Chapter 10

Aria only took a few steps through the portal before a wave of bliss hit her like a tsunami. She felt her mind get washed away as bliss overwhelmed every other emotion or sensation. This must be what nirvana felt like. No motion or action, just an unmoving and unchanging never-ending state of bliss. She knew deep down that countless souls were depending on her to succeed, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about anything but the overwhelming waves of blissful euphoria scouring her soul.

Memories began flooding her consciousness as the intoxicating ecstasy filled her core. The memories washed around in the ocean of bliss like familiar acquaintances she had almost forgotten. She studied them curiously in a disassociated state. They almost felt like separate entities as they floated and bobbed around her consciousness. There was the beginning, where her and Clarice and Calypso had found each other in the garden. Except that it wasn’t a beginning, because they had always been there. Her mortal mind railed against the incongruity. The three of them had spent eons in that garden, untouched by the bliss because they had never felt its lack. Then the other Seraphim had appeared, as if waking from a dream. They were younger, in a way, their spirits less developed. They had no concept of time, no concept of day or night. Everything just was.

The tree in the center of the garden was the only thing that indicated the passage of time, growing larger as the ages passed by unnoticed. It eventually revealed an entryway that led deep inside of the tree. She remembered discovering the opening with Aria and Calypso and rushing inside to see what wonders awaited them. And wonderous it had been. They could feel the stream of information flowing within the tree like a powerful river. Endless streams of data that was completely incomprehensible. They had spent most of their time within the tree from that point on, trying to understand the cryptographic puzzle in the endless flow of information saturating the room within the tree. Slowly, over more time than her mortal mind could comprehend, the data began to make sense as their immortal minds cataloged and deciphered the flood of information. Concepts began to take shape and ideas form. The idea for the light realms was birthed as they reached a new level of comprehension.

The other Seraphim eventually discovered the opening and joined them. They were much slower to comprehend the information dump, puzzling over the cryptography while Aria, Calypso, and Clarice began work on the light realms. Lucifer was the first of the new souls to comprehend the complex nature of data within the tree. He joined them in their reality building project. As they were completing the first light realm, the source realm, Grodek joined them. He had been amazed at what they had constructed, reveling in the creative potential throughout the realm.

The five of them built two additional levels to the light realms before the remaining Seraphim began to comprehend the mind of God. They joined in the creation of the angel race, populating the different realms with different classes of angels.

Time passed unnoticed as they returned to the tree and continued observing the nature of the endless stream of data within. When next they visited the light realms, the angels were in crisis. They had invented boredom and began to long for the oblivion from where they had come. Aria, Calypso, and Clarice returned to the tree to seek answers, while the other Seraphim created the Cherubim class, who were capable of ending the lives of other angels. Their decision to make the Cherubim class led to the first fracture in their relationship. The three eldest were opposed to ending life, seeking an alternative to the conundrum by consulting the entity they had begun to refer to as GoD, the Generator of Data. Eons passed as they immersed themselves in the endless data. The concept of time was the genesis of their plans for a mortal realm, where all matter existed in a finite state. A place where the souls of angels could be ported into mortal bodies without access to their memories or have any concept of the light realms.

Four of the Seraphim were unhappy with the concept of a mortal realm. Faced with the concept of beginnings and endings, they felt fear for the first time in their existence. They were gripped by a powerful sense of claustrophobia as the idea of a finite reality pressing in around them distressed their immortal minds. Aria and her companions assured the four Seraphim that they would not have to experience mortality. It would be a place for the disconsolate angels who had grown bored with their lives in the light realms.

The four Seraphim took refuge in the source realm, despising the lower density light realms. When Calypso created the divine instruments for constructing the mortal realm, the four Seraphim knew true fear as they beheld the power of the instruments to rewrite reality. They became withdrawn, remaining secluded in the source realm. When Aria, Calypso, and Clarice experienced mortality for the first time, everything changed. Their spirits were forever altered as they discovered new concepts. Love, pain, comfort, and loss were emotions they had never understood, even though the GoD had described them in detail. It couldn’t be explained; it had to be experienced. When they returned to the source realm, they eagerly attempted to convince the other Seraphim to experience mortality. Lucifer overcame his fear of time and went into the mortal realm. Grodek was hesitant, but curious. The other four were terrified of the idea. When Lucifer returned from mortality, he joined the three of them in trying to convince the others to not only try it themselves, but mandate that all angels be required to experience it once.

