VOLUME XX

UNCHAINED

CHAPTER 476

THE FIRST EMPYREAN (I)

[...]

[Analyzing…]

[Access to the Archaic Record __ Granted]

[… Analyzing]

[The Becoming of the First Empyrean – Private Record…]

[Analyzing…]

[Year 2 of Becoming]

[Place: The Sanctum, Silver City]

[---]

Lino suddenly felt himself pulled into the beyond, bounding the chains of time and space. His mind drifted through the ever-entangling darkness for a brief flash before being flung into an unknown world. All around him, streets laid in crystal-white marble lay spread, cutting in-between the rectangular buildings, none too tall, yet not too short either. He felt himself encased into someone else, his mind there yet unable to control the body.

“… you’re a rather unexpected one, Lyonel,” a voice spoke out lowly, melodic and calm, warm and embracing. “I was beyond certain you’d have chosen strength, as strength alone can endow you to protect what you fear losing.”

“…” even if Lino wanted to reply, he was unable to; perhaps his Soul could endure it right now, but it seemed as though Ashtar was not interested in a conversation.

“Yet, like me, you aspire for knowledge, for better or worse,” he added, looking up; beyond the towers and spires blanketing the horizon, each cast in the same, white stone, a cyan sky spread free and wide. "I've known many things and didn't know even more. Even if I had all the time in the world, I wouldn't be able to share it all with you. Yet… it feels as though I can tell you everything that matters in just a few sentences. Odd, isn't it?"

He slowly walked forward, his steps brisk and easy, cutting through the wayward streets and walking up to a massive staircase. Its width reaching nearly twenty meters, built at a sharp angle, rising up to a silver-cast palace looming over the entire city. It was barren of life, yet full of beauty. Rays of sun bounced gently off of the edges, bleeding over onto the smooth surface, forming a picturesque sight.

“—I was the first,” Ashtar mumbled, extending his hand. Only then did Lino notice he was clad in thick, silver-forged armor, shining just as brightly as his surroundings. “The loneliest. Before all, there was me.”

“…” Lino frowned inwardly, wondering what he meant.

“Look around, Lyonel," he said, turning his head around, welcomed everything by silence. "Where are they? Nowhere. I'm alone, here, in the Silver City. My home. Right now," he said, looking up once more; there, beyond the high-skies, Lino quickly spotted seven ever-growing dots of light. "They are coming. I was shocked, joyful, in awe. I was alone no more. They fell from Heaven, Lyonel. From Heaven, I was certain. They were my Creator's Gift to me, for abstaining from the madness of solace for two years. There they are, Lyonel,” he added, as he unfurled thirty-six pairs of wings, much to Lino’s shock. “The Seven Writs.”

Lino’s mind boomed at that moment, his soul stirred aflame. Yet, the reality moved past his breaking; the seven pillars of light descended upon the city, yet failed to even cause a single crack to appear on its clandestine surface. Seven strangely shaped figures, out of order, nether-inspired, stood around Ashtar, silent. There were no distinguishing features beyond the swirling colors and edgeless shapes; there were no eyes, no lips, no ticks to look for. Nothing.

Just then, like a thundering sky, the Silver City shook as thousands of coffins burst out of its cladding walls, elevated into the sky. One by one, the silver-cast coffins opened, pushing out one winged figure after another. All were breathtakingly beautiful, stoic, draped in silver armor from head to toe. Pairs of wings, ranging from two to thirty-five, burst from their back as they fell forward, bending on their knees in front of the seven edgeless figures.

“—welcome home!” choral eruption shook the city as well as Lino’s mind. “O’ Great Ones! Welcome home!”

“See this, Lyonel?” Ashtar said with a chuckle, well knowing Lino was currently desperately trying to process what he was seeing. “This… this was the day we all converged. The Archangels, the distant myths you think us as, the Writs. They were cast upon this world on this day. Two years after I had been. When I arrived, it was night. It was silent. Dark. Lonely. Cold. Windy. Rainy. The tapestry of the world was strange, unknown, terrifying. I feared I was alone, yet feared more I was not.”

“…”

“Here, now, my name wasn’t Ashtar," he said as the time seemed to come to a standstill, no more figures moving or speaking. "Rather, I was nameless. When the Angles spoke to me, they called me 'Your Excellency'. When the Writs referred to me, they referred to me as 'Child'. None of us had names. Names… did not exist for a long, long, long time."

The scene flashed all of a sudden, rapidly changing as an onslaught of colors swirled and molded into one. Ashtar was now seated in front of a tall, arched window on the left, to his right an open, slightly dipped hall upheld by pillars, currently empty, as rays of light streamed through the wide array of windows, casting the hall into resplendent illumination. Opposite of him, a crimson-black swirl, shaped similarly to him, sat, between them a table with chess figures on top.

