SSOSH3 -CH3- (Patreon)

Felix stood in front of the door to his study, rubbing a hand back and forth across his jaw.

He wasn’t quite sure how to handle the situation.

There was what basically amounted to a Demi-god on the other side of the door. One who single handedly took out an enemy elite force.

Somewhat of a rapid change from doing interviews. Then again, it’s been a slow bleed up to this.

I’m not sure which I prefer.

Taking a deep breath, Felix opened the door and stepped inside his study.

“Good afternoon,” Felix said, closing the door behind himself.

The Demi-god was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Felix’s desk. He turned in his seat to face Felix.

Immediately he was struck by how similar this man looked to himself.

Though he was significantly broader in the shoulders and seemed to radiate power and restrained violence.

It’s like standing next to a wolf. One with it’s teeth bared, but isn’t growling.

“Hm. We really do look alike, just like they kept saying,” Felix said, scratching at his jaw. “It’s uncanny.”

“I thought the same when I saw you,” said the man.

Felix moved over and took the chair directly next to the man. Leaning forward, he reached out with his hand.

“I’m Felix.”

“Vince,” said the man, taking Felix’s hand in his own. His handshake was firm, and strong, but not crushing.

“First off, thank you for your assistance back there. I can’t tell you how much it helped. I have no doubt your actions saved the lives of many of my people,” Felix said.

“Mm. I wanted to blow off some steam. I haven’t been able to fight my own foes as directly as I’d wish,” Vince said, his face showing a bit of annoyance.

“The Beastkin at the portal gave me the gun and told me anyone without a patch or the black vest was an enemy. Seemed straightforward enough.”

“Adriana. Yeah, I could see her doing that.” Felix nodded slightly with a strange grin. “She tends to view things fairly differently.”

Even more so than Andrea sometimes.

“Forgive me for getting straight to the point, but honestly, I came here for help. From anyone I could find,” Vince said, leaning forward in his chair. “I was hoping I could get my hands on some technology. Technology that could help me and my people.”

Direct.

That’s rather refreshing.

Felix folded his hands into one another and didn’t immediately respond.

“What kind of tech did you need?” Felix asked after a second to collect his thoughts.

“First and foremost, medical. One of my wives is… dying. Others are attempting to heal her, but… they can’t. It’s too much for their magic. She’s slowly dying.

“They said it’s in her blood and they can’t seem to stop it, no matter how much magic they use,” Vince said.

He’s really laying everything on the table. There’s nothing in his body posture that would indicate he’s lying, or hiding anything.

Maybe it really is exactly what he’s saying.

“That’s not a problem at all. Consider it done,” Felix said. Reaching over the desk, he pressed a button on the intercom. “Andrea?”

“Yes?” came back the ever eager reply.

“I need Mr. White, a healing pod, and some people to carry it through the portal. Take a portable energy source as well. Tell Mr. White he’s on detached duty as a special favor for me,” Felix said.

“Okay! Oh, there’s three more guests that just came through the portal.

“They’re on their way over to you with Prime, Adriana Prime, Kit, and Lily.”

“More guests?” Felix asked curiously, letting go of the button. “Were you expecting more people?”

“No. I left orders to not follow me, to be honest,” Vince said, his nose wrinkling.

Both Vince and Felix looked to the door as it suddenly opened. Seven women trooped in and stood staring at the two of them.

Adriana prime, Andrea prime, Kit, and Lily walked in, with a group of women Felix didn’t know.

One looked like some type of Beastkin, except her flesh was pale. Her brown hair made it look even whiter as it hung around her face and shoulders. The strangest part was her eyes though. They glowed with an inner red light.

The second seemed like she fell out of someone’s wet dream with dark curls, green eyes, and green skin. She was all curves and slim at the same time. She was also one of the prettiest women Felix had ever seen. It was as if she oozed sexuality.

The third looked like and Elf, though her skin-tone was significantly darker than any Felix had ever met. It was almost pearl gray. She also had dark eyes and pitch black hair. Though she seemed the most normal of the three.

“They look like brothers,” said the Elex sisters in unison.

“I don’t have a brother,” Vince and Felix said, also at the same time.

Swift and silent, the pale skinned Beastkin leapt forward and leaned over Felix, audibly sniffing him.

Then she turned and cuddled in close to Vince, nuzzling him while smelling him loudly.

Red thinks they smell like each other,” Red said, then scooted around behind Vince and laid her hands on his shoulders.

