Chapter 2

"So this is the infamous Atheist." My eyes shoot open at the sound of a voice and I instinctively reach to my side to feel my wound. Nothing. No pain at all; no feeling at all, in fact. My body feels disconnected from the world around me. Looking up, I was in the same clearing I had just been stabbed in, with no signs of battle, no enemy mage, and no Viktoriya. Where did that voice…

"You did quite the number on my world you know." I couldn't hold in my gasp of surprise as a feminine face appeared directly in front of me. Silver eyes pierced my blue ones. Viktoriya told me I had an intimidating stare, but I think it would have nothing on the one that was piercing me right now. The figure's face softened, and as she stood a force lifted me up onto my feet. The being before me stood a few heads taller than me (not that I was envious) with well-defined muscles framed by a short himation, that worked to accentuate her feminine figure, rather than distract from it. Bronze armor was attached to her forearms and legs, a bronze helm framed her face, with golden hair spilling out over a round shield strapped to her back. A simple spear being held loosely in her right hand. Wait, did she say her world? Is this another self-proclaimed god come to lecture me?

"All this time and still not a single scrap of faith in your creator." My confusion was washed away in a torrent of hate. I know this voice. Sure enough, walking from behind this new woman is Being X himself. The large white beard, muscled physique, and white robe; he still looked like he walked straight out of a Michelangelo painting.

"When… Being X," even as the new being chuckled at the word, Being X himself scowled, "demanded the use of my world for his little experiment, I almost refused. But he is right, many worlds steadily move toward atheism and lose their connection to others as time moves forward. So I agreed to it. But who could have expected the splash you would have."

When you give someone super powered cursed artifacts then throw crazy powerful enemy mages at them I wonder about the "infinite wisdom and foresight" of these beings. "Ah yes, poor Mary. One person was never meant to take on so many blessings." So they're overloaded with work, and have poor department communication. Color me surprised that they are having so much trouble keeping faith. They also seem to have no qualms about intruding on my thoughts again.

"This experiment may not have given you any faith, lost lamb, but that doesn't mean it was a failure." My hackles raised as Being X gave me a nauseatingly smug and self-satisfied look. "Anyone that met you or Mary on the battlefield showed a fervent increase in faith. Whether they called you the apostles of God or the Devil, faith followed you. It's not just conflict that raises faith, but standing in the face of a seemingly unconquerable foe, or insurmountable ally. Struggle breeds faith." I can already see how these brash conclusions are going to cause problems for people in the future.

"You won't have to worry about that of course. Remember our deal? No second reincarnation after this death." Deal? DEAL? There was no deal. No signed contract, no negotiation, no agreements. To call this a deal would be spitting on every contract ever written!

"Now now, let us not be too hasty," I made sure not to flinch as the new being walked toward me and cupped my cheek affectionately, "I've taken quite a liking to our little Argent. Single handedly revolutionizing combat tactics of a force you had never seen before has impressed me." A shiver goes up my back involuntarily. Having the interest of another of these beings, even if it was positive, could only bring more trouble. "I think I'll take over shepherding out little lamb."

"You can't do that!" The sight of Being X throwing a tantrum would normally bring me a bit of satisfaction, but not when it was about the fate of my soul. It seems the more you have the attention of these things the less "free will" actually matters.

"It sounded to me like you were throwing away this poor soul. I'm just picking up an abandoned stray." So now I'm nothing more than an abandoned dog? "Don't worry my little owl, I'll make sure to guide you along the path you were meant to lead. This life was just a glimpse of your potential, you still have so much more to show."

"Don't for a second think I'll let this slight be forgotten."

"After all the problems you have brought in MY jurisdiction, I think it is only fair that I am allowed to play around in yours a bit." She turned back to me. "I think it's time I send you back to your original universe. Don't worry about him. It's about time the gods went back to having a bit more of a...personal touch with our Champions. Know that as long as you walk my path, Athena will watch over you."

Those words were the last I heard echoing around me as darkness engulfed me again.

JANUARY 18, COUNCIL ERA 2167, SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF NEW STAVANGER, MINDOIR

How did I end up between the pissing contest of two self-proclaimed gods! "Titania dear, are you okay?" I forcibly bring my face back to a neutral position before looking away from the statue. The chatter that surrounded the table has stopped and everyone seemed to be watching me.

"I'm not feeling well, Mother Elizabeth, may I go lay down?"

"Of course dear, let me take you to your bed. Michael, please take care of Tania's bowl for her."

