Swarming Sovereignty

Amelia was thrown into a panic as she was suddenly in a very different place, in a formal party dress. She immediately cast her eyes about, and to her horror she found that her lovers had been transported with her, along with a familiar-looking vampire woman. Frowning, Amelia attempted to read her Mana signature, but she couldn’t quite make it through the woman’s defenses.

“Amelia, what was that fo…oh.” The woman said, looking over the group. “Right. Well, don’t panic, I’m Jerry, from a time in your future where the swarm is far enough along that it was prudent to switch my sex for optimal Worship gains.”

“You can’t travel to the past.” Amelia said, narrowing her eyes. “Only the future.”

The woman who claimed to be Jerry shrugged. “This place doesn’t follow the rules. You’ll find that just about everyone here is from a different time. In fact, some of the people you’ll be hanging out with will be from about fifty years ago.”

“Don’t tell me what I’m going to be doing.” Amelia growled. “I get to decide.” She tried to punctuate the sentence by transforming her party clothing into her regular combat gear, but only succeeded at changing the dress into a formal suit.

“Jerry’s right, Amelia.” Lia said. “This is my third of these parties, and Rose has been to even more. We have a night of partying with some people, then get taken right back to where and when we were and forget all about it.”

“You seem pretty sure we’ll be with the same group, though.” Rose said, looking at Jerry. “I mean, that feels right to me, but how do you know?”

Jerry snorted. “Knowing what I know now, I would eat my shoes if you weren’t with them.”

“Who are we talking about?” Connie asked.

“Lilith, as well as Tess’s party.” Jerry replied.

“Oh? We have some connection with them in the future? I know I’m going to be attending Lilith’s wedding soon, but…”

“You’ll be very closely connected.” Jerry said. “Recently all of you have been spending at least ten hours a week over at Lilith’s place, and Tess’s party spends some time there too, though not quite as much. But, really, I should get you to them, it’s best not to keep this place waiting.”

Jerry walked off in a seemingly random direction, and Amelia’s lovers followed. Amelia begrudgingly followed behind them, and soon found herself in front of another group of people consisting of a tall angel-demon hybrid, a succubus, and a young angel.

“Eh, just let it be.” The angel said. “It’s not like we’re gonna get answers if this place doesn’t want us to get any.”

“Believe me, I’ve tried for a long time.” Jerry said. “Maybe sometime in the future when you’ve grown stronger we can actually get real answers, but until then we’re going to have to just wonder. I mean, I’m not going to stop trying, but –”

A trolley bumped into Jerry’s legs, and she let out a theatrical sigh. “I know, I know.” She said. “I’m here to drop off the squad, as usual. Unlike me, these four are from a few years back, so they’re not caught up to date with current events. Anyway, I’m going to go wander around until I find where I’m supposed to be, I trust you can handle these four?”

“We’re not kids.” Amelia harumphed. “We don’t need handlers.”

“T-though, um, I won’t say no to being watched over.” Lia said. “It’d be nice for my peace of mind.”

“What’s this about being watched over?” A blonde woman asked, walking up to the group with a redhead and a succubus who looked remarkably similar to the other succubus following close behind. “Oh, more people this time, nice to meet you!”

“Ah, you were so cute when you’re young, I forgot!” Connie said, smiling at the blonde. “What are you three up to at this point? What year is it for you?”

“We are in the middle of our final exam for our training with The Rumors.” The younger succubus said. “I presume you are from our future, like the other members of your group?”

“Oh, right, I forgot how stiff you were back in the day.” Connie said. “Yes, everyone else here is from fifty to sixty years in your future.”

“Why does everyone feel the need to comment on how cute we are?” The redhead asked. “We’re basically fully grown, we can’t have changed that much.”

Eve chuckled. “Physically, maybe. I think it’s just the contrast between the you in our time and the you from your time being so big that people can’t help but notice. And yes, you’ve changed a little physically, but it’s mostly attitude and how you hold yourself that does it.”

“I guess.” The blonde said. “Anyway, who are the new people?”

“Ah, I’m Jerry, if you couldn’t tell.” Jerry said. “Things are happening in the future, you’ll understand in a while. But really, I should be going, Kali, are you coming with?”

“No, I feel like my place is here today.” The succubus from the first group, who must have been Kali, said. “You go enjoy, though!”

Jerry nodded, then left the group alone. There was a moment of silence, then the angel spoke. “Well, you guys met me briefly during that sparring session last time, but I’m Eve, one of Lilith’s Parallels. Dunno why I’m here today, but I’m not gonna complain about a free party.”

