Suddenly, Ieros turned around swiftly, it, no, the Sentinel was being attacked. No, not attacked, the Sentinel had been chained with light. Glowing golden chains wrapped around the Sentinel whose arms had become blades, though these were too wrapped in those golden chains. The Sentinel tried to change shape but the chains seemed to restrict it, whatever these chains were, they were more powerful than the Sentinel which should have been more powerful than any mortal on this world. But there was an another anomaly, Ieros had sensed absolutely no usage of energy.
Rose, if it was Rose, had somehow called upon this power without using energy at all. Ieros grew very curious, this specimen had just gotten very interesting. But then why does it need to consume liquid energy? It would have to conduct a very thorough examination. So, dispersing the chains around the Sentinel and then had shadow chains bind Rose. She began to struggle and scream, the unknown power trying to free her but its efforts were futile. Ieros had the power of Darkness on its side, there was nothing that could triumph over it.
Instead, Ieros commanded, “As the proxy of Darkness, the Father of All, I command you to show yourself.”
A strange golden mist then appeared, surrounding Rose. An aura of great power was emitted from it and recognizing it, Ieros said, “Magic.”
A feeling of affirmation emanated from Magic and Ieros said, “I thought that you were enslaved by the mortals… But no matter how you became free. You answered Rose’s wish, correct?”
Again, the feeling of affirmation came from Magic and Ieros nodded, “Then I suppose I will let her live, Magic still needs a vessel through which it can work through.”
Gratefulness came from Magic and Ieros bowed his head, “After all, I cannot let such a valuable specimen die.”
Ieros then turned, “Very well, I will leave you then in peace. But, I will ask you this, I’d like for you to give your chosen one some intelligence, the way she is now… she wouldn’t last a minute out there.”
Magic agreed and then Ieros left, returning to the forest floor where everything was in darkness, where things were right. There, the fragment left Ieros’s body and spread out throughout all the shadows in the forest, this time allowing people to enter the forest just a little ways, if they strayed too far a sense of intense dread would deter them and even if they pushed through, the whispers would begin. In fact, his influence reached even the Seris Kingdom, though he made sure to hide his presence well. But it did not end there, it spread throughout the entire world and for the night, Ieros was everywhere yet nowhere.
He saw all and knew all, even about places which no man knew of, beautiful caves that were completely isolated from the surface, paradise isles that exist far from land and strange floating islands which held many mysteries. He saw all these things and for a moment admired the beauty of this world, his father and Light had really outdone themselves on this one. But the fragment thought that it could do without the humans, their artificial structures and terraforming ruined such a beautiful image.
It had no doubt that given time, the beautiful caves, the paradise isles and the mysterious floating islands would be conquered by man and their natural beauty destroyed. The fragment then wondered just why humans were created, or any of the sentient races in fact. Humans weren’t the only mortals of this world but they were one of the most proliferate, they could be found everywhere, just like a infestation that couldn’t be stamped out.
It remembered through Darkness’s memories of such an infestation, the fragments that were left guard rose and brought a plague upon it, the disease specifically engineered for their species and to spread and kill quickly. But even with such a disease, it still took several millennia for the entire race to be destroyed. They were rather tenacious and in the end, to kill the final few billion, the fragments sent the army of shadows which hunted them without remorse.
It looked on the humans and wondered if a similar cleansing was needed, but as of yet, they had not yet threatened the very existence of the Universe so they will be left alone. The system or hierarchy with the gods on top and the mortals below was moderately efficient. Hopefully it will last. But if it didn’t, then it supposed it would let End run free, she was far more efficient in destroying than it anyways. But as morning came, it stopped its musings and returned into Ieros’s form, returning to the palace and into his room, untouched since the day he had left it, the whisperers doing their job admirably. Just then, knocking came at his door and Ieros went to answer it, a woman standing before him.
But he did not recognize this woman, nor did he recognize the insignia upon her breastplate.
But his face did not let any of that show as he asked, “May I ask what your business with me is?”
She did not answer the question directly, instead saying, “The Seventh Queen requests your presence!”
It was then Ieros recognized the style of armor, she was a harem guard. But the reason as to why he didn’t recognize her as one was because of the unique insignia and colors, this must be a personal guard.
