Erwin followed the Librarian through another gate, soon appearing on an empty platform of stone, not too far off from Otium. Upon this platform, a square with four two miles in length, was where the Librarian intended to create the tank. Upon it, the Librarian stood as did Erwin, manifesting a sphere of darkness before it. It grew and grew, growing blacker in color as it did so until it reached roughly three meters in diameter and utterly black.
From there, the Librarian began to form the tank, still not privy to most the machinations of the tank but that was not the problem. From appearance alone, it was exactly the same as the tanks that Erwin used and within it was powered by a sliver of the Surveyor, although this sliver was extremely limited in its sentience. It would only work the machine guns and the tank treads, nothing more, nothing less. The Surveyor did not wish to create even a chance of a potential threat to itself.
Once finished, it gestured that Erwin was free to use it as he wished, the Librarian bidding him farewell before disappearing through a gate. And to make sure that Erwin wouldn’t be stranded upon the platform, the Librarian left with him a Custodian to take him back when he desired.
As Erwin was playing around with his new toy, the Surveyor was busy trying to track down the world that he had come from, cursing the fact that it had waited so long to try and do so. If it had started even a week after he had arrived, it would have been able to trace that path his soul had taken back to Earth. But now, it was virtually impossible. Eventually, the Surveyor could but give up, it had simply been too long and in order to even sense the smallest trace would expend too much power.
Meanwhile, it returned its attention to Yargul, curious to see just what had he accomplished in the short time it had diverted its attention away from him. Within the year it had been busy playing around with the technology of Earth, Yargul had not been idle. He had mostly carried out guerrilla warfare but he had participated in several large-scale wars which resulted in several new hills of corpses. Curious to see it for itself rather than through the eyes of Observers, the Surveyor manifested a piece of itself on said battlefield, its shadowy figure walking among the dead.
It occasionally would stand over a particular body and connect with its shadow, viewing the orc’s last moments before it fell. All these it recorded perfectly into books, not caring for the time that passed. Night and day cycled constantly as it penned down the various experiences of the orcs, recording the emotions that they felt upon the moment of death, often times being regret or anger. But there was a tint of fear, no being could be fully free from the fear of death. There will always be something within them that wonders just what is beyond death and if it is worse than living.
But, of course, there are those who push on to suicide because they are just that desperate, they believe that anything is better than what they live in. The Surveyor was curious about these types of people and also wasn’t too fond of them, it simply couldn't learn as much as it could from them. Most of the time the cause of suicide was the same, depression, a feeling of not belonging, and etc. Mortals were, after all, quite social creatures who often need company of some shape or form. They were incomplete beings and such things desire to be whole, although not all of them are able to fulfill this desire.
Anyways it continued to record the memories of various orcs, splitting into various clones of itself which all worked independently on a different orc’s memories. Soon, all of the fascinating orc memories had been recorded and the Surveyor stood still as it was thinking about a location to move towards. It had no particular wish to visit another battlefield and it also did not wish to return so early. Finally, it remembered the strange spaces in Occasus which its shadows held no power over. It had looked over them briefly in its search for End but not thoroughly, it might as well do so now.
It had seen many interesting things but it was a quick perusal, not a methodical search. And it had been meaning to revisit them anyway, now was as good a time as any. It began to head to the nearest, still in the guise of the Librarian as it crossed the border in which its shadows held no power. It passed through the barrier, now fully cut off from the rest of the world, it only had the vessel it came in to rely on. But that was not of great importance, it had made sure that this current vessel possessed more than enough energy to deal with anything that may lay within the barrier.
It spent some time just observing the area it had entered in, noticing how Time seemed to hold no power here, this was a place that was “cut out” of Time. How strange, this must be the work of a god or a divine artifact, only these held enough power to make a small hole in Time. How strange, whatever lay here certainly wasn’t normal and the Surveyor was intrigued. It headed deeper, eventually seeing a grove of trees, these being entirely new to the Surveyor. They possessed pure white trunks as well as leaves which were magenta in color. These leaves glowed softly in the twilight of this gap in Time, a place that would truly be magical as mortals were apt to say.
