It was a number of years ago--before the current situation unfolding on the beach-- when the Book of Leaf had finally informed Snooze of a snippet of information she’d only been partially paying attention to.

THE ARCHANGELS HAVE MANY FUNCTIONS. TO SERVE THEIR GODS DUTIFULLY, YES, BUT ALSO TO ACT AS A BASTION.

“Who’s Sebastian?” Snooze asked absently. Reading the words only at a glance had caused her to misconstrue, “as a bastion,” as “a Sabastion.” She’d been watching a group of the Ngak on the western shore of the continent as they thatched together sections of driftwood and saplings into rafts. Observing her creatures was, to Snooze, infinitely more interesting than reading every single message from the Book of Leaf that happened to pop up, and as such, led to her premier misunderstanding for not the first time.

THAT IS NOTHING, SNOOZE. YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION.

“I’m paying attention plenty!” she declared, forcing her eyes away from the extremely interesting tasks being performed by the primitive sapient inhabitants of a world she’d forged herself--and looked over the Book’s words again.

“Ohhhhh…” she said, her understanding of the situation raising by--if she’d had access to the stats of her own synapses--two percent. She smiled and found Meat sitting nearby, also staring at their world with an intensity.

“So…” she said, carefully navigating this topic with the nuance, sophistication and insight that she was famous for, “...what’s a bastion?”

A BASTION, ISN’T ANYTHING IN AN OFFICIAL CAPACITY.

IT IS A WORD USED TO DESCRIBE THE NATURE OF AN ARCHANGEL’S ROLE WHEN IT COMES TO CREATION MANAGEMENT.

TO PUT IT MORE SIMPLY, NOT ONLY IS AN ARCHANGEL THE BASIS FOR A SEED OF LIFE, BUT THEY ARE A PROTECTOR OF THE WORLDS IN WHICH THEIR GOD HAS FORGED.

Snooze glanced back at Meat, swelling with pride.

“Meat! You’re so cool!”

Meat looked up from his observance and cocked his head to the side with a questioning whistle. Snooze moved to him and ruffled his energy head.

“You’re a big strong bodyguard, aren't you?” Snooze cooed. Meat wasn’t sure what was going on, but he’d never been one to look a gift god in the whim, so he happily accepted his praise whilst simultaneously believing it was exactly what he deserved.

Snooze spent some time petting her companion before something stuck out to her, and she turned back to the Book.

“But wait,” she said, “if Archangels are used as the source for their Seed of Life… how do they protect the world? Wouldn’t that be impossible?”

THAT IS A FABULOUS QUESTION, SNOOZE.

WHEN AN ARCHANGEL BECOMES THE SEED OF LIFE, YOU ARE CORRECT THAT THEY ARE UNABLE TO PROTECT THE WORLD. USUALLY.

IF YOU HAD OFFERED MEAT UP FULLY, WITHOUT SACRIFICING YOUR EARTH ELEMENT, YOU WOULD THEN HAVE RECEIVED ANOTHER ARCHANGEL. THAT ARCHANGEL WOULD THEN TAKE ON THE ROLE OF THE BASTION UNTIL SUCH A TIME THAT THEY WERE REQUIRED TO BECOME THE SEED FOR THE NEXT WORLD.

“What?!” Snooze exclaimed, “you’re serious?”

I MAY BE A BIT OF A CLASS CLOWN, SNOOZE, BUT I ASSURE YOU, I AM NOT JOKING IN THIS REGARD.

“Wow,” she said quietly, thinking deeply about the ramifications of her actions, “so, I would have gained another Archangel, but Meat would still have been gone.”

ONLY FROM THIS PLANE. AN ARCHANGEL LIVES ON IN A CELESTIAL SENSE THROUGH THE ORGANIC LIFE ON THEIR WORLDS.

She smiled, her mind pushing away any doubts.

“Yeah, but I like Meat,” she said, ruffling his head again, “I’m glad I chose to keep him around.”

IT WAS AN INTERESTING SELECTION, TO SAY THE LEAST.

...

THOUGH, THE CONDITION HAS ITS OWN ELEMENTS THAT COULD COME TO PASS IN A HETEROGENEITY OF OUTCOMES.

“How about you simplify that a little bit more for those of us not over encumbered by ‘book smarts?’” Snooze suggested. “I’m a god of creation, not vocabulary.”

YES. IT IS MERELY THE SUGGESTION THAT BEING TIED TO THE LIFE FORCE OF A WORLD, WHILST STILL WORKING IN THE CAPACITY OF A BASTION MIGHT GIVE AN ARCHANGEL A PARTICULARLY VIGILANT SENSE OF SENTINELSHIP.

Snooze thought she understood.

“So you think our little guy here might be extra dogged in his devotion?”

INDEED. AN ARCHANGEL, SUCH AS MEAT, MIGHT BE INCLINED TO AN EXTREMELY ZEALOUS ROLE.

“So,” Snooze said, nodding, “Meat will always watch over the Meatlings, then… and will protect them at all costs.”

------

With a roar, the two Archangels collided.

Perth struck out with her tendrils while Meat gnashed his teeth, snapping at each shadowy appendage as they came close. It was absolute chaos. The two struck at one another repeatedly, their blows and bites echoing in the quiet night.

