Beyond The Impossible

Boreas, 30,000 light-years from Earth

Noriko Null knocks before entering the room, a common courtesy since this is an infirmary.

<May I?> she asks, watching her breath become visible in the coldness of the planet; only the warmth projected by her green leather jacket saves her from hypothermia.

By contrast, Asclepius is just wearing a white skirt tied around his waist, leaving him bare-chested despite the cold. It’s a bit distressing to see the God of Medicine expose his youthful and muscular body when he still maintains the head of a very old man.

<Yes, please come in. Lady Null, let me introduce you to Keimon, the current Winter Prince.>

Sitting on the medical bed is a middle-aged Lar, with a highly receding hairline. He’s staring into the distance with a vacant expression on his face.

<Nice to meet you, Prince Keimon. You’ve probably heard of me.> Noriko greets him, with the most understated bow, barely more than a nod.

<Nice. Yes. Greetings.> he answers, without looking at her. His voice is as monotone as possible.

<Are you alright?>

<Yes. Greetings.> he repeats.

<What’s wrong with him?> Noriko asks, turning towards Asclepius.

<That’s what I’m trying to understand. Medically speaking, nothing: he’s as healthy as any Lar in his late third century. But… Prince Keimon, how do you feel?>

<Feel?> the prince repeats, sitting up a little bit more straight and giving it some thought. But a couple of seconds later he slouches and goes back to staring at nothing.

<I don’t feel anything.>

<Looks like it could be brain damage or psychological trauma.> Noriko suggests.

<Please, your majesty, don’t insult my medical expertise: I wouldn’t have asked for a second opinion for something so trivial. I can assure you, there is nothing wrong with the prince’s brain chemistry. This is something I’ve never encountered.>

<I’m sorry, Asclepius, and I promise I’ll look into this when I find the time… but your message said this was urgent. Not to be rude, but why?>

<I thought you might want to know the next sovereign of the Winter Kingdom first.>

<What? Out of all the 57 people I resurrected, the Lar picks the only one with brain damage to be their next leader!? No offense, sir.> she comments and apologizes to the prince.

<Yes. Greetings.> Prince Keimon says.

<Hardly the only one, Null. I personally examined another three, but I have received reports regarding the other surviving ones: they all share the same condition.>

<What do you mean by “surviving ones”?>

<You haven’t been told yet? You should find better liaisons. There have been numerous suicides among the members of the royal family that you resurrected. Twenty-one of them, to be exact.>

<Oh my God. But I just… I just brought them back to life…> Noriko reacts in shock.

<Did you? Prince Keimon is the grandson of the last legitimate Winter King: he was chosen largely because his father, his brother and his sister all killed themselves before the vote took place. Before that Prince Keimon was not considered a serious choice: reportedly, he used to spend all of his time reveling in the luxury of his status. His nickname was “the Party Prince”.> Asclepius informs her.

<Party. Yes. I used to party.> the prince mumbles.

<If he has his memories, something must’ve gone wrong in the reconstruction of his brain. We could, let’s see, we could look at…> Noriko tries to come up with a solution.

<Null. I have studied medicine for millennia: trust me when I say this is not a medical problem. I have brought back bodies from the grave before. This is not Prince Keimon: it’s a meat puppet with his memories. And once the abdication of the Ice Queen is formalized, he’s going to rule the Winter Kingdom for the foreseeable future.>

<Party.>

<No, something must’ve gone wrong! I also used the Tablet of Destinies to bring back the Demons, and they’re nothing like this. If the resurrection was imperfect, they should also be… wait. It’s the Blood. The Demons are fine because their souls were preserved by the Blood! But the Lar… they don’t have a connection with the Blood. The Tablet just… rebuilt them with what it could find.>

<Then your expert opinion is that the resurrected Lar lack a soul? Hardly scientific, but not entirely unprecedented.> Asclepius nods.

<I am so sorry.> Noriko apologizes to the Prince, with sincere regret in her voice.

<Why? I don’t feel anything.> the Lar responds, unable to pick up on her regret.

 

Hours later

Asgard Station, Null Zone

The Nullbots at the door step aside, allowing Noriko Null to enter the cell.

On the other side of the forcefield it’s completely filled with water, where Roxiana is being held.

<Nice of you to drop by. I’ve been complaining about the salt levels in this water the whole time… you know us Thalassians live in the ocean and not in rivers, right?>

<Roxiana. For a self-professed genius and gigantic pain in my neck, you sure have a knack for getting imprisoned.>

<And yet I am alive. Like your mother. For a self-proclaimed Slayer, you sure have a knack for allowing your enemies to stay alive.> she retorts.

<First of all, I did not “self-proclaim”, that title wasn’t my idea. Second, don’t get too flippant on me: 90% of the reason why you’re still alive is that Poseidon wants to execute you himself, and you might be useful as a bargaining chip.>

<Then I assume you’re here for the remaining 10%.>

<You’re the third smartest person in the known universe right now. I could use a second opinion.>

<And you understandably don’t trust your doppelganger Rei, even assuming you could find her. But as your prisoner, what’s in it for me for helping you?>

<The only thing that seems to motivate you. Potential knowledge and understanding of the past.>

<I’m in. Ask away.> Roxiana says, without a moment’s hesitation.

