Nepherel stared across the courtyard at the three-headed Archangel.
“Lucias. Your title is befitting for this occasion.”
Lucias’ three mouths went into smiles at different moments, making the face strangely difficult to read; his voice carried an authority that seemed far too great for an ordinary Archangel. “Oh how I abhor the revelation of power and authority, Demi-god Nepherel. How far has thy sight taketh? It shan’t resume to the end of time.”
Every person standing nearby understood what he meant. Lucias was mocking the limits of Alpam’s Divine Authority of Revelation, declaring that even Nepherel’s ability to uncover truth would eventually reach a point where it could reveal no further answers.
There would be no final vision or any kind of perfect revelation of the ending, and definitely no divine certainty waiting beyond whatever stood before them.
Nepherel continued, “I saw your arrival. And I saw your death at the end of it.”
King Solomon stepped forward, his voice carrying the authority of a king, “Is this out of your own ambition? Or another gods?”
Lucias gave a small laugh, and the three heads seemed to enjoy the question in different ways. “Neither ambition nor command hath brought me here, King of Kalhalla. I stand where the frightened stand, beneath the shadow of a sickness that even gods cannot comprehend. All who were created by Alpam can feel what courses through him, for we are connected to our creator whether we desire that bond or despise it. His sickness reaches into us, and every angel who hath sensed the rage gathering within him fears the same fate. When the parasite consumes him completely, what shall become of those who share his divine blood? Shall we remain ourselves while our father becomes a creature of madness? Though the infection only touches the divine, those who are one with his blood will surely suffer.”
Nepherel looked down, thinking, ‘He’s lying…he has to be…why can’t Divine Authority reveal the truth to me?! Surely it can’t be stronger than that! If what he says is true, then that means…I…no!’
Nepherel said, “You have sought refuge in Totuna and Ifreiti?”
Lucias smiled wider. “Is that an issue, Demi-god? Totuna offers beauty to those whose forms have been ruined, while Ifreiti offers nature to those who have lost their place beneath the heavens. We were abandoned by one embrace and welcomed by another. If those goddesses possess the means to preserve what remains of us, why should we reject their sanctuary? I have no desire to rot into something unrecognizable merely because loyalty demands that I pretend the end is not approaching.”
Chariot’s four arms lowered as he looked at Lucias. “Then that confirms Totuna and Ifreiti as two of the possibly many gods involved in the coalition. That’s trouble.
”It fits your nature to become insane for this.” Nepherel said. His voice carried disappointment rather than surprise, continuing, “The Paladins of Insanity were dangerous even before you became what you are now. They believed sanity itself was a limitation imposed upon those incapable of understanding the greater truths of existence. Their members trained themselves to abandon ordinary reasoning, embrace unpredictable behavior, and pursue revelation through madness. They took an oath to surrender the comfort of certainty and allow their minds to wander wherever Alpam’s authority might lead them. I eventually disbanded them because their practices became impossible to control. They began interpreting their own thoughts as divine commandments, attacking allies because they believed obedience required it, and committing acts that threatened the Order itself. The surviving members scattered across the world afterward, lost and wandering, carrying fragments of an oath that no longer has an Order behind it.”
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“Yes…” Lucias said.
But Nepherel kept going, “And you were their head. The first Angel Paladin Son of Insanity. Alpam still permitted you to remain one of his closest consorts despite everything you represented. He trusted you near him when others would have considered you a danger. He allowed you to remain within his presence, and now you have chosen to stand beside the enemies gathering against him.”
Lucias gave a deep and very amused laugh, “How ironic, is it not? The madman was granted the privilege of standing closest to the god of revelation, only to discover that the revelation itself was never his to command.”
One of his heads leaned while another stared directly at Nepherel. “The true Judge, Jury, and Executioner is not Alpam. It is XXI. The creator of existence itself hath remained absent while his children tear one another apart. Yet some among the Highest Ones have begun to gather, and their purpose is simple: They mean to slaughter Alpam.”
An in sync gasp traveled through the courtyard; Even the angels surrounding them seemed to become still for a moment.
Nepherel’s body trembled a little, the first visible crack in his composure since the meeting began, and his fingers tightened around the branch in his hand. “What was your plan here? To die? Or to escort more angels to Totuna and Ifreiti’s embrace?”
Lucias’ three heads smiled at once. “A plan? Thy question presumes a road hath been chosen, when perhaps the road chose us before we were born. Death waits behind me, Totuna waits beyond me, Ifreiti waits beneath me, and Alpam waits somewhere between all three. I came because the end hath already begun, and if I must walk toward it with my enemies before me, my sanctuary behind me, and my creator’s madness above me, then perhaps I shall arrive before the end realizes it hath ended.”
The angels suddenly rushed forward, ready to attack, and they all began singing with harmony.
“Brace yourselves!” Cassius shouted, she drew a long staff made entirely from glowing white light, bringing it across her body as the divine host closed the distance.
“Loud and clear..” Sugrid’s body became covered by golden hands of light that seized his limbs, while his eyes turned pure white and his hair became covered in the same golden light; he lowered his body into a fighting stance with both fists raised.
Chariot raised two of his four arms and summoned a massive flaming red sphere above his head that had white glowing swords embedded in it, and roared, “Hell yeah!”
Galan dropped onto all fours as spectral lions formed around his body, their spirit-like shapes circling him while he prepared to meet the incoming angels.
Asphodel stuck out both hands, and a multitude of floating grimoires appeared around her, each book opening to different pages as divine script moved across them.
Tears of blood began running from beneath her black blindfold, tracing lines down her cheeks while she calmly murmured words from the Oath of Faith.
“Alpam, guide the steps of me, my power, and my Oath.”
Talos produced a handheld judgment scale, and an enormous construct of glowing gold, white, and grey formed in the air above the courtyard, its two great plates hanging from celestial chains, swaying left and right.
King Solomon reached into his own chest and drew forth a holy sword, its blade chipped from countless battles, a red cloth wrapped around its handle and white runes running along its length.
Queen Icaris rose from the ground as glowing white water surrounded her body, carrying her several feet into the air while she hovered within its flowing circle.
And then beside them, Nall’s invisible body manifested enormous jagged halos throughout the air, their positions revealing where he stood even though his body remained impossible to see.
The first angels reached the Paladins, and the courtyard became a chaotic parade of light and blood as the two sides rushed toward one another.
Through all of it, Nepherel walked toward Lucias, and Lucias basically floated toward him.
The two moved through the chaos while angels and Paladins rushed around them, neither appearing concerned with the battle beginning at their sides.
Nepherel carried the divine branch loosely in one hand, while Lucias held both greatswords at his sides, their red flames showing light across his three faces.
“What a foolish being to go against a Demi-god,” Nepherel said. “I’ve never taken you to the Garden of Salvation myself, but instead, you’ll die there.”
Lucias smiled as Nepherel raised the branch, and white light took over them both, and they were away from the courtyard.
The angels and Paladins were left behind as Nepherel and Lucias were transferred elsewhere, carried toward a place that no mortal present in the Sanctuary had ever seen.