The answer to my problem came to me quickly, not long after Tristan joined me with Dad, Abby, and Theresa in one of the sanctuary's many English garden-style sections. The pressure from the sparks continued to grow stronger and stronger and it took an increasing concentration to keep the essence from taking what it sought.

What I thought might work was something like what I'd done when convincing reality itself that a person was in the wrong place, forcing the being to instantly relocate somewhere else. With the essence, I couldn't do quite the same thing, but it was similar enough to grasp the model almost immediately.

Closing my eyes, I designed a carefully-constructed link, outside of myself and the endpoints I would connect. It needed to simulate the characteristics of the essence having consumed the spark, but without snatching it from each survivor and killing them in the process. I built the link over long moments, feeling the essence become more and more insistent.

I needed to test my theory, not wanting to risk an actual person in case I failed. I created a clone of Uni, matching the doppelganger as closely to the girl as possible. I wasn't exactly sure how to replicate the sparks themselves, not being certain how to claw back the many complicated folds within what had, at first, seemed so simple and easily-defined, so I mimicked one as best I could, attaching it to the clone and speeding up the process of integration until the spark's vitality was tied directly to Uni's doppelganger.

I felt the essence try to reach it immediately. Not quite the same urgency, but the faux spark I'd created held enough qualities of a real one to cause the essence to try to consume it when it pulsed.

Very carefully, I moved the link into place, holding back both ends until I was sure it fit, making small adjustments to account for the clone's differences. Snapped into place, I let go my hold on the essence and felt it ripple. I knew immediately the idea had worked. The spark was still in the clone, still tied directly to the faux life force I'd instilled in the doppelganger. The essence felt satisfied, if that was the right word, as if it had consumed the spark and no longer felt a separation between them.

"It worked..." I breathed, opening my eyes.

Tristan nodded. "Still risky trying it on a real person..."

"I know," I replied, "but I don't think I can win out against the essence..."

"You must control it, Tera!"

"I know!" I spat back, "I'm trying, but right now, it still has freedoms I can barely restrain. I feel my control slipping right now, and they're all gonna be dead in minutes if I don't do something!"

Tristan grimaced but just nodded silently.

Dad held my hand and asked, "Can I help?"

I shook my head, "I don't think so." I let out a long breath. "I have to try before my grip slips any more..."

No further protest voiced, I reached out to Uni in Caracus' realm. Now that I knew how the boundary worked, and how it was wrapped inside the sanctuary, I could do more than simply travel there. I had full awareness of the place, as if it was really little different than other parts of the Universe. I felt Uni's spark pulsing, pulsing, pulsing, and the girl's body was reacting as if under stress, overheating, muscles twitching, her brain on fire.

I was running out of time.

I formed another link, this time adjusting for how I had to pass across the realm's boundaries to get there, that step not likely to matter once the link was in place. It should work from and to anywhere once solidified and accepted. Uni's heart was racing, and I touched her mind just enough to feel the panic in her dreams.

I pushed the link into place and was just about to open the end closest to the spark when I felt Caracus push to me in a booming, horrified tone, What are you doing, Tera?!

I'm losing control of the sparks. I have to save the survivors!

Stop this! You are opening my realm to other eyes!

What choice is there, Caracus?!

Let them die! Stop this or our deal is off!

"Fuck!" I screamed.

"What is it?" Dad said with concern.

I told them of Caracus' demand, my grip on the essence slipping with every second. It had almost drawn close enough to Uni's spark to consume it directly.

"Do as he says," Tristan told me quietly, "we need his help..."

"Fuck that, Tristan!" Dad growled. "People will die!"

"People always die," Tristan said firmly, "we had a deal with Caracus. We're risking exposing him with what Tera is trying. We can't do that!"

I stamped my feet and held up my hands. "There's no time to argue. I have an idea."

Those around me hushed as I raced to put in place a replica of Caracus' realm. I used all the rules and definitions I'd learned when probing the boundaries, piggybacking on the Sanctuary's protections. It was much smaller, compact, merely functional and not expansive. One small change I made was to include in the rules an exception for the link to the sparks. It locked down that pathway like I couldn't for Caracus since the rule was deep in the definition and would have taken more time than I had to add to the other realm. My realm took form, hidden just like Caracus', and I told reality to relocate the survivors immediately.

Once they were moved, I reformed the link, pushed it into place, took a very deep breath, then opened the essence to Uni's spark.

