"Hello, Jason," Arturiel greeted one of the few Cherubim in existence after he teleported into the room. Calypso had raised Jason from a Dominion to a Cherub, explaining that he had proven himself sufficiently worthy of the class in mortality. "How are you and Susan doing?"
She was sitting on a chair with a divided back on the veranda of the replica cabin where the Seraphim now called home in the lower light realm. Devon and Tamra were sitting across a large square table from her, flipping through holographic windows as they reviewed requests for guidance from some of the Archangels that were reporting to them. Eric and Emily were sitting to her right, with Eric engrossed in a holographic window full of feature requests for the new internet system. They had finally decided to just call it the holonet.
"Hi, Arturiel," Jason nodded at her as he sat down next to Eric. "We're still getting used to being back in the light realm again. It honestly feels like I'm still in a dream that I might wake up from at any moment. And I just want to point out again that I was right about the Earth being in a simulation. It makes you wonder if this world is also a simulation."
Eric and Emily froze for a moment, then quickly continued their perusal of the holowindows. Tamra and Devon had also briefly paused at Jason's words. Arturiel shared a curious look with Jason at the obvious reactions to his comment.
"Are you four keeping secrets?" Jason asked suspiciously. He tried to catch their eyes, but they continued staring at their holowindows with an obviously forced sense of focus.
"Secrets?" Devon asked curiously, his expression still distracted. "What kind of secrets?"
"Well, you see, the nature of secrets is that you don't actually know what kind of secrets they are, because they are...secret," Jason responded sardonically. "Did you guys find out that this world is a simulation too or something?"
"Sounds like a good theory to me," Devon acknowledged, his tone noncommittal. "I've heard of stranger ideas."
Arturiel had been around Devon long enough to recognize his game face. Jason clearly recognized it as well. His eyes narrowed as he looked around the table at Eric and Emily.
"So, Emily, is it weird being the mother of the person that created you?" Jason asked casually. "It feels a lot like the whole Christ story all over again, when you think about it."
"I'm not really the mother to the person that created me," Emily answered, her attention clearly focused elsewhere. "Mortality took the entities who created the light realms and transformed them into new people. They may still have a few personality quirks that remain from long ago, but mortality truly redefined them as the people you see today."
"That's an interesting way of looking at it," Jason noted with a thoughtful frown. "Family ties from mortality have certainly remained strong for people after ascending. Has Calypso found her parents yet?"
"That's who I'm looking for," Emily revealed with a soft smile. "We want to surprise her when she gets back. There have been a lot of people updating their information on the genealogy database. We're hoping to find Calypso's parents in the mix. It will be a little harder, since they would have incarnated at least one more time since becoming her parents, possibly even twice, considering she lived almost a hundred years after their death. It will depend on how much of their soul memory they have unlocked."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Jason asked hopefully. "I would love to see her get to meet her parents. From what I've heard, she really loved them."
"Maybe," Eric tried to pop his knuckles before sheepishly releasing his fingers. "Damn, I think I might need to request a change to our reality to allow the popping of knuckles."
"I'm sure that will be at the top of their priority list," Emily remarked dryly.
"How can I help?" Jason prompted Emily, leaning forward with his hands on the table and an eager expression on his face.
"You played around with programming a lot when you were a human, right?" Emily inquired, glancing away from her holowindow to stare at Jason.
"I was more involved with cyber security," Jason responded hesitantly. "I learned some programming, but nothing like a full-time application developer."
"I'm just trying to think of what kind of system we would need to track down someone with something similar to DNA, but for souls," Emily explained slowly. "Maybe this is something Aria and Clarice could figure out, but it's not like we can ask them in front of Calypso, and they are never apart."
"Maybe you're her parents," Jason suggested jokingly. "Can you remember your previous life?"
Eric turned away from his holowindow to join their conversation.
"Some parts of my previous incarnation have started floating up into my conscious memory," Eric acknowledged, making a sour face. "I worked in a coal mine and died with the black lung before I was thirty. It wasn't a very fun life."