A growing faction of angels were incensed with the angels who had experienced mortality. The Ascended returned with far more creative potential than the other angels, disrupting their hierarchy. The Cherubim began to seek out the four Seraphim who were opposed to mortality and convinced them that it was only a matter of time before the other Seraphim used the divine instruments to force everyone to experience mortality. Grodek had warned them of the growing discord and possible use of the divine instruments against them. Lucifer, Aria, Clarice, and Calypso, fused their souls to the instruments, ensuring they could never be used to remove them from reality.

Aria pondered what would have happened if Grodek had not warned them. He had suggested that they remove the other four Seraphim preemptively, rather than wait for them to attack. Aria and her companions had underestimated the actions of desperate people, unwilling to believe that the four Seraphim would actually try to unmake them.

As the memories flooded the waters of consciousness around her, she slowly regained awareness of the world around her. Calypso was watching her patiently, a look of sublime joy on her face. Clarice was blinking slowly as she finally surfaced as well. Lexi and Mandy were still deep in the currents of euphoria, their eyes glossy as they were flooded with the ultra-dense light.

“How long do you think it’s been?” Aria asked, her voice layered with authority.

“Several weeks,” Calypso answered in a voice just as full of power and authority.

The return of their memories had altered them dramatically. Aria could feel the strength of Calypso’s aura, exponentially stronger than it had been before. The same was true for Clarice. They were like compact supernovas as the full weight of their authority was finally restored. Calypso’s eyes were no longer weighed down by grief. She stared back at Aria with eyes full of love and trust.

With a wide grin, Aria stepped forward and pulled Calypso into a tight embrace. It felt like being reunited with a lover after years of separation. Now that her memories were back, she felt a renewed sense of love and adoration for her oldest friends. “It’s so good to be back!”

Calypso’s grip on her tightened in unspoken agreement. Clarice cleared her throat meaningfully as she finally finished awakening. Aria and Calypso laughed, pulling her into their arms.

“You know, there have to be nine Seraphim,” Clarice told them as she stared into their eyes. “The cosmos will not allow us to reduce our numbers.”

“So that’s what you were talking about!” Aria laughed delightedly. “Telling Lexi that she would get her chance to observe the divine instruments being played.”

“Yep,” Clarice grinned mischievously, clearly retaining her mortal personality. “I didn’t want to tell her ahead of time.”

“You mean to change who the Seraphim are, not how many there are,” Calypso smiled as she stared into Clarice’s eyes. “In hindsight, we should have found replacements for them a long time ago. I guess we needed the perspective of mortality to finally realize it.”

“You were thinking of Mandy as well, weren’t you?” Aria guessed with a pleased grin.

“We can hardly raise Lexi to a Seraph while leaving Mandy as a Cherub,” Clarice responded dryly. “Too much of a power imbalance in that kind of a relationship.”

“Who else were you thinking of raising?” Calypso asked, though her eyes made it clear she already knew.

“Our parents, of course,” Clarice smiled brilliantly, flooding Aria with sudden desire.

“Smile like that more,” Aria breathed, her lips curling up at the corners. “It is freaking hot.”

Clarice stared into her eyes with a deep and passionate love. There was so much emotion in her dark brown eyes that it should have solidified around them. “It’s been a long time getting here, hasn’t it?”

“What is time to immortals?” Aria asked with an impish grin.

“It’s everything,” Clarice replied gravely. “Time is what made this love I feel for you possible. Time is the true key to love and joy.”

There was a blissful moan from Lexi as she began to stir. Aria reluctantly stepped back from Clarice and Calypso to observe Lexi. The powerful light density would be affecting her Cherub form more than it affected the Seraphim.

“How are you doing, Lexi?” Clarice asked with a teasing smile. “Have you found your way back to shore yet?”

“Just one more minute,” Lexi murmured, her face filled with ecstasy.

Mandy suddenly blinked from where she stood next to Lexi, her face losing some of its euphoric bliss. “Wow, I’m not sure I ever want to leave this place.”

Clarice laughed as she observed Mandy fondly. “Yeah, this place is pretty special. I’m guessing you didn’t have any soul memories return while you were acclimating.”

“No, nothing,” Mandy shook her head, her eyes full of wonder. “Should I have?”

“We haven’t created any new Cherubim since their original creation,” Clarice answered, watching her appraisingly. “You were created from a template of a person in this reality when you were replaced in the false reality. You would have been a new spirit, so there wouldn’t be any soul memory of the person who you were copied from. It was just your character traits and personality.”