What in the shit?

“Ok, before this gets any weirder,” Felix said. “My father died quite young, and as far as I know, I have no siblings. The end.”

Vince nodded. “My father vanished when I was in my twenties, but I have no siblings that I know of.”

“On top of that, we’re from different planes of existence,” Felix added, folding his arms in front of his chest.

“Well, that doesn’t seem to matter,” Vince said with a shake of his head. “Apparently my father wasn’t from my… plane of existence… as you called it. The portals were an experiment, I think. They found my father with one.”

Felix frowned at that, his mind racing ahead.

Is that why he didn’t want me playing with portals? This isn’t the first time something has happened, is it.

“You said… they found him?” Lily asked.

“Yes. They opened a portal and brought him through, I believe. And you are?” Vince asked.

“Oh, ah, Lily,” Lily said, bobbing her head slightly to Vince.

“That makes you Kit,” Vince said, looking to her.

“Yes, I am,” Kit confirmed.

“This is Red,” Vince said, pointing at the Beastkin who had moved around behind him.

“That’s Mouth,” he said, pointing at the green-skinned sex goddess. “and Felicity,” he continued, pointing at the Elf.

“The portals were an experiment on your world?” asked Lily.

“Yes. They ruined my world in doing it. Much of what used to be the United States is a mess of other races all battling for supremacy.”

“The United States? What’s that?” Kit asked.

“A country. It was a country many years ago,” Vince said.

Felix raised a hand and started to rub his chin as if in thought. “Oh?”

“Felix?” asked Andrea.

“Hm?”

“Mr. White, the pod, and the guards will be ready in about ten minutes. They’re getting it all packed up now.”

“Great,” Felix said, not looking at anyone or anything in particular.

His mind was elsewhere, churning with thoughts about how to make this sudden ability to access another world benefit Legion.

“Would you be willing to make a trade with me?” Felix asked, looking to Vince.

“Depends on what you want,” Vince said. To Felix it was clear he was used to dealing with predators.

“Gold. As much as I can get my hands on. It’ll help me and my people immensely. What do you need?” Felix asked.

“Weapons,” Vince immediately replied. “I’m fighting a war against those with weapons I cannot match. They have guns, artillery, and bombs. I have… very few of those for my country.”

“Your country?” Andrea asked.

“Yes. Yosemite. It’s my—our—country.”

“Ooooh! I wanna visit!” Andrea said, looking at Adriana.

“I do, too!” said Adriana.

They both turned and looked at Red. “Feral friend, will you give us a tour?”

Red looked at the two Beastkin as she continued to hold Vince.

“If Bringer says it’s ok, then Red will do so,” Red said.

Weird way of talking. I wonder what she is.

“Hm? That’s fine, go now if you like,” Vince said, leaning forward towards Felix.

Eager to continue. Looks like I’ll be an arms dealer again.

“Yay!” the Elex sisters said, looking quite pleased with themselves.

Red let go of Vince and started to walk away.

“Bringer, why is there a picture of your father?” Red asked suddenly.

Vince frowned, shaken from his deep need to talk about weapons, and looked to Red. Felix looked as well, curious as to what she was talking about.

The pale Beastkin was pointing at a bookshelf with a framed picture of Felix’s uncle.

“Huh?” Vince asked.

“Red remembers Bringer’s father. This is him,” Red said. She moved forward, grabbed the picture and brought it over to him.

“See?” she said.

Vince looked down at the picture and looked lost.

Very lost.

“I don’t understand,” Vince said, looking up from the picture to Felix.

Shocked at the possibilities, Felix reached out and gently took the picture from Red’s hands.

“This is my uncle. Miles, Miles Campbell,” Felix said, looking from the picture to Vince.

“This is your father?”

Vince nodded his head.

That doesn’t make any sense. The time doesn’t add up.

It’s impossible. There’s no actual way this is even remotely possible.

Unless… my dear benefactor has been playing with the flow of time.

“Mother only called him Campbell. On the deed in the house, though, it says Miles Campbell,” Vince said.

But if it’s true… doesn’t that make him more of my half-brother?

Grinning, Felix set the picture down on his desk and looked to Vince.

“Well, I suppose I have another surprise for you, then. My dad and your dad were twins,” Felix said. “Genetically, we’re probably closer to half-brothers than cousins, I guess.

“Well isn’t that a coincidence. Especially considering there’re some concerns with time if one thinks about it.

