It was now roughly two months since the opening of the church of time. Well, 8 weeks, 1 day, 14 hours 34 minutes and 29 seconds to be exact. Everything was going well so far. Every day, the church filled up with guests. Sure, there may have been one or two creeps here and there trying to get closer to the priestesses but most guests stayed respectful. But today was an important day, for Bridget was anxiously awaiting a certain guest to appear. After all, the time had come for their end of the bargain that they had made with their benefactor.

Just then, Bridget spotted Akita approaching the church with some unknown man covered in a hood. She smiled and went out to greet her lover with a hug. “There you are,” she said.

“Sorry we’re late,” Akita said apologetically. “You draw a lot more attention to yourself when you’re a time elemental…”

“Right…” Bridget sighed. One thing she did miss about being human was the fact that she didn’t attract stares from all around her all the time. Now, she and the others could only really have privacy when alone inside. “Were you successful though?”

“Of course, my Terabyte. No-one suspected a thing,” Akita grinned.

Bridget smiled again. “Good, good,” she mused before turning to the mysterious man that had accompanied her lover. “Are you ready, mister Thamos?” she asked after making sure that there was no-one nearby to eavesdrop on them.

“Yes, I am,” the man said, stern as always.

“Excellent. Well, let’s not dawdle then. Come on in,” Bridget said.

Only when the three were down in the private quarters of the church did Akita finally turn off the hologram disguising Edwin Thamos. He was still anxiously looking around himself though, making sure that he wasn’t followed.

As the three entered Akita’s lab, Edwin was surprised by the appearance of someone he didn’t instantly recognize, causing him to jump slightly. However, he calmed down again after taking a closer look, now realizing that it was Lavini.

“Good morning, sir Thamos,” she said.

“Lady Providence. You… transformed,” Edwin said.

“Ah, yes. I suppose we should have notified you of that. My apologies,” Lavini replied.

“Sorry, Gigabyte. That’s on me,” Akita said apologetically, placing a hand behind her head.

“It is okay…” Edwin said softly.

“We should also let you know that our nun, Cassiopeiah, has transformed as well, although her change was a lot less drastic,” Bridget said.

“Ah, I see. And where is she then?”

“Up in the main chapel, overseeing the church,” Lavini said.

“Hmm, I see…” Edwin said, trailing off by the end as he looked around the room. Being a businessman of high status, he was familiar with the latest technologies but this was something else. Akita had definitely upped the ante in the area of magitech.

“Do you have any further questions, sir Thamos?” Lavini asked.

“Several,” Edwin grunted.

“We still have enough time before we have to worry about the next mass, so feel free to ask them,” Bridget said.

“Hmm,” Edwin responded. Even now, he was still the same stern businessman. It was perhaps a little strange. He had softened himself in front of these women before but he had great difficulty doing it. It was much easier to stay in his business persona for now. “Run me over the plan for ‘Edwin Thamos’ again.”

Akita nodded. “Currently sitting in your office back in Pronce sits a holographic replica of you. The many voice recordings we’ve done also give ‘you’ a voice. I also had cameras installed so that I can monitor your office should it be necessary. Also, we’ve entrusted your assistant with maintaining the illusion to the best of his abilities. The replica will continue to act as your stand-in for some time more before ‘retiring’,” she explained.

“And what if people will find out that it’s a fake?” Edwin asked.

“The only real way to see that it’s a hologram is for them to touch ‘you’ but your assistant will do anything he can to prevent that,” Akita added.

“Right,” Edwin nodded. It was still a big risk. Sure, he did trust that Akita was able to do her job well but still. If all it took for the illusion to break was a simple touch… And of course, then there was the matter of the deal he had made with his assistant. He would inherit the Thamos company so long as he helped maintain the illusion. Edwin had even gone so far as to write up a contract for this. However, since Edwin would no longer remember anything about his old life after this transformation, there was always the chance that his assistant could simply decide to ditch the contract.

But there was little else that Edwin could really do about it. He simply had to have blind faith that everything would work out in the end. He hated that though. Throughout his business career, he had always been exceptionally thorough in ensuring that all parties involved in any business transaction were capable of carrying out their part of the deal. Even then, he would manage and ensure that everything would go well during the deal too. However, he was unable to do anything of the sort this time…

“And how is this process going to work?” he just asked, not wanting to change his mind because of his many worries.

“My hourglass DLC has the power to reverse the flow of time for you simply by tipping it. You will be doing so and it will start to reverse your aging. Akita dear has developed a machine that will speed up the process and halt it when you are but an infant,” Lavini explained.

“An infant? I thought I said I did not want to be a baby…” Edwin protested.

“Unfortunately, we will kind of have to. For one, we will be transforming you so thoroughly that you’ll come out of it a completely different person. Your gender, your physical appearance, it will all be different and that is quite a lot of work. Now, we could do this quick and dirty but then the transformation will be unstable and could easily be reversed. Regressing you fully into a baby makes that molding process so much easier. Don’t worry though. We’ll also be speeding up your growth again afterwards until you are the desired age,” Akita explained.

“Hmm… I see…” Edwin muttered. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to that but then again, there wasn’t much for him to do about it. He wanted this after all.

“Secondly, there’s your memories. If we changed you into a young woman here and now and then erase all of your memories, I bet you’d be super confused about everything and will want to know more. If we regress you, then you’ll gain the memories of growing up here,” Bridget added.

“Ah… that is a fair concern,” Edwin admitted. “So I will truly be growing up here then.”

“That is correct. We have talked it over and we have decided that Cassie dear and I will be adopting you as our own daughter,” Lavini smiled.

“You… will?” Edwin asked. He knew that he was going to become a part of this church here but he was not expecting to be adopted. He hadn’t been a part of a family in quite some time…

“Bridget and I considered it as well but we came to the conclusion that I’m not even ready to take care of myself, let alone a daughter,” Akita laughed.

“YOU came to that conclusion, Akita. I’m sure you’d be a great mom,” Bridget said.

“Yeah, in your dreams perhaps,” Akita grinned.

While Bridget bopped her girlfriend on the head, Lavini turned to Edwin again. “I have two questions for you as well. One, have you been able to pick out a name for yourself?” she asked.

“Hmm… I’ve decided on the name Estella,” Edwin replied.

Lavini nodded. “Very well. And what of my earlier suggestion?”

“Your… ah, yes,” Edwin nodded as he reached into his jacket to get out a sealed envelope which he presented to Lavini. He had written it earlier that same week. Should something go wrong, causing his secrets to come to light, then he had written some final words and thoughts to his new self. His identity and some other answers to questions he would undoubtedly be having about himself. Well, herself soon enough.

“Excellent,” Lavini said, taking the letter and hiding it into the folds of her own clothes.

“I do not wish to ever read this,” Edwin said.

“Of course, I understand,” Lavini nodded.

“And I do not want any of you to tell me about my past…” Edwin added.

“I swear to you that we will not tell you about the story of Edwin Thamos,” Lavini said, placing a hand over her heart. Or rather, the place where her heart supposedly was. Seeing her body was now mostly made of glass, Edwin was unable to spot any sort of heart inside. Instead, there was just that hourglass.

“Well, we’re ready to begin once you’re ready, Gigabyte,” Akita said, having moved over to one of the machines in the room.

“Funny how this is the second time we’re transforming someone here within the span of one month…” Bridget mused as she stepped over to the machine as well.

Edwin let out a big sigh. Soon, he was going to transform. He would no longer remember ever being Edwin Thamos. He would be Estella. Estella Providence, it would appear. He was ready for it. Resolutely, he stepped forward to the machine. To his new life.