A big proposal, a big decision, and some heavy suspicions!

All eyes were on me and I struggled. Deeply and strongly! Of course it sounded alluring, partially at least. Who wouldn't want to have a ‘mind-backup’ of him- or herself, just in case?

On the other hand I felt strongly opposed to the idea of having made a copy of myself, my memories, my spiritual core, my soul. It had too much a touch of blasphemy for my liking, and that made me very uneasy and undecisive.

“How does that work?” I asked to gather some time and maybe also some more information.

Elä'Ahrûna sighed.

“Simply. You agree and tell me where and when. I concentrate on the required reality, time, and of course the unborn infant in question. Then I have to establish a spiritual connection between you and the unborn, duplicate your soul with some essential memories, transfer and plant them into it and close the connection. And that would be it.”

“And this ‘unborn’ then will have my soul and my memories?”

The daimon/goddess sighed again.

“Not really. It is just a duplicate of your soul, pay attention! And the unborn can receive just very few and very essential memories from you, as it lacks a proper brain with the necessary nerve connections and synaptic patterns. So have no fear. Your ‘incarnation’ will grow into a completely independent individual, but with some more shared similarities and probably memories too, than would be expected between different, unique beings.”

“How complicated and energy-consuming will this …procedure be?”

“Complicated enough to do it just once in a lifetime, if at all. It is a one time offer for you. Take it also as a sign of gratitude and to repay you in some way for dragging you here without your consent from your world - though I actually did you a favor by that.”

Well, that remains to be seen!

“And how long does it take?”

“Once the connection is established it happens in an instant. Faster than this.”

And she snapped her fingers.

I remained silent. There just was too much to think through, too many perspectives, details and viewpoints!

“Forgive me, but right now I don’t know what to do.” I admitted openly. “I really appreciate your offer and am immensely grateful, but I don’t want to rush such a big decision. Is it possible to give you my answer tomorrow here at this place, around noon?”

“Certainly,” nodded the daimon goddess. “Take your time, and think and reflect about what you have heard and perceived. I will expect your answer tomorrow then. You don't need to climb this mountain though. I will find you, wherever you are. Farewell!”

“Excuse me!” interjected Lily's voice from up high in the air. “Could somebody, anybody…”

The rest remained unspoken as she already plummeted unceremoniously to the ground, her impact fortunately cushioned from the deep snow. Grumbling, she picked herself up, just to come face to face with our visitor, who’d glided towards the beastess and now pierced her with her flaming gaze.

“I know, you resent me, you don’t believe me and you don’t trust me. That is fine, if not very polite. Nevertheless, let me show you something you lack and dearly miss.”

Lily’s mighty form began to tremble, her beastly face conveying some sort of pain, tears starting to burst from her eyes. We rushed to her aid, but she collapsed before we reached her, sobbing and wailing like a little child. It was deeply disturbing, seeing and hearing this big, fierce, mostly unfazed warrioress bawling like a newborn, her deep, raw voice producing sounds I’ve never ever heard in my life.

Unfazed, the daimon goddess bent over, cupped her bestial snout with her own strange, double thumbed hands and gently said: “Remember, it is entirely your choice.”

“What did you do to her? Is she alright?” I shouted when I reached the collapsed and weeping colossus.

“Do not worry. I just showed her that there is always the possibility and a chance for salvation. I would never force it upon her though. It is entirely up to her to make this choice …or not.”

With these words Elä’Ahrûna finally turned around and soared back into the sky, flying northwards into the mountains.

I looked behind her, feeling torn apart. On the one hand it was one of the most fascinating conversations I’d ever had in my life, on the other hand I didn’t know how much and to what extent I could believe her. Her motivation to summon me here to this place felt …not entirely right, as if she was still hiding something. Her backstory was fascinating, but had huge gaps in it. Did she really have no contact with other people for more than two thousand years? Highly unlikely! But what did I know about the life and psyche of a daimon, let alone an elder or greater daimon?

Then there was the whole thing with that ‘duplicating’ my soul or my ‘inner spiritual core’. If that was the only chance to let ‘another version of me’ be again together with my master and my brother… I felt sometimes truly terrible to have vanished without a trace from their lives! Even though it wasn't my fault. Still, I felt highly conflicted about the whole procedure and proposal…

The story of human settlement (call it a colonization attempt if you want) of Liyúra on the other hand I found highly intriguing and fascinating. What must it have looked like: the first direct encounter between magic and technology? What happened afterwards was beyond tragic of course and once again I felt a deep shame for my own species.

But a second emotion boiled up too: a great, almost holy wrath against all the greedy billionaires, business managers and incompetent politicians who always valued their own short termed fame, success and wealth over simple facts and the wellbeing of all other creatures! Creatures they are themselves, grotesquely overvalued as ‘elites’ even if they behave just as sick, pesky parasites! And all the other shortsighted beings, calling themselves proudly ‘homo sapiens’ (wise human)! ‘Homo idioticus’ seemed to me a much more appropriate name!

