Hell, 163,000 light-years from Earth
The Infernal Library doesn’t get many visitors. It takes a special permission for a Demon to access it, and some of the books are written in Demonic dialects so old that barely anyone still knows how to read them.
This has changed now that the current Regent of Hell, Noriko Null, has officially waived the requirements to read any of the millions of books and scrolls housed there.
Thousands of Demons are flipping through the pages, in a meticulous effort to catalogue the contents of the Library. Those having anything to do with history are passed on to the handful of Nullbots scattered throughout the building: the work is scanned and translated into English.
Noriko Null is waiting for any of them to find a mention of Heaven. She’s been waiting for it for several hours at this point.
<You won’t find what you are looking for in print, youngling.>
Noriko turns towards the elderly Demon woman who just spoke to her. From the looks of it, she’s probably the oldest Demon she’s ever met: several patches of her grey hair have already fallen, and she’s hunched over a walking stick made of Blood energy.
<I wouldn’t be so sure. You probably don’t know who I am, but…>
<You’re the latest Regent. Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I’m ignorant.>
<Sorry, that’s not what I was implying. Are you familiar with the Infernal Library?>
<Youngling, I have worked here for 327 years. I know everything about it. Your kind doesn’t live for very long, so I’ll save you some time: you’re looking for mentions of Heaven?>
<Yes. If you know where I can find that…>
<Not in these books. Not a single word about Heaven has been written down by Demon hands.>
<Oh. How can I be sure you’re telling me the truth, lady? Have you read all these books?>
<With 327 years in the same library? Of course I have.>
<Well. Thanks for ruining my day, I guess.> Noriko pouts, crossing her arms.
<Why are you wasting time here, youngling? Aren’t you Empress of the Universe or something?>
<Co-Empress of Olympus. And I’m here because, if I find information about Heaven, I could use that as leverage against Gaea.>
<I’ve heard stories about you, Regent. You don’t strike me as the type that reads books when there are gods to be vanquished. Why are you really here? Perhaps you resent your position and seek refuge from your responsibilities?>
Noriko stares at the Demon woman in the eyes. She has no trouble believing this is a person who has seen everything. This is a survivor.
<You’re not just a librarian, aren’t you? I’ve memorized the entire Demon census, but I don’t recognize you.>
<My name is Maim. You put too much faith in rules and regulations, youngling; some things are too precious to be bound by being written down. That includes the names of people who wish to remain in the shadows, and secrets buried by time.>
<Look, Maim, you seem like a nice old lady, but I have little patience for vague pseudo-philosophical crap. If you know something that can help me, you better get on with it; otherwise, I have ways to make you talk.> Noriko threatens her, her silver eyes shining.
The old lady chuckles.
<My my. You sure are afraid of facing your real fear.> she says.
<I am the Slayer of Gods. Do I look like I’m afraid of anything?>
<To someone who can sense your soul? You’re practically shouting it. I will help you in your quest, youngling, if you admit why you are really looking for Heaven.>
<I already told you. I need some leverage for…>
<Stop lying. As a gesture of respect for your position as Regent, I will give you a second chance to really speak your mind.> Maim interrupts her.
Noriko thinks hard about this. She has no doubt this is really a Demon… after all this time, she has some awareness of being near a Blood user… but she acts more like a god.
<Alright. I’m trying to fix this mess by staying true to myself, okay? The obvious choice would be to strike a compromise with Gaea… but that would be admitting I’m just like all other leaders and politicians. I don’t want to be an Empress, and my greatest fear is that I might have to start acting like one. Happy now?>
<Quite. You know, youngling, you remind me a lot of Laceration.>
<You mean Torn’s daughter?>
<No, her namesake, Torn’s mother. She was a student of mine.>
<Hmm. Torn’s mother was a historian, right? His father must’ve learned about Heaven from her.>
<I warned her about discussing such matters with Reaper. But Laceration was a rare kind of historian… she wanted to know our past to learn from our mistakes.>
<Isn’t that the norm for historians?>
<Not in Hell. We study history to make sure things that could haunt us stay dead.>
<Ugh, and here I thought you were starting to make sense…>
Intergalactic space
When she snuck on the Ragnarok in search of an adventure, Nalani Null expected to find something truly unexpected. Now that she’s swimming inside the hallway in company of a merman, she’s fully convinced she was right.
<Are you sure you don’t want to stay in your room like your friends?> Kestral asks her.
<No thanks, I’d rather just look at the ship.> Nalani replies, struggling a bit to talk: the breathing apparatus attached to her mouth provides the oxygen, but it wasn’t designed to be comfortable to a five year old.
Moving around is even more difficult. She’s grateful her mother insisted to give her swimming lessons as soon as physically possible… she considered it an inescapable part of her Native Hawaiian legacy… but moving underwater is another thing entirely.
<I’m surprised this is exciting for you: the Naxos isn’t as advanced as your Ragnarok.>
<Are you kidding me? Keeping everything underwater is way harder than handling a standard life support system!>
<I suppose. Listen, Nalani, would you be willing to provide your technical expertise to Atlantis Rising? We sure could us someone who knows her way around advanced technology.>
<Is that why you haven’t imprisoned me? You’re trying to recruit me into your organization?> she asks, with a mixture of pride and fear.
