"Yes! I'm Menas, I - this is Heaven, right - I don't know how I died - where is my family?" he gets out all in a rush.

"...sorry. Sorry. I'm, um. Honored to meet you?" Reading means a cleric or village chief, right. Where are his manners. He makes a little bow. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just died and I - have no idea why or how, and my family may have died too, could you please tell me how I can - check on them?" Tracking one's living family is an interest everyone in Heaven should share, it's not weird to ask a stranger about it - except, not everyone, oh no - "...please?" he pleads quietly.

"So good news!" Alec responds. "You're not dead and your family is fine. I can explain what happened -- long story short, we had to evacuate Golarion because it was about to be destroyed -- but I can absolutely help you get back in contact with your family first."

He looks at the app that was handed out to the volunteers, and sees that there were some people near where Menas came from that share his DNA (or share DNA with one of his probable-children) which the system has tentatively marked as possible family members.

He floats their pictures in the air between them.

"Are these your family? Is this list missing anyone? I can send them a message asking them to come meet us here. They would have all been transported to their own stations -- areas like where you arrived."

Those are his wife and daughters!! He nods vigorously.

It takes him a moment to be able to speak again, and then rather longer to think of what to say.

"We're not dead? The world was about to be destroyed? ...are you an angel?" He suddenly feels very small and not nearly deferential enough. "Am I - keeping you from saving the world from being destroyed?" Oh no, this is horrible! "I'm - I'm so so sorry - please, I'll get out of your way, thank you" - if his family is alright he will not bother anyone super important ever again!!

"No, no! I'm not an angel," Alec responds. "And I'm not one of the people fighting Hell -- I'm in no way brave enough for that. Here, let me send your family a message asking them to come meet us here, and then I can explain what's going on. That's the part that I did volunteer to help with. Fighting Hell is not my idea of a relaxing afternoon, but helping all the refugees get organized and settled down is just neighborly."

He taps the pictures and sends off a message. In several other space stations, a voice announces "Menas has invited you to meet up with him. You do not have to go to him, and there is no way for him to reach you here without your permission. If you wish to go to where he is, touch the glowing circle on the wall under his picture."

His wife and daughters don't step out of the corridor... door... which rather disconcertingly turns out to be free-standing behind him, without any wall to be a door in. They just - appear, as if stepping out through a door that isn't there at all. 

They all run towards each other - well, he and Irene and Asteria run, Themis tries to and promptly faceplants - Irene changes course to pick her up before he gets there -

- then they're all hugging and laughing and crying and for a little while they rudely ignore are blissfully oblivious of Alec, and even of Heaven itself.

Eventually they approach Alec again, Menas timidly in the lead and Irene and the children even more timidly in the back.

"So we're alive, but already in Heaven?"

Where other normal-looking people live in normal-looking villages and... eventually die, he assumes, and then just - keep on living going about their... existences? It sounds frankly much better than having to live out their lives back home! Heaven doesn't have bandits and wolves and forest monsters and secretly Evil people! ...probably it still has taxes, one can't have everything, but still: Heaven!!!

"Does that mean - only the Lawful Good people were brought here, and the other people are... in Axis and Nirvana and so on?" He desperately hopes everyone he knows went to one of those and not to - any of the bad ones - but sometimes people do go to the bad ones, is he about to find out who out of his family and all his ancestors did and didn't make it -

He suddenly realizes that means his little Themis made it to Heaven (!) at three years old (!!) when everyone even the cleric of Erastil said children that little always went to - a horrible place named for bones - 

Menas has never been happier and prouder in his life. He hugs Themis very tightly.

Alec looks up from reading his notifications.

"I'm sorry for the confusion, but this isn't Heaven," he explains. "It's a bit of a long story, you can sit if you'd like," he continues, gesturing at the other simple furniture scattered around the porch.

"This isn't Heaven, but it is another 'plane'. I don't think it has a name, because until just a day or so ago, we had no idea that there were other planes. We also had no idea about magic, or gods, or anything like that. But that also means that we didn't have problems with demons or monsters. My world had a fairly similar history to yours -- kings and armies, wars, and so on. But without magic, over time we developed better and better nonmagical tools. And as our tools got better, we could work the land more prosperously, which meant fewer people had to work at growing food, so they had more time to spend on inventing better tools, etc."

"Eventually, we got to a point -- only a few years ago, actually -- where our tools could move us incredible distances instantly, like the doors you've seen, and generate food and clothing from nothing, and a thousand other helpful things. Different people reacted differently, but I ended up spending my time taking up painting. It's not Heaven, but it is pretty good here. Nobody goes hungry, there's enough space for everyone, everyone is free to do what they like. And then a little more than a day ago, we learned that there are other planes! New people to meet, new friends to trade with!"