During this, Snooze was helpless to do anything other than observe. She was drained of magical energy and couldn’t do anything to help as she watched her fearless Archangel defend her world from the vile monstrosity. At least, that’s what she believed.

She felt a tug on her arm and jerked away as she turned, before realizing that the grip belonged to the dark silhouette of Riff. The other god seemed to also be suffering from a lack of energy. She was slumped, her head down and her breathing labored. Snooze calmed herself and offered Riff a steady hand against her shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“Can’t you feel it?” Riff asked, looking to Snooze’s eyes with her own dark voids.

“Feel what?”

“The throes of battle,” she said simply, looking as though she’d been pulverized, “I can feel Perth losing control, allowing herself to entrench even deeper into her darkness.”

The way Riff was speaking concerned Snooze. She wasn’t sure she liked this dramatic shift of events. Up until now, everything in her godly existence had mostly rolled along without conflict. She’d spent thousands of years accumulating her skills in relative comfort, and suddenly, within a few hours, everything had changed. She shook her head.

“I don’t feel anything like that,” she answered.

“How… how do you feel?” Riff asked, her voice sounding weaker now, as if she was struggling mightily against some other force.

“I feel scared. Confused,” Snooze said, “like I’m not quite sure what’s going on. I don’t think I can feel anything from Meat, though.”

“Perhaps Perth and I have become too entangled,” Riff said quietly, “we’ve been together for quite a long time. She used to be so good.”

“That must be hard,” Snooze said, patting Riff’s shoulder.

The battle before them continued, but Snooze felt an even more dangerous conflict brewing just beneath the surface of Riff’s statements.

“She’s my Archangel,” Riff stated, “I’ve failed her. I should have protected her from herself. Instead, I let her grow too angry and too powerful. She was able to command our plane better than I could ever hope.”

She glanced at the two deadly Archangels, and Snooze couldn’t help but think that even then, she looked miles away, focusing on some distant memory.

Perth had been pushed by Meat, a long trail evident in the sand from where she’d been forced backward. She cried out in a linguistically irrelevant way, snapping one of her forelocks at Snooze’s protector. The blow was true, landing hard against the side of Meat’s head and sent the crimson-colored creature spinning. He landed on his side in the sand and then sprung to his feet again, charging the shadow monster. He leaped into the air and bit through a tendril as it flashed toward him, and the writhing, severed length dispersed into smoke as it hit the ground.

The two gods watched the display, each of their companions warring against one another in a celestial ballet.

“They feed off of our energy, and become what we allow them to be,” Riff said, “their strength is in their rearing. I failed as a god the moment I allowed Perth to exert her control, and I did it because I believed that was the most nurturing route. I was wrong.”

Snooze heard the other god sigh as she slowly plopped to the sand.

“Our choices have consequences,” Riff continued, “and unfortunately, this is the result.”

As if to emphasize her point, Perth sent several spears of shadowy growth toward Meat at once, striking him in multiple locations on his ethereal body. Snooze’s companion released a low peal of obvious pain, and backed off for a moment. They began circling one another, a cacophony of whistles, growls, oaths and buzzing were their symphony of destruction.

Riff lowered her head further and covered it with her arms.

“I’m sorry Snooze,” she said, “I know we’ve only just met, but I am ashamed of what has transpired here tonight.”

A hand rested on her head, and Riff looked up to see Snooze smiling at her.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” she stated, her eyes holding the truth of her words, “you didn’t fail, and you shouldn’t be ashamed. I won’t pretend to be an expert on these sorts of things, but it seems to me that this was all born from love.”

She cleared her throat.

“You were handed this path because you chose to keep your friend. I would have done the same. I did do the same, our scenarios just had different outcomes. However, Perth is strong, regardless of her hunger for power and ambition. You aren’t weak, you’ve just cared so much for so long.”

Suddenly, without meaning to, Snooze activated her Aura.

The silvery light washed over Riff, swirling around her and tugging gently at her shadowy silhouette. Riff’s eyes widened, and rather than continuing to slump, she stood, her back straight and her countenance a puzzling mix of what appeared to Snooze to be both gratitude and resolve.

“I… don’t know what you just did,” Riff said, peering at Snooze seriously, “but, I feel better. It’s like I can--”

At that moment there was a loud crash, and a high whistle that sounded like a whimper. Both gods wheeled to face the Archangel duel to find Perth, large and undulating, standing tall with her appendages swatting haphazardly at the empty air--save for one. Before her, on the ground, was the still form of Meat. His glow was dim as he lay prostrate with one of Perth’s tendrils sticking into his torso. The tendril began writhing, forcing swollen lumps up from Meat’s body along its length and back to their source. Meat was being eaten from the inside out!

“MEAT!” Snooze cried out, but the deafening boom of Perth’s laugh drowned out the god’s voice.

“SEE WHAT IT MEANS TO DEFY THE DEVOURER?!” Perth declared, “I WILL DESTROY ALL OPPOSITION AND RID THIS DISGUSTING SYSTEM OF ITS PETTY GODS AND THEIR PATHETIC ARCHANGELS! BEHOLD! TRUE POWER!”

The earth began to shake again, and suddenly, Perth grew to an even larger size as suddenly, Meat’s body was drained off all color, leaving a faint, translucent husk in the dirt.