“—you are very clever,” the mass spoke in a tired and robotic tone. “Full of potential.”

“… thank you, Father.” Ashtar replied, a faint sense of joy permeating his voice. “It is all due to Your teachings, after all.”

“My teachings can only amplify what is there,” the swirl said. “They are not so omnipotent as to create what is not; your brethren stand true to that fact.”

“—ah, they, they just need more time, Father,” Ashtar said quickly. “Please be patient with them. They’ll understand just as well, if not better, than me in time.”

“Your love for your kin is admirable,” the swirl said as a chess piece moved seemingly on its own; the Queen cut through the board diagonally, marking a checkmate. “But it is also an anchor. Be wary of it, Child. You lose.”

“… ah,” Ashtar sighed, somberly looking at the board. “And I was certain I’d at least get a draw out of You…”

“You were close,” the mass said. “Almost there. Almost there.”

**

“P-please, please Father!! Forgive me!” a six-winged Archangel cried out, flattened on his knees, kneeling in front of the crimson-black swirl. Hundreds stood around them, all with complex expressions on their faces. “I—I will do better! I swear! I will do better!”

“… humph,” the swirl scoffed coldly. “Why is this all so difficult to you? How is it not for your Oldest? I expected more from you…”

**

“F-father…” Ashtar mumbled lowly as the scene flashed. He was now sitting in a rather cramped, squared quarters, lit up only by a single window. "Others… my brothers and sisters… are complaining about you…"

“… complaining?” a robotic voice mused. “Let them, Child. I am well-rejoiced they can at least do one thing properly.”

“… but, I—”

“Don’t worry about it,” the robotic voice interrupted. “I care not what they think of me, Child. All that matters to me is you – to see you improving so rapidly, so greatly. I thought others would be necessary, but they won’t. You are. Don’t let them anchor you to their baseline; you are better than that, Child.”

“…”

**

“Humph, what is the meaning of this, Ataxia?!” a roaring, robotic voice exploded through the grand hall of the palace. Hand-carved pillars arose on the side of the blood-red carpet, upholding the domed ceiling above. Hundreds of winged Archangels stood on the sides as four swirls confronted a singular one. “Why are you abusing the Children?!”

“Abusing?” the crimson-black swirl scoffed condescendingly, glancing at the surrounding observers who immediately looked away, backing up a step in fear. “Look at them, Nirvana. They tremble, meekly bolted to the floor. I merely wanted to teach them how to use those wings they were given properly; yet, all but one seem fearfully reluctant to try.”

“You paint your ways as ‘teaching’?” another seamless figure spoke out, its voice slightly more melodic than the others. “Do you take Us as fools, too?”

“I do if you are so relaxed as to let them do as they will, Astrum,” Ataxia replied, the seamless swirl shifting sideways slightly. “Have you all already forgotten why we are in this state? Do you wish to repeat it, perhaps, down the line? Fools. Weak-minded fools, that is what you are.”

“Enough!” Nirvana blew out. “We were caught unaware, you bastard! Don’t try to spin the Ashening to fit your abusive view; if you dare touch them beyond your means once more, I will personally kick you out of the Silver City! Do you understand?!”

“…”

**

“Father…” Ashtar mumbled lowly, the expression of worry on his face. He stood in front of gold-cast bars, thin as arms, bounding a small, squared room within which a seamless shape floated.

“… you shouldn’t be here, Ashtar,” the swirl replied. “They already envy you and fear you. You will become an outcast, like me.”

“I don’t care about that!” Ashtar exclaimed angrily, his face contorting. “You shouldn’t be here! You’re the only one trying to steer us on the correct path, while they dare punish you for it! Tell me what to do, Father! How do I free you?!”

“It is fine, Child; let them walk blind, don’t worry. I can endure.”

“But—”

“If you really want to help me…”

“I do! I really do!” Ashtar exclaimed quickly. “Is there a way?”

“There is always a way,” the seamless swirl said, inching closer to the bars. “Have you ever wondered why, despite the conflicts, We never fought?”

“—huh?” Ashtar mumbled, confused.

“We are Eternal, but chained still, Child – for we need vessels to channel our strengths. We alone are not enough to beholden the power of the Elements of Creation. We need vessels, Child.”

“—vessels? I will be the vessel, Father!” Ashtar affirmed immediately, kneeling all of a sudden, lowering his head. “Use me as you will! I will fight in your name ‘till my dying breath!”

“… no, fighting now would be throwing our certain victory away, Child.” the seamless swirl whispered seductively. “I will teach you, guide you, will you; and you shall, in turn, teach them, guide them, and will them. Show them my strength, and let them bear witness to who will save them – me, or the other six. You shall become my First Child – the first vessel of my power… my first Empyrean…”