Daniel O'Brien is starting to think that being Dana might not be so bad. She can even handle being a mutant, but... what if she's not?     Glitch 2! First Oath By Amethyst

“I’m settling in fine Stacey,” I spoke into my cell phone as I sat cross-legged on my bed. If there was one lesson I had learned since I Activated just over a week before, it’s that finding comfortable furniture for people with wings is a real bitch. I would imagine having a tail would make things equally awkward, if not more, so I sent a silent thank you to Danu for my lack of one of those as I told my once-sister-in-law, “Erin just helped me finish unpacking my stuff and getting it all put away, so there’s not much left for me to do, but wait for classes to start tomorrow morning.”

“Oh good have you met any of the other students in your dorm yet? Is there anything you need that we didn’t get?” She sounded worried for me and I once again wondered just what role she played in my life now. Stacey had been my sister-in-law for sixteen years now, and even before she had married my brother when I was fourteen she had treated me like her kid brother. Her role now though was a bit harder to pin down.

My fabricated background claimed that she was my aunt, but technically she was my legal guardian now, or would be once Karen… err Miss Morris got my new identity created. Over the past four days since she, Andrew, and Curtis had first come to see me in the hospital though, our relationship had been changing. She was something like a cross between a mother and a big sister to me now, not that I was complaining; my real mother had died nearly ten years ago and it was obviously making Stacey very happy to fill that role for me and to share with me the benefit of her own experience.

“I think we got everything Stace,” I replied to her last question first. “And we just finished unpacking before I called, so I haven’t had a chance to meet anyone yet. I heard that I’m not the only new student at least though. Miss Morris called earlier to let me know that she found a magic teacher for me and that she has a daughter who just Activated before Christmas. There’s also Miss Morris’ niece and a friend of hers who’ll be starting tomorrow as well, and all three will be in Dorm 7.”

“Hopefully you won’t get too much attention then, if there are other new students,” she said with a relieved sigh. “I’ve been worried about how you’ll get treated Dana, you’re really going to stand out, even among other mutants.”

“Yeah, someone would have to have a pretty weird look going to top this,” I admitted with a sigh since it had been kind of worrying me as well, despite my promise that I would try to embrace my new lot in life. “That’s what Dorm 7 is all about though, we all stand out or have uncontrollable powers, but being in the same dorm shows us that we’re not alone and that we have potential friends here. I think I’d be a lot more worried if I were going to be living with the more-or-less normal looking girls in Mauve, Orchid, or Coral Dorms.”

“If anyone, especially girls, tease you about your looks it’s most likely because they’re jealous Dana, you’re beautiful and jealousy can make girls do nasty things,” she told me sternly. “Just whatever they do to try and get to you, stay in control and don’t let it look like it’s bothering you. Teenage girls can smell fear, put them in their place if you have to and never let them think they’ve won.”

“You make high school sound like a brawl Stace,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“For pretty girls it is,” she replied without any hint of humor in her voice. “Only girls don’t use their fists to fight. Most of their attacks will be psychological and those can be far more devastating and harder to prove than a mere physical beating.”

“Geez Stace, thanks a lot, now I’m even more nervous,” I muttered, my wings twitching anxiously.

Her voice was softer and her tone made her sound worried as she spoke again. “I’m sorry hon, but its better that you’re prepared for this. Just remember, if you need anything; to talk, blow off steam, a shoulder to cry on, or even just some of my good luck I’m just a phone call away and I’ll come running.”

“Thanks Stace, you’re the best,” I told her in complete honesty. I really didn’t know how I would have been ready to attend school as a girl tomorrow without her and Erin to help me. I appreciated it far more than I could ever tell either of them and I really needed to find a way to thank them both for all that they had done. “I’ll call you tomorrow to let you know how things are going, I’m going to go flying for a while to try and calm my nerves a bit.”

“Okay Dana, have fun and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I disconnected the call and stood up on my bed to open the skylight. My former boss had been kind enough to give me one of the dorm rooms on the top floor and I appreciated her foresight as I took to the skies. The air was cold, but clear and all my fears and worries were left behind in my dorm room as I ascended and made my way up to the clouds. A look at my watch showed the time to be quarter to eleven and since the moon was out I probably wouldn’t have to sleep more than two or three hours to be completely rested. That would give me several hours to just drift up among the clouds if I wanted. I thought that would be nice if I didn’t start to get too cold, so I closed my eyes and just reveled in my flight for a time.

My mind was wandering up there among the clouds when the sense of a powerful presence brought me back to reality. No wait, there were three, and they were surrounding me. My eyes snapped opened as I heard a cold voice with an Irish brogue speak above the flapping of wings. “How kind of you come up here, so far from mortal eyes. You saved us the trouble of hunting you down, sister.”

An unearthly beautiful young woman carrying a massive spear hovered in the air before me supported by feathery wings, as black as mine were white. She looked maybe a few years older than me and her long hair was just as black as her wings, tied back in a long braid that flapped around in the wind. On her forehead, set above finely arched eyebrows and her intense blood red eyes was a tattoo of a black bird with its wings spread that glowed a red the same shade as her eyes. A look to both my right and left showed two more identical women, though one had a pair of short swords in scabbards, and the other a bow and a quiver of arrows visible just behind her right shoulder. Triplets? I had a bad feeling about this.

“Macha, do you really need to try and scare the poor girl?” the one to my left with the bow and arrows said with a sigh. Even their accents were identical. Like the two others she was dressed in a white gown with black and red embroidered Celtic knot designs on the hem and billowing sleeves. They also all wore a reddish gold metal choker around their throats from jaw to shoulders, a slim red-gold belt cinching the gowns at the waist, and bangles of the same color around their wrists and ankles.

“I was trying to impress upon her how serious this is Anand, I mean why would mother even send us if not to make her take this seriously.” the spear-wielder in front of me retorted, rolling her eyes. “Thanks for ruining that by the way.”

“Maybe because we’re her sisters you dolt,” the one with the swords said from my left side, looking at Macha like she was an idiot. “Okay, so you’ve done the bad-ass ‘Goddess of War’ shtick and probably scared the shit out of the poor girl, are you happy now?”

Macha frowned at her. “Well war is our thing. What were you expecting me to do Badb? Bring her flowers and a handwritten invitation?”

