It was rare for John to only take one of his harettes along for a trip. Well, one of his harettes plus the elentals, who could only be a continent away as long as they stuck close to one of the teleporters. There was no such convenient ‘signal strengthener’ anywhere in Scandinavia, much less northern Norway.
All of them had sothing to do. It was absolutely possible for them to cancel what they had planned on short notice. Who was there to stop or berate them? The only thing limiting what they were able to do was their reputation. Such was, unfortunately, a strong enough force to keep them tied to their occupation for the day. Although so of them were just strictly disinterested. The only promise they had made was that tra wouldn’t ingest the materials until they were back ho. If there was a transformation, they all wanted to be present to witness and react in whatever way was appropriate.
The sa level of business that kept the majority of his harem at ho also had John leave the Mandala Sphere at ho. He had his own talks and etings to attend, many of which shouldn’t or couldn’t be postponed. Reputation was doubly important for the Gar since he was the face of Fusion. Him postponing anything would, if it happened too often, reflect poorly on his entire organization. That wasn’t fair on all individual administrators, but it was how the human mind liked to categorize groups.
There was a practical benefit to having Jack stay behind. Due to the distance, the ntal connection between John and his three Artificial Spirits was stretched to the point that not even feelings could be conveyed. All that remained was a vague awareness that they were alive. They could have tethered to Jack to alleviate that issue, but in not doing so, they retained the ability to teleport to his real body. In an ergency, the Harem Chat could be used to call them over.
‘Of course, if I thought I’d have to deal with hostilities, I would have taken everyone along from the start,’ John thought while the plane hit the landing strip, made evident by the rocking of the entire machine. The pilot was a bit of a rookie, Lydia had warned him about that much. Apparently, she thought that ant that this was a good opportunity for them to gain so practical experience. Even if John fell out of the sky, according to her logic, Sylph could just catch him.
Not like she was wrong.
John took it in stride. When asking soone else for their resources, being picky about it was bad manners. Instead, once the plane ca to a halt, he went to the cockpit and thanked the pilot for a job well done. Landing being a bit bumpy put aside, it was a pleasant enough flight.
By the ti he got out, tra had already jumped the staircase. “By Mother fucking Chaos, John, can you hurry up?”
“I’d be a happier man if you wouldn’t use her as sothing to swear on,” John confessed, as he skipped down to the pavent of the landing strip. He waved a final ti towards the cockpit before the private plane’s entrance started the chanical process of sealing back up. They would wait there for him and tra to return.
The two of them, incorporeal elentals in tow, walked towards the small airport. Bodø was a pretty small city, by John’s Arican standards, with a population around 50’000. That it even had an airport was more likely attributed to the fact that they needed one sowhere around this latitude and this just happened to be the best location around. John had no definitive idea though; he had admittedly not inford himself particularly well about Norway. All he really knew about it was that it had fjords and oil.
Whatever the reason the airport was there, it was actually perfect for Abyssal purposes. Because the airport was so small, putting a Protected Space over it was easy. Mobile Barriers could ld into it, and because it was far away from general centres of attention, any Abyssal vehicle that didn’t have a Mobile Barrier could be stored away without raising the eyebrows of any particularly zealous inspector. Either the local director got bribed or, perhaps, they were an Abyssal themselves.
“Calm down, Mat.” John almost had to shout for his voice to reach the ancient weapon. Pacing towards the concrete building before them rapidly, she only stopped to energetically tap her foot on the pavent. “If you keep being this impatient the entire ti, we’ll make a bad impression,” he told her, once he had caught up.
“Do I look like a diplomat to you?” tra asked and gestured at her barely clothed self. Sotis John envied the physiology of Artificial Spirits. Not having to sleep, eat, or bother with regular temperatures must be nice. While she could strut around in her skimpy outfit, John had to bother with the enchanted suit. The only upside of this was that he looked more impressive this way.
“No, but you look like you’ll do what I tell you to,” the Gar returned.
“Making a pretty confident statent there.”
“It’ll be worth your while.” John put an arm around his woman and they walked the rest of the way at a reasonable pace.
The outside of the building was mundane in every sense of the word. The inside, however, had been redecorated to fit with its owner. Around the walls of the main hall stood several wooden statues, carved by hand and in various stages of completion. That didn’t just refer to the level of detail between the statues as a whole, but also to segnts of the individual pieces. The face of one was almost lifelike, the finely carved features painted carefully, while the feet of the sa were just rectangular blocks that had barely been chipped at around the edges.
Each of the statues obviously represented a god of Norse mythology. John recognized the obvious ones, Thor with his hamr, Odin with his ravens, and a couple more. The floor was equally in a state of gradual improvent, flat stone engraved with decorative, knotted patterns at so stretches. Whether this spoke to an aspect of local culture or an eccentric owner, the Gar could only guess.
In the middle of the circular hall was a set of benches and in the middle of that set of benches, padded with furs, sat a woman. She wore so kind of bodysuit worthy of being in a sci-fi show, plates of tal and smooth, glowing crystals sitting tightly on her curves, connected via tightly packed wires that distantly looked like muscle fibres. The only piece of the suit that didn’t emphasize her lean hourglass figure was the large pack on her back.
If John was a betting boy, he would have guessed that her wings were folded up in there. The last valkyrie he had seen, during the Five Days War peace conference, had been similarly equipped with arcano-tech.
