"Born Again"

Part 1 
Chapter 1 
"Through the Looking Glass"

By Brian Welch 
bwelchz7@yahoo.com

For the loneliest goddess.

Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama 
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)

The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by
Fujishima Kosuke.  Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess!
characters are copyright Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio
Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

-----

In the beginning there was no Heaven or Hell, no gods
or demons.  In all of Wyrd's creation there was only
Ginnungagap, the dark abyss of Chaos, bordered to the
North by cold, dark Nifelheim and to the South by hot,
fiery Muspelheim.  Cold mists held sway in lifeless
Nifelheim, while Muspelheim was ruled by Surt, swathed
in fire and wielding his flaming sword.  Rising out of
the Ginnungagap stood Yggdrasil, the world tree,
tended
by the three Norns, Urd, Verdandi and Skuld.

In the fullness of time within Ginnungagap mists from
the icy rivers of Nifelheim and sparks thrown from the
fires of Muspelheim met and combined to form two giant
beings, the cow Audhumbla and the giant Ymer.  From
Audhumbla was created Bure, the ancestor of Odin and
the other gods who came to be known as the Aesir. 
From
Ymer sprang the race of the frost giants.

Yggdrasil had three roots ending in three wells. 
These
were Urd's well guarded by the Norns, Mimer's well
guarded by the giant Mimer the Wise, and Hvergelmir in
Nifelheim, where the great worm Nidhog gnawed upon the
root, sending poisons throughout the world tree.

For long ages the gods ruled over the affairs of
humanity, protecting them from the frost giants to the
North and teaching them many things.  But in time the
gods forgot their place in creation, becoming proud
and
breaking their promises.  So, the three who tended
Yggdrasil were sent to counsel the gods, but the gods
listened not to the prophets of Wyrd.  Then Wyrd
regretted the making of the gods and resolved to
destroy them and remake creation.  This saddened the
Norns for they loved all of creation, and they warned
the gods of the approach of Ragnaroc.  Yet, still the
gods did not repent of their ways.

As the time for Ragnaroc drew near the three who
tended
Yggdrasil prayed that Wyrd would have mercy upon
creation, and the maker's heart was softened, for
truly
Wyrd loved creation as much as they. So it was that
the
final battle never came.  Humanity, as had been
foretold, turned from worshipping the gods and began
to
worship the one god.  The gods and demons were
destroyed, for such was the nature of their sin, but
were then reborn, for such is the nature of
forgiveness.  The prophets of Wyrd were reborn as
well,
for the memory of the old times rested heavily upon
their hearts.  The gods were given dominion over
Yggdrasil and a new, more peaceful order established.

Yet not all was well with creation, for the worm
Nidhog
still chewed upon the root of Yggdrasil.  The World
Tree was still dying.  And all the while, on earth,
the
humans were growing in knowledge and experience.



                   Aa! Megami-sama
                    "Born Again"



                       PART 1

                      CHAPTER 1

             "Through the Looking Glass"



-----

Yggdrasil Maintenance Facility, Heaven circa 2150 A.D.

-----

A lone chair floats above a ring of harried computer
operators.  In the chair sits a tanned, platinum
haired
woman apparently in her mid twenties.  The beauty of
her face is currently disfigured by a scowl.

"What a waste of time!" Urd muttered under her breath
as she concentrated on the status panels which floated
around her.  "This has got to be the dumbest thing
we've ever been told to do.  It isn't like we don't
already have our hands full just trying to hold
Yggdrasil together these days."  With a flick of her
fingers she tweaked a parameter.  For the next few
hours she would have to be on her toes.  She couldn't
afford to overlook anything.

"Why couldn't the Almighty have decided to send Peorth
or some other goddess from one of the other goddess
offices?"  Urd stabbed at another panel of the ailing
system.  One minor oversight, nothing serious enough
to
get her into real trouble, and Peorth could be sent to
an alternate dimension filled with slime molds the
size
of houses.  Ho ho, now wouldn't that be fun!  Urd
closed her eyes for a moment, imagining the scene. 
But
no, the Almighty had decided to send Belldandy, and
that meant absolutely nothing could go wrong.  Urd's
eyes flashed again across the screens, checking and
rechecking system status.

Belldandy waited in the Relief Goddess Office, her
head
bowed in prayer.  Only one long accustomed to her
normally serene state would have noticed the lines of
strain upon her face.  After a minute, she ended her
prayer and dialed the phone at her side.

In Yggdrasil maintenance, the phone was answered by an
annoyed Urd.  "Yeah, who is it?"

"Urd, do you have the gateway stabilized, yet?"
Belldandy asked her elder sister.

Urd relaxed at her sister's voice.  "It'll be ready in
a minute, Bell.  I'm running the final status checks
right now."

Within the Yggdrasil mainframe complex a small white
creature appeared and began to scamper merrily across
the surface of the ultimate computer.  It looked for
all the world like a cute cartoon bunny rabbit, except
it had eight legs.

Back in the Yggdrasil Maintenance, Urd's attention
snapped to one of the panels.  "Damn it, not another
one!"

A hammer came crashing down upon the odd creature,
which gave a startled look and promptly vanished.
Keiichi Morisato stepped back to survey the surface of
Yggdrasil.  "I don't see any others, Skuld, it must
have been a stray," he called to a raven-haired girl
apparently in her late teens.

The youngest Norn gave an exhausted sigh of relief,
then walked over to her brother-in-law.  "That should
be the last of them for a while,  then.  The bug
zappers are reset and the new debugging routines are
all up and running.  I'll let Urd know."  She tapped a
floating panel.