For long seconds, there was no reaction, but then the most amazing sensation passed through me. It was like the essence had yielded to me. It recognized the trick I'd tried to play, but instead of fighting me, it acknowledged it had been bested and accepted my solution as a useful compromise. I flushed with satisfaction and pride when I felt the essence embrace Uni's spark, leaving it in place, the girl's fear and stress sinking back to low levels immediately.

"It worked!" I breathed, finally.

"What did you do, Tera?" Tristan asked me with a look of dread on her face.

"I made my own realm, just like the one Caracus created. I just copied it, made a couple of adjustments to mask the link's access to the place, and sent the spark-holders there. I linked to Uni... and the essence gave in and accepted my solution..."

"Jesus," Theresa whispered, "that means..."

Tristan completed her thought, "Tera is mastering the essence. Had it ever directly acknowledged you, Tera? Ever shown any sign that you were more than a husk?"

"Maybe, briefly, when I'd changed Kacy's swimsuit color, but that was not personal to the essence... this was the first I've felt its awareness of me."

"Then you are suddenly better off than you were moments ago," he replied more softly than his earlier protests. "This means... this means you should be able to access even more powers. My guess is that the essence considered itself your master, deflecting your attempts to fully control it. Now, perhaps, the situation has reversed, or at least, you are now equals..."

"I'll have to test that later... I'm already feeling Juliet's spark pulling harder, but... it's like the essence is not so insistent... it just waits for my direction now."

I closed my eyes again and spent several minutes creating and connecting links to all the other spark-holders. When done, though I felt a little drained, the magic of the sanctuary kept me from totally collapsing. "It's done. They're all connected."

I felt Theresa order us food and tea and wine. I rechecked the protections I'd given us when we arrived in the open-air chamber, a shield in place hiding us from easy viewing and giving some measure of warning should anyone show interest in us.

I relaxed, leaning against Dad, while we ate roast beef and Swiss sandwiches, grapes and cherries, and drank steaming cups of tea, Tristan and Theresa adding red wine to their meal. Abby was on Dad's other side, and she asked me quietly, "Tera?"

"Yeah?"

"What about me?"

"Huh?"

Abby leaned up and looked at me, "I have a spark, too, right?"

I nearly choked. I searched her and felt the spark still in place. It hadn't changed or grown more radiant. It didn't pulse. The essence didn't seek it out. "Why is hers different?"

Tristan thought he had an answer, "Maybe you completed some circle..."

"Explain," Dad said quietly.

"Tera has only been intimate with one of your former partners, right, Quinn? Just Abby?"

Dad thought a moment, "Well, yeah. I mean, there was Lacy, but..."

"But that was a doppelganger," I replied, "plus, Lacy was never a real partner of yours."

"True..."

I looked at Abby, "Have you felt anything different over the last few days?"

She shrugged, looking a little sheepish, "More horny than usual, I guess... mostly 'cause I'm bored... And... I suppose... I'm kinda in love with you... and your Dad..."

I smiled, "Yeah... I feel that, too... but I mean... anything... odd, anything to do with the spark? Yours never sought out the essence, it never pulsed like the others did."

Tristan said, "Maybe that's the key, then... We know the essence moves around during intimacy, sometimes transferring to the partner, sometimes implanting in the embryo formed as a result... maybe, somehow, it can do what it needs to do with the spark in a manner less deadly to the hosts, when there is some level of sexual interaction..."

"Hmmm..." I thought about it a moment, then ignored the idea and tried to find another plausible solution. I came up empty. It was certainly plausible that some other unknown reason caused Abby's spark to act differently, but I couldn't find any detailed explanation which fit.

I turned inward while also examining Abby's spark. Slowly, so slowly, I traced the essence's qualities, its structure, of a sort, until I found something matching what was inside my best friend. "Hey... I see what it was doing..." I breathed.

"What?" Tristan insisted, "What do you see?"

"Abby's spark... it was the essence trying to grow something... a power set.. a... a tool, I think. Like... A shortcut, maybe... something it can do already but which takes a lot of coordination. Let me try harder..."

Closing my eyes again, I isolated the spark's mirror in the essence. It was something like trying to isolate the lungs inside a living body. There were so many connections to other systems that there wasn't a clear demarkation, in some ways similar to Caracus' realm, and also the one I created earlier. But I could figure out what it was doing if I paid attention to those connections.

