Within the confines of the multiverse, it is possible for two seemingly opposing facts to both be true. As such, the time at which the events of this book take place are simultaneously in your universe’s future — long after its death — and in its past— before its birth. How this may be is due to the shape of time in the greater multiverse taking on more than a linear, one-dimensional fashion. It is not quite circular; more spiral-shaped.
The seeds of a world, otherwise known as black or white holes, may give rise to a new universe either at the beginning or end of its lifetime. And time can flow back or forth, or both ways at once. The matter becomes even more complex once dimensions above the traditional three-and-a-half are taken into consideration.
A godly city appeared before my eyes, bright and beautiful, spanning the entirety of a world. The ecumenopolis, Kosar, was approximately 1.17 times the size of your Earth. A sea of aurora hung over its sky, so massive that when it first appeared from afar, like clouds in the distance, it barely seemed to move at all right until we breached the world’s orbit. The aurora connected to an outpouring fountain of light from the center of the world. Below that were millions of buildings made from crystal and marble, glass and mirrors, fiber-wires, strange skyscraper-sized computers, and lights emanating colours outside of a human’s visible spectrum.
Unusually, Azrael and Samael did not receive a greeting, as the area they were travelling to had been evacuated. Behind the three of us waited great choirs of angels, neatly and strategically positioned among other angelic structures spanning a wall of fully mined and industrialised asteroids orbiting Kosar, collectively having formed a web wider than the world below.
We descended into the city of circuitry and almost immediately were dropping down to a building that looked like a towering Parthenon. So large it was that, as we approached, the shape of the building was no longer distinguishable. The two archangels and I faced a wide chasm of empty space between two of the massive pillars, at the end of which there was a bright light. As we approached, the light inverted and encompassed us all.
We found ourselves in another plane of existence where the large chamber we had entered from suddenly seemed impossibly far away behind us. Azrael had disappeared without a trace. Samael and I then went even further in, and despite his speed, he did not appear to be moving at all among the nothingness. We stopped what felt like a lifetime later. Samael bowed deeply, but with no sense of up or down, it looked as if he was just crouching in midair.
He extended his left hand to reveal a white cube. It opened up like a symmetric puzzle box to reveal myself upon his oversized palm. I was blinded briefly, but soon was able to see outside his fist in a limited range. I could also see into myself, as though my vision was reflected in on my body as well, despite having only two forward-facing eyes. My body covered most of that otherworldly vision. It was as though I had an invisible antenna and camera on my head. My aura-sense had in fact been revealing information about the surface of my body to my brain, as well as showing me my surroundings in a limited range regardless of whether I could traditionally see them. The box was meant to dull my senses, but little did the angels know that I had been seeing the world through their eyes until I was released from the cube.
Shapes took form in the distance till they became five different near-incomprehensible masses. Five angels appeared above us, all so large and with wings so wide that they had to stand kilometers apart in a circle.
One was Azrael having taken on a grander form, now having many shining engravings on their light armour, robes, and translucent skin. Even their aura had markings floating about it, each of which, as far as I could tell, were unique. As they watched over me with their infinite gaze, my senses spun and I felt as though I were in five places at once.
‘It’s time to discuss what to do with it,’ Azrael’s voice burst forth.
Uriel had six wings. They held a fiery sword, and their halo extended outwards into the form of a sun. Their robes flowed about like a sea of flames wafting about ever so slightly at the pressure of built up energy from the nuclear fusion occurring within their body. The Angel of Presence had two stars as eyes that watched my child self with all the ferocity appropriate to their fiery existence. Similar to Azrael and the other three, sacred texts appeared about them and their aura in various languages.
‘You should have destroyed it when it was still a foetus,’ Uriel said, their voice as warm as gentle summer air. ‘No matter; with all five of us here we can solve this most anomalous problem.’
Michael, with their armour seemingly having grown naturally from their body with no distinguishable border between skin and metal, seemed the most apprehensive towards me. On their back, the Archangel of Fortune and Protection carried a large shield curved on either side and a sword nestled in its middle, both bearing markings appropriate to their position among God’s most elite angels. Their skin was a glowing ivory, and their metallic wings had a golden sheen to their feathers. Their eyes and mouth were bathed in light as the crevices of their skull seemed to show an opposite reaction to being enclosed from the surrounding light, harbouring an intense brightness instead of casting shadows.