"Everything looks stable, Urd"

"Then let's get this show on the road," Urd grumbled.
"Belldandy, the resolution's terrible, but I can tell
he's in close proximity to a couple of mirrors.  I'm
locking onto the nearest one.  Remember, we'll re-
stabilize the gateway in four terrestrial hours.  You
have that long to convince him."

"I'll remember," came the reply.

"Good luck, Sis!  Be careful!" Skuld added.

"I will."

"I love you, Belldandy."

"I love you too, Keiichi."

"OK, guys, keep the bugs out of the gate control for a
few more seconds," Urd said.

"You got it," Skuld went back to scanning.

"She's on her way."  Keiichi said to no one in
particular.

Skuld placed a hand on his shoulder, her attention
still on the system.  "Don't worry, Sis is the best
there is."

"Yes, she is.  Thanks."

>From her chair in the Maintenance Facility, Urd
concentrated on her consoles.  The portal was holding
up fine.  In four hours, assuming things held together
that long, this charade would be over.

The phone rang.

Urd cursed as she picked up the phone.  "Yeah, who is
it?" she snapped in her customary greeting these days.

"It is I," came the last voice she had expected to
hear.

Aack!  "A-Almighty One!"

-----

Blacktail Bed and Breakfast Inn, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

-----

The data feed to his implanted AI relayed the news of
some monumental natural disaster.

Again.

Just another sound bite in an endless string of bad
news about a planet going berserk.

None of that bothered him right now, though.  He had
more immediate worries.  "Easy, easy..." he coached
himself through clenched teeth.  "Ouch!  Darn, nicked
myself again."  Eric Donovan raised his free hand to
his face.  He was standing in a quaint, centuries old
claw foot bathtub.  In his right hand was an old-
fashioned twin-bladed razor with which he was, with
only partial success, shaving.  The rain from the
shower head washed the blood from his fingertips as he
analyzed the situation.  "Eric," he muttered to
himself, "this has got to be something of a record for
dumb ideas.  Even if you don't bleed to death, you
will
never make it to breakfast at this rate."

It wasn't as if several less potentially painful
solutions to the problem of facial hair didn't exist
these days, but there was something about the
barbarity
of dragging a sharp sliver of metal across ones face
which had appealed to him when he had found the
ancient
razor.  "Oh, well, I'd better finish.   Starvation can
be my penance for such a shameful waste of hot water,
not to mention abusing this antique."  Not that he
really cared much about energy conservation or antique
razors right now.  What he did care about was the fact
that the steam from the shower fogged his shaving
mirror terribly, making the task that much harder.  He
reached up to wipe it for the umpteenth time.

The mirror's surface rippled.

"Eyaaaaa!" Eric snatched back his hand, checked to see
if all his fingers were still there (they were), and
turned his attention back to the mirror, which at the
moment was obscured by...  somebody's head coming
through it!?

A wide-eyed Eric did what any young, red-blooded male
would have done in a similar circumstance.
Unfortunately, he forgot to open the shower curtain
first.

The sound of a body crashing to the ancient pine floor
was followed by a loud "Ouch!" as the falling curtain
stand careened off his head.  As Eric scrambled to his
feet to continue his sprint from the bathroom, he
heard
what was probably the last sound he had expected, a
very feminine "Eeek!"

Skidding to a halt, he turned in time to see a very
beautiful, very wet girl in an elaborate costume and
strange makeup standing in what had been the shower.
The water had stopped somehow, and a moment later she
was... dry?

"How in Heaven's name did I end up in a running
shower?" Belldandy said, turning to look at the small
shaving mirror still dangling from its hook.  "Oh,
my!"
Making the best of a bad situation, she turned towards
the object of her mission.  "Good morning,"  she said
cheerfully, stepping daintily from the tub.  "I am the
goddess Belldandy.  Are you Eric Donovan?"

Eric blinked, nodded dumbly, then noticed her bare
feet
weren't quite touching the floor.  He sprang
backwards,
only to be reminded of something as a rush of cool air
met wet flesh.

"Waaa!"

Eric snatched a towel and began wrapping it around
himself.  "I must be a hallucinating," he reasoned.
"Yeah, the blow from the shower rod, that must be it!"

[Negative,] his AI informed him.  [Brain patterns are
normal.  Sensory records match recent memory.]

While Eric was being lectured by his AI, Belldandy
studied the young man.  Nearly two meters tall, his
features were distinctly African.  He might have been
taken for such if it weren't for his eyes, a
strikingly
clear blue.  He was also visibly trembling and
radiating an almost palpable level of fear and
confusion.

"Please don't be afraid, I won't harm you," she
assured
him as her feet settled upon solid ground.  "I must
apologize for appearing in your shower, but our
systems
aren't functioning correctly, and... oh, you're
bleeding!"

Eric put a hand to his face.  His fingers came away
with a mixture of blood and soap.  "Oh yeah, forgot
about that."  When he looked up, Belldandy was
standing
in front of him.

"Here," she said, touching his face.

"Hey!" Eric jumped back, but not before he felt a
tingling sensation.  He slapped a hand to the spot
Belldandy had touched and felt smooth, dry skin. 
"What
the..." he said as he ran his hand across his jaw.
There was no trace of blood, soap or stubble.  "How
did
you do that!?"  Lasers?  Sonics?  For the moment, fear
had been swept away by curiosity.

[Insufficient data,] his AI informed him.

