[Hall of Mirrors has reached (Great)!]

  [Unyielding Metal has reached (Great)!]

  [Parallel World Manipulation has reached (Intermediate)!]

  [Beat of War [New!] (Basic) (Your heartbeat is the drum. Hear the rhythm, master the flow, and be untouched among war.)]

  The battle had forced me to grow. [Beat of War] was my first resonance-based technique.

  Resonance had formed a new section on my stat sheet - a sort of disconnected little window in the same way that my network was. I could sense that this one could be integrated into the Gift properly, but for now, I didn’t see the need to. It was already a little cluttered with all my abilities. The shorter window, however, helped.

  [Resonance:

  

  
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    Stage: Orchestra
  
    


  
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    Growth: Self-Sustaining Symphony
  
    


  
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    Audience: Network, Alternate Worlds
  
    


  
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    Powers:
  
    
  
  
    
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      Hydra (You alone sing in a million voices. You hear yourself, you listen. Perhaps you are quiet, yet you reach far.)
    
      
  
  
    
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      Freedom (Your song breaks chains.)
    
      
  
  
    
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      Connection (Your song spreads, it binds - but not overly tight. They, too, resonate.)
    
      
  
  
    
  
  
    


  
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    Impact:
  
    
  
  
    
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      Strength (Your power grows as the war songs roar.)
    
      
  
  
    
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      Crushing (A symphony threads through you. You resonate - other influences break.)
    
      
  
  
    
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      Ribbons (The wings of ruin flare bright. Move, unhalted, unbroken.)]
    
      
  
  
    
  
  
    


  

  And that was all. It was a lot, already, but that was true for the power, too. It felt a little more… crude, perhaps, than cultivation? Then again, it made sense. Cultivation was a path of mastery of the self, while resonance was a different thing to walk entirely. I didn’t understand it fully, yet, but I would, in time.

  With a gentle sigh, I closed the window. Saph looked at me patiently, their head tilted ever so slightly, as if awaiting my judgement. “What is it?” I asked the crystalloid.

  “Will you kill me?” they asked in return, stepping forward. “For bringing a god down on you?”

  I hugged a bit of amusement, crossing my arms and shaking my head. “No, I won’t. You’re not good for this world, right? So, we’ll get you to a place you feel more at home. If anyone wants to cause you trouble, they’ll have to go through me. And, somehow, I think this world is out of people who can cause me trouble.”

  After all, I had just beaten one of the divines. It was almost one-on-one, though he’d been limited to an avatar. Still. I beat Ru. In a battle of mastery, perhaps he’d have destroyed me, but now, a tiny trill of his legend was part of my growing orchestra. And that was more than enough.

  Still, the fight had been rough, and I was rather tired. So we called it a day. Set up camp again, starting a fire, roasting some food. It took… a while, before we started talking, but eventually, we did.

  The others listened as I explained. The resonance, the Echo, the way it coursed through all of us felt strange and new, but not bad. It wasn’t painful or anything, just potent. Almost loud. But when sitting, swapping stories, it calmed. In a lot of ways, it felt like a campfire. If the flames were stoked, it would burn higher. But when used just enough, it would provide a bit of warmth.

  When I was done explaining myself, Emilia laughed, Liam smiled, and Chris patted me on the back. Trichtera gave me a grateful nod, which was all she could manage, and Stella a hopeful grin. Eric was the most conflicted, but even he gave me a quick and simple nod. None of them had mastered the new powers yet, but they were already improving, second by second. The network had grown stronger, after all, and so, our talents fed each other even more.

  It was kind of funny. The network, as it grew, made us more talented, so we’d grow even faster. Which let us expand the network, and get more talents. By now, the world seemed troubled to cage us.

  For the first time, I had power in my hands that no one could stop.

  That was the most bizarre thought of my life. That, in Eden, I was effectively unchecked. The divines couldn’t stop me. Maybe if they banded together, sure, but one-on-one? They couldn’t stop me anymore.

  If I’d wanted to, I could have killed people free of consequence. Like Zinnic had let their people do. And yet, I found myself not really wanting to.

  A small smile spread at that thought. People with power were held back by nothing except their morals, huh? What a funny thing. Then it was my job to keep up reasonable morality, and I was planning to do a decent job at that, too.

  Eventually, when night fell, and I laid down to rest, the divines came ringing.

  That was the correct expression. They rang. A chime, in my mind, like that of a doorbell. I smirked at the comparison, and opened that mental door.

  ‘Good evening, Fio,’ Hir said carefully, the chorus of voices sounding restrained. Pulled back. ‘Are you… well?’

  ‘Relax,’ I said, cutting through all the bullshit. ‘We’re cool. I’m not coming for you, friend. You said it before, right? That the divines aren’t always in agreement? I can’t imagine you’d’ve sent Ru after me, did you?’

