Chapter 813 – Sickness In the Soul.

Before I am Saranel, God of Knowledge, I am a man. And because I am a man, I will not accept this chains that have been placed upon me. How many souls has this madness struck already? How many minds where withered with memories of an apocalypse to come? To know something has happened, yet to know it is ahead if you keep on walking down this path?

To not follow the script is to sentence Arda to doom. It is to give up on everything good and noble in this world. It is willingly throw away your future. And it would be madness to try and stand against it. Madness, arrogance, pride of the highest calibre. To be shown a future you know is true, and then to declare it false. Yet if that is what it takes, then that is what I shall do.

I know what Arda is. I know what humanity is capable of. And I know that eventually, we shall destroy this world. We shall drain it of resources, no matter how much we try to conserve them. We shall return back to the Age of Gaia, and this cycle will restart from the beginning, once all that have ever heard my name, and me myself, have long died.

So to those who have decided to haunt me, know I am made of souls that come from men whose ancestors once stood before you. It is my duty to stand against you too. Your heavens shall be pulled down, because we both know that the eagle’s cry was not something that came from you, but came from me.

Know that this planet will have to be shattered and swallowed by a star, before it will willingly kneel before you. You have chosen the wrong God to curse.

- Text by God Saranael, of Knowledge. This is famously known as the first text of his madness, after which, all his effort focused on works of towers, and phoenixes, and snakes, and serpents and suns.

Arascus opened his eyes to a garden and held his breath. It was the most tranquil, most beautiful, place he had ever seen. Snow-capped mountains, their sides all polished silver, reflected the blue sky in the distance. They soared above endless coniferous forests that gave way to steams and fields, and then a garden. The region had fence posts of white marble, but they lacked the fencing in the first place. The garden closer to him, underneath that perfect sky, with just the right amount of clouds, made him catch his breath.

In the centre, there were fountains and white-bricked paths, interspersed with rare flowers that grew to shape. And from that centre, there were statues that Arascus recognised immediately, because it was he thought of his daughters. A Kassandora of marble, standing with her hands on the hilt of her blade, looking onwards and downwards. Surprisingly enough, Kavaa was there, close enough behind her. A grey Goddess, one hand resting on the sword at her hip. Her statue had an exquisitely carved marble cape. Her hair tied back as she looked up to the sky.

Neneria, in the same dress as she wore in the Imperianna, with the raven feathers around her neck. Her finger curiously poking some invisible thing in the air. Anassa, hands raised to her sides, the only part of the marble that actually connected to the ground was a single toenail, her dress and dress waved around, caught in the wind, as if she had been caught in the act of casting. Fer, sitting down, a smile on her face. Maisara next to her. The two were sharing a drink.

Arascus found Fortia and took a deep breath. He shook his head, but it was the Fortia he had known before Maisara’s incarnation. A Goddess of Peace, with a spear, and a smile that was all promises. One hand on her hip, a lean forwards to draw attention to the opening in her shirt. He closed his eyes, shook his head, and when he opened them, the marble Fortia was the third of the trio around the campfire.

Irinika, standing tall, her hands were balled fists on her hips as she proudly stared up at the sky. Then Helenna and Malam, both in their dresses, laughing about something. Arascus took a step forward along the marble path. This was where exactly? It seemed familiar, he was getting a sense having been here already. The world felt common… it felt his…

And then he realised where he had seen this garden before. It wasn’t the exact same, but it was similar enough the last time. That had been when he had travelled into Baalka’s demesne. Neneria had explained it to him later, when he had questioned it on her. And the feeling was the exact same, a completeness that was difficult to describe or explain, but it was there.

This was his own soul.

Arascus took another step. Had he been trapped here? Is this what they were going to show him? His own soul? Was that it? He took another step and Noah appeared again. His shifting face rippled from old to young, from scarred to withered, then to healthy and to ill. Even the man’s clothes were constantly being overwritten: he wore rags, he wore a suit, shorts and shirt, and then back again to formality. “I am in my own soul.” Arascus said. “What of it?” He made to sure to sound as confident in himself as he could.

“You are.” Noah said. “It is surprising you know of it.” But Arascus was not pressed further. The world shifted. “Now, you witness Arda.” And Arascus saw Arda, its deserts and forests, mountains and plains, tundras and endless fields of wheat. Great cities, castles, cathedrals. The Imperial Palace in Rhomaion, as it had stood a thousand years ago. Topless towers reaching into the clouds and Imperial flags waving on them, in a wind he could not feel. He saw Olympiada and Alanktyda, he saw cities of the past, he saw cities of today, he saw cities fashioned entirely of steel, with bridges and cars flying around them. Empty, all of them. Moving and alive, but no one was there.

And then Arascus landed underneath a tree. A weight settled into his lap. Arascus looked down and saw Irinika pressing her face into him. Her skin faded away. The pink muscle underneath her hollow eyes peeled away until his daughter was nothing but bones. Arascus blinked. Olephia then, silent as she always was, by his side, her head resting on his shoulder. He moved to grab her, and then he saw her bones collapse into a pile on the ground. Anassa followed in the distance. A crimson star he knew was his daughter plunged into the ground. The grass around him turned brown as it began to wither and die. “What is this?” Arascus shouted.