Badb crossed her arms and glowered back “Look, I’m just as happy to do some hunting, smiting and general bloodletting as you are, all we’re saying is that this is probably not the time for it. Mother asked us to bring her new daughter to see her before one of the other Gods got to her, not terrify and confuse her. I mean just look at her face.”

I was only really half aware of the conversation. The names were far too familiar to me: Badb, Macha, and Anand were one of the more well-known triple Goddesses in Celtic mythology. They were harbingers of doom, foreshadowed war and carnage, and were generally not Goddesses one wanted pissed off at them, or sent to ‘hunt them down’. I swallowed the lump in my suddenly dry throat as I cursed and tried to use my wings to back away, “Oh shit, The Morrígan.”

None of the three made a move, to surround me again as Anand sighed, “See, now you’ve done it Macha, well at least she knows who we are. Let me handle this.” She fluttered slightly closer, keeping her hands where I could see them, approaching very slowly. “Look sister, I’m sorry about Macha, she can be a bit thick sometimes.”

“Especially around the middle, “Badb put in, sneering at Macha.

“We’re identical you bitch!” Macha snapped back, glowering at her.

I had always believed in Danu and the other Gods, I was raised to pay proper tribute to them and it comforted me thinking that there was some greater powers out there. Believing, and having three very confusing Goddesses in front of me though were two very different things. They were real, and their power together made my own feel pale in comparison. Power-wise, with the moon out like it was, I could probably do alright one on one, but they were each armed War Goddesses with who knows how many centuries of experience, while I was still trying to figure out my magic. Anand had a reputation for being a Goddess of the moon, air, and manifestation magic as well, and if that were true I was probably screwed. The thought of having to fight even one of them made me want to fly away as fast as I could.

I looked from one to another of the three, confused and not sure whether the terror crawling up and down my spine was justified or not. Anand smiled at me, and with some warmth in her expression she was only about three quarters as frightening as she had been a moment before, so yeah, still pretty terrifying. “Your name is Dana right? We’re your sisters. I promise that we really weren’t sent to hurt you or anything, our mother just wanted us to bring you to see her in Cathair na Danaan, before one of the Gods from another clan comes to look for you.” she paused uncertainly before finishing, “They probably won’t be so nice.”

“Yeah, so let’s form a gate and get out of here,” Badb agreed, at least I thought it was her. She was the one with the swords? Damn they were confusing and I wasn’t so sure if I could trust them or not.

I had finally worked up the nerve to say something to them when Macha gave me the same idiot look that her sister had given her earlier, “Are all mortals so dense these days? If we were really here to hurt you we’d have done it by now and we wouldn’t be asking nicely.”

“You call that nicely? You scared her half to death and now you’re insulting her,” Badb snapped. “Besides, she’s not a mortal she’s one of us now, and she’s our sister, you should be nice to her.”

She just brushed the retort off. “Whatever, she hasn’t run away or anything so we’re fine. You want to set the gate Anand? Or should we get the noob to do it?”

I cleared my throat loudly and as she three turned to face me I shoved all the anxiety I was feeling to the back of my mind and said, “Excuse me, but I haven’t agreed to go anywhere with you.”

“See! I knew we should have just used the direct approach,” Macha muttered. “If we had just knocked her out or something we could have been home by now.” A menacing look from both her sisters caused her to raise her hands defensively. “What?! It’s not like we could have killed her, and she is family so I would have gone easy on her and used the shaft of my spear. The head trauma would have healed in a few days tops.”

“Well maybe if you’d been nice to her we could have been gone by now too!” Badb shouted back as a nasty looking pair of broadswords emerged from their scabbards. Macha responded by shifting her grip on her spear and the pair started to attack each other mid-air in front of me.

Anand let out an audible groan, but she made no move to reach for her own weapons. I barely even saw her gesturing with her hands before a pair of glowing red chains of light with sickle blades at the ends materialized and she whipped one of the pair toward her sisters, who were now focusing on trying to beat each other senseless. The chain wrapped itself around them both, chaining them tightly together and restraining them as she shouted, “Would you two knock it off!” Before I even realized what was happening the other chain wrapped around my waist, pinning one of my arms to my sides. “As for you Dana, I’m very sorry, but it’s for your own safety that you come with us.”

I was fortunate that my wings were still free, at least I could keep myself airborne, but I wasn’t going anywhere so long as she held the other end of that chain, and we both knew it. The other two weren’t so lucky and were dangling from the other chain and swinging like a pendulum as they continued to argue and attempted to head-butt and bite one another. “Dear Goddess, I’m being abducted by Huey, Dewey and Louie.” I tried to think of some kind of magic I could use to free myself with my free hand, but while I might have plenty of magic power available thanks to my metabolism, I had no training in how to use it and even less control.

Could I even harm them if they really were The Morrígan? Neither Badb or Macha seemed to even notice their injuries as they swung back and forth, dangling from the chain. It was hard to be certain from my angle, but I was fairly certain that Macha’s spear had gone through Badb and that Badb had one of her swords pinned to her side while the other was trapped somewhere between them. I was in way over my head here. As I was trying to figure out what to do the black tattoo on Anand’s forehead flared with red light, which spread out to encompass her entire body, and kept expanding until it formed a sphere roughly twenty feet in diameter which encompassed us all. Then the light flared again and the world seemed to turn inside out.

I was puking my guts out and was barely aware of being on solid ground when I felt the chain binding me vanish as a gentle hand was placed on my shoulder. “You’ll be fine in a few minutes, traveling between planes can be a little rough the first time. Hopefully those two will have calmed down a bit by the time your stomach settles. I’m terribly sorry about bringing you here against your will, but it was very important that mother speak with you before the other clans found out about you and started looking for you.”

A few minutes later my stomach was feeling better and looking around I saw that we were in a grassy area on the edge of a forest with the salty smell of the sea in the air. In front of me was the longest flight of stone steps I had ever seen leading up a hill, to what appeared to be a city of white stone buildings. I stood up as Anand made the chain restraining her somewhat calmer sisters disappear, releasing them both. Badb was indeed impaled by her sister’s spear, while Macha sported a nasty looking gash across her torso that was seeping blood into her gown. “A little help here?” Badb asked, giving Macha a sour look.

“My pleasure,” the other Goddess replied with a nasty smile as she yanked the spear free, causing her sister to wince in pain.

