Finding Glory was not that easy.
I had to resort to summoning all the ravens I could and send them out looking for blonds in red dresses. That was about as advanced instructions as I could make them understand. I was just glad they were Westorsi ravens or they would had been even stupider.
I only had one false positive before I found the real deal.
I walked into the hotel and took the lift to the top floor before I knocked at the door. There was a noise on the other side as somebody looked through viewer and then there was a small squeak.
Rolling my eyes I knocked again "Listen, this can end two ways. Me talking with Glorificus or me talking with Glorificus while annoyed. You pick."
There was some scuffling and then the door opened to reveal a ugly creature. Some kind of brown demon covered with warts.
"Oh great one, The Glorious vision of Beauty is waiting in the other room." it said while bowing deeply.
I rolled my eyes and walked past the servant into the other room. Nice rooms. Presidential suite.
Glory was sitting in a comfy chair, almost a throne when I entered the 'living room'. She looked much more comfortable now but she was clearly nervous as she got to her (new) high heels.
"I greet you, Walker of Worlds." Glory said and bent her head, almost bowing.
I raised my eyebrow. First time I actually get the respect of my station and it's from a semi nuts narcissistic hell goddess.
Great.
"Glorificus." I said while looking around "Nice place."
"It was the best these primitives had in this place." She said and I frowned.
"I happen to like these primitives." I told her and she swallowed.
"They have their good sides." she quickly added.
I slowly nodded "What do you know of my kind?" I asked and he the hell goddess swallowed.
"You can create and destroy life, entire worlds. You are as far above gods as we are above mortals. The primitives in this would might be too stupid to show me proper respect, but I have no intention of being killed." she said and I hmmed, eyeing the blond deity.
Was it me, or did she seem smarter than what I remember for the series? Or maybe it's because she is not interacting with somebody she see as beneath her?
"What do you want with The Key?" I asked and she swallowed.
"I wish to return to my own World, Walker of Worlds. The Key is the only way I know how." she said and I raised my eyebrow.
"You do realize that The Key would destroy this Plane and likely several others as well if used?" I asked and she nodded.
"Yes, but why would I c..." she said before she seemed to remember that I liked these primitives "I mean...I dont know any other way."
I slowly nodded "And how exactly did you plan to survive? Throw yourself into The Blind Eternities and hope to survive and find your way home?" I asked her and she gave me a blank look.
"The what?" she asked and I felt a urge to facepalm.
"Oh for crying out loud..." I said, channeling Jack O'Neill for a moment. "You don't even know what...You are like a fucking chimp at the stick of a 747."
I shook my head "Look, the space between worlds destroy ANYTHING not of my kind."
"But...I was sent here." she said and I nodded.
"Yes, there are ways to travel, but it require rituals and advanced techniques, like weakened dimensional barriers! And most likely some kind of device set up at each side. It's less traveling between worlds and more teleporting between them! Glorificus, what you tried to do, would have killed you!"
She watched me with wide eyes and I sighed "Besides, you are residing in the body of a mortal, am I right?" I asked and she nodded so I continued "Your...well, lets use 'soul' for now as this language lack the proper terms was likely everything that was sent here and bound into the mortals body. Your real body are likely dead."
Glory looked like she was about to cry "...What are you saying?" she asked and I leaned against the couch.
"You are likely stuck here." I said and shook my head "Besides, if your 'rivals' managed to defeat you and send you here, why would they not be able to do the same again? Especially if you came home like this? They have entrenched positions and you would be new on the scene. They would stomp you to the ground."
"I just want to go home." She said sadly, burring her fingers to the knuckles in the wood of the chair she was standing next to "I miss my worshipers...all the gifts and gold and sacrifices."
I watched the hell goddess for a moment, trying to decide if she actually was evil or if people actually didn't even register to her.
"How is your head?" I asked her and she turned to me.
"Why?" she asked and I frowned.
"You are fighting for control of that mortal, he still has his soul and he is on his home turf. How do you stay sane?" I asked and she swallowed.
"I...drain sanity from primitives." she said and I tapped my finger against my leg. I already knew that.
"Come here." I said and she slowly scooted closer, to afraid to disobey.
"Please...dont hurt me." Glory almost begged as I put my hand on her head.
"I will...try not to." I answered as I closed my eyes and channeled my Blue and Black mana.
This was going to be...tricky. And it might fail.
But if it failed, she would still not be a threat to any one so...win/win?
I dug my mental fingers into the soul of Ben and the 'Soul' of Glory, slowly moving things around. Very, very carefully I made connections between them.
Messing with souls was not something I was used to, but in a way it was easier than handling Minds. Less fragile and easier to move around. Less moving parts so to speak.
Shift Ben a bit to the side, move Glory in place, tie things down a bit there, make a small knot there...
When I pulled back and opened my eyes again it was already dark out side.
I let her go and she collapsed onto the floor, panting "W-what..."
I looked down at her "I shifted things around a bit. You no longer need to fight the mortal, you are both anchored equally in the body. 50% of the time, it is his. The rest it is yours. You don't need to drain sanity to keep him suppressed...nor will it help you in any way."
"But...why...should he..." she panted and I frowned.
"It is his body. Be grateful I gave you that much....If you start killing locals again, I will know...and I wont be as forgiving again." I told the hell goddess and she nodded weakly.
"B-but what am I to do now?" Glory asked and I shrugged.
"Not my problem. Build a new cult of followers. Dress in a latex cat suit and fight crime. I don't really care...just get out of town and don't kill the locals." I said as I turned to walk out.
Sadly I was unable to gather her essence. I got a good feel of it, but I lacked enough Red to gather it. Same problem as my damn pistol.
AN// Big thanks to CKirk for betaing this part.
