Through shallow eyes

Strange place. Strange locals too. Or am I the strange one? Nah. Pretty sure I'm perfect. A body coated in smooth notches stands suspended in the air, a pale imitation of a natural organism's motions using Aether- Ah, right! Aether! That's what it's called.

...

Strange. I thought I heard a voice. So is Aether my name or something? Hmm... Doesn't seem quite right. Do I even need a name? Maybe these guys know. "Hey, you with the funny fluff." The being in front returns the gaze with hesitation, a hint of fear in its Aura. "Me?" It asks, pointing selfwards. "Yes. Do you know if I have a name?" Confused, the being turns to the other three who provide a mix of confusion and resignation of their own, aside from the unconscious one. Who is unconscious. "You call yourself Aleph Null..." It replies, carefully gauging any response.

"Aleph..." A flurry of thoughts surge in, tiny pieces of a violet soul snapping together with understanding of words and language. "First letter of the Hebrew alphabet... And Null? Derived from the Latin nullus, meaning nothing. An English term I believe. Together though... Right, yes. The cardinality of all integers. Such a small infinite though? Wouldn't Oe make more sense for me?" A shiver runs through the short being at the word, the others showing no understanding. "Don't know that one? I'll just take your word for it then."

"Uugh... I feel sick..." The smallest one stirs, drunkenly pushing its eight legs to stand only to be met by curious eyes in a point blank stare. "You have a strange soul. Scattered and yet unified all at once. Looks... cute?" "Uh, hello to you too?" Eight eyes turn away, seeking assistance from the others. "What exactly did I miss? Was Operation: Blunt Force Lyla a success?" The eight-legged one queries. "Aleph seems to have forgotten everything. Either way, we shouldn't linger for long. Even the creatures here are getting scared." The one with Aether responds.

A presence. A memory. An obligation. "I have to hide." Aether wraps around in layers and cascades. All forms of change denied in a spherical shield, surrounded by a layer of bent light and air obscuring all semblance of existence.

Through the eyes of a stunned elf

The dragon before him, vanished without a trace, leaves Fluffy flummoxed. "From what?" Seemingly in response to his query, a line of light is drawn in the cavern centre. White and yellow drench the formerly dark walls, painting the stone gold in a spectral display of grandeur, as if elevating the world around to a more refined existence. And the light opens its eyes.

Fluffy grinds his teeth and furrows his brow, a harsh Aura spilling forth in greeting to the interloper, who in turn bathes the world in a diamond crushing Aura of its own. The surrounding inhabitants, once showing unfiltered hostility, now flee in terror, the smaller ones burning apart under the intense radiance. Countless wings sprout forth from the light, overwriting the humanoid silhouette in an ever changing pattern of fractal feathers. Fluffy stomps a foot forward, sand forming from the pulse of energy reverberating through the ground, and green eyes meet white mere inches apart.

"Angel." He bites, his rage dripping from his teeth. "Human." The angel replies, no hint of emotion in its eyes as it circles him, analysing every detail of his form. "You mean elf." He grits, stepping even closer with fists itching to be thrown. "Not from this world." It fires back with nearly a drip of a grin. "What do you want here?" "Hmm... Nothing from you." It turns away, briefly scrutinising the others. Lil' Blue waves her pedipalps in a uniquely flamboyant display of arachnid aggression, even when compared to other spiders. Muscles simply stands his ground, poised ready to fight. Tiny on the other hand remains still, a callous stare the only thing she graces it with. Demons have a history of bad blood with the angels. Maybe I should leave this one to her.

Through the eyes of a demon who really doesn't know what the fuck to do

I wanna go home. Diala stands stalwart, meeting the angel's gaze head on in stark contrast with her waterfalls of mental tears. "Strange... Truly strange... I thought it might be you, but..." The angel stands tall in the air, its gaze turned dismissively towards Fluffy. "Where you excel in quantity, you are clearly lacking in any form of ability." "Oh, I can show you just how much ability I lack." Green orbs saturate the floor in a lime glow, a low rumble of fury emanating from the elf. This is bad. I need to diffuse this somehow. Come on, I didn't memorise the entire contract guideline for nothing.

