Hear ye, O ye children of Seth, and give ear unto the words of Sariel, the servant of GOD, who standeth before the Most High and executeth His decrees. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts:

* The children of Seth come upon this world by grace, not merit.

* The children of Seth think as children, act as children, despoil what is good, venerate the bad and worship false gods.

* The Children of Seth do not treasure the True Path, do not strive to ascend, yet cry out to the Most High when their strength fails them.

* Sahariel sees you, and Sariel hears you. Receive now our command.

* Ye shall not depart from this world in body, neither shall ye ascend unto the heavens, for it is decreed that thy lot is cast upon the earth.

* And it is further commanded that none among thee shall awaken from thy period of initiation in the celestial mysteries. Nor shall you awaken your embodied Soul, neither by strength nor by cunning, for the bounds of thy power are set and ye shall not pass beyond them.

* Ye shall receive no teachings nor guests from the realms above the rank of Embodied Soul, for the knowledge of the higher realms is withheld from thee, and their presence is forbidden in thy midst.

* Moreover, ye are forbidden the warmth and comfort of fellowship that is thy birthright, for ye shall dwell in solitude and know not the communion of the wise nor the gathering of the elect. For ye have sold thy birthright for dross, yet lack the means to reclaim it.

* Thus is commanded the will of the Most High, who hath appointed bounds for every creature under Heaven: heed these words and keep them, for they are established by the decree of Sariel, who executeth the will of the Almighty.

* Let all the descendants of Seth tremble and fear, for the price of ignorance is death eternal. Let all the descendants of Seth weep, for wisdom is the path to eternity, and obedience to God is the walking of the path.

Truth had no idea what language the Order was written in. That turned out to be no barrier to understanding. Sariel wanted his meaning understood, and wasn’t afraid to stamp it directly onto the reader’s brain. Truth knew a couple of words of Enochian, the artificial language used to converse with angels. Just picked them up here and there on the job. This wasn’t Enochian. This was something more primal. Something shaped like words but transcending language and arriving at pure meaning. He could feel his mind creaking, scrambling to reduce the transcendent meaning into manageable words and concepts.

Eventually, he forced himself to look away, collapsing on his ass on the floor. Gasping. Hugging his knees. Trying to fit all the nuance that words couldn’t capture into some kind of box, some kind of frame of understanding.

It’s our fault? He’s saying it's our fault? “Daddy doesn’t want to hit you, but since you won’t listen to him, maybe you will listen to the belt.” There are probably layers to this. Lots to unpack. Truth quickly memorized it. At this point he could handle a spell as complicated as Earth Folding Step. This wasn’t too much. Once he succeeded, he forced himself to his feet and called the Tongue to his hand.

He could feel something in the blade thrumming in harmony with the stele. The Tongue was his platonic life partner, but she wasn’t going to forget her roots either. He shrugged that away too. The women in his life were a lot more religious than he was. But they were worth it, so it was whatever. Time to finish the job.

He walked up to the sarcophagus. Simple looking thing, at least in the secular world. Essentially a stone box. Big, for something that was allegedly only holding parts of a person. Meh. Not his problem. He put two hands on the blade, lined up his thrust, and stabbed hard at the side of the box. The blade skittered off.

Figures. Time to say bye-bye to stealth, and hello to excessive violence.

Truth let his awareness slip slightly into the higher levels of reality. He kept his eyes focused on the now extremely elaborate sarcophagus. He wasn’t sure his brain would survive looking at the stele. The true appearance of the sarcophagus was a chest of porphyry inlaid with gems and spells who’s intricacy was far beyond Truth’s meager learning. It was beautiful. He didn’t care, because sitting on the edge of the chest, kicking her little feet, was the System Fairy. Still in her office lady outfit, smoking Gold Bats and sneering at the pictures in a magazine.

Truth pulled back the Tongue again, lining up his shot. The System Fairy had always been a sort of hallucination, but who knows? He might yet get lucky. The sword ripped right through it… to no effect.

“Oh shit, you can see me? How can you see me?”

“I was wondering the same thing. As far as I know, you are Starbrite’s soul.”

“Oh, no, no way. I’m like a tiny fragment of his soul. Like a single cell on the very tip of your finger is also, in the least way possible, you.”

Truth nodded. That’s what he had remembered the System saying all those years ago.

“A sock puppet.”

“It sounds bad when you put it that way. Also, yes.” The office lady fairy put down her magazine, but the cigarette stayed.

“So… Starbrite is about to pop up out of that box, and then we get into the mix?”

“Unlikely.” She shrugged.

“Why’s that?”

“Starbrite is barely holding on at the moment. The cascade effects of what happened here are still rippling out across the world. I’m not going to spell it out for you, but an unbelievable number of things just went BOOM.”

Truth nodded. “I believe it.”

“No no. It’s way more than you would believe.”

“I have an excellent imagination for destruction and devastation. I believe it.”

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The System Fairy raised a perfectly plucked and arched eyebrow in surprise and possible disbelief. “Bizarre thing to boast about, but okay. Hey, are you that Hell Prince guy? Weird question, but you really shouldn’t be able to see me unless you were sworn to Starbrite, and you aren’t because I’d know if you were.”

“On account of not having the System in me.”

“Yeah, exactly!” She clapped her tiny hands.