“Bitch,” Badb muttered as she sheathed her swords.

“Enough, both of you,” Anand said, glaring at the pair. “Go see Airmed about those injuries; or you’ll be complaining until they heal on their own. Then see if you can get one of the laundry Goddesses to do something about those gowns before the blood stains them. I’ll take Dana to go see mother.”

I stared at the three identical women, “Laundry Goddesses? Big city? Mother? Airmed? What the hell is going on here?!”

“I’ll explain it all on the way Dana, please follow me,” Anand said as she took to the skies.

Being practical enough to realize that she was my ride home and I’d better cooperate if I wanted to figure out what was going on, I followed. As I watched the other pair heading to a different area of the city I asked, “Are they going to be okay? Couldn’t they bleed to death or something?”

She shook her head as she pointed to indicate that a huge castle on the other side of the city below us was our destination. “No, they’ll be fine. Even if we didn’t have a great healer like Airmed, they’d heal on their own in time. Only one thing can kill a God, that is separating their head from their body, and we take precautions to keep that from happening. Minor injuries like scrapes and bruises heal at about the same rate as a human, but when we get more serious injuries we heal at an accelerated rate, and that rate doubles if we happen to be around a life aspect that empowers us. Even wounds that would instantly kill anything else we can heal or regenerate from, as long as our heads are still attached.

“Life aspect?” I asked, feeling like a complete dullard. In my defense, I was still getting used to being a girl and a mutant and now I was having all this God stuff thrown at me out of left field.

“Aspects of the world, living creatures, or actions of everyday life that we have an innate connection with,” she quickly explained. “We can affect them, with the magic energy we have built up, and just being around them makes our bodies more efficient. Mother said that your aspects would be the moon, earth, water, magic, fertility, horses, dolphins, and doves. You and I are actually pretty similar since mine are war, magic, the moon, air, fertility, prosperity and ravens. Badb, Macha, and I all share the war and raven aspects but Badb’s other aspects are life, enlightenment, wisdom and inspiration, while Macha’s are cunning, death, and sheer physical force.”

“Well that explains a lot,” I muttered as I thought about the two other Goddesses. “So do all the Gods have that many aspects? Why haven’t I heard of more Gods if you all have this much power? This city is big enough for thousands.”

She shrugged, which I know from experience isn’t easy when one is flying. “All of us have at least one life aspect and we try to work within those aspects to empower ourselves. Not many of us have a major one like one of the elements, magic, or something that effects entire populations like war. Most just have one or more minor aspect like cleaning, laundry, cooking, flowers, a specific animal, that sort of thing. Those of us with major aspects are born with a mark on our forehead and usually with another feature that sets us apart, usually something related to one or more of our aspects, like wings. Our clan has almost twenty thousand people; we had more before the wars with the other clans and the Fomorians, but you’ve probably only heard of those of us with a major aspect since we’re the only ones who have enough power to travel between planes.”

As we flew Anand took me under her wing, trying to explain as much as she could in the short time that we flew over the city toward the great palace beyond. She had brought me to Cathair na Danaan, the city of the Gods… or rather the city of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Danu ruled the city since the previous kings Nuada and her son Dagda had died in the long war with the Fomorians. The city was divided into four parts: Gorias housed most of the population of the city; Finias was sort of like an entertainment district with its theaters, parks and such; Murias was the business district with various artisans, magicians, and others selling their wares or services; and Falias was home to the palace and the more powerful and influential Tuatha Dé Danann.

The other Gods clans had their own cities elsewhere on this version of Earth and the clans tended to be fairly territorial. They traded with one another and there was a council of the clans that decided on major decisions that affected all the clans, but casual visits and tourism were discouraged, to keep the peace between the clans. These clans had influenced the cultures of their respected territories on my Earth; the Tuatha Dé Danann with the Celts, the Olympians in Greece, the Neter in Egypt, the Aesir in Scandinavia, the Kami in Japan, etc. Those five clans were the most powerful and influential though.

Reality is sort of like a layer cake it would seem, the universe exists much the same in each of these planes, but with various differences, and the higher the plane the more complex the life forms that inhabited them. The plane we were on was on a plane of existence much higher than the Earth I knew and loved, since the Gods live on the highest plane of existence. The place we had appeared in was located where Ireland, Wales, and some parts of England and Scotland would be in my world, but on the Gods plane. Apparently the God clans are so territorial that they usually try sticking to their own physical territories, even while on my Earth which is four planes below their own, which was why they had come to fetch me before one of the other God clans found out about me.

On the planes below my Earth were various planes that were more primal and had no native intelligent life. Each of the clans laid claim to one of those as a refuge for their people in times of need and no members of other clans were allowed to access those planes without specific permission from the clan that had laid claim. Our primal plane was Tír na nÓg and I was told that the Fae lived there now.

When I asked about the Fae, Anand told me that when humans were still learning to draw on cave walls the clans were visiting the peoples of their territories on my world trying to teach and guide them where they could. During this time, our mother Danu had used her magic to create the Fae from her own blood, the four elements, and the magic of the land. They were long lived enough to be immortal, but they shared human weaknesses and could get sick and die like them. They were creatures of magic and nature, with talents that reflected that, and like the Gods they could have children with their own kind only rarely, so that each child would be celebrated. They were too tied to their magic though and their strongest desires, good, bad, or mischievous, shaped them body and soul. She had meant for them to teach and guide the humans of her territory when she could not, but the humans resented and feared them, and in the end hunted them, so most of the Fae eventually fled to Tír na nÓg.

There were three planes between my Earth and the Gods’ plane. Two had once had intelligent life, but they had wiped themselves out long ago before the Gods became interested in the human plane of existence, called the mortal plane. On the plane just beneath their own, on a blighted world, the Gods had found the chaos Gods; the Fomorians, the Titans, and various other groups. These creatures were as long lived as the Gods themselves and nearly as durable since they could be killed, but it wasn’t easy. They thrived on chaos and destruction though, and destroyed everything around them.

Back then the clans were at war and several thought it would be a good idea to use those terrible creatures to fight one another and tried to teach and guide them to that end. That in itself was bad enough, but these were violent, intelligent and powerful creatures as tied to chaos and destruction as the Gods were to their aspects. They grew more powerful as the fighting went on, and they reproduced easily so their numbers grew as they learned not only how to become more destructive, but how to use their power to travel between planes. Soon the Gods were so busy fighting those they had thought to control, that they had no time to fight one another.

