2022
Gavin Daniels
Gavin opened his eyes to the innards of the library. He was summoned by Samael for an important meeting—probably some update on the bridge that was decades too early—he was scrupulous to a fault and it surely wouldn’t kill him to support some of the others in their tasks while he waited for his turn in the cycle. Just before he had been organizing things for Amnael and Issachar to continue forward with their plans—Issachar had just set forward the Collapse. The next step for their plans was in Amnael’s court.
Unfortunately, Gavin knew Amnael was touchy on the subject of his work—he really didn’t like being policed and Gavin wasn’t the fondest of leaving him to do his work alone. It was inevitable that conflict would arise. Gavin could already feel a headache coming on. He seemed to be feeling a lot more of those as of late.
Most of it—he thought stemmed from Samael and his complete lack of respect for the process. I wonder where Amnael picked that one up, huh. There was an irritating lack of respect for the authority he should have had—Samael knew meetings like this that forced them all together were to be called for were not to be taken lightly.
Gavin found Issachar standing by the entrance of the library. He was staring at the door—the tension was palpable. It was clear he was exuding anxiety. He was in the shape of the wolf—probably a move to counter any stress brought on by Samael who despised when his siblings took vessels—but not for any moral or ethical reason. He simply figured the shape they inhabited in this world naturally was their truest self. If only he knew.
“Hey, you look to be waiting on someone, is it Sakonna?” Gavin asked.
Issachar jumped at his question—turning to look at him. He tried to fix his face up but it was clear to the both of them Issachar did not have the acting ability to pull it off. “Oh...yeah, uh...I’m waiting so she can help clear her name.”
“Clear her name?” Gavin asked. “You mean you have an idea of what’s going on here?”
“You mean you weren’t told?” Issachar asked. He was split between looking at Gavin and trying to keep an eye on the front door. “Ah man...just what is this coming to? I thought he would have told you...you should have known. That means...”
“What’s—” was all Gavin got out before he felt the appearance of others behind him. Galgaliel and Thagirion appeared—the hawk and the snake respectively as the silver bands around their golden ethereal bodies glowed.
“Ormus,” Galgaliel started. “What’s going on? What’s the emergency?” He stared from him to Issachar and then back. “Have you heard anything?”
“I’m not sure,” Gavin said. “I…” He looked to Thagirion—something seemed off but he wasn’t sure what. No sooner was he able to think on it, then came Nehemoth and Scantar—the pair had looked like they had just finished an argument.
They had always seemed like an odd pair—he never would have thought that they would have bonded in the old world. He would have even thought the relationship inappropriate given the context...but even now it seemed strange given the fact that they were in the shape of a large mantis and an otter. They said not a word to those gathered near the entrance and strolled past into the main hallway.
“Sounds like they went through something, huh?” Gavin asked. “Though I think that’s the first time I’ve seen them since they’ve made contact...I’ll need to check in once I get a bearing on what’s going on.”
“I’m not surprised Scantar’s held off on alerting. He’s been increasingly trying my patience,” Galgaliel said. “Most of Thag’s work relies on hearing from them and if he can’t get his work done then I can’t do my job.”
Thagirion beside him looked off in the distance to this comment. He mumbled something Gavin couldn’t quite hear. Gavin prompted him and he slowly eyed Gavin. “They’ve always been touchy. I’m sure they were in the middle of something important,” Thagirion spoke up—his voice sounded hoarse. “It’s not like I’ve been focused myself...not been getting a lot of sleep lately.”
“Yeah, that and Nehemoth only bending his ear further and further out.” Galgaliel overtook and sighed. “I’m going to try to avoid any direct confrontation if possible during the meeting but I’m going to raise the point when we end.”
“I can understand your feelings but we have to remember we’re all working toward similar goals,” Gavin said.
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Galgaliel said.
“Well,” Gavin began. “Why don’t we head on in and see what this is about?”
“You don’t know?” Thagirion asked.
