The morning came, leaving the sky still clouded, but letting enough light through to make the outside visible, the birds chirped, the people went about their business and Uriel was already awake - knitting something with the thread I made from him the day before.
He was sitting on the side of his bed, a relatively small one - it had a white pillow and green covers, I looked over and saw that the puff was in fact also awake, seemingly just sitting and staring off at the ceiling.
"I see you're awake..." Uriel remarked glancing over to the blanket from under which I popped my head out. "Yeah, good morning..."
"More like noon..." he sighed.
"Whatever..." I sighed sitting up, "By the way, some 'Deus' guy or girl wanted me to say hi to you." I said through a yawn.
"Ow!" Uriel yelped in pain as he pricked himself with one of the needles - staining the white item he was knitting with a drop of red.
"What do you mean!? - the Deus!?" he demanded.
"Guess so - they looked kinda short, light hair, yellow eyes, wearing brown shorts, purple jacket over a pinkish shirt and what I can only describe as a purple paddy cap," I explained.
"That sound similar to them... but-" I cut Uriel off before he could finish,
"They also wore green crocks and socks," I added.
"Holy shit it's them..." Uriel said to himself.
"Yeah, well - he just popped down to hand me this ring and talk about ant-farms or something." I shrugged.
"A ring?"
"Yeah, look," I replied showing Uriel the bright green gem I wore upon my index finger.
"..."
"What is it?"
"..."
"It's a magic cancellation spell placed in a ring..." Uriel replied causing me to feel a chill run down my spine.
"WHAT?! THAT BASTARD CALLED IT A GIFT!" I cried desperately turning away from Uriel and casting a light spell which only manifested as a little flash,
I tried a fireball but all I got was a spark.
I tired water but I just got my finger slightly wet.
I tried desperately to remove the ring, but it wouldn't move - as if it was welded to my skin.
"It's as if your magic was decreased to a millionth of its original power!" Uriel remarked causing a lightbulb to appear above my head, no literal - at least not this time...
"That son and or daughter of a bitch!" I complained before putting on the fake ears, tail and my shoes.
"What's going on?!" Uriel asked confused - I turned back to him "A certain deity just threw down their gloves and I'm about to shove them right up their ass!" I replied storming out.
"That bastard's testing me, he wants to make an example of me!" I thought I could almost hear him talking "I'll dilute your power to my level spread across every soul in the world - leaving you with a stupidly small fraction of your power, I'd like you to 'take responsibility' for this ant-farm and show me for reference..." actually... I think that may have literally been the voice of God in my head... still sounds like an ass...
I marched down to the fields - unlike before there were hardly any farmers out, guess the harvest was over for now.
I was only able to see the dryads as quick flashes, I made my way to the tallest, hoping that it was the man from yesterday - "Dryad man, are you here? I can't see you very well right now - so I'm hoping you can hear me."
"A rather influential person - has recently made a 'bet' with me that I can't help you guys - and because of this bed - I lost most of my magic powers, that said - I intend to get them back - and as a byproduct, I have to free you guys - I can't tell you guys how, since I don't have a plant - but I feel you should know about the plan at the very least."
I waited for a bit, not seeing any Dryads around me - I guess that's an 'ok' - I turned around and headed out from the field and towards the second layer of the city - where I looked around for the doctor.
After a solid fifteen minutes of searching, I found one, luckily for me, this world is large - it was a small building, I can't imagine more than four people laying down comfortably inside.
I knocked on the door - "Hey, you there, doc?"
"Come in!" the voice of a woman called replied - I stepped inside and saw a woman with long black hair, wearing a blood-stained apron as well as gloves - on her head she had animal ears - specifically dog ears, as well as a tail, the tips if both were white.
"How can I help you, child?" she asked, keeping a professional smile plastered on her face.
"One lethal injection please," I replied,
"What?"
"Nevermind." I replied - "I'm looking for a certain blue-haired man." I added.
"Oh, you must mean Adam - he's still recovering," she replied,
"Well, technically - I'm looking for the girl that's most likely at his side right now."
The doctor's expression soured - "Oh, you mean her." all she did was sit here and threaten me during the operation so I told her to leave - but then she set up a camp in my basement and no I can't go inside..."
"That sounds like exactly something she'd do..." I replied looking around for the entrance to the basement seeing a long staircase leading down.
"Lily, I'm coming downstairs - don't shoot me!" I called out before making my way down.
I opened the wooden door revealing several beds, one of which had Adam, looking slightly better laying on it, on another bed sat Lily with her crossbow aimed not at me but in my general direction.
With her normal expression and not a hint of concern at the fact she's pointing her weapon in my direction she asked: "Oh, it is you - what's up?"
"Well - some things happened while you guys were here..." I began.
"Okay..."
"God came down and basically just gave me the middle finger and said: fuck you, solve my problems." I continued.
"Right..."
"And I lost my magic..."
"Uh-huh..."
"So I need you to get in contact with some people, ASAP." I continued.
"Right - as much as I'd love to do that, Adam's ill - and I can't leave his side!" she replied.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"I thought you'd say that... So I took the liberty of bringing an incentive..." I explained holding up the animal costume for Adam.