A vicious war followed: At first the battles were fought on the planes of the Gods and the chaos Gods and there were many losses on both sides. Anand and her sisters had been young then and while they had been training to fight other clans their first battles were against the Fomorians. The war raged on, and battles were fought on my world as well, resulting in human casualties all over the world as the chaos Gods laid waste and the clans fought to defend their chosen peoples. The Gods of the various clans forged a shaky peace as they fought their new aggressors and eventually defeated them. For our clan the final battle was the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. When it was over they sealed the Fomorians in an inescapable prison between our plane and another that they called ghleann na ndólás.

After that the clans met and formed the truce that still held today. They also felt responsible for the lives lost on the mortal plane, already short existences cut far too short by a war they weren’t even involved with. Peace wasn’t enough for many of them who had lost human worshipers that they had come to care for so the first clan council was held. The result of that council was the Oath of Order. It was decided that all Gods from all clans with enough power to travel the planes would swear the oath and that all Gods born from then on must swear it as well. The oath was to never again interfere or make their presence known in the mortal plane. They could visit but only in forms that would not get too much attention, or if they were shielded from mortal sight, and they were forbidden from getting involved in mortal affairs.

“What’s to stop someone from breaking that promise?” I asked dubiously as we landed in a large courtyard with a pool of water in the center of a large garden. There were dozens of types of flowers I had never seen before and wooden benches sat near the pool.

“Sworn Oaths are binding to our kind, we cannot break them under normal circumstances,” a new voice responded, causing me to turn to the origin of the sound, a striking woman who looked to be in her thirties with long silver hair and wings like my own. She was seated on one of the benches by the pool and patted the spot beside her as she smiled at us, “Please girls, come sit with me, where are Macha and Badb?”

“They started fighting again mother, so I had to send them to go see Airmed to get patched up,” Anand replied with a sigh.

“Those two never stop do they?” the stranger replied with a smile and a shake of her head. Then it hit me. Anand had called her mother and she has said that their mother was Danu. I was standing in the presence of my patron Goddess. I bowed my head and fell quickly to one knee. I wasn’t sure how to address her in person and I had just decided to go with ‘My Lady’ when she laughed. “Come now Dana, there will be none of that. I spent centuries trying to get mortals to stop worshiping us and learn from us before the war so I’m not about to have my own daughter bowing and scraping at me.”

“Ummm… my Lady I’m not sure how to tell you this, but I only look like I thought your daughter should, I’m not one of your kind, I’m just a mortal, a Hyper.” I swallowed the uncertainty and forced the words out.

“I know all about mutants dear, I have been keeping an eye on the mortal world, even though I can’t act there,” she replied with another musical laugh. “You were a mutant, for about three seconds, but now you are as much my daughter as Anand here is. Now please sit while I explain.”

I just kind of stared at her stupidly for a moment before Anand led me to the bench and sat me down before taking the spot beside me. I couldn’t stop thinking that this was the Goddess I had been raised to revere, the one I... “I prayed to you to protect me,” the words came out in my mixture of confusion and wonder.

She nodded and reached out to place a hand on my own shaking one. “I know, I have been keeping an eye on your family and listening to your prayers for generations. I watched you and your brother grow up. Your family has always had a strong connection to me, you all looked to me as a mother and you possessed the Hyper chromosomes. That gene is originally from the Fae, a race I created from my own blood. So when you prayed for me to protect you it gave me the opportunity to act.”

“But Anand said you can’t interfere with things on the mortal plane,” I protested.

“Not under normal circumstances, no,” the mother Goddess agreed. “But there is an exception that rarely occurs. In your case the Oath of Order conflicted with my First Oath. The First Oath is just what it sounds like, the very first Oath we make. It shapes who we are and no other Oath can take priority over a God’s First Oath. Mine was that I would nurture and protect all my children, always. Your prayer, worded the way it was, with your strong connection to me allowed me to protect you.”

“Did you activate my H Chromosomes?” I asked, uncertain about just how she had protected me.

“No, they activated on their own, and you were beginning to change so I looked into your possible futures,” she clarified. At my confused look she elaborated. “Time is not linear Dana. There are many dominant timelines and each is a great tree with branches of potential futures all up and down it. This timeline had far more possible futures than it should branching out at the moment of your accident. I could not see far as there were too many similar possibilities to be truly accurate. In some of them you died despite your activation, in only one did you remain male, but in that one you lived a short and painful life. In some futures you greatly resented your new form and suffered despite the support of your family. All those futures were likely to end in disaster. The few futures where I acted seemed the only way to truly protect you and many others, so I did.”

The revelation of all my possible bad futures was disturbing, but it also raised some questions. “Do you know what happens to me? What exactly did you do?”

“I knew only that you would become one of us dear, your future now is what you choose to make it,” she chided me, squeezing my hand gently in her own. “As for what I did… your H-Chromosomes activating triggered your body to begin changing. Your body was trying to come up with a new form based on your own DNA that could deal with the reality altering magic coursing through you. I just gave it a new genetic template to work from, my own. Your subconscious mind and the magic you were absorbing took care of the rest.”

“So I’m really a Goddess? And my appearance is because of your DNA, my own thoughts, and general randomness?” I queried. “I was wondering why I had this mark on my forehead; it didn’t seem like something my mind would come up with.”

“Yes you are,” she replied, patting my hand. “With your aspects, a mark was bound to happen. The marks not only tell us how much power we have built up, but also allow us to focus on and affect our more powerful aspects, travel between planes, or take the form of one of our animal aspects. I do take credit for the wings though, it was looking to be wings or horns based on the futures, so I nudged you in that direction. The wings are much prettier and more practical I think; besides I thought you should walk for a bit in the shoes of that Erin girl you were so nervous around.”

Apparently she had perfected the motherly art of the guilt trip over the millennia, because I felt as small as a mouse. “Yeah, I know that was wrong of me, and I still feel pretty bad about it, especially since she’s been so helpful and nice to me. I need to think of a way to make it up to her.”

“I am pleased that you have learned your lesson so well,” the Goddess responded with a smile. “Now we should get to why I had you brought here. How much did you tell her Anand?”