I became convinced the tool involved destruction. At first, it was just a general sense of things, but the more I studied the layout, the other parts it was linked to, the more sure I was that it was an offensive weapon, of sorts. Something capable of invalidating defenses of other essences, other gods. It was a fire-and-forget sort of power, like a lance of fire or lightning, though nothing so mundanely-defined. I could feel the sense of how it worked, that it didn't necessarily completely destroy a foe, but it wounded him, opened his defenses to further assault.

The essence, it seemed, was preparing for war.

- - -

The next surprise shouldn't really have been much of a shock. Not if I'd thought much about it. The spark in Abby was isolated, without all the controls and flexibility and interconnectivity and access to rules and structures provided by being fully consumed by the essence, but it was much like a mounted gun which could be picked up from its stand, carried somewhere far away, and shoulder-fired. Inaccurate, easily overheated, and clearly not capable of all the power the module had inside me, combined directly with the essence, but it was still a functioning tool.

Abby had no clue what I meant when I asked her to try to sense the spark herself and see if she could find a way to massage it. I drew up protections around her, hoping to mitigate any accident which might come from trying to fire an unknown weapon. I eased into Abby's mind and sent her the sense of what I wanted her to do. I felt her try, then try again, failing to find the footprint which I detected so easily.

We tried for some time before it seemed we had reached a dead end. No matter how clearly I pointed to the spark's ersatz controls, Abby was unable to take hold in any way. I suppose it was really no different from how Dad could not sense or control the trace of the time-loop powers the essence had left inside him.

After giving up with Abby I moved us all to our new safe realm, showing Tristan and Theresa the keys, of sorts, needed to pass through the defensive barriers. The interior of my realm matched that of the house my Dad and I lived in before being forced away. It was much more comfortable and I think we all felt less stress being somewhere more like a home and less like an insane asylum.

No longer in the sanctuary, at least not so directly, my weariness set in hard and fast, but I pushed through long enough to give Tristan a special treat. I had him join me inside the new part of the realm. "What do you think?"

"Jesus, Tera," he breathed, "this is amazing!"

I'd recreated, as best I remembered it, Tristan's workshop, complete with bubbling cauldrons, barrels of oily, half-burned rags, and rows upon rows of tools, gadgets, and equipment. "It won't be quite the same since this isn't Earth and I don't think I'm yet up to trying to replicate all the rules there, but... maybe it might give you a place which feels more like... home?"

He smiled at me and gave me a big hug, "It's perfect."

"You can adjust it as you need, of course," I told him, "I've left in place some simple tools to let you conjure what you need directly. Just don't pull anything from outside the realm."

"I won't. This will help a lot, Tera," Tristan said, planting a gentle kiss on my lips, "thank you so much..."

- - -

When I'd rested, I realized something which frightened me. During those frantic moments trying to keep the essence from killing the survivors, I'd blocked Caracus from sending me his thoughts. But I still had an awareness of him, almost like he was pounding on a door some distance away from me. His shouting, if one could call it that, was formless but insistent and angry.

I took a deep breath, carefully opened the personal passage through my defenses and into Caracus', and sent him, Calm down.

What have you done?!

I've protected myself and those with me.

You've broken our deal! You nearly exposed me!

I've done neither, I sent, please calm down. I'll come to you to discuss.

There was no response for a moment and I wondered if Caracus was then debating whether to turn on me for what he seemed to believe was some sort of betrayal. Finally, I heard, I am where I am.

I was in his presence immediately.

Caracus looked tense, angry, his grey-green dimpled flesh taking on an ashen quality, as if all the blood, or whatever his body's approximation thereof might be, had drained from his face and hands.

I told him, "I haven't broken our deal. You've kept your end, so far, and I do not wish to work against you. I just have no more need of your specific protections at this time."

"How? How have you done this?"

"That's not important. What we need to discuss is how you can help me help you. I've... reached a point in my control of the essence. I believe it has... reached an accommodation with me."

Caracus' eyes widened, more bright orange light radiating over my face. "But the visions... they are not complete?"

"They are not."

He began to pace, more gliding around the chamber than stepping through it. "This is not what I expected. This... accommodation... the essence has marked you as an equal?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Then you are beyond my help, Tera. I knew ways in which you could reach that point, but I do not know how to help you further."

"But you have your own power, your own essence, right? Surely you can help me learn about what is possible?"

