards Armas. She flips through the air. They exchange a long
series of blows. Armas is being pushed back.

Zeathean joins in the fight and the two of them seem well matched with
Armas the man in white. Armas roars and forces them back. Then others join in the
fight. Zeathean is much weaker then before, he no longer commands 3 trillion
souls, and his ranging darkness is calm for now, yet even in his regular human
from he is holding his own against Armas.

Lyra hits Armas with a few more hard strikes. Armas becomes still.

Armas collapses into himself. He turns into a ball of black and white matter,
floating a few feet off the ground. Several copies of his face emerge from the
shrinking ball of dark and light matter, they all shout hateful things. “I will hunt
down and kill every last one of you filthy humans! Don’t think you can ever
escape!”

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 Finally just his pale white face, with it’s classing cunning mocking grin, is
all that is left there floating in the air, it looks like a mask. And that’s what he was,
a pretender. Perhaps this is the truest shape of his soul. The mask rises up ten feet
into the air, as though trying to scare everyone. Then the face dents inwards and
explodes, a tsunami of light energy flies out from the mask. The light energy goes
out in every direction for miles around, like a series of rainbows, it puts the final
details of color and light back into the lush gardens surrounding them. Flowers and
trees sprout where the light hits.

Life Beyond The Scars

Zeathean and Lyra gather a group of people and they build a village of cute
little wood houses in the green hills. The lush forest surrounds them.

“How can we ever go back to having a normal life after all that has
happened.” Zeathean says to Lyra one day.

“It will be ok.” Lyra says. “We will find a way, together.” She takes
Zeathean’s hand.

Both Zeathean and Lyra are deeply traumatized souls, yet at the same time
they are both so grateful to be alive, they take it day by day and some how it
works, they live on in spite of the incredible darkness in their past. Every day new
memories of their past lives come flooding back to them, they process what they
can, and they continue to stay in the moment, they are all just memories now and
their is a new life for them.

A few years pass. Lyra takes up pottery and molds and paints many colorful
pots. She and Zeathean become active community workers and through many
festivals, promoting healthy ways of having fun in groups.

There is still plenty they haven’t shared with each other regarding their past
lives, they both choose to leave the past behind them for the most part, a largely
unspoken agreement. It’s not an easy topic for him, yet Lyra still decides it would

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be good to share with Zeathean what she knows about Armas, the imp who became
God.

“Zeathean there is something I have to share with you. It will be good for
you to know, because the past has effected us wether we like it or not. I want you
to know everything about what we are dealing with.” Lyra tells Zeathean one night,
heavy things on her mind.

“I understand, tell me everything, I’m not afraid and I won’t hold anything
against you.” Zeathean says.

“Zeathean, the man you fought in the final years of the old world, the one
that came to an end 3 years ago… his name was Armas.”

“He fed you many lies. Yet I won’t hide this from you… some of the things
he told you are true. I was trapped in his spell for ten trillion years. He was in all
respects, a God. And he has created a darkness in our lives that is difficult to
recover from.” Lyra says. “All that is true, but I want you to know, I am hear for
you.”

“We are here for each other.” Zeathean says. “Thank you for telling me this.
I’m not afraid of the past. I want you to know you don’t have to hide this stuff
from me, I want to know about it, because it makes me feel closer to you.”

“Our experience in the dark world has changed not just us, but many
countless souls. We have all been changed, forever, yet we find ways to continue
on.” Lyra says.

Zeathean and Lyra hold hands, feeling a bond so strong that time it self
seems to flow backwards to a time of innocence. All else is forgotten in the lovers
warmth.

More to You than You Know

“There’s something that’s been on my mind” Zeathean tells Lyra on another

night. “Sometimes I wonder, if I had continued the battle, if i could have beaten

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Armas. If I was supposed to save the old world. It felt like that battle could have
gone on forever. If I had given it 1000 more years, I could have taken time to train
and build my strength.”

It was a dark line of thought.

As they speak their is a light breeze and wind chimes blow outside.

“You made the right choice Zeathean.” Lyra says. I’ll prove it to you. She
leans in and kisses him. She takes his hand and puts it on her heart. “Feel this, this
is real. The old world died so we can live. You made, profoundly the right choice.”

And Zeathean knows it is true.

“There is something else…” Zeathean says. “In my battle with Armas, I

became something that wasn’t myself. The dark vortex. My true from… It hasn’t
come out since i’ve been here, maybe this light world is shielding it, yet in my war
with him, I felt myself become a monster, I became something that shouldn’t even
exist.”

“I could feel your battle with him from inside his cage…” Lyra says her eyes
widening as she goes fully into the memory, as she summons it to the surface “I
could feel you through the fabric of time. I saw the surging wrathful darkness, that
form you took in the battle. You fought him with anger, and I feel the same way…
Those dark emotions are part of us and our journey. That appearance, that side of
yourself was part of a spectrum of moods and forms, there are many sides to you.”
Lyra says.

“I just… wonder if my soul can ever go back to what it was. I want to go

back. Yet their is something dark inside me.” Zeathean says. “Armas told me that
the monster within was my truth, that suffering was my destiny.”

“Zeathean, the dark vortex is not your true form. There is more, much more
to you than you know.” Lyra says, caressing his face gently.

What does she mean? Zeathean thinks as he gazes into her eyes and feels
loved and held. Lyra is an ancient being, and Zeathean finds reassurance in her
words, that in all his 2000 years being Zeathean there are still mysteries of the
Metaverse even he doesn’t know.

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 Hello Zeathean

For a long time life is better then it’s ever been. Yet one day Lyra becomes
slightly sick one night. She goes in and out of mild sickness or drowsiness for a
few weeks, it is strange because everyone in this new world is so buoyantly
healthy. In the night Lyra seems to be haunted by something… Other times she is
so radiant that it seems laughable that Zeathean and others every worried. Yet
sometimes Lyra forgets where she is or what she is doing, despite being young and
beautiful.

One day Lyra climbs on top of Zeathean in the middle of the night, waking
him from sleep. She’s pinned him down with all her limbs, normally this would be
a good thing, yet there is something strange about her expression. Her body is
trembling as she struggles a bit to keep her balance.

“Hello Zeathean” She says in this small croaking voice. Her mouth is barely
moving.
Her voice is different somehow. In her eyes there is an excited, almost goofy
expression, an expression of triumph. Yet Zeathean feels cause for concern.
Something is off about her. …I know that voice, Zeathean thinks, he feels a
momentary sense of terror and disbelief…

“It can’t be…” Zeathean whispers.

“There is no where I can’t go. No where that humans can escape me.” The
voice says.
Then Lyra faints and passes out on top of him. Zeathean holds her. She will
be ok, I know it. This overflowing love I feel, like nothing I’ve felt before, it can
overcome anything, she is in my arms now, she is safe. Zeathean holds her closer
then before.

When she wakes in the morning she is totally fine and rested, in-fact she
feels great. Zeathean caresses her hair as she smiles, beaming at him, what a
privilege it is, to take in that smile, what did i ever do to deserve such a blessing.
Our conversations were often goofy and they didn’t make sense, we were so happy
to be with each other, that it didn’t really matter what we said. Everything she said

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sent me into a fit of giggles and grins. I never seemed to get tired of seeing her
smile. Every time I saw her, my heart jumped, like falling in love for the first time,
again and again.

One day Lyra is serving drinks for a party, a third anniversary of the villages
creation. Suddenly she drops the tray. “Are you ok?” A few people rush towards
her holding her up. Slowly she rises from her hunched position.
This voice that is not her own comes out of her. “Get away from me you
humans.” She stumbles froward. Zeathean watches her.

“It’s good to be back.” The voice says wistfully, triumphantly, looking at

Zeathean. Then looking all around, taking in the fresh pine in the air.

“Who are you!” Zeathean demands, “What have you done to Lyra!” even
though he thinks, dreads that he knows the answer.

“You know who I am.” The voice says. Repeating the exact words Armas
said the first time they met.

Armas… Zeathean identifies the person controlling Lyra… forced to admit

it.

“In the many years Lyra was in my cage, I tested all kinds of things on her.”
The voice says. “In that time, I forged a connection between my soul and hers. Not
a connection of minds, but a connection of deep essence. In doing this I risked
everything, I risked that she could use the gateway to take me over instead. I poked
a hole so tiny, that even now she couldn’t detect it. It was my masterpiece. The
bond between us is strong enough, that even that little hole, smaller than a
quantum, was enough for me to pass through. It was a new invention, the smallest
most in-detectable soul-link I have ever created.”

Everyone else at the party is frozen in shock.

Zeathean watches in horror and defiance.

Armas raises Lyra’s arms and clenches them into first. He lets out a roar…
after about 10 seconds he starts to look surprised. “Where is Lyra’s power?” The
voice says.

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 Zeathean begins laughing. “Don’t you see Armas. All you’ve done is transfer
yourself into the body of an ordinary woman. Lyra isn’t God anymore. She and I
chose the ordinary life.”

“You are inexperienced Zeathean.” The voice says “There is much Lyra
hasn’t told you. Yet that is part of the excitement of dating an older woman.”

(When he says older he means that her soul is older.)

“Lyra will never be… ordinary.” Armas adds.

Zeathean watches with calm defiance. Armas is a liar, and I won’t be fooled
by him.

“You can never really separate a soul from its power. Not without a dark
fiber matrix, that took me 1000 years to create. I have her body and mind now, so
it’s only a matter of time until I find what she did with the God core. We will just
have to wait until then. You can’t kill me …because you love Lyra.” The voice says
mockingly.

Then Lyra faints. And the crowd panics. Zeathean carries her back to bed.
Finally she wakes up hours later. Zeathean brings her tea.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t have the heart to tell you what I was beginning to
suspect. But it’s … Armas, he’s come back.” Zeathean says.