The Surveyor stood still for a long time, simply mesmerized by the beauty of this place. Upon a strange impulse, it decided to make a memory of this place, creating a book which would contain this particular memory of its. With smooth fluid strokes, the scene before it was soon recorded onto paper, seeming as if it had frozen a moment of time and placed it on paper. And yet there were small details within the drawing which seemed to make the leaves move ever so slightly, making the beholder wonder if it was simply his imagination or if the leaves were actually moving.
And this time, it added color, carefully collecting a leaf from one of the trees. It carefully analyzed the leaf before carefully replicating the color onto the leaves of its drawing, doing this for every single leaf in order to make them all unique. It invested a lot of time into each individual leaf, making it as realistic as possible. Eventually, it had finished, only coloring the leaves as the white paper was enough to bring out the color of the tree trunks. Everything else it purposefully shaded over with a slight layer of grey, to further accentuate the brighter colors.
It was finally satisfied with the final product of the image and closed the book, not putting it away just yet for it guessed that these trees were not the only strange things here. It then continued to walk forward, finally reaching the five trees and entering the circle they made. Within, it saw a winged-body lying within the circle of trees, wearing silver and gold armor which was only marred by the wound in her side, still possessing wet blood that did not flow. Its features, untouched by Time, were inhuman, not really of this Earth. And judging from the faint aura around it, it was partially divine, an angel.
But it was not yet dead, this angel was still alive but only just. She had fallen asleep in this gap and never did awaken. But it did not immediately approach the body, instead turning its attention to the trees, curious about the memories the shadows of these trees held. Sending out five tendrils of darkness to each of the shadows, it began to absorb their memories, seeing memories of trees.
These trees had come into when Agleon was young, a result of a mortal’s experiments with Time. He sought immortality and thought that if he were to divert the flow of Time he might achieve it. Unfortunately, no matter what he tried, he was unable to succeed and wasted the later years of his life to this unattainable goal. Or did he? When he created these strange trees, he planted them but to his despair, they did not grow. He thought that he had failed but the truth was that they just took a thousand years to germinate. When he was long since dead, the seeds finally germinated, little sprouts growing up on the ancient array he had made a thousand years ago.
With the passage of more Time, these trees grew slowly, ever so slowly to the size they are when the Surveyor entered the gap. They didn’t show the powers they held at first, it only came when they reached ten thousand years of age, reaching the size they were today. Once they reached that size, the specific size needed in order to activate the magic circle their creator had planted them on. The trees with the assistance of the magic circle were able to create a gap within Time, no longer capable of growth, after all, one needed Time to grow. Then an eternity seemed to pass, suddenly to be interrupted by a falling figure.
In a shower of white feathers and blood, she crashed onto the ground, unconscious but still alive. Her wings, disheveled by the fall, were still beautiful to behold, in all appearances, she was an angel who had been struck down by evil.
By this stroke of luck, her life was not lost but nor could it be saved. The wound needed Time to either be fatal or heal and within this gap, both of those options were impossible. And so this demigod had lain in eternal sleep for countless eons until the Surveyor found her.
Now privy to the entire story of this place, the Surveyor finally approached the angel, not waking her at first as it would be better to study her unconscious. And it did just that, first probing her wound to collect samples of her blood and body, this was the first true angel it had encountered and it wasn’t going to waste this chance. It then viewed the memories her shadow possessed, perfect memories of the War with Premen were quite rare and the Surveyor wanted to see how one on the side of the gods viewed this conflict.
—ANGEL’S SHADOW—
“Who are you!” the Archangel shouted.
“We are the soldiers of Heaven!” the angel and her comrades answered.
“What is our duty!?” the Archangel demanded.
“To cleanse the sinful!” they answered once more.
“Then follow me and charge!” the Archangel shouted before drawing his sword and diving towards the surface of Agleon.
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They all followed, spreading our wings and diving down towards Agleon. Their target was a floating city, its citizens already preparing for their arrival, the Premen having learned from losing their first floating cities to the first attack. Soon, beams of incandescent energy shot forth from the city’s defenses and killed many angels, angel blood and feathers raining down on the ground below. Smaller spells were cast, most being ineffective against their armor although the angel’s eyes could pick out a group of nine mages preparing to cast a large spell, combining their energy in order to beseech Magic to allow them to cast a great spell.