“Um, I’m Connie.” Connie said. “I’m the girlfriend of these three, and god of commerce for Jerry.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Amelia, and after a moment she sighed. “I’m Amelia, and we don’t need protecting. I’m more than capable of beating any of you, so don’t test me.”

Eve snorted. “That’s what you said when we met in real life. You were…just about the fourth weakest person in the room, then. And yes, you were fully unbound, and even more powerful than you used to be.”

“Fourth weakest?!” Amelia said indignantly. “I find that hard to believe.”

“U-um, who was in the room?” Connie asked.

“Everyone who’s here now plus Jerry, Amy, and Fortune.” Eve said. “It took Lilith about five seconds to kill Amelia. Or…effectively kill, we kept it nonlethal.”

“As if!” Amelia said. “There’s no way I’d lose that fast!”

“Um…sorry, Amelia, I think you might.” Connie said.

“I wouldn’t be taking my chances with her, unbound or not.” Rose added. “I could see myself having a chance at beating you, I can’t see myself having a ghost of a chance against Lilith fighting all-out.”

“Y-yeah.” Lia said. “You didn’t see her fight, she’s…different.”

“More different than we thought.” The tall hybrid, presumably Lilith, said. “And Eve, stop antagonizing Amelia, you know how she gets.”

“You don’t know me.” Amelia said flatly. “I don’t know who you met, but it couldn’t have been me.”

Connie sighed. “Amelia, they’re literally from our future.” She said. “There’s a possibility that they’ve met you.”

Eve snorted. “We haven’t just met her, we’ve been spending hours every day studying with her and attempting to make friends. While I will admit she’s a little feistier now than she is in our time, it’s still definitely Amelia.”

“S-so, we do get to know you in a few years?” Lia asked. “How?”

Lilith, Kali, and Eve shared a glance. “Probably best not to say.” Kali said. “But it’s under friendly terms, don’t worry.”

Lia let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear.”

“Why don’t we talk about this over food?” The blonde suggested.

“Good idea.” Eve said. “I’ll go save the table.”

“We’ll see you all in a bit, okay?” Kali said, linking arms with Lilith and dragging her towards the buffet tables. Eve likewise went off to find a table for them to sit at, leaving Amelia’s group and the other group alone.

“I apologize, but I have some business with Eve.” The remaining succubus said. “I am going to hurry and grab my food separately so I may speak with her before everyone arrives.”

“Huh? I mean…sure, but this seems sudden.” The redhead said.

“Again, my apologies.” The succubus said. “I have some personal developments that I feel she would help with. I feel that, should I be unable to, that I would not be able to properly enjoy this party.”

“Well, it’s not like we can stop you.” The blonde said. “Go on ahead, we’ll meet up with you later.”

“I think we’ll go on our own too.” Lia said. “We’ll meet back up with you at the table.”

The two groups split, and Amelia couldn’t help but give the others a confused look. “You know those people?”

“Oh, right, you haven’t met them.” Connie said. “I haven’t mingled with them at one of these parties, but I know them in our time. The blonde is Tess, she grows up to be the strongest person in our faction, the redhead is Ellie, the semi-distant second, and the succubus is Maven, the less-distant third.

“Maven’s the lots-of-greats great niece to Kali, so if you thought they looked similar, that’s why. They’re from a royal family, and they tended to keep their appearances similar through magical means. Don’t ask me why, it was something about the culture on their plane.”

“Really?” Lia asked. “Stronger than Lilith? Lilith kind of one-sidedly demolished her whole party in a spar last time we were here.”

Connie snorted. “Lia, the them we just talked to and the them in our time are in completely different leagues. They grew in power at a rate that we’d never seen before. But…you might be right, and Lilith might have a shot at it now, maybe? I don’t think she’d beat Tess if it really came down to it, Tess has a habit of always pulling out the win, but I could see her beating the other two.”

“We could just ask Lilith.” Rose suggested. “She’d surely know, since she has apparently been working with them in the future.”

“Good call.” Lia said. “Let’s get our food, and we can go talk.”

Lia, Rose, and Connie guided Amelia around the serving tables, explaining foods she didn’t know and filling her in a bit more about the party and other things she should know to be able to keep up with the conversation. They quickly finished with that, and Rose led them off in a random direction, but nonetheless they found the table where Lilith’s group was in no time at all.

As they arrived, Maven was in the middle of hugging an adult version of Eve. “Woah, Eve?” Lia asked. “Is that you?”