"Yes Mother," the boy smiled at me, "and I hope you feel better Tania." I gave him a tight smile and nod as I stood and followed the Mother to the girls shared dormitory. Memories of this new life are at the edge of my thoughts. Just like my second life it appears they are coming back at three years old. 2167… 134 years have passed since I was last in this version of the universe. I'm not even on earth! I might chalk this up to the incompetence of Beings that were able to move between time and space but I've experienced too much of Being X and his specially planned vindictiveness to think this isn't planned in some way. Whether it is him planning something horrible for defying him or "Athena" and her plan to make me "see my potential" or "walk her path" has yet to be seen. One thing was guaranteed, though, no war is won without information, and I need to find out what happened in the century since I've been gone.

"Mother Elizabeth," I lightly tugged at her habit and waited for her to look down at me. I make my eyes go as big as possible while quivering my lower lip in the same way Viktoriya did when she wanted one of the 203rd to share some food with her. If I was going to have this cherubic face I might as well use it to its full advantage. "The stories you tell us at night are so interesting. I wonder if you can teach me to read so I can read some of them myself."

"Hm." She raised a hand to her chin. "It is a bit earlier than usual but I suppose you did begin speaking much earlier than most children I've taught. If you're feeling better, we can start tomorrow during free time."

At this point I've learned both Japanese and German in my previous lives. It appears my unconscious mind has managed to learn English past the simple high school classes I had in my first life. With two written languages under my belt, one being of western origin, it should be simple for me to learn how to read and write in English. If other languages are even spoken in this future. I will need to learn how writing imperial is different than writing German with the alphabet. I remember that the common room has a few extranet terminals. Even in an orphanage on a farming planet they know the importance of connecting to the world. I can't remember being hungry at any point either. Hopefully that means I'm getting correct nutrition and will actually grow to a reasonable height...not that it bothered me.

FEBRUARY 10, COUNCIL ERA 2167, SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF NEW STAVANGER, MINDOIR

Compared to my body in my second life, Athena seems to have done very little to change me. Only my previously blue eyes are now grey, matching the silver that she showed me before. My new full name in this world is Titania Noctua, and besides sounding like an edgy shonen protagonist it also seems to have a lot of meaning to Athena herself. Titania is both the "queen of fairies" (whether that is a joke at my expense or a compliment is yet to be seen) and has the meaning of "giant" and "great one" in Greek. After only the most cursory of research on Athena herself I came to find that her owl has the actual name of little owl, with a scientific name of Athene noctua. Between these eyes and this name she might as well have given me a property of Athena tattoo across my forehead. I suppose I could change it, but that involves annoying legal processes. Besides, names have meaning; those given to you by others especially. Tanya von Degurechaff became known as the Argent to allies and the Devil of the Rhine to enemies. Titles have power, and owning them will lead to infinitely more possibilities than trying to fight them.

As I suspected, it didn't take me long to learn to read and write in English. Normally I might try to hide my advanced development, but with Being X and Athena playing with the world around me I have no time to waste. Being isolated as a child prodigy is preferable to wasting even a minute when I could be finding out about this new universe I find myself in. I managed to convince the nun's that take care of the younger children and to allow me to study on my own; and while I could tell they had reservations about it, they didn't really have the time to teach me alone, either. Not with all the other children of a huge variety of learning levels. So I spend my free time on an extranet terminal, away from the others discovering more about what I've missed.

I've already learned a lot, such as the third of Clarke's Laws, which states "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Stated a different way some have said that "Any sufficiently studied magic is indistinguishable from science". This is how clockwork magic was treated in my last life, from superstitious and unknowable to a scientific arms race that involved every major power in the world. The budding new science of this humanity is the use of biotics, but unlike mana in mages, which was still unknown as to how it was gained in humans, but known as how to manipulate it, it is known how biotics are gained but hardly known how to use it. Element Zero exposure has a chance to either give a person horrible cancer like mutations or, if they are extremely lucky, the ability to manipulate dark energy.

The discovery of refined element zero on mars in 2147 CE pushed human technology hundreds of years forward. When an electrical current passes through it a mass effect field is created. Positive charged currents will increase mass and negative charged ones will decrease it. These fields would finally unlock the long out of reach faster than light travel and allow humanity to explore the Sol System in earnest. Two years later Pluto's moon, Charon, was discovered to be a mass relay. A still barely known technology that connects to other mass relays through large, nearly mass-free "corridors" of time space. Ships could travel light years of distance between solar systems in an instant. Humanity was finally knocking against the 4th dimension. Of course, humanity had no idea what was beyond the relays, but since when had that stopped humanity from sailing ships into the unknown before?