“I am the one who should apologize.” Lyra says. “I knew he was inside me,
he’s been fighting to take control of my mind. I’ve known for three months. I just
… couldn’t tell you.”

“You were fighting him on you own.” Zeathean says. “My love, I’m sorry
you felt you had to hide it from me. You are so strong and brave.” He touches her
cheek. “I want to fight him with you. Our days of fighting alone are over. There’s
no darkness out there or in you that we can’t face together.”

“Thank you Zeathean, It’s good to have you here.” They clasp each others
fingers, she rubes her fingers against his. “I’m used to fighting these battles alone,
but I promise I will try to let you in.”

“It’s something we can both work on.” Zeathean laughs.

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 “What is it?” Lyra asks, sensing something is still on Zeathean’s mind.

“It’s just… It feels like this should be over…” Zeathean says as he holds
Lyra. Armas toured Zeathean for 2000 years… and Lyra’s punishment was even
longer… Zeathean still can’t believe, he hasn’t really taken in that Armas is back.
“I know…” She says “Believe me, I know.” She sighs and holds him.

In the darkness, love endures.

“There’s something I want to ask you, as someone who is wise and more
experienced than I…” Zeathean says.

Lyra listens and nods.

“It’s about Armas… What is he? Who is he? I’ve fought many demon lords,
yet i’ve encountered on one anything quite like him. His power… and his devotion
to the dark.”

Lyra nods and the question seems to take her to a serious place.

“There are a few things I could tell you… but the most truthful answer
would be…. I don’t know.” Lyra says.

Zeathean gazes back at her and seems to understand.

“Yet what I can tell you is. The souls all made a choice, to have free will,
long ago. Yet their is a paradox, or rather a hidden dark side in that freedom. Of the
many choices one can make, their exists a choice in every soul, a choice to do Evil.
Armas is the embodiment of that choice. He is perhaps a part of the equation. Yet
he is beyond that. Armas represents the maximum distance that one can stray from
love…. A possibility that exists in the vast equation of the Metaverse. Armas is
from a version of reality where evil wins. Yet that reality is no more.”

She pauses.

Zeathean listened deeply, feeling the gravity of this. It reminded him of

something Armas said in their battle at the end of the dark world. “I am the darkest
part of your soul. I am the possibility of unlimited suffering.”

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 Back then Armas spoke of something he called “maximum suffering.” This
strange topic, why did it haunt Zeathean? It implied a kind of universe he didn’t
want to believe in.

“Armas is not a fraction of what he once was. He is weak enough that an

ordinary woman can keep his soul at bay. Yet he is still cunning and dangerous. His
power could return, the forces of darkness are not totally gone from this world,
rather they are scattered on it’s distant edge. And there is much confusion in this
new world that has not yet fully formed nor made peace with the past.”

There is a long pause.

“It’s true.” Lyra says. “I had a hard time telling you… yet I wish to say it
now. Ten trillion years ago… I was God. Before Armas appeared and killed me.
God is a perspective. To many I was their God. I was someone who managed the
flow of energy in the entire Metaverse. I guided the flow of countless worlds. I was
a powerful spirit. Yet I had a lot of help. Reality can exist with or without such a
‘God’ person… And I’m seeing a different kind of reality now. It is possible for the
souls to regulate on their own.”

This was why the God topic was hard for her… it brought on intense
memories of that conflict with Armas, and a conflict with herself about what reality
should be. The nature of reality itself.

The next few days go well. Lyra organizes and throws a festival, she is as
passionate as ever. That night Lyra and Zeathean make a personal feast for each
other. They have an intimate romantic night.

“I want you to tie me down.” Lyra says to Zeathean seriously one day. “Take
this rope and tie me to the bed.”

“Well this is awkward” Zeathean says. “I was hoping you would be the one
to tie me down. I’m that kind of guy.”

“You’re silly Zeathean.” She says, finding time for humor in spite of
everything. “But in all seriousness… I’m not sure when Armas will come back. I
don’t feel sure how much longer I can control him. Tie me to the bed, that way he
can’t do anything when he wakes up inside me.”

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 “I … can’t do that.” Zeathean says. “Let’s just give it another day. You’re
strong Lyra. I know you can beat him.” Zeathean says. “You’re spirit is so strong.
Armas isn’t what he once was. We shouldn’t suffer for him any more, he wants us
to fear him, I don’t want to live a compromised life. Lets continue to enjoy
ourselves, that’s the last thing he will expect.”

They gaze at each other and Lyra thinks about it.

“We have each other now. We can beat him together.” Zeathean says holding
both her hands and stepping in a few inches away from her. They gaze at each
other.

“Your right.” Lyra says, with the slightest air of doubt.

Zeathean wakes up in the night, he hears a noise in the hall way and he gets
up, noticing Lyra is out of bed. He walks into the kitchen. “Lyra?” He calls.
Suddenly something wacks him over the back of the head and he collapses,
everything goes dark.
Then the next day Zeathean wakes up on the floor with a pain in his head.
He had been passed out there well into the afternoon. He searches the house. Then
he searches the entire village. Lyra is gone. He walks to the villages edge.

Somehow he just knows…

“Armas…” He calls into the distance.

Cunning

In the last 3 years since this words inception, villages have begun to sprout
up everywhere. Living beings are learning fast. The laws are different in this
heavenly paradise, progress moves faster her. The souls start off as fully grown
beings. Objects are easier to lift. It’s harder to get injured.

“This place is too soft.” (He means that it is too easy, too happy) Armas
remorses, muttered under his breath as he traverses a long grassy plain, his soul in

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Lyra’s body. A calm wind blows, tall grass and cute little pare trees blow in the
light breeze. Warm sun sines down.
Armas takes a seat underneath a tree and eats one of it’s pink round fruits.
Colorful birds fly around and one lands on Armas. “Shew, get off!” He says. As he
eats the fruit and sits their in the sun he beings to burst into laughter, he’s not sure
why. Perhaps I am excited about my cunning evil plans yet to come.

‘The souls are all still just waking up. It could take decades before many of
them awaken to their power. But there experiences in the dark world live on in
their souls. Those powerful memories are dormant now, yet they will surface in
time. Timidly the human spirit rests on the cusp of a new horizon. Right now this is
a dormant world, but when the souls awaken to their power, all kinds of magical
forces could come to pass. Meaning I will no longer be a ‘dominant figure’ here.
Yet ten years is plenty of time…’ Armas plots.

He has to stop to rest a few times in the ten mile journey to the nearest
village. He can see it on the horizon. He can sense it faintly. It’s faint, yet some of
Lyra’s extraordinary abilities remain. He is in the body of an ordinary woman for
the most part, yet the laws of physics are very lax her, he feels he could walk 100
miles without really getting tired. Still he takes it easy and makes sure his at full
strength.

Armas begins to think of himself not as ‘Armas’ but as Ira. Ira was a name
he often went by in his female alter ego. Armas had many personalities, and many
forms he most preferred, sort of ‘favorite identities’ from the countless forms he
could take back when he had unlimited power, all were evil.

Finally Ira arrives at a large bustling village. The village is made of wood
and clay and painted brightly. As Ira walks down the street she looks irritated, even
afraid, yet their is a confidence in her. She’s irritated to be in such a defensive
weakened state. As she passes by people she actually feels anxious, such an
amateurish emotion, she is afraid weather she will be accepted, weather she will be
found out, even if i can control this body, can i convincingly impersonate Lyra,
impersonate someone who is fluent and good. There is a stiltedness to Ira as he
struggles to gain complete control over Lyra’s body. His voice is still crokey. Yet
she welcomes the fear as a new challenge, a new from of suffering.

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 As time passes Ira seems to move with more grace, controlling Lyra is
second nature, even her voice sounds totally relaxed and exactly like Lyra’s, soft
and melodic. (It’s Lyra’s voice because it’s her vocal cords, yet it is still Armas’s/
Ira’s soul that is speaking)
Armas and Lyra are no longer Gods, yet Lyra’s body and Armas’s soul are
are powerful combination, both possess many interesting traits even when striped
of their power. Armas’s soul posses over ten trillion years of knowledge that is
slowly returning to him. Armas’s is a genius, although he is evil, he is also adept at
doing deeds of good, because it was necessary to do good to give people hope. He
presided over the good and evil in his multiverse. He even grew trees in his fortress
as a hobby.
Armas/Ira roams the village, casually imparting advice to people in need, he
gives relationship advice, he also teaches people about technology. They begin
forging iron, and other advanced materials that are light and strong. He shows them
how to make clothing more efficiently. How best to harvest crops and farm on
mass scales. Many begin to call Ira a profit.
“I am no profit.” She says humbly. “I am a simple traveler.” It’s something
Lyra would say. Yet they insist all the same. This act of humility won’t last, Ira
craves power and soon her personality may show, yet she does her best to hide it.

Ira becomes a profit in the large village, and word of the profit Ira spreads.
It’s a side of Armas Zeathean never saw. For Ira all of this is just building suspense,
it’s part of the plan.
A few people approach Ira seeking to learn from her, and they become her
disciples. She makes fancy outfits for them to denote their stature. And she crafts
two golden hoop earrings for herself, as well as a sophisticated tight black silk
outfit that is both formal and expensive as well as being a bit sexier then anything
Lyra would ware in public.