Eve separated from Maven, giving Lia a quizzical look. “Of course it’s me.” She said. “Who else would I be?”

“Eve, you’re older right now.” Kali reminded her.

“What? Oh, right, sorry.” Eve aged back to her usual age, walking back over to her spot. “I was giving Maven a hug and needed to be bigger so I could give a better hug.” She said. “So, I made myself older, no big deal.”

“How?” Amelia demanded, perplexed. “You didn’t use any magic, and if you actually know me, you know I can tell.” From the moment she had seen the new person, she had been scanning her magically, and everything was…normal. The signature indicated that it was indeed Eve, and she didn’t use Mana at all during the transformation.

Eve smirked. “Sure didn’t. I’ve got full and complete control over my form, to an extent you can’t even imagine.” She jerked a thumb at Lilith. “Most of Lilith’s body is composed of brain matter, pretty much everything that wasn’t the heart and the lungs was removed for it. And, the best part is, we don’t even have to use Mana to do any of this, and whatever we turn into is our base form. You were quite confused when we showed it to you for the first time.”

Lilith grew another set of arms, her suit morphing to allow for the extra appendages. “Hit me with your best dispel.” She instructed, magical energy indicating that it was her base form. “That should clear things up.”

 “Grow another.” Amelia said. “How do I know that you don’t normally have four arms?”

Lilith shrugged, growing yet another set of arms, magical energy once again indicating that this was her base form. “Suit yourself.”

“Woah.” Tess said, stopping next to Eve as she and Ellie arrived at the table. “What’s happening here?”

“We’re explaining to Amelia just how different we are from everything she knows.” Eve said. “Watch.”

Fortunately, Amelia was unbound here, and she was able to pour a significant amount of her Mana and some of her Worship into the strongest dispel she could muster.  She fired it off, and though it impacted the unresisting Lilith, nothing happened, not even the slightest fluctuation of her Mana.

“See?” Lilith said, removing her extra arms. “Base form.”

Amelia immediately cast the spell again, and once again nothing changed. “That’s not…I’m unbound here, I shouldn’t…”

Connie laid a hand on Amelia’s shoulder, shaking her head. “Lilith doesn’t play by our rules.” She said. “In that sense, she’s almost like an Administrator, just…ignoring different rules.”

“She’s an Administrator now too!” Kali said happily. “Or…sub-Administrator, pending full status once she finishes her training.”

“Or never, if we can’t find a way for Kali and I to share our planes.” Lilith said. “Look, things are happening in the future, and things are moving fast because of it.”

Connie gave Lilith a wary look. “Does this have to do with why Jerry…?”

Lilith sighed. “Yes. Yes, it’s what you think. No, it’s not projected for centuries or millennia, we just know it’s a certainty at this point. We’re pretty sure we’re the only faction that knows right now, so we’ve got a huge head start, and by the time the others realize we’re hoping to be too far ahead to be stopped. Don’t worry about it for now, it’s under control for the moment.”

“Oh.” Connie said quietly.

“What’s she talking about?” Lia asked.

“Administrator politics.” Connie said. “There’s one thing in particular that would cause Jerry to act like this, and it’s not the most ideal thing.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it, not any of you.” Eve said. “We’re very optimistic about things, and your future selves are thriving. Just enjoy the party for now, okay?”

“If you insist.” Connie said.

They had small talk while they ate, and Amelia couldn’t help but be wary as they ate. Still, as the dinner progressed, nothing happened, and the others talked and laughed like they were good friends. It was such a pleasant atmosphere that Amelia couldn’t help but unwind a little, and she even joined in the conversation a couple of times, asking some questions but mostly staying quiet.

Finally, the dinner ended, and Amelia stood. She gave Lilith a look, a slight anticipation building within her. “I want to duel.” She said. “Prove you’re not just all talk.”

Lilith shrugged, looking at the others. “Only if everyone else is fine with it.” She said. “I don’t want to stall everyone else out on account of us.”

“I, for one, would be interested.” Rose said. “Jerry aside, Amelia is the strongest person I know, and I would like to see how you compare.”

“Um…as long as you won’t be mad when you lose, Amelia. I promise, promise, promise you that you can’t beat her.” Connie said.

Amelia really didn’t like how everyone was underestimating her, but she’d let it slide for now. “She’s just a god, you of all people know I can handle gods.”

“She handled three at once last time and didn’t break a sweat.” Tess said. “I don’t think she showed even half of her full potential.”

 “Yes, but five seconds?” Amelia said. “It can’t be that bad.”