“So, I’m the new kid on the block, eh?” Mandy asked with an excited grin. “I’m the new generation. New and improved.”

Aria and the others laughed at her antics, watching her with eager eyes. She was going to be one of them soon, after all.

Mandy looked at them and gasped, her eyes going wide.

“What is it?” Aria asked in concern.

“Your eyes,” Mandy exclaimed in amazement as she stared into their eyes. “They’re like Calypso’s eyes now. They’re all violet and swirly.”

Aria looked at Clarice, but of course she only saw the transposed image of her inner soul. Clarice raised her eyebrows in realization as she looked at Aria.

“Oh yeah, they were golden before,” Clarice commented with a short laugh. “I was so caught up in our memories of old that you just looked like I remembered before.”

Lexi finally started surfacing from her trance. As she finally became fully alert, she stared at Aria and the Seraphim with wide eyes full of wonder. “Seraphim, it’s an honor.”

“Oh no you didn’t just say that!” Clarice declared dangerously, rushing over and pulling her into a tight embrace. “We are not your Seraphim, Lexi. We are your friends.”

Lexi gasped as she felt the full force of a fully awakened Seraph’s aura wash over her. She shivered in ecstasy as the power flooded her system, more powerful than the dense light field.

“I don’t care how many memories you retrieved from your soul,” Clarice murmured into her ear as she embraced her. “You will focus on the memories of the last four months and remember us as your friends, not your Seraphim.”

Lexi nodded as she clung to Clarice, her immortal body overwhelmed by the powerful Seraph aura. Clarice pulled her aura in and released Lexi. She stepped back a pace and stared into her eyes sternly. “What’s my name?”

Lexi flushed and a smile flickered across her face. “Clarice.”

“That’s right,” Clarice nodded firmly. “Not Seraph.”

Lexi nodded bashfully, a smile gracing her face.

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“What was all that about?” Mandy asked in a puzzled voice.

“Her soul memory reawakened,” Calypso explained with a faint smile. “The angels revered us like gods. A few of the Seraphim were big on authority and made a point of lording over the other angels that we were the ones who created them.”

“Which is ironic, considering Rendimus wasn’t involved in the creation of the light realms at all,” Clarice commented dryly. “That was just the three of us, with some help from Lucifer later on. The others participated in the creation of the angel races, but that was after all of the groundwork had already been laid out by us. He always was a pretentious asshole.”

“A lot of our problems would never have arisen if we had spent more time interacting with the angel races,” Aria sighed regretfully. “We were more interested in learning what God had to offer and creating things. Once they were created, we tended to leave them to their own devices. After experiencing mortality, that all changed. We got a lot more involved.”

“Did all of your memories return?” Mandy asked hopefully.

“Just about,” Aria nodded, smiling at Mandy affectionately. “I have to say again how happy I am that you came back to this reality with me. It would have been so much darker without your light.”

Mandy flushed with pleasure at the praise and Lexi pulled her into a warm embrace.

“Words could never express how happy I am that you brought her back,” Lexi declared, bending her head forward and kissing Mandy tenderly.

There was a brilliant flash as Mandy exploded through several evolutionary phases. Her golden eyes stared back at them in amazement as she grinned at Lexi. “That was one helluva kiss, Lexi!”

Lexi burst out laughing, then dipped her head forward for another kiss. When she pulled back, her eyes were full of contentment and happiness. “Having all of my memories back makes this so much more amazing. I never would have imagined just how powerful my emotions could be for another person.”

“We totally understand that sentiment,” Clarice assured her as she gazed at Aria and Calypso with her heart in her eyes.

“Did any of your old memories give you an idea of how to reroute power from this realm?” Mandy asked curiously. Her eyes were still glowing with pleasure as the dense light field saturated her meridians.”

“Yep,” Aria nodded with a confident grin. “It’s actually a fairly simple process, now that our memories are back. I would imagine that as soon as we remove light from the source realm, those jackasses will try to retreat to the garden. We’ll need to make sure it is inaccessible to them.”

Lexi’s eyes were wide as she stared at Aria with barely concealed eagerness. “The garden where god resides? Aren’t Seraphim the only ones who can go in there?”

“No, it should be accessible for anyone who can survive the source realm,” Aria replied with a frown. “Is this another falsehood the other Seraphim told the Cherubim?”