"I sped up your metabolism to heal the cuts, then
rearranged the atomic structure of everything else to
form harmless gasses," Belldandy stated matter-of-
factly as she turned her attention to what had once
been a shower curtain.

"Uh-huh."  Rearranged the atoms?  Does she expect me
to
believe that, or am I imagining all this?  Either way,
I wonder how far I'd get if I started running now?

[Given the abilities she has demonstrated so far, not
far enough.]

I was afraid of that, Eric mentally sighed.

Belldandy muttered something in a language Eric didn't
understand and made a few motions in the air.  The
curtain and rod sprang back into place as if nothing
had happened.

"Oh my god." Eric whispered as beads of sweat began to
form on his brow.  "You're not human, are you?"

"No, of course not," Belldandy replied. "As I said
before, I'm a goddess.  Here's my card."

Eric stared at the apparently normal business card as
if Belldandy were offering him a live rattlesnake, but
after a long moment's hesitation he took it anyway.

The card seemed surprisingly ordinary for someone
claiming to be a goddess.  So maybe she was a goddess,
or just a really smart alien.  The human race
certainly
didn't posses the technology to pull off what he had
just seen.  Not outside of a laboratory, at least.

"Oh, but I am a goddess," Belldandy insisted. "As a
goddess first class, I'm not allowed to lie."

Eric froze.  "Did you just..."  Nah, she couldn't have
read my mind, must have been a coincidence.  Get a
grip
on yourself, buddy.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to upset you.  I can't
normally read someone's mind, only when I'm acting in
official capacity like I am now."

The card fluttered to the floor.  Eric stared, sweated
some more, and contemplated escape scenarios.

I don't have much time to convince him, and I dare not
fail, Belldandy worried.  If only this were as simple
as granting a wish.

"Perhaps you will feel better once you've dressed,"
she
offered, and turner her back.

As he pulled on shorts and a T-shirt, Eric considered
his options.  Make an emergency call to the police?
It'd take too long for them to arrive.  Try to hide?
How do you hide from someone who can read your mind?
In fact, that nixes just about all escape ideas.  That
was when it hit him.  Seeing this, whatever it was,
through to the end was somehow very important.  But
why?

Any further thought was preempted by the sound of
footsteps in the hallway and a knock on the door.  An
elderly woman's voice, faintly accented with German,
came from out in the hallway.  "Eric, are you all
right?  I heard a noise a few minutes ago."

Eric jumped.  Oh, no!  I should have known all that
noise would attract attention!  He shot a terrified
glance towards the door, then remembered with relief
that it was still locked.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he answered
as
calmly as possible.  "Yes, Mrs. Scheffler, I just
slipped coming out of the shower.  Everything's OK."
Not the whole truth, but not entirely a lie, either.

"All right, then, I'll see you at breakfast," came the
voice, and the sound of footsteps faded down the hall.

"Whew, that was close."  Eric turned back to
Belldandy.
Say something nice, Eric, he counseled himself.  "So,
um, what brought you to my bathroom?"  Oh, yeah, that
was really intelligent.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Belldandy apologized.  "I'm here to
ask for your help.  I can explain more thoroughly, but
I know my arrival has put you under a lot of strain. 
I
also know it might be difficult explaining the
presence
of a strange woman in your room."  Belldandy recalled
when she had first met Keiichi.  "Would it be better
if
I left now and came to the front door in, say, five
minutes?"

"Well, yeah.  I mean, that'd be fine!"  Wow, she's
certainly polite, whatever she is.

"I'll wait outside," Belldandy said, smiling.

"OK, um, do you want to use the win..."  Eric blinked
as Belldandy was suddenly standing on thin air outside
his window.  "...dow?"

Belldandy waved and settled to the ground.

Eric backed from the window and sat down on his bed.

Outside, Belldandy closed her eyes and breathed
deeply,
reveling in the feel of cool grass beneath her bare
feet, the crisp air, the smell of pine trees, the
sounds of birds singing and leaves rustling.  I had
forgotten how much I missed the Earth, she sighed.
Heaven had all these things, but the grass there was
perfectly cool and green, the birds all sang lovely
tunes, the leaves rarely piled up on the ground.  She
suddenly realized how much she had missed the variety
implicit in an imperfect world, even one as tinged
with
melancholy as the Earth now was.  Despite our best
efforts, the System's troubles are being felt here,
she
realized.

Belldandy turned to examine the building from which
she
had emerged.  It was a rustic log structure, centuries
old.  What memories must be in this place, she thought
as her hand stroked along the grain of a log.  If she
was successful, it would be given the chance to exist
for centuries more.

Eric lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling.  "She
calls herself the goddess Belldandy.  OK, any ideas on
who or what she really is?"

[Belldandy matches no known mythology.  Insufficient
data for further analysis.]

"What you mean is we have plenty of data, it just
doesn't make sense.  OK, let's assume for argument
that
she has been truthful so far.  The obvious question,
of
course, is why someone who can do things like teleport
and rearrange matter would need the help of someone
like me.  The obvious answer is 'She wouldn't.'  So,
is
she lying?  Only one way to tell for sure."

The smell of pancakes and sausage floating from the
dining room and across the foyer greeted Eric as he
hurried downstairs.  He was dressed in well-worn blue
jeans, a red chamois shirt and sneakers.

Someone knocked at the front door.

"I'll get it!" Eric said, sprinting the last few steps
to the door.

"Hello, Eric," Belldandy said when the door opened.
"It's good to see you, again.  May I come in?"