The people of this newborn world are in confusion, they seek a leader,
someone to explain to them where they are and comfort them. Lyra never did this,
she desired and ordinary life. “The fool,” Armas mutters “Lyra is a queen (She is a
natural born leader), yet she chooses to throw it all away. What lost potential.”
The people flock towards Ira who holds many community meetings, offering
words of guidance, giving detailed stories on who they air and the history of
worlds long past.
“After the fall of the old world, the Devil reigned for 10000 years. Yet he
was defeated, by the heroes of light who died for you. They were called the
Compassionate Warriors, I was among them. The Devils kingdom came to a
sudden and violent end, many of our souls are still scarred from the intense

16
experience of his world. This is a time of confusion, yet at time of possibility. For
the first time in 10000 years we are set free form his grasp, we have the free will to
choose what happens. We must be strong and not fear the possibilities of the new
world. It is time to forge a kingdom of good and light.” Armas spins a complex tale
using elements of truth. The people listen with deep fascination. Some turn up their
heads, yet most are swayed and intrigued by the profit.
Ira doesn’t speak of the X-Souls the dark warriors who stood against him,
the Compassionate Warriors are better for the story, because they actually existed
and might be remembered, yet were far to week to be any real threat to him. He
doesn’t speak of Zeathean, or of the true age of the world. Armas doesn’t know
what Lyra shared with Zeathean, and he considers Zeathean a threat, maybe not
through power, but through cunning.
Advanced magic bound Ira’s soul to Lyra, yet the world was progressing
rapidly, there were souls out their who had knowledge of 7th level darkGod magic,
magic from the old world. It would be possible for a God level 7 or even three God
level 4’s to break the spell, if they possessed knowledge of soul-links, the art of
weaving miniature worm-holes between souls. The memories would be berried
deep, scattered across random souls, yet they could return. It seemed laughable
now, yet Zeathean was likely already on his trail. Zeathean was the only one who
knew both that Armas was Lyra, and that Armas was the most dangerous being
alive. It was unlikely that others would believe Zeathean. Even if Ira killed
Zeathean, it would have bought that much time, Zeathean could just reincarnate.
Ira no longer possessed any where near the level of magic needed to cage a soul.
Armas’s exceeded God level 7 when he created the spell, yet using power beyond
the seventh level for this fine-tuned operation would have risked destroying Lyra’s
soul, it would have set her free. …So now my greatest trump card is a mere
seventh level ability, Armas thinks.

Ira struggles, she feels yearning to do evil, yet now is not the time, she has a
craving to kill. Somehow just waring the color black puts her slightly at ease in this
fluffy fruity light world world that is depraved of darkness. Her wisdom speaks for
itself and no one questions her choice of outfit.

Lyra’s body has lost it’s physical God power, yet Ira is far from powerless.
Not only does Ira have the genius of Armas, her past lives, she also has the beauty
and potentially some dormant power of Lyra. Lyra has a powerful soul even when
striped of the God core.
Ira is approached by many who make proposals of love, devotion or
marriage. She turns them down kindly, yet it is important that she have this kind of

17
power over others. She can use this. To some she offers them roles as her servants,
they are so moved by her beauty that they accept.

The Traveler

One day a traveler arrives in town. He dismounts from a white house. He tall
and muscular, handsome with curly blonde hair.
“I am Tristious,” He announces “I have traveled 100 miles from distant
lands. I have heard word of the beautiful profit Ira and I seek to meet her.”

“This is she.” Ira says, walking forward. “Alright traveler, you have met me,
what would you like to say.”

“You are even loverly than they say.” Tristious says taking her in.

“Very good.” Ira says dismissively. She isn’t impressed.

“I would like to offer you this gift.” Tristious pulls out a glistening purple
diamond from his pocket.

Ira reaches out and takes the diamond. Her eyes widen slightly. ‘This fool
has actually brought me something of some value.’ The diamond glistens with a
dark aura of human suffering. Ira wonders how this is possible.
“You have done well.” Ira says with admiration “It is beautiful. I shall have
it made into a ring.” Ira says, for the first time in a while, genuinely pleased, not
having to fake the emotion. “How did you obtain this item?” She asks, studying the
man with new interest.

“Large crystals were forming beyond the mountains in the distant lands from
whence I came.” Tristious explains. “I hacked at the crystals for five days with a
sharpened slab of iron, yet this tiny piece was all I was able to break free. …The
tales I heard of you drove me to obtain them. The crystals called me and I felt they
were worthy of a Goddess such as yourself.”

‘Perhaps this world isn’t as fruity and flowery as I thought.’ Ira speculates.
There may still be traces of the dark world scattered around in distant lands. It is
rare that a world should end so suddenly and violently without leaving a trace of

18
it’s existence. Many souls are still scarred and in pain, their soul-force is so dense
and conflicted, that it could be crystalizing, so to speak, turning into a type of
exotic dark matter.

“Well done.” Ira says simply. “Come into my chambers and we will speak.
…You are our first traveler from such distant lands. I’m sure you have much to
tell.” She tags that on as an excuse for her unusual interest.

Many of the surrounding men and servants shoot Tristious jealous looks.

There is something, complicated, about Tristious. Ira finds herself, to her

own disgust, attracted to him. He is not quite the typical white knight he appears to
be at first glance. He seems like the type of person who would do anything to get
what he wanted, someone morally neutral who might even kill for her if she asked.
Someone who knows that there are many morally gray layers to things beneath the
surface of seeming innocence we project, yet is indirect, inexplicit about this
understanding. Yet he presents well enough to be someone who could project and
outwards image of good to the masses. He is someone I could actually be with Ira
thinks. Then she feels mad at herself for contemplating the desire, for feeling the
urge. And while she speaks to Tristious she crosses her legs, as though to close
herself off from him.

Lyra’s Pure Heart

Ira has a need for companionship. Even Armas, the dark God, had friends,
people he confided in who eased the loneliness. Ira fed off suffering, yet she had
collected lifetimes of loneliness, and her soul was in danger, in danger of falling
apart. She realized she had been waiting for someone like Tristious to show up.

She invites Tristious into her bed, yet is somewhat secretive about it, not
wanting to encourage conflict among the other men. It is important now that she is
loved by all, she knowns the intense loyalty of many of her followers and servants
comes from a sexual desire, and she can’t afford to abuse that connection now.

They hold each other for many nights and he is very well mannered,
particularly for someone who looks like he gets laid a lot. He’s smart, Ira thinks,
he’s never met a woman like me, yet he can sense that i’m different, he knows that

19
i’m gong to be a harder catch, and he can sense that i’m not ready. Around the
seventh night he asks to remove her clothing. She concedes that it is alright, in
spite of some part of herself. Also I have to consider Tristious, he is a man who as
options, I’m not so angelically beautiful that I could easily hold him in a sexless
relationship, he might give me up and go look for love and sex somewhere else. It
irritated her because as God she did have that power, she was used to obedience. I
didn’t count on Lyra discarding her power so freely. She’s having a hard time
letting go of that loss, yet part of her enjoys this new challenge.

Tristious is passionate and she is surprised by how deeply the pleasure

overcomes her. Armas was gorgeous and had many sexual encounters… yet there
was a problem, other than his psychopathic nature, Armas’s soul was in a state of
constant splintering, constant pain, his existence was fundamentally tortured, he
fed off pain, yet it had a way of numbing him, it was difficult for him to feel
pleasure, even when light appeared to be flowing through him, the pleasure never
reached all the way down to his soul. He was numb to the full pleasure of many of
his encounters.

Yet Lyra’s body was totally different. She felt everything, Tristious smallest
movement was overwhelmingly good. Lyra’s body is too pure, it’s so freely
connected to the Metaverse, Ira remorsed, it was something she hadn't accounted
for. She kept asking Tristious to slow down. She was flustered by this problem, it
made her look so innocent. She didn’t want Tristious to think she was some silly
little girl with no experience. Yet he was completely understanding.

“I’m sorry i’m just having cramps.” She lied.

As she’s gazing into his eyes, this feeling of ecstasy between her legs
becomes increasingly overwhelming, it fills her heart too, it just keeps
overflowing, she keeps expecting the feeling to level off at some point, for that
sense of control she is used to to return, yet it doesn’t it just keeps growing, this
good feeling is rippling through her body, she feels shivers running through her
soul. Cool sweat comes off her.

She expected this to be like the encounters in her past life, yet it is not the
same at all.

Gathering her will power, she pushes Tristious off. “Stop, we have to stop”
She says. She sits on the bed side, facing away from him. Her entire body is
pulsating with ecstasy. She is totally out of control. What is this feeling, she keeps

20
thinking. It’s this goddam light world, all the rules are different here. She thinks. I
would have stopped sooner, I just had no idea the the feeling would keep
increasing to this degree.

“Are you alight?” Tristious says. “Take as much time as you need.”

Ira feels Lyra’s soul inside her. Lyra’s soul is gathering strength. She’s
overpowering me somehow. No.. it’s me, I’m losing strength. Ira thinks. It’s taking
Ira all the concentration she has to suppress Lyra’s soul. Ira is deep in focus.

“Baby, are you ok?” Tristious puts a hand on her.

“Shut up!” “Don’t touch me!” Ira snaps.

He pulls away.

After about 30 seconds Ira regains control.

“I’m sorry,” She tells Tristious. “We can’t have sex anymore.” She says
suddenly, not really thinking. She is so annoyed. Her anger is overpowering the
cunning genius of her calm facade. I’m not angry at Tristious, I have been
unusually pleased and impressed with him, I’m angry with myself, that I didn’t see
this coming.

“It’s because, I was raped.” She says on the fly. She needed to give some
kind of explanation.

“I’m so sorry.” He says. “I just want to be her for you, in whatever capacity
you want.”

That was the perfect response, Ira smiles. It seems Lyra’s beauty has people
totally manipulated, he’s completely in love. Still he might want sex again
eventually.

Something happened to me, Ira spends the next days deep in thought. The
feeling of pleasure, unobstructed by scars, history, pain, the pure feeling of bliss, it
was causing the dark aura around my soul to deteriorate. Lyra’s soul is still fighting
hard inside me, beneath the seventh level dark spell. Yet something about this light
world, everything here bears a strong feeling of bliss.