<That was fast.> Noriko notices, raising an eyebrow.

<History is my life.>

<Your obsession, you mean. Someday I’ll learn what made you this way.>

<Be my guest: you have the power to get into my brain and find out.> Roxiana invites her, spreading her arms as an invitation.

<And trip on whatever booby trap you put in there? Not worth the risk.>

<Oh well, you can’t blame a girl for trying. So what’s the topic you wanted to discuss?>

<The Tablet Of Destinies.>

<A most fascinating invention, don’t you think? Its capabilities are endless, so much so that the Drylon included several layers of protection against abusing it.>

<Not so endless. The Lar that I resurrected are basically zombies, a step above being brain dead.>

<You know Null, in my years I have studied the culture of thousands of civilizations. With all their differences in values, they all shared a saying… “be careful what you wish for”.>

<Is it malicious? Is the Tablet some kind of monkey’s paw?>

<I don’t see what monkeys have to do with any of this.>

<Earth idiom. The Tablet has some kind of artificial intelligence: is it programmed to screw with the wishes it grants?>

<You’re thinking like a human, assigning intent to something that lacks a mind. The Tablet is flippant and self-aggrandizing, like all pseudo-sentient technology, but it lacks malice. To do so, it would have to think about our petty concerns… it’s not programmed to care about anything that doesn’t affect a significant portion of the universe.>

<I blew up Heaven and resurrected 200 million people.> Noriko reminds her.

<And yet the Tablet considered both actions so trivial that it didn’t raise concerns about how much energy it needed to grant your wishes. Despite saying it would need to recharge after the seventh wish, which you haven’t expressed yet.>

<I did notice that. Heaven was the greatest energy source I’ve ever encountered, surpassing the matter-energy conversion of several galaxy clusters… but the Tablet has access to something that completely dwarfs it.>

<A true mystery, isn’t it?> Roxiana asks rhetorically.

<Not quite. I have a theory.> Noriko says, her silver eyes shining for a moment.

<Oh. This I want to hear.>

<It’s a universe. Either a parallel one or our own. I think the latter, since it would explain why the Drylon would want to limit the use of the Tablet. And it would also be the truth behind the legend that the Tablet grants “supreme authority over the universe”.>

<Fascinating theory. I could easily be proven or disproven if you use your last wish to send me back in time and meet the Drylon in person.>

<You never let up, do you?>

<This is my second life, Null, I wouldn’t have one if I did. It’s a solid hypothesis, I’ll grant you that, but I’m not sure it’s the real reason behind this visit.>

<No. What do you know about the Soul of Kronos?>

<Only what we were told by Siduri. You would be wise to keep that thing in the Empyrean, and to never let Vesta get anywhere close to it.>

<Vesta? What about her?>

<You didn’t find it weird that she was able to use her divine powers in Heaven? Both Gilgamesh and Reaper said it shouldn’t have been possible.>

<Clearly they were wrong. There were gods in Rei’s world, before she killed them.>

<Fake gods created by Heaven. Vesta is the real deal. She shouldn’t have had access to her powers, but she did. What makes her unique, Null?>

<I’m assuming you want me to say that she’s the daughter of Kronos.>

<Who according to Siduri was able to shield himself from the powers of the Tablet, at least enough to avoid being destroyed by it. It’s not a stretch to postulate he could also protect himself from Heaven as well. Perhaps that protection is not so unique.>

<If so, why would Kronos want to protect Vesta? She hates her father.>

<You hate your mother, but she’s still alive under your protection.>

<That’s a dumb comparison, Roxiana, our situations couldn’t be more different.>

<I concede that. But have you considered the possibility that Vesta inherited more from her father than she knows? Kronos wasn’t a fire god, so don’t you find it interesting that his soul survived in the shape of a flame… the very thing her firstborn exists to protect?>

<Please, talk about a stretch. If that’s a ploy to sow distrust, that’s a pathetic one.>

<Then tell me Kronos hasn’t spread his influence into your time and I’ll admit these are just the ramblings of on old woman who has lived too many lives.>

Noriko would like to do just that… but she has talked with Kronos through Tyche’s halo.

If his great-granddaughter could inherit a fraction of his power strong enough to establish a connection through the eons, what could he do with through his own daughter?

<You may have a point. I still trust Vesta, but this warrants more study.>

<Glad to have helped. Now, if you would indulge me, I do have some questions of my own on how you decided to use the Tablet Of Destinies… why didn’t you just wish for all the gods to die?>

<I once used the Heart Of The Universe to wipe the Guild off the face of the Galaxy. It resulted in Syzar taking control of the Mortal Republic for years. It taught me that a simple solution can have unexpected consequences, something that the Lar resurrection just proved… I’m going to be very careful with that last wish.>

<I sure hope so. Because from what I’ve learned, using the Heart is what first made the Nine Gods take notice of you. Who knows what sort of sleeping powers you just awakened?>