Noa El-Lah stood silently as he watched the duo fade out of view, his expression poised and calm.

He stared at the space for a few extra moments after confirming their exit, before walking back to his table while speaking to himself.

"You must know something else, don't you? So tell me now that the kids aren't here, have there really only ever been six orthodox gods?"

A brief moment of awkward silence ensued after the abrupt question before a reply was issued from somewhere hidden deep within the library.

The voice was both faint and clear, sounding like it was somewhere near and real, while also having the characteristics of being far and illusory.

It echoed out of every single wall, cabinet, book, and even random items, almost as if it was the library itself that was issuing a reply.

"I don't know."

The voice carried no shred of human emotion or reaction, almost like it was coming out from a controlled puppet or homunculus.

Noa El-Lah narrowed his eyes, apparently not expecting the reply he had gotten in response.

"You don't know? Is that even possible? An Abstractal God such as yourself, representing the authority of omniscience and truth, can't even answer such a simple and straightforward question?"

The voice took no offense to his sarcastic remark, its tone remaining as stoic and flat as before.

"It is as I just said, I don't know."

'How is this possible? This is the first time 'it' has ever appeared unsure about anything. Just what kind of situation have I been roped into?'

Noa El-Lah massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming. He finally realized that the present situation might have been a bit more complicated than he had initially suspected, especially due to the presence of the extra bit of information he had received from his visitors.

He ran over the details of their visit, before speaking once again.

"Ok, then how about this. The young men pointed out a unique clue while recounting their Apostolic transformation, stating that they had been designated as followers of 'The One That Represents All That Is Abnormal.' Does this pseudonym pertain to any of the divine deities, be it orthodox or not?

"Before I was detained up here, I clearly remember that the Echelon of Irregularity always lacked a designated divine god, even during the era of its first Apostle in the Old Testament Calendar. Is it possible that things have changed during the period of my confinement?"

The 'voice' hesitated to respond, its tone still one of indifference.

"I—I don't know. All I can say is that 'deity' is as real as it is unreal. It doesn't exist within either time, space, or truth, and even the logic of the world argues firmly against its existence, but it is a cemented fact that it owns a presence in reality, an 'identity' that makes itself real even if it has no basis to do so."

Noa El-Lah sat back down in his seat, his mind toiling over the response.

"Then does that mean that it lacks any firm cause to exist, missing both the qualities of a physical or conceptual form, but instead has an identity, simply because it was granted ownership of a title?"

"That is my view on the issue as well." The voice said. "It has no reason to even be considered as a real entity, much less one of such high standing as a divine god, but is instead a blank state, one which is only viewed to be 'real' due to its possession of a seemingly real name, a name grounded firmly in the authority it represents."

Noa El-Lah tapped his fingers on his table, his years of experience enabling him to point out a problem.

"But then doesn't that mean that it was given this identity by someone or, even something else entirely? Surely it couldn't have just given itself a name. A blank slate would only exist as what it is when it is recognized as such in both name and meaning. If the title of a blank slate is changed while still retaining its initial meaning, wouldn't that be an alarming contradiction?" He paused, entertaining an interesting thought. "Or is it possible that this has something to do with the lost Divine Sanctuary of Irregularity? To my knowledge, it is the only 'entity' that has the authority to do such a thing."

The voice took no time in responding, almost as if it had expected the question beforehand.

"It is possible, but highly unlikely. It has persisted in its dormancy even before the End Day Cataclysm ever took place, so I see no reason for it to do this now. Even if I can't exactly pinpoint its exact location, I can still tell based on my authority of omniscience that it has remained inactive and is still fast asleep."

Noa El-Lah felt all of his potential directions narrowing as he brought them up, making him feel quite frustrated.

"Then what about the Guardian Constellation? 'He' is the only other entity I can think about."

"That isn't possible. Even if that dragonic demigod indeed now controls two of the three authorities directly under the Echelon of Irregularity, it still lacks the critical factor, which is existing as a pure aberration. As long as it lacks the authority of Irregularity itself, it will never be able to do such a thing." The voice said with no emotion.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Noa El-Lah sighed, feeling like he was out of options. He decided to conclude the topic, as there was no use talking about a question that even the abstractal representation of omniscience didn't know the answer to.

Besides, he felt like the answers would slowly reveal themselves with time when he thought about the two unique teenagers.

"By the way I wanted to ask, why did that annoyingly upright god ask us to assist them before he left? What type of game are 'he' and the other gods playing this time?"

The voice echoed out a response,

"I wasn't permitted to inform you, but I'm sure you must have your own ideas. You are one mortal who has interacted closely with the other side of the world, so I assume you must already know what is at stake. All we need to do is assist them periodically, and we will have effectively done our part. It is up to them to decide what to do with the cards dealt to them by fate, no matter the result."

Noa El-Lah fell silent for a few moments before chuckling, leisurely glancing down at his hands set upon his table.

His gaze looked expectant, as he suddenly felt like he was about to say farewell to the last decade of boredom, as the just concluded visit would be making his life a lot more interesting in the future.

