“You push the constraints of the lower realms,” a chiming voice told Kallos. When her eyes and senses adjusted, the Nephilim found she stood on a platform of light overlooking a vast, seemingly infinite, series of universes. This view didn’t exist in reality, as far as she knew, but the location they were existed outside of reality. A familiar warmth filled her, and she breathed deeply and let out a contended sigh, before turning her gaze to the chiming voice.

“If you two continue at this pace, you will unravel existence. Becoming a Sovereign will reduce the strain you place on reality, by forcing you to bear the strain yourself. Yet first, your actions confuse me. Why kill the Daemon?”

The voice held a masculine touch, and emerged from a figure she could only describe as constructed from luminous crystals, but it existed in more dimensions than seemed possible. The vantage, mixed with the nearness of Ein Sof, and the presence of two Aeons immediately identified where Kallos was. Pleroma. Bythos and Sige, again, confronted Kallos.

“Why? Because Telos made promises, and where she goes, I go. That is how partnerships work, yes?” Kallos tried to gaze cooly at Bythos, but how could you match eyes with a being that didn’t have any? At least, none that she recognized as eyes. The crystalline forms of the Aeons, with their geodesic appearance that defied her ability to perceive things in physical dimensions which were alien even to her advanced senses.

“Its purpose was to encourage souls to reach gnosis, to push souls to escape the cage of flesh wrought by Sophia’s get. Yet, the souls create suffering of their own, even without Daemons to encourage them. The death of Misery will change nothing. Why? Why would Telos do this?” Bythos asked again, like a frustrating toddler, but his query was made with serene equanimity and lacked the obnoxiousness of a child. Yet under that calm surface Kallos could tell that Bythos hated not understanding.

“We know our time is limited. Telos declared the Age of the gods to be done, and is determined to see the purge begin before we can no longer live in the material realms. If that doesn’t answer your question, perhaps you should ask Telos?” Kallos couldn’t refrain from arching a brow with the question, even though she felt relatively certain that neither Aeon would understand the facial expressions of a humanoid.

“Telos ignores me. She declines the offer of my presence. She denies me, and so, denies herself. Gods or no gods, the souls of the material world will continue to face obstacles. There is no other way to reach gnosis.” Bythos declared with conviction.

“We know that. Telos seeks more than existence being nothing but a cage to escape.” Kallos shook her head, and her laughter followed the exasperated admission that she had once thought pointless. Sige remained silent, yet something about the way the Aeon beheld Kallos left her with the impression that Sige now hung on every word. “She wishes to see what true free will might manifest.”

“That… is her choice,” Bythos said with a great deal of exaggerated indifference. Kallos made a mental note that the Aeons were terrible at concealing their emotions, although she had to wonder if things that could pique their emotions came up more than every few ages. Telos could be, and probably was, an exception in the serenity of Bythos.

“After billions of years of keeping the safety on, you simply nod and agree to their removal?” Kallos asked in a slightly higher pitch than she intended, but the incredulity of it had struck her like a gut punch.

“We Aeons exist due to a need, want, or desire that bubbled through the incomprehensible will of Ein Sof. Are we Emanations? Not quite, that is the Sefirot. Reflections? Nay, those are the gods. Conjurations? Are not all things conjured by the Will of Ein Sof? The distinction is immaterial. We are vessels through which Ein Sof manifests its will on the universe. That is our purpose, and we fulfill our purpose. We are partners in the Cosmic Dance. We dance, demons dance, humans dance, and even you dance. There is only one choreographer to the dance, one conductor of the Cosmic Song.” Bythos let his words echo through the darkness, waiting for a response from Kallos before he said anything further.

“Why am I here?” Kallos asked a bit more bluntly than might have been advisable. Something had changed inside of her. The Aeons no longer seemed quite so holy to her, quite so glorious. Pleroma did not seem quite so much of a paradise, beyond its physical proximity to Ein Sof. Telos had upended her life, her beliefs, and even the Universe, although it had not shaken out fully yet.

“To attain Sovereignty,” Sige broke her silence, the chimes of her voice somehow echoed in the vast emptiness. “As Bythos said, as a Sovereign more of the burden you create upon existence will be born by yourself, instead of upon reality. You have far outstripped the power and authority any Monarch was ever meant to have, and something must be done about it before you cause distortions, breaches, or irreparable tears.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“I haven’t earned Sovereignty yet,” Kallos noted with a frown. To step from Monarchy to Sovereignty would have taken centuries. She had not assimilated the knowledge of Spirit and Law nearly so well as she would have liked. There were mysteries still to explore, gaps in her knowledge that could prove dangerous. Power alone did not qualify one for ascension.

“It does not matter. Your bonds to Telos and the cats have pushed you beyond the threshold of Monarchy. Even Sovereignty will fail to contain your powers soon, and then you must choose to enter Pleroma, dive into the Void, or re-enter the Cycle.” Bythos held compassion, but no alternatives. He spoke as if this were pre-ordained, and the obvious choice of Kallos and Telos would be Pleroma.