21
 Ira becomes paranoid. She realizes that everything around her is becoming a
danger to her. All these positive experiences are slowly wearing away at her dark
aura, the thing holding her soul to Lyra and keeping Lyra down. Tristious loves me
so intensely, and it’s obliterating my dark aura. He knows nothing of my past, he
doesn’t know the monster I am, and his love for me is overwhelmingly pure. Yet
i’m not sure i’m done with him. They continue to lay in bed side by side each
night. I still need companionship to stave off the loneliness, it lends strength to my
soul, having a comrade i can speak to, it is something deep even i can’t fully
understand, something that transcends the laws of physics. Ira thinks.

“I am fascinated by the past words of which you speak. I’m having many
memories returning to me as well” Tristious tells Ira in one of their many long
private conversations. “I’m recalling multiple life times. I recall times being a
demon. Times being a human.”

He has a semi-ancient soul too, Ira realizes. This is part of my draw to him.
Part of why he seems to have this otherworldly keenness to things, this subtle
astute perception.

The pair sits six feet across from each other in fancy purple lounge chairs of
her little palace. The walls are adorned with all the best fabrics and rugs made in
the village. Her followers are taken with her and offer her many gifts in exchange
for her wisdom.
This is a room she uses to relax people where she can gain deeper bonds and
create further loyalty. She uses this room for long conversations to help people sort
out the many traumas from their past lives in the dark world, as many of the
villagers memories have been returning to them, now people need her more then
ever. The villagers are increasingly impressed by Iras abilities, her strong
recollection of past lives and ability to understand the nature of the dark world and
the struggles everyone had from their experience their. Ira created the dark world,
her secret, and she knows exactly what people need to hear, what she needs to say
and do, or often not do, to ease their pain. Even she can’t erase their pain, yet she
provides deep understanding and amazing relief.

Cornered by Pleasure

Late in the afternoon each day Ira picks up a unique item she had made. It is
a weapon, one of the first to exist in this world. Rather, it is a torture device.

22
Thankfully the people of the village would let her make or do anything without
question. What she has created is a spiked whip.
Ira takes off her shirt and begins whipping herself in the back. She had to
increase the amount of pain she was experiencing on a daily basis. Life was far to
easy in this newborn light world, her dark soul was used to constant and intense
pain. Her dark aura was falling apart. Whipping herself, she actually could increase
it slightly. “Good” She said. She hadn’t been sure if it would work. This whole
situation is so unique. I am being crushed on all sides, by an experience of pleasure
and joy.

Fresh blood drips from the many cuts on her back. She lets out a small yelp
with each hit. Her past self took pain easily, yet this body is sensitive, an ordinary
human body.

Tristious walks in while Ira is whipping herself. He looks surprised, taken a

back for a moment.
“Ira” Is all he says. “Shall I leave you alone.” He handles the situation so
calmly that even Ira is surprised and impressed. It’s unlikely that Tristious has ever
witnessed this behavior before, in this life.

“You can stay, if you want.” Ira says, to Tristious surprise.

“This is… a part of who I am.” She adds. “I’m sorry if it bothers you.”

“I understand.” Tristious says. “I don’t like to see you hurt, …yet, i’ve felt it
from the moment i met you… There is something very different about you…
otherworldly. Maddeningly different. I feel… confused, yet drawn to it.”

This relationship was reaching a new level. Ira didn’t expect this at all. It
made her uncomfortable. She was so used to her true self being invisible. Hidden
behind layers of fabrication. Alone with her dark plot. Yet now she was naked, he
saw right through to her soul, he could see the monster, the evil inside her, yet he
wasn’t repulsed, he was actually loving, not just Lyra’s body, but he was loving
Ira’s true soul.

This can’t be happening. I can’t do this right now. I’ve never experienced
anyone seeing me like this.

23
 “Don’t look at me! I’m getting uncomfortable.” Ira snaps suddenly. Not even
completely sure why she said that. Don’t I like this sense of connection I feel with
him?

“As you wish my lady. I’m just going to sit here and read a book.” Tristious
said.

I felt it again… Ira thought. It felt like I was loosing my hold on Lyra. This
time it wasn’t even through physical contact, but just some unexplained sense of
connection. How can something so vague as a ‘feeling of connection’ interfere
with my seventh level dark magic?

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I snapped. Please, read.” Ira said cordially.

Tristious picks up a book titled “History of the Old World.” Tristious sat in a
lounge chair and poured over a book with in-depth fascination. He looked calm,
like his experienced wary soul was being eased by the words.

Tristious is smart. Ira begins to realize. What if he figures out those books
I’ve written are full of fabrications. I’ve written them to manipulate the masses
they aren’t designed to be deeply accurate …Simple, she postulates, then I could
just tell him that i was hiding the true history of the old world because i didn’t want
people to be afraid, i didn’t want them to know how truly dark things were… and
that part was true.
The books were genuinely designed to easy trauma through stories of
relatable experiences from the old world. Armas had been omnipresent, he presided
over the lives of all beings and remembered many of their stories. The just left out
key details about Zeathean, about Ira’s real identity, about the true age and evil that
existed in the old world. The books portrayed a very pleasant version of events.

In Dreams

Ira and Tristious continue to lye together, Ira permits Tristious to cuddle with
her now and then, she wants to ease his desires, yet at the same time she also
enjoys the closeness, though won’t admit it to herself.

It is around this time as she lies with Tristious each night that Ira begins
having a series of unusual dreams. In her dreams, Zeathean begins to appear to her
each night. He is just sort of a calm presence. He is there in one way or another,

24
keeping her company. Cooking food with her. Playing a game of cards together.
Scooping gold fish out of a pond together at a Japanese festival. Catching fireflies
in jars in the forest. It gets really odd, yet all the dreams seem to feature Zeathean.
He shows up vividly clear.

One night, it his her 50th night sharing a bed with Tristious. Ira has a
particularly vivid dream. She is with Zeathean, they are walking down city streets
from the old world. He smiles and says “How about this place?!” It seems like they
are goofing around, on a fun adventure. “Sure!” She replies. They enter a clothing
store, it is a store that sells suits. Zeathean is in a changing room trying on various
suits. He puts on this classing gray suit. In the dream Ira is Lyra, she’s in Lyra’s
body, she’s not really sure who she is, Zeathean calls her “Ira” In the dream and
seems unafraid of her. Ira is wiping the dust of the suit. She whips her hands on his
chest again and again. She is sort of stroking him. He just smiles calmly.. She feels
herself becoming soft like water, she leans into him as she continues stoking his
chest. She feels something poking her. She looks down and sees Zeathean has an
erection.

“Hey, be appropriate” She teases.

“I’m sorry… You are just, so beautiful Ira,” He says caressing her brown
hair “you know you shouldn’t get so close”
“Aww that’s ok.” Ira says. “Here, I’ll take care of it.”
She knees down, takes off his pains. Sucks him off.
Zeathean cums into her mouth.
“What the fuck Zeathean! I did not say you could do that!” She says, angry
yet grinning at the same time.
“I’m sorry, you were really good, amazingly good” He says, not sure if she’s
actually mad.
“That’s ok, you’ll just have to take your punishment!”
Ira jumps on top of him, nocking him to the floor, she kisses him a lot,
spitting the cum into his moth.
“I brought this on myself,” Zeathean says spitting it out. “I married you for
your feisty personality after all”
She grabs his dick a bit too hard, then she puts it inside her, they make love
for a while there in the clothing store, totally unconcerned. Every touch is so
amazing, every kiss carries a history of longing and passion.

25
 Suddenly Ira wakes up. She is sweating a lot and it is still night outside.
Something has changed, she feels. Tristious is there next to her, he appears to be
crying. She doesn’t have time to process the dream.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Tristious says. “I took advantage of you.”

“What?” She mutters in a daze. She feels it again. It’s like it was on the
seventh night together the last time they made love. Her entire body is pulsating
with a feeling of overwhelming bliss.

“I’m sorry.” He says again. “I just lost control of myself. While you were
sleeping, I made love to you.”

She wasn’t entirely mad at him. She had wanted it too, the whole time. But
this was a problem for her. The feeling of bliss was still rising. It was different than
an orgasm. It started with that, yet that was just part of the trigger, this feeling was
in her heart, like something was opening up and flooding out.

It’s over. Ira realized. The pleasure just kept rising. Lyra’s soul was bubbling
up to the surface inside her. My dark aura is no more. How could I have been
defeated so easily… by this ordinary human.

Awake

Lyra suddenly becomes conscious of her surroundings. She is half naked and
in a strange place, in a strange bed with a stranger. She is aware she has recently
had sex. It is a scary situation, yet Lyra’s old soul has experienced much stranger
things.
She instantly became vigilant, carful and aware. She began thinking and
observing what was around her.
Armas had pushed her down into a dark place, she had very little awareness
of what Armas had been doing with her body all this time. (She doesn’t know
Armas goes by Ira now.)

“I’m sorry Ira” Tristious says “I will understand if you don’t forgive me.”

“But I do forgive you.” She improvised, not sure what he was talking about.
“I’m not ok with what you did. But we will get through this together.”

26
 Lyra has no way of knowing where she is or how much time has passed. It
feels like she has been trapped for a substantial amount of time, months, but not
years. I wonder how much damage Armas did in that time? It seems I go by ‘Ira’
now, Lyra realizes.

They hold hands for a while.

“I’m glad,” He says “I’m not used to you touching me.”

Opps, Lyra was already messing up. She had to try and act like Ira. She had
to make the people around her believe she was Ira, that nothing had changed, then
it would be easier to plot her escape, or at least find the best way to defeat Armas
for good. Armas’s soul was still alive in side her.