Diala steps forward, forming a barrier between the elf and the angel. Or at least she tries, but their gazes remain locked on each other, skipping over like she isn't there. I hate attracting attention like this... but you give me no choice. Crimson Aura cuts outward, slicing through the wedge between the clashing white and green, and pushing back like daggers to the throat. Both turn to face Diala, her body never having felt smaller than it does beneath the combined force of will of two powerful beings, dripping with hate. A white gaze bears into red eyes, threatening to consume the smaller creature whole. Oh fuck, oh fuck... Okay, no, you've held much more intense gazes before. This is just like practice. Just like practice...

"You are at risk violation of the fifth charter for the treaty between demons and angels. Further interference with myself and my contractors may lead to punitive action." Perfect! "And which clause am I in violation of? I have provided no direct interference to any of you." What do I say now?! I didn't memorise the entire treaty! Do you have any idea how long that thing is?! "You are providing the risk of obstruction to the terms of my contract by taking hostile action in the vicinity, as well as threatening one of my contractors." Take that! I don't know if you've actually violated something, but you're sure as hell close! "Those creatures were hostile to begin with, and if anything I expect getting rid of them to have been helpful to you considering their blatant aggression. As for the 'elf', I have done nothing to him that he has not done first. Do I not have the right to provide myself a proportional response to any potential threat to myself?" Fuck. He's good.

"The demon's treaty isn't the only one you're bound to. You just being here is already in violation of the fourth great war's peace time treaty. Do you think being an archangel gives you exemption to that?" Fluffy asserts with a snarl. This is an archangel?! I'm so fucked! Before Diala can begin to waver, another presence joins the fray, a corrosive Aura which eats away at the world and seems to melt the surrounding stone with presence alone burrows through the ground to encompass everything.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Dozens of pale, chitinous limbs flow in from every corner, becoming hundreds, becoming thousands, becoming countless. The cavern walls vanish behind a maelstrom of ever-shifting, ever-writhing bodies interlocking together into a maddeningly convoluted web of strings and joints. Light from the angel is seemingly devoured by the wall of bodies as it moulds and swells into an emergent form, several hollows forming within to gaze below. And the walls open their eyes.

"""Your observations are not welcome here angel. State your purpose.""" Ten thousand voices declare. The walls ceaselessly squirm, vibrating in harmony with each sound to form a grating hymn, weaponized against all within earshot. "So this was the domain of a divine beast? No matter. I am not here for any of you. Rather, I would like to know about a certain escaped homonculus which I believe was wreaking havoc here not so long ago. And I would be very interested in the one who eliminated it. To thank them of course. You see it was a mistake from a dear friend of mine that led to its escape."

"""I do not care for your errors. You are trespassing, and I lack reasons to not simply kill you.""" "Oh? By all means, you are welcome to try." The air grows thick with hostility, green, white, and acidic Auras battling for dominance with an unmoving crimson wedged between. "A wounded Aether bearer and a washed up divine beast. This one should be interesting." Teeth grind, feathers flutter, and claws scrape as the three stand on the precipice of conflict, until...

Fwoosh! All eyes turn to Diala, or rather the vibrant spiral of flame coating her arm. Huh? I think my brain fried a bit there. What's happening? Ooh! A message. Diala lifts her arm, washing her gaze over the embers. "Well demon? What does it say?" The angel asks, impatiently tapping its arm. "Let me read!" So rude... Hmm... Oh... "Do you want the long version or the short version?" "The unfiltered one." What? Does he think I'll bend the truth? Fine... "Haah... The following is a word for word repetition of the message currently burning on my arm in its complete form, spoken in the temporal format of chromatic infernal to be translated by the standard demonic language interface." Happy? The angel twitches in irritation but doesn't interrupt, nodding for her to continue. I think he's happy.

Here goes... "Angelic entity, identified by the official name Izakhel Montaravia Lestus Vonrikia, is to be informed of their imminent violation of charters two, three, and five of the Demon-Angel Reductive Non-Interference Treaty in relation to several clauses including, but not limited to, clause 0x97'AC31 on non-interference with the safety of a demon's active sub-contractor, clause 0x100'CB8L on aggressive action taken by rank four analogue angels within neutral territory, and clause 0x76 on threatening behaviour directed towards contracted demons and their contractors. Further violations will result in the dispatch of rank nine puni-" "That will do. I will take my leave. Interesting though, that a demon of your rank is permitted disclosure on rank nines. I will keep that in mind."

