One moment, Lucas was studying at his desk in his room, the next he found himself standing in a large room, dressed in formal party attire. His response was to do the only logical thing – check and see if he was dreaming. After a moment, however, he found that none of his reality checks were working, and he was far too lucid to be dreaming. Or, at least, too lucid to be dreaming when all his reality checks had indicated that he was awake.


    As he looked around, though, he became less and less sure that he was awake. The room was filled with all sorts of mythical beings, angels, demons, centaurs, beastkin, people made of slime…the list just went on and on. Yet, despite how outlandish it all was, there was a strange sense of familiarity about the situation, one he couldn’t quite put his finger on.


    He stood there slack-jawed for what must have been a minute before he was snapped out of his trance by a tap on his shoulder. He whirled to find himself facing four people; an oddly familiar demon, the one who had tapped on his shoulder, a half-demon, half-angel woman who must have been the demon’s sister, an angel who appeared to be a child, and yet another oddly familiar demon.


    A pang of unidentifiable emotion ran through him as he looked at the last one, but that was something to unpack later. “Um…can I help you?” He asked warily. “And, uh…do I know you?”


    The demon who had tapped on his shoulder gave him a warm smile. “Sort of! I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past!”


    Lucas stared at her blankly. “Pardon?”


    The demon giggled. “You heard me! I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past, these two”, she motioned at the hybrid and the angel, “are the Ghost of Christmas Future, and she,” she motioned at the last demon, “is…Scrooge, I guess? Except in this scenario Scrooge is also married to the ghosts, so…well, look, the metaphor is falling apart, but our mom didn’t raise a quitter so I’m going to keep at it.”


    Lucas frowned, feeling yet another pang of unfamiliar emotion as he learned “Scrooge” was married. “You’re missing the Ghost of Christmas Present. And, uh, Marley, but if Scrooge is already here then he isn’t super necessary, I guess.” He said.


    “Well, you’re the Ghost of Christmas Present.” The demon said. “And, yeah, there’s no Marley, but we’re out of people. Did I mention that the metaphor is falling apart?”


    “You assigned two people to the role of the Ghost of Christmas Future, and I’m not married to ‘Scrooge’.” Lucas pointed out.


    “Sort of.” The demon replied.


    “He’s not going to get it.” The hybrid said. “Lucas, everyone here aside from ‘Scrooge’ is you. She,” the hybrid motioned at the demon who had been speaking, “is us before we were reincarnated. We,” she motioned at herself and the angel, “are you in the future. Properly speaking, my time is the present and you should be the Ghost of Christmas Past with the old us, but the metaphor doesn’t really even work in the first place, so it’s not important.”


    “What?” Lucas asked, dumbfounded. “Is this some sort of scam?”


    The angel burst into laughter, rapidly aging as she walked forward and clapped a hand on Lucas’s shoulder. “No, it’s not a scam. You’re not paying for anything tonight, and there are going to be no repercussions in the real world. Or…well, I guess this is technically the real world, but no one is going to remember this until like seven or eight years from where you are in time.


    “By way of introduction, the demon who talked to you first is Lilith. Yes, that Lilith, and no, you don’t have to worry; demons as a whole were the losers of a war and were subject to a merciless propaganda campaign by angels. As one of the most important demons, we were naturally given a rather unflattering role in revised history.


    “The other demon is Kali, our wife and…well, for the sake of time, consider her to be god. Not quite capital-G God, but she’s the one in charge of Earth and related planes. I’m sure you’re feeling all sorts of weird things looking at her, and that’s because, despite our memory being permanently wiped with our reincarnation, many of our feelings remained. When you first meet her again in ‘real life’, you’re going to feel a lot of these same feelings again.


    “Then there’s…” the angel faltered for a moment as she looked at the hybrid, “well, us. She’s also going by Lilith. And me, I’m…” The angel paused, biting her lip as she seemed to think for a moment. “Look, it’s really complicated, but I’m Eve, and I’m basically an alternate personality with a body of my own. I share all the ‘main body’s’ memories, and we usually share senses too, but I have a separate thought process and emotions. I’m almost another person, but also in every single way that matters in a metaphysical sense I’m the same person.


    “For the sake of tonight, just know that whatever you say to me will be instantly heard and understood by Lilith and vice-versa. Again, it’s complicated, and even a lot of people who know magic have a hard time wrapping their heads around it, so don’t worry too much about it.”


    “I’m going to pull both of the old me aside for a moment.” Future Lilith said. “Kali, do you mind going with Eve and finding out where everyone is while I’m gone?”


    Kali gave a tentative nod. “Yes, but…what are you going to talk about?”