"Ouch, that sucks," Jason muttered sympathetically. "I remember being a factory worker in my last life while I was still in my early teens. It sucked. I ended up in Vietnam when I was twenty and lost my legs to a grenade. I couldn't stand living like that and overdosed on heroin. It was definitely a lot less fun than my last life."
"That's pretty bleak," Eric noted sympathetically. "I'm glad your last incarnation turned out better."
Jason nodded, running a hand through his hair the way he used to when he was a mortal. Arturiel was fascinated with how many mannerisms remained with angels after ascending from mortality, many of them only applicable to a mortal body. "It only turned out well due to Calypso healing me," he reflected, his eyes contemplative. "It would have been just as unpleasant as the other lives if Calypso hadn't shown up."
"You could try sending out a message to all angels from Earth, asking for anyone who owned a music shop in the 1920's," Arturiel suggested musingly. "You could make it sound like you are looking for information about a specific instrument, so that if Calypso sees the message she won't be suspicious."
"That could work," Jason acknowledged, nodding slowly. "It would be nice if you could change the system to allow filtering by time period for the audience that you want to send the message to, but we would need Calypso and the other two for a change like that."
"Not necessarily," Eric disagreed with a faint smile. "Why don't I try making the change and see if it works."
"You know how to make modifications to their system?" Jason asked doubtfully. "I didn't think you had any background in programming."
"Well, I might have some skills that I didn't mention before," Eric admitted, sharing a meaningful glance with Emily. "It's worth a try, anyway."
Arturiel and Jason watched him curiously as he stopped moving and went into a trance-like state for several minutes. His face relaxed and he smiled with satisfaction.
"Okay, it's ready for you to send a message," Eric notified them with a pleased smile. "I would suggest Arturiel or Jason make the broadcast, so it won't be as suspicious. If Emily, Devon, Tamra, or I do it, Calypso will be more suspicious."
"More suspicious of what?" Clarice asked, appearing right next to Eric.
Eric jumped in surprise and banged his head on the ceiling. He swore as he hit the ground again, glaring at Clarice balefully. "We need to put some kind of teleport notification into the system to warn people before someone teleports into their conversations."
"Not. A. Chance," Clarice smirked at him. "So, what are we keeping a secret from Calypso?"
"Where is she?" Emily asked cautiously.
"She and Aria are taking a look at some of the Avroids in the layer two realm," Clarice answered, eyeing them curiously. "Out with it already."
"We're trying to track her parents down," Emily responded, gesturing at the holowindow in front of her. "We were making some modifications to the holonet to allow for more fine-tuned filters in the genealogy app."
Clarice stared at her silently for several seconds, her eyes wide with shock. Then she rushed forward and pulled her mother into an embrace. "Mom, that's the best idea I've heard in a billion years! Holy Seraph, this is going to be sofreaking amazing!"
"I thought you might like it," Emily smiled affectionately into her daughter's shoulder. "We would have involved you and Aria, but Calypso is always with you, so we've just been muddling through on our own."
Arturiel marveled again at how much of their family structure retained the essence of their mortal imprint, even after they had all of their memories back. Emily had been spot on when she had told Jason that her daughters from mortality were the dominant portion of the Seraphim they had returned to.
"We've added a filter to be able to send broadcasts by time period and planet," Eric informed her, pointing at his holowindow as he prepared a sample message. "We were going to have Arturiel or Jason send it so that Calypso wouldn't get suspicious if she saw it. Of course, now that you're here, I don't suppose you could find a way to make it exclude her from the broadcast list?"
"No problem at all," Clarice assured him enthusiastically. She stood still for a few seconds, then nodded. "Okay, there is an exception list you can add specific people to in order to exclude them from the broadcast."
Arturiel shared another wondering look with Jason. Just like that, she had changed the code of the system? Arturiel was finding Jason's simulation theory more credible by the moment.
