Miriro was in agony that she ignored to enjoy the reverie all around her. Kate and Evelyn stood with her in the center of the clearing for hours as thousands more witches amassed in the woods. They faced the crowd around them, and when they turned inward to look at one another, they all breathed heavily.
“What is happening, sister?” Evelyn asked in a voice much older than her body.
“Why does the pain come at the edges of our bliss?” Kate asked.
“It is the price we pay to ascend,” Miriro said through a wince of pain.
As they faced one another, beams of green light shot out from their bodies and they all groaned in agony as the gathering around them cheered louder. The beams of light connected and then a fourth shot up to the sky as Tsukuyomi, Máni, and Bendis appeared.
“Why does it hurt, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto,” Miriro asked.
“Because a human vessel cannot hope to contain the power of a deity,” Tsukuyomi said and grabbed Miriro by the throat just as Máni did to Kate and Bendis did to Evelyn. Each woman dissolved into green mist that each deity inhaled to take complete corporal form. The crowd of witches erupted into applause as the deities began to draw power from the congregation that they subtly aimed up at the moon that accelerated ever so slightly as it advanced toward Earth.
On the moon, Gleti wiggles her wrists in the enchanted chains.
“What’s taking him so long?” she asked pleadingly and looked to the Morrigan.
“He’s an idiot,” the Morrigan said, “I thought I said that. I meant it literally. You try to give simple directions but some humans can’t handle the experience. It’s just astral form projection and it’s easier because I can chanel his energies here in an instant, but he’s struggling.”
“The malevolents have disappeared,” Khonshu said. “We should take advantage of this opportunity.”
“Once he’s here, it’s a simple spell that even he can’t mess up, but he has to get here,” the Morrigan said with exasperation. “They really don’t make humans like they used to. Gregory is so scatterbrained…”
Gregory’s astral form appeared to interrupt the Morrigan.
“Oh man, this is trippy,” Gregory said as he looked around the inside of the prison and the deities chained to the wall. “Morrigan!” he said excitedly when he saw her. “I finally got it, sorry for the delay.”
“Just do it!” Khonshu yelled. “We don’t have time for this. Can’t you feel us moving closer to Earth!”
“Sorry,” Gregory said and the eyes of his astral form turned hunter green. He moved the fingers of his hands into strange positions, just as he had seen Issac Washington do over the course of their time together, and he released all of the deities from their chains.
On Earth, Tsukuyomi, Máni, and Bendis killed a of the witches by sucking them completely dry of their energy. Even though many of the witches were in pain, they still partied and celebrated, ignoring the discomfort as the deities worked diligently to bring Mashu Mountain to Earth.
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