“I asked him that…” Issachar said. “I was shocked.”
“Yes yes,” Gavin said. “We can all act shocked or we can go in and figure it out...unless Issachar wants to give us the shorthand here?” He looked to the wolf whose eyes refused to meet his own. “Right, well, then it must be important and it seems it concerns Sakonna.”
“Where is she?” Galgaliel asked. “I haven’t seen her since making contact.”
“She was assisting Father with the energy collection as planned for the past thirty years. Just off the eastern coast before the Collapse came on. Once they set up the system to run in the SubCon facility they separated—Father returned here and she…” He trailed off, looking to Issachar.
“She tended to him here until further orders were to be given,” Issachar said. “And she was doing that—there was nothing suspicious about her activity according to my link.”
His link. Certain siblings of his had closer bonds to others—such as Issachar and Sakonna. To them it seemed a mystery—but Gavin knew these were the fragments of their bonds from the old world—the universe they had all originated from. The world from before the world before, as it were. The strength of those bonds persisted even if the full amount of their emotion could not—Issachar and Sakonna in the old universe had an extremely powerful connection. Ezrael, Gardov, and Thagirion were also very similarly connected, although it doesn’t always manifest in similar ways if they aren’t as close in the new world. Here, only Ezrael and Thagirion fostered that sort of connection.
Thagirion, as if reading his thoughts was giving him a look that oozed suspicious energy.
“Aren’t you tasked with aiding Father? Why would Sakonna need to assist with that? Aren’t you plenty capable?”
The truth of the situation was that Gavin needed to keep up appearances—the rest of his siblings could not fundamentally understand the fullness of their previous existence. It was why they only had fragments of those bonds carrying over to influence their current selves. Until they were reunited with the pieces of them they lost they would not be able to reason those halves of themselves without going mad.
So, he had to pretend like he was in the same boat—unaware of their previous halves working toward bringing back the world they knew. To them—how they were now was how they always were, and Noctem where they inhabited had been their true goal.
“You cannot convince a fish that it belongs in the sky—it sees that it has fins and gills in the place of wings and it will ignore anything to the contrary...even if the fish previously soared the sky for eons and had its wings severed,” Father had told him.
And because Father had told him, so he had to continue forward, lying to those he was trying to help. The worst part was at times it felt like Samael was privy to the same information but used it to make his job all the more difficult. But that couldn’t be possible. There would be no logic to Father telling Samael—it would go against the very job he had tasked me with.
“You are aware Father is passing over, yes?” Gavin said. “It is a difficult situation—I understand you haven’t been on the planet long enough to experience one, but it has required more than myself to complete the process—he sheds the form he currently inhabits and begins again from a single cell. With just myself I am able to help assist the growth to return him to a communicable state...but it takes much longer. With Sakonna’s assistance we were able to bring him forward at a much quicker rate.”
Issachar had reacted negatively to what he had said...which interested Gavin highly. He knew something, he had to keep that in mind. It was possible Sakonna had done the process herself, but what if she, like him, had not been present during such? He couldn’t think on it too much now, he had to keep the conversation moving.
“And as for where Sakonna is now, I am unsure. We separated and I have not seen her since. I am going to find this out...I would have assumed Samael would have ran his itinerary by me before making the call, but it seems it is much more important than even that. It seems he is not telling me much these days.”
“Hm…” Thagirion said, still staring at Gavin. He looked like he wanted to say further, but Issachar broke the tension.
“I’m going to wait for Sakonna, you all can head in, I’ll take up the rear,” Issachar said. “I think she should be here soon.”
“Have you just heard from her?” Gavin asked.
“No, but it’s a feeling I have, you know?” Issachar asked.