He took a deep breath, lips never moving as he replied, "In a sense, yes, but the thing you hold is nothing like the source of my power. What I have is more like a... hmm... a toy. A very dangerous toy, one which, when combined with other toys, such as the one Fenya possessed, can approximate the power of an old god, at least at times, but it is limited by itself. Oh, I can do great things, no doubt. But a true essence? You hold power beyond my own."

"Then teach me what other gods can do that I can't conceive. Teach me what they've done to protect themselves, even if you don't know the mechanics of it. Tell me how they fight, how they torture, how they explore reality. I can barely understand a small part of all this. I need to figure things out quickly before The Paladin or Daedalus or anyone else finds me."

Caracus nodded, "I see wisdom in this. Fine, I will do as you say. But I must hear, one more time clearly, that you have not broken our deal."

"I have not, Caracus. Our deal holds. The only difference is that I don't need you to shelter the spark-holders. That's on me now. What I need from you is what I've said. What you need from me... we'll figure out how I can help you there, so long as we survive long enough to do so. And that's why I need you to level me up as fast as possible."

He watched me a moment. For just a brief tick, Caracus' eyes flashed from brilliant orange to a bright green, something like my own eyes, I thought. It lasted just a second and was gone quickly. I didn't ask him what it meant. Caracus waved me into the newly-conjured pillow seats and began to tell me about wars fought by the gods and those with great power.

- - -

I let Tristan know where I was not long after joining Caracus then relaxed and listened as the grey-green skinned being gave me a history, as best he knew it, of conflicts between powerful beings. He knew few details of how they fought, more giving an overview of the context and the consequences. It gave me little to help learn about my powers, but at least I got a general sense of the sorts of destruction and temperaments involved.

I asked a few questions, but Caracus usually shrugged and told me he that he had no answers. By the time he finished, I'm certain many hours had passed and I was famished. I conjured myself a sandwich and began to eat.

He smiled, though his lips didn't move when he said, "So inefficient..."

"What is?" I asked between mouthfuls.

"Why not skip the food and simply create what you need in your body? You don't have to eat to be nourished, you know."

I thought a moment. He was right, of course. It was quite easy to simply conjure the necessary components into my stomach, or even more directly into my bloodstream and elsewhere. When I carefully looked into my body, I found small deficiencies and unbalanced chemicals. I quickly corrected the levels and put in place a sort of constant monitor and feedback mechanism which would adjust the molecules in my body as needed. Set in place and turned on, it would work automatically and without my constant direction.

Still, I wasn't letting go of a habit and a comfort. "I like eating," I told him. "It calms me and makes me feel myself for awhile."

Caracus shrugged, "To each, I suppose. Where was I?"

"You were about to describe how old gods fought an upstart in recent times..."

"Ah, yes, The War for the Time Testers."

"Time Testers... Now that's interesting..."

"Is it?"

I held back the truth that I knew of such devices, indirectly, since the bracelet Maggie had slapped onto my wrist appeared to be searching for such a thing. We hadn't told Caracus every detail of what we knew, Tristan's cautions early on enough to ensure we held back many details. "I've heard of them... Something about being able to reset time and test different things until you find the result you're looking for..."

Caracus said, "Yes, that is what the devices do. There are only three, that I know of. Or, were three. Two were destroyed in the battles, which lasted aeons. But one, I believe, still remains."

"Why would powerful gods seek such a thing? Can't they already reset and rewind and replay time?"

"Yes, but there are others who sought them who could not. Can you imagine the power, Tera, of finding yourself in a situation not to your liking, at the mercy of your enemies, those vastly more powerful than you, at the moment just before your existence is removed from reality, and being able to snap yourself back to a point in time where you could make other decisions, where you knew what your opponent might do beforehand?"

I nodded, "Seems like a very powerful tool to escape from certain death..."

"Among other terrible moments, yes. I... I was one of those who fought in that war."

"On which side?"

"My own. Because... because of losing Fenya, I sought to rewind things back to before she was banished. I thought, maybe, if I could use it, I might bring her back."

"I assume you failed... what happened to the device which survived?"

Caracus shrugged slowly, "No idea. It disappeared completely. Not long after the fallen one's stupid dissent into mortality. Very recent, in immortal terms."

"Hmm..." It was too great a leap to see causality in those two events, but it was hard to keep from trying to find it regardless.

The silence grew heavy and I felt myself slumping in my seat. "I must rest. I'll return when I'm refreshed. You'll be here?"

He nodded silently.

"Caracus... I'm sorry I put you at risk earlier... I did not mean to..."