“Yeah,” Lexi nodded with a wry smile. “Rendimus claimed that only Seraphim could enter the garden or speak to god.”

“Sounds just like the religious priests on Earth,” Clarice noted sourly. “You don’t speak to god at all. You just observe the information flow and try to learn from it. We really were oblivious, weren’t we?”

“I’m glad I wasn’t the only one,” Calypso commented with a laugh. “I was happy being oblivious as an angel on Earth, but it sounds like it was the same way up here. We just didn’t interact with the other angels enough. I wonder what other nonsense Rendimus and his cronies have told the angels that has been twisted, since apparently, he has taken credit for the light realms that we created.”

“He claims to be the oldest of the Seraphim and said that he created the rest of you to help him manage the light realm,” Lexi informed her, a question in her tone.

Aria shared a look with Calypso and Clarice and then burst out laughing. Shaking her head ruefully Aria looked back at Lexi with amusement in her eyes.

“Calypso, Clarice and I were alone in the garden for long time before any of the others appeared with us,” Aria informed her with another shake of her head. “Probably millions or even billions of years before they appeared. Time had no meaning at that point. The three of us watched the tree where god resided grow from a sapling to the size of the Tree of Life. We eventually discovered an entrance to the tree and went inside, where we discovered god. GoD just stands for Generator of Data. It’s an endless stream of information that took countless years for us to comprehend and decode into something comprehensible. Jason would be gloating right now, since it is essentially encoded data like you would see in a computer system, but far more advanced than anything on Earth. The reason only Seraphim interact with the GoD is because we are the only ones who have spent long enough studying it to understand and decrypt the data. If you spent long enough studying it, you would be just as capable as us at understanding the GoD.”

“What would happen if the other Seraphim created more divine instruments?” Lexi asked with a worried frown. “I guess I’m curious why they haven’t already.”

“There is only one person with enough knowledge to create divine instruments,” Clarice responded with a wink at Calypso. “She’s right over there. While Aria and I were figuring out how to make planets spin and suns glow, Calypso was studying how to affect reality on a grand scale by creating tools that would allow the mind to link up through the GoD and transform reality into what you wanted it to be. She created four instruments as a safeguard to prevent a single person from causing trouble. The four people have to be in sync in their view on reality in order for the instruments to work.”

“Okay, I have kind of a radical idea,” Mandy told them with an excited sparkle in her golden eyes. “And maybe this is just my ignorance speaking, but why are we bothering to find the other pieces of the instruments if Calypso can just make new ones?”

Aria shared a dumbfounded look with Clarice and Calypso at Mandy’s words. They continued staring at each other mutely until Mandy cleared her throat.

“So, was it a stupid idea, or what?” Mandy asked anxiously.

“Mandy, did I ever mention how glad I am that you came back with me?” Aria asked her with a dreamy smile. “You are a genius!”

“Really?” Mandy asked, her eyes wide with excitement. “So, it was a good idea?”

“The best freaking idea ever,” Clarice told her with an exuberant grin, then pulled her into a hug. “You really are a freaking genius! I don’t know why this didn’t occur to us before.”

“Probably because you just barely got your memories back,” Mandy noted with a pleased smile. “So how long does it take to make a divine instrument?”

“It took a few million years the first time,” Calypso answered wryly. “But that’s because I was trying to figure out how to do it. We still need the last piece of Clarice’s instrument though, because it has a piece of her soul attached to it.”

“Oh yeah,” Mandy’s face fell. “I’m sorry, Clarice, I forgot about that.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t create another instrument to rewrite reality,” Calypso pointed out reassuringly. “We just need to rewrite it to where we get Clarice’s soul back. In fact, if I could just take what you currently have of your divine instrument, Clarice, I could probably complete it pretty quickly. Then we would just need one more instrument. With three instruments, we would have no trouble dropping the flow of light from the source realm. We could also move the garden somewhere else so that those morons don’t have anywhere to run.”

“Okay,” Clarice nodded nervously as she pulled her violin out of her soul space and offered it to Calypso. Aria felt love swell up in the bond from Calypso at Clarice’s willingness to hand part of her soul over to her. Aria prepared for the powerful sensations she knew were about to come through the bond when Calypso touched her soul.