“Doesn’t quite match up,” Felix said as he looked up towards the ceiling.

“Though I’m betting it isn’t as much a coincidence as I would originally think,” Felix said. Shaking his head, he looked back to Vince with a smile. “Let’s talk about what you need, and what I need, and let’s figure out how we can help one another, little brother.”

“Ah, I’m afraid my lord is apt in the ways of war, but he has me and my sisters for the needs of the kingdom. I’ll be happy to work through Yosemite’s needs with whoever your representative is,” said the woman Vince had named Felicity.

“That’s me,” Lily said, her eyes still moving between Vince and Felix for a second before looking to Felicity.

***

“I think we should have a chat,” Felix said, sitting alone in his study. “Because the time involved doesn’t add up. That and it sounds like there’s a lot more going on that meets the eye.

“So… let’s have a chat.”

“As you like,” said the man Felix had come to refer to in his had as his ‘benefactor’, since he hadn’t named himself.

He’d simply appeared in the chair directly in front of Felix’s desk. Where Vince had been sitting only an hour previous.

“I think I deserve some answers at this point. Especially if you want me to do my best in whatever favor you ask of me in the future,” Felix said. “Because things are starting to go pretty bad for me here, and now this happens.

“It’s all a bit… odd, to me.”

Felix’s benefactor sighed and slumped into the chair. He pressed his right hand to his temple, leaning to one side.

“Right, then. Where to begin,” he said. “As to your problems here in the world, can’t help you there.

“I have an agreement with the deities to not get involved if they don’t get involved.”

“They’re very much involved,” Felix said, his emotions leaking out in his tone.

“From your point of view it probably feels that way. But up to this point they’re really just acting through belief and some cryptic messages,” said the Benefactor. “They’ve summoned and used no avatars, they’ve granted no holy weapons, nor demanded any crusades.

“This is all mankind simply turning on itself as soon as it’s gotten a taste for power. Power it can tap into and believe in.”

Felix grit his teeth together rather than reply. He wasn’t sure he could say anything that would be even remotely construed as polite.

“Be that as it may, I won’t get involved. But I can at least give you some answers that you could easily get yourself,” said the man, sitting upright in his chair. “So let’s start there. What questions do you have?”

“Why does practical magic fail against this religious magic?” Felix asked.

“Because the god of magic for this plane is dead. He perished a long time ago, and in such a way that no one could inherit the mantle,” said the Benefactor. “There is nothing backing the magic up. No amount of faith in practical magic will give it anything more than it’s base value.

“Faith magic though is empowered by that faith.”

Ok. That makes sense. It’s… a little strange, but ok. It’s an answers. Let’s keep going.

“How many gods are actively suppressing me and my power? It seems a bit unfair when I can’t even use my abilities, and a god is holding me down,” Felix said bitterly.

“Twelve,” the Benefactor said. “They take turns in keeping you from your full power. They’re required to give you a break directly related to how long they’ve kept you down.

“At this rate, they’re going to have to give you an entire week.”

“Required?” Felix asked.

“Required by me. I felt there plan was too much for a deity to put upon one such as yourself, so I limited their actions,” the Benefactor said.

Good to know he’s working on my side to keep things ‘fair’ at least. Never really considered why they stopped every now and then.

“Is Vince really-”

“Yes. Yes he is. Genetically he’s your half brother, relationally, he’s your cousin,” the Benefactor said. “And no, I can’t get too deep into the details, but I can tell you some of it.”

Felix nodded his head and held his hands out in front of himself.

“Please then, tell me all that you can. I would love to know what’s going on because honestly it’s just… confusing,” Felix admitted.

Felix’s Benefactor sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

“Part of this story has more to do with me but… I don’t think we’ll get into that yet.

“We’ll keep it to you and your family.

“First, on the plane that Vince comes from, they were conducting experiments with portals.

“They built several labs, and then opened portals at the same time. Thinking that they would go from one to the other.”

Felix’s Benefactor tapped his thumb against the arm of the chair, clearly thinking on his words.

“The simplest answer, though it isn’t completely right, is they didn’t lock the portals in place. Several of them went spinning off through the planet, then into space.

“While a number of others opened up onto other worlds and… did the same thing there, ripping out giant chunks and sending them to the other side.

“Then the experiment just… got worse. Random portals began opening all over, across multiple planes, universes, planets.

“Entire cities were ripped out and flung into other worlds. Whole populations of people. For a number of planes, it was the end of their existence.