Lyra explores ways to escape. People approach her asking for advice
throughout the day. She draws on her own past life memories and ancient
knowledge to tell them what they need to her. It seems she is regarded as a profit
her. It’s strange that Armas would be doing so much good work, yet perhaps not so
strange, he was a great deceiver, this must have been the only way for him to
reclaim power here. Lyra gives her own advice and hopes it will be similar enough.
The villagers thank her, not suspecting any change. She thinks about what Armas
would do. Lyra and Armas both have highly ancient souls, she too can draw on
countless past life memories, even when in his cage she continued to have
experiences. It’s actually not hard to impersonate Armas for her.

I have to find a way to defeat Armas, Lyra thinks. There is no where I can
run to, I feel his soul was temporarily weekend by something, yet it feels it could
return any day. Right now this is as good a place as any to be, If i run back to
Zeathean I will just be wasting time in the journey and string up emotions. I need
to think.
There should be a lot of power inside the souls of this world, the dark
matrix, Armas’s machine was broken with the death of the old world. He can no
longer turn their pain into his weapon, all their experience now should be restored
to them, meaning all people, the most average people should possess near God like
abilities. That would be Armas’s worst night mare, he would just be one of the
crowd. Yet that hasn’t happened, yet, perhaps people are not ready to awaken to
their full power. I myself feel uneasy about it, I never wanted to be … a God. Yet
our battles in the dark world have made us all… Godlike. It’s the same for all of us,
we are hiding from our true potential, because we all have a strong desire for the
ordinary life. Yet with time, the dormant power could awaken, when we start to

27
feel comfortable again with our lives, we may desire these higher level powers,
even if only as a necessary evil to stop Armas. I feel like it could take years, maybe
decades though for something like that to manifest. Armas could do a lot of
damage in that time.
His soul is held to mine by something powerful, i suspect some type of high
level anti-matter bond. I suspect for Armas to do what he did, to rule the dark
world for ten-trillion years, he would have to have been far beyond the God level.
Lyra goes deep into thought. She enters a deep trance.
Not only was he far beyond the God level… I estimate, when you take in all
the numbers, that he had to be at least beyond God level 30. It sounds completely
insane. Lyra herself in her most powerful from was only just beyond God level 2.
Thankfully he no longer posses that power, yet the spell that binds me to him still
holds, a relic of his former power, it could be as high as a 30th level spell. I have to
research a way to unravel the anti-matter that binds him to me. If I can release his
soul, he will be harmless, a truly ordinary person. My body is still lending him
strength. My dormant God powers still exist, even without the God core, my own
soul has supernatural charistics.
How do I get people to awaken their God powers, and is that even fair to
demand that of them? Lyra thinks. Lyra reaches into her past life memories for
some kind of answer. There might be some other type of way to unravel anti-matter
without using raw power.
This place is likely full of God level 7’s. Even a dormant God might emit
enough love to unravel the spell. It still felt like this was going to take years… the
people just aren’t ready… years she didn’t have.

As she listened to the past life memories of those who came to her for
conciliation, she thought a lot about the old world. Hearing others stories helped
her own memories come back. She gathered knowledge and details from the old
world. This village was already showing signs of technologic progress… it must be
Armas’s work. I have work to do to catch up with Armas’s genius, she thought. She
had been unconscious for so long, and now she is thrust back into this intense
battle of wits.

Tristious and Ira begin having a lot of sex. Tristious wonders why Ira has
been acting differently, she used to be so sensitive about touching. He likes this
new Ira, yet he feels like she is hiding something. He suspects this isn’t Ira, yet the
sex is so good that for a while he doesn’t do anything about it. It’s intensely
passionate.
Lyra just does what she thinks Armas would do. Clearly she was in a
relationship with this person.

28
 Sometimes Ira teases Tristious or insults him awkwardly, Ira had been easily
irritated, and teased him at times, yet this is different, it seems like she is
pretending to be someone else. Lyra is trying to act like Armas would act.

Tristious watched Ira carefully throughout the day and noticed she seemed to
be acting oddly. She often seemed not to know what he was talking about, and
acted like everything she did was happening for the first time.

“There’s something I haven’t told you. It’s dark, and I wasn’t able to tell you
until now. There is a dark spirit inside of me, I share this body with another. She is
a devil, she is cunning, like no one else.” Tristious remembered something Ira had
told him a few weeks ago. “If I ever stop acting like myself. If I seem not to
remember things… I wan’t you to do something for me.” “Take this, the crystal
you gave me. Wait till i’m asleep, take it off my finger, and hold it too my chest.”

Setting Out

Zeathean takes three days to think what he will do, feeling deep in conflict.
This is my battle with the devil, and i don’t want to pull others into it. Will they
even believe me, about Armas, about the invincible Devil God, reborn to take
Lyra’s body and plot a second reign. No one here knows how much of a threat
Armas really is, none of them have seen him or experienced him directly the way I
did. Only I really understand the threat. Everyone is so happy and blissed out to be
in this new world of flowers and sunshine, they have no sense that anything could
go wrong. This is the way it’s always been… me and Armas. This is our battle.

Then Zeathean remembers something… There were others… in his past life
who had risen to challenge the Dark God Armas there at the end of the old world.
They called themselves the X-Souls. The Compassionate Warriors, his people, had
been overwhelmingly defeated. Yet the X-Souls had appeared, dark beings with
lifetimes of experience and power, beings who had remained in hiding until that
battle, out in the distant dark corners of the Multiverse. The X-Souls were beings
devoted to the cultivation of greater power from one life to the next through
challenging and increasing the strength of ones own soul, it wasn’t even entirely a
good thing, yet they had stood to join the forces of light in that battle, they had
proven themselves allies of good. Zeathean hadn’t seen them directly yet he had
sensed their souls fighting with Armas. Even when he had been dead he had sensed
the incredible battle.

29
 All souls continued on. Meaning the X-Souls were still out their, they could
help him now, maybe to pose a threat against Armas. The term X-Soul represented
a crossed out soul, the destruction of ones own soul. They cultivated dark magic,
yet they used it for the forces of light.
Maybe with their power they would have a way to evict Armas’s soul from
Lyra’s body. Zeathean began researching other ways to do this. Thinking back into
his past lives.

Zeathean set out across the land on a trek, in search of the X-Souls, and in
search of other powerful allies. He crosses long fields, and scales winding narrow
paths on jagged green mountains. Bright flowers and colorful birds are
everywhere. The new world comforts Zeathean.
Zeathean meets many interesting beings on his journeys, and for those who
are willing to go there, he shares long talks of past lives. He notices by talking to
them he can help put their past experiences at ease, potentially waking up some
kind of dormant knowledge and even dormant power within them. I’ve seen people
doing things, like moving objects with their minds, demonstrating unusual feats of
strength. There is some kind of otherworldly power people are able to tap into. Yet
many are afraid of it. They don’t know what it means. Out of thousands I’ve talked
to, I’ve found maybe 50 such people. Yet i’m not sure any possess the power to
evict Armas’s soul from Lyra.
Zeathean reaches into his past lives, and learns from the past lives of others,
hoping to find an ‘demonic eviction spell.’
Finally he finds something. ‘A spell to evict the devil’ A powerful spell. It
might be enough to stop Armas.

In his travels Zeathean hears word of the profit Ira. Could this be Lyra? He
wonders. What would Armas be planning. Would he chose to portray himself this
way, or was this Ira someone who could help him? Either way, he felt ready to face
Armas. It was dangerous to let this go on too long.
Ira was someone with great knowledge of past lives and incredible healing
powers, she might be of help.

Some of Zeathean’s own power had been awakening. Though it came paired
with dark memories of his past life. It was difficult to unlock his power. And he
feared the monster that was inside him.

You’ve Done Well

30
 Tristious waits until Ira is asleep. Slowly he removes the silver ring with the
dark purple crystal fastened to it. He holds the crystal to her chest for a long time.
Ira moans in her sleep, she begins string and shaking violently.

Tristious is afraid, yet he remembers Ira was so insistent that i do this, she
seemed so serious. Even if this other her is nice to me, I am devoted to the real Ira,
the one I’ve come to know and have talked to for months, even if she is colder,
physically sensitive, I have a bond with her.

Ira’s eyes pop open. She seems in a daze.

“Tristious!” She exclaims.

“Are you ok my love?” He says. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” Ira says. “I feel … good.”

“You were acting strange, I began to worry, so I held the purple crystal to
your chest, as you had asked me. Did I do the right thing?” Tristious says.

“Yes. You’ve done well. Very well.” Ira says, regaining consciousness and
awareness of what has happened. Ira feels her dark power has returned. Lyra has
been surpassed back inside the spell. It worked. The dark energy that emanated for
the strange crystal was powerful enough to strengthen herself and weaken Lyra.

She realized all this happened because she wasn’t being physical enough
with Tristious. “You’ve done very well Tristious.” “And I’ve decided, I’ve been
unfair to you, and I want to reward you.”
She takes off he pants.
“I’m happy to have pleased you my Goddess.” He says.

Ira sucked him off.

This was perfect, this was a way she could satiate him without being
overcome by pleasure herself. Normally as a God she wasn’t willing to lower
herself like this, yet now that it came to it, it didn’t bother her that much. She told
herself it was just part of her plot, that she needed to satiate him so her dark magic
wouldn’t be threatened, she didn’t admit it, yet part of herself was genuinely happy
to be able to have a way to please him now, this was a person who understood her
and took care of her, and she wanted to reward him. She had to compete with Lyra
now who had been very physical with him, Ira had to rebuild the attraction and get

31
Lyra out of his mind. There could be a risk, especially if Lyra kept returning, of
him falling in love with her other self.