Being prepared didn’t really help. As Calypso gently took the violin from Clarice, she felt Clarice’s soul open up on full display, completely vulnerable and helpless in Calypso’s hands. There was no embarrassment this time, however. Clarice had so much faith and trust in them that even with her soul in their hands, her emotions remained steady. The essence of pure love and innocence pulsed through the bond, as well as the part of Clarice’s inner soul that had been linked to Aria.

Calypso closed her eyes and hugged the violin to herself as golden tears ran down her cheeks. “Oh Clarice,” Calypso whispered in awe. “You really are so beautiful.”

Clarice smiled tremulously at Calypso, all of her walls down and vaults open. Calypso could now see what Aria saw all of the time through her link to Clarice’s soul. There was so much purity and distilled love that it was difficult to comprehend how it could fit into one soul. A soul that wasn’t even whole.

Calypso took a deep breath, then began to work. Her aura encapsulated the violin and began to repair threads of light and spiritual lattice where they had broken away. She hummed as she worked, filling the air with a haunting beauty as her notes caressed their souls. Clarice shivered as the notes resonated with the violin she was soul-bound to. Aria could feel the sensations through her inner link. It was like the ultimate massage, but for a soul. Clarice closed her eyes as golden tears formed and trickled down her cheeks. Mandy looked concerned, but when she saw the others smiling at Clarice, she realized they weren’t tears of distress.

Calypso worked for several hours. Time seemed to melt away as the high-density light field charged their immortal bodies with positive energy. There was a moment of silence when Calypso finished, as if reality itself had paused to observe her work.

Calypso handed the violin back to Clarice with an air of reverence, gazing at Clarice with adoration in her eyes. Aria could fully understand her behavior, having a permanent window to Clarice’s inner soul. She would never grow accustomed to being able to stare in wonder at Clarice’s refined and perfected essence.

Clarice took the violin back with a radiant smile, sending butterflies through Aria’s core.

“Okay, let’s evict some Seraphim,” Clarice declared with an impish grin.

Aria and Calypso laughed merrily and pulled out their divine instruments. Mandy and Lexi watched them regretfully as they prepared to make a gateway.

“You two stay,” Calypso told them firmly, a twinkle in her eyes. “We have enough instruments to make a pretty radical change with reality now. There is something we’ll need you here for.”

Mandy and Lexi shared a curious glance before nodding hesitantly, their eyes full of trust.

Calypso unfurled her aura, letting it blast out at full strength. Aria and Clarice did the same. Mandy and Lexi gasped as they felt the full force of the Seraphim aura.

Calypso connected her mind to Aria and Clarice and then began to play. Their linked minds became one purpose as Aria and Clarice began to play their own instruments, harmonizing in a celestial melody that shook reality to its core. Mandy and Lexi cried out in shock as they felt their meridians metamorphize into something far more powerful. There was an echo of a distant cry of terror as reality rearranged the classes of two Seraphim with two Cherubim.

As the three Seraphim continued playing, there was a flash of brilliant light far off in the distance. A moment later, they were surrounded by an enormous garden and a tree the size of a mountain. The notes continued their instructions, cutting off the flow of light from the light realms and stoppering it inside the enormous tree. The psychic web that blanketed the realm was no longer hidden by the density of the light. There was a sense of pandemonium and panic as the inhabitants of the source realm were cut off from the light field. As the last notes faded, there was a change in the psychic weight in the realm as dozens of Cherubim and two Seraphim fled to other realms in search of a light field that no longer existed.

“I’d call that a smashing success,” Clarice congratulated them with a broad grin. “Welcome to Seraphimhood, Lexi and Mandy.”

Lexi and Mandy stood in stunned amazement. Their eyes were swirling violet galaxies now as well. The looked into each other's eyes with wondering gazes. Mandy smiled, revealing her dimples. Lexi’s face flushed, and she leaned forward and kissed her passionately.

“Yep, definitely feeling it stronger, now that she’s a Seraph,” Clarice noted as her cheeks turned red.

“Uh hu,” Aria and Calypso agreed, their own cheeks flushing with desire.

“Get a room,” Clarice called out after a minute of watching the two new Seraphim passionately kissing each other. “On second thought, maybe just put on a show for us.”

Aria facepalmed and shook her head. Still the same old Clarice. Well, same new Clarice.

Lexi pulled away from Mandy with a blush at Clarice’s teasing words, shaking her head ruefully. “I used to think it was funny how you could make Calypso and Aria blush so much.” Lexi admitted with a wry smile. “I think I’m starting to understand things from their perspective now.”

