NOVEL NEXT Sabbatical – Chapter 216: A Game Before the End of the World
"Come on," Caethya said. "It's gonna be fun!"
Aperio tilted her head as she contemplated her love's suggestion. The game in question certainly seemed to be popular among the people at the beach, so much so that there were permanent nets set up here and there amidst the sand. Nets that, seemingly, anyone could use.
"We don't have a ball, though," Eleanor interjected, her eyes wandering between Aperio and Caethya. "We kind of need one to play."
"Fine," the All-Mother replied and grabbed the bag she had used to carry their belongings. She reached inside, a touch of her magic creating a ball that matched the ones the other mortals used to play the game. "We can play."
Eleanor only shook her head when Aperio's hand emerged from the bag, ball firmly gripped. Caethya, however, immediately snatched it for herself, running to a free net far faster than any normal mortal should be able to. Aperio followed suit, though at a much slower pace, taking the time to get up and stretch like any reasonable person would.
"Did you just make that?" Eleanor asked, falling into step next to Aperio.
"No, I obviously always carry a ball with me to play games I do not know," she replied and gave the mage from Earth her best smile. "Normal people cannot just make stuff, Eleanor. You should know that."
The woman shook her head again. "Ah yes, of course. How could I forget." As they approached Caethya, they could already see how amused she was at the situation. Eleanor couldn't help but ask her, "Is she always like this?"
"No," the Demigoddess said with a shake of her head, "humour is not usually not her strong suit, but she has been getting better at it. Perhaps it helps that she can actually do something now instead of merely contemplating things."
"I still feel like I am not doing particularly much," Aperio said with a slight tilt of her head. "I will admit, though, it does feel rather good. The confused expressions on the mortals when I teleport them away never fails to amuse."
It was true that she was working on bringing magic to the rest of the mortals, but it was a task she did not have to actively think about. Only part of her mind divided the population of Earth in smaller groups, preparing to give out powers in waves. The choice to do it that way came from the fact that not everyone was as receptive to mana as she had hoped. For some, she would have to rebuild their entire body, but she would make it work. That's going to be a boon for them, anyway. Still, though, her focus was on the here and now.
Aperio did her best to ensure that the people who would make up the last wave would be close to the same person they were before, but she was almost certain that, due to her meddling, those who would get their powers last would be far stronger than the first wave. It was still balanced enough, as the first ones with powers had a head start on levelling.
"Normal mortals don't teleport people, my love," Caethya replied with a giggle, taking Aperio from her thoughts and throwing the ball towards her. "You should know that."
Aperio caught the makeshift projectile with one hand and held her head in the other. "How could I forget," she said. "I guess the only solution is that nobody can be normal."
Standing at the edge of what passed for a playing field, Aperio peeked at the various other matches that were currently playing out. That she would excel at the sport had never been in question, but she wanted to make sure she would not get yelled at for inadvertent rule breaking. Not like the current rules will survive much longer.
She was already drawing closer to giving yet more people of Earth access to the System, even going as far as offering them the chance to change their species if they so chose. Why her past self had started making a subsystem like that was beyond her, but it was a most welcome addition right now. Options were nice and she would be damned if she did not allow people the chance to get some wings of their own. Flying was delightful, and was something she wanted to share with others — definitely not because she wanted to blend in a bit better.
"I would say Caethya and I against you," Eleanor said. "Not that that makes it any more fair."
"You can recruit your friends if you wish. I will also promise to not use any magic. My physical prowess alone should be enough."
"How much, exactly, can you do without magic?" Eleanor asked, squinting at the All-Mother.
Aperio simply shrugged in reply, missing her wings in the motion. She had not yet tested the full extent of her limits — not even that of her pure physical strength — and Earth was definitely not the correct place to do that. Though, their reactions would be priceless, she thought, a smile spreading across her face.
"Okay!" the mortal mage said, raising her hands. "Don't want to know anymore! That smile scares me."