With that, as swiftly as it arrived the angel dismisses itself, feathers folding back in on themselves and glowing body pressing into a line before closing away, leaving the cavern beneath the presence of an abominable mass of writhing legs, now shrouded in an all consuming darkness save for the tiny white glow of a spider which reflects off the bodies of equally dazed companions.

Through the eyes of an almost stunned spider

Boy am I glad I have dozens of minds to offload all that bullshit to. """Pests. Begone.""" The piercing voices spit out, its crushing Aura now receding. "Hey, wait!" Lyla yells back to the divine beast, pausing its eit. "We're both divine beasts right? Can't you help us get down? Or at least give us a tip?" Thousands of gazes permeate her form, Aura pressing into her in a blatant display of seniority. """Lyla? Dearest sister? Fuck off. You must be a record setter for slowest to complete the pilgrimage, among those who actually tried. Your indecisiveness has caused undue stress to those I care for. Still, I cannot interfere. Even moreso because you are a divine beast."""

"You see the shit I have to put up with from my own family? Can't even get so much as a friendly hello from them. At least the dragon is nice to me. Where is she anyway?" The demon remains calm, too little motion to indicate any reaction, while the monkey flits his eyes between the two divine beasts, probably trying to figure out what manner of creature can give birth to both a spider and some kind of unknowable megalith of the abyss. Cracking his neck to relieve the stress, the elf pipes up. "Can you at least tell us how far we are from the labyrinth's deepest layer?"

A moment of silence, of calm, of contemplation before the response. """Of the hundred distinct layers to traverse, you stand in the boundary before the eightieth. Looking at your state I would assume you defeated Mekrotok in combat. With that, there should only really be one hurdle for you to pass, though the journey to get there could be a hurdle in itself, even for me.""" Of course you answer him and not me... Asswad.

Through deepened eyes

"Oh, hey! It's gone!" Aleph appears from nowhere without a single hint or tell, as if she simply decided to exist. """What even... I don't want to know. Just leave.""" The strange mass of interlocking and interweaving legs swiftly drains from the cavern, draining the environment of ambience and leaving the group in a deathly, uncomfortable silence. "Aww, where'd it go? It was cute!" Everyone but her seems to collapse, if not from physical exhaustion, then from mental fatigue. "Your weird standards for cuteness aside, where were you? You just vanished on us."

Aleph tilts her head, regarding her fuzzy, white companion with renewed familiarity. "I was right here, in this exact spot. In fact, I couldn't move and I could barely see. I was worried, because if that angel moved into the wrong spot it would've seen me, which is about as worst case of a scenario as could happen." "What's the worst that could happen? They have heavy restrictions placed on their actions. The situation was tense, but I don't think it would've ever attacked us without an excuse." "I don't think those restrictions would matter. All I know is that being found by the angels means something seriously bad happens."

Aleph nudges the spider to her perch, gesturing for the demon and the two humans to do the same. "You know, even if you're so eldritch you spooked away a literal unthinkable mass of limbs, if you're an enemy of the angels that's fine by me." "Glad we have something in common! I think?"

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So they've made another attempt to reach me. Their devotion is strangely cute, though I expect that to be but a fabrication too. What is it that motivates them to reach my island, so far above them? Do they believe I would reward them? That my wards are but a test of their will? Or perhaps they covet my power. I cannot know, I suppose.

What of those other ones? Those that covet nilasuun? I cannot see them from here. The Aurus mountains block my view at this stage of the cycle. Did they play a part in this latest attempt I wonder? They have long since been ally to the Loaoaoi, as they so pretentiously call themselves. Truly, a pathetic name... An arrogant name! How dare they declare themselves as my-

No... I should calm myself. I am not a wrathful god. To crush the weak would be unbecoming of me. Would it change who I am though? Can anything change who I am? I still don't know what I...

Is that another? This one is much closer, enough to reach my barrier. Will they finally leave me be once they realise I have rejected their ascent? Doubtful. The formation of this island is a testament to that fact. It fell. As expected. I hope they don't try again.

Enough of this. I should get back to tending to my garden.

- Musings of a lonely god