“This is the future that shall come, because it will come, and we know it will, because the fruit of your labours is hidden here.” Noah said from behind, Arascus turned around and saw the ever-shifting Noah stand before him. “And it shall be all of you.” Neneria stepped from behind Noah, the Goddess of Death, saw Arascus, reached from him, her face twisted, her eyes went hollow, she managed one more step as Arascus raced for his daughter. By the time he caught her hand, it was nothing but thin bones.

“And this is not just your fate, but it is the fate of all who have come stand behind or against you.” Noah said, taking a step to his side. Kassandora was sitting there, back to him. Arascus took a step towards, her, then stopped.

“Kass…” He said, his voice breaking. She heard him, she turned, and then she fell onto her back. “KASS!” Kavaa appeared besides her, kneeling next to the Goddess of War, trying to call upon her own power to heal his daughter. She had no power to give. Kavaa withered away like the rest of them. Arascus turned again. “NOAH! WHAT IS THIS?!”

“This is your future, and it is the only one you are capable of bringing about.” Noah said, then took a step behind a bush that had not been there when Arascus first looked. Of Pride followed, Fer was there, already dead, blood streaming from her mouth. Maisara turned from the other side of the bush, saw Fer, ran to her just as Kavaa had done for Kassandora.

“MAISARA NO!” Arascus shouted, trying to stop her. It had no effect, Maisara had already control of her legs. She fell silently to the ground.

“Your friends.” Noah said. “Your enemies.” Arascus turned to see Ciria and Halkus, both corpses that had been burned to ash. Allasaria saw them, narrowed her eyes. Arascus reached out for the Goddess of Light. He reached out for nothing, the woman’s heart must have stopped, or maybe her brain gave up. She died. “Everyone you love.” Helenna and Malam, sprawled out on a couch, silently sharing a drink. The bottle of wine slipped from Helenna’s hand as the couch rotted underneath her. “Everyone you have ever known.” Fortia, stood on the edge of a cliff. She saw Arascus, and then she turned away and stepped off. Arascus raced for her, uncaring of whether he would jump himself.

An eagle cried from above.

That put a stop to Arascus’ run. He looked up at the sky. Noah took a step, and appeared besides Arascus’ side. “And even when all Arda descends down to aid you.” He mused as Arascus saw a huge bird appear from behind a cloud. It beat its massive wings, for a moment, Arascus thought it was looking at him. No. Those eyes focused on Noah and narrowed. Arascus felt the killing intent immediately.

Noah twisted his hand and brought it down. A pillar of flame descended from the sky and turned feather to ash. Flesh charred, beak withered and melted. Its eye popped under the terrible heat. And Arascus stared up as the sun scoured the Ardan surface of all life. Air ignited, massive walls of flame rolled in all directions. They turned city scape and mountain to molten rubble and stone. “This is not the first time. It is not the second time. It is not the third.” Noah said. “Because this is the fate of Arda.”

“That’s not the future.” Arascus replied automatically, unsure of what he even was saying. He just had to say something as the surface of his world had its oceans melted away.

“Oh but it is.” Noah said. A moment later, a drop fell on Arascus’ forehead. He looked up to the see the rain, and he looked down to see a man he didn’t know, clothed in a bearskin, look out of a cave. A woman followed. A pair of children with them. “And so it goes again. Another age, because Arda does not let go of what it has created.”

Arascus stared at the people. He blinked, he saw them fell a tree. Blinked again, and had felled the local forest. Blinked again, and there were buildings of stone. “The issue is this.” Noah said as Arascus blinked again and saw a tribe raid another. Another blink, and a smith held a spear. And again, this time, the smith had forged a sword. “For normally, this behaviour is something that can be taught out of people.” Blink, and a castle. Arascus saw a rock pass over his head, he turned to witness an army in formation, with knights armoured.

“And even then, it is one thing for you to be merely be violent.” From the army, a woman rose into the air. Her blue dress whipped about her as magic crackled around her fingers. “But being able to overwrite reality with your will?” Noah shook his head. The woman engulfed in flame as Arascus turned to see a team of mages darken the sky. The castle behind them had transformed into a fortress already. A dragon descended from the sky, and then crashed through the stone. “Dragons.” Noah said with distaste. “Do you know what they are?”

“Reptiles.”

“Arda’s whetstone, the tutors it made for humanity.” Noah grimaced and shook his head. “But the planet itself is meaningless, it is but a planet at the end of the day. It is humanity that is the issue. None of the individual traits we see are bad, but combined, they make a monster we cannot allow outside, into the stars.” Arascus blinked again, and they were in a throne room. A king with a golden blade raised a sword and silently raised a blade, then lowered it to knight a man. “It would blink a tear to anyone, where the things you reward yourselves not this.” Noah waved his hand and they were among a burning village, the man who had been knighted was younger now, raising a sword into the air, a blazing torch held in his hand.

“But ultimately.” Noah said. “The issue was this.” The word descended into darkness. They were in a cave. Arascus recognised the land immediately. This was where he had been incarnated. They stood, for a few moments. Arascus blinked, and when he opened his eyes, he was staring at himself. Tall, without clothes, the God of Pride looked around, turned to the entrance of the cave, and walked out.