‘Azrael, Samael, you dare bring it here where it might threaten our very existence? What were you thinking?’ Michael’s voice boomed from all around the empty plane.
Gabriel the Guardian of Faith and Archangel of Judgement had a fiery mane of golden hair, not dissimilar from that of a lion. Above their head their aura carried a floating crown with complex sections spinning within itself like gears. They carried what looked like a cross between a trumpet and a scepter, as well as a sword of lightning on their back. Aside from Michael, I sensed the most hostility from them.
‘Kill it now,’ Gabriel said. ‘No need to discuss. Here — I’ll even do it myself.’
Azrael moved their hand in front of Samael to prevent him from handing me over.
Raphael with four great wings and priestly robes held their trumpet ever so continuously in their mouth, its complex technology synchronously connecting to vein-like circuits where their lips touched its surface. They did not blow on it or move it or their lips the entire time of the soundless conversation between Samael and the other archangels.
‘Our faith has come under threat once again,’ Raphael sighed. All six of the angels present talked without moving their lips.
‘Kill it now, kill it with fire,’ countless voices not physically present said in unison as the empty plane around us shimmered and shined. Countless black stars appeared in the distance, each of them a voice in the Allaya.
‘My fellow Seraphim,’ said Azrael. ‘Great angels of the Allaya. I have brought this creature here today so that we might make use of it as part of God’s will.’
The whispers of the Allaya, the all-encompassing voice of all angels, made their distaste towards me well known with numerous holy curses and threats to send me to the pits of Hell.
‘I sensed His command,’ continued Azrael to which the Allaya quieted down.
‘You know well that only I can hear His direct commands,’ interrupted Raphael.
‘I knew it intuitively upon witnessing the effect of this creature’s presence on the Allaya,’ said Azrael. ‘As you all know, the ever elusive aether has been a great mystery to us, one that I hope we can understand by studying this creature, born from the darkness. Moreover, after our battle with this shadow it became clear that this mystery is connected to another: why has gravity been disappearing in the Heavens? All of you know as well as I that Heaven as a whole is under threat from natural decay. A vital element of nature is disappearing from this world as though our Lord is displeased with us. That is why I propose that we study this creature in hopes that we might find a solution and a connection to the aether.’
‘Preposterous,’ spat Gabriel. ‘You cannot truly believe that this creature will be our salvation.’
‘No, I do not,’ added Azrael. ‘But it may kindle the fire by which we may light the way to our objective.’
Raphael’s giant face moved closer to examine me. ‘El has not sent us any prophecies regarding this creature. Neither has the Allaya predicted its existence.’
The Allaya hummed angrily.
‘Perhaps He has,’ said Uriel, also coming close to inspect me but with their fiery sword drawn. ‘The prophecy of the Destroyer. Maybe by letting it live we have set that prophecy into motion. Or worse, I fear that this creature is the dreaded Satan. Look how its wings and halo resemble that of an angel’s, but corrupted and bastardised.’
‘Satan was prophesied to come from our own blood,’ interjected Azrael. ‘And we have a scapegoat prospect ready for that, remember. More likely is that this creature’s genetics simply evolved on the spot to copy what was immediately present around it, that being my and Samael’s cells.’
‘What does it matter how it came to look like us?’ asked Gabriel. ‘We should kill it sooner rather than later and be free from its dreadful existence.’
Uriel’s sword burned brighter, ready to strike.
‘We are running out of options,’ explained Azrael calmly. ‘We need to take drastic measures or else the demons will become the most powerful force in all of existence. We can appoint one of our strongest to the task. Samael, I suggest. If not them, then I’ll take the task up myself.’
Everyone pondered for a moment and the Allaya whispered its lengthy discussions.
‘We need to prepare,’ said Raphael. ‘Lock it away for now and we shall come up with an extensive plan for what to do with it.’
Samael suddenly got up and bowed again before leaving in what was, for all I knew, some random direction. Azrael appeared again and after a moment’s silence and further discussion with the Allaya, Samael opened their gargantuan hand again, and gave my skeletal child’s body over to Azrael, who took me with one hand as well, though also with support from their shoulder. They carried me over the buildings of circuitry until we were above the floating auroras.