She had exchanged her goddess uniform for a
conventional dress and jacket combination which gave
her a relaxed, businesslike appearance.  Her feet were
now in shoes and firmly in contact with the floor,
Eric
noticed.  He forced a smile.

"Ah, certainly, come right in!" he said in what he
hoped was a cheerful voice.  Boy, she even changed
clothes!  I hadn't thought of that.  She certainly
seems to be trying hard to make this easy on me.

"Thank you.  I always try to be helpful," Belldandy
beamed.  She breathed in the aromas which filled the
foyer and sighed.  "How I miss cooking."

"You're just in time for breakfast," Eric offered,
taking note of her interest.  "Are you hungry?"  I'm
starving, but can she even eat human food?

"Thank you.  I would love to join you for breakfast,"
Belldandy reassured him.  It's been so long.  This
will
be a treat!

Eric led her to a small table off to one side of the
dining room, attempting to appear nonchalant.  He
needn't have bothered.  Every eye in the room was
riveted to the young lady at his side.

"What can I get for you?" Eric asked Belldandy once he
had seated her.

"I'll have some tea, please, and one of those muffins
if it's not too much trouble," Belldandy said, looking
at what was set out on the serving table.  He's
dealing
with this much better now, she noted.

"Coming right up.  Um, what kind of tea do you
prefer?"

"Darjeeling, if you have it."

What's Darjeeling tea?  Eric wondered as his eyes
scanned the serving table.

[A tea produced at high elevation in the Himalayan
mountains, in the Darjeeling region of India.  It has
a
delicate, light flavor...]

"Looks like all we have is lemon, apple and that
regular black pekoe stuff," Eric said, interrupting
his
AI's exposition.

"Black will be fine, thank you."

In a couple of minutes they were both settled with
their breakfasts.  Eric sat with his back to the
kitchen, steadfastly ignoring the intensely curious
glances being directed his way.

Belldandy sipped her tea and nibbled her muffin while
Eric dove into eggs, sausage and pancakes, washing it
all down with a large glass of orange juice.

After a few minutes, he noticed Belldandy watching
him.
"Is something wrong?"

"Not at all, I like watching someone enjoying their
food as much as you do."

"Oh, yeah."  Eric looked down at his plate, which was
almost half devoured yet still held what most people
would consider a full breakfast.  "I guess I'm making
a
pig of myself."

"Nonsense.  Enjoy your meal."  He certainly must have
an active lifestyle to maintain his current physical
condition while ingesting so many calories.  Belldandy
smiled.  He reminds me of Tamiya and Ootaki.  For a
moment, she allowed her mind to drift back to memories
of friends long gone.

When they had finished, Eric gathered their dishes and
then hesitated.  If I go back to the kitchen, Mrs.
Scheffler will ambush me for sure.

"I'll take those, Eric," a deep, German accented voice
said from behind him.  Eric spun in a panic to find a
large, powerfully built man who matter-of-factly took
the dishes from him.  With a curt nod to Belldandy,
Mr.
Scheffler strode off with the dishes towards the
kitchen.

"What a saint!" Eric sighed in relief.  He hadn't even
noticed the big man's approach.  I must really be
distracted for him to have sneaked up on me like that.

Eric turned to Belldandy.  "Would you like to go
outside for a walk?" he suggested.  Got to get out of
here ASAP!

"That would be wonderful," Belldandy replied.  "Then,
I
can explain why I'm here."  And none too soon.  My
time
is running out.

They crossed the stream which ran beside the inn and
started up out of the small valley it formed, towards
the plain called Antelope Flats.  The air held an
uncharacteristic nip for this early in the Fall.
Another record-breaking cold winter on the way, Eric
suspected.

"We need your help, Eric," Belldandy said.

"Yeah, I remember you said that.  What kind of help?"
He attempted to appear nonchalant.

"To put it simply, we need you to help us save
Yggdrasil."

"Yggdrasil?  Yggdrasil..."  Now, where have I heard
that name?

[Yggdrasil was the world tree in Norse mythology.]

A tree!?

"Yes.  The Almighty One has sent me..."

Huh!?  Ah, what the heck if she can read my mind.

"...to convince you to come back with me to heaven."

Eric stopped.  "Hold on a minute.  'Heaven',
'goddesses', the 'Almighty One'?  You're going a
little
bit fast here for me."

"I know this may be hard to take in all at once, but
all that exists will be in grave danger should
Yggdrasil continue to fail," Belldandy continued.
"This planet has felt the effects, but all of the
universe and beyond is at stake, here."

"Whoa, wait a minute!  I'm not a tree surgeon, I'm a
computer programmer!  I'm having a hard time believing
that the fate of the universe is really depending upon
me."

Belldandy smiled sweetly.  "Yggdrasil is a computer.
It is the computer that runs reality.  My sisters
maintain it."

"Sisters?"  Now I remember.  Yggdrasil was tended by
the Norns, and the Norns were Urd, Verdandi...
Belldandy.  Whoa.

"That would be Urd and Skuld?"  Eric's voice was
suddenly hoarse.

Belldandy brightened considerably at this.  "Yes."

"And you're telling me that you are Verdandi."

"Not the Verdandi you're thinking of, but yes, I am
her."

"Huh?"

"Though I prefer Belldandy, now."

She's not that her, but she's still her... ah, forget
it.  I'll go crazy trying to figure it out.

A look of deep concern filled Belldandy's eyes.  "I
know this must be hard for you, Eric, but you must
believe me.  The fate of Earth, the universe, even
Heaven depends upon it."

Eric laughed nervously.  "Nothing like having the fate
of the universe hanging on your willingness to believe
the impossible."