Ieros nodded, “Very well. I assume you will guide me.”
She nodded curtly and walked off, Ieros following, the whisperers gently closing and locking the door. The two made their way down the hall towards their destination, the harem guard marching while Ieros appeared to glide. Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at their destination, it appeared that the Seventh Queen did not live in the Harem Palace with the rest, rather she lived in a separate building that was equally highly protected. That would explain the insignia, it seems that even though she was the seventh queen, she still had was quite powerful.
Ieros and the guard once more walked through a maze of hallways until they reached her chambers and announcing his presence, the guard opened the door and gestured Ieros to step through. Ieros braced himself for a sight not unlike the one he had seen when he met the First Queen but fortunately, the Seventh Queen was dressed sensibly while reading a book. But when she placed it down, Ieros saw that it was the girl from the garden, Alaris.
Ieros briefly wondered if he had misjudged her age, if so then it had made a serious miscalculation. But upon further observation, he saw creases of age, this must have been her mother or an older sister.
Her face, almost as stoic as Ieros, said, “It is nice to meet you, Ieros.”
Ieros replied with a slight bow, “It is nice to meet you to, your majesty.”
The Seventh Queen said, “Oh, you may call me Orella.”
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Ieros nodded, “Of course, Orella.”
She smiled slightly, “You aren’t afraid of me, are you?”
Ieros asked, “Why should I? You gave me permission to call you Orella, therefore there should be no harm involved.”
She chuckled softly, “Hmm, how quaint. But, the reason I’ve called you here is because of my daughter, Alaris.”
Ieros looked at her, “What do you mean?”
She said, “Well, you are her… well, from a lack for another word, you are her… friend.”
Ieros shrugged, “Well, it just happened that our hobbies were similar.”
Orella nodded, “Yes, the flowers. I’ve heard that you were a creationist, could you create such a flower?”
Ieros shrugged and then raised a hand, “Create.”
The star-rose appeared, filling the dimly lit room with white light. It floated in the air, Orella reached for it and took hold of the stem gently, bringing the flower to her face.
She commented, “I can understand why my daughter likes flowers so, this is quite a sight to see.”
But she placed it gently on her desk and then looked at Ieros with a serious gaze, “As a mother, I can tell many things about my daughter and right now, I can tell that she’s falling in love with you. But as I look at you now, I sense that you absolutely have no love interest in her.”
Ieros nodded, “Yes, I believe such things such as love to be useless.”
She chuckled again, “Yes, sometimes I think that too. But, I don’t want my daughter to be hurt so you’ll have to set it straight with her.”
Ieros nodded once more, “Yes, it is best to nip it in the bud before it grows into something too large to deal with. But I warn you, I will not be delicate in my delivery. I do not believe in taking too long to deliver a simple message.”
She sighed, “Yes, I believe that you are that type of person. When will you tell her?”
Ieros said, “If you were to call her here, then I would tell her now. If that is not possible, then whenever I meet her next.”
She smiled a bit sadly, “Well, she is already here, come in.”
Alaris came, tears in her eyes and she looked at Ieros.
True to his word, Ieros bowed his head and said, “As you have heard, I do not have any feelings for you. If it was because of the ambiguity of my actions, then I apologize.”
Alaris nodded her head, tears streaking down her face and she only managed, “...why?”
Ieros looked at her straight in the eyes and said, “Because of the status I hold. I am in the service of Athera, I cannot go around blithely flirting with women. But if my actions were misconstrued in such a way, then I apologize. I’ve never had any experience with being social, I may have overstepped some boundaries.”
Alaris was silent, her back turned to Ieros. Orella looked at her with a sad expression but with determination. This needed to happen, perhaps it would be possible once peace was achieved but now, when things were on a knife's edge, it was just too risky. She then turned to Ieros, intending to say something but suddenly, Ieros’s eyes narrowed and he stared off into the distance. Orella, rather surprised by this strange action was silent. Then a faint melody could be heard, so quiet that at first, it was unnoticeable but it gradually grew in volume until it fell softly on the ears.
Ieros muttered under his breath, “So, the Song of End begins once more.”