You can see, I was in a really misanthropic mood. Thankfully our following discussion about the daimon lady during dinner diverted my thoughts thoroughly away from it. I found it just too fascinating, how everyone reacted differently and had different impressions from the whole event!

Reeza was almost entirely smitten with her kindred and repeated several times, how our encounter was one of a kind, even rarer than the incident with the golden dragon! For her it was out of the question that Elä’Ahrûna was anything else than a true goddess, even if we’d only met her avatar (or something like that).

“This happens maybe once in a thousand years, if not less!” she exclaimed. “Can you imagine what that even means?”

“What?” Lily asked gruffily back. She'd gotten herself back together and still firmly held the opposite end of the spectrum.

“For the biggest scam in history? Don’t be naive! We know almost nothing about her and got no proof of most of the things she claimed!”

“That’s not entirely true.” interjected Yára. “Her face does resemble the one on the ancient relief I talked about.”

She voiced a balanced opinion in claiming most of the things true in regard to Elä'Ahrûna's status, but not necessarily everything else she had told us.

“I sensed the immense mana level of her body and the gargantuan magical prowess she possesses.” the ælven girl said in earnest. “And there is more: she indeed seems to have some sort of spiritual connection with an unknown entity that is not located here on Liyúra.”

To Lily that proofed nothing, even sparked fear of a possible negative influence from hostile higher beings, if not a complete takeover!

“We have no proof of that.” I jumped in, trying to stop her chain of thoughts before we descended into a spiral of conspiracy tales.

“You don’t say you believe her, do you?” asked Lily in utter disbelief.

I shook my head.

“No, not entirely. I think she hasn’t told us everything.”

“Obviously!” interrupted Reeza hotly. “With more than a three thousand years lifespan you can’t expect otherwise!”

“I didn’t mean that.” I retorted calmly. “She sometimes hesitated in a manner as if there was more - and she decided against sharing that with us. It may be completely harmless, but maybe also would’ve changed our perception of her tale in a manner that didn’t suit her.”

I tentatively looked around in our small group.

“Her tale had a specific spin that was meant to let us believe in her case (or planning): to keep the whole ecosystem of all living beings on Liyúra in balance. That is a noble task, but she also said that she wouldn’t hesitate to ‘disrupt’ the development of human civilization if that would benefit this case.”

“Well, specifically she told us that the experiments with steam engines are dangerous.” interjected Reeza. “And I agree, especially after what you told us about your world.”

That stung of course but she didn't mean it as a personal attack, so I fought down my boiling emotions.

“That’s true.” I admitted calmly. “But that was after she used the word ‘disruption’. I think she wanted to mellow the impact of that term a little bit.”

Again I looked around into the tight faces of my companions.

“Haven’t you told me, the northernmost kingdom of humans was in great danger of being overrun by dangerous beasts? That was your initial mission when I remember correctly: Finding out what caused the mass migration of wild monsters to the south. Well, I think that would count as ‘disruptive’, wouldn’t you agree?”

Lily looked grim and a little bit shocked, Yára thoughtful and Reeza in disbelief.

“That sounds way too far-fetched for me.” she said. “To connect two such distant spots.”

I shrugged.

“I’m not saying it’s true. I just noticed, that’s all.”

Everyone fell silent, pondering my words.

“Do you remember what the golden dragon had said about its lesser relatives?” asked Lily after a short while pensively.

“Since when do you trust anything he had said?” challenged Reeza her comrade.

“I don’t. At least not completely.” defended the beastess herself, coupled with an angry look at her companion.

“But I remembered something it had said that matches Vilko’s train of thoughts: that someone very powerful had manipulated the sky dragons into attacking us. And we’d wondered for a long time about their unusual behaviour! Now who do we know, powerful and cunning enough to achieve something like that?”

Expectantly she looked at us.

“You don’t want to say…” started Reeza in a shaking, angry voice.

“I’m not saying anything or accusing anyone.” Lily cut her off. “I just noticed, that’s all.”

Seething Reeza turned towards Yára and me.

“I don’t believe it! Do you?!”

Well, it certainly wasn’t my intention to start a witch hunt and Yára too looked a little bit guilty.

“Well, factually she would have to be our primary suspect.” she said hesitantly. “And I’m not accusing her of any hostile acts against us specifically. It is entirely possible she may have used the dragons just as a general precaution against interference from the outside.”

“Come on, don't sugarcoat it!” grumbled Lily. “How likely is an interference by chance so high up in the north, in Skîbæria of all places? No, I’m telling you, she knew very early on from our plans and set them against us. I’m sure it was nothing personal, but she certainly didn’t want to take any risks!”

The last sentence she spoke in truly biting sarcasm. Reeza lowered her head in deep conflict.

“And there is more.” added Yára.

“What could have caused the formation of these strange oases in the middle of the Skîbæriaen ice sheet? I can’t think of any natural phenomenon that’d have been able to create them and only one person to possibly pull that off.”

“Oh come on! You can’t make her responsible for everything!” Reeza made a last defensive attempt.

“I don’t make her responsible for anything she didn’t admit by herself.” answered the ælf with a fine, faint smile. “I just noticed, that’s all...”