    “I’ll let you know in a bit.” Lilith replied. “Depending on what we decide, we’ll need your input.”


    Future Lilith nodded, then towed both Past Lilith and Lucas away. She looked around for a moment, then took a deep breath, turning towards Past Lilith. “Okay.” She said. “This…is not a conversation I ever expected to have, but the idea got in my head and I just have to talk about it.”


    “Um, what’s going on?” Lucas asked, confused. “Why do you need me here?”


    “This affects you as well, in a way. You’re here…more for courtesy than anything, because I know how you’ll react, but it just felt right, you know?”


    “You’ve intrigued me.” Past Lilith said. “Go on.”


    “Well…you know that Kali couldn’t keep our memories when she reincarnated us, right?” Future Lilith said. “I…was hoping that I could copy yours and take them for myself.”


    “Is that all?” Past Lilith replied, chuckling. “I’d be overjoyed if this works, but we forget everything, remember?”


    “We figured out a way to remember.” Future Lilith said. “And, well, that’s not really the thing I wanted to ask. There’s a real possibility that, in the future, I’ll be able to pull off some time shenanigans and…fix the mistake. Let us keep our memories through reincarnation by implanting the copy I get from you. It’ll alter the course of history in an unpredictable way, but I have faith things will turn out more or less the same. And, since this is really your life we’re talking about, I felt it best to give you the option if that ever becomes something I can do.”


    Past Lilith nodded sagely. “Well, I get the feeling that this isn’t the whole of it, but for now, would both of you humor me? If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Lucas, why don’t you go first, since you’re the younger one?”


    Lucas took only a moment to think. “I’d keep things as they were, no time shenanigans.” He said. “I’d be essentially killing the future me, which seems wrong, and also who knows if things would turn out worse afterwards? Plus…well, it’s basically just temporary amnesia, right? Since I’d be getting the memories back in however long?”


    “Not quite.” Future Lilith said. “The memories won’t be quite the same. I’ll have the memories of the old life, but it’ll feel less…” Lilith paused for a moment, clearly thinking for the right word, “real. The way I was thinking of doing it, the memories and personality that I’ve cultivated in my current life will still take center stage, and the rest would be…older, less important, even if the memories will still have some emotion to them.


    “Alternatively,” Future Lilith continued, turning to face her past self, “I can take a snapshot of your consciousness as it is now and make you into a Parallel like Eve, or I can just invert the process and make your frame of mind the ‘default’ instead of mine. Those are the other options, the ‘whole of it’, as you were saying.”


    “I see. But you haven’t given me your answer yet; in my situation, what would you do?”


    “I’d…I’d do the same as Lucas for the time altering-thing.” Future Lilith said. “And I think it’d feel odd just coming back as a Parallel and it would throw a huge wrench in relationships, I wouldn’t want to do the inversion thing, because I’d be killing future me, just like I would if I accepted the time deal. I’d be happy just getting my memory back; people change over time, and having a second childhood would likely do exacerbate that anyway, so it’s not a huge deal.”


    “There you have it, then.” Past Lilith said. “That’s exactly what I would have said, and that alone tells me that I don’t need to worry too much about personality shifts. Like Lucas said, I can just think of it as temporary amnesia. Lucas, I assume you’re still content with your choice, knowing the other options?”Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    “I am, yeah.” Lucas said. “It wouldn’t be my life to live. And I definitely don’t need a copy of my mind taken right now, since there’s no memory gap or anything after…whatever happens to make me like that, right?”


    “There’s not.” Future Lilith confirmed.


    “Well, then it looks like this is your life to live, so enjoy it.” Past Lilith turned back to Future Lilith. “Let’s get started then, shall we?”


    Future Lilith laid a hand on her past self’s forehead, there was a brief moment where everything felt more intense, more real, and then she took the hand away. “Done and done.” Future Lilith said. “Kali’s waiting to walk with us to one of the groups we’ll be hanging with, and Eve’s going to fetch the other. Let’s go tell her the good news, shall we?” She strode off back in the direction they had come from, and, lacking anything else to do, Lucas followed.


    “Ah, you’re back!” Kali said, hurrying over to them. “Are you three okay? What was this decision?”


    “Fine.” Future Lilith said, giving Kali a quick kiss. “I just realized that, since we all were here, I could snag a copy of past Lilith’s memories for myself. She’s from what appears to be the literal instant before you reincarnate her, so it’s a full copy, too. I was just asking her permission for it, and she gave it.”


    Kali froze, looking up at Future Lilith with a complicated expression. “R-really?” She stammered. “But…why would you need my input?”


