It was a simple mission for Maalik this morning, at least compared to the maelstrom that was his master’s realm at the moment. Reconstructing itself to fit the Lord’s change in domains wasn’t the only thing affected- but rather the structure and order behind it that the faithful had worked hard to maintain. And now all hands were on deck as the new Apostles of Light were working with the cardinals and priests to get everything back in order. All the churches were on crunch time, including the Vilpamolan site where he had just entered. Sure enough, the Avatar was met with frantic worshippers and workers trying to make heads and tails of the situation. He could only give a faint sigh, wondering if Nemesis had even given thought to the amount of Chaos his shift had caused.

Considering that not many knew him as well as he did, he doubted it severely.

Once he made it past that hurdle, he entered the office of the Lo'vada twins. For once, he was rather shocked to see the eldest brother actually scrambling away in his work though his playful demeanor wasn’t in sight. Instead, Elijah looked extremely angry and he looked towards Isaiah who was casually looking at him and shrugged.

“What did you threaten him with this time?”, Maalik asked, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be doing his work and could list off things that the Incubus could be doing to the day he died.

“Not me. Reaver. He told Elijah that he was banned from seeing Fraeya until he completed the reports and made the necessary changes on the doctrines.”

“Hm, that’s nothing new. He’s threatened with that every week.”

“Yeah, but this time he hadn’t fed off energy in a while and he was about to head over to Lady Angela’s church when Reaver caught him. And succubi and incubi don’t tend to be in the best moods if left starving.”

Elijah grunted softly as he replied, swiftly and crudely against the parchment before moving on to the next.

“And on top of that, my stuff’s been going missing. First my chalice, then my golden quill, and my wallet is also missing. That birdbrain girlfriend of yours better give me back my things”, he spoke, nearly snarling. While Maalik did his best to ignore the weak threat, he had a thought in mind that left him puzzled.

“I haven’t seen Raine in quite some time, have either of you?”

Elijah’s face dropped for a brief moment, pondering the thought himself. “No, and she’s usually up your coattails.” Isaiah peeked up from the book he was reading and looked to the Avatar. “No, Lady Raine hasn’t been here. But I’m sure she will turn up. She has a habit of knowing when you are around and will appear.”

He had hoped that was the case, but in truth, he hadn't seen her in the last few days. He had assumed that Angela had her running about like a chicken with her head cut off like Nemesis had him and the rest of the faith. 

The door to the temple opened up and Raine skipped in, “Hi Lik!” She kissed his cheek and went over to Elijah. “Whatcha doing Elijah?” She put something on his desk. “It’s for you!” It was a brass quill. “Less shiny.” She skipped away and kissed Lik before she left.

From the other day skipped in a different Raine with another outfit. “HI ELIJAH!” She yelled at him and smiled. “I found this.” It was his empty wallet. “I’m sorry.”

Another door opened up and another Raine came in. The two Raines pointed at each other. “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WAIT!”

“I’M SORRY!” The other Raine flailed.

A portal opened up and Angela was quick to paralyze both of the Raines. “Got two of them. XEIK I GOT TWO OF THEM!”

“Only like a million left to go…” Xeik came in looking tired as he lifted one Raine over his shoulder. “Should I put this one with the rest of them?”

“Yes,” Angela nodded and looked over at Maalik. “Maybe we should put Maalik on a stick…”

“Like a carrot? I don’t know… She’s been really careful not to be around him. DO YOU THINK THEY SHARE THOUGHTS?!”

“I doubt it… They would be harder to catch,” Angela looked just as tired as she was in her lab gear with her hair in a long ponytail. “So… I have a problem…” She looked at the temple help of her husband. “My avatar ate magic mushrooms… A lot of them… She multiplied…”

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Xeik threw his free hand up as he moved the two Raines into a containment area.

As sure as Iashah was, the door opened up and Raine made her grand entrance. A sigh of relief washed over Maalik mentally as he could plainly see that she was alright. Elijah, on the other hand, didn’t share his enthusiasm and stared daggers into her as he took hold of the brass quill. But he wouldn’t speak against her, not when she was Angela’s favored and also Maalik was about. Maalik didn’t get to speak before she rushed off. “I guess she is busy…”

Iashiah went back to his book and Elijah just rolled his eyes before busying himself with work before Raine showed up, again. Maalik moved out of the way and looked at her, wondering what kind of game she was playing. Annoying Elijah wasn’t out of the norm, but changing clothes quickly and acting as if she hadn’t been in not even five minutes ago? That was odd even for her. The incubus’ temper was rising as he lifted his sights again and was handed his wallet. “The hell did you do with my coin!”

“Temper, temper”, his brother spoke, but he wasn’t having any of this.

Then everything went to hell as Raine came into the room a third time, only she also hadn’t left yet. All three men looked on with wide eyes as the Raines interacted. “What.

“The”, Isaiah followed.

“Fuck!?”, Elijah chimed in as his jaw nearly dropped.

The Avatar looked at each Raine, but he couldn’t tell them apart. How? Why?

His mind was trying to rationalize this but then a portal opened and Angela took care of them both, with her own follower behind her. “What is the meaning of this?”, he blurted out, his mind was in disarray. The brothers were no better and Elijah had all but forgotten about his hunger. “Lady Angela…are you breeding more Raines?”