"I find it beautiful," Caethya commented, taking the ball from Aperio yet again before she gave the woman a quick kiss and ducked below the net. "But it's also the one she gets when she thinks of fighting or breaking something. It's not us she intends to obliterate," she added upon seeing Eleanor's reaction. "You'd feel that."
Aperio set her gaze on the two women, standing just a little taller than usual. "You are wrong, mortals!" she declared, pointing at the two of them. "I have come to destroy you! In a game of... beach volleyball."
///
Eleanor gulped slightly as Aperio all but glared at her through the net. On a normal day, she was already scary enough, but now that feeling had somehow increased. The fact that the All-Mother was almost taller than the net and somehow looked just a little more… real than she had earlier in the day was of no help at all.
"Begin," she said simply, staying next to the net.
Eleanor wanted to advise her to step back a little, but before she could get the words out Caethya threw the ball in the air. The force of her teammate's serve was greater than expected, and indeed more than anyone should have been able to achieve. If the mage hadn't known any better, she would have sworn she had felt a wave of pressure washing over her as the ball passed by.
Before she could even move, it was followed by a wave of warmth that pushed her back, causing her to tumble to the ground. When she got back up, Eleanor saw a small crater in the sand; the ball that had caused it perfectly unharmed.
She looked around, thinking that the commotion would have attracted the attention of everyone at the beach, but that was seemingly not the case.
Caethya looked down at the sand, where Aperio's return move had left the volleyball. Something glinted oddly, and the woman reached down to pick up what turned out to be a large chunk of... no, it couldn't be...
"You made some glass," the Demigoddess noted as she turned the transparent piece in her hands. She looked through it, smiling at Aperio. "Should probably use a bit less force next time. At least your weird sound magic works on explosions."
"I gave it a small tap," the All-Mother replied and spread her arms, gesturing at the beach itself. "Perhaps the field should be made from something a little more sturdy than sand." She folded her arms in front of her chest. "And of course my magic dampens the sound of an explosion. I do not want a random mortal to hear our conversations, or anything else."
Eleanor grabbed her head and abandoned her attempt to stand up, instead sinking to her knees and letting out a laugh along the way. "This is ridiculous." She was on a beach with a — the — literal creation deity. They were playing a friendly game of fucking volleyball. And Aperio tapped the ball a bit too hard and turned a section of said beach into literal fucking glass!
With another laugh, one that was little more than a sharp breath, Eleanor threw her hands up and leaned back, collapsing onto the sand. Why had she ever agreed to this? There was no way she should be here, so close to an actual God. Let alone two! she realised with a titter. She had also been in close proximity with Earth's actual God — or, more accurately, Gods — and they were still around, as far as she was aware, hugging trees and smelling books in or near Micheal's home.
"I turned nothing into glass," her opponent the deity said, the raised brow audible in her voice. "As you can see, everything is perfectly fine." With a nod, she indicated the spot where, moments before, a crater had been. "We are just three perfectly normal mortals engaging in recreational activities."
The Demigoddess looked at the downed mortal mage, offering the woman a smile as she squatted down. "You'll get used to it," she said kindly. "Soon you will realise that Aperio is actually quite nice, despite her rather...queenly demeanour."
"Queenly?" Eleanor pushed herself back into a seated position, leaving her hands on the sand as support. "I'm not sure that description fits," she said, contemplating the woman in question. "She does have this… cold and calculating guise, also speaks like one. But it still doesn't really fit."
"Good. I have no desire to be a queen. Or Empress. Or anything that has to do with ruling and dealing with annoying followers that only want to bug you for one thing or another."
"That sounds like you speak from experience," Eleanor said.
The All-Mother simply raised a brow before she gestured to herself, her skin seemingly glowing slightly as the world itself grew a little darker.
"Point taken," Eleanor said, finally feeling steady enough to stand up again. She shook her head and moved to pick up the ball. "Another round? Maybe without the crater this time. Lord knows we will have enough of those in the coming days."
"Sure," the All-Mother replied, taking a step back from the net. She spread her arms and took what Eleanor could only describe as a fighting stance. "Show me everything you have got, mortals!"