The black winged woman promptly answered, “I told her about the clans, explained how the planes work, and I had started telling her about the Oaths when we got here mother.”

“I guess that is as good a place as any to start then,” Danu said with a nod. “The council will want you to swear the Oath of Order, but it would be a violation of your rights to force you to do so before swearing your First Oath. I doubt you want to be forced to take an oath that will keep you from your home and I have reasons of my own for not wanting you to take it. Your Earth needs a guardian, from threats the mortals cannot handle on their own, but our hands are tied since we swore that Oath. So, while your sisters were fetching you I was speaking with the heads of the other four major clans. Together our five clans have enough influence to sway a vote in your favor.”

“How did that go? Let me guess, Zeus was a dick about it?” Anand spat out in disgust. Then she turned to me to explain. “He’s been a jerk about forcing any new Gods born to take that oath as soon as they’re old enough. Since he realized that interfering or making his presence known on the mortal plane included his little trips to sire a demigod or two, he’s decided that if he can’t have his fun nobody else can either. It’s actually kind of funny since he was the strongest supporter of the Oath of Order in the first place.”

“Zeus could be a problem, but we need his support on this,” Danu agreed with a sigh. “Odin of the Aesir supports my plan for Dana, he was against the Oath of Order in the first place. Amaterasu of the Kami and Ra of the Neter took some convincing, but they both see the value of having Dana taking on the task. Zeus wishes to discuss the matter with Dana and I in person though.”

“Word of advice Dana, don’t take your eyes off him for a minute, his hands tend to wander around the ladies,” Anand muttered in an aside to me.

“I’d rather not have to swear that oath; I have family and friends on the mortal plane. No offense, but I’d rather not be stuck here for the rest of my life, however long that will be, with people I don’t know,” I told the pair apologetically. They seemed nice and I’d never imagined I would be speaking to Gods face to face, but I wasn’t certain I would want to live there.

“As for the rest of your life, how does eternity sound?” Anand pointed out. “There’s only the one way to kill you and you can’t die naturally. You’ll stop aging altogether in a few years probably.”

“E-e-eternity?” I sputtered as I stared at the war Goddess as I began to feel the true weight of my new life bearing down on me. People aren’t meant to live forever. “What am I going to do for eternity?! Catch up on my reading?!” I was beginning to panic and I knew it, so I took deep slow breaths to calm myself as I tried to find something else to focus on. Finally I was calm enough to ask, “You mentioned some sort of plan my Lady?”

“Dana, you’re my blood of my blood, please call me mother or mom or something, I really dislike the whole worship thing. You have a home here should you ever wish to make use of it my dear one. As for my plan, I want to get you appointed as Guardian of the mortal plane. Unless we can do that and prevent you from having to take the Oath of Order, your world could face great peril, especially with the possibility of a Fomorian returning to the mortal plane. We cannot leave it undefended, and the Hypers only barely managed to contain Aindreas last time. It was bad enough that the Oath kept us from doing anything when the Lemurians committed their atrocities, but being unable to act when a chaos God walks the mortal plane would be intolerable.”

My jaw dropped and I just stared at her for a moment. This situation just kept getting more and more insane. “Whoa! Hold it! You want me to fight a chaos God? I don’t know how to fight, and so far my attempts at using my magic have been less than spectacular. I’m supposed to be going to school for that, but I haven’t even started yet.”

“I want you to protect your world, the humans, and the Fae from any threats they cannot handle on their own,” she explained candidly as she took my hand once more in her own. “You will study at this school of yours if we can get you out of taking the Oath. The teacher they have chosen for you is very gifted, but Anand can help you refine those skills. So she will help you with that, and all three of your sisters will help to teach you combat here in our plane or in Tír na nÓg whenever you have the time. None of the futures indicate that threat of the Fomorian is immediate, but all the same you must learn as quickly as possible.”

The mother Goddess and I were waiting for Zeus in the room he reserved for meeting his guests in a large palace that greatly resembled the Parthenon from the outside. The room itself was gaudily decorated with elaborately woven rugs, red satin drapes between pillars, and an altar-like affair that hosted chilled bottles of red wine and golden goblets. The only seating was a depression in the floor filled with red and gold satin cushions and pillows. It made me think of a Greek orgy, and from what Anand had said about the Olympian God of sky and thunder, that was probably the usual purpose of it.

I was starting to get impatient when a man in a blue toga with a golden sash entered the room. He looked to be in his fifties with white hair and a carefully trimmed beard of the same color, a golden lightning bolt tattoo on his forehead, and with the way he strutted into the room I was surprised we hadn’t met his ego ten minutes before he showed up. I’ll say one thing for him though, he was direct. “So this is your new spawn Danu, care to tell me why I shouldn’t behead her now to punish you for violating the Oath of Order?”

Most people would be scared shitless when confronted with an ancient God threatening to kill them, and I have to admit there was a little of that, but I was more pissed off than anything. He called us here and made us wait for nearly two hours, just so he could insult and threaten me? My first reaction was to start readying my magic even though I had no real training yet, but then I firmly squashed that urge. He wanted me to lose it and attack him; I could see it in those sky blue eyes of his. The room, his attitude, the insults and threats; he wanted to let us know that he was in control here. I was the child here, and he was testing to see if I was going to be a problem child or let the adults talk.

I decided to play it sweet and respectful, with just a touch of sass. “Lord Zeus, it’s such a pleasure to meet you, I have heard so much about you. I’m Dana. This is a lovely room, it’s very comfortable. Do you often entertain your guests here? Or do they entertain you?” Okay, maybe that was a lot of sass.

To my surprise he laughed and winked at me, “Was that an offer?”

So he wanted to play a little give and take did he? I shook my head as I shot back, “I wouldn’t think I’m your type, I heard you prefer mortals, and even when I was one I doubt I’d have been your type. What’s the matter? Dry spell? I guess beggars can’t be choosers.”

Zeus’ eyes went wide at that before he bellowed in laughter again. “This one has courage and wit, I’m not sure if I want to kill her or keep her around.”

“I’d have to charge by the hour and my wit is the only entertainment I’d be giving you,” I retorted.