“If the party allows, we can settle that here and now.” Lilith offered. “It has no collateral damage whatsoever.”

There was a sort of feeling of acknowledgement, and Lilith began to amass an overwhelming amount of Mana. Internally panicking, Amelia marshalled all of her strength in an attempt to thwart whatever was happening only for her attempt to be crushed by even more Mana. And then Lilith finished her spell, and Amelia got a window.

The effect of the spell kicked in, and Amelia was knocked to the ground, feeling for all the world like she had just been hit with…well, the entire world. It was an overwhelming blow, a force the likes of which Amelia didn’t think she could muster, ridiculous as that sounded.

“I could have made that lethal just as easily.” Lilith said calmly. “To paraphrase what Connie said when this happened in my time, you’re a very big fish in a small pond.”

“Was that that instakill you mentioned last time?” Tess asked. “It looked like nothing happened and then she just…fell.”

“Yeah.” Lilith said. “I didn’t use it last time because I felt like it would be unsporting, but…Amelia wanted me to prove that it only took five seconds.”

“I told you, Amelia.” Connie said quietly. “Lilith is in the running for the most powerful non-Administrator in our faction.” She paused, looking up at Lilith. “Is that decided by your point in time?”

Lilith shrugged. “Not really? We haven’t dueled, not really, but she says she’s fairly certain I’ve eclipsed her.”

“Is this someone we know?” Ellie asked curiously.

“Sort of.” Lilith said, smiling wryly.

“Sort of?” Maven said. “So, someone we have heard of but have not met?”

“Should we tell them?” Lilith asked, looking at Kali and Connie.

“Eh, why not.” Kali said mischievously.

“Might as well, I suppose.” Connie added.

“It’s Tess.” Eve said. “It’s why we were so confident we’d beat her last time, her older, significantly stronger, self told us that she wasn’t sure she could win.”

Tess stared at them, eyes narrowing. “You’re messing with me.” She accused. “You’re what, fifty years in the future? There’s no way I’m stronger than people like Gramps by then.”

“All three of you are.” Lilith said. “I haven’t met Evan personally, so I can’t truly compare, but everyone I’ve met points to Tess as the strongest, and the two of you as second and third. Of course, this is counting Descent in the mix, but at this point it’s generally accepted that Appointed and their gods are treated as one unit for this purpose.”

“The other two can’t, but you can beat Descended Evan even without Descent.” Kali added. “It turns out that Monster Breeder was far, far, far stronger than anyone had any way of knowing.”

“What does that mean?” Connie asked.

“Things are happening and we learned some new stuff recently that we flat-out couldn’t have known earlier.” Kali said. “You remember that conversation we had right before you started dating those three?”

“Yes?”

“We now know for sure that it wasn’t a coincidence, and those three,” Kali motioned at Tess, Ellie, and Maven, “Fortune, and even you were part of it as well.”

Connie froze, staring at Kali with wide eyes. “O-oh.” She said.

“What’s this all about?” Amelia wheezed, getting back to her feet. “I don’t appreciate all this cryptic talk.”

“We really shouldn’t say more.” Eve said. “Honestly we probably said a bit too much already. For now, just be content knowing that it’s a huge boon to you in the short term.”

“Whatever.” Amelia sighed, deciding to just give up and go with it for the time being. She clearly couldn’t control the pace of things here, not when she wasn’t the most powerful person in the room, and her lovers seemed to be enjoying themselves, so there wasn’t much point in arguing further. “What were we going to do again?”

“Games?” Lia suggested. “They have a bunch of stuff we’re not used to here.”

Tess and Ellie shared a look. “I’d kind of like to try laser tag with all of us.” Tess said. “It’ll be more interesting than when it was just five of us.”

“Laser…tag?” Amelia asked.

“A game from their universe.” Rose said. “Lia and I played it with them during our first meeting at these parties.”

“I-it’s in some of the other planes in our universe too.” Connie said. “So, I know the gist.”

“Then it’s worth a try, I guess.” Amelia said.

The game ended up being…interesting. It was a war simulation of some sort, where people shot at each other with “guns”, inasmuch as the word could be applied to the sleek, easy to use things, and tried to gain points. Everyone’s abilities were equalized during this time, so in the end it was raw talent that won battles.

Amelia had to admit that it was fun, if only because she felt like she had a chance again, some element of control. Yes, nine times out of ten Lilith would still catch Amelia first, but Lilith moved like someone who clearly knew what she was doing with the weapon, and according to her guns like this were her main weapon.