    “I wanted to give her and Lucas some options. If we become able to mess with time like this party seems to be able to, I offered to fix the issues with the reincarnation and let her keep her memory. I also offered to take a snapshot of her mind and make her a Parallel, or to sort of reverse how the memory transfer is done so it seems more like she got all of my memories instead of the other way around.


    “If she had said yes to any of those alternate options, I would have met with you, and if you had said yes, we probably would have met with people back home and asked their opinions on the matter, but she said no, so I went ahead and did the transfer. So…yeah. I remember everything now.”


    Kali’s eyes filled with tears as she looked between Future Lilith and Past Lilith. “I…I…I don’t know what to say, I never thought…”


    Past Lilith walked over and gave Kali a hug. “You did your best.” She said. “And look, it worked out in the end, so it’s fine. Even without my memories, it wasn’t like you two had any trouble getting back together or anything.”


    Lucas stood there awkwardly, not quite sure what he was supposed to be doing. It was sort of a surreal feeling; he had been told that two of the three people involved in the conversation were him in some form or another, but he felt…different. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but both Past Lilith and Future Lilith had something that he lacked, and he couldn’t shake that feeling, no matter how he tried.


    Though they all three of them shared some commonalities, the two Liliths were more similar to each other than they were to him. They carried themselves more confidently, like they had come to terms with who they were and what their lot in life was. That was something that Lucas just…didn’t have yet, and he felt a strange sort of jealousy towards that. And that was odd in and of itself; he didn’t get jealous like other people did, or…rather, he got jealous from time to time, but it generally took something big, and this wasn’t anywhere near that level.


    “Hey.” Kali said, laying a hand on Lucas’s shoulder.


    Lucas jumped, heart fluttering in his chest as Kali touched him. “Uh, hey, sorry. Um, I’m Lucas.”


    “I know who you are, silly.” Kali giggled. “I’m married to your future self, remember? I was just coming to say sorry for sort of excluding you like that. This is all probably a lot for you to take in, and I was too caught-up in my emotions to make sure you were fine.”


    “No, it’s okay.” Lucas said. “Um…what was that about other groups that Lilith mentioned earlier?”


    “Oh, right. We’ve got two groups from other universes that we tend to meet up with at these parties. I’m guessing they’ll have people from their pasts there too, and you’ll likely have more than a few things in common with some of them.”


    “Actually, Lia’s group is just over there.” Future Lilith said, pointing somewhere behind Lucas. “It looks like one of the Amelias is causing a problem.”


    “Not surprised.” Kali said. “Let’s go say hi, get you to meet some people. Once the other group, uh, not the one we’re going to walk to now, the one Eve is getting, meets up with us, look for the guy; his name’s Thomas, and he’s in basically your exact situation, minus the whole reincarnation thing. But, you know, he’s from a world with no magic, his future self is also a woman…I think you’ll be able to have a nice chat.”


    Kali gently took Lucas’s hand, and he let her pull him off towards the other group of people. Once there, Future Lilith began chatting with them, and Lucas began looking the group over. They only had two people there that were obviously inhuman, two kitsunes that were likely the same person from different time periods, but other than that they seemed…normal. Or, no, normal was the wrong word, humans were vastly outnumbered by nonhumans in this place, but…they seemed like people he would be able to find anywhere on Earth.


    He was prepared to stand around for a while longer, but fortunately that wasn’t what happened; after only a little bit, Eve appeared, a group of seven people in tow. While Future Lilith greeted them as well, Lucas took the opportunity to slip away and head towards the one guy in the group, which…actually, including him, was one of only three in all of the groups, and apparently both Lucas and this other guy would become women in the future, so in a weird way it was almost like there was only one man amongst the three groups.


    Lucas pulled up next to the guy, Thomas, and began to speak. “You’re…also from a place with no magic, right?”


    “Um, yeah.” Thomas said. “Who…”


    “Right, right, sorry.” Lucas said. “My name’s Lucas, I’m apparently the past version of Lilith. I heard a bit about you from her, and seeing as how you’re the only guy here aside from that one important-looking dude, I thought I’d introduce myself.”


    “The name’s Thomas, and there are a lot of women here, now that you mention it.” Thomas admitted. “Strange.”


    “If you only count the future versions of people like us, he’s the only man in this group.” Lucas said. “It’s downright uncanny.”