"I know... You are forgiven, so long as you find Fenya for me. Nothing else matters to me. Only that."

I stepped towards him, closer than ever before. He radiated modest warmth even from several feet away, and heat radiated against me wherever his bright orange eyes gazed my way. I reached out my arms and drew him in for a loose hug. His body was awkwardly stiff, as if what I offered was unfamiliar and even uncomfortable. "We'll find her. I promise I'll do my best..."

He nodded again, and then I blinked myself back to my realm, told the others what I'd learned, briefly, then sank into sleep.

- - -

When I awoke refreshed, instead of returning immediately to Caracus, I decided to learn about the other sparks. One by one, I found inside the essence the near-mirror of each spark, tracing each connection. Some seemed to be logic circuits, of sorts, rules and gates and intelligences which could more rapidly, and automatically, respond to threats or opportunities. I wasn't wholly certain how to interpret the logic, but I got a sense of them as I moved along. The essence was enhancing its ability to respond quickly to all sorts of possibilities.

Other sparks were like Abby's, offensive tools, weapons, some which seemed to focus on thoughts and minds, one corruptive, another obliterative. Two of the sparks were clearly bolstering protections, providing sentries, in a way, around the essence and its host. I was able to understand those so perfectly that I further expanded the abilities to include Dad, Tristan, Theresa, Abby, and the spark-holders themselves, then turned it on. I felt the essence approve of my changes.

One spark, held in Molly, dealt with manipulation of time, and I focused on it intently. For long periods, I got nowhere. What it connected to was simple enough to trace, but it felt like all its rules, the structure, the definitions I'd seen in other spark modules, were somewhere else, outside of the essence. Like there was a library, of sorts, that it used instead of housing the characteristics internally. When I traced to see where the functionality tried to call, I found nothing but an empty hole in reality. A null position. Reality rejected my notion that anything existed in that place and time. It wasn't simply hidden, reality wasn't merely deflecting my reach, there was literally nothing there. For the moment, I was stumped as to why the essence had constructed this spark. Perhaps it had made a mistake. Perhaps it had failed to grow what it really needed.

- - -

Skip.

I saw me and Dad talking passionately about something. I got the idea that we were arguing about Dad dating Abby and I was protesting. I was pretty sure the reason I was upset was because, at the time, I wanted to be the young girlfriend my father wanted, and the other me was likely rather jealous that he showed an interest in my best friend. My, how things had changed!

Skip. The vision moved more quickly than normal. Showing only seconds each time. It was my dad with the mother and daughter, Candice and Gemma, two more of Dad's partners who we hadn't been able to rescue. Skip. Dad came in the girl's pussy and Gemma's mother ate what leaked out. Skip. Skip. Mother and daughter together, Dad watching. Skip. Dad fucking Candice in the ass. Skip. Skip. Dad doing the same with the woman's daughter. Skip. Dad cumming loudly in the mother's butt.

- - -

I was still trying to figure out what the visions meant for me, or for the essence. We'd had several ideas over the weeks since the end of Dad's time loop, but nothing much seemed to fit, despite Tristan's belief that the essence was looking for something. Was the essence trying to 'remember' a lost detail, or lead me to a vital clue? Was it looking for a lost power? A forgotten moment? Was it a diversion, either for me, or for those who followed me? It was clearly important, in some way, and I felt certain the essence was controlling the visions, but despite our newly-formed 'partnership,' I could not unlock the meaning. I couldn't even find the manner in which the essence was triggering or accessing the scenes.

What Tristan had been right about was that I was beginning to strongly manifest my own powers. The struggle to hold back the essence had come from parts of me not so directly tied into the essence itself. It wasn't exactly easy to differentiate the sources of power. They felt much the same to me. I only really noticed when the goals of the essence didn't match mine and we struggled, like when it had tried to consume the sparks. I still wasn't clear what it meant to manifest my own power and how that might differ from simply learning to use the essence.

As was quite clear, the more I learned about everything, the less I seemed to know for certain.

I felt the impulse I'd set up days before and immediately called to Tristan, She's been found!

He joined me in my room, a serious expression on his face. "What do you sense?"

I focused and knew immediately who had discovered Maggie. "The Paladin... he took her. She's unbound, but... my trace is still in place. I can still feel her. She's... terrified. In pain. Jesus, Tristan, it's like watching someone have a heart attack while burning in a fire!"

He pursed his lips, "You're not ready to take on that one directly, not yet, but... can you work through your trace, plant something only you can see on him? Something like what Fenya did before she was banished?"

