"Us," I said emphatically.

"We can all go as the Saviour. We'll be a triune deity, three in one and one in three," I went on, carried away by my own inventive genius. Turning to my Guide, I said, "You can be a bow warrior, Bowser can be an axe warrior, and I can be a sword warrior. Just like the Marshals. Together, we can show ourselves as a super-anthropomorphic entity with three heads and six arms, each pair bearing its own weaponry. That ought to be impressive enough for a Saviour." I was grinning like a maniac as I said this. I was enjoying myself. Even my Guide seemed amused - something like a smile seemed to hang around her lips and her eyes lit up.

"Sorry to bust your bubble," broke in Bowser, "but their idea of a Saviour is not exactly that of a deity. Rather, it is of a magical warrior with astounding powers. They will not worship you, if that's what you expect. And they'll expect you, that's us, to do our own fighting."

"There's nothing wrong with the super-anthropomorphic bit," said my Guide, "though I think we'll leave the three heads out - you wouldn't want generations of future iconographers to think up inventive ways of depicting the body of an entity that has two male heads and a female one. And if Bowser's okay with being an axe man, I don't mind being a bow warrior." She sounded almost excited as she said it.

This was the first time she had called Bowser by that name, and I was amused to notice that he seemed to actually like it. He moved his head slowly, indicating assent.

"We also need to think of mounts, sturdy steeds that will carry us - there may be a lot of travelling to do before this is over…" Bowser began.

"Can't we just disappear from one place and reappear wherever we want to go?" I jumped in.

"If you're marching at the head of a large army on your way to facing another large army, believe me you really wouldn't want to appear suddenly near the enemy host without your army," said Bowser.

"You mean we can't do anything we want to? We are bound by things like that here?" I cried. This was getting to be bad - here I was thinking I could virtually anything with the powers wielded by my Guide and Bowser, and he was calmly talking about long journeys on horseback.

"Well, there are spatio-temporal shadows in certain universes, which makes it difficult to connect to other dimensions at will. It can be done only when certain alignments happen or anomalies in the fabric of the dimensional whole manifest. So we cannot depend on having super powers all the time," explained my Guide.

"So what's the deal? I thought that I could become anything I want instantly by your powers - a sword warrior in this case. If your powers won't work there, then I won't be a sword warrior, neither would you be a bow warrior nor Bowser an axe warrior. Isn't that true?" I couldn't control myself.

"In a way, no," said my Guide, "the changes we effect before we enter that world will be in place regardless of whether I can reach out to my powers from there or not. And, there is magic at work on that world. It will help us."

With those words, she started changing into different bow warrior shapes. I could sense that she was reading both our reactions to the different shapes she took on. Finally she seemed to settle on a shiny silvery hauberk over a soft dark full-sleeved shirt along with what looked like leather trousers and leather boots. She had a full silver quiver at her back and a long silver bow in her hand. On her head she had a light helm which came down to her neck. It seemed a very functional yet chic outfit. And yes, it did make her look good!

"Thanks for the compliment," she said as she slipped back to her old form in jeans and white cotton shirt and plopped into an armchair.

"What about you, Bowser?" I asked.

"Nothing fancy for me," he said, changing in a trice to what must be the most formidable warrior, axe or otherwise, I have ever seen. Complementing his immense height and girth, he was dressed in a fitting body armour, black and gleaming, that covered his body from neck to waist. He had on trousers that were covered with similar mail-like armour, which allowed free movement. His boots reached above his calves and shone blackly. At his waist there was an impressive-looking belt that must have been at least four inches thick. This was bejewelled and held a couple of wicked looking stabbing knives. At his side hung a huge axe, black and deadly. A huge ornate helmet, complete with what looked like an ostrich feather, rounded it off.

He took his axe and casually swung it a few times about him, looked pleased with the effect, and chuckling to himself, reverted back to his business suit and Panama hat. Moving to the desk, he sat on it and looked at me. "Let's see you dress up," he said.

I had an idea of looking like Zorro the Fox, but somehow it seemed rather tame compared to what I had just seen. So I began a process that seemed to me very long and tiresome, but nevertheless necessary. My Guide conjured up a mirror that showed me how I looked from every angle, and together with Bowser, entered energetically into the game of making me look like a Saviour.
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