This led to the inevitable discovery of other alien races and the so called First Contact War. I'm surprised Being X didn't get me involved in that somehow. I can only imagine he has something even MORE exciting planned for me in the future. While the discovery of all these alien races did help advance technology even more, it didn't explain anything about the mass relays. Another fun little variation of Clarke's third law was proposed by Michael Shermer who stated "Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God". These mass relays being attributed to some unknown race called the Protheans gives me the uncomfortable feeling of being connected to Being X and his cohorts somehow. As much as I don't trust these unknown things, there's no way I could somehow influence thousands of years of use by aliens to stop and study them maybe a little bit harder because of some three year old humans hunch.

Superstring theory posits that there are ten dimensions that mortals can comprehend. Being stuck in the third dimension ourselves, many humans find it hard to imagine what higher dimensional beings would be like, but I've seen them myself. Being able to fling my soul around time and different possible universes would make the so called gods at least eight dimensional. You may think that being able to see the possible futures of an almost infinite amount of earth would make them somehow smarter than your average 3rd dimensional creature, but no. The opposite seems to be true. They are just as petulant and shortsighted as any "mortal'' below them. The only difference is they get to act like the CEO of a company that plays with the lives of those below them without a care in the world. I imagine faith that Being X is so worried about is a resource that is somehow used in these higher dimensions. But enough contemplation on them, before I can find a way to interact with other dimensional beings I need to gain as much power as I can here, and that all starts with learning more about this dimension.

xxx

"I don't see why you're pouting. We both know you brought this on yourself." Jane Shepard most certainly did NOT pout.

"I just don't see why I have to spend the ENTIRE winter break helping out a random orphanage."

"Saint Annabeth's is the largest convent and church on Mindoir!"

"Psh. It's the 22nd century dad, how many people actually go to church anymore?"

"You'd be surprised. Something about how large the galaxy still is, even with mass effect travel, has a way of inspiring awe in people. Besides, whether you believe or not, those Nuns are doing good taking care of all those kids. Maybe seeing how selfless they are will rub off on you before you go to high school."

"It was only a few pranks!"

"If I knew teaching you how to use that omni-tool would lead to you getting detention every week I would have saved myself the headache."

"All the help I've given you on the farming equipment must even it out a little bit. Besides, I don't get why they have to get so caught up on small jokes."

"You call having a drone following around your Principle periodically blasting music or having all the doors in the school only open enough for people to barely squeeze through small?"

"Okay, maybe not small, but definitely funny! Besides, it's not like anyone got hurt."

"No one getting hurt is the only reason you haven't been expelled and I haven't come down harder on this behavior. You can't keep messing with authority figures and not expect to get punished. Especially when you keep pushing your luck. Society has rules for a reason. Now put that pout away, we're here." The truck pulled up to a surprisingly large group of buildings. Jane guessed you needed all that room when most of the nuns and orphans lived there all the time. The buildings themselves were much different than the average prefabs you could find in the fields on the outskirts of the capital. Even when made out of the same buildings materials, the higher pitched roofs and occasional bell tower gave them a distinct feel from the rest of the buildings around here.

The entrance reception wasn't that different from what you would see anywhere else, other than the cross hanging behind the receptionist's desk. The young nun behind the desk turned to the Shepards as they walked up and asked how she could help them. "Good morning, I'm Aiden Shepard and I'm here about my daughter helping over winter break."

"Oh! I heard to expect you. Please have a seat and I'll call someone to show you around." A woman who introduced herself as Mother Elizabeth came to show us the complex where Jane would be staying for the week. Behind the reception area was the main church. A large room lined with rows of pews that create a concave around a raised pedestal. A large statue sat in the back of the pedestal, floor to ceiling barrier windows that were made to look like ancient stained glass with depictions of angels and saints. Exiting a door to the right of the pedestal led them out into a beautiful courtyard with tree lined paths surrounded by buildings. An older group of kids were together outside doing various activities.

"Well, this will be as far as I go. Make sure you are on your best behavior firecracker. If I hear about you causing problems I will have to take more drastic measures with your punishment in the future."

"Don't worry Mr. Shepard, we know how to take care of unruly children. We have plenty of experience."

"I'll put my trust in you then." After a quick kiss to the cheek and a small huff from Jane he began returning to the front. Just before he opened the door back to the church, he turned around and called out, "Don't forget, your mother is going to be calling tonight, make sure your omni-tool is close by."