I closed my eyes, doing my best to shut out Maggie's terror, my own heart racing in response. I calmed myself and started to carefully expand my view from the trace's point of view.

The details were wholly fuzzy. I'd not designed the trace to have human-like senses, but by reading Maggie's reactions and using what access the trace had to reality, I got the sense of rapid movement, beyond mere three-dimensions, not running so much as slamming through positions widely-separated as if they were shot out like a bullet. Wherever they were, wherever they were going, the sensation didn't slow or stop as long as I watched.

I tried to do more than use Maggie's reactions to recognize The Paladin. For a long time, it was only her awareness of him, her frightened, painful responses which told me, with certainty, who was controlling her. But I drew a tight tendril out from the trace and was able to sort of 'sniff' the surroundings. He was there, all right, and for the moment, at least, he was unaware that I was watching.

I felt Caracus' contact, What are you doing?

I'd forgotten his direct link to The Paladin, Following him.

Join me, quickly!

I pushed the thought to Tristan and together we traveled to Caracus' chamber.

I kept my attention strongly on The Paladin.

Caracus said, "You are risking much with what you do..."

"If I don't, I'm flying blind," I told him, "I have to know more about The Paladin, beyond just your solitary thread into his awareness of you."

He blinked, the first time I'd seen such a thing from the being. "Let me show you something, if you'll open yourself to me..."

I'd learned a lot about defending my mind, my spirit, from such moments. I'd had to when encountering Lek and then Caracus, protecting myself while allowing only the contact I permitted to get through. I opened a bare channel and Caracus pushed through a concept which surprised me.

It was sort of like a wiretap, I suppose, but much, much more specific. It was the mechanism Fenya had used to attach the listener to The Paladin without his knowledge. It was a trick of reality, in a way, taking up a sort of non-position which reality ignored, which The Paladin, therefore, never thought to look for. The listener merely monitored, filtering and broadcasting to Caracus only those ideas, those thoughts, which related to Caracus himself.

I knew it must have taken a great deal of energy to create such a thing. Convincing reality to not exist in a certain, very specific way should have taken more time than Fenya had before her banishment. I was quite in awe of her work.

It gave me the template I needed and I set to work immediately.

Because the trace I was using was very limited, it was like trying to perform surgery through a straw. It took tremendous focus, so much so that I lost awareness of all but what I was doing. Tendrils were grown, carefully probing weaknesses in The Paladin's being, forming a nothingness which masked my efforts. It was something like looking out through a window covered in heavy condensation, the trace's limitations affecting the details, but I had enough to work with to proceed. I could feel Fenya's handiwork, blurred and muted, but it was there. I found a place to create something similar, matching the idea Caracus had sent me and gently sliding my trace alongside Fenya's.

It slipped into place and I held my breath, waiting to see if The Paladin took notice. I detected nothing significant in his behavior, and my trace was immediately sending me so much information that I had to shut away the awareness until I could learn to process it. If watching a mortal was catching every drop in a waterfall, watching an incredibly powerful immortal was more like trying to capture every bit of radiation and material from a supernova explosion.

I backed out my probe very slowly, careful not to create even a tiny ripple in reality. It took a great deal of effort and by the time I had pulled back completely, I was utterly exhausted.

- - -

Theresa came to me in a dream. I knew it wasn't really her though she felt so real. We made love for a while, not peaking so much as rolling together gently, her inside me, or me inside her. When we finished and rested, she said, "When will you try to bring back my father, Tera?"

"Soon," I promised, "as soon as I can..."

"I miss him so much..."

"I know," I said, petting Theresa's hair.

"I'm sure you can do this," the woman whispered, light tears dripping from her eyes, "it would only take a moment..."

I sighed and kissed her and said nothing more, the dream shifting back into some more grey, blurry form and I lost the details of what came after.

- - -

Waking, the only thing I recalled was the dream of Theresa. Even though I was certain is was all in my head, I had no doubt the spirit-Theresa echoed the real one's thoughts. I'd put off altogether seeking a way to return her father to her, mostly because I'd only very recently been able to grasp enough power to affect reality in dramatic ways. I was still green, untested, and, honestly, the thought of trying to return Theresa's dad to the world of the living was weighed down by what-ifs. If I made a mistake, what would happen? What if I did something equivalent to the first time I'd tried to travel Dad to the sanctuary? Could I undo such things? Would I cause suffering? Was what Theresa wanted even possible?