Belldandy didn't answer.

"Look," he turned to her, "you have to admit all this
sounds crazy..." his voice faltered as something in
her
eyes captured him.

He tore his gaze away and began walking.  She
followed.

Wow, Eric thought, she looks so sincere I feel like a
bastard just questioning her.  "You know, young man
meets beautiful girl, gets chance to save the
universe.
That's a very old cliche."

"That doesn't mean it isn't true."

"Look, Belldandy, you don't know how much a part of me
would love to believe you.  Heck, I've felt from the
beginning that I belong on this mission of yours.  I
mean it's obvious you're not from this solar system,
and it seems you've gone to a lot of trouble to find
me, but... I really don't believe in Norns, Yggdrasil,
any of it."

"That's all right, I won't disappear just because you
don't believe in me," Belldandy smiled warmly.

Eric sighed.  "Touche'."  He found himself lost again
in those eyes.  A warm feeling of joy at her presence
was enveloping him.

"So," he asked, trying to sound more in control of
himself than he felt, "do I have a choice about this?"

"We need your cooperation, Eric," Belldandy eyes were
pleading.  "I won't force you."

Then please don't look at me like that again!  Eric
once more diverted his gaze away from the sincerity in
her face.  What is it about her?  I've never felt this
way around anyone before.

"Eric, please believe how important this is to us. 
The
Almighty wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't think
you were able to help us."

"Yeah, that's another thing," Eric faced her again.
"About this 'Almighty' stuff.  God shouldn't need my
help.  For that matter, God shouldn't need a computer
to run the universe.  What does the 'Almighty' need
with an ordinary computer programmer?  Why doesn't he
just wave his hand and fix the darn thing himself?"

"There are several things you don't understand now,
but
by helping us you will have the chance to learn things
you would never know otherwise."

"That's hardly an answer to my question."  Eric
pretended to ignore the offer.  "And besides, aren't
you mixing religions?  I mean, what does God have to
do
with the Norns and Yggdrasil?"  Why am I fighting her?
I should just give in now, but I wish I knew why it's
so important that I go with her.  I hate being
railroaded, even when I'm helping to railroad myself.

"I'm sorry you don't believe me, but I don't have time
to convince you here."

"Oh?  Exactly how much time do you have?"

"Two hours, twenty-three minutes."

"Until the end of the universe!!?" Eric's eyes grew
wide.

"No, until I have to return to heaven."

Eric let out a sigh of relief.  "OK, then... well, I
give.  If the universe really is hanging in the
balance, what does my opinion count for?"

"Every being, no matter how small, counts."

"You say the nicest things, you know that?"  They
started walking again through the knee high sage
brush.

"You have to wonder at the names some places have,"
Eric suddenly felt the need to change the subject.
"Sometime, centuries ago, there must have been a lot
of
antelope here on Antelope Flats, but I've rarely seen
one anywhere near the place.  Still, it's a convenient
spot to gather your thoughts.  No distractions, just
miles of sage brush."  A dry, twisted branch scratched
against Eric's pant leg.

"Oh, geez, I forgot you're wearing a skirt!"  Eric
suddenly realized as the spiky limbs of another sage
brush whipped his jeans.

"Oh, I don't mind," Belldandy replied.

"We can turn around now.  You aren't dressed for
this."

"The sage brush don't usually welcome strangers, but
they don't mind me."

"Uh, are you saying that sage brush can think?"  Eric
looked doubtfully at the scraggly grey bushes.

"Everything has its spirit."

"Uh, yeah."  They're just sage brush, for heaven's
sake!

"It's beautiful, here," Belldandy said, wistfully. 
Her
hands were clasped behind her back as they continued
strolling through the brush.

Eric noticed that, indeed, the light weight material
of
her skirt seemed to catch on nothing.  Maybe there was
something to what she said, after all.  Snapping back
to reality, he replied "Uh, yeah, well, it certainly
is
beautiful in the summer with the mountains and the
river.  You should spend a winter here, though, then
tell me how beautiful it is."

"I'm sure the snow is wonderful."

"For the first three or four months, sure, then it
gets
a little monotonous.  There's only so much skiing and
snowshoeing you can do.  Then, in April it all melts
and you have a month of mud."

"You can't tell me you don't love it, though."

"Yeah, well, I guess it's home, after all.  So, tell
me
what it is exactly that I'm supposed to do?"

"I don't know.  The Almighty didn't give us any
information other than that we were to find you."

"Well, I hope it doesn't disappoint you when I say I
have no idea what I might be able to do, either."

"I'm sure you wouldn't have been selected if you
weren't capable of helping us."

"Yeah, I seem to remember you saying that before.  OK,
then, I know getting to save the universe is its own
reward, but do I get some kind of fee?  Sorry, but I'm
a contractor."

"Yes, you get a wish."

"A wish?"

"Yes, you are to be granted one wish in exchange for
your services."

"A wish.  So, what if I fail?"

"Yggdrasil will fail and won't be able to grant your
wish."

Eric chuckled.  "That's worse than being paid in stock
options!"

"I suppose."  Was it?  Corporate finance was something
Belldandy had never paid much attention to.

"Not that it matters much, but what can I wish for?"

"Almost anything," Belldandy replied.  There was, of
course, one wish which she wasn't about to let anyone
make again!  Not that the System had ever approved
such
a wish before or since that one time, but still.  "Why
do you say it doesn't matter much?"

"Well, I don't know what I'd ask for, really.  Like,
say, could I wish for a billion dollars?"

