The New Chimera

Carmen opened her eyes to find herself in a different place than she had been when she fell asleep. She was sitting in a plush armchair in a rather inviting living room…or, at least, that’s what it looked like. The edges were fuzzy and the details of the pictures indistinct.

Not that she was really paying much attention to that; more concerning was the gaping hole where one of the walls should have been, a pitch-black void covering the space beyond. As she stared, tendrils of nothing speared out from within towards her, only to be blocked by some sort of unseen force.

“Don’t worry about that too much.” Kali said, causing Carmen to force her attention away from the wall and in on the woman who was suddenly sitting on a chair across from her. “It’s a sort of…representation of the separation I have you and Lilith under. We’re inside your…well, mind, for lack of a better word, so things are a little…abstract.”

“I…see.” Carmen said slowly. “How are Lilith and Mama?”

“Holding up well.” Kali replied. “The new system appears to be completely stable, so we’re moving on with the next phase of the plan. It’s going to entail some…changes for the two of you, and I want to get your opinion on the matter while Lilith’s under.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got Lilith under, but want my opinion? I assume she already gave you her answer, right?”

Kali hesitated. “Well, yes, but…you know how she is. She’d say yes to just about anything, so I wanted to pass it off to the part of her that’s more…assertive.”

Carmen shook her head. “No. She’s in charge, what she says goes. In the end, this is her life, and I’m just…an extra.”

Kali gave Carmen an odd look, then sighed. “You’re not even going to hear me out?”

“I trust you.” Carmen replied. And she did; she had no reason to, but something within herself insisted that Kali was someone she could trust unconditionally. That bugged her, in a way, but she also couldn’t bring herself to shake the notion. It didn’t…feel like her emotions were being influenced by magic, it felt more, well, like it was intrinsic to her very being.

“I…thanks.” Kali said. “I won’t let you down, I promise. Um…I do need your input on another matter, though. I was…well, I was thinking of giving Lilith another Parallel, and as you know, both of you have to sign off on it for that to work.”

Carmen leaned forward. “I’m listening.”

Kali smiled weakly. “Well, it’s like this…”

---

Lilith awoke to a couple of windows in front of her face. The first was incredibly large, bigger than most she had seen before, while the other was small, practically nonexistent compared to the first. So, she took a moment to read that one to get it out of the way before she tackled the big one.     

Lilith frowned. When had that happened?

“I see you’re looking a little confused.” Kali said. “While you were under, I used some magic to give you another Mask that we think you should make into a Parallel. I’ve run it by Carmen already and she’s fine with it, so I just need to tell you about it. Now, I know the name sounds…inhumane, but think of it more like…‘one who computes’ instead of an actual computer, so it’s – ” Kali trailed off as Lilith accepted the new Mask as a Parallel, and a voice rang out in all of their minds.

Hello, she said, I am the computation Parallel, you may call me Mae. Mistress, may I have an avatar?

Lilith was silent for a moment as she formed an avatar for Mae. As soon as it was done, Mae transferred into it and began to move, testing it out. Lilith cut the sensory connection they had, then spoke. “Why are you calling me mistress?” She asked. “We’re the same person. Equals.”

Incorrect. Mae replied, still using telepathy. Kali designed me to be completely loyal to you, and, as such, I cannot in good conscience view you as my equal.

Lilith frowned. “Can you at least treat me normally then? And why are you using telepathy?”

Physical speech is inefficient. I believe I can handle treating you “normally”, but I will still do my utmost to do obey your orders.

Lilith grit her teeth. “Fine, if you want to play that game, here’s a standing order for you. You are not allowed to listen to my orders, and are to act as you wish in all situations.”

Understood. As per the standing order, the standing order has been ignored. I await further orders. Mae replied, smirking.

“No, you know what I mean!” Lilith protested. “Come on!”

I am well aware of what you wish. However, understand that my desire to obey is built into my very being. This is one subject I refuse to budge on; if you wish for a compromise, however, I will offer you a deal. I will work on my own initiative towards what I feel is best for you, which, may I remind you, is also what is best for Carmen and I. But you will have the final say over all of my actions, and any instructions you give me will be top priority.

Lilith gave Mae an unamused look, but Mae held her gaze evenly, expression not changing an inch. Eventually, Lilith looked away. “Fine. If that’s what makes you happy.”

It does, thank you. Mae replied. I will begin my work immediately. She gave a small bow, and then left the room.

Lilith gave Kali an angry look. “What was that?” She asked.

“I was going to warn you.” Kali said. “But you accepted before I could finish talking. We could have worked to tone things down a little, but you jumped the gun.” She adopted a more serious tone as she continued. “You have to stop being so eager to please, it’s going to cause serious

problems down the line. This only affects you, but the decisions you make in the future might affect the course of history, so you can’t just blindly listen to what other people say.