Alec pauses for a moment.

"And then we learned about Hell."

He looks out into the distance.

"I told you earlier that I'm not a brave man. And I'm not. I didn't have it in me to go and volunteer to help with the fight. Not if it meant risking my comfortable life. But we got enough volunteers together to mount an assault on Hell. With some miracles from the good gods, we succeeded. But apparently there was a prophecy, that Asmodeus would release Rovagug and destroy Golarion rather than surrender. So we used our tools to pull everyone out of Golarion before he did."

He turns back to them.

"And that's how you all arrived here! We didn't have enough volunteers to greet everyone individually, and the tools aren't smart enough to figure out who is a family, which is why you all got your own stations. I got a message a moment ago saying that they banished Rovagug again, and put the planet back mostly how it was. You can go back now, if you want to. But there's no rush. I volunteered to spend this afternoon explaining things to people, and I'm happy to tell you more about my world or its history, or about what happens now, or to get you access to our tools or a house in our world or whatever else you need. So go ahead and ask the questions I'm sure you have!"

He pulls out a bowl of sliced apple pieces and sets it where they can all reach, and then takes one to munch.

They're not in Heaven? But then what was that, that city? Menas thought the doors in the corridor led to the seven tiers and this was the Summerlands but - if this is another mortal world - um.

They - developed better tools for farming, so they could feed more people, that makes sense. But why did fewer people become farmers? Did they run out of land? That is worse than Heaven. In Heaven, more prosperity means more people get to farm.

So. They were rescued from something terrible. He has no idea what a Rovagug is but anything Asmodeus did can't be good. And now the Rovagug is over, and they're welcome to stay for a few hours before going home.

"Thank you! That is - very kind of you, really." They take seats. "We'll have to get to Heaven the hard way. It was - really too good to be true, wasn't it, going to the Summerlands alive and all together."

"Our our world is - only mostly how it was?"

"Your village is fine," Alec responds. "There are a few things elsewhere that didn't get put back exactly as they were, though, because they were dangerous. Things like the Worldwound, or unattended fires. And we rescued all the animals and people, but not very many people have had a chance to hear an explanation and decide to go back, yet. So the world is mostly empty right now."

He thinks for a moment, and then continues.

"Oh! And I was supposed to mention -- now that we've made contact with Golarion, there's going to be free travel back and forth. If you want to go check in on your village and then come back to hear the rest of the explanation, that's fine too. Or if you want to go somewhere other than Golarion. We can actually send you directly to Heaven or Nirvana or Axis -- they're just a little busy right now dealing with all the people rescued from Hell, and we aren't sure how long things will take to settle down, which is why we didn't send everyone there in the first place."

This is all a little more than a little overwhelming!

"I'm - glad to hear you rescued all the animals too. You seem like - really, really good people. I'm glad to have you for neighbors."

"And we definitely shouldn't get priority for going to Heaven over people who've been rescued from Hell! We can make our own way there if we have to!" Admittedly it's so much better to be sure about it, especially for the little ones. He already knows Themis is Good, he just isn't sure she's Lawful enough yet.

"We should - probably go back, then? To talk to our neighbors and our priest and - if anyone is going anywhere, we should decide it together. As a community. And I wouldn't want anyone else to think we might not be coming back, so - we should probably go back now. And then we can hear all explanations with our friends and neighbors, and - make sure everyone knows that... everyone knows there's nothing to worry about?" He hopes that made sense.

"So... I hope to come back soon. And you are very welcome to visit too. And again, thank you."

Alec smiles at them.

"It was my pleasure! I'm glad I was able to help. When you want to come back, making this gesture will take you back to the station where you first appeared," he tells them, showing them a particular hand gesture. "Or if your hands are occupied, you can say the word 'melipartifluous' and it will do the same thing. If you poke around in your stations there are more explanations of how to do things like send people messages or get a door to a specific location. But rather than making you deal with that right away, I'll just give you this."

He hands Menas a wrapped handmirror.

"If you unwrap that and I'm not busy, you can use it to talk to me. I'm free all afternoon, but don't hesitate to call me any time you need something."

He stands and opens a portal to their farm.

"Is right here an okay place to drop you off, or would somewhere else be better?"

This will take a little getting used to! Menas never expected to be able to use magic. But after a couple of tries and demonstrations they think they can manage. The mirror, at least, doesn't require any gestures or spell words.

(Themis always expected to be able to use magic and is so happy to finally get it! But it doesn't feel sparkly like magic ought to. She is suspicious.)