That last one stuck with me. She was certain that gods had such power, and I honestly didn't doubt her, but their power was still greater than mine, and more broadly knowledgeable about the nature of reality and truth. The attempt of a god would be child's play, I expected. My attempt, I worried, would be fraught with challenges I could only pretend to understand.

I didn't mention to Theresa the dream or my thoughts. Despite the promise my dream self made, I didn't attempt to explore the path which might lead to the return of Theresa's father.

- - -

"I don't think we need this any longer," Tristan muttered, holding the Spirit-Binder as he lounged on a couch just like the one in my real living room.

I paced in front of him and tilted my head, "Not even to use in our quest? Wouldn't it be handy to set a trap like that... say... for The Paladin?"

"This one doesn't work outside the mundane..."

"I could make it work anywhere."

Tristan pursed his lips. "Show me. Carefully."

I closed my eyes and easily mapped the Spirit-Binders rules and definitions. It didn't have many properties needed to be useful in higher realms, and it was locked down to a very special set of signatures. Examining the latter carefully, I realized that it had been rather loosely set, though still matching only me of those around me. I unraveled rules, holding them apart from the rest much like live wires separated enough not to spark. Wrapping in my own conditions, I rebuilt the device. I set specific rules which would prevent allies from being bound, as well as both a manual trigger and a kill switch, of sorts, so that it could be more easily used in a pinch rather than priming it, putting it in place, and hoping the rules set within were the ones which would catch the desired prey.

"Impressive," Tristan remarked, a small smile on his face. "You're a rather nifty tinker, Tera."

I grinned, "I'm learning."

"Then we'll keep it. On you?"

I shook my head, "No. I don't need it. I can do what I did to the assassin much faster if needed, or something similar. I've given control of it to you. Can you feel the, uh, handles?"

Tristan nodded, "I can. Nicely done." He tucked the device into one of his many pockets. "So what, now?"

I confessed to Tristan the dream I'd had.

He looked solemn, "I worry that... Theresa's expectations have been unfairly raised on this... and that is my fault."

"Maybe not," I offered rather limply, "maybe I can do it."

He nodded once, then shrugged, "And maybe it might be as terrible as you fear..."

I remained quiet.

"Regardless, I don't think that is a key to winning this game..."

"That's true."

"Then we must prioritize."

"I... I need to test something... and I don't know how."

Tristan looked at me, his eyes hidden behind smoky goggles but I was aware his gaze was on my face, "I'm sure you'll learn... you have taken much more control of the essence and your own powers..."

"No, this is... tricky."

"Okay..."

I reminded him of the odd exception regarding Abby's spark. It had never started to pulse like the others, reaching out to the essence for consumption. But in the days before those pulses started, I'd been intimate with Abby, and that was the only possible link we saw available to us. "I need to find out if I can remove the links. I'm worried they'll become a crutch, or... a strain... if I really need to use what's in those sparks. And they're a vulnerability, when I travel, one I've locked down as much as I can, but still a way for the right set of listeners to trace back to this place. I need to find out if what I did with Abby might work for the others..."

Tristan chuckled, suddenly without pants, a humor in his expression which I hadn't seen in days. Two bulging cocks sprang up dramatically from his groin, one bound by the special ring he'd created. "So, you're saying you want to fuck one of the survivors to test the theory? Oh, I'm all for that!"

I shook my head, smiling, "It's not that simple, Tristan, and... put those away... they're distracting..."

He tilted his head, "Not distracting enough, I think... you've never enjoyed them..."

I grinned, "Tempting as that is right now..."

Tristan looked at me quietly, his dual penises bobbing with his heartbeat. I admitted to myself that I had to learn to take breaks, even if just for a few moments here and there. I'd managed to work in a few nice moments with Dad and Abby over the previous days. I could enjoy a few minutes with Tristan, surely.

My clothing was gone instantly and I knelt in front of the man. To my surprise, he disappeared his goggles and let me see the sparkle in his brilliant eyes when he realized what I was doing. I touched myself a moment, already becoming wet. I smeared some of my slickness back to my anus and readied myself. I'd once given Dad two cocks to fuck me with, and I wondered if feeling a man long-practiced in using both his penises might feel even better.

I straddled Tristan and eased my body down. I felt heat from both tips, one pressing slowly into my little vagina, the other trying to pop through my tighter hole. Very slowly, I opened myself to him, my mouth agape. Tristan watched my breasts swaying as I began to take him inside me.