"In that, case, I can send it myself," Eric said in satisfaction. He stared into his holowindow silently, sending thought to text into the message box. It only took him a few seconds to craft the message and then post it. "All done. I posted it as a system message, so it will pop up for everyone in that time period who was in Western New York. I asked them to send a message to me personally if they were a music shop owner for that time period within their last couple of incarnati-"
He broke off, staring at a notification that had appeared in the corner of is holowindow. They had the ability to make the windows private, but Arturiel had noticed that he and Emily usually left their holowindows public.
"I already got a response from someone named Arthur," Eric announced, his expression hopeful. "Let's try a video call and see if we can get some more info out of this Arthur character."
It only rang once before a fair-haired angel answered the call. Eric gave the man a friendly smile. "Hi, Arthur, I'm Eric. Thanks for replying so quickly. We were wondering if you had an adopted daughter during the 1820's?"
"Aye, that I did," Arthur nodded with a gentle smile. "Calypso was our little angel. We've been watching her from afar with love in our hearts at seeing how happy she is now."
Clarice's hand went to her mouth as golden tears formed in her eyes. She stepped into the video, despite that feature not existing in the conference calling service. "Arthur, would you and Calypso's mother be willing to join us for a little while please?" Clarice asked, her voice tight with emotion.
"We would very much like that," Arthur nodded with a warm smile.
The air distorted for a moment, then Arthur and another fair-haired woman were standing in the room with them, blinking in surprise. Arturiel saw the woman's name in her aura. Catherine.
"It's so wonderful to meet you," Clarice told them, pulling each of them into a warm embrace. "Would it be okay to have Calypso join us?"
Catherine eyes filled up with silver tears as she nodded quickly, unable to speak. Arthur nodded as well, his own eyes shining silvery.
"What's the matter?" Calypso asked anxiously as she appeared suddenly in front of Clarice, her back to her parents. "Are you okay?"
"Hello, Caly," Aurther spoke softly, his voice trembling with emotion. "It's good to see you again."
Calypso slowly turned around, her eyes wide with shock as she stared at the two people she had known as parents in the mortal realm. "Mom? Dad?" she whispered disbelievingly.
Before she could say another word, Catherine rushed forward and pulled her into a tight embrace, her shoulders shaking as she wept. "Oh Caly, I always knew you were so special," her mother spoke haltingly, her voice choked with emotion. "I've missed you so so much."
Arthur stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the two of them, resting his cheek on top of Calypso's head as tears spilled from his eyes and down onto her head. "My little songbird. How I missed the sound of your voice."
Calypso let out a low cry as she held onto her mortal parents, a sound filled with heartache and longing finally healed. "Oh Mom, I've missed you so much. Dad, I made so many songs thinking of you and the things you taught me."
"I know you did, Caly," Arthur murmured proudly. "I've never been so proud as I was to see what you had done with your music and healing powers."
"Your music saved my life in my next incarnation," Catharine informed her in a voice thick with emotion. "I was so sad fro
m my earliest years, and I didn't know why. I was ready to end everything before I happened to hear someone playing your song at a park. It was like all of my sadness evaporated and was replaced with wonder. Now that I'm back here, I know it was the sorrow of leaving you on your own at such a young age. My soul knew what I had lost, and it haunted me into my next incarnation. My soul also recognized your beautiful voice that day. I lived for every new song from that day forward. I didn't know why, but I felt so much comfort and love when I heard you sing. I was so terrified when the news showed people trying to kill you. I thought my soul would shrivel up and die if anything happened to you."
Aria had appeared shortly after Calypso. She watched Calypso with her heart in her eyes as she witnessed the overdue reunion. Calypso wept golden tears as she soaked up the love she had missed out on from parents that had left her life too early. Arturiel wiped at her own eyes, feeling a sense of gratitude at being able to witness such a special moment. She couldn't think of anyone more deserving than Calypso to receive such a wonderful gift.