"You know I don't go anywhere without it. I'll talk to you after I settle in for the night." With that final farewell he left and Mother Elizabeth began showing her the rest of the compound. To the left was the building where the nuns and other staff lived and worked. To the right was the orphanage with separate dorms, where Jane dropped off her bag in an open bunk and would be sleeping with the other girls. Lastly, straight across from the church, was the community area that had the kitchen, canteen, library, and other gathering areas. It was in the library that the elementary and younger kids were working at the moment, and the first place Jane would meet the people she would be helping with for the next week.

The library itself was simple enough. Three long tables with terminals that accessed the Alliance's freely available collection of books. A few smaller tables had extranet terminals and in the very back of the room was an open floor area, where you could lay on small bags or sit on couches. Against the back wall was a large window that allowed natural light to spread through the entire room. The most surprising part was the small shelves underneath the windows that had genuine paper books! In the room was the seventeen children that made up the youngest group of orphans. Six pre-elementary students were sitting on the carpeted floor in the back, surrounding another nun. She had one of the paper books out while the rest of them held tablets and she was reading slowly to them, most likely learning to read. At one of the tables she could see nine elementary level students working on tablets. Doing math problems according to Mother Elizabeth.

The person who interested Jane the most, however, was the youngest looking girl, who sat alone at an extranet terminal. Short platinum blonde hair framed her round face, but the most interesting part were her grey eyes that bore into the screen with an intensity Jane had never seen in someone so young. When Jane asked Mother Elizabeth about her she sighed. "That is Titania Noctua. She was dropped off with a note that only had her name three years ago. While not completely uncommon on more urbanized planets, Tania is the first to be abandoned like that for us. The poor girl learns so fast that she has started passing even some of the oldest students here. Sister Anne and I worry that she will have problems socializing in the future, but with so many children that need our attention we are having trouble finding the time to get her to socialize more."

"Well, that sounds more interesting than helping with elementary math. Can I go speak to her?"

"Of course, I would welcome it if you could get her to open up a bit more. But do remember, no matter how smart she is, Tania is still a child and is very impressionable. Make sure you don't pass on any of your trouble making habits to her."

"That takes the fun out of it, but sure, I'll make sure just to talk to her." Jane shrugged and ignored the warning look Mother Elizabeth threw at her as she made her way toward this Titania. Deciding to see what she was reading, Jane made sure to be as quiet as possible when approaching Tania. Glancing over Tania's shoulder, Jane was surprised at the title of the paper she was reading: "A brief history on the First Contact War and its Repercussions on Human-Turian Relations in the Years Following." There's a large gap between "advanced for her age" and reading college papers at three years old.

"Is there any reason you are reading over my shoulder?" Jane jumped at the small voice in front of her. Looking from the words to Tania's reflection on the screen, she can see Tania's eyes giving her a cold and calculated look, causing a shiver to climb up her spine. "You're too old to be a new orphan in this group and you aren't wearing a habit, so you can't be a new nun."

"Er, actually I'm a volunteer. I'm supposed to be helping the nuns over winter break while you guys don't have school."

"You seem a little young to be volunteering on your break. And I see nothing overtly religious on your person, so I find it strange you would volunteer at a nunnery." It is a surreal experience being on the back foot when talking to someone that barely reaches her stomach in height.

"Well, it's more like I'm being voluntold. In trouble at school and all that."

"In trouble? Bad grades?"

"No! I'm top of my class I'll have you know. It was only a few pranks."

"A few pranks wouldn't necessitate this harsh a punishment, so you're either understating it or punishments have changed quite a bit since before."

"Before?"

"Nevermind."

"Okay...so maybe it was more than a few, and maybe it was against the principal and other teachers." At this, Tania looked away from the article and turned to look directly at Jane.

"So you're one of those people."

"One of what?"

"Someone with too much talent and not enough common sense. Good grades will only carry you so far in the world. To get into the best colleges you will need to show not only grades, but also an agreeable personality, work ethic, and accomplishments to prove why a school should invest in you."

"Actually, I was planning on following my mom and joining the Alliance when I could."

"You plan on joining a military organization where grades mean even less and you already have a precedent for flouting authority. Be prepared for a rude awakening during your first few weeks. I don't know what stories your mother tells you, but the military is a hierarchical machine. The only thing that matters is your rank and your accomplishments. As it is your history leaves you ten steps behind your fellow recruits in the eyes of your superiors. If you were trying to join my squad I would reject you outright." With this, Tania turned back toward the screen and went back to reading.

"Your squad? You sound like you're speaking from experience." But Tania ignored her, and continued looking at the terminal. In a slight daze, Jane returned to where Mother Elizabeth was helping the older students and sat next to her. "I don't think she likes me."

