“Lady Lakshmi, Lord Shiva, please come. You need to see this”, Azrael called.

The white bubble with the spiritual signature of Lakshmi appeared in his workplace, and just stood there.

“So soon?”, Lakshmi was incredulous.

“Sanat Kumar ejected them from the system. If I am to guess, I’d say they achieved apotheosis inside the protective bubble, and started frying the Jewel’s inner systems, and Sanat Kumar had to renounce all claims in order to protect his world. That wouldn’t work when one is incarnated, but he connected the vajra crystal to the inner system, and once the energy exceeds the creation levels of the Jewel himself, it would basically reset it”, Shiva scratched his chin.

“Let’s get them out”.

Lakshmi touched the bubble, and its energy withdrew into her heart, revealing the God-couple inside.

“Honeymoon over”, the man smiled at the woman’s shocked face, and kissed her brow. “Will you introduce me?”

“Oh well, it had to happen eventually”, she smiled, and looked at the people in the room. “This is the first time I’m here in this function”, she giggled. “Hi Boss”, she waved at Azrael, who just approached and hugged her, not trusting his voice.

…

“I know you”, Carol froze as he hugged Lord Shiva. “You’re the one who brought us protection and information”.

Shiva nodded. “It was a pretty hard intervention to do. The flash of Grace’s death and the tears of the Gods carved the path, and it gave me a few seconds to work with”.

“I owe you big time”, the man nodded.

“Repay me by telling me about the structure he connected you to, as a power source”, Shiva grinned.

“It was something godless, of the world. It wanted to make people invest their lives in researching the illusory world he is maintaining as if it were reality, and wanted to make them think that it will reveal great secrets and provide ultimate happiness”, Carol frowned, remembering. “Science, technology, industry; I think it’s also connected to some other concepts, adjacent to it, like accumulation of money, physical prosperity, and something geographic, I think it was called the New World, whatever that meant. It radiated the feeling of mountains of gold and silver just waiting for the brave explorer”.

Shiva smiled at the revelation. “That’s going to be very useful. But I feel something else. As you were talking, something flashed. I think he wanted you specifically. Specifically, in a sense that he laid a trap for you. Your last life wasn’t that bad by accident. It was a specific design by Satan, to make you think you are nothing, and make you vulnerable to his attack, because he wanted you as a power source for that attractor – specifically you. But why?”, he wondered, passing fingers through his hair. “Can I take a look at your past lives?”

“Sure. Nothing there but emptiness and work, anyway”, Carol shrugged.

“You were the main engineer behind the Babylonian irrigation system of Nebuchadnezzar II, later popularly known as the hanging gardens of Semiramis. You were also Vitruvius, the famous Roman engineer and architect. It’s all clear now”, Shiva nodded. “You were meant to be something of a protector-saint of science and technology, a beacon of light that attracts souls into fruitless endeavours of studying the physics of an arbitrary, illusory world. You underestimate yourself because you see only the bad side of your lives – no deep personal connections, no significant people, no true love. You are correct to think so, but you also dismiss your significance too lightly. You are one of the main minds behind the science and technology of the ancient world – an equal of Archimedes and Aristotle. That’s why he wanted you”.

“He dug a hole for me so deep, I would lose hope of ever seeing the light again”, Carol mused. “But I still fucked up. I had a strong feeling to refuse him, but I dismissed it because I lost all hope”.

“Yes, you fucked up”, Shiva confirmed. “However, I see now why God did things this way. He knew it was extremely likely for you to fuck up, because of how thorough the trap was, and he connected your path with your wife just before. It was a very roundabout way of doing things, but it also served an instructional purpose for many people, in many ways. All sorts of things that were, in hindsight, necessary for it to work were set up before, such as me giving the Judges a blessing of a higher order that would repair any damage they incur due to empathy. She was a Judge, and a most beloved one at that; people just refused to accept that she’s gone, and found ways to bring her back”.

“This is much weirder than anything I expected”, Carol sighed.

“You’re in good company, for it is weirder than anything any of us expected”, Shiva smiled and clapped his back. “Come, let’s have coffee”.