"W-what is that?"
"Uriel made these for us so we can blend in - but if you don't want to see Adam dressed up as a bunny that's fine, I guess."
"..."
"I also brought a second one for you-" before I could finish Lily breathed a sigh and said: "Fine, you win... what do you want?"
"I need you to get in contact with two people - all the info is on this page," I replied handing her a piece of paper and the animal costumes.
She raised her eyebrow as she looked through the page - "That's not very specific... should be easy enough though... are you sure?"
"yeah - I got a plan, below is a list of 'terms' I'd be offering."
Lily nodded and headed out quickly - "I'm going to get back at you for that costume..." Adam said meekly.
"You better focus on not dying for now - what's up with you anyway?" I asked.
"It's just the mushrooms I ate - the doc said I'd be fine in a few days," he explained.
"Ah - good, well, in that case, I'm going to get going now," I replied.
"Right - maybe I can get some sleep without Lily here..." he sighed before resting his head on the pillow behind him.
I climbed up the stairs and headed towards the third layer of the town - unlike the first and second it was guarded, and I didn't have the magic to distract them...
What was I supposed to do even if I got there? I kept forgetting I wasn't a one-man army anymore.
"I need to have a plan..." I concluded uncertain of what to do, I returned to the inn and laid down on the bed.
"I need to think of something!" I announced no realising the room wasn't actually empty but was in fact occupied by the puff - who looked over to me seemingly thinking I was requesting help.
I look towards the puff remembering I can't understand it - I thought back to earlier the day before, when I could have just used magic to help Adam but was too lazy too, I could have made an artefact to communicate with the puff, or make us a portal - why didn't I?
It was as if I chose to handicap myself for some reason...
"I'll figure something out - I'll definitely figure out a way to understand you, my mushroom acquaintance, as soon as I get my magic back..."
"I'll go to the mayor, tell him that if - no... my whole plan revolves around the idea of getting the nobles to cooperate..." I said everything out-loud, looking towards the puff as if I was looking for advice.
The puff looked at me blankly - "You were a princess or something, right? You should be good at strategy!" I replied.
The puff looked away blushing slightly.
"Hmm... right, princesses rarely strategise wars, do they..."
"So nobody can see the dryads... the people think they left... the mayor knows they didn't... the dryads are a persecuted race... but with the ability to grow crops with magic... they are imprisoned..." I felt my head begin to spin as all these bits of information made me realise more and more that I wasn't a strategist.
"Why not tell the nobles about the dryads - they will be 'arrested' since they're monsters - beforehand you negotiate with the nobles to offer the dryads better-living conditions and maybe a segregated village in return for a percentage of their crops - else the dryads will refuse to cooperate?" Uriel offered, he was standing in the door-frame.
"That... could actually work..." I replied, not bothering to point out how I didn't notice he was there.
"Right? And when we stop whoever is destroying the world - we will be able to get them released to live normally!" he added.
"I'll need to go ask them about it - but I think that may work..." I replied.
"Wait - you knew about the dryads?" I asked,
"Nope - I was just listening in one you - that and I saw you talking to yourself in the fields," he replied.
"That said the latter is fairly typical for you," he replied with a smug look.
"Yeah, screw you too."
"..."
"..."
"So - Uriel, why are you still here?" I asked,
"Are you talking about this room or existentialism?"
"When that Deus person came down, they seemed surprised that you're here with me, their omnipotence is lacking, but I doubt they have memory issues."
"..."
"I... I've been doing it out of boredom!" he replied,
"Boredom?"
"Right! God was gone for so long I've gotten bored and decided to help some poor soul out - you know how we angles are, helping the poor and what not!"
"..."
"..."
"Cat...."
"Fine - Let's just say I made a poor decision a while back, and I'm trying to... atone..." he explained.
"What did you do?"
"It's more like something I didn't do - technically you screwed yourself over!"
"What did you do?"
"I mean - it's your fault! I just feel bad because I didn't stop you."
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, CAT!?" I demanded.
"..."
"..."
"...promise me you won't do anything stupid If I tell you..." Uriel replied,
"Would I ever?" I asked,
"..."
"..."
"Fine..."
"Alright..."
Uriel began telling the story...
Aeons ago, back before any life was created was God - for some reason that nobody could comprehend he created the first angels - only eight, Amon, Ala, Beleth, Bune, Chort, Ghoul, Ifrit and Legion.
He granted them permission to live free - so so they did, creating planets - mountains, forests, seas, laws of physics, magic and much more.
Until one day these angels with the power akin to Gods decided to explore the other worlds - creating different worlds like art-projects.
Making each world alien and strange - changing the very laws governing the worlds.
Everything changed when they created the first mortal soul - not a human, but a similar race - and so every other angel made their worn, the realisation the angels were playing God, the actual God fell into a frenzy - demanding each angel prove their allegiance by slaying their creations and offering up their abilities.
Two stepped up to God's throne and offered every soul they created along with their magic - following that God banished them from heaven and sent them out.