“One planet ended up having it’s core pulled inside out and emptied out into the vacuum of space.”

Is that even possible? What he’s describing sounds more like something out of a religious text.

“Even deities were ripped from their home planes and flung around,” the Benefactor said. “Then I closed it. All of it. Every portal.

“I put back everything that I could. Even whole planes that I wasn’t willing to give up on. Though there were some things I couldn’t fix that came out of that… but that’s another story for another time.

“Your uncle was pulled across into another plane many years after the original experiment. Apparently some of the scientists had survived and kept up their work.”

“Pulled across. But what about my aunt?” Felix asked.

“Yes, pulled across. He visited a site where a portal had opened. There’s a particularly nasty little critter there that tore your aunt apart. Your uncle escaped, and during his escape, was grabbed by the team of scientists.

“Hence, eventually creating Vince.”

Felix shook his head, pressing his hands to the sides of his temples. “You realize this sounds crazy, right?”

“You asked. And as to your next question, yes, the time doesn’t add up right. Each plane runs at it’s own time.

“Their world was running at a different pace than yours for quite a while.”

Closing his eyes, Felix tried to process all of that into something more comprehensible.

“Ok. Vince really is my half-brother, the gods are holding me down here, and you’re playing referee,” Felix summarized.

“More or less. Definitely a soup sand-which there bud. Seems like you’re getting a handle on it though. I would probably-”

The Benefactor paused, his head swiveling around toward the study door. A second later and he simply vanished.

The door opened, and in walked Felicity, Adriana, and a curvy diminutive woman with green skin. She seemed very similar to the one Vince had called Mouth.

“Hi dear,” Adriana said cheerily.

“Mr. Campbell,” Felicity said, a paper ledger held in one hand tucked up into her side. “I have with me a Dryad by the name of Betty.”

Felicity was pointing to the woman next to her. Her hair was cut quite short, and her eyes were a bright green. She was painfully pretty, though she didn’t seem to radiate sexual desires like the other one had.

“A Dryad,” Felix said standing up. “Before today I didn’t know of your kind at all.”

Holding out his hand for a handshake he smiled at the woman.

Betty stepped up close to the desk, grabbed Felix’s hand with both of hers, and clasped it to her chest.

“I am Betty, grove mother and leader of my people. You reek of power,” she said, her eyes gazing up at him in a strange fanatical way.

Felix blinked owlishly and slowly looked to Felicity.

The Elf woman gave him a wide smile and flipped open her ledger, looking down to it.

“Betty comes with three-hundred and twenty-four of her grove sisters. All are priestesses and worship nature. Their magic is empowered through it,” Felicity said. “I believe they will be suitable as troops and soldiers with a modicum of training in whatever usage you see fit.”

Adriana bounced lightly up and down, her SMG swaying back and forth at her side.

“Vince said he sends them with his regards!” Adriana said, then she started giggling. “We have so many nieces and nephews. I want to have a litter.”

Betty looked to Adriana, not releasing Felix’s hand, keeping it wedged in her chest.

“You are cursed,” Betty said simply. “I can wipe it free of you with only a minor prayer once I have my grove planted.”

Adriana froze in mid bounce, her eyes locked to Betty.

“You can fix me?” she whispered.

“Yes. But I need to plant my-”

Adriana grabbed Betty and bodily pulled her out of the study, practrically pulling Felix over the desk when Betty wouldn’t immediately release him.

“I’ll show you where to plant trees! We have a world that is very pretty and lots and lots of nature. It’ll be perfect!” Adriana said, hustling the small Dryad away.

Felix found himself alone in his study with Felicity.

“Mm. She is rather excitable,” Felicity said, tapping a pencil against her ledger. “Ah, I’ve asked to be transfered temporarily into your service Mr. Campbell. I feel I can be of use in managing the Dryads. I’m also an accomplished mage and assistant.”

Righting himself, and adjusting his clothes a bit, Felix looked to the Elf. “Uh huh. Why do I get the impression the Dryads are going to be a problem?”

“Ah, because they also have another name that is entirely accurate,” Felicity said, tucking her pencil behind her elongated ear and pressing her ledger to her side.

“And what’s that?” Felix asked, not quite able to shake the heat that Betty had ignited in his body with the way she’d held his hand.

“Nymphs,” Felicity said with a grin. “Don’t worry. I’ll have a word with Betty and let them know you’re off the table as far as potential mates.”

Great.