I blinked and in an instant we were elsewhere. Brightly coloured plants and animals spread out over this planetary body and rectangular, pillar-like megastructures attached the body to an even larger one. Life was spread out neatly into hexagons across the entirety of the structure. Some creatures had simple fence cages — many made of unique materials such as titanium alloys — separating them from the other habitats. Others had strange and widely varied technologies incorporated into their design, all being maintained by wisps of light within rotating, mechanical wheels.
‘These are the Ophanim, little one,’ said Azrael, referring to the wisps. ‘They fulfil simple duties, altogether accomplishing great and complex feats like this garden. Just as we all live by the will of the Creator, the Ophanim live by ours, acting as the Allaya’s many hands, eyes, and ears. They shall aid you here in your new home if necessary, and I shall be there to guide you when I am able. There are other angels here as well, but you must not disturb them, else you will be reprimanded.’
Azrael flew me up to one hexagonal enclosure in particular where a large, brightly glowing sphere was nestled. They placed my body on the surface of the enclosure, and I felt a sharp, burning pain ring outward from the surface where my flesh touched the sphere and screamed accordingly. Just as fast as they had placed me there, they peeled me off the burning surface and moved a few meters to their left. There was an odd circle on the otherwise clear surface of the sphere which dilated into an opening. Azrael dropped me in with a little push. The opening closed up with the surrounding glass-like material briefly acting as a liquid to fill the gap on top. I was left with nothing but a small sphere of empty space at the center of the larger glass-like sphere. All was quiet.
My sense of time had yet to develop into much of anything, and anywhere from a few moments passed in that sphere to a few aeons, but soon I sensed I was not alone in my cage.
‘I see you, Brother,’ the presence said to me within the cold emptiness of my surroundings. ‘You’ve reincarnated again, and now you’re in a similar predicament to me, I see.’ The presence was a tall and thin humanoid shadow, little more than skin and bones, yet its stomach and limbs were swollen. It sat nearby in my cage, but at the same time seemed impossibly far away. ‘Well, I have more experience with this at the moment, and I could put up with sitting around for a few more centuries. Here, Brother. Take my time and use it to escape. It’ll be of far more use to you than to me. Though, I’d not be surprised if the angels expected I’d use up my stored up dark energy to help you, so be ready for anything.’
Soon I felt myself propelled forwards in time, a most unique feeling, perhaps comparable to suddenly accelerating at high speed. The sphere holding me withered away into dust, and I was free, high above in empty space. The local temporal distortion had erased my cage from existing within the same time as me.
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I looked around, but instead of simply turning my head I found myself twisting and tumbling high above in empty space. Having just been born and perpetually kept in a child-like state for thousands of years, I could not understand how my body worked, let alone find my way to shelter of some kind. In fact, I had, thus far, failed to even understand the concept of a ‘goal’ or performing an action. My long-term memory however, I’d come to find, worked well enough that I can remember and write this all down in an alien language in a looped off section of space-time that is the present.
Disoriented and crying, my rotation speed ever increasing with the lack of atmosphere, I tumbled about in vain. Soon I had completely lost track of time, and all images of my surroundings had blended together. At some point my eyes closed and remained shut. Though, I could still see the general colours of those same meaningless images around me even as my eyes were sealed.
No day or night passed. I felt no hunger, only sadness and confusion. All the loneliness in the world gripped at me, entered my lungs and violated every mole of my being till it was all I knew. Peace came to me from the dark. Not a grain of sand, nor a whiff of ash did I sense in all that time that Ispun about high above Azrael’s Menagerie. Light, light, there was always light, but I closed myself off from that as well. As I embraced the darkness of my being, a new door opened. Somehow more nothing than before, but also so much more.
Faint wisps. Far away, but a great many of them, many unique among the rest. One faint but as large as all the rest combined. As though my mind comprehended many worlds’ worth of information but did not have the capacity nor the language to rationalise it, I found myself flying upon my wings of shadow. I could not understand how, but it seemed that my mind had instinctively reached out into the veil of darkness, and though I still could not see past it, it showed me what was beyond. Specifically, how other animals fly, and how I could incorporate those techniques and mechanisms into my own unique physiology.