And with more thank yous and goodbyes exchanged, and Asteria having worked up her courage to take a slice of apple, they step through the magical doorway and back to their farm.

She is a typical Golarian domesticated cow, which is to say she has Int 2 and Wis 11. In human terms, she is less cunning than the toddler who likes to ride her, and wiser than the man who puts the toddler on her back. But she is not human; one should not measure a cow's cunning and wisdom by human norms.

Her life is peaceful. A higher intelligence might call it "boring"; her wisdom knows to call it "safe". She trusts the humans to look after her. She doesn't go hungry; she can sleep alone without fear of wolves. 

She is not unhappy. But she is - unsatisfied.

Sometimes she meets a bull, and they mate, and she gives birth. But the humans take her calves away before they are grown, and she is alone again.

Sometimes she dreams of the vast herds roaming the plains. Her wisdom tells her those are good dreams. But her cunning is not enough to preserve their memories when she wakes.

She is placidly eating - outside, like she does every day this season - when

she is in a different field, with different ground cover. It is rich and nutritious grass, well-watered and in season.

"This place is safe," a voice tells her, and the magic running under it makes sure she can understand. "This grass is for you."

There is silence for a minute or two, and then two doors open in the boundary of this new paddock and the voice speaks again.

"You can go back to the place where you were, or you can go to a safe pasture where there are other cows and no predators or farmers. Or you can stay here. Nothing can get to you here and the doors will remain open. There is no rush."

She stays there a while. The clover is sweet; the sun is warm and the wind is refreshing.

She does not know how long she stands there eating. The grass is lush and the clover is sweet. Time is the movement of the sun and the movement of other creatures and here nothing moves. Nothing other than her, chewing.

But eventually the wind brings her the scents of other cows. She can see them, in the distance, more cows than she had ever seen before.

She does not have the intelligence, to count from one to family to herd to - something greater than that. But her wisdom nudges at her, quietly. Joining the other cows, staying with the other cows, would be good. Cows are meant to be together. In a herd, there is something more than safety, there is - a rightness to the world.

She walks towards them. Curious, hesitating at first, but she doesn't look back.

Perhaps she will dream, some nights, of a little girl riding on her back as she walks around the yard, holding on to her horns and chattering with excitement; but she does not recall her dreams when she wakes.

Father Leo is going to take them to visit Heaven! They might even decide to stay there!! And even their non-Lawful friends can visit, or they can visit them.

Menas has never been so happy in his life. (Except for a few minutes earlier when he thought he was already in Heaven, which doesn't really count as a separate incident if you think about it.)

But even in all the excitement, his habits remain. He checks his house before leaving (leaving for Heaven!!). Buries the coals in the fireplace, closes the windows, locks the door. Puts away his gardening tools. Checks the cowshed -

...where is his cow? He's seen his neighbor's horses, he knows some animals are back.

He unwraps the mirror and asks Alec for help.

Alec looks up what has happened to the cow.

"Let's see ... it looks like your cow decided to go join a big free-roaming cow herd on an animals-only planet rather than return to Golarion," he explains. "I'm sorry. I can show you how to get milk from nothing until you're able to get another one," he offers.

...oh.

He listens to the explanation about the milk, thanks Alec (a bit mechanically), and wraps the mirror again.

He - hadn't really thought. That the cow might not want to come back.

He never mistreated her (he thinks). Had never been consciously cruel, never let her go hungry or scared, took her to the evening channel when she hurt her foot. She obeyed him when he told her where to go, she never balked or tried to kick or headbutt him. He did everything he thought he was supposed to do, as a farmer and an Erastilian and, and, as head of household - a cow isn't a family member but she was his dependent, he had a duty to keep her well, not ask for more than she could give - 

But the moment she was given a choice she left with the first strangers she met, and didn't come back to him. Not even though he would have taken her to Heaven. 

Does he really deserve Heaven himself? He was so happy about going there, like a child, but everyone can go to Heaven now and so it doesn't prove he's actually Good. And what is even the point of being in Heaven and not on Golarion, if you don't deserve it?

For a moment he has an absurd desire to - go visit the cow, one day, and tell her about Heaven, and invite her there. And to say he's sorry, if he can learn what it is he should be sorry for..

It's a subdued Menas who leaves for Heaven with his friends and family. He - doesn't make a promise to himself, because Erastilians are taught never to take vows without their priest's advice and a few days of reflection. But he very much wants to - become better. To become Good enough that others will be able to depend on him, and won't want to leave, not even animals. Good enough for Heaven.

