One long lecture later, I was painfully aware of how I had been doing the whole teleportation thing wrong when I first attempted it. For one thing, I shouldn’t have been trying to travel through the Infernal Plane at all, nor should it have been possible for me. Valkyries (and Angels in general, I guess) are Divine Elementals, and we have a deep connection to the Holy Plane, so that was where I should have been trying to travel to.

We could, of course, teleport from one place to another directly as well, by using the Holy Plane as more of a door than a stopping point, but I was informed that it takes experience, stamina, and finesse, and that I didn’t have any of those yet. Until I was ready for that direct doorway approach, Aunt Lin suggested a more drawn-out method. That method consisted of three simple steps: first I would focus on the Light of the Divine within me and will myself to appear in the Holy Plane, then take a second or two to rest and absorb some of the Divine magic that’s so abundant there to recharge, and then finally repeat the first step while picturing the place that I want to be in the Material Plane in my mind and will myself to appear there.

My aunt also had a grim warning for me during that lecture. She told me that I was never to bring someone with me while moving through the Holy Plane, even if I was using the doorway method and didn’t plan to make a brief stop there before continuing toward my final destination in the Material Plane. Sometimes, the Mist could hijack passengers that aren’t aligned to the Divine while you’re in transit, and being caught on the Holy Plane for even a moment or two could have disastrous consequences for anyone that isn’t a Divine Elemental like us.

That danger was because of the Mist, which is everywhere on the Holy Plane, and it is the only constant there. All other matter on that plane is in a constant state of flux as it is remade into something new over and over because of the Mist, wild creation magic that remakes anything that comes in contact with it. On the rare occasions when the Mist in an area clears, you can never be sure what you will see, and it will only change again when the Mist returns.

People who have found themselves there for some reason or another and manage to leave again, no matter how brief their stay, return from that plane nothing like they once were. Some become completely new species of Paranormals, and some don’t live long enough to find out due to being changed into something inanimate or something living that has no business being alive. Only Angels (and thus also Valkyries) are immune to its effects because we’re Divine elementals; all else is changed.

It actually sounded kind of horrific, and I really hoped that I was Valkyrie enough to be as immune to the effect as my aunt claimed to be. She didn’t believe that was going to be a problem. She had told me once before that Valkyries are all or nothing, so she believed that I truly was a Valkyrie, with all of their abilities and resistances, just with some Demon attributes thrown in. To be safe, though, she wanted me to very quickly pop into the Holy Plane and back.

If I were quick enough, then I would only be there for a few seconds or so, which would test my resistance to the Mist without putting me in danger of serious changes. If I wasn’t completely resistant, like a Valkyrie should be, then the Mist wouldn’t have the time to do more than touch my outer body and would not seep deeply enough into me to cause any serious biological changes, just some minor cosmetic changes. In the unlikely event that was the case, we would have to figure out another way to forge my andivapn.

Aunt Lin believed that the far more likely possibility was that nothing would happen to me because I truly am a Divine Elemental, just like other Valkyries. In that case, the Mist would not only not change me at all, but like other Divine elementals, I would be able to control and guide it to some degree. That was important, because that was how I would have to forge my andivapn from my halo.

I was nervous as hell about doing this. If I wasn’t immune to the Mist, even a few seconds in that place could cause some changes to my appearance, though my aunt assured me that in living creatures, such changes were usually guided by their elemental alignment and how strong it is. So, my aunt figured that since I did have as strong an alignment to the Divine as she did, the worst that could happen would be that the brief exposure might push me more toward being a Divine elemental of some sort, in appearance at least.

My aunt tried to reassure me that there was nothing to worry about, and that if I focused on returning to the Wings of the Sea as soon as I appeared in the Holy Plane, my exposure would be minimal, and that I was most likely immune to the Mist anyway. Still, she had me take off my clothes and other belongings first, and I was kind of freaking out on the inside as I mentally prepared to do this. This was probably a good time to be practicing that whole showing no fear thing, not that I was thinking consciously about that at the moment.

Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I decided that it was time to put up or shut up. I found and focused on the Light within me and then willed myself to the Holy Plane. I didn’t open my eyes or stop focusing on my inner Light, because I wanted to make this trip fast, and I barely felt dampness touching my skin before I had willed myself right back to where I started this trip on the Material Plane and the Wings of the Sea.

I didn’t feel weird or anything, no strange tingles or the sense that I was any different than when I left, but I was reluctant to open my eyes, just in case. So I haltingly asked my aunt, “Is there… anything different?”

It was a moment before Aunt Lin replied, and every second that I had to wait seemed to make my heart race faster. “No, Kiddo, you’re fine,” she finally said. “You still look exactly like when you left, right down to the claws and the color of your hair and wings, and if anything was to change from such short exposure to the Mist, it would have likely been your demonic aspects.”

I heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the couch. “Oh, thank fuck! So that means I’m immune to the Mist then?”

Aunt Lin nodded and smiled as she assured me, “Yes, even such a brief exposure would have caused at least a minor change to your appearance if you weren’t, especially the claws and such. Those don’t exactly scream that you’re aligned to the Divine.”

“Okay, so what’s the next step then?” I asked.

“Well, our first step is to return to the Holy Plane, now that we know it’s safe for you. Then, and I’m sure you’re going to love this as much as I did, you’ll need to meditate, reach out to the Divine element within the Mist, and form a connection. You will need to be able to command and guide the Mist to forge your andivapn.” Her seriousness cracked briefly to make way for a faint smile as my aunt mentioned the meditation in a teasing tone.

I groaned at the thought of more meditation since that wasn’t exactly my strong suit. It didn’t sound like I had much choice in the matter anyway, at least if I wanted to forge my andivapn and begin my real training. With that in mind, I tried to put my reservations aside and said, “I guess we should get started then.”

Meditation was boring. Not to mention uncomfortable since I was naked. I had to leave all of my clothes and other belongings in the Material Plane again so they wouldn’t get remade by the Mist. Contact with my body would protect them for the second or two that a quick in and out teleportation would take, but any longer than that would risk my nice new clothes, watch, and other belongings turning into something weird. Aunt Lin promised that at some point, she would teach me to imbue my belongings to appear as an extension of myself to protect them, but that was not our task today.

The only good thing about this whole deal was that it was a guided meditation. That, and my aunt was probably just as bored as I was. First, she had me focus on breathing slowly and steadily, encouraging me to inhale and exhale in turn at a relaxed pace that was starting to have me drift into the tranquil state that was supposed to be super important for the job ahead of me.

I guess that I needed to be calm and tranquil for this to work, and not only to get into a state where I could guide and control the Mist around me. Aunt Lin had told me in no uncertain terms that when I used the Mist to forge my andivapn, I must be calm and detached, unburdened by strong emotions. Awareness of my feelings was okay, but giving in to strong emotions could affect the forging, as could any preconceptions that I might have, so I needed to leave that shit at the door.

I could not choose what my weapon would be; I needed to merely encourage the Mist to shape the soul shard that had become my halo into the form and ability that best suited it. The only preconception that I was allowed was that it be a weapon of some sort, and even then, I was encouraged not to have anything specific in mind, but rather to think of it as my other self and my perfect companion. I could only guide it to do that, and when the Mist seeped into my Halo, it would remake it into the weapon that best suited both me and Penny.

So, as I breathed following my aunt’s coaching, I tried to clear my mind of all the things that were currently going through it. For one thing, just how very weird this Mist was. I had gotten a very good look at the swirling haze when I arrived on the Holy Plane for the second time, and it was decidedly strange, as much a rainbow of colored lights as it was vapor, and I was relatively certain that I had never seen some of these hues before.

It was unnerving at first, and my eyes weren’t sure what to make of what I was seeing, though exposure to its strangeness seemed to be curing me of that. Now I was starting to sense the Divine magic within, how it flowed in eddies of Light that I could perceive only with my eyes closed in a way that was more awareness than sight. Far more unnerving, though, was the effect of the Mist.

Sometimes, I could swear that the Mist itself was alive and whispering to me, welcoming me home. There were shapes within the Mist as well, shapes that seemed to solidify and take form for but a moment before shifting and flowing into other shapes entirely. Sometimes those shapes moved with living purpose for a brief instant before that nascent life was gone and something else once again took its place.

I could sense it all, even with my eyes closed, by the way the Light moved and caressed the shapes, like some sort of strange sonar. When I began to notice that, it made it hard for my mind to focus on anything else. Perhaps this was a good thing, though. I needed to connect with the Mist to complete the task ahead of me, and it seemed like I was doing that.

“Can you see the threads of Light within the Mist? Can you sense the flow of the Divine?” My aunt’s questions startled me after the slow and steady mantra of, “Inhale… Exhale.”

It startled me enough that I almost lost the pattern of breathing that my aunt’s verbal guidance had instilled in me. I managed to catch myself, though, and responded with a simple, “Yes,” as I continued that pattern of breathing.

“Good, you’re doing great, Raven,” she encouraged. “Now, I want you to try to reach out to some of those threads of Light with your thoughts. Use those thoughts and your inner Light to guide their flow and give shape and form to something close to you. Try a simple shape at first, made from a material you are familiar with.”