“Yet you can still find the spot on my soul used to communicate through my soul, which should be mutilated and training me up like a dog.”

“Nah, we use way more negative reinforcement on our employees than you should ever use with a dog. We’re just old fashioned that way- no carrots without sticks, and sometimes you need to rub puppy's nose in their mess. Not because it teaches them anything. Just to make yourself feel better.”

“Well, out with the old, in with the new and all that. Let’s try prying up this seam.” Truth found a micron thin gap in the purple-red stone of the sarcophagus and started trying to work the sword edge in. This was met with a great deal of nothing much.

“Yeah, no, this coffin is officially, and I do mean officially, the best armored thing on this rock. Including the rock itself. You could drop it into the magma layer for twenty thousand years and you wouldn’t even fade the paint.” The fairy sniggered. It wasn’t a pleasant sound.

Called it. I knew that was the backup-backup plan. He kept picking at the seam. Eventually he would figure out something. Just took time.

The silence stretched for a few minutes. The Fairy went back to her miniature magazine, pretended to read it for a while, and eventually threw it aside again.

“Look I said you aren’t getting in there.”

“No, you didn’t. I was there. I would remember if you said that.”

“It’s what I meant, and you know it.”

“Yeah, but I ignored that bit.”

“What, you think something will eventually shake loose and you can pry your way in? Naive.” She sniffed and flicked her hand. “He is a superior being.”

“Can’t be that superior.” Truth jabbed his thumb at the stele. “He’s got the same level cap we all do.”

“Says who? Some basic bitch angel?” She sneered.

“Not sure I would call a stellar eminence a ‘basic bitch.’” Truth kept hunting. At some point he would find something, or make something.

“No, it is. It’s not even a person. That Stele? It’s a joke. Just because the angel means it, doesn’t change that it’s a joke. The road to Nascent Soul is forbidden? The Hell it is. What’s forbidden is doing it the way the Angel expects you to. Human ingenuity is limitless. All it takes is a person of singular vision and will to turn the impossible into the inevitable.”

“Someone like Starbrite?”

“Someone like you.” The Fairy smiled. Truth nodded faintly. He had expected the change up. Didn’t slow down his efforts to find a way to crack the sarcophagus.

“Starbrite… what is his name, actually? Is he even really a ‘He?’”

“His name is Starbrite, and yes, he is a ‘he.’”

“No. No it isn’t. His mom didn’t look down on him in the bassinet and say… actually, what’s his Mom’s name? What planet is he from? Where did his dad work? Does he put extra sauce on his egg sandwiches?”

“He’s a very private man, and doesn’t speak on personal matters. Particularly with people trying to murder him.”

“You really gonna tell me this isn’t self defense?”

“Yes?” The fairy looked puzzled. “Starbrite isn’t causing the apocalypse.”

“The rollout of the System globally?”

“Not your problem, so why do you care?”

“Calling me Hell Prince and trying to turn the world against me?”

“You murdered… so many people. So, so many people. Just an astonishing, shocking number of people.” The System Fairy spread her hands helplessly.

“So did Starbrite.”

“Nah. The main function of a business is to bring the proprietor profit. As long as a corporation acts in line with that principle, whatever it does, is both morally and ethically correct.”

Truth jerked to a halt.

“You… want to run that past me again?”

“The purpose of a business is profit for the owners. Individual, partnership, shares, whatever. That’s why companies are created- to make money. Doing things that aren’t making money, no matter how ‘good’ they might be, are fundamentally betraying the owners and the purpose of the company. Want to do charity? Do it on your own time and with your own money.”

“But Starbrite outright owns the corporation. Are there even shares in other people’s hands? He could do immense good in the world.”

“But he chooses not to spend his money and effort on the things you care about. And so what? That’s his freedom of conscience right there.” The Fairy sounded severe. “You are in no position to judge. And by the way, if you are going to judge, make sure you include all the good he’s done. The world is a much more comfortable place to live, thanks to him. All those talismans, all that high energy food from off-word. The hundreds of thousands of homes and apartments. Elixirs. Talismans. So, so many talismans. All those jobs. All that healthcare.”

“The environmental and human costs-”

“Not the company’s responsibility.” The fairy flicked it away. “The company’s responsibility is to earn profits for the owner. Offloading costs onto the state is just good business practice. Which is why I’m talking to you.”

“Eh? I figured you were stalling for time or something.”

“No, I knew someone would be coming. Listen, the planet is screwed, but there is an immense opportunity here. Don’t you see the Stelle? Even if the Nephilim do invade, they will be Level Nine or lower!”

“So?”

“So? SO? Starbrite is the only person in the world who knows how to get around the ban on Nascent Souls! He’s going to be taking a little nap for a few thousand years. Totally out of it. He needs someone who can step in. Take charge of things. Guide the public and protect them from interlopers. Don’t you see? All those things you hate? All the things that hurt you, all the injustice, all the unfairness, you can fix it all! You will be the only true powerhouse in the world. You, alone, will have the ability to summon the winds and the rain. And all it takes-”

“I know what costs. I have wanted to try this for years.” Truth channeled all his magic into the Meditations, and focused them on his hands. The spell works on a more than physical level. The System Fairy had been the first person to tell him that. She’d been right about it too. He reached out his hand, and he grabbed her. Truth squeezed.

Something went crunch.