"Yes."

"The state of North Dakota?"

"Yes, I suppose, but why?"  Why would he want one of
the states?

"Hehe, just kidding about North Dakota."  She can't
think I was serious!?  "How about wishing for more
wishes?"

"Sorry, but that wouldn't be accepted."

"OK, then, how long do I have to decide?"

"You must choose before we leave."

"Fair enough."  How long is that?

[One hour, fifty-eight minutes.]

"OK, then let's get down to business," Eric said.
"Whom would I be working for?"

"Well, the Almighty One, of course, but I suspect you
will be under the supervision of my sisters."

"Urd and Skuld?"

"Yes."

"Why not you?"

"I don't usually work in system administration.  I'm
only helping now because of the emergency.  I'm
usually
in what you could call a field support office."

"Oh, so that's why you were the one to come here."

"Yes."

"Hmm."  OK, Skuld was the dark, moody one.  Working
with her is going to be no cake walk, I can tell
already.  It might not be so bad with Urd there,
though.  She was wise and more or less kind, a real
grandmotherly type, and I usually do OK with
grandmotherly types. Besides, wasn't it Urd who
thwarted the worst of Skuld's plans?  I'll need to
make
sure I'm in good with her.

He glanced at Belldandy who was staring at the Teton
mountains, lost in her own thoughts.  Yes, she could
definitely be the beautiful, golden-haired Verdandi,
the loyal and brave one.

"This is such a wild, beautiful place," Belldandy
said.
"The mountains rise up like a wall to guard this
valley.  Such memories they must hold."

"Yeah, they've been there a while."

"The air is so thin, here.  How high are we?"

"About 2100 meters above sea level."

"These mountains have such small foothills."

"They aren't foothills, they're glacial moraines.  The
dirt pushed ahead of the glaciers as they came down
from the mountains in the last ice age.  When the
glaciers retreated, they left the moraines." Why are
we
talking geology?

"Then Blacktail Butte is a moraine?  It's so much
bigger than the others."

"No, it's a fault block, like the mountains
themselves.
Why all the questions?"

"I miss it.  I lived here on the earth, once.  It was
such a happy time for us!  Eric, may I ask you a
personal question?"

"Uh, sure, why not?"  'Us?'  Does she mean her
sisters?
No, she's wearing a ring.  Why would a Norn be
married?

"Why does such a skeptical person trust so much in
intuition?"

"Oh?  Ah, yeah, well... caught me off guard, there!"
She must have noticed my interest in her ring.  Well,
if I can't trust her, this whole project is doomed.
"OK, this is going to sound silly, but I trust my
hunches because they almost always work out.  I don't
always have them, but when I do they're right on the
money."

Belldandy looked up at Eric again.  "Oh?  Like
clairvoyance, precognition?"

"Nothing that specific.  Just hunches, intuitions,
ideas."

"Hmm.  That seems very strange."

"I've always thought so.  Being such a skeptical sort,
you know."

"Oh, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings!"

"Nah, you're right, after all.  Besides, my ego is
solid enough to take lots of abuse!"

"You are very self-assured, but you also seem caring
to
me."

"Oh?  That must be my caring, belligerent side."

"Really?"

"Uh, that was supposed to be a joke."

"Oh, now I understand.  May I ask you another personal
question?"

"Sure."

"Is your intuition telling you something right now?"
she asked.

"Yeah," Eric paused.  "It's telling me that I'd better
let you lead me on this wild goose chase."

Belldandy's face lit up with a delighted smile.

Eric smiled back.  How could I have ever done anything
to darken that face with doubt?

[It is time to return if you are going to pack,] his
AI
reminded him.

"I really hate to spoil this walk," Eric said, "but if
I'm going to get ready it's time we headed back."

A few minutes later, they had crossed back over the
creek and were heading up to the inn.

"So, do you have much experience with computers?"
Belldandy asked.

Eric frowned slightly.  "Yes, but I doubt that's going
to help much, here.  If your computers are much like
ours, I'm going to be terribly disappointed.  The key
to this, I think, is that I have yet to meet a
computer
I couldn't program within a couple of hours."

"Even systems you've never seen before?"

"Yeah.  Don't ask me how it works, but that's the only
reason I can think of why I'd be picked for something
like this."

"You mean this intuition you have?"

"Uh huh.  Solutions just pop into my head and they
work.  I'm sorry, but I really can't explain it."

"Still, I would have been surprised if Almighty had
chosen an ordinary mortal."

"Yeah, I've never considered myself ordinary.  Just
curious, Belldandy, but does Yggdrasil look at all
like
a tree?"

"In a way, I suppose.  We could make it appear to you
as a tree if you prefer.  Your interaction with the
system will likely have to be through 3-dimensional
representations.  Yggdrasil is multi- dimensional so
you can't perceive it directly in 3-space.  Skuld is
building an interface device which will allow a 3-
dimensional being such as yourself to access system
functions."

"Is that really necessary?"  The thought of working
with a device created by the enigmatic Skuld, prone to
destroy her sisters' and even her own creations, made
Eric more than a little anxious.

"Skuld is very talented at making devices."

"OK, I'll take your word for it."

"Please don't be afraid, you will be perfectly safe.
There is much you don't know, yet.  On the other hand,
you yourself are something of an enigma, Eric
Donovan."

"You're saying I'm strange?"

"I mean no offense."

"None taken.  I've been the strangest person I know
for
as long as I can remember."

"Yet you have confidence in yourself."