And fifty worlds away, indeed, End began to sing once more, her voice toppling nations and causing the seas to rise up and smash onto the coast, drowning countless lives. Back on Agleon, the Sentinel looked up into the sky and began the Song of Origin, so at least the chaos wouldn’t spread to the other worlds. Already, the effects of her song were causing world wars, all of which were resolved decades later without all life on said worlds being destroyed.
But the Song of Origin ensured that the origins of the world would remain, so that the survivors could start over. It saved the ruins of their ancient cities, so that once more, these places would serve as a birthplace of new nations. It merely capitalized off of End’s actions, allowing for the world to be cleansed of most of its unwanted. The poor died as the cities they leeched off of were destroyed, the rich and corrupt fell to assassination plots or on the battlefield, the swollen populace was also thinned due to the wars, leaving only the strongest of the strong to rebuild.
“War doesn’t decide who’s right, only who’s left.” The people who are left, no matter how “evil” they are will pave the way for great nations, their “evil” ways becoming right after time. The mortals will recover from this, even though it will take centuries, even millenniums. Sometimes, destruction was necessary, to allow for new growth. The mortals use such methods to take care of forests, the fragment was merely using End to the achieve the same result.
As worlds were cleansed under the effects of the two songs, the Sentinel began to carefully modify the Song of Origin. It made it so that the two haunting melodies began to merge, forming an even stranger song, one that was without rhythm yet it wasn’t unpleasant to the ear. The faint melody reached the Seventh’s Palace, Orella and Alaris both straining to hear more of the elusive song. ut it soon faded as the melodies began to act on the save wavelength, canceling out each other perfectly so that all was in balance and all was silent once more.
But the effect of the Song of End still reached Agleon and already, the kindling of the fires of war was prepared, all it needed was a spark. A mere piece of paper would do nothing to stop it. Yet he did not say anything, he would only protect the Princess, even if it meant incurring the wrath of the Seris Kingdom.
But his musings were stopped when Orella said, “What was that sound? You looked as if you recognized it.”
Ieros turned to Orella and said, “It is the Song of End, all things will end, sooner or later. That song was simply signaling such an end.”
Ieros then bowed his head, “I must take my leave now.”
Orella bowed her head, “Of course.”
Ieros then created a gate with a wave of his hand but this time, something stretched its hand through the gate to meet Ieros, a slender hand, a female hand. Ieros recoiled like one would from a snake about to strike, the floor around the gate beginning to wither away. This was not his personal dimension, here, his form would regenerate much slower, he could not have these humans know that he wasn’t human. The arm continued to move forward, giving way to a shoulder but before more could be shown, Ieros closed the gate, the arm falling to the floor, melting it in an instant.
Upon Ieros’s face was an expression of utter seriousness, as if he was witness to the aftermath of a terrible crime. He then held out his hand and closed it into a fist, the arm imploding until it was banished from existence. He then repaired the floor and then reopened the gate, stepping through. Orella and Alaris stared at the space where he had been, the two having seen the arm. But seeing as how he recoiled, they both decided that it wasn’t a secret lover, rather it was someone or something that he had sealed away, trying to escape.
Ieros was greatly troubled, how had End managed to intercept his gate? Just how much has she grown in strength? The fragment then decided to connect to another fragment, one of the watchers. It shared its memories with the fragment and from it, the fragment saw how End placed her arm through a rip in space, only for it to suddenly close. It seems that it had gotten lax with its gate creation, since it was busy thinking about her it must have unconsciously made an incomplete gate to her.
Hmm, it still needed time to recover. But now, it will remember to avoid such a mistake, if she had been quicker, the results would have been disastrous. Things were already going to be bad, war would be brought to this world. All though the fragment could end it, it was curious to see such a war as a participant, not just as an observer.
It knew that it would be part of the war. Of course, it could end it all in a single day, summoning an army of golems, each that were nigh invincible warriors. He could make thunders of dragons fly across the sky and rain fire from above, create legions of giants whose march shake the earth and an endless sea of soldier-golems. But why ruin such an excellent opportunity to learn. If it knew one thing of war, it knew that when mortals participated, they always pushed it to new heights. It would be lying if it wasn’t at least the slightest bit excited to see just how humanity would innovate the art of war.