“That is enough, from both of you,” Danu-mom said with a shake of her head. “You know very well you have no authority to kill her Zeus. If I had not acted I would have violated my First Oath, and I could do that no more than you could. As for the Oath of Order, it doesn’t apply to Dana. The wording was, ‘Those born Gods will never again interfere with or make their presence known to mortals, or allow themselves to be seen in their true forms on the mortal plane’. Dana was born mortal.”

“A very nice loophole there, I agree,” he answered with a grim nod, “but you still need my support to convince the rest of the council to allow you to exploit it.”

She rolled her eyes and her wings fluttered in annoyance. “Dana obviously just passed your little test, and if you had meant to refuse us you would have just done so without all the theatrics you old lecher. What is it that you want from us?”

The Olympian seated himself in front of us before speaking with a serious expression on his face. “I am prepared to endorse your plan to allow your daughter to forgo the Oath of Order and become the mortal plane’s Guardian, but there is something I need her to do for me. There are mutant mortals calling themselves Titans and usurping the names of Olympians. I would like her to deal with those pretenders.”

“Old school smiting, or merely make them regret their actions and pay for their crimes?” Danu pressed.

“You know I would prefer a good smiting, but I leave it up to her, just so long as they know they are facing the wrath of a true God,” he answered with a shrug.

With Zeus on board an emergency council meeting was convened to discuss my situation and to vote on whether to allow me to forgo the Oath of Order and become the Guardian of my world, humanity and the Fae. While they were meeting I was returned to Cathair na Danaan and once again abducted by Anand, Badb, and Macha, this time to prepare me for returning home. They had taken me to Murias with its many shops and artisans to show me where to buy clothes, food, magical trinkets, and where to get laundry, repairs and other services done. Most of the shops were closed for the night, but they were able to introduce me to a few of our fellow Tuatha Dé Danann including Airmed the healer and Lugh of the many talents.

We were currently at the shop of Brigid, who was apparently expecting us, and I was introduced to her as her new aunt. She was Dagda’s daughter and she had more aspects than me or the triplets; the sun, fire, water, poetry, smithing, weaving, medicine and midwifery, arts and crafts, cattle and other livestock, and sacred wells. I couldn’t help but stare a bit at her, though I was starting to get used to seeing beautiful people with strange features. She didn’t have wings or horns or anything, but her wild curly hair was the red-gold of flames and it actually glowed like sunrise, I could even feel heat coming from it. Her eyes were a bright sparkling green and the mark on her forehead looked like a rising sun, the same red-gold color as her hair.

While Brigid was taking my measurements, for who knew what, I glanced nervously at my watch. I let out a sigh as I said, “I’ve been here nearly eight hours and I was supposed to be meeting Karen… umm… Miss Morris soon to give her my paperwork and tell her what classes I’ve decided to take before school starts. I am going to be so late, and on the first day too.”

“Don’t worry about it Dana, you have plenty of time,” Badb tried to reassure me, at least I thought it was Badb, the triplets were hard to tell apart without their weapons. “Time passes slower on higher planes than on lower ones. You may have been here eight hours, but only half that time has passed on the mortal plane. If we were in Tír na nÓg you’d have to be careful though, it’s one of the lowest planes and in five minutes there, an hour would have passed on your plane. We’ll take you there to introduce you to the Fae sometime soon, but we’ll likely do any combat training you need on this plane.”

“Any other stupid mortal questions you need answered?” Macha put in with a roll of her eyes. Her general attitude at least made it easy to tell which one she was. “You might as well get them out of the way now.”

“Well…” I began to speak uncertainly. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to ask this question, especially since it involved the Morrígan and Macha wasn’t exactly the sharing and caring type. I didn’t think she was being intentionally mean, she seemed to care for her sisters, it was just that showing it wasn’t really her thing. “Umm I was actually wondering Macha; Anand told me that Dagda was our brother, but the old myths say that the Morrígan… umm… coupled with him on Samhain, though the reasons vary.”

That was met with a chorus of “Ewwwwwww!” and disgusted looks all around.

“And that is why they are called myths sister,” Anand said with a shudder. “Humans passed down stories of us verbally until they had reading and writing down and each story changed with the telling. Many stories have completely forgotten about our mother and half the time they don’t even get the names straight. They’ve confused me with Anu and Nemain countless times. To be honest I got so sick of it that I stopped using my magic to watch the humans decades ago.”

“But you speak modern English so well,” I said awkwardly as Brigid measured my neck.

“We do go to the mortal plane in raven form; I just don’t watch certain family lines, like mother does,” Anand explained. “Your family was always so interesting to her, but she sometimes gets premonitions about certain mortals, and it seemed she was right to watch you. Our kind watches a lot of television and movies too, and the news is a great way for those of us without major aspects to find out what’s going on in the human world. Television is like a guilty pleasure here, since one of the Kami figured out how to relay the signals and compensate for the difference in the passage of time so we’re not watching it all in slow motion.”

Brigid had finished her measurements and was looking them over. “Good news Dana, you’re not too different in size from a lot of other young Goddesses ready to take their First Oaths and begin their duties. I should have some clothes and armor that should fit you properly, and weapons won’t be a problem either. Grandmother said that she will pay for whatever the Morrígan feels you need with enchantments. That’s a good trade for me since I can sell goods enchanted by her for a much higher price.”

Macha smiled for the first time since I had met her and it only made her even more frightening. “Alright Dana, weapons first!”

“I’m not really a warrior like you three,” I argued as she looked carefully over a large spear and thrust it into my hands. “I just use magic, and not very well yet. I doubt I could even carry a bunch of weapons with me all the time.”

“We’re teaching you to fight, so you’ll need weapons,” she countered as she looked over a shield and sword on display. “Besides, it’s always good to have an ace in the hole. What if your enemy is resistant to magic or an ally needs a weapon? You just use that magic of yours to summon one of your weapons or even create a magical one and you have another way of fighting and the element of surprise.”

Soon a sword, shield, and some sort of war hammer joined the spear and while I was no expert, all seemed very finely crafted and in a definite Celtic style. Next we were looking at armor, but Macha claimed to prefer mobility over defense so she was ignoring anything she deemed to be too heavy or hard to move in. As she was grumbling over everything being ‘too heavy for a noob with no muscle tone’ Brigid pulled me aside saying, “I need you to put this choker on Dana.”