"Well," Eric blushed a little in embarrassment, "maybe
I'm cocky right now, but honestly I suspect I'll be
way
out of my league working on the kind of computer
system
you must have."

"I have faith in you."

"Thanks.  I wish I shared your sentiment deep down."

They approached the lodge.

"Tell me about yourself, your family," Belldandy
suggested.

Eric chuckled.  "This'll be short, because I don't
have
any.  I've never been able to find my biological
parents, and believe me I've tried.  The Schefflers
don't have any children of their own, so they sort of
adopted me.  I have an apartment in Berkeley, but
you're right about this old lodge being 'Home' to me."

-----

"You're sure she won't mind?" Belldandy asked.

"Mind!?"  Eric said in an exaggerated tone as they
walked around to the front porch.  "Why, my dear lady,
Mrs. Scheffler will be overjoyed to see me eating two
meals in a row in the company of a beautiful young
woman, even a married one."

Belldandy looked down at the ring on her left hand.
The memories it evoked brought a wistful look of joy
to
her face.  Closing her eyes for a moment, she uttered
a
silent prayer that her life with Keiichi might some
day
return to simpler times like those.

While Belldandy was involved in her memories, Eric
began concocting what he hoped was a reasonable story
to explain this morning.

When Belldandy had returned to the present, he began
explaining it to her.

"Oh, but I couldn't lie!" Belldandy suddenly
exclaimed.

"What?"  Great, a goddess with a hyperactive
conscience!  "Well, don't worry, I can do all the
talking.  Besides, we won't really be lying, we just
won't be giving out all of the details."

"Now you're beginning to sound like my sister, Urd."

"Oh?  I always figured Urd would be the straight arrow
type."

Belldandy gave him a surprised look.

With all the guests gone upon the day's excursions,
lunches were a much quieter affair than breakfasts at
the Blacktail B&B.

"Ah, Eric, you're back!"  Mrs. Scheffler greeted them
as they came in the front door.  "Is this is the young
lady who joined us for breakfast and whose voice I
heard from your room this morning?"

Aack! "Y-yes, yes, she is.  I, uh, had her on
speakerphone!  Mrs. Scheffler, this is Belldandy.  She
has a systems project I'll be working on."

"Oh?  Well, I'm very pleased to meet you, Belldandy"
Mrs. Scheffler said.  "Won't you join us for lunch?"

"Thank you, you are very kind," Belldandy replied.

"Oh, nothing of the sort!  A friend of Eric's is a
friend of ours. Why don't you come into the kitchen
and
wash up for the meal?  Eric, could you help me with
setting the table?"

"I would be glad to help also," Belldandy offered,
starting for the kitchen.

Eric's protest was drowned out by a "Well, thank you,
dear," from Mrs. Scheffler.

Uh-oh, I'd hoped to keep the two of them apart, Eric
worried.  He needn't have.

"What a lovely kitchen!" Belldandy exclaimed in joyful
surprise as she entered.  "It's so large and airy, and
what a wonderful view!"

With that, Belldandy and Mrs. Scheffler immediately
launched into animated conversation about the finer
points of cooking, leaving Eric to play busboy.

Well, I guess that's a safe enough subject, Eric
decided, but where had someone like Belldandy learned
so much about cooking?

Lunch progressed more smoothly than Eric could have
hoped for. Belldandy had an encyclopedic knowledge of
cooking as well as life in Japan, though some of her
information seemed dated.  She was also very curious
about life here.  Eric exchanged several glances with
Mr. Scheffler who, as usual, had given thanks and then
remained quiet throughout the meal.

Toward the end Mrs. Scheffler gave Eric an approving
look, one he had no trouble guessing the meaning of.

"She's married, mother."  Eric hoped a preemptive
strike would deflect most of the more embarrassing
questions which were sure to follow.

Belldandy smiled as she looked from Eric to Mrs.
Scheffler.

"He only calls me that when he thinks I'm being too
nosy," Mrs. Scheffler replied as she fixed Eric with
another of _those_ looks accompanied by a knowing
smile.

Eric jumped into the conversation.  "To get this
discussion back on track, Belldandy is here to offer
me
a consulting job, nothing more. Isn't that correct,
Belldandy?"

Belldandy nodded, but Eric knew he wasn't getting away
that easily.

Mrs. Scheffler turned her attention back to Belldandy.
"Still, he's spent more time with you this morning
than
I've ever seen him spend in the presence of an
attractive young woman.  It's an encouraging sign."

Belldandy gave Eric a puzzled look.  "Surely you don't
have trouble getting a girlfriend?" she asked.  This
was too much like deja vu.

Eric blushed furiously.  "Well, not exactly..."  I'm
doomed.

"What he means is that he runs whenever a beautiful
girl gets near him," Mrs. Scheffler explained.  "He
really is a nice young man, though, even if he is
lacking somewhat in social graces."

"Tallea, leave Eric alone," Mr. Scheffler uttered his
first conversational words of the meal, then began to
get up.  "Now, please excuse me.  I must get back to
work on the furnace."  As he turned to leave, he shot
Eric a glance that said 'Good luck!'

'Coward!'  Eric shot at the retreating back.

Fortunately, nothing catastrophic occurred for the
rest
of the meal.

Afterwards, Eric brought Belldandy back to his room.

"Well, what should I pack?"

"There is no need.  We can make you any items you
want."

"Oh, yeah, the shower curtain.  Can you really
manipulate matter on a molecular level?"

"Of course.  I am a goddess, after all."

"I'm beginning to believe it.  OK, I'll still need a
toilet kit, though, unless you know how to make
shavers
and stuff."  He noticed the razor he had used that
morning.  Never again!