“No you idiot, they are some kind of copies, right.”

Once they were aware of the problem, Maalik held his head, fingers lightly tapping against his temple. Raine was smarter than to just simply eat magic mushrooms of all things. He was very sure of that. “Young Xeik said, and I quote, “A million of her left.” What in the world does that mean? Just how many of her are out there…” He froze in horror; an unwanted thought seeped in his being. “Are they loose in the realm?!”

“Ah, hell. It’s happening. The end of the world as we know it!”, Elijah groaned and slammed his head onto his desk. “No shiny things are safe and I won’t be able to get this work done and be with Fraeya! My Lord Volkov! If you are merciful, then strike me down now and spare me of this agony that’s to come!”

“Nevermind him, what can we do, Lady Angela?”, Isaiah asked, getting up on his feet and pulling his brother up on his own.

“What I want to know is why these mushrooms do this and how we can reverse this process. I can handle one Raine, not thousands of them.”

Angela looked at the boys as the explanation came out. “…Yes. Raine got out of Elysia and started running rampant the moment she multiplied. Normally, she is contained and not as mischievous, however, it would appear that she’s a bad influence on herself and that’s making her a menace.” The goddess appeared worried, “She’s not at half the phoenix reserves that normal phoenixes are so keeping her for alchemy isn’t worth it. We at least don’t have to worry about that. However, she can’t die while she’s like this… In some cases she multiples again and in others, she just reforms.”

Xeik sighed a bit as he waved a hand, “The mushroom is called a Tauraa. It’s a mushroom cultivated in Feeorin Forest. We were studying it’s healing abilities. We know from experience that it has the chance to multiply certain creatures. Simone became three Simones when she had one. Now that we see it’s doing it to Raine we believe that it specifically does it to phoenixes.”

“We just don’t know how she got it. Raine was told and warned not to eat it. She wouldn’t have eaten this many of them on purpose. There has to be a reason other than she wanted to try it.” Angela was facepalming. “But… None of them will answer me willingly. Possibly because they are scared or want to piss me off.”

“She won’t answer me either. Combat with her won’t work too great. Raine is great at martial arts. She’s better than I am and the only one possibly better is Lady Angela.”

“I am the teacher after all,” Angela nodded. “Which leaves luring her with shiny objects, Maalik, and candy. However, it looks like she’s avoiding Maalik so she isn’t found. She won’t be able to resist seeking him out though. This was most likely formulated by a Captain Raine. It appears like there are leaders in these little squadrons of Raines if only so they are all on the same page.”

"So in short, we haven't the foggest clue as to why Raine did this", Maalik offered bleakly. Raine wasn't immune to trouble causing, he knew that much, but to directly disobey her goddess? He couldn't fathom her doing it. But what else could have possibly taken place? He took into account that maybe there had been more mushrooms somewhere; after all, according to both Angela and Xeik, these Tauraa were in Feeorin, so who else would have known about them? "Who else would have been able to get into your stash? Or more importantly, who would have known you had them in the first place?" 

"I think too much credit is given to her", Elijah grumbled, "I wouldn't put it past her to eat them just because." 

"Quiet Elijah", Maalik warned him as he felt [i[his presence manifesting from the corner of the room. 

Indeed, Nemesis was pouring himself from the shadows and was dragging someone by their leg. His avatar made a face once he was sure it was who he thought he had. "Maalik. Angela. Does anyone care to explain why there are multiple Raines running amok my realm? He lifted the small girl with ease upside down and held her right in front of Maalik. "I had at least six of them bugging Reaver and myself asking "Where's Lik? Lik? Lik?" The tone in his face revealed his annoyance of the situation. "I was only able to capture this one while the others scattered like rats."

"Hm, perhaps she's one of these Captains?" Maalik freed her from Nemesis' grasp and held onto her. "Magical mushrooms from Feeorin are the cause. She apparently ate some from Lady Angela's possession and multiplied. Those six are just a snowball in comparison to the blizzard that is unleashed on the realm."  

"Magical mushrooms from Fee…" Sighing, he looked upon his wife, already hating the answer he was sure she would give him. "And who told you about them?" Sucking at his teeth, Nemesis all but figured that his little wolf had a helping hand. "You two, as members of my faith, you are to help them collect all these Raines before they become a bigger nuisance." Isaiah simply nodded but his older brother groaned enough to attract the God's attention before feverously agreeing to the stipulation. "I'll head back home to see to Celeste. As troublemaking is her vice, she's equally good at coming up with solutions if need be."

Maalik looked upon Raine and whispered, "Sorry." Then without hesitation, he gave her up to Angela to be collect with the rest of them. "What we need is to grab her attention, all of their attentions. Every sweets shop, and general merchandise in general will need to be swept through."  

"What!? But…that could take hours, days even!"

Elijah sank into his seat and immediately Nemesis snatched him up into the air by his collar. "I don't care how long it takes, this will be done. Understood?"

Again, his enthusiasm came back and was dropped back into his chair.

"Are we able to tell who these Captains are? I'd imagine they wouldn't be announcing themselves as such…"