My wings spread weightlessly. My body created a current, and my wings rode it. An arrow-headed tail wisped and weaved behind me, fine-tuning my direction and sensing other, potentially conflicting currents and informing my wings to compensate. As graceful as that sounds, in truth I was clumsier than a human infant attempting to walk for the first time and came crashing down into one of the many enclosures, tearing through what seemed like countless layers of thin rainbow paper. They did little to stifle my fall as I violently crashed into a mound of dirt below. Though I felt every bit of the impact — a joint twisting the wrong way, a limb being wrenched out of its socket — when I finally stopped moving, I found I was fine. As I had no preconceptions of what was supposed to be normal and what wasn’t, I did not give my apparent lack of injuries a second thought.
I touched my wrist, seeing the white bone come up a little as I pinched it. Naked, I could clearly see my skeleton underneath my dark flesh from my eyes as well as a third person’s angle like before. There didn’t seem to be anything where my third eye would have been, though. I didn’t dwell on it.
Trying to touch my wings, my hand went straight through, though I did feel some miniscule resistance and something like a cold mist. Looking through my aura-sense, I quickly found I could see my body up close at any angle by merely thinking about it. Through it I could see my most odd facial features. Pale light had gathered mostly in my eyes and one large scar going down the left side of my face through my eye and jaw. My skull was visible underneath, but only barely in comparison to my brightened facial features, unlike the rest of my body where the light in my skeleton was the most apparent. Bright, dust-like particles appeared to have settled around my nose, cheeks, mouth, eyebrows, and chin, giving me a discernible face. My entire skull was visible beneath my skin, including bright, glowing teeth under my closed lips, the entire set of which was clear to see from molar to molar.
I took in my surroundings, and was met by a rainbow of colours created by the canopies. Right above me, a picture-book of how I fell through the trees made itself apparent. Everything was new to me and nothing was standard as I spent far too long analysing even the most mundane things with what senses I could access early on, from the coloured shadows, to the organelles within plant cells. The first leaf that I picked up had something like chloroplasts that came in colours other than green. As I was not familiar with plant-life on Earth at the time, this did not surprise me.
Various creatures drew my attention within the menagerie, from complex microorganisms, to plant-like animals and animal-like plants. All had a unique beauty and grace to them — I realise this in hindsight, as I was unappreciative of such things at the time. Of far more interest to me was the complexity of the menagerie itself. Order formed from chaos to become chaotic again, then synchronously created even more complicated systems of layer upon layer. Microorganisms formed together to become entirely new creatures, each cell taking on a specialised role to meet the needs of the whole.
As I was examining a drop of clear liquid on my fingertip a large bird like a dark, pudgy pelican flew underneath where I sat. The creature landed on a tree that was like sap wrapped in giant bright rose petals, and began making a jerking motion with its beak. It swung its head back and forth carefully at first, then violently as the bottom of its beak acted as a knife slamming against soap. Soon, enough of the mass of thick juices began to pour out at a snail’s pace. The bird, stepping back, fanned open its mouth to nearly a hundred-and-eighty degrees and proceeded to suck the slow candies. Its head turned hot as it visibly struggled to suck as fast as it wished to. Eventually this act became so violent I didn’t think I should stay and wait to see what happened. Finally I decided to go exploring.
Hopping along branches, roots and legs, slowly and clumsily with little gravity, I tried whatever I could to move faster. My wings and tail awkwardly thrashed around as I tried to propel myself more and more, almost entirely unaware of what I was doing. All my appendages struggled to grab at anything vine-like to hold and pull. Whatever I grasped either slipped from my hands, feet, and wings with ease or the friction would hurt my digits and I’d struggle to hold on. My wings were far less dexterous than even that, as all I could do was expand them completely to slow myself down. Twice I had suddenly changed directions, and crashed faster than before when I learned not to hold my wings against the light currents if I wished otherwise. Not to mention, I had only just begun to grasp the concept of cause and effect as I gained experience.
Crashing through the strange forest, too small for anything the size of a tree or larger to halt my progress, I sped up again against my will. Fearing the same ordeal as before, I desperately reached out with all limbs spread like an eagle. As my hand brushed against some hard ground, I very suddenly stopped.