"It is wonderful to finally meet the parents Calypso told us so much about," Aria told Arthur and Catherine warmly as Calypso finally stepped back. "We were so curious about her early life when we first met her. She was such an enigma to us that every detail felt like another clue in an epic treasure hunt to find out what made her so special. It must have been so strange for you to raise an angel."
Catherine smiled through her tears and nodded with a fond expression. "It was obvious to us from the start that she was very special. We tried to keep her abilities secret from everyone. Religion was such an influential power at that time that we feared what would happen if her abilities were revealed to the world."
"You definitely did the right thing," Clarice assured them as she walked up and embraced them again. "The demons would have been all over her if any stories of healing or special abilities were revealed to the world."
"We always wondered where she came from," Arthur recalled, his eyes distant. "We used to speculate that she might be a fairy or some other fantastical creature, but we remained fairly confident that she was an angel. I used to try to put her to bed, even though she claimed she wasn't tired. When we would check on her hours later, she would be wide awake, staring at the ceiling. We never caught her actually sleeping, no matter how often we checked in on her. We eventually let her read though my music books or play quiet instruments to pass the time when we realized she really didn't require sleep."
"I used to love falling asleep to her playing the flute," Catherine reminisced with a far-away look in her eyes. "It was like being tucked in by an angel, leaving you with beautiful dreams and peaceful sleep." She looked at Calypso curiously. "How did you come to be by that tree that we found you at, anyway?"
Some of the joy went out of Calypso's eyes as the mood darkened. Clarice's eyes grew somber, and she began rubbing Calypso's back comfortingly.
"That's not a very pleasant story," Calypso answered sadly. "Let's just say that I was an extremely lucky girl to have been found by the two of you, and to have had a new life filled with love and acceptance."
Catherine and Arthur studied her haunted expression with concern as the silence stretched out. Arturiel recognized that look, after centuries of being enslaved by demon lords and witnessing the horrors they inflicted on humans. She felt her heart break for the Seraph as she imagined what horrors she must have lived through before her ascension.
"I'm Emily," Emily broke into the uncomfortable silence, walking over to embrace Arthur and Catherine warmly. "While we both ended up being parents to Seraphim, it sounds like your experience was a little more surreal, since she had already had her angel nature activated. I would love to see a timeline of reality where they all three grew up together as humans."
"It's not too late for that," Aria pointed out cheerfully. When they all looked at her curiously, she smiled widely. "We could just pop back into another mortal incarnation. We'd have to rig it beforehand so that it wasn't random, but we could totally try another mortal life where we grow up next-door to each other or something. The rest of you could even keep your memories so that you could guide events accordingly. I think it would be pretty awesome for Calypso to get another chance to be your daughter, but with a full life this time."
"That is a bloody brilliant idea, Aria!" Clarice exclaimed enthusiastically. "As soon as we are finished exploring the stack, we should definitely do it. What do you think, Calypso?"
Calypso's slow smile was all of the answer they needed. "I would love to try an incarnation where we all grew up together."
"Arturiel should come too," Clarice suggested, staring at her with excitement in her eyes. "You would love it, Arturiel. Well, you would love and hate it, because that's just the nature of mortality, but you should definitely join us!"
Arturiel stared back at them in shock, her mind suddenly overwhelmed with furious thoughts. She was the only angel who hadn't been required to go back and experience mortality. Aria had said that being a redeemed demon was close enough to having experienced mortality, pointing out that she had clearly learned about empathy and compassion. She had always been terrified of becoming mortal, having witnessed the horrors that could be visited on humans too many times to count. Of course, it was different now. When the three of them had re-written reality, they had changed how pain worked, even allowing a person to turn it off entirely. Even so, the thought of losing access to the light she had been denied for so long, as well as all of her memories, terrified her. She had spent thousands of years feeling like her soul was being dragged over a sea of light that she would never be able to immerse herself in as it remained just out of reach.
However, the chance to grow up with the three oldest Seraphim in a mortal setting was an opportunity so fantastical that she knew she would regret turning it down for the rest of eternity. It would also be in a protected setting, where they would be personally watched over by the other Seraphim. She teetered on the metaphorical edge, unable to make her mouth answer in the affirmative, but unwilling to refuse.