One night while Ira is sleeping she wakes up to find Tristious is pressing up
against her. His dick is pressing hard against her butt. She feels irritated, this could
lead to him wanting sex, I should draw a line. Yet she finds herself not able to say
anything, it would be really bitchy of me, I would be snapping him out of his
happy place. I want him to be happy, she realizes. I’m getting off on this.

After a few days she talks to him. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to tell you again,
I still don’t feel comfortable with the sex thing… but we can do other things.. as
much as you want.”

“Of course, i’m hear for you, take your time.” He is understanding.

That was good, the ora sex seemed to be satiating him. There hadn’t been
another ‘incident’ in almost a month. Yet she felt him becoming restless.

Ira begins wearing the purple crystal around her neck, this better suppressed
Lyra, having the dark magic right over her heart. It even allows her to cuddle more
with Tristious without being overcome by positive emotion, this pleases her, she
can finally be closer to him in some capacity.

Yet Tristious becomes increasingly restless. It is still not enough. She can
feel him wanting more. Rubbing up on her in the night. She wants to please him,
but it’s not an option. The positive sensations would set Lyra free.

It finally hit her… Tristious is a danger to me. He will eventually want sex, I
might not even be able to say no. He is a man who is used to getting a lot of
women. I won’t be able to wrap him around my finger like this forever. She feels
irritated, this ordinary man is messing everything up. Yet I don’t know how to get
rid of him. He is deeply in love with me.

The Spell

Zeathean travels to the village where the stories of the profit Ira come from.
Zeathean arrives at the village, and he travels all the way to it’s center. There
a large crowd has gathered. He pushes to the center of the crowd where the profit
Ira is. She is handing out food to people.

32
 Zeathean looks upon her and it is clear, this is Lyra, rather this is Armas.

“It’s good to see you Zeathean.” Ira says, her eyes beaming with hidden
malice, her voice gentle and lovely.

“Armas…” Zeathean says under his breath.

“I go by Ira now.” She said.

“I see.” Zeathean says “Much has changed in the past months.”

“Indeed much has.” Ira said.

“This is the end for you Ira.” Zeathean says. He begins chanting the
powerful spell. The spell to evict the devil.

Ira seems mildly impressed.

“This person is acting suspicious. Seize him guards!” One of Ira’s disciples
says. Sensing Zeathean’s hostile intent.

The guards close in on Zeathean, yet he fights them off while still chanting
the spell. Their is confusion in the crowd. Zeathean demonstrates surprising
strength able to throw several men off him.

Rings of light close in on Ira. The crowd is in awe, having never seen energy
behave this way.

Finally the spell has done its work.

Zeathean looks at Ira and waits.

Ira smiles. “You’ve lost Zeathean. Go home.”

Ira considers holding him hostage, yet it’s too soon to be going that far, this
village is so peaceful, it will take months or longer before she can start instilling
fear, building armies, forging armor and weapons.

33
 I was too ambitious, I jumped at this first sign of hope, Zeathean thinks. As
Zeathean observes Ira he notices there is someone with a tall confident posture
sitting next to her. A tall blond muscular man. Something about him, how close his
is to her, how he looks at her, upsets Zeathean. I can’t hurt Ira without hurting
Lyra… but that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt someone else.
Zeathean walks up to the blond man, without speaking, he beats the man into
a pulp. Somehow he just sensed that they were together. Even if he was fucking
Armas, it was Lyra’s body, and Zeathean felt possessed by a raw protective
emotion. Tristious is a lot bigger then Zeathean, yet somehow Zeathean
overpowers him, Zeathean’s strength is almost otherworldly. He moves with speed
and power that shouldn’t be possible. It’s a bit beyond what should be possible. He
seems to have a glow about him.

Ira blinks as she takes in Zeathean. It’s been a while since she’s had an
extended look at him.. and she notices something. The curse mark, the mark I
placed on his soul 2000 years ago. It’s gone… It makes sense, in our battle I
annihilated his soul multiple times, at some point the curse mark must have been
dislodged from him. Without the curse, Zeathean is overwhelmingly handsome.

Ira is looking at Zeathean’s face. He’s such a fighter. His spirt still seems
strong and calm despite all of this. Ira is a bit annoyed, Zeathean isn’t as perturbed
as I want him to be. Suddenly Ira remembers the dream she had about Zeathean.
She had forgotten about it, yet suddenly she is hot with embarrassment. In the
dream she had been so passionate, so obsessed with him… she had be so… …It
irritates her to no end. ‘What the fuck was that about!?’ She thinks. I will just block
it from my mind.

Evil Soul

“Who was that man?” Tristious enquires to Ira.

“He was… my ex. I broke up with him 1 year ago.. because he was
controlling.”
“Is there still something between you too?” Tristious says.
“I see why you would ask, but there is nothing, he just wants to control me,
because I am beautiful.” Ira says.
“He came all the way to this village just to hunt you down. Don’t worry I’m
not going to let him touch you.” Tristious says.

34
 Tristious becomes serious about working out and training his physical
strength, he is embarrassed by the whole incident, and also wants to be stronger to
protect Ira.

Meanwhile Ira’s mind couldn’t be more apart from his.

Ira feels her bloodlust growing, the evil inside her she had been suppressing
in her great effort to appear good, to be the ‘good profit Ira’ for the village. One
night while Tristious is sleeping Ira wakes up and goes into one of her secret
rooms, the place where she keeps her whip. Next to the whip behind the locked
vault is another weapon she had made, a long sharp slab of iron, like a thick
powerful sword. Ira had been observing this new world carefully and she noticed
that beings here didn’t die as easily as they did in the old world. It would take
something strong and heavy to slice through bone, if it came to it. She felt so angry
and irritated with Tristious, why couldn’t he just obey. Maybe it was the price of
her seeking someone who ‘understood’ her, that they would not obey her, they
were too strong minded. Well… it was his loss.
She carried the heavy slab of iron into the bed room. She lifted the slab up
over the sleeping Tristious, and she brought it down with all her might on his neck.
With the first strike his head turned to look at her, his eyes opened and looked right
at her as though to say “Why.” She struck a second time. Then with the third strike
his head came off and went rolling on the floor.
It’s true… humans in this world are harder to kill. A strong light energy
binds them together.
It’s done, she thought. The dark act seemed to strengthen the dark magic that
suppressed Lyra. Yet it wasn’t like she could just go around killing, she was just an
ordinary woman, she would be overpowered and instantly lose all her allies. This
would be a lone act, a secret. She wrapped up the body and hid it in a secret room
she had constructed beneath the house. She was smart and had considered a lot of
things in advanced.
Yet in the moment that she severed Tristious head, she had felt something
else, like a splitting feeing in her soul. A bitter pain. A conflict.

Ira notices something else. She is pregnant. For a while fear takes her. She
doesn’t know what to do. She has no intention of even dealing with being pregnant.
She needs to be both agile, and at the top of her desirability. This would have been
an easy matter in the old world, yet it was different here. Finally she takes the
sharp iron slab, she pauses for a long moment, then she stabs herself in the belly.
Ira is intensity intelligent and precise, she knows exactly where the fetus is and
how to destroy it.

35
 People notice that Ira is bleeding even beneath the cloth she has wrapped
around herself. They come to her aide, they would never suspect she has just killed
a fetus. She tells them she fell on something sharp. No one ever suspects her of
anything and everyone is concerned for their lovely profit.

A few people inquire about Tristious’s disappearance, she tells them he left
in the night to travel back to his homeland on an errand, that he wasn’t good with
goodbyes. They all believe her. Many people were jealous of Tristious so he is not
greatly missed by the larger community.

Phase 2

Ira finds new ways to ease the loneliness. She starts becoming closer with
straight women, she takes more female friends and disciples. She releases she has
to be carful that as a bisexual she could become romantic even with the same
gender so she is careful to only pick straight women. Now she doesn’t have to
worry about the physical contact effecting her hidden dark aura. Even a dark soul
like Ira’s would rather have the romance, but it didn’t seem like that was an option.

Lyra doesn’t know of my weakness. She doesn’t know that every day
ordinary experiences of joy and pleasure are a danger to me. If she dose find out,
her strategy will change.

It is time for part two of Ira’s plan. She has cultivated loyalty and trust. Now
her followers will do what she wants without question.

“I want a band of able men and women to travel to the distant lands to the
south and mine the purple crystal.” She says holding up her necklace for reference.
She says this at one of her community meetings. “It is time to start branching
out into the world, to speared our good fortune to others and learn more about
other cultures.”

It is time to begin harvesting the forces of darkness. I won’t be able to

capture the God core as I am now. Right now I don’t even know where to look.

Ira sends another three parties of followers out to the north east and west. “I
want you to search the land, partially for anything that looks extraordinary. You
may know it when you see it.” The God core could be anything, yet it would emit a

36
noticeable glow. “There are types of exotic matter out their, resources we can use
to grow our village, there are mythical forces and objects out there that have the
power to ease the troubles of our past lives, even more than i can do with my
stories and prophetic gift. The forces of light were dispersed when the new world
was born, and they are waiting for when the time is right, when we are ready to
discover them. You deserve relief form the burden of those memories. And the
healing forces of light you need our out there, beyond the hills.”

The four parties travel out in the four directions.

There were still chunks of dark magic left over in this world, and the hard
part would be convincing her followers that they could be used for good.

Zeathean increases his power.

Zeathean reaches into his past life memories, seeking to increase his power,
to unlock it. He spends time alone out in the fields, attempting to move objects
with his mind.

Ira receives word that there is a forest to the east, in the distant lands a place
where mythical beasts roam, a place of magic.

Intuitive Affection
Veldona

The people gives Ira many gifts from across the land. She receives many
flowers and objects that emit powerful light energy, they are harmful to her dark
aura, so she pretends to accept them, then she hides them in her basement, or gives
them back out to others in a seeming act of generosity.