The tips of two of my fingers were touching the ground. I stayed perfectly still. The vines and branches I brought along with me on my less-than-graceful landing stopped too, though notably not some of the dirt particles that were being flung around in the process. I could almost distinguish the border of my small shadow aura as all the soil and biomatter I had brought with me suddenly halted before reaching a squiggly border in space. A faint shade had extended from my body, and I could sense its existence with my aura-sense.
As if clicking into place in my mind, my interpretation of this ‘third eye’ changed, as did my perception. Rather than showing my body from any angle I wished, this aura-sense showed me as I existed in space, and now it had extended to everything else within my faint aura.
This aura-sense of mine functioned similarly to your sense of balance, as well as your human proprioception. Except I was surrounded by the ear’s endolymph instead of it just being contained within my head. This aura extended my sense of touch and sight to everything within its reach, and I stayed a good while in that same position trying to wrap my head around the concepts.
The aura around my fingertips was darker, and had extended shadows along the ground, holding me still in place. I could feel my aura was more concentrated there. It had a stronger pulling feeling from the area. My sense of touch was seemingly fine-tuned to sudden and unusual changes in weight, rather than functioning as a biomechanical mechanism of pulling and pushing something. I pulled myself closer to the ground I was touching, and tried to reciprocate the sensation in my other appendages. Having figured it out after not too many tries, I crouched down to experiment with my aura as well.
My aura worked in tandem with my core, particularly my breathing. In order to retrieve or expand my aura, I had to inhale or exhale respectively. Why I’d want to do the former, I didn’t understand at the time. The clues lay with the phantom air that I breathed. Strangely, my mind told me what was within my aura immediately and did not appear to use my lungs as a midway point in its neural messaging.
I tried to extend my small aura past its apparent limit, but compressing my diaphragm barely increased my range. Even my child self recognized how useful a tool this would be, and in vain tried experimenting with it further. I’d find that it would increase naturally as I grew, so any effort at the time was wasted except for letting me know it would not be something I could just force.
Now able to move about with relative ease, I explored the great menagerie of fauna and flora. Many wondrous creatures I witnessed in those enclosures, all seemingly conserved in time. Every creature was perfectly positioned to show off a particular aesthetic, as if the creators of this place had intended to show off such patterns.
Day and night did not exist here in Azrael’s Menagerie, and I had not yet developed my sense of time to accurately determine how long I had been there. First, I rested outside a locked enclosure with a black, skinny humanoid creature with swollen limbs and stomach inside staring me down. It had sharp teeth jutting out of its jaw and looked like it desperately had something to say, though I did not recognize its need at the time. I wondered if it was the same presence I had seen before, but lacked the words to ask it. There was nothing else in its enclosure but sand, and the enclosure itself seemed to be made of nothing more than a simple metal fence covering it from all angles. I found that I could not relax with it glaring at me like it did, so I moved to leave, but then I heard something. The creature talked, though it was still rasping with its swollen tongue.
‘Oh Brother Death!’ the creature said. ‘I have found you once again from throughout our many lifetimes.’
I wasn’t making any sense of what it was saying so I didn’t turn back around.
It made a face I could not discern then said, ‘Wait! If nothing else, remember this: you must find the other Aspects of Death. Once you can read, look for information on other Gods of Death. Piece together your long long life across the cosmos.’
I left to sleep on top of a tree with glistening leaves. Touching them, they pricked at my flesh. Looking closely, the leaves were lined with microscopic barbs that would pierce my skin and notably release with relative ease unlike the elasticity you mammals experience when your flesh is torn at.
Deciding to leave it, I looked for a quiet place and, feeling at various plant-life and minerals, I found a large plant that looked like a cross between a tree and a cactus, though extremely soft and lacking any spikes. I curled up in a comfortable space between a branch and the husk of the tree and began to rest again. Once again I found I could not relax, this time due to the complex chemicals and pheromones that were released from the plant at the slightest touch. My senses overwhelmed my mind as I could not help but to overanalyze the smells, even when I kept at a hairsbreadth from the plant. Nor was it something I seemed able to get used to.