...

The school day had ended and dusk had fallen, with the silver moon standing beautifully in the night sky as always. Elias was calmly seated in his dorm, with Lars hovering close by.

They now had time to run over the details they had been able to uncover due to their last experience, as they had previously been busy with afternoon classes ever since they arrived back to reality and hadn't had the time to do so.

They had learned a lot of things; from the real reason for Father Bernard's death to a confirmation of the true number of deities and lastly the meaning of the inconspicuous message left behind by the child in his dream.

These were all things they needed to have found out at some point, so they were glad to have been given a good opportunity to round them all up at once.

Elias analyzed the details, especially particularly about the dream which could be said to be the catalyst for a lot of things.

"If that child in the dream actually pertains to another version of me, then it would put a lot of details into perspective. I did have a vague idea of this previously but I was just waiting for factual confirmation and now that I have it, I think it's safe for me to put forward my assumptions now."

Lars hovered by in silence, preparing to listen to his brother's conjectures.

"Let's start with the lush and vibrant grove. Symbolically, it would be fair to assume that it was made to represent the initial stages of my life, the period where I was revered as a divine son of the church. The garden should pertain to my Innate connection with the authority of life that I was born with, while also representing the beauty and simplicity of my life during those stages.

"This would be a fair way to look at it, as back then I truly felt like my life was as calm and beautiful as a gentle garden."

Lars nodded, sharing the same view.

Elias took this as an avenue to push on, glad that his brother shared the same perspective as him.

"As for the appearance of the fast encroaching aura of death, I think it is also fair to say that it represents the death of Father Bernard, as well as the adverse effects it had on both my life and emotions." Elias had a thoughtful expression as he thought about it more. "The moment after his death was a very dark period of my life, which means that the deadly aura should also symbolize all of the negative emotions I had to endure. Naturally, it also carries the meaning of the development of my unique spiritual sight, which solidified my relationship with the concept of death."

Lars absorbed all of this critically, while also deciding to pitch in his views.

"And as for the eventual equilibrium between the two forces and that unique butterfly at the end, I'd say that the former should represent your acceptance of both states, while the latter should be the dream's illustration of you surviving the entire process.

"The inky black mist was clearly made to mirror your eventual relationship with ether since it was quite similar to what you went through during your Spiritual Resonance Test."

Elias felt like it made sense, as it was also in line with his own thoughts.

"That's what I think as well. As for that lone struggling flower, I think it was a symbol of hope during trying times, my hope in the real world being my friends and family. What I cannot seem to understand is what that blank gray space at the beginning was, as well as who exactly that child is. I know we came to an assumption that it was an alternate version of me but honestly, I'm not convinced. The connection I felt with the child was as odd as it was familiar, so I feel like it goes much deeper than that." Elias said carefully.

"If it's about the blank gray space, I feel like I can help. It was something I came across during my personal investigations while we were in the archives." Lars took on a much more serious disposition, similar to a teacher educating their pupil. "Have you ever heard about the Stages Of The World?"

Elias shook his head, signaling his ignorance.

Lars smiled, satisfied that he knew something his brother didn't.

"Well while studying the nature of souls, I came across quite a unique book, one which talked about the relationship between the physical and spiritual world. It spoke about how the Spiritual Sea exists on a much higher plane than the physical world, and how in between these two planes, sub-planes or 'mini-worlds' exist as dividers of the two realms." He thought back to their conversation with Noa El-Lah, noting something he had made mention of. "The Realm Of Thought spoken about previously by our founder is one of those realms."

Lars spoke briefly on the topic, stating three examples of these mini-dimensions which were classified as the Realm Of Thought, Realm Of Imagination, and the Realm Of Conscious Emotions.

He made sure to emphasize the nature of the Realm Of Imagination, which was what he suspected to be the vacant gray space in Elias's dream.

"It is also called the home of both dreams and nightmares, so I suspect that the child in the dream used the Realm Of Imagination to communicate the dream to you."

Elias pondered silently, his gaze deep.

"But based on what you said, even if these mini-worlds don't quite match up to the Spiritual Sea in status, they still exist above the physical world and cannot be easily controlled. Manipulating the Realm Of Imagination isn't just something anyone can do."

Lars smiled.

"Exactly. That's why I think we aren't quite interpreting that message right. With the saying 'you are me, and I am you', do we really have to interpret it literally? Couldn't it also be symbolic?"

Elias picked up on his brother's hidden meaning with wide eyes.

"Do you mean like the relationship between a deity and their follower, one but not the same, similar but also different? Are you saying that it's trying to represent the 'me' that has become similar to my deity through the bond of my Echelon and authority?

"That means you think that—"

"Yes, that's exactly what I think." Lars interrupted him, his gaze deep and gloomy. "I suspect that the child is a direct representation of you while also being made to symbolize 'The One That Represents All That Is Abnormal', the elusive overseer of your Echelon that was said to have been left asleep and dormant so many years ago via the message left in your seal.

"This—this could potentially be a sign of an initial awakening, an awakening that started the moment you stepped onto this path."