"You've still got some time to decide, Arturiel," Aria assured her gently. "We've got a lot of other projects and adventures to take care of before we immerse ourselves in mortality again."
Arturiel nodded mutely, smiling gratefully at Aria for understanding.
"Even if you choose not to be mortal, you'll have to come hang out with us while we're mortal," Clarice told her firmly, her eyes shining with excitement. "You could be the enigmatic neighbor that never seems to age and rescues us from bullies at the last minute. It will add some mystery for us."
Arturiel snorted a laugh, eyeing Clarice with amusement. She still couldn't get used to how personable these Seraphim were. She did wonder what these other projects and adventures were that Clarice was referring to. They were Seraphim. What other adventures were left for them to go on, now that they were in control of reality? What was this 'stack' that they were going to explore?
"Can I just cut in for one teensy tiny second?" Jason asked plaintively as he watched the three Seraphim with curiosity burning in his eyes.
"Yes, Jason, we are in a simulation," Clarice deadpanned as she stared back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Anything else?"
Jason opened his mouth to speak, but froze, his brows drawing down in puzzlement, then suspicion. "Are you messing with me, Clarice?"
"Oh, I'm always messing with you, Mr. Penetration tester," Clarice assured him with a leer.
Arthur and Catherine blinked at the unexpected title, then looked at Jason peculiarly.
"Don't call me that, Clarice!" Jason groaned in exasperation. "People are going to get weird ideas."
"Remind me what tools you use to trace a phone line and check it for service when you're placing a wiretap?" Clarice asked sweetly.
He stared at her, nonplussed. "You mean a butt-set and probe?"
Arturiel covered her mouth as Clarice dissolved into a puddle of giggles, dropping to her knees as she was overcome with mirth. Jason raised a hand to his eyes and shook his head in resignation as Aria quickly turned away to hide her own laughter. Calypso wasn't much better, her lips twitching as she fought to keep from laughing.
"These are the three most powerful beings in two worlds," Emily told Arthur and Catherine wryly.
"Two worlds?" Jason repeated with a questioning frown. "I'm pretty sure they cover more than two worlds."
"Oops, my bad," Emily muttered, looking guiltily at Calypso and Aria. "Yeah, I meant two different types of worlds, like the light realm and the mortal realm."
Arturiel shared a curious look with Jason while Clarice slowly recovered from her giggle attack. Jason's eyes narrowed as he attempted to speak to Clarice again.
"So, this really is a simulation?" he asked forcefully, clearly trying to assert some gravity to the conversation. "Even the light realms?"
"Jason, every time you observe the world around you with your senses, you are simulating your reality," Clarice answered patiently. "It's all a projection of your consciousness, experienced through the senses of your physical body."
"Clarice…" Aria chided warningly. "Quit toying with him. Yes, Jason, the light realm is also in a simulation, as is the world above us. We don't know how far up or outward it branches. That's what we've been exploring."
"Really?" he exclaimed, his eyes growing wide with excitement. "What's the next world up like? It is like this one at all?"
"We patterned the mortal realm after the layer two realm," Aria answered, dodging a jet of water from a squirt gun that had appeared in Clarice's hands. Eric had been behind Aria, resulting in a blast of water to his face. He stared at Clarice sternly as the squirt gun vanished and her expression grew innocent.
"Look what you did to Dad, Aria," Clarice accused reproachfully, an expression of mock severity on her face.
"I know I probably shouldn't ask," Aria sighed with a dubious glower. "But why are you trying to squirt me with a squirt gun?"
"It's how you train pets to behave," Clarice explained brightly. "When they do something naughty, you just squirt them with some water. You're not supposed to dodge it though, or it doesn't work."
"And what, exactly, are you trying to dissuade me from doing?" Aria asked levelly.
"Butting in when I'm having so much fun with Jason," Clarice answered with a shrug. "I had another five minutes of entertainment planned before he was supposed to find out about the layer two realm."