I thought that was a big ask, but she had more experience with this kind of stuff than I did, and she was my teacher. So, I did as she asked and looked for something to work with. Not six feet ahead of me, there was something that looked like some kind of crystal formation, though a moment earlier it had been some strange form of tree, and even as I focused on it, it changed once again. This time, it was becoming something that was not quite liquid and not quite solid either.

Once I had my target in mind, I reached again for the Light of the Divine inside of me and tried to focus it and my thoughts on the closest threads of Light. She said to make something simple, something familiar. Well, I guess one out of two wasn’t bad because while what I had in mind was certainly familiar, I didn’t know if it was quite simple enough. There was only one way to find out.

So, when I guided those threads of Light, I summoned a mental image in my mind, not just how it looked, but the texture of the soft plush, the weight of it, the slight and gentle resistance of the stuffing whenever I held it close. When I finally felt the threads of Light cease their caressing of the new shape, that it was complete, I opened my eyes to see a very familiar stuffed rabbit in a faded yellow color.

“Okay, that was a surprise,” my aunt commented, even as I released my mental grip on the threads of Light and the stuffed animal once again began to shift into something else. “That’s not exactly what I thought you would do. You must be very familiar with that stuffed rabbit. Is it important to you?”

“Yeah,” I replied as I closed my eyes again. “That was Sunny. I’ve had her since I was four, and she was my only playmate for a long time.”

“No wonder you were able to replicate her so easily then, but remember not to think of anything too specific when we get down to the real work. Given how your first try went, though, I think that you’re almost ready,” she told me carefully.

I nodded and tried to continue my relaxed and steady breathing as I asked, “What do I need to do?”

“Can you feel the presence of the soul shard that has become your halo in the back of your mind?” my aunt inquired. When I nodded, she instructed, “I want you to summon it, but you won’t be doing it in the way that the Angels do. When they summon that aura, they bask in it and have it surround them, covering them like a warm blanket.”

“So, if I’m not doing that when I summon it, what am I going to do?” I queried.

Aunt Lin was quick to offer her instructions. “What you’re going to do instead is to push that soul energy outside of your body and into a physical object. Then you will focus on the threads of Light within the Mist as you did earlier to shape it. Remember, you do not want to think of anything specific; you will be guiding those threads only to give the halo the physical form and ability that best suit both the soul shard and yourself, within the bounds of a weapon. Think of it not just as a weapon but as your other self and a lifelong companion, though I guess in your case there are two of them, and I can’t be sure how that will affect this process.”

That sounded like a lot to think about, and I would need to control the Mist enough to guide it without giving it any precise direction. Almost dreading what my aunt’s answer might be, I asked, “Is there anything else I should know?”

“You will need to start guiding the threads of Light as soon as you inject your soul shard into the object, or preferably at the same time. You will only get one chance at this, Raven. That soul shard is an extension of you, and as such, once you have given it a physical form, it will be as immune to the influence of the Mist as we are,” she cautioned me with all seriousness.

Shit. I had a feeling that she was going to hit me with something problematic. I let out a long sigh and responded, “So, no pressure, right?”

“Yeah,” she said with a forced chuckle that held no humor in it. “Only the fate of your other half is at stake.”

“Just fucking peachy,” I muttered as I tried to shove down the sudden anxiety that thought summoned within me.

“Yep, but I have faith that you can do it. Take your time and relax again, there’s no rush, I’ll stay with you until you’ve finished your task and can call upon your other self for the first time.”

With that final bit of advice and reassurance from my aunt, I tried to tune her out and focus once again on my breathing. Slow and methodical, inhale…. and exhale. Breath by breath, I coaxed my body and mind to relax. I needed to be a calm and guiding hand, but I also needed to keep my feelings in mind without allowing strong emotions to dominate my mind completely and sacrifice my focus. That would be detrimental to both the task ahead and to Penny. I needed to get this right the first time, for her.

So, I took my time, and only once I was completely calm did I begin my monumental task. Once again, I could sense the threads of Light within the Mist, but not only that. I connected with them, felt the very essence of the Divine within them, and I was already reaching out with my mind and the Light within me to guide them.

Only once I was certain that I held sway over those threads of Light did I feel for Penny’s soul shard in the back of my mind and push it outward, past my flesh and into what was currently a large stone in front of me. Even as I felt the stone become infused with Penny’s essence, I was already guiding the threads. Not by moving them, telling them what I wanted directly, or by a picture in my mind, but through my feelings and concepts.

I focused my mind on the connection that Penny and I shared. They were two in one, just as Penny and I were; they were the other half of me, and we would be there for each other always. I wanted them to be happy, and while they would take the form of a weapon, that weapon would be something that would embody who they were, what they represented, and something that was perfect for all three of us.