I looked down at the item she held out in her hand. The choker was wide, intended to cover my whole neck, made of a dark blue satin with some sort of clasps at each end, and in the center was a Celtic knot design that resembled the mark on my forehead embroidered in silver. It was much heavier than I had thought it would be when I took it and I could feel powerful enchantments on it. “What the…” I started to say in confusion.

“Grandmother had me make it when you… joined the family,” the fiery haired Goddess told me. “The satin outer layer is to make it more comfortable for you to wear and make it look less conspicuous to mortals, but inside its finely woven titanium chain mail. That should be plenty of protection against slashing and puncturing weapons, but grandmother also enchanted it for extra protection, and so that only you can remove it. We can’t have you losing your head.”

“How often are people going to try to chop off my head?” I sputtered incredulously as I placed it around my throat and awkwardly fastened it. It was tight enough that it wouldn’t shift, but not so tight that it gave me problems breathing. I had to admit that the satin did make it a lot more comfortable as well.

“Better safe than dead,” she replied with a shrug before leaning in to check the fit. “That’s a good fit; I was worried it might be too small. Just come see me if you need any adjustments or repairs done. And since Macha doesn’t seem to think you can handle heavy armor, I may have an alternative for you when you fight. They’re more meant for fashion, but it’ll protect your innards and I make them for people with wings too. I may have one in your size.”

Brigid’s alternative was a chain mail bikini top and a chain mail corset that hugged my figure tightly from just under my breasts right down to my hips where it formed a ‘v’ pattern that reached its point just forward of my new female plumbing. She had to take the corset in a bit, but it didn’t take her long. It may have made me look like a D&D geek’s wet dream, but I had to admit that it was light and did protect my chest and my innards from sharp pointy things.

To make me look slightly less fantasy slut, or perhaps more-so in my opinion, the triplets suggested that I wear clothes underneath the chain mail. They insisted upon a form-fitting dark blue chemise with three quarters length billowing translucent sleeves and a scooped neck that didn’t hide my cleavage any better than the bikini top. To complete my outfit Brigid added a pair of knee high leather boots in the same dark blue, a pair of chain mail hand flowers that matched the top and corset, and a mid-thigh length Tuatha Dé Danann pattern tartan skirt. Finally they added a long braided blue belt embroidered with silver Celtic knot patterns around my waist, which they cinched in the front with a simple clasp, leaving the ends to dangle in front of my skirt.

Brigid used her sun/fire aspects to infuse all the clothes with comfortable warmth so I wouldn’t get too cold while flying. Then, like she had with the other clothes, changed the colors of the tartan to what she claimed were my personal colors; dark blue for the night sky, aquamarine for the sea, and silver for moonlight. She explained that with our clan we always used the same pattern on the tartan, but that the colors were always those associated to the God or Goddess in question. Then she told me not to be a stranger as she sent us on our way with me dressed in my new outfit and carrying an armload of weapons I would probably never use.

The Morrígan led me back to the castle and to a large room that looked like a small apartment. My new sisters insisted that this was to be my room whenever I spent time on this plane, so that I had a place of my own to rest, and put my weapons and other things. It was a very nice place, comfortable and nicely decorated with a large bed, fireplace, thick rugs on the floor, and beautiful tapestries hanging from the walls. Macha showed me how to place the weapons and shield ‘properly’ in the rack for that purpose and then we all got comfortable to wait for news from the council.

I tried to relax and just clear my mind as I laid there on the big bed, but the more time I spent on this plane the more the place confused me. All the furniture was wooden of exceptional handmade craftsmanship, the mattress on the bed was down filled, and all the materials in the sheets blankets and such indicated they were woven and not mass produced. It was like living in the middle ages, if one could ignore the more modern touches like a bathroom with modern plumbing, the 48 inch wide screen television, or the silver cell phone I had been provided with.

The modern touches weren’t real, but rather magically generated replicas made to work like the genuine articles through magic. They couldn’t even get their hands on real versions of those modern items since the Oath of Order prevented them from doing things like contributing to a mortal economy, going on the internet, communicating with mortals directly or indirectly, or anything like that. As a result the cellphone was very basic and the only extra feature was text messaging, since a lot of the added features on Earth would be useless to the Gods and internet access would violate that stupid Oath. It would allow us to stay in contact no matter what plane I happened to be on though (I hoped there wasn’t long distance charges for that). I thought that it must suck being unable to interact with a world they were all obviously interested in. I doubted that television was enough to satisfy them.

It was as I was thinking those thoughts my already long night and the comfortable bed conspired to put me to sleep. I was woken by a slap to the face and fumbled to get into a sitting position without my wings getting in the way. “Huh? Wha?” I fumbled with the words as well as I looked around.

Macha was sitting beside me and smiled, “It’s about time you woke up noob.” She seemed pleased with herself while Badb and Anand were glaring at her. “What?! You two calling her name wasn’t waking her up so I used a more direct approach.”

Looking at the three goddesses and the room made me realize that I had not just had the weirdest dream of my life, it really had all happened. I wasn’t really sure how I should feel about that as I asked, “Umm… how long was I out?”

“About four hours our time,” Badb replied. I was beginning to see slight differences in the way the triplets moved and spoke and they all felt a little different to my magic sense so it was getting easier to tell them apart.

“We thought that we should just let you sleep for a bit,” Anand said with a concerned look. “You’ve had a lot happening since we found you, and you’re not used to the longer day and night cycle here. Mother has returned from the council meeting and wants us to join her in the garden.”

I was about to get up from the bed when Macha thrust a cloth wrapped bundle into my arms, “I was getting bored watching these two idiots fawn over you while you slept, so I got someone to clean the clothes we found you in. Your phone is in there too and I… thought you could use a weapon that you can carry until we put some muscle on you. That dagger was my first weapon, so it’s damn old, but I’ve kept it in good condition.”

Anand’s eyes went wide. “You’re giving her gonaid?! You never take it out of its case.”

Macha, you big softie,” Badb teased.

“Shut up!” Macha snapped, frowning at Badb. “She’s family, so we need to protect her. If she goes back to the mortal plane we can’t do that, so I’d feel a lot better if she has one good weapon she can use with her.”

I gave into the crazy urge to hug the grouchy goddess. “Thanks Macha, you’ve all been great.” Then I stood up to hug the other two as well before we made our way to the garden.