“Hey what are you all doing out here?” Called Ezrael from the door to the main hallway. It seems she was already here. Had Samael confided in her? It was a question he couldn’t quite place the answer to—surely in the past he, Samael, and Ezrael had worked as they were the three oldest Children of the Night based on formation time, but this seemed like an outright closing out of Gavin for information. Previously he had thought that Samael was simply working alone because he had something up his sleeve, but for Ezrael to not only play along but not come to him about this...he liked the intention of this meeting less and less.
“We’re going to be starting soon if you’re set,” she said. Gavin looked around, it had seemed like everyone had made it inside minus Sakonna. He looked to Galgaliel and Thagirion and nodded.
“Okay, once you see her come on and join—it seems you were already made aware to what’s gone on,” Gavin said. “Deep breaths, take it easy, and I’ll meet up with you after.”
Issachar nodded, but his eyes darted to the floor. Just what was going on?
The main atrium where the other Children of the Night were gathered was flexible—it could be shifted in and out of the space between the entry hallway and the innards of the library. It typically existed in null space when it wasn’t being used. Such was the nature of spaces that existed in the right side of their vision. It didn’t interrupt any of the space inhabited in the left—the land of the light, yet when the situation called for it they could modify the space in the right at will. The library hadn’t needed a lot of additional space—it was merely for when they needed a larger space to commune and discuss larger topics such as this. It looked like an overly stuffy business room. These kinds of rooms were never his style—yet it was made at Samael’s insistence.
Sometimes it felt like Samael was the oldest and not the other way around.
On the other side of the room he saw Nehemoth and Scantar—their argument looked to have settled as they looked more than comfortable. It was odd seeing them in human form—they haven’t reported in at all since making contact on the planet so he hadn’t known they had found vessels. There must have been some underlying memory in their being that attracted them to the middle aged man and young woman they had been in the old world.
He shuddered and tried to push the thought out of his mind. They were adults of course, but their history made the whole ordeal more than uncomfortable. It was not his focus to police the relationships that might bud in their time here—he had to remember that.
Ezrael was sitting center stage—she’s been the most punctual of the lot of them. To them, she looked like a rabbit that stood at the height of a human—but to Thagirion who sat in next to her he figured she looked like the same old girl he fell in love with and was crudely torn away from all those years ago.
Thagirion was the most tragic of them all—he figured. While the rest of the Children had the chance to see their old lives through to the fullest before the world turned over he had passed so young—so heroic in saving the rest of them. It was for him he continued to keep focused for his goals—those who had their lives ended much too soon.
He then thought of Lindsey, and that thread then brought him back to Galgaliel. He soon reconsidered the title of most tragic of them.
Gardov and Egregore sat closer to the right—they looked to be in deep conversation. Gavin couldn’t guess as to what it could have pertained to, and if the situation were different he would have loved to spend some quality time with Egregore, but figured more than anything it would have been more hollow than anything.
Wait a minute, where was Amnael?
He looked around the auditorium and could not find him seated anywhere. Last he heard he was tracking down a Pathfinder, but he hadn’t heard anything since he last left out a few days ago.
He would have to ask Samael once the meeting had concluded. He was sure he knew the specifics since Amnael tended to gravitate toward Samael—perhaps due to their similar history in the old world. He looked behind him to see if Issachar and Sakonna had joined them yet, but found the door still closed and he sensed Issachar still waiting in the lobby.
If he had known how things would have proceeded from that point...the multiple things different he could have done. Those moments in life when you can pinpoint the exact moment a situation blows up...with all the experience he had he should have recognized it. Instead, he sat in the center—behind Ezrael and Thagirion beside Galgaliel whose expression he couldn’t get a clear reading of.
Forget speaking to Samael after—that could wait. He would meet with Father and figure out just what is going on—what the new plan was. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated that he was taken so off guard—that he was not in the know for what was going on. That among everything was his silver lining for making his way through the admittedly murky swamp of the choices he’d been presented thus far.
Samael stepped out from the rear of the room—usually that part was hidden behind the back wall and didn’t exist unless the preparations called for it. Gavin remembered using it only once before when they had all detailed the parts of their plans.