Ira gives particular emphasis on “There are mysterious happenings in the

soul, I think the items their may be of particular value, such as this crystal” She
holds it out. “See if you can find where this came from and exact more. Bring me
back any more exotic items you find in that area. Be carful, some of the materials
their, if there is indeed more like this crystal, I suspect it could be dangerous.

37
 Veldona, a tall slender woman with long dark hair and dark eyes, a natural
born leader, a hardened soul, returns with her party from the expedition to the
south. Ira is particularly curious to know how this expedition went.

Veldona holds out her hand to Ira, she dumps a handful of purple crystals
into Ira’s hand. Ira’s eyes widen and glisten, she is more than pleased. Veldona was
one of the women she had become close too after discarding Tristious. Veldona had
understood what Ira had wanted while many of the others had not. She had
retrieved it without question. In that moment she was reminded of when she first
met Tristious.

“There is much more” Veldona said.

Several men carried over a giant black buffalo. “We took the life of this
beast and brought it to you. It emanated a powerful otherworldly energy.”

“I’m not sure if this of use to you, is it safe that we have brought this into the
camp?” Veldona asks.

“This is valuable.” Ira says, without admitting how valuable. “I am grateful

you have brought this beast. This is not a process someone other than me could
preform, however I can harvest much from this creature.”

The Beast emits a powerful dark energy. Like anti-matter. Ira is surprised to
see, surprised to see a creature like this having roamed on this heavenly plane. So it
is true… darkness still roams in the world, other then myself.

Ira strips the beast hide and crafts it into leather armor for herself. She has
the purple crystals fashioned into jewelry, rings, bracelets, and she she wares three
around her neck on a chain necklace.

Ira feels amazingly powerful in the new armor. The crystals are actually the
crystalized souls of beings that couldn’t let go of intense past life hatred. The
intense hatred that emanates from them, and the dark energy that comes from the
armor, it works to thoroughly suppress Lyra’s spirit and strengthen her dark aura.
Ira realizes for the last three months she has felt a sense of terror. Why should she
the dark lord feel afraid of anything. Yet now she feels her sense of control and
power regained. It is a comfortable feeling.

38
 She couldn’t have pulled this off in her first days here. Back then she needed
to rest, she didn’t know where to look, she needed to gain the trust of others, to
have their numbers and resources. Now she could dawn the dark armor, and make
challenging demands of others, without them questioning her. They loved and
adored their profit Ira.

Ira was taking to Veldona for a while that evening in the comfort of Ira’s
small plaice. In a way she felt even closer to Veldona then she had Tristious, they
had developed a friendship over the last months.

Veldona approached Ira suddenly and gave her a kiss.

Ira hadn’t realized Veldona’s sexuality. She received the kiss, then she pulled
away taking a few steps back.

“That was … too assuming of me.” Veldona said.

“No, you haven’t crossed any lines.” Ira said. “I have strong respect for
you.”

Strong respect? What exactly did that mean. Veldona thought. Ira was sweet,
yet why did Veldona feel like she was giving her a “No.”
Yet at the same time, there was longing in Ira’s eyes. Significant longing that
didn’t match with what she was saying at all.

“I’m sorry I can’t be physical with anyone.” Ira said. “Because …” “You
must promise not to share this with others….”

“I swear it on my life. It will not leave this room.” Veldona says, realizing
that Ira is letting her in, on something key.

“The truth… I trust you with this information. … You see, in my past life… i
was in an intense series of battles. And in the final battle, a powerful demon
attached itself to me.” Ira rewrote the past in the way that was most convenient for
her plan, mixing in elements of truth, essentially telling the story inside out.
“A demon is bound to my soul. A dark entity. I have been keeping it at bay
all this time…” Ira elaborates. “However I have a weakness. The Demon draws on
physical lust, it gains power through the pleasure of physical intimacy. The last
time I had sex the demon took me over completely, and I was lucky to have come
back at all. Even extensive physical touch can be enough to give it power.”

39
 Veldona feels deep sadness and compassion for Ira. Ira has been keeping this
secret all to herself all this time.

“I want to be hear for you.” Veldona said. “I am deeply honored that you
have trusted me with this information. It is my secret to the grave. I understand
why it is important that you show only your strongest self to the world. And hurts
me that you have had to bear this all on your own.”

Ira nods.

“I hope that in telling me, it has brought you some ease. I hope that I can
continue to be here for you, that I can be someone to confide in weather you are
feeling strong or weak.” Veldona says.

“You can.” Ira replies. “And thank you.”

Veldona is honored by this new closeness to Ira, after at first fearing the kiss
was a mistake and then realizing that crossing into this new closeness had not been
in vain.

Weeks and months passed.

Ira and Veldona shared many long conversations. Ira told veldona of the
many mysteries of the world, of the ancient beings from the old world. Veldona
listened and took care of Ira, shared her own memories. Yet Veldona could be tight
lipped when it came to her past lives. She told Ira about the 56 years she had lived
as a cripple in a wheelchair. She was too embarrassed to tell Ira that in another life
she had been morbidly obese. Ira was impressed by all Veldona had been through.
It would seem this was the true shape of Veldona’s soul, it was said that in this
world souls appeared as their ‘true shape’. And Veldona's shape was breathtaking.
Ira was after all, still Armas, she had two sexualities, she was bisexual.

Veldona was taller then Ira, she had dark and experienced eyes, it intimated
Ira, yet it also impressed her.

Veldona was intuitive and she read into things about Ira that no one else saw.
She noticed that objects emitting strong light energy seemed to bring Ira pain, she
went through Ira’s gifts before they arrived in Ira’s hands and sorted out the ones
she knew Ira wouldn’t like.

40
 Ira was impressed by Veldona’s amazing ability to intuit her needs, and
equally by the way she didn’t seem to question them. Veldona must suspect
something of the truth… that I am a dark being.

Veldona noticed there were more than a few strange things about Ira.
Veldona’s devotion was more intense then Tristious’s had been, and at the same
time she made no demands for or attempts at sex or frequent touching. Veldona
would sit very close to Ira for long periods of time, sometimes they didn’t even
look at each other, yet they were always near.

“Is this ok?” Veldona asked, wondering if she was getting too close. “Yes.”
Ira said. Ira was more than impressed, how could someone show such devotion to
her, yet at the same time she must be able to feel it, the evil in my soul.

Veldona noticed Ira had a lot of bizarre quarks. The way she needed to whip
herself each night. The way she would lurk under shadows, cocoon herself in
blankets like a caterpillar for hours on end, she seemed like a tortured sprit. Yet it
strangely made Veldona attracted. She wanted to know what was going on. Yet it
hurt to see Ira hurting so much.
Veldona figured Ira would tell her when she was ready. She would tell her
more about the dark spirit.

Sometimes the people would bring Ira cursed items asking her to evict the
evil from them, Ira would say “I”m going to destroy it,” or “Yes, I can evict the
evil” yet instead she kept the dark items for herself, keeping them in a secret
drawer in her bed room where she treasured them at night.

“The demon that haunts you…” Veldona says. “Is their anything we can do.
Is there a way to cure it?”

“I … fear not.” Ira said. “The demon is bound to me with magic far beyond
anything in this world. Yet I believe i can suppress it. The energy in the crystals
you brought me has help me.” She took Veldona's hand as they sat next to each
other on the long two person cushion.

The others had no idea that the crystals contained dark magic.

It did hurt Veldona not being able to be physically intimate with Ira, who she
was intensely in love with. Yet she was used to much harder experiences from her
past life. Veldona often seemed a bit jaded from having to hold back her feelings,

41
yet she was more then happy to be in Iras life, she didn’t even consider leaving.
There was something deep about this relationship, abut Ira, even in spite of her
being an overwhelmingly strange and distant person underneath this other ‘holy
profit’ figure the pretend to be.

Veldona could feel Ira’s soul calling her. It was powerful… Why did Ira
fight her feelings for her? It didn’t always make sense. Sometimes Ira would snap
at her just for looking at her too long. “Im sorry but we can’t look at each other for
a while.” Ira would say some times. She kept creating strange boundaries. She said
it was “because of the demon.” …Yet it didn’t all add up. …… how could a
demon, a spirit of darkness … feed on love?
There could be no denying that what Veldona felt for Ira was pure love, and
she was convinced Ira felt it too.

The light would was blossoming with passion. When Ira walked the village
everywhere she could see villagers, couples holding hands, kissing, just being there
for each other, having fun. Ira began to feel so… jealous.
Finally unable to take it Ira went back to her palace/tent. Ira snuck in
through a back door. She saw Veldona sitting in one of the main rooms reading a
book. She suck up behind Veldona and caught her in an embrace. She kissed
Veldona many times on the cheek and neck. “This is just… for now.” Ira
whispered.

Veldona’s heart fluttered. At first she was startled. But she recognized Ira by
her voice, even the shape of her hands and arms, Veldona was obsessed with Ira.
Veldona was so overjoyed, ‘she really does love me’ she realized. Sometimes she
wasn’t quite sure. Veldona realized Ira was sobbing all over her shirt. ‘She really
does love me. This has been so hard for her, even harder then it is for me.’ Veldona
was so happy, yet somehow she knew not to kiss Ira back… Ira trusts me so
deeply, yet I know she has been clear about the demon that lurks inside her. I will
protect Ira.

‘I can’t show Veldona my love through physical contact’ Ira thought, but
maybe there is another way. Ira went to the village forge, and she crafted a ring of
silver and gold, she got into a creative trance for several hours. The next day the
ring cooled. It was a masterpiece. How strange, Ira thought, I’ve never held such a
passion for the creative arts.

Ira presented the ring to Veldona.

42
 “A gift, to show your value to me.” Ira said, conservative as always with her
words.

Veldona took the ring, dumbstruck. For several seconds she was speechless.
“I will treasure it with my life.” She said honestly.