    “He becomes a woman too.” A blonde human woman said, glancing back at them. “And it’s uncanny, but it’s not an accident, either; most of the people in each group are romantically involved with each other in some form or another, and many of them are attracted to women only. So, yeah, not that big of a deal, but –”


    She was cut off by Future Lilith clapping her hands and gathering the attention of the group. “Okay, there are a lot of us here today, and this is the first party for half of us, so I think it’s prudent we get any questions out of the way now.” Future Lilith began. “This place is…well, it’s complicated to explain, especially since some of you here haven’t even been exposed to magic, but we’re in sort of a place outside the regular flow of time. Every so often people get whisked away here, we have a party, and then get plopped back wherever we were, none the wiser.”


    Future Lilith paused, smirking. “Or, that was the case. As of my time, we have figured out a way to keep our memories of this place, and we’ve made a point of making sure all of you get yours back. You won’t get them back until my time period, so it’s anywhere from three to fifty or sixty years off, depending on which group you’re in, so it won’t affect your lives immediately, but just don’t do anything embarrassing because you think you won’t remember it.


    “A couple of you are probably already wondering if I have knowledge of future parties from your future selves, and the answer is no, we’re ninety percent confident those haven’t happened yet. Don’t worry about it too much right now, this place is way outside the normal rules of time and it’s not worth hurting your head thinking about it right this second.


    “Alright, now, the big one. There’s going to be a lot of talk about Higher Beings and Administrators; to keep it short, you can think of Higher Beings as the gods and Administrators as the head of the gods. The three main groups here are from planes ruled by three different Administrators that are in an alliance with each other. Full disclosure; my wife Kali and I share the duty of Administrator for our planes, but you don’t need to worry about standing on ceremony or anything.”


    Lucas froze when he heard that. He had known Kali was in this sort of role, but his future self was as well? That was…unbelievable, something he really wasn’t ready for, but…perhaps his future self was?


    Future Lilith continued, unaware or uncaring of Lucas’s musings. “As of my period in time, all of you are Higher Beings. It may seem strange, but you absolutely have the qualifications to stand on this sort of stage. Even if you weren’t Higher Beings in the future, just being here makes you more important than even some Administrators. I’m not kidding; only seriously important people get an ‘invite’ to these things.


    “All that being said, I’m getting the feeling that we should split into groups for this one. This party has a way of drawing you to where you need to be, just walk in a general direction and you’ll end up with the right group. And don’t try and fight it either,” Lilith said, looking between two women Thomas had yet to meet, “whether you like it or not, you’ll end up where the party wants you to go. People have tried, it never works and generally makes for an annoying and unfun night, so just go with the flow. Alright, now…let’s get to it, I guess!”


    “Do we really just walk off and it’ll work out?” Thomas asked doubtfully.


    “Yup, and I feel like going…this way.” The blonde woman replied, picking a seemingly random direction and walking off.


    “Funny, I was going to go the same way.” Lucas said. “Well…nice talking to you Thomas, maybe I’ll see you around? I guess…if not then we’ll meet again in the future? Kind of?” He headed off after the woman, leaving Thomas behind. “Um, excuse me, I didn’t catch your name.”


    The woman looked back at him. “Oh, right, sorry!” She said brightly. “I’m Fortune, Goddess of Fortune in my home planes and the future adoptive mother of Thomas. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier, I forgot you wouldn’t know me yet. You’re Lucas, right?”


    “You know me?” Lucas asked.


    “I know Lilith, and I’ve seen a couple pictures of you.” Fortune replied. “Unlike most everyone here, I’m actually from Lilith’s time, and we work together relatively closely, so I hang out in Kali’s planes from time to time. Fun fact: Kali is actually from my home planes, and if you see a Maven around, she’s actually Kali’s lots-of-greats great niece.”


    “Oh.” Lucas said. “Huh. I didn’t know that Administrators…came from other planes, I guess I assumed they just sort of…appeared.”


    “Some do, so you’re not totally wrong.” Fortune replied, stopping at a seemingly random spot. “Anyway, while we wait for everyone to get grouped up, do you have any questions? I’m totally down to answer anything.”


    “Um…I guess I have a couple.” Lucas said. “For one…what’s it like, being a goddess?”


    “While I was never mortal, my understanding is that it feels more or less the same on a physical level. There’s some social isolation that comes with the territory, but there are ways to handle that. For example, the anonymity of the internet means it’s a great way to talk to people who aren’t gods…”


    As Fortune spoke, Lucas found himself letting out an inner sigh of relief. For a goddess, Fortune was quite friendly and not even the slightest bit arrogant, and it was almost like she had practice talking to people who didn’t know anything about magic. She seemed to know when to explain things and when to just keep talking, and overall was just…pleasant. If the rest of the group was like this, then maybe the night wouldn’t be so awkward, after all.