Back then things seemed so simple—each of them were delegated tasks and they contributed toward the global good. Energy collection, conditioning, data surveyal, intel, everything leading up toward the creation of the bridge they’d use to cross and reach the universe’s core—where they could use the power of the Monoliths to return everything to the way it should have been.
Now, though, he felt fractures in their unit and didn’t like the ominous feeling that rested in the center of his gut.
“I want to thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Samael said. “It’s been a very eventful day and I hope you’ll forgive my lack of active prologue...hm...we seem to be missing a few faces.” Samael paused for a moment, and the second that he saw others move to answer he continued. Samael took the shape of a spider—he was adamant against the idea of taking human form. It was a point he had assailed on Gavin numerous times—although Gavin had not the requisite memory inside Samael to even begin to explain why his human form was different than those the others had taken.
There would be no understanding from his corner. Samael didn’t understand—he chose to be understood. That was how he operated.
Besides, it wasn’t like his concern was for the sake of the humans that were operated—it was merely an act of moral superiority. Samael always felt like he could do anything and feel superior because he did it.
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“Anyway,” Samael returned to his focus as he continued. “The meaning of this meeting is dire, I’m afraid to say. We’ve undergone a change that will heavily affect us moving forward. Father has been killed.”
The words had hit their mark. This couldn’t be true...but Samael was not one for jokes and he couldn’t see anyway that this could be a subtle manipulation—something so bold would be easily found out. So then he thought that the simplest answer must be the truth—Samael was telling the truth.
“I discovered his body and I met with Issachar upon immediately discovering such. He was the last before me to see Father, but claims he had missed the body as its true nature was only seen in the Right. Meaning...the most likely cause was one of us, as in the Left—to which Issachar claimed to have only looked in on his visit—still showed his afterimage. I shouldn’t have to explain but because I want my meaning to be clear—it means no mere being of the light could have done the deed.”
“Dead you say?” Galgaliel asked. “What’s the cause?”
Samael’s head cocked toward him slowly. “You can see much for yourself after we leave. I have preserved the event in the waves. The body has been cleaned up but the record remains. You will have free access to investigate yourselves now that the main investigation is complete. I have reason to believe that Sakonna is responsible.”
The tension in the room was thick and heavy. Gavin thought to Issachar’s reactions that now made perfect sense.
“She isn’t responsible for this! He thinks she killed him.”
“And so…” Samael continued, not allowing more than a single thought from those in the audience. “It is with an unfortunate and heavy heart that I must brand her a traitor and to be brought in for questioning on sight—your missions are thus postponed until we can clear this matter.”
“Hey hey hey,” Gavin said, finding his voice and standing—the others’ eyes were on him now. “What authority do you have to change the plan? What were the results of your investigation—who supervised this? Who oversaw this?”
Samael stared at him with his many eyes, and suddenly Gavin felt like this was going to go worse than he thought.
“Your suspicion is considered most important, Ormus, but I must ask you a question as an answer. You were father’s right hand, and you know nothing of what’s happened? Tsk tsk...I was unsure of who I could trust, so I undertook an investigation on my own and my findings are thus: Father is dead. Sakonna’s ability is inducement of madness—of confusion and of hallucination. It is clear that she induced hallucination to obscure the true time of death and clear her own plate.” Samael looked out to the group, “And now I ask you—where is Sakonna now? Surely on the run, as she felt it unimportant to return to the very meeting you all have taken the time to be.”
The talking became immense, mutterings between each other as the confusion and chaos began to grow.
“Everyone, we need to take this slowly because we need to have some form of order here rather than the rampant speculation and theory-crafting—that will destroy us faster than anything else,” Gavin said, trying to draw the attention of the others around him.
“Ormus...silencing the masses when their voice is most important in this matter? I’m ashamed to say you have lost your sensitive edge. It would seem like your motivations for silencing the others may also be attributed to malicious intent...just how do you stand to gain from covering up the crime but absolving yourself of your own complicity?”