Magic listened and soon, a storm of fire descended upon us, many more angels falling, their wings burning as they fell to their deaths. And on the ground of the floating city, the Premen soldiers waited, their spears held out towards the sky. A figure in black armor barked out orders to them, his spear in hand in order to fight the Archangel. The angel gritted her teeth, prepared to fight the sinners. There was seemed to be a moment where the angel’s clarity seemed to heighten, everything slowed for a moment as her eyes picked up random details of the enemies before her.
They held fear, but also determination, they knew that they had sinned but were committed on this path. She was saddened, these people, why did they so determined to sin against the gods?
Then the voice of the Teryo boomed, “You divine filth! For attacking our people you shall not be forgiven!”
Turning to his men, he commanded, “Soldiers, hold long enough for the citizens to escape! Even if it means your death hold them, so that our people may live!”
They roared in reply, holding their spears up high, aimed at us. The Teryo stepped forth, wielding a great halberd and he pointed at the Archmage.
“You shall die by my hand!”
The Archmage smirked.
“Sinful creature, one such as you are not worthy to even fight me!”
The Teryo retorted, “Then your angels I shall slay, my halberd will taste angel blood today!”
Unable to contain their anger, the angel saw several angels swear and charge in, only to be slain with ease by the Teryo who taunted, “Come you flying bastards, meet my halberd’s blade.”
This time, twenty angels went to answer his challenge but they were all easily slain, the Premen soldiers cheering, their moral rising as ours fell.
Angered, the Archangel drew forth his sword and shouted, “Purge the infidels!”
With a battle cry, angels charged forth, a few impaled by Premen spears but the rest were soon among them, slaying soldiers left and right. But the Premen did not just stand and die, they fought back with zealous fervor, angel corpses soon joining the bodies of the Premen. The angel slew many a soldier, remembering the looks they gave her as they died, ones filled with determination and hatred. Nowhere did the angel see fear, it seems that they had thrown away their desire to live if only to kill us.
As the angel fought, there was suddenly a shout, “The angel scum are trying to kill the Teryo, come, let us go to his aid! For the Teryo!”
The angel looked to see that the Teryo was indeed surrounded, the Archangel fighting alongside seven other angels. The remaining angels were keeping the Teryo isolated as he fought, determined to keep help from coming.
Surrounded, the Teryo laughed, “You bastards who do not know a warrior’s honor, you do not deserve a quick death but I fear I must give you that mercy if only to get rid of you quicker.”
So saying, he began to fight in earnest, two angels falling within moments and the other five hard pressed to survive. Three more fell before the Archangel attacked, struggling to keep his ground under the Teryo’s fierce defense.
The angel wished to see more but her attention was drawn back to the battle when a fierce pain sprouted in her side. She looked down to see that she had been stabbed by a spear, its owner drawing it back in order to finish her off. The angel managed to kill him but another came, thrusting his spear towards her. She weakly deflected his strikes, slowly retreating, unable to kill him because of the spear’s reach. She looked for help but all the other angels were busy with fights of their own. Seeing this, despair soon filled her heart, the angel knew that these infidels held no mercy in their heart.
Soon, she found herself at the edge of the floating city and she fought desperately, my stamina all but gone and her condition further weakened by blood loss. Finally, she couldn’t block anymore, her sword was just too heavy to lift. It slipped from her fingers and into the empty air below, her eyes following its fall until it disappeared from sight. She then turned her gaze back to the Premen soldiers who held their spears at her. Deciding that it would be better to fall to her death than be stabbed, she steeled her heart and fell backward into the void. The last thing she saw was their faces, surprised before they were soon hidden by the belly of the floating city. As she fell, she looked up one last time into the heavens, seeing the trail of white feathers which the angel left in her wake.
Her vision began to fade as one last thought filled her fading mind.
The sky is blue, a wonderful blue...
———
The Surveyor released itself from the angel’s shadow, organizing the new information it had collected. It then began to debate whether or not it should save her, should she awaken it would likely just cause more trouble. Perhaps it would be best to let her sleep or even kill her. The latter option was not so bad, she should have died long ago and so it was not so wrong to finally grant her death, a death that she sought to embrace. But then again, to personally speak with an angel was a rare opportunity, one that could yield great amounts of data, especially about Heaven and the gods who dwelt in it.