"Okay, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, how about we just let him watch the footage of the last couple of days, instead of going through events like a channel surfer with a broken remote," Emily suggested dryly.
"Fine!" Clarice sighed with a defeated slump of her shoulders. "Just ruin all of my entertainment." She flounced into a chair with a sullen expression, her lower lip sticking out.
"I feel like you've reached your quota for the hour already," Emily announced firmly. "I'll let you know when your quota has reset."
Aria was staring at Clarice with lips slightly parted and clear attraction in her eyes. Arturiel glanced at the pouting Clarice, uncertain what was triggering the obvious arousal in Aria's eyes.
"This should answer most of your questions, Jason," Eric informed the Cherub helpfully, flicking his wrist and causing a holowindow to fly across the room and land in front of him.
"That was cool," Jason said admiringly. "Is everyone able to share holowindows like that?"
"Yeah, you just need to focus your intent on what you want while you perform the action," Eric confirmed with a cheerful nod. "Now that you know we're in a simulation, you can understand that everything in this reality is completely customizable. It goes without saying that you should keep this information to yourself. We had only planned on telling Cherubim and a few others about the nature of this reality."
"Speaking of Cherubim," Calypso stared at her parents questioningly. "Would it be okay if we raised you to Cherubim?"
Catherine and Arthur stared at her in surprise, sharing a glance with each other.
"We don't want to be given any kind of special treatment," Arthur began firmly, but Calypso interrupted him.
"The whole reason for this system is to encourage positive traits like compassion in angels," Calypso explained carefully. "To be honest, the classes are mostly irrelevant. We just wanted to give people something to aspire to before we reveal the truth about our simulated reality. Aside from the ability to travel to higher light realms, there isn't much difference between an angel and a Cherub. Besides, you are my parents. You are special to me, so all of the treatment I give you will be special treatment. I know your hearts already. I know you are good people and deserving of this advancement. You too, Arturiel."
Arturiel jerked in surprise. "Me?"
Clarice's pouting face vanished as stood up and made a portal. "No, we were talking to this Arturiel."
Arturiel felt her jaw drop as she saw herself exit the portal. When her clone saw her, she looked herself up and down appraisingly, a slow and sensual smile appearing on her face. "Damn, I'm hawt!"
"Hey, your quota hasn't reset yet, young lady!" Emily chastised Clarice in exasperation.
"It's her fault," Clarice defended herself, pointing at Arturiel. "She made it very clear that she thought there was another Arturiel hiding somewhere. All I did was fetch the other one."
"This is what happens when you put the power of a god in the hands of an adolescent," Tamra noted in amusement.
"I could think of worse uses of such power," Devon remarked mildly. "At least this is free entertainment."
"Oh, you think this is free, do ya?" clone Arturiel grinned slyly as she walked over to sit across from where Arturiel still sat in shock. "There's definitely going to be a price. What do you say, Arturiel? Do you want to become a Cherub? I know we look awesome with Archangel wings, but we'll look a lot sexier with Cherub wings. They're way...softer"
Arturiel stared into her clone's mirthful lavender eyes, unable to articulate a response. There was something deeply unsettling about seeing an exact copy of herself piloted by Clarice. Was this all possible due to being in a simulation? Was the person across from her just as real as she was? She certainly looked just as real.
"What's the matter, Arturiel," her clone asked in a sultry whisper. "Tongue…tied?" She slowly ran her tongue over her front teeth as she finished.
A portal opened under her clone, and she fell through with a startled scream, jolting Arturiel out of her paralysis.
"Okay, getting back on track," Aria continued, staring at Clarice levelly as she spoke. "Unless any of you object, we'll raise you to Cherubim. There is a selfish component on our part, since we need help supporting all of the angels in the realm. The more Cherubim, Dominions, and Archangels there are, the less issues we'll need to address personally."
"How many people are actually asking for your help by name that your clones are responding to?" Jason asked curiously.
