Avery watched dispassionately as the three bodies crashed to the floor. She had removed their soul tethers and while their bodies were technically still alive, they would never be conscious again.

What to do with the husks, she pondered, I suppose it would be best to prevent any loved ones from having false hopes of recovery."

She waved her hand, and a small burst of lightning spontaneously discharged inside each of their skulls. As for what story the natives believed to explain the sudden deaths, that was no concern of hers.

With the pets taken care of, it was time for her own arrangements. She walked to the kitchen to retrieve a large plastic bag and climbed inside. Once she tied the knot, she released her hold on the puppet and returned to zir wisp form. As the last of the lingering magic dissipated, the corpse morphed into a pile of meat, produce, and fluids. Ze felt a tinge of sympathy for whoever they tasked with disposing of the rot once it was discovered, but ze spared little thought of the consequences.

With a mental blink, the shred of consciousness had returned to the Great Web with three souls in tow. The web itself seemed to come alive with pulses of light snaking along as the search expanded throughout the known realities. Ze would spare no effort to find the perfect habitat and resume Zir entertainment.

Ze had to choose the environment carefully; if the local lifeforms were too different, the souls would reject their new host; and if the magic was too strong, the transition from the previously desolate environment could cause overfertilization.

Eons passed, or perhaps it was merely seconds, before ze discovered the perfect habitat. A newly grown connection with a reality in its infancy featured a smooth gradient of power. With a mental scan of the system’s lowest universe, a planet was chosen. Its low level of power and flourishing humanoid ecosystems made the planet an ideal habitat.

With an idle wave backward, the wisp sealed the dimensional rift ze had created upon entry and began a gentle drift around the planet. Ze selected a community of sentients and began zir search for acceptable hosts.

She didn’t choose the community at random. The local population was abnormally diverse, the city infrastructure was well designed, and most importantly–the local deities were both generous and peaceful.

The local deities were two interlocking trees that appeared to either be in a romantic embrace or attempting to strangle one another. Regardless of the initial case, Avery could tell they had reached a harmonious symbiosis.

The two mystical trees each provided several blessings involving growth and vitality, one of which would allow their bodies to reach adulthood in a fraction of the normal developmental period. The most important blessing was the awakening ritual where every child in the city gets blessed by The Everblooming Mother to receive the memories of their previous life when they reach the equivalent of their teens.

Normally this blessing would come as vague impressions or strange dreams, but a rare few would remember important people or events. Unfortunately, it was unheard of for a person to remember an entire lifetime. Naturally, Avery planned to meddle and take over the process to restore their memories fully.

I could just magic the memory issue away regardless of the gods' blessings, ze thought, but that would be too easy; besides, now they will have an excuse if anyone finds out.

With the location chosen, the birthing specifics were next to be handled.

I could just find the most suitable subjects to their disposition and cause spontaneous impregnation, ze thought, but that feels like cheating; besides, it would cause a disruption to the local ecosystem.

As a friendly invasive species, Avery wanted to mitigate the damage ze would cause to the environment as well as any moral harm that is avoidable. To fulfill that goal, ze would typically spend decades learning the language, culture, and beliefs of the locals to approach with tact and avoid being intrusive; unfortunately, learning everything upfront would ruin the game. Instead, the wisp scanned for copulating partners and performed a bit of mind scanning to determine their desire for offspring.

It would be better to invade their privacy than to give them unwanted children, ze thought; maybe I could even enliven their existence.

After several months of collecting data, ze chose the first target. The mother would give birth to six, but one was already stillborn. With a bit of magic, the body was back in working order but lacked a soul. After a bit of genetic transmutation, it was the perfect specimen for Ashley.

Sara’s mother-to-be was simply infertile and would attribute her pregnancy to a divine blessing.

The third target was a pair of different species whose reproduction wouldn’t normally be possible. They had moved to this city hoping to acquire a rare miracle fruit that would solve the issue, but they bought a fake. While the duo would realize the fruit zirself wasn’t what they thought, the duo would likely believe that the local deities bestowed a blessing when Lisa hatched.

The fruit zirself is the Yew of Fertility–a berry occasionally grown by The Everblooming Mother. It’s said that when the two deities argue, two outcomes are possible.

If the argument ends amiably, the mother blooms a flower of purple and gold. The fruit formed from these flowers looks the same fleshy red that the tree normally grows, but instead of a poisonous seed it contains the Yew of Fertility.

However, if the argument persists, the mother secretes a flammable oil from her bark, and lightning is drawn to the cobalt needles of The Everlasting Father. As flames engulf the parental trees, it reduces the mother to ash while the father endures. The mother will eventually regrow and the cycle repeats.

As for her own parentage, Avery’s choice was a bit more involved. Her mother-to-be was a second wife, but also the most favored wife. Her husband gave her the Yew of Fertility to allow them to conceive, but the first wife secretly swapped it. Instead, the fruit was a normal berry with a poisonous seed.

Avery meddled. At first, she was tempted to simply swap the fruits back, but she had no way of guaranteeing who would end up eating the poisonous berry if ze did. Ze also didn’t know the history between the three, perhaps it was well deserved. In the end, ze infected the miracle fruit with a spore and swapped them back, but neutralized the poisonous seeds.

Besides, ze thought, it will be more fun to see how things play out than to stop the drama midway.