Two cocks in me at once could be an overwhelming sensation. I felt stretched, full, primally aroused. I sank down lower, lower, Tristan's penises swollen in my cunt and ass. I began to ride him, my hands on his shoulders, his hips rising to meet each fall of my body.

We mated firmly, then harder, harder. I came hard, crying out. I could feel Abby, Dad, and Theresa gathering around us, watching me fuck Tristan, my body stretched fully around his girth. I felt sore, mostly my ass, but I came and pounded him, pounded.

Tristan flipped me up and around, still inside me, banging me a few seconds while he held me in the air, my knees clamped around his thighs. He settled me on the couch and started pumping himself in and out of my wet holes. I came again, gasping, raw fire in my ass and pussy. Tristan surged, bellowed, and then became a blur as he orgasmed.

It was like holding on to newspapers in the wind, but I grasped him with my thighs and arms as he ejaculated forcefully, spurting alternately in my ass and then my pussy and then my ass again, over and over, sending my pleasure somewhere I'd never felt before. He overflowed me easily, cum surging out of my holes and making them even more messy.

He bellowed for what seemed like several minutes, straining as he emptied himself inside my cunt and rectum, then collapsed down onto me, breathing heavily against my neck. I cooed softly and felt his penises twitching, still leaking semen into my holes.

Tristan pulled back and was immediately covered again, a smile on his face. "That... was worth waiting for..."

I grinned, "I agree... it won't be the last time..."

The man chuckled, then nodded to where our three watchers were looking on with interest. "Needed a... distraction..."

"So we see," Theresa smiled, "don't mind us."

Dad looked a little perplexed, and I realized that maybe he hadn't expected that I'd actually fuck Tristan. I felt no need to explain myself, honestly, he was not my only lover any more than I was his. I hoped it didn't cause an issue. Whatever was on his mind, he didn't voice it before Theresa said, "Anything new?"

I told them about the Spirit-Binder after returning clothes to my body, choosing a set of soft leggings and a loose t-shirt, Tristan's cum left to leak into the fabric. I rather enjoyed that sensation, honestly, so rather than instantly cleaning away the remains of our mating, I let my holes twitch and continue to push out small dollops of Tristan's seed.

I let them know about the test I felt I needed to run. "The problem is... I'm not going to rape anyone..."

Tristan shook his head, "They would never know, Tera."

"I would!" I spat back, angry at his disregard for informed consent. "I won't do it. It has to be consensual."

He frowned, "I doubt the essence gives two shits about—"

"Stop!" I yelled, "I don't care what the essence thinks about this. This is my decision."

Tristan finally relented and shrugged, "Fine, when you can gain consent, do so. But... there may come a point where you have no choice. You must know that, Tera."

He was right, but I wasn't ready to concede anything just yet, "We'll worry about that when it happens, right now..."

Abby completed my thought, "Right now, Uni might be someone who could possibly believe us and... be interested."

I looked at my best friend a moment and nodded, "Exactly. And I'm pretty sure I know how the spark-holders are being kept comatose. I can wake her easily enough. Let Abby and me go by ourselves. It will be easier, I think"

"Ready to bone again, already, Tera?" Tristan murmured, "I take that as an insult to my performance..."

I chuckled dryly, walking to where he stood next to Theresa, and put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't take it personally, Tristan," I said, smiling, "I'm only doing it to save the world."

He shook his head but laughed, "Fair enough. Go on, wake up your next lover and get you some young tail..."

Tera, Female, 15

	- Narrator, host of the essence, daughter of Quinn

	- 5'7, pale-beige skin, 135lbs, shoulder-length bright copper-orange-red hair

Quinn, Male, 41

	- Former host, father of Tera

	- 6'0, beige skin, 190lbs, wavy blonde-brown hair a few inches long

Theresa, Female, mid-40s

	- Former mortal

	- 5'10, beige skin, 155lbs, shoulder-length wavy golden-red hair

Tristan, Male (Morph), 40s

	- Former mortal

	- 5'4, tanned-bronze skin, 155lbs, wiry, tangled dark-brown hair

Abby (Abigail), Female, 16

	- High School Sophomore, friend of Tera

	- 5'11, medium-beige skin, 155 lbs, back-length yellow-blonde hair in a braid

Caracus, Male appearance, immortal

	- Demigod

	- Tall, grey-green dimpled skin, compact form, metallic-silver and golden hair