“STOP!” A voice came from behind. Gavin turned to see Issachar burst open the door—he was in the skin of the girl he had found on his mission. It was the girl Allison had—
“Ah, Issachar, welcome. I was just going over the results of my—”
Issachar shifted into the wolf and leapt across the bounds of the room in seconds. Just before he was about to make contact with Samael, the spider’s legs went up and stopped him in mid-air—throwing him to the side where he was slammed into the wall.
“Now now, another player into the mix. It seems we have the truth—it was not just Sakonna, but lover boy has been in kahoots. It would make sense since it was obviously a lie that you had not seen the corpse as it was.”
The rest of Samael’s taunts were drowned out. From that moment it had seemed like everything exploded. The fighting was rampant—Samael had stewed the pot to ensure the perfect amount of chaos and it spilled over as Nehemoth took to the offensive, calling for the round up of Issachar and Sakonna.
Gavin was overwhelmed—everything they had worked for was going up in flames and he had no safety net—no assurety. He was on his own, and he did not know how to quell the flames.
Issachar stood back up and was attacked from the side by Nehemoth. She and Scantar stood and looked to corner him, Gavin rushed forward to stop them—but he was pulled back—Samael had grabbed hold of him and flung him back.
“No interrupting now,” Samael said. “You’ve clearly overstepped your position. Effective immediately I am forcing your resignation. You can come quietly or you can make this interesting.”
Gavin gritted his teeth and in a flash he saw the man Samael used to be and it was an easy choice to make.
“You just never learn, Jack,” he said, and shifted into his other self, leaping up toward the ceiling and holding on tight as he approached. Gardov and Egregore were quick to enter the fray against Samael—but they found difficulty as Scantar had surprised them from behind.
Soon, the entire amphitheater was consumed in the struggle. Ezrael from the front had called for the others to stop, she tried to block Galgaliel’s advances. He was able to fly over her—dodging her advance as she jumped to his pace. When none heeded her cries she screamed and the environment around them changed.
The fighting continued as if nothing had changed but now instead of the confined room they were in before they were now in the depths of a massive valley. The crimson light of the sun bared down on the field. Issachar was falling onto a patch of ground lower than where he was before. Nehemoth had skidded to a stop at the ledge and she looked to Scantar and then around her.
“Well well it seems we have more contention than I thought,” Samael said. Gavin had to search for the origin of the sound—he had lost sight of him in the shift. When he finally found him he focused in—he saw the spider clinging to the side of a cliff on the opposite side of the gorge. He had projected his voice so that all could hear his declarations. “We must maintain order, and if that involves subduing those who stand against us, then so be it. We cannot afford hubris to stamp us out one by one.” He leapt from his place and tackled Galgaliel who had been dashing toward him from above—his many legs had pinned him down as they both landed below. Thagirion was looking from Galgaliel to Ezrael—and Ezrael had returned his gaze, nodding. Thagirion turned toward Gavin and leapt toward him.
“What lies have you spread—why am I seeing the things I do?! Tell me Ormus!”
“Thag...I…” Gavin was unable to complete his thought as Issachar’s screams came from his left. He looked and then saw Thagirion in front of him.
“Don’t ignore me!” he cried. “Ez wouldn’t be wrong about this.”
“Samael is trying to sow chaos, can you not open your eyes to that fact?”
Thagirion then looked to Samael who had Galgaliel pinned with his leg that seeped into darkness around his body. Galgaliel wretched with pain.
“He desires nothing for you, Thag. He seems to be undermining us all—and is this the truth you seek?” He pointed at Galgaliel, and then to Issachar, and finally to Egregore and Gardov. “Complete and utter destruction of us all?” He looked up to Ezrael. “And this for you too? I would have thought if you had any doubts about my abilities you would have brought them up to me before blindsiding us all like this…”
Ezrael had no retort, and Thagirion looked inward—a sudden harshness lashing out as he screamed. He lashed out toward Samael and attempted to coil himself around his thorax, but he quickly leapt out of the way—the force around his body started distorting and sent Thagirion hurling into the wall.
