The Heavenly Host

Phaestus shrugged. “Völund and I built this one. However, the technology was a joint venture by us, the Altrusian engineers who built the boom tunnels, and a few others.”

“Tizzy said that Sleestak wizards built the boom tunnels,” Reggie said. Boggy nodded.

Phaestus snorted in humor. “That’s what he calls them. And in some sense that is true. The Altrusians are the ancestors and descendants of the Sleestaks.”

“How can they be both?” Boggy asked, puzzled.

“Altrusians are temporally cyclical,” Phaestus said. “Meaning they exist at multiple points in time simultaneously in the past and the future. Not unlike the Mobius Mage, only on a much larger scale.”

“The Mobius Mage?” Reggie asked.

“You don’t want to know. He’s a pain in the ass.” Phaestus shook his head. “With luck, we will never need to discuss him — or rather, I guess, it — again.” Phaestus gestured to the World Gate.

“We should go through. Remember, we are about to be under attack from Knights of Chaos. If my wife misses that, things will be much worse than they are now.” Phaestus paused as he walked around the control stones. “At least for me.”

Phaestus moved towards the World Gate and motioned for the others to follow him. He walked up the ramp to the golden pool and walked through. Boggy gave Reggie an uncertain look; Reggie shrugged and stepped through as well. Boggy followed.

The world seemed to stretch, twist, reform. Reggie thought he might throw up, but as suddenly as the disorientation began, it seemed to end and he found himself on a ramp leading down into a very crowded workshop. He looked behind him and as expected, there was another World Gate with a golden liquid center, through which Boggy walked.

The best thing about the new location was the quiet. They could no longer hear the wail of the klaxons. “Whew. That’s a relief!” Boggy said, touching his ears. Phaestus grinned.

“So we are in Astlan?” Reggie asked.

Phaestus twisted his head around in a sort of wobbly motion. “Not exactly. We are on Uropia, the closer of the two moons of Astlan.”

Reggie’s eyes popped wide. “Your wife lives on the moon?”

“Well, one of the two moons. As the population grows, we will extend onto the other moon, Anuropia.” Phaestus then made a shushing motion with his fingers.

“Your presence here is a bit awkward, so we need to stay low-key. We did not come through the proper channels, and if certain individuals find out I have a back door that bypasses our normal security, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do. Sekhmekt, my wife, knows about the World Gate, but very few others do.” Phaestus looked towards the door. “I am hoping she doesn’t have any visitors here in our villa at the moment.”

He gestured for them to follow him around a few tables and counters with a wide plethora of odd-looking instruments, tools and half-finished projects. He leaned up against the door to the workshop and seemed to concentrate on something, as if listening. He finally nodded.

“She’s in the den, and only our household servants are here.” He opened the door and gestured for them to follow him. The three left the workshop and proceeded down a large marble corridor with several good-sized columns all inlaid with gold, silver and other odd, gemstone-like tracings. Reggie felt like he was in a museum or a very fancy government building.

Phaestus led them to a doorway with a large red curtain, which he divided and said “Knock, Knock!” as he stuck his head through.

From the other side of the curtain a very deep, yet still feminine voice exclaimed, “pêTah! You are back from Mount Doom already?”

Phaestus moved into the room. “I am, my darling, and I have a couple of friends with me!”

“Well, show them in!” the woman’s voice said.

“Reggie, Boggy?” Phaestus called. The two demons went into the room. Reggie shook his head in surprise; the room was not what he was expecting. It was luxuriously decorated with rugs, carpets, ferns and all manner of fine furniture. It resembled nothing so much as a very high-end Victorian hunting den or lounge. However, rather than having a lion’s head on a wall, there was a twelve-foot-tall, extremely muscular yet voluptuous, human woman with the head of a lioness standing before a large chair.

“Boggy, Reggie, this is my wife, Sekhmekt,” Phaestus announced proudly, gesturing at each of them as he introduced them.

Reggie heard Boggy murmur behind him, “Wow, lucky bloke — seriously married up!”

Sekhmekt raised one eyebrow in surprise at the sight of the two demons. “To what do we owe this honor?”

Phaestus grinned. “Mount Doom is under attack!” he said almost gleefully.

The lioness scrunched her eyebrows in puzzlement. “You are not one to shy from battle, particularly when it involves one of your creations.”

“No,” Phaestus said with a chuckle. “I had to come get you!”

“Why?” The lioness seemed puzzled.

“Lilith is sending two thousand plus demons...” Phaestus said, and Sekhmekt shrugged, not that concerned, “... and a Chaos Maelstrom!”

The lioness’s brow relaxed as her eyes went wide. “A large one?”