///
Adam took his eyes off the amalgamation of Earth's Gods as it placed the book it had looked at back onto the shelf and picked out another. He was still a little on edge that the police would come looking for him, even if that was very unlikely to happen.
He shifted his gaze to the TV. Aperio's stunt had left everyone in the house aside from him and the local cluster of deities glued to the news. The topic being broadcast had not shifted one iota, and everyone continued to talk about people with superpowers and the mysterious woman who could apparently teleport not only herself, but others as well. Not to mention the fact that she also does not care for any of their weapons.
What had surprised him most was that the All-Mother had taken at least a few measures to obscure her presence from prying eyes. Not that it had been of much use. Whoever was in charge of scouring the internet for her actual appearance had definitely earned their keep as it had taken all of five minutes for basically every station to show pictures of Aperio walking around in Riverburg.
The thing that had taken Adam aback about all of this was the fact that seemingly nothing had changed in the city itself. It had already been more than a few days, but nobody had showed up. No government agents looking to detain Aperio and no rabid news reporters trying to interview her. Just some more people attending the ongoing convention, seemingly undeterred by the news of actual magic existing on Earth. Probably because they already knew…
That fact still did not sit quite right with him. He had lived most of his life here on Earth and had never even suspected that magic existed. As a child, he had thought of it, of course, but it had quickly turned out to be just a dream. A childish dream.
"So when does she give magic to the rest?" Micheal asked, taking Adam from his thoughts. "The cat's out of the bag, so she could just do it now."
"Could be in the next hour or the next week," Adam replied. "Aperio and time have a… loose relationship."
"I would too if I was an endless being that has been around since the beginning of time," Damien said. "What are a few weeks or years to someone who lives forever?"
"Quite a lot," Ethan replied, the annoyance practically leaking from his voice. "Your time might not come, but that of your friends still does. Can you imagine how many people she has lost over the years? It is a burden few understand."
"Didn't take you for one so sentimental." Karla gave a small laugh. "How old are you, even? A few centuries, maybe? I can never tell with you bloodsuckers."
"Old enough to at least understand a bit of this plight," the man huffed in reply. "But maybe that'll change now. When everyone has magic, there are bound to be a few who can live longer."
Adam lowered his head at the words. While what the Vampire had said might be true, there would first be countless conflicts as the new normal settled in, all of which would claim lives of innocent people. He knew Aperio did not truly care about death; to her, only the Soul mattered and it would survive the death of the body just fine. Arguing with her about that would also not be of any use. If he wanted to prevent needless deaths, he would have to go out there and do it on his own. Something he wasn't sure he could.
It wasn't because of a lack of power, as he had been told more than once already that he was far stronger than the people here. Adam simply wasn't sure if he even knew what to do. His brief excursions into the dungeon with Qhinya and Natio had taught him some things about fighting, but nothing about simply dealing with others. The people here, unlike some he had fought on Verenier, weren't monsters.
He let out a sigh and shook his head. His decision would be made once Aperio had actually brought the System to Earth in full — once he had seen how the people reacted. For now, he had an amalgamation of Gods to tend to as well as a few magically gifted people who seemed to take what he considered to be an apocalypse rather lightly.
The world was going to be thrown into utter chaos, and they were debating over how Aperio would feel about the death of a slightly more favoured mortal. Something they could directly ask the woman, if they wished.
Any further thoughts were stopped by a small window appearing in front of his mind’s eye, informing him that the second wave would happen in twenty-four hours. Just as the appended message from last time, this one, too, warned to not use powers against those that had yet to awaken. After Aperio's appearance, it might even be taken more seriously this time.
It seemed he was not the only one present who had gotten such a message, as everyone else in the room took a few moments to stare at nothing. Even a few of the newscasters on TV had the glassy-eyed look he had come to associate with a System message. All Adam could do was shake his head and hope for the best. Lord knew that Earth needed it, but Aperio did not.