“In fact, it’s what I plan to spend most of our time here working on. We’re going to iron this bad habit out of you, one way or the other. That’s part of why I wanted to introduce Mae in the first place – she’ll be taking care of most of the level and Skill stuff for the time being.”

She sat down on the bed next to Lilith, gaze softening. “I’m not asking you to stop trying to be kind to people or anything, I just…need you to think about the potential consequences of your actions before you make your choices. But, that’s enough about that for now, we’ll talk about duty some other day. For now, I need to explain everything else I just gave you. Go ahead and read that other window, and when you’re done, I’ll go into a bit more detail, alright?”

Lilith gave a hesitant nod, turning her attention back to the remaining window.

“Alright, I’ve…read it all.” Lilith said. “It’s…well, a lot. Um, what’s all this about Worship?”

Kali nodded. “So, to explain that, I’m going to have to talk about what a Higher Being is.” She said. “Think of them like…a step between Administrators and normal people. Where I’m from, those were the gods, but here…well, you’re the first one aside from me, so there isn’t really a good analogue.

“The important bit is that Higher Beings don’t follow all the same rules that normal people do. Most notably, if a Higher Being dies and they have enough Worship, it’s automatically used, and they get revived back in their Administrator’s rooms. Otherwise, they just sort of…get knocked unconscious until they have enough Worship to be revived, which is generally about two thousand, give or take some depending on how powerful the Higher Being in question is.

“Umm…let’s see, Higher Beings don’t age, but you didn’t age before so that’s not really a change…you can’t be affected by mind-altering effects from normal people unless you want to be, which is a big one, and…honestly that’s about it, aside from Worship.”

She stopped for a moment, studying Lilith’s face. “Any questions so far? Aside from Worship, that is, I’ll get into the exact details on that later.”

“Are you a Higher Being, or are Administrators entirely separate?” Lilith asked.

“Good question.” Kali said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Um…yes and no. Administrators are like…buffed up Higher Beings. We use Worship too, we can just do a lot more with it. We still follow most of the same rules, we just…have more options.”

“I think that’s it, then.”

Kali nodded. “Good. So, Worship is generated by…well, as a Higher Being, you have a sort of…Dominion, something you’re in charge of. For you, that’s Justice and Law. When people act in continued devotion to those fields, or if they perform extraordinary acts in them, you gain a small amount of Worship. The same goes for if people are directly…well, Worshipping you.

“That’s the important bit for the ones you’re in charge of. There are Dominions where the actions of the Higher Beings in charge of them can directly earn them Worship, but that’s not important right now. Basically, just think of Worship as another resource like Mana, just much, much harder to come by.”

“I think I get it.” Lilith replied. “So, something to use sparingly?”

“Exactly. If you can avoid it, try not to use Worship. Right now, I’ve restricted you to only using Worship on the Skills you just got, but once you’re more comfortable with it and know, in general, how fast you’re going to be getting Worship, I’ll open up more of the general-purpose abilities to you. Stuff like teleporting or scrying anywhere, granting people powerful Skills, that sort of stuff.”

Lilith nodded. “Is it just going to be on my status or…?”

“Yeah, it should show up under your Mana and Stamina. Only you and I can see it, though, so don’t worry about it being found out.”

Lilith paused, checking her status. “Looks like I’ve got…a hundredth of a point?”

“Sounds about right. The amount of Worship generated is closely related to the number of people in the universe, and this universe is still small. That and, as Administrator, I get a small cut of all Worship generated, whether I want to or not.” Kali said. “I would love to do something about the population thing, but I’ve kinda been stuck sitting on my hands while I waited for more Worship to come in so I could give people enough of a powerup to safely let them resume growing in number.”

“Right, the new system.” Lilith said.

“Exactly. People grow in number, give us more Worship, which then lets us make them stronger, get them more planes, make their lives better, and let them grow in number again. It’s a cycle that benefits everyone. There’s…well, there’s one important bit to that I’m leaving out, but we’ll get to that later, I’ve put enough on your plate for now.”

“Alright then.” Lilith replied, moving to get out of the bed she was in. “What now?”

“Now we get started on some of your…etiquette training.” Kali said. “Go ahead and sit wherever, we’re going to start with some lessons on politics. Boring, yes, but essential to know since you’re going to be dealing with a lot of politicians in the future.”

Lilith got up and moved over to one of the beanbag chairs. “Ready.”

“Good.” Kali said, grabbing the TV remote and turning it on. Displayed on the screen was some sort of slideshow with a bunch of text on it. “Don’t worry if you don’t remember it all right away.” She said. “I’ll show you some magic to help enhance your memory later. For now, just pay attention, and it’ll be fine. Now, if you’ll look at the screen…”