<I have an eye for talent, and you seem eager to get a chance to prove yourself.>
<Well, I’m flattered and all but… I’m sure that would violate all kinds of child labor laws.>
<Not where I come from.> Kestral replies. And only now Nalani starts to get seriously worried.
<What’s going to happen to me and Kari’s daughters?>
<Once we reach the Aegian Galaxy, I’ll give you a ship that’ll take you back home.>
<You’re not going to force us to work for you?>
<I’m not a monster, Nalani. Atlantis Rising is a voluntary freedom force, we don’t have use for innocent prisoners and we don’t condone slavery.>
<That’s a relief. So you’re also going to free the adults?>
<We’ll see.> Kestral answers enigmatically; now they have reached the room where the Vanguard is being held.
Torn and Kari Zel are chained to the wall, sedated and breathing through a tube. Quantum is right in the middle of the room… or rather, the stone statue that used to be Quantum.
<What have you done to him!?> Nalani exclaims.
<Transmutation. Don’t worry, his life is not in danger.>
<How can you be sure!?>
<I’ve been doing this for a while, kid. How are the other prisoners?> Kestral asks to the mermaid sitting at a nearby computers station, looking at two screens. One is showing Kari’s heartbeat, steady and regular. The other shows three separate lines, charting Torn’s three hearts.
<The woman is fast asleep, with all the sedatives in her blood she’ll sleep for days. But the Demon… I don’t know what to make of it, but his central heart is beating faster than the others.>
<Hmm. His breathing seems rather shallow… have you checked if he’s using all four lungs?>
<I… don’t know how to check for that.> the mermaid admits, after looking nervously at Nalani as if she was embarrassed to admit her lack of knowledge.
Kestral gets closer to Torn, and his eyes turn completely white as he activates his Drylon device.
<I’m looking at his chemical structure. Two of the lungs are filled with oxygen and are not releasing it… is he holding his breath while he’s breathing!?> Kestral wonders.
He stops wondering when Torn opens his eyes, but only for a moment before the Demon headbutts him. He’s lucky that, being underwater, the force of the impact is slightly reduced: instead of receiving a concussion, he’s just disoriented.
Torn frees himself by tearing through the chains that were securing him to the wall; at the same time, he throws a dagger of Blood energy at the mermaid: it breaks the button she was reaching for, correctly guessing it was supposed to sound an alarm.
<Have you been faking being unconscious this entire time?> Kestral asks, genuinely impressed, while transmuting the water in front of Torn into a solid block of iron.
It doesn’t slow him down: with a single stroke of the Blood sword that just appeared in his hand, Torn effortlessly cuts it in half.
Kestral wasn’t under the impression that it would do anything except give him a second to concentrate: transmuting his body into stone is going to take a little more effort.
The glowing red aura that envelops Torn’s body seems to act as a shield of sorts, as Kestral finds himself unable to transmute him… just as he’s incapable of transmuting Blood energy.
The best he can do is change Torn’s breathing apparatus into bubbles of gas, but Torn is still holding enough oxygen in his lungs to continue without much trouble.
Torn grabs Kestral by the throat, making another dagger appear right above his head.
<Wait, don’t kill him! We need him to restore Quantum!> Nalani warns him.
As a gesture of cooperation, Kestral lifts his hands and transmutes the water around Torn and Nalani into air, while keeping himself submerged.
Torn lets him go, but the dagger above his opponent stays where it is.
Nalani runs towards the Demon to hug him, hoping the water dripping from her face masks her tears of fear… being on a mission is not as she imagined.
<I’ll free your friends, but I want your word that you won’t kill my crew.> Kestral says.
<How can we trust him?> his mermaid lieutenant asks, still too afraid to ask for help.
<He had multiple chances to kill me and didn’t take them. Why?> Kestral asks.
<Our mission was to study your organization. You also had many chances to kill us, or to use the child as a shield. I believe we can trust each other.> Torn explains.
<Then why do I still have a blade hanging over my head?>
<Trusting doesn’t mean being stupid.>
<Fair enough.> Kestral shrugs, and with a thought Quantum is returned to flesh and blood.
The human is understandably disoriented. When he looks around to see a merman with a dagger floating over his head, he also shrugs.
<I don’t think I wanna know.>
<Your other friend will take time to wake up, now that I’ve dissolved the sedatives in her blood.>
<Where are we? This doesn’t look like the Ragnarok.> Quantum asks.
<This is the Naxos, one of the city-ships of the Atlantis Uprising. We’re currently headed for Kefalonia, one of our posts in the Aegian Galaxy.>
<We’re supposed to meet with the leader of Atlantis Uprising. Will he be there?> Torn asks.
<Of course. But if you want to have a honest discussion with their leader, it’d be best to remove the dagger from hanging over his head.> Kestral answers, pointing at the Blood weapon above him.
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