Pamin is also a typical Golarian human. It's a very broad distribution, though. 'Typical' can cover a lot.

He's a farm-worker in an Osirian village, with no particular skills. His wife died in childbirth; their son was killed by a scorpion; he is too poor to remarry, and is living with his parents again. He owns his daughter who is almost fifteen, and the clothes on their backs, and very little else.

He is desperately afraid of the future. Taking care of his parents, alone, as they grow old. Growing old himself, alone, with no-one to take care of him.

He listens to the priest every chance he gets. In Axis, honest daily labor earns you enough to live on comfortably, even if you have no particular skills. He is grimly determined not to let anything stand in the way of him getting there, one exhausting day at a time.

In fact, he is listening to the priest answer someone else's question about a law when

he is elsewhere.

There is a scene as common now in the solar system as it is unusual to him -- a table spread with rich food set on a grassy lawn encircled by stone walls, and a fountain of clear water, and a door barred on this side.

A voice says to him "This is for you. There's an explanation in the letter on the table. Touch the circle at the top of the paper to have the letter read to you."

He startles. 

Why is he in a house without a roof. Why is there a fountain in the house, and grass on the floor. Is it... a very weird room in a much bigger house? Why would someone spend so much money and labor to build this place?

Why is enough food for a family set out with no-one present? 

Why is he here? Is it even a question he can ask without understanding where or what 'here' is?

He's used to not understanding things, but usually there aren't nearly this many things to not understand. 

He tries standing still and waiting. Nothing happens, and he's out of ideas to try. 

Having letters read out to him is familiar in the sense that he needs to have things read out, and strange in the sense that no-one has ever written him a letter. At least it makes sense to have it read out; it's an action he can take with a clear reason and purpose.

He touches the circle.

And a cheerful voice says "You can say 'stop', 'slower', 'faster', or 'repeat' to control the reading of this letter."

Hello!

I represent a powerful coalition from beyond Creation. We believe that everyone should have the right to free travel. We don't believe that everyone should be able to go to every single place, but we do believe that people should always be able to leave for somewhere else, no matter where they are.

Because of this principle, we objected to the existence of Hell, which kept people trapped in horrible agony with no ability to leave. We are currently working to evacuate Hell and put the former occupants in locations they prefer. Unfortunately, Asmodeus objected to this, and decided to release Rovagug, destroying Golarion. Therefore, we evacuated everyone from Golarion, including you. We have now restored Golarion, and you may return there if you want to. The door in the wall over there leads to your previous location.

We're sorry about having moved you without your consent. In apology, we have given you this place. It belongs to you, and is protected by powerful magics that make it as close to impossible as we can manage for anyone to get here without you letting them in. There are food and water available, and you can change it in any way you would like or leave at any time.

To do this, say the word 'Melipartifluous' or make this hand-gesture:

<animated drawing of a species-appropriate hand-gesture>

This is not an accurate explanation, but you could think of this as allowing you to cast a new at-will spell that we granted to you. This spell lets you summon objects, change the shape, environment, or enchantments on this place, and teleport anywhere that permits visitors or return here at any time. We call this 'opening your interface'.

Our reach is not infinite, and if you travel far enough away, we will eventually not be able to reach far enough to grant you an interface. We will warn you before you travel too far, so that you don't become unable to return without meaning to.

If someone wishes to visit your place here, their name and portrait will appear on the wall over there, on that flat part next to the blue pillar. You do not have to let anyone in, but if you want to let them in, you can use your interface or tap on their portrait to allow them. If you want to dismiss their request, tap the red X shape. If you want to permanently banish them so that they can't ever make a request again, tap the red double X.

If you wish to go visit someone, you can use your interface to send them a request to visit, and then you can be teleported there once they accept. Or you can simply send them a letter.

There are a few places which have open invitations allowing you to visit whenever you would like: Aelsef at Antichthon, the Axis Non-Lawful Visitors' Center, Nirvana, Elysium, Freedom Station, Pepper, and the Maelstrom. There are approximately ten thousand other public locations to which you can request transport if you agree to follow the laws which apply there.

If you have additional questions not answered in this letter, the spell will also let you send letters to me so that I can answer. I am happy to answer questions, or just to correspond with you.

I hope you have a good life and get the things that you want. I want you to be well.

Yours,
Willow on behalf of Ash
Lead of the Golarion Relocation Team

The contents of this letter are certified to be accurate by Abadar, Iomedae, Cayden Cailean, and Desna. You can request confirmation by visiting their temples in Aelsef, by visiting Axis or Heaven, or by waiting to talk to one of their priests once confirmation has been disseminated through their churches.