“Could you quantify your definition of soon?” Kallos asked with a narrowing of eyes. The Aeons were eternal, with Bythos being one of the first beings to exist. Soon to such beings could be a decade, a century, a thousand years, or even a hundred thousand years.

“A century if Telos activates no more gates, as little as a decade if she throws open all of them. How many shadows and reflections she dispatches will affect the timeframe as well.” Bythos retained composure and serenity, after all it didn’t matter to the inhuman Aeons if others had to leave the material realm. The sooner spiritual beings such as Telos and Kallos left the material plane, the better it would be for everyone, in their view. Kallos had the feeling that Bythos didn’t particularly care if Kallos herself entered Pleroma or went to the Void, but the Aeon emitted a strange neediness when it mentioned even the name Telos. Or perhaps the Aeon assumed that the goal of her path, of her beliefs, centered upon gnosis and elevation to Pleroma, so her own views were not dissimilar to its own.

“Where is my trial?” Kallos saw no embodiment of universal laws to battle.

“You have crossed the point of no return in your sublimation with Ein Sof. The natural order is no longer applicable to you, as they are no obstacle to Telos. When you broke the corruption of Oizys with the power of Ein Sof, your Law shone bright and upended the material realm. Your opponent has already been slain, for they died with Oizys, and your Law already spreads. Thus, Kallos Metanoia, the world of flesh has been enshrined, at least until someone else challenges it.” Sige sounded serene, but Kallos felt ebbs of jealousy and resentment from the Aeon, emotions she had never felt from any Aeon before, or didn’t know they could even feel inside Pleroma.

Of course they can feel resentment, how else would Sophia have fallen as she did?

“I grasp now the emptiness I glimpsed within Telos’ heart after her last ascension.” Kallos tried to face her dissatisfaction head on, as a responsible adult should. The end result remained the same as if she had undergone the trials and challenges, and her opposing Law had been destroyed by her hand, if with the help of Telos. Yet that hadn’t been intended at all. Kallos only intended to destroy Oizys.

“You, who now stands as one of the most powerful entities in all of Creation, know the disappointment of the Omnipotent. You have been given a gift few entities could comprehend,” Sige said with an earnestness that felt mocking to Kallos, but on reflection she discerned that the Aeon truly felt envious.

“Is this how Telos feels? All the time? Unsatisfied? Hollow? Does her power truly diminish all meaning and satisfaction?” Kallos muttered, before she broke into a slightly hysterical laughter. “Haha. Of course it isn’t. Our emotions are nearly as one. I know the path of her emotions as I know my own. The dissatisfaction fades quickly, she does not hold onto it, or let it burden her. She seeks new joy to replace the emptiness power brings her, finds solace in my arms, in the jokes of Arkaziel, and the meals cooked by Bobbi.”

Memories of Solace flickered through Kallos’ mind. The smiles and laughs that Aetheria shared freely with everyone, the interest she showed in every person’s story and origin, her unbridled curiosity and thirst for seeing new horizons, even if it was through other peoples eyes and ears. Telos still showed all of those traits whenever they had time to indulge, despite having unfettered access to the Cosmic Song, the library of Binah, and control of Fate.

Kallos bit her lower lip, and found she had a smile inside of her after all.

“Thank you for this gift, Bythos, Sige.” Kallos felt a new perspective opening within her mind. Telos didn’t have to bear any weights alone, especially not the dissatisfaction of existence. Strange as it felt, Kallos sincerely felt genuine gratitude to the Aeons for this lesson in understanding Telos. It almost made up for the theft of her Trial and ascension. Almost. Double bladed as the gift was, Kallos glimpsed a side of Telos she had poorly understood until now.

“You’re welcome,” Bythos said, serene once more.

“It’s time, Telos grows impatient for your return,” Sige didn’t have eyes or arms to point at the pulsing novas within the highest realms of Pleroma, where Ein Sof lit all, but each of the three could feel the growing aggressiveness from the highest of heavens.

“What happens next?” Kallos asked with a touch of dread.

“Your body and spirit undergo ascension….” Bythos spoke, but with each second the sound grew further away as Kallos fell backward into reality, and her own flesh. She blinked away light and darkness, to find Telos looking down at her with all three of her eyes.

“I’ll hold you, and it’ll all be okay,” Telos voice allowed no protestation, and Kallos doubted she could remove herself from Telos’ grasp even if she tried her hardest, but she had no intention of doing that. Warmth filled the Nephilim’s heart, even as purple, black, and gold luminescence shone under her skin, and then broke free in streams of power as the Nephilim evolved. Streams of power, and fountains of blood. Even the chains of her wings shook, vibrated, and rampaged against the icy floor below them, but even as pain and rapture made her convulse in turn, not a single chain struck Telos.

Kallos maintained that much control, as she stepped into the ranks of Sovereigns.