"A few thousand a day, so far," Aria answered with an indulgent smile. "I expect that number to increase as people get more comfortable with speaking to Seraphim. It will be at least ten years before there are enough Cherubim and Dominions to take any of the load off, so any help from the rest of you will be more than welcome."
"I'm not sure how we would be more help as Cherubim," Arturiel admitted hesitantly. "The kind of help people will be asking for will probably be for things I don't know anything about."
"Ah, my dear Watson," Clarice spoke up with a grin. "You have already forgotten one of the few perks of raising your rank. Increased intelligence and knowledge. You'll have access to everything you need, once you are a Cherub."
"Being a Cherub will actually make me smarter?" Arturiel asked tentatively.
"Yep," Clarice nodded, striking a thinking pose, her chin resting on her fist. "We'll dump the knowledge you need right into your pretty little head. We'll also speed up how fast you can process thoughts, as well as how many threads you can use simultaneously. You'll still be you, you'll just be a smarter version of you. I feel like I'm pretty good living proof that it doesn't really change who you are."
Arturiel couldn't stop a snort of laughter at her last statement. She was definitely proof that more processing power didn't change your personality. "Okay, I suppose I'm open to i-"
She broke off as her meridians suddenly expanded. Her wings morphed and changed into the nested wings of a Cherub. Her eyes felt hot for a moment before settling again. She gasped as the increased input of light flowing through her system filled her with love and joy. It was a much larger increase than the one she had felt when changing from an angel to an archangel. She fell into a trance as the euphoric bliss of the light field raged through her expanded meridians. It took several minutes to adapt to the increased rate of light flow. She laughed with exultation as the feeling of bliss raised the positivity of her mood by several orders of magnitude. No wonder Clarice was always so full of playful energy. This was amazing!
"Welcome to the upper triad," Clarice congratulated her, walking over and pulling her into a warm embrace. She gasped as Clarice's aura loosened slightly and charged her newly expanded meridians with far more energy than the light realm provided. Her eyes glazed over as her mind slid under the metaphorical table.
As Clarice stepped away from her, the overwhelming light field diminished and her eyes regained their focus.
"I wanted to give you a taste of the higher light realms," Clarice told her with a grin. "That was the second realm. I'd show you the highest realm, but it would knock you out. I wouldn't suggest going there unless you have a few weeks to burn."
Arthur and Catherine had also undergone the transformation to Cherubim. Calypso was holding both of them in a three-way embrace, her face filled with joy. Her parents were staring around in wonder, clearly enjoying the increased light flow as much as Arturiel.
"Where are Lexi and Alice?" Jason asked curiously. He was smiling contentedly, clearly enjoying Calypso's reunion with her parents and their subsequent elevation in status.
"Alice is showing Lexi where the wild-" Clarice began but was quickly cut off by Aria.
"They're having some alone time," Aria responded firmly, giving Clarice a severe glare.
"That is a really sexy glare, Aria," Clarice told the red-haired Seraph admiringly. "I'm going to have to find ways to make you glare like that more often."
Aria tried to keep a straight face, but as Clarice continued leering at her she couldn't hold the glare. She quickly turned around, trying to hide her laughter, shoulders shaking.
"I think the two of you have thoroughly disenfranchised Calypso's parents of any misconceptions they may have had about Seraphim and dignity," Emily sighed ruefully.
"Dignity is one of those words that makes you really wonder about language," Clarice commented with a smirk. "Dig Nity. Dig the nitty gritty. Hmm…It sounds like a dwarven word, the more I think about it."
"Conversations have a way of really going off the rails when Clarice is present," Eric told Arthur and Catherine with a fond look at Clarice. "You just have to bring popcorn and enjoy the ride."
There was a sudden ripple in the air near Clarice. Aria, Calypso and Clarice turned to stared at it, all traces of humor gone.
"Pocket realm," Clarice commanded crisply, then vanished.
"Be back in a second," Aria told the rest of them, just before she and Calypso vanished as well.