Appalled at this behaviour Amon confronted God - stating that God told them to do whatever they wish - but alas God decided that he wasn't interested in arguments and banished Amon out of the world altogether.
The remaining five fled, one by one God tracked them down and had them banished - eventually only two remained - Ifrit and Ghoul, realising that it was only a matter of time before they were caught, they created a plan that had no right to work - they attacked God.
Unlike the modern angels - God created the eight with the power comparable to a fraction of his power.
They were sure to lose - but what God didn't expect was that Ghoul and Ifrit were ready to die if it meant the other would succeed - this illogical, unplanned idea led to God dying - upon the throne of God sat Ifrit, turning to see his ally Gould was already gone - along with the body of God.
Overtaken by grief Ifrit created a being designed to be God - granted he only had a fraction of God's true power, so the creation was imperfect - he called this creation Deus - before slaying himself, leaving the new God to rule the world he didn't create or truly comprehend.
We aren't sure what happened before that - since the only way this new God could even know about this was thanks to the invention of a banished god, a law called 'time'.
Determined to have things work out this time God decided to create a new host of angels - weaker ones, he created four angles Hartiel, Moiel, Koiel, Toiel.
They were created with the purpose of handling the world - not interfering with it unless necessary - surely there was some merit to mortal life that this new God didn't yet understand.
As the number of souls grew God created each of the four 'arch angles' a group of regular angels - about twenty each.
That is how Uriel came to be - created to work under Toiel, a kind and merciful being - I was also assigned as Toiel's second-in-command.
Gabriel was the second-in-command of Moiel, she was a very logical arch-angel, often taking care of issues regarding the value of life and the such.
Abeyth worked under Koiel - a sly albeit honourable angel.
And then there was Hartiel - they were an ass, they could see the world burn and wouldn't bother doing much at all - they just sat around in their room - which mind you, angels didn't have rooms until Harital created on for themself.
Surprisingly Uriel and Hartiel were not on the best of terms at first - Uriel would always go on about how if he had Hartiel's power - the world would be such a great place.
to which he'd reply: "Yeah - but I doubt that'd be all that great - I mean we need suffering to enjoy stuff right?"
"What do you mean enjoy stuff?! We're angels with a divine purpose!" Uriel would argue.
"Yeah - but we're also souls, just slightly cooler ones." he'd reply.
"Relax - we're not meant to intervene unless it's important, right?"
Eventually, Hartiel was called in before God - he came back different - slightly more normal much to Uriel's satisfaction, except this kept continuing for a long time - until eventually, they broke.
Hartial started marching towards God's throne - on their way he was stopped by Uriel,
"I'm not doing it!" He replied plainly.
Uriel was followed Hartiel - seeing that he stormed into God's 'room' and announced: "I demand you reconsider your decision!"
"You truly are the only one who can 'demand' anything from God with a straight face, eh?" God laughed.
"My mind is set, you will-" hartiel cut God off - "Fine!"
Hartiel marched out from the room, followed by Uriel - "Uriel - stop them, for their own sake." God commanded,
At the edge of heaven - stood Hartiel, a big argument broke out between hartiel and Uriel which ended with Hairtel saying: "I've made my mind - I'm leaving." before entering the mortal world.
On his way a bright light - like that of a sun shot him - contorting their very soul, shaping it to that of a mortal, making their body and soul separate - their body crashlanding on an alien world and their deformed soul landing elsewhere.
That was God's punishment for hartiel - their sacred body, magic and name lost - leaving them a husk, which would roam the mortal worlds - when God left - locking himself away and saying he lost the key and to "Give him a minute until he finds it." Uriel decided to go down and try and explain what happened, help Hartiel find their body - but much to Uriel's horror Hartiel has been living like a degenerate for the last few aeons - suicide, murder, theft, depression, emptiness, apathy - barely even human - seeking only an end to it all - and their deformed, albeit not mortal soul unable to let go of the memories of the past lives.
Uriel appeared before them - but much his dismay, they didn't remember him - nothing from before they appeared in the mortal world for the first time was remembered by Hartiel.
Realising that Uriel couldn't do anything about their body, unable to find it even after aeons of looking, realising God specifically told Uriel that it was for the sake of Hartiel that he shouldn't let him leave - but Uriel failed at his task - he was determined to at least let hartiel live the life of a propper mortal.
But something about them refused - as if by nature.
And so, one day Uriel decided that he would do something he hasn't even done - lie, give the person some hope and let them think there is an out - in return for a proper life, a taste of normality, hoping that they will not abandon life again.
However - it seemed like the world wasn't on their side - Hartiel has, in fact, found their body - which was through some magic hidden from that world for all this time - and now Uriel himself doesn't know if hope for returning Hartiel to his own life is an option - but he finally has a chance for normality.
A stairway to normality or an elevator to divinity, with a ninety percent chance it will fall down to the pits of despair again.
And that's... everything...
Uriel finished his tale.
"So where the fuck am I in this?!" I demanded having listened to a decent twenty minutes of mythology you'd expect from some Greek x Roman god fanfic.
"You are either a dumbass of an asshole..." Uriel replied irritated, "But I guess that 's something that never changed..." he thought.