“Your cheeks are so pretty when you blush,” Clarice explained with a leer. “I just like to see those rosy, red cheeks setting your face aglow.”

“Not the leer!” Lexi covered her eyes in dismay. “Clarice, that is so freaking evil. You can’t have a face that looks so innocent and pure and then leer at people.”

“The evidence would suggest otherwise,” Clarice responded with a sultry smile.

“Well, it looks like you did it,” Grodek chortled, his evil eyes dancing with glee. “You should see Rendimus face right now. He looks like he’s being jerked out of his skin.” He finally noticed Mandy and Lexi and noticed their Seraphim aura. “Oh...well that was unexpected.”

“We still have two more to switch out,” Calypso informed him with a steely glint in her eyes. “We don’t need four divine instruments to make this kind of a change. That would only have been necessary if we had tried to unmake them.”

Grodek narrowed his eyes as he heard the authority in their voices and sensed their fully ascended auras. “So, you finally got your memories back.”

“Yep,” Clarice nodded with a jaunty smile. “I think it’s time to have our fifth Seraph back. Trot out your other half and let’s get you restored.”

Grodek blinked, then narrowed his eyes. “How long have you known about that?”

“Since I got my memories back,” Clarice shrugged, looking him up and down. “I can see that you’ve only got half of your soul. I remember talking to your other iteration several times. It’s kind of hard to not notice when one of you is blue and the other red.”

There was a small popping noise as the blue imp appeared. The two of them were identical, aside from their color.

Aria pulled out her tin whistle as Clarice and Calypso pulled out their instruments. Grodek stared at the violin in surprise.

“I didn’t think you found the other piece of the violin yet,” he commented with a frown.

“Calypso repaired it,” Clarice responded as she positioned it under her chin. “She was going to just make a new one, but since this one was already almost complete, she just repaired it.”

He grunted, looking sheepish. “It hadn’t occurred to me that you could just make another one.”

“It hadn’t occurred to us either,” Clarice answered with her own sheepish laugh. “Mandy suggested it.”

Mandy grinned proudly as Grodek glanced at her. He snorted a laugh. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.”

Calypso nodded and began playing her harp. Aria and Clarice joined in as they connected their thoughts to each other. The song was short but powerful. As a Seraph, Grodek represented a powerful aspect of reality and required a significant alteration in the blueprints of reality in order to be changed.

After a few seconds of playing, the two imps blurred, then merged and elongated into the shape of an angel. Reality stabilized and his form became solid, revealing a tall Seraph with shoulder-length golden hair and swirling blue eyes. He had striking features, like all angels, but there was something about his eyes that was reminiscent of his sarcastic nature.

“Whelp, this is going to be weird,” Grodek noted in a deep voice. “I kind of like being in two places simultaneously.”

“Now you know that it’s possible,” Aria pointed out with a nod at the tree housing the GoD. “I’m sure you could replicate it in your normal form with a little bit of research in there.”

“Good idea,” Grodek nodded, appreciatively. “Though I’m going to miss playing the role of a cantankerous imp.”

“Why would you stop now?” Clarice asked dryly. “I’m certainly not giving up leering.”

Grodek snorted, shaking his head. “We’ll see. I’m going to find Rendimus. I’m not going to miss the opportunity to mock him while he’s going through hell. I want to make sure he knows he’s on borrowed time.”

“Tell him he’ll be lucky if I just decide to kill him,” Calypso declared coldly. “The amount of suffering that pretentious ass has forced onto countless angels throughout the cosmos is beyond horrifying.”

“It will be my pleasure,” Grodek laughed a sinister laugh. “I’ll get creative on what he can expect.”

Grodek vanished in mid-laugh as he teleported away.

“As abrupt as ever,” Lexi noted wryly. “I’m going to miss that little imp.”

“He does kind of grow on you, doesn’t he?” Aria commented fondly.

“Like a wart,” Clarice snorted a laugh. “I hope he doesn’t reform too much.”

“Where to now?” Aria asked them curiously. “Shall we go fetch the rest of Clarice’s soul?”

“Yes,” Clarice replied fervently. “I’m really missing it right now.”

Aria gave her a sympathetic hug. “I’m sorry you’ve been without it for so long.”

“I didn’t remember before,” Clarice responded plaintively. “Now that my memories are back it’s starting to drive me crazy.”

Calypso made a gateway back to Earth in the cabin and they went through quickly.