Hearing that someone used a gun as their main weapon was a little unbelievable; guns were unwieldy sticks that only provided the power of a low-level spell, and they were a huge pain to use. Between the powder and shot needed to fire a gun and the training needed to do so, it was often more cost-effective to train troops in simple magic, or even just archery. You could fire a volley of arrows or spells from the back line without compromising a formation, but guns…it didn’t work that way.

Eventually, they decided to try a game where everyone was at their full power, no equalization or bindings in play. That game made Amelia feel a lot better about herself; though she was on the same team as Lilith, Eve was on the opposing team, and she was apparently just as strong. And, without that instant-kill ability in play, Amelia had much more agency to work against her. In fact, Amelia dominated the battlefield, the only people remotely capable of standing against her being Kali and Eve. Still, about halfway through the game, Amelia felt that something was off, and after a while, she realized what it was; she hadn’t seen Lilith or Lia in quite a while.

She tried casting spells to look for them, but those were countered by Kali, and she was pinned in place by Eve, so Amelia couldn’t get out of her spot to go check. She had it on good word that they were perfectly safe here, and she doubted the others would actually hurt Lia, so she didn’t try anything too reckless, but it was still worrying.

Finally, the round ended, and Amelia couldn’t help but give a sigh of relief, rushing over to Lia. “There you are!” She said. “I hadn’t seen you in a while and was getting worried.”

“Um, yeah, I was a little overwhelmed, but Lilith helped calm me down and keep me from the worst of it, so it’s fine now.” Lia said.

Amelia stopped, then turn to Lilith, a new feeling of respect brewing for the woman. Lilith didn’t have to do that, she could have easily said that it was just one person out of the game and left it at that, but she didn’t, she took the time to help Lia out. “Thank you.” Amelia said, nodding her head in acknowledgement. “I appreciate you being there for her when I wasn’t.”

“I’m more than happy to help.” Lilith said. “You guys are my friends in the future, and it hurts me to see you hurting. Anyone would do the same, really.”

“It’s reassuring to know we’ve made such a potent friend.” Connie said. “Thank you.”

“It’s not just me, all of us are friends in the future.” Lilith replied. “There’s a reason this group was picked to be together for the party.”

There was a silence, then Tess spoke. “Well…that’s probably enough laser tag for now, then. Perhaps we should try something less stimulating for a bit?”

“Mini golf?” Eve suggested. “It should keep us moving but it’s not exactly…hard work.”

“That sounds good.” Lia said. “Thank you.”

“Mini golf?” Amelia asked.

“It’s a very simple game, I’ll explain it to you on the way over.” Rose said.

And so the rest of the evening went. They played a few more games together, watched something called a “movie”, and ended up chatting until, finally, Amelia felt this sort of tugging that she instinctively knew meant the party was ending.

“Right, well, I suppose I’ll see you all at the next party, and, failing that, I’ll see you all…well, for me, probably tomorrow, for you guys…decades to a few years, depending on when you’re from.” Lilith said. “Pleasure hanging out with you.”

“Yeah!” Kali said. “It was a lot of fun!”

“I agree.” Eve said. “Keep up the good work.”

Their group vanished, and Tess turned to everyone else. “Well, it’s been nice seeing you all again.” She said. “It’s good to hear that we’ll be getting along in the future. I know the three of us are, apparently, different in the future, but I hope that we can get along like this then, too.”

“You’re not that different.” Connie said. “Just surer of yourselves. I’m sure that, when the time comes, we’ll get along swimmingly.”

“I hope so.” Maven said. “This was a pleasure.”

“Yeah, it was a good time!” Ellie agreed. “Later!”

“So? What’d you think of them?” Connie asked, turning to Amelia.

“They…were okay, I guess.” Amelia said.

“High praise, coming from you.” Rose smiled.

“I guess.” Amelia admitted. “I don’t know, this whole thing is just weird.”

“I know.” Lia said. “It was even weirder the first time I was here and didn’t know what an Administrator was. Then I met Jerry like…a day later, and it made more sense the next time.”

“You get used to it.” Rose replied.

Amelia frowned, shaking her head. There was a buzzing in the back of her consciousness, like someone was trying to mess with her mind. It subsided after a moment, and there weren’t any residual traces of magical tampering, so she just wrote it off as another oddity stemming from the absence of the Urge. It wouldn’t be the first time she had experienced something like this because of that, so she wasn’t overly alarmed. Still, she was in the middle of some magical surveillance, so she made a note to come back to it later, when she was less busy and could focus on it more.