Ira truly loves me, Veldona realized, and she was so happy.

Covenant of Light

Ira beings training warriors and making weapons. Into her daily community
meetings she beings waving in information about how their a dangers in the world
and the villagers must be prepared. Posters are put up, their is a recruiting for those
who want the honor of joining the ‘covenant of light’.

Hunting a God

“The time has come” Ira announced to the village. “We must journey to the
forest in the east. There is a spiritual power their, we shall retrieve it and use it to
spread good to the world. Now is a time to be bold, now is a time to be brave, there
may be dangers that await us out in the world beyond, yet adventure calls us.”

Veldona nods and the villagers celebrate.

Ira takes a moderately sized group of her best fighters hunters and travelers
(a few guards and disciples) and sets out to the east, Veldona among them. Ira sets
out after the God core.

After traveling 500 miles they finally arrive at the great mythical forest. Tall
closely packed trees surround them. The soil is rich and fertile. The forest is dense
with a wide variety of colorful exotic creatures.

I suspect the God core could be hidden here. Ira thinks. The God core has no
physical size so it could be hidden in the smallest thing, yet it would give off a
strong light energy. It is obvious that this forest has a powerful aura, a magical
atmosphere, it could defiantly be the effect off the God core. Ira contemplates, her
expression serious. This is what everything has been for, preparation for this. She

43
must be swift, capture the core, and return to her thrown as God. The power to
unmake this light world now before it grows any stronger.

Ira feels afraid to enter the forest, there is a powerful light energy that
emanates from the forest, Ira is afraid it could erase her dark magic, and dislodge
her soul from Lyra. Yet she has no time to wait. She enters the forest, and finds that
the dark armor and crystals, their power continues to protect her, it keeps the light
at bay. The light reaching her face and hands puts her at ease, it makes her a bit
dazed out, yet it only faintly diminishes her dark soul magic.

Ira navigates deeper into the forest. Following the trail of light magic, going
to where the magic seems to increase. The stronger the light gets, the more fairies
in the sky, the greater the number of glowing souls free floating in the air. Many
souls without bodies have gathered here. They are people who are not sure they are
ready to be reincarnated.

Ira realizes she is falling behind. She is growing tired for some reason. Her
knights are getting out ahead of her. It’s the light magic, brining her dark soul into
this sacred place, is like dragging a rock through the mud.

“I’m feeling ill” She says.

She has one of her knights carry her. While she and Veldona continue to
direct the party towards the increasing light and vividness of life and color.
‘I wish I was the one to hold Ira’ Veldona thought enviously. I may not have
her body… Veldona thought… as she began to play with the silver and gold ring
on her finger, but I have something more important… I have her heart and soul.

Soon the party finds they are trudging through three or four feet of water.
The trees are growing from a shallow lake. They press forward. Vines grow from
the earth and tangle themselves around the legs of some of Ira’s knights, as if the
forest is distrusting them, sensing a hostile intent. They break the vines and press
onwards.

Finally Ira sees a glimpse of something golden through the trees. Ira had
been saving her strength but she leaps to her feet with sudden motivation, her
target now in sight. That has to be it, the God core.

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 So Lyra hid the God core in a living being. It makes sense. A creature like an
animal would be innocent, the complex mind of a human would have be too
dangerous a place for it’s power, Lyra must have thought.

They chase the golden creature, Ira now leading the way. In her hand Ira
carries a bow and several arrows on her back. They are special arrows. The arrows
are caved from the bones of the dark buffalo that was slain from the lands in the
south. She crafted them specifically for this purpose. We are going to slay a divine
beast.

Ira glimpses the creature again, she sees that it is a golden fox. It is as big as
an average fox, yet is has golden radiant fur. It moves quickly. Sometimes it looks
almost like it is just a shimmer of light. It’s eyes are like rainbow crystal.

“Let me slay the beast.” One of her top bodyguards says in a carful whisper.
He is eager to prove himself, she appreciates his enthusiasm, yet this is far beyond
his skill.

Ira knows she has to do the deed herself. No one else here has the precise
skill she has, the skill with combat and the desire to kill.

“I’m sorry Tobin, you must leave this to me.” Ira says.

“Yes my lady.” He backs off with a short bow.

Ira gets down on one knee and pulls back and releases the arrow, it fires at
the fox with deadly speed. Ira is in the body of an ordinary woman, yet the ancient
spirit of Armas/Ira seems to summon the highest potential out of ordinary body,
she fires with deadly accuracy.

Yet the creature still gets away, just by a hair, the fox leaps through the air so
fast, it moves ten feet in one second. It moves like a shimmer of light. Yet now Ira
is getting a sense of its speed and movement pattern. Also the creature is innocent,
it doesn’t realize it’s life is in danger. Ira firers another arrow. This time she pierces
it directly through the heart.

“Yes!” She cheers inwardly. She hadn’t actually been sure weather she
would succeed.

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 Yet somehow the creature springs back to its feet and begins moving again,
with the arrow still in its heart.

Ira notices right away, and she fires another arrow, this time the arrow
pierces directly through the foxes brain, through the side of it’s head. The creature
falls over again into the grass.

Yet the fox gets to it’s feet again. Ira fires a forth arrow. This arrow pierces
the creatures heart along with the first. The golden fox collapse to the ground. This
time it does not move or stir. It is dead, dying, yet it still radiates a powerful light.

“That it!” Ira cheers with a wicked grin. I have to hurry and capture the God
core before the creature dies. Ira realizes.
She runs forwards without thought or hesitation. She reaches for the golden
fox. As soon as she grabs it she feels pain shooting through her, like she has
touched fire. An electrical storm erupts around the creature, bolts of electricity fire
every which way, and Ira is sent flying backwards 15 feet through the air. She
lands against a tree and slides down into the grass.

She is dazed and hurt, her knights run up to her. Slowly she gets back to her
feet.
“Are you alight your eminence?” her bodyguard says.
“I’m … alright.” She says. All she can think about is how annoyed she is.
The God core rejected her. I have Lyra’s body, Lyra has high compatibility with the
core, yet the creature felt my soul inside of Lyra, and it rejected me, the core itself
rejected me.

“Your hair…” Veldona says.

Ira looks at her hair. Her brown hair now has streaks of white running
through it. It must be from the shock. Like oil on water, there was an intense
electrical reaction when my dark aura came in contact with the spirt of light. I
thought my dark soul would be masked by Lyra’s body, yet the creature was
smarter then I thought.

Ira looks back at the golden fox. The light quickly fades away. Now it is just
the body of an ordinary brown fox lying their with her three arrows sticking out of
it.

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 Ira is horrified. The God core has evaporated into the air. It could be
anywhere now. It probably wont return here. It could travel miles in seconds. A
soulful energy with no limits or laws. It would probably attach itself to some other
worthy vesicle. Yet it would be impossible to find now. She couldn’t think about
that.

I should have erected a dark barrier to prevent the light essence from
escaping, yet that would have taken time through this ordinary body, and I was in a
hurry to claim it, i didn’t know it would resist me so harshly.

I’m confused and disoriented by the light energy in this forest, i’m not
thinking to my fullest potential. I am unfamiliar with being in this weak ordinary
body. And more… Ira feels distracted, her plotting isn’t as on point, i’ve become
soft, she thinks, all my time with Tristious and Veldona, has made me more a lover
then an evil dark conquerer. My mind is becoming full with thoughts of Veldona
and i’m not really focusing on my mission, what is wrong with me! Ira criticizes
herself. It’s good to love someone, yet it’s more than that, i’m becoming a soft
person, at least softer then a was before. the old me would have thought over the
plan again and again, i would have thought of every possibility in advanced.
I’ve killed Gods before… I’ve become overconfident.

Ira is distraught. She pounds her fists on the ground and lets out a loud
passionate irritated groan, a shrill shriek. She pounds her fists more, then she
becomes still, on her knees, her body stretched out, her head down and her fists
still clenched in anger on the grass.

Veldona watches her love. The way Ira killed that fox of light, it was almost
evil. it was an innocent, yet still just an animal. And besides, it actually excited
Veldona, seeing Ira in action, her reflexes had been so fast. Everything Ira did was
so skillful and intense, it pulled on Veldona's heart, made her adore her more.
Veldona sensed Ira had an overwhelmingly dark past, because she Veldona had too.
She could forgive and even find excitement in Ira’s dark traits. Veldona also got
thrill from the hunt, thrill from battle and testing herself. Both she and Ira were not
soft people. They were people who craved challenge.

And now, watching Ira shrieking on the ground, even in her anger Ira was
beautiful, she expressed her emotions so freely at least when it came to the darker
ones, she was so intense and passionate, maybe not in bed, but in her general
personality. Veldona had never seen Ira so angry. It showed the strength of her
passion. Veldona’s heart hurt for Ira, and was also attracted by Ira’s passionate

47
whale. Veldona had an impulse to pounce on Ira, to attack her with love, to kiss her
profusely. Then she felt afraid, ‘how could I think about that’ Veldona thought. Ira
had been clear many times about how physical contact awakened the demon inside
her. Ira trusts me precisely because she knows I won’t do that. I want to be worthy
of that trust, I hate to think that I might be less capable then she thinks I am…
when I know that I am more. I will continue to find other ways to demonstrate my
love. I will never betray her. I will show her how far my love goes.

As Veldona watches Ira she thinks, I just wish I could tell her that she
doesn’t need to change the whole entire world. …I feel like Ira has no idea how
beautiful she actually is, she can’t seem to see her own power, the power that is
already inside. …That fox is nothing… to me… Ira is a God.

It just hurts feeling like I can do nothing for her in this moment. Veldona
thinks.

Ira regroups her thoughts. I’ve just lost a massive amount of potential energy
for my plan.

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