This time, I flew farther away, only slightly more gracefully than before while simply eyeballing anything that seemed appealing. Though I tried a few other places, not staying for long in any one place, I finally found the end of this grand garden. Now that I had gotten a better look at the megastructures among the planetoids, they all seemed to have a discernable pattern to them.
At the front I could see another planetary body, but this one was non-spherical and seemed to be attached to the megastructures differently. Though I did not realise it just yet, the entire thing was actually the skeletal fossil of some great beast that made me look the size of a bug in comparison, and now I was looking at its head.
Flying faster and faster, riding the light waves forward, I found myself overshooting before I stopped farther ahead. I turned and to my surprise the entire landscape I had left had completely changed. Rather than a great many gardens adorning the remains of Behemoth, now the thing was alive and I was staring down one of its nostrils. Whatever that creature who spoke of dark energy had done to me, time had seemingly lost all its meaning. The great serpent had the qualities of a dragon, hippo, lion, whale, and water buffalo.
The great black dragon opened one eye. Its great pupil contracted very quickly to focus on me before expanding slightly again to look around. Seemingly disatisfied, it gave me one final glance before closing its eye.
I waited, but it did not budge, remaining as still as it had when it was dead.
I could still sense the menagerie and its life beyond, but I did not make a move. No sensation of tiredness came over me, yet I would not move. I did not want to move. In the shadow of Behemoth and Azrael’s Menagerie I slept.
Though I did not know it, the creature with swollen limbs and stomach I had witnessed in the menagerie was, in fact, one of the Riders of the Apocalypse: Famine. The two of us would one day ride great beasts alongside War, Pestilence, Conquest, Chaos, and Dream. Why that sounds similar but different to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is because; for one, we don’t need to ride horses when we can each fly, but each of the beasts we ride adds greatly to our combat prowess; and because there are, in fact, seven of us and Seven Seals of the Apocalypse. The number isn’t as important as superstition would make it out to be. The number seven is just the seventh smallest natural number and the fifth smallest prime number, that is all.
After Famine and I parted ways in Azrael’s Menagerie, she went on to wait a few hundred years for her chance to escape. Though her cage looked ordinary, in the great pillars holding up Behemoth’s body in space, there were darkness dampeners that weakened her power and dilated time. Without dark energy and matter to manipulate gravity at will, she was little more than a bloated corpse. Additionally, the dampeners made it so time in the menagerie was just a mess.
Oh, my child, I miss you dearly, Famine thought after I had left. The only hope I have now is that I shall meet Death again soon and he will reconnect us. If only I hadn’t been so stupid as to get myself captured by Azrael, but I thought they could help me return to you. Only, instead they realised what I wanted and spared me my death. So, now I have to wait for death’s very personification instead. The captivity and terrible conditions are nowhere near as bad as being apart from you, my dear. The rest of it I can get used to, but your absence not only hurts me greatly but pushes me to survive. Now that I’ve met Death again after all this time, my hope of being reunited with you has once again been rekindled.
She got up and walked to the edge of the cage where she tried to bend the metal bars. She had been doing this over and over every day for the last several hundred years, and she would do it again for the next several hundred years until, one artificial day, her darkness had regenerated enough to not only tear off the bars, but feast on them as well. Anything at all would give her nourishment, a mutation most rare among her tribe of spirits, and the reason she alone survived among them after aeons long famines. Even immortal spirits require some form of nutrition, but Famine’s guts alone were capable of breaking down the atomic structure of matter and turning it directly into energy.
Once she had gained a sliver of power, her strength only snowballed from there. She sucked into her mouth the entirety of her cage and mound of sand in an instant. Darkness billowed behind her, forming wings of shadow, and she flew high above Azrael’s Menagerie and looked upon Behemoth, ever in a state of death and undeath due to the time/darkness dampeners.
‘Goodbye, old friend,’ she said, now capable of telepathic communication.
Behemoth’s eyes looked pleadingly at her as she opened her mouth and drew in Behemoth’s immortal soul. Her lungs expanded past her ribs to an impossible size as she breathed in dark energy as hard as she could. A shot of concentrated darkness erupted from her mouth and tore into Behemoth’s body, destroying the menagerie in the process.
Now able to manipulate space-time once again, Famine tore a hole in the universe to escape to another.