  The reply came hastily. ‘No! No, of course not.’

  I snickered slightly. ‘It was a joke, Hir. Let me guess. You’re on my side, Archiva is watching and writing things down, Lurelia is scared, and Argus is a little upset but won’t do anything. Right?’

  ‘... Right,’ they admitted. ‘That… about summarizes things.’

  ‘Cool. We’re good, Hir. I have no problem with you. No plans to go and usurp any divine realms, no plans on subjugating your world. None of that. The thing I want, the thing I’ve always wanted, was freedom. I wanted freedom from the keepers,’ I said, a frown wearing itself into my face at the thought of them. ‘And, incidentally, I ended up free from… you divines, I guess. Is that right?’

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  Hir took a long moment to reply, thinking it over. When their voice finally rang in my mind, it was calmer, more relaxed. ‘I suppose it is. Incidentally, huh? You continue to surprise us, Fio. We are glad you still see us as a friend.’

  ‘I do,’ I nodded. ‘In fact, if you wanna be part of the network, I think I could probably add you, these days.’

  At that, their silence turned stunned. Rather than contemplative, it just felt as if they were taken aback by the offer. ‘What?!’ they eventually managed.

  ‘Yeah, I mean it. [Transference]. You gain a portion of our talents, we gain a portion of yours. You hear our songs, we hear yours. Mutual benefit, right?’ I suggest. ‘You don’t have to accept. There’s not pressure to this offer, Hir. It’s just that - an offer. Your choice entirely. I won’t hold it against you.’

  ‘I expected much from this conversation, Fio,’ they said with a hundred sighs from their chorus of voices, ‘but I did not expect… this. I thought you’d be indignant. Upset. Hurt, perhaps.’

  Slowly, I shook my head. ‘No. I get how you tick, these days. You could even say we’re familiar.’ I smiled, just a faint bit. ‘You’ve seen my sheet in the Gift, right? Familiarity. That’s my covenant. I get you, and you’ll get me better every time we talk. So. Think it over, and let me know, eventually.’

  Finally, a gentle kind of amusement spread through Hir’s chorus of voices. The song within me said that they had potential to sing beautifully, but it was and always would be their choice. So, I waited for them to speak. ‘Thank you, friend,’ they said. ‘For your understanding. For your care for this world - and others. For seeing potential where we were blind.’

  With a shrug, I gave a sigh. ‘Everyone makes mistakes. I’m far from perfect. Friends cover for each other, right? So, don’t sweat it too much. We’ll get your world all fixed, and then we’ll see what else there’s left to do. That’s the job we signed up for, after all,’ I say with a smile and another shrug.

  ‘Yes,’ Hir agrees. ‘Thank you. For… sparing Rufus, as well. You have done much for Eden, and we believe you will do more.’

  ‘No need for unnecessary bloodshed. Trichtera said to let him live, and she was the one he properly hurt. I just fought him,’ I say, almost snickering at the thought. ‘Not everyone I fight deserves death. I fought Saph, too after all.’

  Hir pauses for a moment, then the divine gives a small sigh. ‘The usurper,’ they say. ‘What do you plan to do with them?’

  ‘Have them as a part of my party, for now,’ I reply easily. ‘Yes, I know you’re afraid of their resonance spreading, but I think we can cycle it across the network, and contain it that way. Self-Sustaining Symphony, and all that.’

  ‘Right. Please do try to keep it contained,’ Hir allows weakly. ‘Be safe, Fio.’

  ‘You too, Hir. I’ll catch some sleep now,’ I say, and feel their presence withdraw from my mind. Another small chuckle escapes me as I think about the conversation. The divines, in a lot of ways, are scaredycats, aren’t they?

  I’ve finally reached a power matching theirs, and to me, it makes the world seem open. Free, almost easy. I can see the mountains in the distance, and the song in my head whispers that I can reach it in a single step. My [Hall of Mirrors] goes so far now. And since I learnt resonance, since I can control Echo now, the environment doesn’t even feel hostile anymore.

  Before, the chaotic Qi mixed with Echo was enough to erode my skin, and I needed a constant barrier. But since my body was so filled with Echo and Qi both, that wasn’t a problem anymore. I could simply let it wash over me. Everything felt less hostile.

  Compared to that, the divines were almost the opposite. They let their power become a cage. They couldn’t intervene, needed to act through believers. Was that really the true path to become divine? Well, not like it was my business to figure that out. Reya could take care of Divinity, Ann of Mana. Heck, I could even leave Qi to Matt, since I was the most suitable out of all of us to master Echo properly.

  Not that I’d neglect Qi, thought. It had brought me this far. It’d given me wings, and my path had expanded from a struggle for adventure to seeing true freedom. Just a few more steps, and I would do it. Just a little bit further.