Gardov and Egregore were fending off Scantar—his wings allowed him to tackle both at once as he could pick at them from above.
Issachar had dodged an attack by Nehemoth and he was maintaining his ground, but his mind was distracted—he needed the most help. Gavin hadn’t wished it to come to this, but now he had no choice. He grunted and swept in, revealing one of the tricks he had held up his sleeve from the others.
His siblings had powers in this new world—yes, and those kinds of abilities were much different than the kind of things they could do in the old world, but because of their fractured memories they had not known the full abilities he had at his access. He swiped one of his arms and suddenly Nehemoth had stopped pursuing Issachar. The light around her immediate person was stolen from her and it gathered in the palm of his hand.
She had to stop to keep from dashing out over the edge, but he heard her cries of frustration. She must have thought Issachar found some way to alter her vision. She was always rather slow to the draw—he figured that’s what drew her to Scantar—he was able to do a lot of the thinking and she was able to put those plans into motion.
He cast out the light he stole as a bridge for Issachar to take back up to higher ground. He nodded toward the wolf and sent out to him, “You need to get out of here. Sakonna is in danger and you are too as long as you are present.” Gavin said.
“What about you guys? I can help,” Issachar said.
“Your best traits are not fighting, my young friend. Find Sakonna, find Allison. We’ll hold our own here. I think I managed to talk some sense into Thag and I’ll work on Ezrael. Then we’ll have the advantage in numbers.”
Issachar mumbled something else, but it seemed more like a resigned acceptance. “Stay safe, okay?” He ended.
“You too, brother.”
Gavin turned to assess the situation. Galgaliel, Thagirion, and Ezrael all centered around Samael, he took in a breath knowing Ezrael had thought better on her actions, the unfortunate truth was it looked like he was in control of the fight. His many legs and his ability to distort the space around him offered him more than enough opportunity to fend off the hawk, the rabbit, and the snake at once.
Egregore and Gardov were handling Scantar better, but Nehemoth had seemed to regain her sight—her anger turned toward the two as she joined Scantar in tackling them both—Gavin held higher above and he must have been out of her immediate view. He was now split between two groups and hoped that Egregore and Gardov could hold the pair off together.
He rushed down toward the dip beside the edge of the southern cliff side and attempted to steal the light from Samael. All his eyes focused on Gavin as soon as he entered the fray.
His legs shot out like tentacles and wrapped around Gavin’s arms and stretched them out. Gavin closed his eyes and felt the arms get cold as he translated the heat all around him into a frozen touch and forced himself free.
“Samael, what games are you working in trying to make enemies of us all?” Gavin asked.
“I reveal secrets. Of which you’ve been keeping from us in spades, dearest brother,” Samael insisted.
Galgaliel raked his talons across Samael’s back causing him to lurch.
“Galgaliel...you wound me, yet you know not that our brother has been keeping the truth from us this entire time?”
“What truth could possibly justify this kind of fighting?” Galgaliel called.
“Galgaliel...you should maybe listen,” Ezrael said. “It sounds crazy, but I have been getting the sense that there’s something else at play and I cannot abide by it any further.”
“My my, if only you knew the things I’ve learned. It’s sure mighty coincidental for Ormus that Father has fallen—that way he doesn’t have to tell you about your memories—the other selves you all are missing,” Samael scoffed.
Just how could Samael have learned so much? Or...was he bluffing? If so it was way too accurate.
“Speak on what you’ve so called learned, Samael,” Thagirion said, cutting through the crowd. “What truths do you say have been hidden from us?”
“Thag,” Galgaliel said. “You cannot seriously be considering this.”