Anand insisted we head to the gardens by way of the kitchen so that I could eat something. That something turned out to be a small loaf of bread with creamy butter. The bread was made with honey and berries and was sweet and tasty. I finished it quickly and, while it had filled the void in my stomach, I knew that I’d have to try to eat a decent breakfast later if I could. My new metabolism required a lot of fuel.

We arrived at the same garden where I had first met the Mother Goddess and she was again waiting for us on one of the benches by the pool. My God-mother spoke as soon as we were close enough to hear. “The council has approved your appointment as Guardian of the mortal plane Dana. You will be exempt from the Oath of Order and have free passage through any territory on that plane, though you will still need another clan’s consent to enter their primal planes or their territories on this plane. Once you have taken your First Oath you will be free to go back to where your sisters found you.”

I breathed a sigh of pure relief. “Oh thank goodness. It’s not like I hate it here, it seems really nice and you’ve all been very welcoming, but I really think I need a bit of somewhat normal life for a bit while I process all of this.”

“I understand Dana,” she replied as she embraced me in both her arms and wings. “If there were any other path I could have taken I would have. You have been through a lot and now you have a lot of adjustments and a huge responsibility to face. I would have liked to spare you all that, but your world needs you and I am happy to have another daughter. I am here if you ever need me, and so are your sisters.”

“I know, thanks… Mom.” It should have felt weird to me calling someone that. My mortal mother had died almost ten years ago and I still missed her sometimes. We had been raised to see Danu as a mother figure though, a mother we could have even when the one who had birthed us was gone. I had never even conceived that I would have her fulfilling the mother role more directly, let alone that I would become her actual child by some strange twist of fate. I was her daughter now, she had passed down her genes to me and I could feel the connection between us and my new sisters. This might all take a bit of getting used to, but having more family that cared for me was probably a good thing.

“Swear your First Oath Dana, and we shall be your witnesses,” she said as she released me from her loving embrace.

I wasn’t quite sure what to say at first. When Anand had explained the First Oath to me, she had told me that it must come from the heart. I closed my eyes and thought about what I needed to do, what no other God but me could do now, and the words came. “I, Dana of the Tuatha Dé Danann, do hereby solemnly swear my First Oath. I swear to be Guardian of Humankind, Hypers, the Fae, and Earth of the Mortal realm. I pledge to protect them from one another and outside threats, nurture them, and see justice done when needed. This I do swear!”

I felt myself embraced again, this time by all four of them. “That’s a good Oath,” Badb said.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Anand agreed.

Macha nodded, and her frown turned to a look of concern briefly as she told me, “Go kick some ass, but don’t take unnecessary risks until we can make a real Goddess out of you.”

My mother was the last to let me go. “You can go back to the mortal realm now Dana, you just need to focus on the mark on your forehead and concentrate on what plane you want to appear on. If you have a specific place in mind, then concentrate on that.” She paused a moment before adding, “The future has many branches, but they all share common leaves. You need not protect your world alone. There are young Hypers who will help you: Three you will find where flowers grow in the presence of ice. The sun has already appeared, she and the creator will seek you out. The child of shadows will appear in time, whether boy or girl they will light the way for others to join you and unite you all. I can tell you no more than that without violating the Oath of Order.”

She probably had to use the riddles to tell me even that much with that stupid Oath tying her hands, but all the same I appreciated it. “Thanks, all of you. I’ll be back soon,” I told them as I stepped back to give myself some space. Then I focused as hard as I could on the mark on my forehead and thought about my world, and more importantly my dorm room.

I appeared in my dorm room and looked at the alarm clock. “Shit!” I cursed as I placed the package Macha had given me on my bed. I had less than ten minutes before I was supposed to meet Deep Blue in her office. No time to change clothes, I’d have to stick with the outfit I had gotten from Brigid. I snatched up my paperwork and flew out the skylight and across campus toward the building that housed the offices and some of the classrooms.

Landing just short of the building, I raced up the stairs and made my way through the entrance as quickly as I could without banging my wings. The hallway was already half full of students off to see their counselors or on other errands before classes started so I couldn’t move quite as quickly as I liked once I was inside and had to keep my wings as close to my body as possible. As slow as I was going I couldn’t help but feel the stares of my fellow students and hear their conversations.

“Whoa! Who is that? She is so hot!” I guess I had to expect that kind of thing from teenage boys.

“Get a load of those wings,” another said.

“Is that her costume? That is so awesome!” surprisingly that one came from a girl… I think.

One guy actually had the nerve to step in front of me and block my way. I guess he was kind of cute, with blond hair, blue eyes, muscles on his muscles and he had no visible mutations that I could see, but he obviously had an ego the way he smiled at me. “I must have died and gone to heaven, ‘cause I’m seeing an angel.” Oh yeah that was sooo original. “Are you ever lucky you ran into me, they call me Alpha, how’d you like a guided tour of the school?”

“I’m Moonchilde and I’m also not interested,” I retorted. “I’m already late for an appointment.”

“Come on, I’m one of the most powerful mutants at this school,” he prodded. “If you’re nice to me I might even let you join my elite team, The Wolfpack.”

“Not interested,” I repeated. When I went to step around him he blocked my path again. The moron wasn’t taking no for an answer and I was late. “Go do your hunting elsewhere Alpha,” I snapped. In my annoyance my wings fluttered, my magic flared, and dozens of glowing silver ribbons of light emerged from the wall, the ceiling, and the floor to wrap around him, binding him tightly. When he could no longer move and his protests were muffled by another ribbon acting as a gag I stepped aside and walked past him saying, “I think those will disappear… eventually. I don’t have a lot of control over my magic yet, so be very glad those ribbons didn’t cover your nose as well, or I didn’t disintegrate you or something.”

When I got to Miss Morris’ office her secretary, a woman with four arms, told me to go inside and when I did I was surprised to see other people there. Miss Morris was there of course, but there was also an attractive blonde woman who I sensed was a powerful magic user, a handsome native boy around my apparent age with long hair, a girl around the same age who’s body seemed to be made of… ice, and a green skinned girl who couldn’t have been older than seven that appeared to have tiny vines and a pair of… flowers growing from her head. The revelation hit me like a hammer as I stammered, “Umm… sorry I’m late I…uhhh… had a really long night. I ran into a bit of a… glitch.”