"On the contrary, I haven't seen her speak to anyone for that long in a couple of weeks. I think you may have caught her attention."

"You didn't hear what she said. It was like being lectured by the principle, except it was from a much cuter face."

"Well, I hope you won't give up on her yet. Tania may be prickly but she could really use a peer to talk too to escape from her reading every once in a while. For now why don't you introduce yourself to some of the other students and help them with their math. I'll make sure to give you a more detailed schedule for this week after dinner today."

...

Jane Shepard was left with a surprising amount to think about while waiting for her parents to call. Sitting under a tree in the courtyard, Jane did what she always would when she needed to relax and think; she tinkered with her old omni-tool. She reflected on what happened throughout the day, but her mind would always go back to one girl. Jane made sure to watch Tania throughout the evening, and was surprised just how isolated she seemed to be. During dinner and when preparing to sleep she kept her distance from the others. Tania was never rude, making sure to answer any questions that went her way politely, and even helping with the cleanup of the dishes. At the same time, she was very...detached from those around her, almost like she spent all of her time in her own head. It was an odd reality for someone like Jane, who was quick to befriend, and spent most of her time socializing with her classmates (even when she technically wasn't supposed to be). A vibration on her wrist broke her out of her reverie. Looking down, an orange circle floating over her palm showed that her parents were finally calling.

Accepting the call, a screen with both of Jane's parents appears over her forearm. In the left box stood Lieutenant Commander Hannah Shepard, back straight with hands behind her back. Her dark royal blue uniform with gold trimming was immaculately pressed and her blonde hair was tucked into a perfect bun behind her hat. A thin bar between two thicker bars across the shoulders denoted her rank, with the Alliance Navy Logo on the right breast. Small crow's feet at the corner of her eyes were the only give away of her slightly older age. Jane may have inherited her father's red hair and slight freckles, but in every other instance she was a spitting image of Hannah Shepard. Standing at six feet tall, with perfect posture, and an unreadable look in her green eyes, Hannah struck the imposing figure of an alliance officer. Jane sat up a bit straighter just looking at her image. Even her father's easy smile on the other screen couldn't help Jane's slight hesitation from her mother's pointed look.

"I don't get in range for a call for two weeks and the first thing your father tells me is that you've managed to get into enough trouble that you have a week long special punishment. Want to explain yourself?" The disappointment in her mother's eyes and voice made Jane want to curl in on herself, but she fought against that instinct and instead puffed out her chest in defiance.

"They were just a few harmless pranks, I think everyone is overreacting."

"Jane Shepard, these excuses are unbecoming. You'll be entering high school soon enough, so why are you trying to sabotage your future before it's even begun?"

"You sound just like Tania."

"Who?"

"One of the orphans I'm going to be helping this week."

"She sounds sensible enough...You know, your father and I bought that house on Mindoir because we thought a life of constantly moving would be too much of a burden growing up. We've been talking; if you don't enjoy it on planet, there are programs for families on star ships. I've heard good things about the high school spacer program and your father can reenlist."

"It's not that I don't enjoy it here. I love my friends, and working on the farm is fun. It's just school that feels like it lasts forever and we never learn anything useful!" Hannah's face scrunched slightly, and just as she opened her mouth to admonish Jane, Aiden spoke up.

"You would be surprised firecracker. A lot of things in the universe are connected in ways you would never think of. What may seem useless now will be important in the future. If you don't feel like school is challenging enough I can always work on programs for your omni-tool for you to work on. As long as you complete your other work first and don't distract your friends, I'm sure we can convince your teachers to let you work on things you enjoy." Jane contemplated that, and thought back to her conversation with Tania.

"It does sound better. I'm sure I could learn more from that then messing with the meager school security." Aiden broke out in a boisterous laugh, and even Hannah couldn't hide a fond smile.

"Well...While I am glad you have a plan for after the break, for now you need to finish your punishment. I expect you to work your hardest while you're there. This can be a good opportunity for you to expand your worldview a bit. Make sure to learn from everyone there, even when you help teach; that Tania sounds like a sensible girl, maybe start with her." Jane didn't know how she felt about learning from someone ten years younger than her. "Now, it's already late for you guys and I have a bit more work to do. The ship should be within communication range the whole week, so we should be able to get more opportunities to talk in person. I love you both, goodnight."

"Goodnight firecracker." After saying goodnight herself, Jane closed the connection. While walking back to the dorm, Jane thought about what she would be doing for the rest of the week. One thing she knew for sure, she would make sure to talk to Tania again.