“I’ve...been seeing things in my dreams,” Thagirion said. “I’ve been having doubts myself that I am...all of me. If Samael says he might have the answer to that...that’s something I need to know. That’s something that nobody else has listened to me on.” He turned to Samael. “Talk.”
“I understand what Thag is saying,” Ezrael said. “I have been seeing similar, something is not right with the story we’ve been given.”
“Ormus has had communion with Father longer than any of us, that much is common knowledge. What isn’t so common…” Samael began. “Is the nature of their relationship in the old world. They had congregation even then—he was closer to him in that time while we were nothing more than individuals. He knew we would be fractured as we are now...you are right, Thagirion. You are not all of yourself. We are shadows—more than literally. We all are...except him.”
Gavin felt a heat bearing down on him as the others stared to him—the underlying accusation hung in the air.
“Ormus...it’s true...isn’t it? You know more than you let on,” Thagirion said.
“It is as true as you can see” Samael said. “Think on it...how did he break free from my grasp just now? You all are aware how my abilities work. My legs should have constrained you until I chose—the space would not have allowed for any energy to flow from you to me—and yet you seemed to have the ability to just...cancel me out.”
“Ormus, what...are we?” Thagirion asked. “Who are we...if there are answers out there...maybe we should…”
“Everyone,” Gavin projected his voice and suddenly all eyes were on him—even the quartet who had been fighting above them had stopped and were staring at him.
“The important thing is that you’re alive,” Gavin began. “I...I knew before we came into this that we would face difficulties--”
“Difficulties!” Thagirion called. “Difficulties is putting it really fucking short!”
“Thag—” Ezrael began, but Thagirion looked at her, stern.
“No, I want to speak my mind. I have been feeling like my heart is torn in two, and I’ve been feeling like that for a long...long time. I’ve been having dreams about people I don’t know, and I’ve been feeling doubt over myself and I haven’t had a place to voice that. I…can’t keep going on like this. I can’t keep following someone who is leading me like a lamb to a slaughter.”
“Thagirion, I think what you’re experiencing is a lack of faith in the way things are ordered by Ormus who clearly—” Samael began, but Thagirion interrupted him too.
“No! I’m sick of EVERYTHING. I’m not going to fight for you, or you, or you, or whoever decides they’re going to be in charge of this SHITSHOW,” he looked around and projected his own voice so loud that it echoed off of the cliff’s faces. “I’m going on my own and I’m going to figure out what I need.”
“I can understand where Thagirion is coming from,” Galgaliel said. “But unfortunately I need to abide by the cause...But Ormus...if you’ve not told us the truth we have some serious problems. What is going on? How did you manage that…?”
Gavin couldn’t believe what he was hearing, just a moment ago they were all teamed up to help subdue Samael, but now it had turned on him, and he looked at Ezrael who looked to be on the edge of her own personal decision as well. In his second sight he saw...what was this? There was external force being pushed onto her will—and then he understood.
“Samael—you’re exerting yourself on the others. Even now you try to control everything so it fits nicely into your—”
Samael had learned the jig was up—he pushed hard on Ezrael and she opened her eyes wide—her powers being used under her notice. The world began to shift underneath their feet and as it was shifting he made to run in-between the seams.
“Stop him! Don’t let him get away!” Gavin called.
Gardov looked from Gavin and then to Samael and he tried to chase after Samael, but before he could reach him he was blown back by a blast of energy from Nehemoth. He fell and felt himself fall for what felt like eternity. In truth his body had been torn away at the molecular level and was to be spit back out somewhere else. The blast had torn a seam in the world—larger and full of the cosmos within. He was sucked inside completely and Egregore attempted to send his third eye inside—he yelled over to Gavin. “I’ll try to find him! I can’t guarantee it’ll still work on the other side though!”