The woman seed to be in the middle of her twenties, which ant fairly little. John wasn’t daring enough to cast Observe on her, but the passive component at least inford him that she was in a good mood. He could have reasoned as much from the smile on her attractive face, frad by black hair.
Left and right of her stood two n in the typical bodyguard get-up. Black suits, black ties, black glasses, an all-around intimidating combination especially with their tall, muscular bodies. Level wise, they were weaker than the woman though, both of them reaching level 50 while she was a solid 134.
‘I supposed a mber of the Divided Gates would be able to just throw elites out as a welcoming committee,’ John thought as he stopped in front of the valkyrie. “John Newman of Fusion,” he introduced himself, purely to play the part of the cordial guest. “I’ve been told to et with a mber of the Ragnarok-prevention council?”
“Indeed, you were,” the woman responded, her smile unwavering. Already her voice made clear that she was not the sa woman he had been in contact with. “I am Jeska, ssenger maiden of the council.” She unfolded her legs and swiftly got to her feet. Every movent caused tiny hydraulic sounds. “A pleasure to et you,” she said and extended her hand in greeting.
John shook it and tra, after she got offered the hand next, followed suit, “tra, First of Wrath.” There was a mont of silence, the two won just looking at each other, their smiles growing wider as their handshake escalated into a test of grip strength. For so indiscernible reason, they agreed simultaneously to turn the handshake into a hug. “So they do still make won like you?”
“Please, there are no other won like ,” Jeska responded. The two patted each other on the back and then separated.
‘Do you know each other?’ John asked ntally, genuinely not sure if they had stumbled over another tracana by happenstance.
‘No, she’s just on my wavelength,’ tra responded, while her mouth ford sothing closer to a challenge. “If I wasn’t in disrepair right now, you’d need a new wrist.”
“Sha, I can think of better uses for my hand.”
“Sorry, I’m a taken woman.” tra put her arm back around her lover. “How about threesos?”
“I would be open for it when my watch ends, but as a valkyie, I’m not allowed to have sex with n during assignnts.” Jeska shrugged and sighed. “They loosened the requirents of what a maiden must be, but promiscuity on the job isn’t tolerated.”
“Unless it’s with won?” John asked.
Jeska shrugged a second ti, her smile returning this ti around. “Anyway, we have to travel quite a bit. If you would follow .”
It wasn’t intonated like a question and Jeska started walking right away. The two of them followed imdiately and the bodyguards followed them in turn. They made their way through the small, Norse-decorated airport and eventually erged in the parking lot. There, a sizable limo greeted them.
“For security reasons, I must insist that all of your elentals enter the car with you – corporeally,” the dark-haired valkyrie inford him. “The windows are solid black to prevent you from looking outside. Any attempts to find out where you are will be responded to with an imdiate end of the operation and a five-year embargo by the Sons of Odin on all dealing with Fusion or any other organization you are directly involved with.”
“I see…” John humd and beat down his paranoia while reaching into his inventory. Out ca both of his smartphones, private and work-related, and gestured for one of the bodyguards to take them. “Keep them here. Scarlett has reinforced them so much that you’d need interference on godly levels to ss with the signal.”
Jeska waved off. “Don’t worry, we have that.”
John raised an eyebrow, but put his phones back into his inventory. Paranoia and curiosity were now both engaged, wondering what she ant by that. “As you say then,” he kept his response short and they walked towards the car.
“Yay, more driving!” Sylph exclaid when she popped into existence. “I like driving. Being driven is fun! Cars are fun!”
“What the fuck makes you so hyper?” Salamander demanded to know.
“She probably associates limos with sex,” Siena suggested with an arrogant sigh. “The simpleton can associate anything with everything.”
“This is not our car to have fun in,” Undine pointed out.
“Y-yeah, listen to Undine!” Gno exclaid.
“Car!” a tiny hatchling Stirwin exclaid, sitting in Sylph’s hair.
tra shook her head, while climbing into the car. “I was told to behave diplomatically earlier and you imdiately start blabbering about fucking in other people’s property.”
“Look at the athead calling the harem horny,” Salamander shot back swiftly.
“Be nice, girls,” John said, while getting in. Of course, he was the last to enter. It had given him the opportunity to look at everyone’s butts in passing. He took the seat to the left of the entrance.
The inside of the stretch limo was as luxurious as he was used to from this type of car. A long bench wrapped around a table, with an integrated minibar and fridge sitting underneath the window that let them see their driver. It was, as had been said, the only window in the car that was transparent. Every other window was as black as the blackest night, not even John’s magically reinforced lenses could pierce it.
He did notice that there was magic involved in the blocking of his vision, however. “I can’t feel the earth outside the car,” Gno reported, once the door had shut. The other elentals mumbled similar things, many of them discomforted now that they were cut off from the greater presence of their respective natures. John’s own supernatural senses stopped at the car’s walls.
“So, they really do have a god blocking our senses?” tra asked.
Before anyone could answer, their sensations suddenly returned, along with the door of the car opening again. Jeska stuck her head in. “Sorry, before we go, the goddess in question wants to talk to you during the drive. That fine with you?”
“Sure,” John answered, too intrigued to say no. Already he knew that he would have to explain to Nathalia later why he faintly slled of another goddess. That was sothing he would deal with when it ca to it.
“Fantastic.” Jeska backed away from the door.
The isolating feeling intensified, as the source of it drew nearer.
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