It would obviously collect this knowledge sooner or later but it would be nice to make it sooner. Hmm, what a strange impasse it found itself to be in but it had all the Time in the world so it might as well think it through thoroughly. After the passage of six mortal years, it finally came to a decision, that it would indeed revive her if only to absorb her memories in full as her shadow only came into being on Agleon. Within Heaven, there were no such things as shadows and so it was lacking in the inner-workings of Heaven. It would be best to work with her consent to access her memories but should it be necessary, the Surveyor had no qualms with breaking her mind in order to absorb her memories, she was never a variable in the experiment it was conducting so she was useless.
With a plan of action, it acted, converting dark matter into the flesh of angels to heal her wound, replacing the matter which had been destroyed by the spear and reconnecting the bonds of the flesh. It also replaced the blood she had lost, making sure that once it took her out of the gap that she would be fine. It wouldn’t do to for her to die when it decided to save her.
Then remembering that it would best to adopt a more mortal form, the Surveyor completed the persona of the Librarian, becoming a mysterious figure who possessed one singular eye within the depths of his dark hood. He then carried the angel out created a gate, stepping through and into the floating garden. With a thought, a bed was created and he laid her down on it, first using magic to take off her armor so she could rest more comfortably. It placed the armor on another table which it studied for a brief moment before creating another table and chair nearby where he could record the new memories he had attained while waiting for her to awaken.
—ANGEL—
The sky is blue, a wonderful blue...
I was surrounded by the wonderful color, sinking ever deeper. But as I went deeper and deeper, my surroundings grew darker and darker and fear wormed its way into my heart. I didn’t have the heart to explore the dark depths that still lay before me so I tried to claw my way back to the blue sky, finding that I couldn’t. I just kept sinking further and further, no, No, NO!
My eyes flew open and I sat up, sweat beading on my forehead and trickling down the back of my neck. I blinked several times, trying to comprehend my unfamiliar surroundings. It appeared to be a garden of sorts, full of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen. I looked around with curiosity and awe, my eyes stopping on one incongruous image in this otherwise perfect scene. It was a figure, a figure clad in black and silver robes whose attention was currently focused on a book which it was busy writing in.
For a long moment, I just watched the being, unsure as of what to do.
“Um, hello.”
Seeming to first notice my presence, the being looked up, revealing a softly glowing silver eye, the only distinguishing figure of his otherwise black face, hidden by incredibly dark shadows.
It closed the book and left it on the table, standing and walking over to me.
“Ah, finally awake. How do you feel?”
I say, “I feel fine, almost too-”
I then remembered the wound I had suffered, my hands patting my stomach to find any trace of the wound. But I found nothing, only a tear in my clothes where the spear had managed to pierce a chink in my armor. Those Premen may have been infidels but they did know how to make weapons. Then realizing that I did not have my armor, I searched around for it, reassured by the sight of them lying on a different table some ways away.
I then noticed that I had yet to thank my savior so I quickly bowed my head.
“Oh, um thank you... uh, I don’t know your name.”
The being tilted its head, seeming to smile in amusement before answering, “I have been known by many names in the past but the one I currently bear is the Librarian.”
Confused, I just bowed again, “Well thank you, Librarian, you have saved my life.”
It just nodded, now asking, “What is your name?”
I answer, “It is Iraliel, I am... well, I’m not sure if I’m still a soldier of Heaven.”
Suddenly struck by the thought, “Wait, how long as it been since Heaven declared war on the Premen!?”
The Librarian sat back and thought, finally saying, “Hmm, I’d say it has been several eons by now, two by my count.”
Two eons!? That long has passed since I had fallen unconscious!?
As if seeing the questions that were going through my head, the Librarian said, “Well by either great luck or misfortune, you fell into a ‘gap in time,’ a space where Time has no power. You fell in while you were unconscious and you remained that way within the gap, Time technically not having passed at all on your body. It was what saved you, with Time no longer affecting your body your wound no longer was dangerous but it also never healed, meaning if you left the gap by some means you would have perished. I was able to mend your wounds however and managed to bring you out without any mishap.”
Shocked and somewhat disbelieving, I just said, “I see.” before falling silent.
The Librarian then stood, saying, “I’ll give you time to absorb all this. If you need any help just call, I shall come.”
He then stood and created a black rectangle, stepping through it and disappearing, leaving me alone with the beautiful flowers, the twilight sky, and my thoughts.