Samael took another few steps into the spinning void and his body started to distort as he picked a new destination to land—but just before it vanished it looked as if he shifted into the shape of a human. Gavin got only a glimpse of it before his body was torn away from view completely,
“We have to depart somewhere,” Ezrael said. “I can’t control our end destination—I think he set us on a loop. If we don’t we’re going to be stuck here until it finds its own destination by creating a black hole. It’s going to send us far and wide, we’ll have to regroup when we…” Ezrael was shocked to see Thagirion’s body slip away from her.
Gavin felt the sadness in his form immensely—and he knew that his outburst—his feelings were real. All of them were—they were just prodded to speak their minds to sow chaos. That was Samael’s best trick—to sow chaos and reap the rewards while it burned.
He felt his own body beginning to be spun away from itself and so he tried his best to hold onto the center of his form lest he be torn to shreds and scattered across the universe a trillion times over. He felt himself sinking into the void and closed his eyes.
He awoke to the ocean lapping upon the edges of a beach where golden sand piled at the island’s edge. The red water lapped as the pink foam sprayed onto the beach. He was on the edge of some island he had no clue the location of. His head had hurt terribly and he saw he was in his human form—he felt too tired to shed his skin and rest...heh, too tired to even rest. Give that a moment to sink in and the truth of it seems even worse.
Upon second thought, his entire body was sore—it surely had to do with the method of transport—that tearing and breaking down of everything he was into everything he is. Both thankfully and not, he was alone. He could rest here to gather his strength without being interrupted, but he was also without his siblings. He felt he needed to talk with all of them—minus Samael. He figured he was a complete rogue agent now that would be working toward his own twisted ends. The part that confused him the most was that human shape he had transformed into just before leaving...he couldn’t reason it together why Samael would have felt the way he did about vessels if he had too been partaking in one. He didn’t recognize the figure, but it wasn’t like he got a good look at it either.
He sighed and figured he must have been keeping the secret and projecting his feelings as to erase possibility of suspicion. Who would think the one who has a vested dislike for vessels would have taken one for himself?
And then he thought to Thagirion. It was clear he was dealing with a lot—much more than Gavin could have anticipated. Were the fragments of his older self spilling in ways he had not known they could? It would explain the feelings he felt...but he was not warned of this. Father had made it very clear he needed to tend to them as if their other halves didn’t exist—at least until they could be reunited and sent back.
He slammed his fist down into the sand. If he had known he would have helped Thagirion out more...he would have helped him understand who he was...he would have told them everything.
It all came back to Father...and now he was dead. He didn’t understand it...Samael seemed more than confident in the assertion—even willing to let them check the site themselves...although based on the fact that things ended up the way they did, maybe he only bluffed that far to begin the inciting event that led them to where they were now.
Something was off, though. Even though Gavin had not been present for Father’s passing over Sakonna still should have been there—and even in the case where Sakonna was off on her own secret mission Father’s passing over would have still happened. He would exist as the single cell—was it possible that happened and Samael simply mistook the situation for a murder?
It was unlikely—Samael had been present for the last passing over—he had known the process from beginning to end. There was no way he would have missed something like that. And he didn’t think it was an intentional mislead either—as even though they were separated it were possible they could travel back to the library to confirm for themselves...at least, when their strength returned to them.
He tried to sense where the others were—he had a link to each of them—but...He felt a panging feeling in the center of his chest and a noticeable lack of other voices in his head.
Normally when he quieted his own thoughts he could hear traces of the others in case he needed to locate them in an emergency...and if the time had allowed him before the meeting he would have used it to search for Amnael, but now he was left to complete silence. Was his connection severed? Did they choose to block him out?
He didn’t know which was true, and even worse among all is he did not have anyone to answer his millions of continuing questions.
He would have to find the Monoliths to the best of his abilities...his other plans would have to wait. This needed to be fixed and if it meant keeping the Monoliths out of Samael’s hands...he would do it.
First, he would rest. He needed to be at the top of his game if he were going to take this on seriously. Next, he would travel back to the library and confirm the site of the murder for himself. And then...well, then he would do whatever he needed to in order to right this wrong—to make up for his mistake.