  I did wonder how Ru’s fall from divinity would affect his clerics… but Trichtera was still strong, even after being almost burnt out by him. So, most likely, the power invested in them would stick around. They’d just need to get some way to regenerate it, the same way Reya did, by having people admire her.

  Well. That wasn’t really my problem to worry about, I supposed. It was a little irresponsible, but the world would heal. The other divines might even grow stronger from integrating the wayward faithful into their domains. Rufus definitely didn’t want to re-ascend to divinity, I imagined, so they’d either have to forge their own legends or swear allegiance to someone else.

  My head swam with thoughts, but a deep breath in and out cleared them. Tomorrow would be a new day, with new problems to face. More nests to clear. More things to fight. More problems to solve.

  But we were making progress. For the first time in a while, the lines held by the usurpers were being pushed back. A smile spread across my lips. We’d restore this world. To a place with proper biodiversity, good habitats for all kinds of species to live.

  We’d turn this place into a proper garden.

  - - -

  Ion sat on Neamhan with Marie. It was early morning. Ann still slept, Matt snored in another room, and Reya was quietly preparing herself some coffee. The sun shone through thinner clouds.

  Ivan had recently deployed first steps of a reforestation program using mildly magical plants. He was out doing fieldwork, shovelling hardened, dry ground, adding fertilizer, and planting seedlings. There were a few different trials going on, and he was doing small trees and bushes, with a few colleagues looking into hardy grasses and shrubs.

  It felt like the air filter was humming more quietly these days, but really, that was probably a figment of imagination. For now, at least. But maybe, someday in the future, it wouldn’t be.

  The parallel version of Fio, coming from a different, dead world, took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, and for a long moment, let the world linger around her. She sat and breathed.

  Eventually, another chair rustled, and she cracked open an eye. Reya sat across her, giving a short wave, and a few quick handsigns. Ion wasn’t even close to perfect at understanding them yet, but she had practiced a bit, and awkwardly nodded. Yes, she was enjoying her time. If she got the question correct.

  Reya beamed a smile, and took a happy, hearty sip of her coffee. Marie sunk into another chair a little while later, humming in satisfaction. “World’s finally getting better,” she said. “And all it took was the apocalypse,” she chuckled.

  “Zinnic still sucks,” Ion sighed. “Absolute shitshow.”

  Marie laughed brightly. “It’s a company, hon. Of course it sucks. It’ll always suck. It’s got a whole board of sucky people. And even if they tried not to suck, you saw that the keepers will just puppeteer them where needs must be met. We’ll have to give them a look in a little while.”

  At that, Reya shook her head, flashing through a few more signs. Ion just caught sth along the lines of “unnecessary”. She tilted her head. “You don’t think we should check up on Zinnic?” she asked.

  The saintess, once again, shook her head. Then she gave a huff through her nose and got out a pen and paper, writing on it instead of signing, which made Ion smile awkwardly. Reya didn’t like doing it, and hopefully it’d eventually become unnecessary, but for now, it was what it was.

  After a few seconds, she finally placed the paper in the middle of the table. “I think things will come to a shitshow soon. When it’s done and dusted, Zinnic will be a pretty fucking small part of the problem.”

  “Huh,” Ion said. “What makes you think everything will go to hell?”

  Reya, carefully, added one more word to her message. “Intuition.”

  Marie raised an eyebrow at it, but didn’t cause any fuss. Divinity was all about faith. There was some kind of link between Reya and those she’d healed, maybe? Could she intuit things about the world that way?

  Or maybe it really was just because they’d grown so fast that the keepers had to act now, or things would forever be doomed?

  Even while still thinking about it, Reya’s lips twisted into a frown. The world grew slow. Ion watched as colour seemed to leak from the walls, just a little bit. Reality grew thin and fragile, holding its breath.

  A moment later, every single window of the house shattered.

  Instantly, a torrent of mana poured from the upper floor, halting the glass shards. Wood splintered as the ground shook. Breakfast items clattered off the table, plates and cups and glasses falling apart to splinters. A heartbeat later, everything inside the house froze, as a single, enormous spell halted gravity.

  Very slowly, Ion hovered upwards from the couch, as physics stopped making sense. The world was awash with power. Qi and Echo thrummed through her ears. Reya glowed with Divinity, and Ann’s mana suffused the entire house. A voice scraped across the world, echoing from far away.

  “Ahhh, it’s just about time,” it said, in that demonic, business-like cadence. “We invested so much into this asset. Thank you for growing so strong.”

  The door to the guildhouse pushed open in the wake of the earthquake, and, entirely unaffected by the gravity spell, a frog-faced demon in a business suit walked in. “Now,” he said. “Let’s get you all cleaned up. You’ve let us open and break a, heh, ‘category six gate’, was it? The show’s over, kids. Time to die.”