Azela spent the rest of the day and half of the night in the haven's colossal library, delving into the history and customs of the glitchen. After climbing down from his tower, she found Shi-Yon waiting for her, unharmed by the fall that would have been fatal to most. He provided her with directions to the library and assured her that she could stay out as late as she wanted. Then he said he had work to do, and left in a hurry before Azela could say anything back, except goodbye. It was as if he was anxious to get away from her, and Azela was mildly distraught as she followed his directions through downtown Jastria.

After the few she had met the previous night, the glitchen she saw as she walked through the village were almost shocking in their normalcy. Before she reached the library, no one spoke to her or even looked her way, even though her outfit alone should have made her stand out. Most of them wore clothes more simply made and less brightly colored than her own. Her shyness prevented her from getting too close to anyone that passed her by, though nothing made them seem unfriendly other than their indifference.

She knew she wasn't invisible when she met the librarians, who were polite in a way that echoed long practice of catering to patrons, and the old stone building was surprisingly cozy inside. Seeing the symbol on her belt, they recognized her as an apostle and asked no questions beyond if she would need assistance finding anything. Her problems were easily forgotten as she lost herself amongst the thousands of books and scrolls she was granted full access to.

When she was too tired and hungry to continue her research, she retraced her steps to Shi-Yon's tower. The aroma of a prepared meal greeted her before she entered. The bed was the only furniture on the first floor, and as a result, the meal was served on a blanket on the floor. He stood against the wall, and Azela sat across from him.

While savoring the flavorful curry in her bowl, she realized something. Not even once had she seen him sit down, sleep, eat, or do anything besides answer her questions and prepare her food.

Curious, Azela asked, "Where did you go today? What kind of work do you do?"

"I am considered a guardian of Jastria and its glitchen," was his answer, "And so are you. In times of peace like this, we just keep watch in case anything dangerous escapes from the myst. They call this village a haven, but as far as glitchen are concerned, it's our nation as well." He looked up. "Hell, it's practically our entire world; I know of no other glitchen settlement in the mountains or beyond. If an enemy were to attack, our whole species could be wiped out. That's one of the reasons why the apostles of Jastria exist: to defend our people."

"Well, what about Ayan? If he's a god, isn't that enough?" she asked.

"He obviously isn't omnipotent, and he spends most of his time outside of the haven. He could be right outside, the next village over, or on another planet. We hardly ever know. In theory, he makes up most of our governmental system, kind of like a king with the apostles acting in his name. In practice we hardly need a government at all, isolated as we are," he explained.

Azela nodded. "This seems an odd question to ask as I apparently am one, but who are the apostles? I assume there are at least seven including me, but I've only met you."

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"The apostle numbered One-Ten concerns himself mostly with the needs of running the haven. You could consider him a mayor in all but name. Two-Zero is more secretive and handles issues that require invisible hands. It's said that our scout, Three-Four, wandered too close to the myst, but I have suspicions about his disappearance. Five is a drunkard and a waste of space."

"Wait," Azela interrupted, "What do you mean by wandering too close to the mist? What is this mist I keep hearing about?"

He was quiet for a second, then asked, "Do you mean you don't remember anything at all about the myst?" Azela nodded, so he explained, "It is the low, fog-like clouds you've seen between the mountains. Avoid them at all costs. Those that venture into them rarely return, and those that do are often… changed. Turned to stone, infected by otherworldly diseases, deformed by countless tumors, driven mad, aged a hundred years, transformed into a mass of shifting nightmares, the list is endless. From those that could still communicate in one form or another we've gained a little knowledge of what lies within, or I should say, beyond them.

"The myst connects to other worlds. Some are instant death, with features like a sea of mercury, fire raining from the sky or so little pressure in the air that it may as well be a vacuum. These seem rare, though. For reasons we have yet to understand, most worlds resemble our own, with at least a breathable atmosphere and survivable gravitation. Various methods have been employed to record what can be found, and though they tend to mostly share common traits, anything from the stars in the sky to the very laws of physics could be wildly different. MegaGlitch has made devices that could venture into them and send a limited amount of information back before they inevitably became lost forever. He was under the belief that these collections of myst led to other planets in this universe, but was recently proven wrong. The worlds of the myst are part of entire universes separate from this one. The myst clouds are seas of infinite infinities."

Intrigued, Azela probed, "What proved him wrong?"

Shi-Yon began to speak, then hesitated. He seemed to consider his words before answering, "Another Aon was found. Or I should say, it found this one."

"An Aon?" asked Azela.

"You don't even..." Shi-Yon paused a moment before continuing. "I'm sorry, I was just reminded of how hard this all must be for you. The problems with your memory, I mean."

Azela shook her head while waving dismissively. "Don't worry about me. Just continue."

"Alright," he said. "Aon is the name of this planet. The world we live on. A woman from a world almost exactly the same as this emerged from the myst one day. Her world of the same name had the same history as well, until a few years ago, when subtle differences separate the timelines. She has a past that never happened here, and another version of her was born here as well. They are like twins who have experienced entirely separate lives."

Azela stretched to hide a shiver. The nearby fog was so close, and apparently deadly in ways she couldn't even imagine. It was something she would rather not think about. "Back to the others... What about MegaGlitch? What does he do?"

That was the first time she heard Shi-Yon laugh. "That old tin can? He's just our local bartender. Tens of thousands of years older than all of us, and with all his wisdom and experience, all he does is serve drinks."

Azela smiled as well. Shi-Yon's laugh was warm and friendly, a trait that she hadn't seen from him before. When she had asked about him at the library, she was told that he never spoke to anyone. He was known by the glitchen to be silent and emotionless. Some even feared him. Yet he had answered nearly every question she asked him, gave her a home, and took care of her without wanting anything in return.

He just needed someone he could trust, Azela thought, someone to open up to. In time, I'll get him out of his shell.