I didn’t allow myself to focus my mind on the shape that the Mist was now forging into reality; that was a distraction I couldn’t afford. I just kept guiding those threads with the concepts of Penny, our connection, and what she/they represented. I was so lost in that process that it came as a shock to me when the threads ceased their work.

“Penny?” I thought toward the presence in the back of my mind. It felt stronger and more real somehow, and both connected and yet separate from me somehow.

-Raven?- both childlike voices responded in unison, and I almost cried right then at the sound.

“I guess it worked,” I informed them, my mind bubbling over with a mix of emotions: joy, relief, and a strange sensation of love. Self-love, I guess, since they were a part of me, a part that I hadn’t even realized I had been missing until now. I felt… complete in a way I never had before. “We’re together now, and we always will be.”

Once the flash of love I received in return from them subsided, I opened my eyes, eager to see what physical form Penny had taken. With a thought toward them, the weapon that was lying upon the ground flew into my hand. It was unlike anything that I had ever seen before.

In my hand was a massive, demonic-looking sword, roughly five feet long from tip to pommel, with a wide, double-edged blade that had a slight curve to it and was serrated on the back edge. It was probably meant to be a two-handed weapon at that size, but it felt light and well-balanced enough that I could easily hold it in one hand if needed. The metal of the blade was glistening black, almost like obsidian, with the only contrast being the crimson cloth wrapped around the hilt and an ominously glowing gem of the same color in the batwing-shaped crossguard.

Attached to the pommel of the massive sword was a long and delicate-looking chain of the same gleaming black metal. Seriously, it was over twenty feet long, and at the end was a white, double-edged blade in the shape of an angel wing and a little bigger than my hand, which looked like it might be for throwing or to trap people in the chain. The angel blade was burning, engulfed in white and silver flames with the occasional flickers of blue.

Those flames looked just like those atop Purity’s head when I met her inside my soul. I hefted the angel blade with my free hand to touch the flames experimentally with my hand, but rather than burning me, they were comfortably warm to the touch, and I could sense a hint of Divine magic from them. I wondered what they were for, and whether they were confined to just the angel blade at the end of the chain, or if they could spread over more of the weapon.

Even as the thought ran through my mind, it was quickly followed by one of Penny’s voices, probably Purity. “I will try,” she promised eagerly, and I had to remind myself that this existence was new to them. Still, a moment later, those white and silver flames started slowly spreading along the length of the chain that connected the paired weapons.

Before it could spread far enough to reach the sword, though, I told her, “Good job, Penny. We can experiment more later, though, I’m sure my aunt will have plenty of things for us to work on.”

I turned my attention to the aunt in question, only to find her standing in the Mist and gaping at the weapon in my hands. It was a long moment before she could finally speak, and when she did, the words chilled me to the bone. “That sword… it looks like a damned Kryztic’kol.”

The look in her eyes and the tone of her voice were immediately sobering, and I couldn’t help but ask, “What the hell is a cryptic... err krizz… whatever you just called it?”

“It’s an Archdemon’s weapon,” my aunt explained as the color started to return to her face. “I’ve only seen one up close once before, but I think the name roughly translates to Archdemon’s Claw. The metal they’re made from is nigh unbreakable and can cut through damn near anything, just like Demon claws, and they’re supposed to be able to burst into flames of hellfire on command. I don’t think they usually have a chain attached, though, let alone a second weapon, and whatever those white flames are, they are not hellfire. I can feel the Divine magic in them.”

“Yeah, I guess the sword part does look pretty demonic,” I admitted. “Maybe the dual weapon thing is because of Penny having two distinct sides, one demonic and one Divine. They were even connected by a chain in my soul space, and those flames look like the ones that were on Purity’s head.”

Aunt Lin sighed and shook her head. “Well, it doesn’t really matter what the weapon looks like, I guess. You’ve successfully created your andivapn and now I have some ideas on how to train you to use it. You can experiment with Penny tomorrow to get a feel for what they can do after we take a look around the island to make sure we’re alone. For now, though, it’s probably getting late, and I don’t know about you, but I could go for some dinner.”

My stomach rumbled in agreement, but then, I had been doing this for I had no idea how long, since I couldn’t bring my watch, phone, or even my clothes with me. My stomach and butt both insisted that we had been at this for an uncomfortably long time, though, and I was happy to get out of this Mist and back on our nice, comfortable boat. Before leaving, Aunt Lin told me how to dismiss my andivapn, and I did so, feeling like Penny was much closer as a result when the weapon in my hand vanished. It was a strange sensation having them fully share my head now, but a pleasant one that I thought I could get used to as we teleported back to the Material Plane and the Wings of the Sea to make dinner.