"Skuld is wonderful at making mechanical devices."

"Oh, yeah."  Maybe it's time I started growing a
beard?

That reminded him of the shaving mirror which had
started this whole adventure.  "Do you need a mirror
to
get us back to Heaven?"

"It's easier if I have a medium, especially since I'll
have a passenger."

"There's a full-length one on the back side of the
closet door."

"That will be perfect.  Before we go, though, remember
that you still haven't made your wish."

"Oh yeah, right!"  Eric thought for a moment.  "What
should I wish for?  I have or can make all the money I
need, I have plenty of friends, my life certainly
isn't
boring - especially not lately."  He smiled at
Belldandy.  "This is going to take some thought."

He pulled a suitcase from under the bed and began to
fill it.  "Even if I'm not going to take anything,
I'll
still need to put all this away so the Schefflers can
rent the room."

When everything was packed, he turned to Belldandy
again.  "I need to stick this in the car.  You want to
come with me?"

"Yes, of course."

Eric led them out into the parking lot.  "It just
occurred to me that it's going to look strange if we
disappear from my room.  Can you take us through the
mirror on the car, here?"

"Yes, of course.  The size of the mirror doesn't
really
matter."

Tell the car to return to Berkeley once we're gone,
Eric told his AI.

[Done.]

Eric looked past the garage and out over the stream,
in
the direction in which they had walked that morning.
"I really can't think of anything I need," he said.

"Surely you must earnestly desire something.  Try to
think of what would make you happy." Belldandy
suggested.

"You always cut right to the heart of the matter,
don't
you?  I have or can get almost anything I want, but
I'm
still not really satisfied.  Most guys would trade
places with me in a heartbeat.  Why aren't I happy?"
He shut the lid on the car's trunk.

"I'm afraid I can't grant you happiness."

"Yeah, I didn't think so.  Well, I could wish for
world
peace, but one person's peace is another person's
oppression or anarchy."

"Wisely said."

"We've been having lots of natural disasters,
lately..."

"Those are largely a result of Yggdrasil's current
condition.  If you are successful in restoring
Yggdrasil, that will take care of the natural
disasters.  Try wishing for something from your
heart."

"So, it has to be something personal, but nothing too
earth- shattering."  Bad pun, Eric.  "There's always
been that thing about finding who my blood kin are, or
at least finding out who they were, if there aren't
any
left.  Hmm, you know, now that I think about it,
that's
it."

Eric turned to Belldandy.  "OK, I've decided."

"Good!  What do you wish for?"

"I wish I knew who I was.  That shouldn't be too
difficult to... hey, are you all right?"

Belldandy's eyes had become glowing pools of light.  A
low, ominous hum began building from nowhere and
everywhere at once.

"Uh oh."  What happened?  Did I just send her into
overload?  Cause a divide-by-zero error in that
computer, Yggdrasil?  Am I about to die?

That's when all heck broke loose.  Belldandy's body
was
rigid as she rose off of the parking lot.  Her face
inclined to the heavens and the mark on her forehead
shone incredibly bright.  An instant later, a
brilliant
beam shot skyward from the mark.

"That's not a tattoo, that's some kind of I/O device!"
Eric's voice was drowned out as his eyes followed the
beam up into a sky which had suddenly taken on a very
ominous look.

Should I be running for cover?  Eric wondered as
leaves, twigs, and anything else lying about began to
swirl around.

A moment later, an answering pulse rode down the beam
and things returned more or less to normal.

"Are you all right?" Eric asked, catching the goddess
as she collapsed.

Belldandy had a radiant look in her eyes.  "Your wish
has been approved."

"Really?"  Eric looked skyward.  "Was all that normal?
I mean, I hope I didn't make this much of a mess up
there, too," he said, trying for a little levity as he
turned his attention to the debris strewn around them.

At that moment, Mr. Scheffler came running around the
corner of the building.  "Ah, Eric, what was that?  I
was in the furnace room, and suddenly it sounds like a
thunder storm out here!"

"Yeah, it was kind of wild for a minute or so."

"So, what was it?  Was she hurt?"

"She's fine, just dazed a little.  Things just started
swirling around.  Probably just a dust devil or
something."

"That is fortunate that nobody was injured.  I must
check on Tallea," he said then began running back to
the lodge.

Eric looked at Belldandy.  "Is it always this
spectacular when you grant a wish?"

"It's even more so when I'm indoors," Belldandy
replied.

Eric looked up into the heavens which now appeared
perfectly normal. "Yeah, I can imagine it is."

-----

End of Part 1, Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This fic began with a simple question: "What might
have
happened to change the reality of Norse mythology into
that of AMG?"  That led to two more questions, "Why
would such a thing happen, and what repercussions
might
the answer to that 'why' have for AMG?"  Whether or
not
this fic ever gets around to answering the last of
those questions, I hope you enjoy the ride anyway.

If the synopsis of Norse mythology at the beginning of
the chapter seems a little strange, that's because it
is.  While the first 4 paragraphs follow one of the
major interpretations of Norse mythology, the last 2
are the aforementioned mechanism to get from Norse
mythology to AMG.  Canonically, reincarnation with
consequent suppression of personality is mentioned in
manga chapter 134.

In reference to the scene where Belldandy teleports
out
the window, I can't remember Belldandy ever
teleporting
without using a mirror. However, both Urd and Peorth
have teleported without using a medium (i.e.
disappeared into thin air), so Belldandy is capable of
doing so.


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