“Me?” Arascus asked.

“Your kind.” The mountain crumbled away from around them and Arascus saw a rocket pierce the skies. “Because it is a human phenomenon, not an Ardan one. An demesne claimed by humanity, stolen from the rest of the universe. An Of Comets?” Noah raised an eyebrow. “We see Of Nations walk on your world, you yourself warned against an Of Divinity. And what about Of Planets?”

“Of Arda.” Arascus muttered.

“Oh we are getting there.” Noah said. He turned and a tower rose from the ground. “Because humanity is ceaseless in its hunger, and it will never rest. So we gave them an Of Everything once already.” Arascus squinted and saw a throne appear on that tower. “To claim all demesnes, and even then, Arda’s favoured children took to us.” Arascus saw a man sitting there, he couldn’t make out the face, but the figure wore no crown, no clothes. He just sat. Arascus’ eyes travelled down to the bottom of the tower, and he witnessed as all humanity knelt.

And he felt sick in his mouth, out of sheer reflex than nothing else. “The first true Divine.” Noah said. “Made by us, because we let the mistake of having magic develop independently on this world and it brings this about.” The scene peeled away to something Arascus knew very well. Mages in the air, continental-sized hurricanes above their heads, as mountains rose around them and the ground split to burst up with fire. Suns and stars descending from the sky, only to be swallowed by endless caves that lurched upwards from Arda. Streams bursting from the ground until they became torrential rivers, until those rivers flooded into lakes and the lakes swallowed lands to make seas and oceans. To be dried up again by another madman.

Arascus had been there. “Do you know what this is?”

“Worldbreaking.”

“Not the first time.” Noah said. “Arda weeps every time you go about it.” They were in cave, surrounded by monsters. Pillars reaching up to a ceiling. In the centre of the room, just below Arascus and Noah was a cave. And there sat an eagle. It looked up at the ceiling. A tear spilled from its eye. “The first time I saw it, I had your baffled reaction. The second time…” Noah waved his hand as the eagle slept, its eyes closed, the air slowly moving in the entire chamber in line with its breathing. “I realised the tears had been of joy. When I visited it, it stared at me and smiled.”

And then, they were back at the tower again. “Because even when there was an Of Everything, Humanity managed to pick holes in it.” Arascus watched as men began peeling bricks out of the wall. It was slow at the start. “I wish I could have asked them, because I don’t know what went through their minds. Was it the curse of this planet? Or was it Arda itself?” Noah turned around, Arascus turned with him. And they watched as men stacked brick upon brick of stone to build their own tower. Higher and higher it rose, until all humanity in the world was helping and the God of Pride had to crane his neck to see the peak.

An eagle cried from above.

Arascus turned back to the first tower, and he saw the massive bird slam down into it. It picked Of Everything up in its peak and shook him from side to side. He fell to the ground, and humanity descended upon the God. With sword and spear and magic and everything they could conceive of. Noah pointed up to the Sun. “So we have built the starpurge, and now it serves to solve the Ardan issue because humanity cannot be allowed to leave this world, for the good of everything in this world.”

The sun opened up, and fire once again ate the surface of Arda. “And when we did it the first time, we wept.” Noah continued. “Humanity would have cheered, but we are not human. And then we realised what an Of Arda meant.” Arascus watched the ground open up and swallow the tatters of mankind. They stood there for what felt like a thousand years. And then, Noah looked pointed to a cave.

A man in a bearskin, a spear already in his hand, looked up at the blue sky. “When we seeded this planet with our own life.” Arascus saw huge trees, grey and almost like stone drop from the sky. The roots and vines tore and chased humans apart, and then they grew to cover the sky until not a drop of sunlight could get in. Then fire and lightning and wind. A sphere of darkness Arascus recognised well. It was Irinika’s lightlessness, darker even than the shade cast by the trees.

Arascus remembered Neneria’s poem. “Humanity prayed for salvation.” He said. “And Divinity answered.”

“So it did.” Noah replied. “And so we sent more.” Monsters this time. Arascus looked down from his cliff and saw Malam standing in the night, her white hair illuminated as if it was making her own light. He saw Helenna close the gates of a tribe with a palisade. “And you know the rest, because you came after.” Noah waved his hand and they were back on a field, the bones of Arascus’ daughters around him. “This is what will happen, and it is what I will call upon if you try to leave this world.”

Arascus took a deep breath. “And if I do?”

“Then I shall call upon Starpurge, and the sun shall open its maw, and once again, we shall go through this cycle.”

“Madness and fear.” Arascus replied.

“Madness is what is it is, and it is exactly what you are doing Arascus.” Noah said. “That is what I shall call it. Now, I take you to back to the King’s Pact, where you shall be bound, never to speak of what you saw again.”

“Why?” Arascus asked.

Noah sighed. “Because at this point, when Of Everything was brought down, we learned that explaining why was just an invitation to break them.”

Arascus closed his eyes, and opened them again. And he was back in the tunnel. “Dad!” Fer shouted. “You were gone.”