Rune Magic

2-7: Copycat

.^^ the Portal Mirror ^^

— James —

I stepped through the portal, holding my new, heavier Grimoire, and blinked at the sight of hundreds of humans, (I'd sent the rest to their respective worlds and realms, but the humans took too much thought, so I'd placed them all here,) running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I summoned my lion's vocal cords, and simply roared, echoing over the noice like an air-raid siren.

Once they were all quiet, I nodded, and projected my voice, translating it so that everyone heard their native tongue. "Now, I'm sure you're all very confused, but you just need to calm down. I will get you back to your home countries as soon as possible. Everyone should stand still, with a good amount of space around you, so the portals don't take anyone they're not supposed to. Alright?" I nodded as they all began obeying.

I used the knowledge of the Dead Goddess in my Grimoire, plus her memories, and began sending them back, one by one, to where they'd been when she took them, though When was still beyond me.

Time travel was a complicated issue, even for the goddess who seemed to specialize in it, and so instead, she had simply created a realm where time was nearly entirely obsolete, where Space was the superior partner in the Space-Time equation. It still required a rather interesting set of equations that I would study later, but I was busy at the moment.

Then, I reached out to the ones I'd put in the other realms, and made sure each of them was within a few miles of their homes or cities or whatever, all safe and sound.

Once everyone except Rafaela was taken care of, and my power was severely drained, (even the surplus from the Oasis, which was a scary feeling,) I walked over, and gave Rafaela a tight hug.

She laughed, and hugged back just as tightly. "What's this for? No one really explained what was going on?"

"I killed a God who was using you, and millions of other sentient beings, to break the cosmic laws of balance, using you as basically electrical transformers, and then sent them all back to where she'd taken them from." I nodded.

She blinked slowly. "You can't just-!... but-!... you know I made a Deal, yes?"

"Yes, one she never intended on honoring. Some of these people were gone for hundreds of years, despite her assurances that no time would pass while you were imprisoned." Zetre shook his head. "I'm actually appalled at all this... I never thought a goddess would break her word so casually..."

"Breaking an Oath is actually ridiculously simple, if you have the power. You've seen me do it, when I break the little charms when you thank me?" I reminded him.

He blinked. "And that's... the same?"

"A bit scaled up, but yes. Anyway, all's well that ends well." I nodded, and then released Rafaela, as Mum stomped over.

"JAMES ATHENOS PETERSON-PARTHENOS get your ASS over here!!!" She growled.

I blinked and walked over to her, confused. "Yes, Ma? What've I done?" I asked warily.

"You think you can just do as you like?!?!? You went on a date, I set a curfew, then you disappear for a week,-"

"Whoa, Wait, a WEEK?!?" I balked, confused. "I was rescuing Rafaela, in a dimension where time was wonky, but I didn't think-"

She covered my mouth. "That's right! You didn't think! You just Did! Now, I don't really object to you saving Rafaela from a wonky time-monster, that part was well done, but you didn't check in, you didn't tell me anything about it, you just went off and did as you pleased! It's become a trend for you, every time I give you an inch of room, you disappear and take a week or so without talking to me first!!! Look, you're giving me grey hairs!" She growled, showing me the white that had slipped into her red hair.