Chapter 818 – No Time For Inaction

Mary tapped her fingers on the wall as Samson and Joshua and Adam all stood and stared at the headless corpse of Noah. Arascus was gone. They had gone to check the King’s Pact, the God of Pride had not signed the new statement on it either. Noah had not even managed to formulate the stipulations regarding it yet. And someone, Noah was dead. And Arascus was missing.

“He broke through the reflection ward.” Samson said and Mary’s tongue twisted before she could speak.

“False.” It happened in this room, and the room spoke to her, this entire land this. And the land knew how to answer. The men looked at her, then back at Noah.

“He did not break through the reflection ward.” Samson repeated himself, but said the completed opposite. And again, Mary felt her mouth force her to speak, and declare what had happened.

“True.”

Adam turned around and inspected the blood, Noah’s body was still shifting, although each transition from one face to the other was becoming slower. And the man in the white cloak found something else. “That is not Noah’s hand.” He pointed to a hand in the middle of the room. All the Watchers looked at each other, the size pointed to one figure that it could be, and that figure was the same one that Noah had brought here. “That’s Arascus’” Adam said. Mary nodded, this time, her mouth didn’t even click into forming a word. There was no point after all.

“So he chopped off his own hand?” Samson knelt down by the flesh, it had grown tight as the muscles inside were beginning to contract from death. “Or did Noah?”

“Does Noah carry a blade?” Adam asked. He turned back to the corpse of their fallen compatriot. “No, I think he understood very well how the reflection ward worked. Noah has no immediately fatal wounds on him, save for the head, but I think that was done after.” Mary agreed. It had to be, if Noah was still alive, then Arascus’ head should also be somewhere here, still on the ground.

“I think he killed him slowly.” Mary said.

“Aye.” Samson agreed. “Slow enough to not threaten him, but fast enough to threaten Noah.” He shook his head. “Madness, isn’t it? If that isn’t Ardan through and through, I don’t know what is.”

“What do we do now?” Mary asked.

“Now… I think we need to start discussing Purge Protocols.”

Arascus stared up at the moon, once again, it had become somewhat of a habit at this point. To say he had changed would be a lie, he doubted he could change himself. And what to? He didn’t want to change in the first place, because what to? To work less? To rule worse? To cause trouble more? To argue? Be less dependable? Why exactly should he change? He was no different from the man he was yesterday.

But he knew that two weeks ago, the Arascus who had gone down to rescue the Divines that were being overwhelmed by those monsters was a different Arascus. That was an Arascus who went down and did not see the end of the world, nor did he know about the Spirit of Arda, nor did he have to see his daughters die before his eyes. His daughters and friends and everyone else who he called precious. His eyes focused on the spot that Olephia had identified on the moon, the one that had grown too slowly, and that no one paid attention to enough, to realise it was something that should not be there.

But now that he knew what he was looking for, he could spot it in a heartbeat. A single speck of something greyer than the grey rock around it. Of Empire was there, and if not there, then somewhere else, maybe on the other side of Arda’s ever present companion. Hidden away on the dark side, so that its presence could not even be accidentally felt. And again, that terrifying question came up: if he died a week ago, he knew he would have lived. That he did all he could for his daughters, and for Arda, to make sure that they had hope, and they had time together, and they had everything that Divinity could not take for granted.

But up there, somewhere, sat Of Empire, locked away in Godstone. A Divine that had never seen Arda. That alone had been enough to curdle his blood. But now, after seeing the apocalypse in Noah’s dream, there was an even worse thought that had materialized, and it sat there, and it didn’t want to go away no matter how much Arascus tried to show it the door. It could be pushed into a corner, he wouldn’t think of it, he would force himself to forget it, and then, it would rear its ugly head once again. And Arascus would think it, and he would be terrified: A Divine that had a real chance of never seeing Arda.

He dwelled on it as the wind came through the field. In the distance, the construction of the Imperial Palace was carrying on. Helenna had purposefully stalled it out, as had been in the suggestion, and the towers could not be built anyway because the steel itself was unavailable. But low walls were already being arranged, like a blueprint of concrete and stone for where everything would go. And the gardens were being worked on too. Those were important. A palace without a garden was like a body without skin. A family without a…

That thought came again.

Footsteps came from behind. The stride was too heavy to be human, too light to be past his shoulders, too slow and gentle to be any of the ones who rushed… Arascus sighed. What did it matter? Why was he even calculating it, he already knew there was only one possible option. The rest were busy. “You look like death.” Helenna said quietly.

“Mmh.” Arascus said even though he knew it was a poor reply, at this point though, he simply did not have the energy to speak and lay it all out for her. The Goddess of Love sighed heavily.

“Taking your fill of the moon whilst you still can?” Arascus released a deep breath. It was a question, far better than just asking him if he was fine, to which he would reply that he was as fine as ever.

“I have no doubt we’ll beat the Second Arc.” Arascus said, sounding as confident as he would when he said anything. Inside was a different story, but Helenna was a subordinate, and his job here was precisely not to show worry. Everyone was feeling the crushing weight of an object seven times Arda’s size coming down on them. For now, he had managed to hoodwink the world into staring at the theatre of the lattices, even as the lights were slowly going out.

“What about Starpurge?” Helenna asked.

Arascus sighed and decided to be truthful. “If it comes tomorrow, we are fucked. If it comes in two days, it is the same. Until we get a sign of what it is, we get nothing. And even then, if it coincides with the Second Arc, then we are fucked.” He let it out of himself. “There are feats of strength we can do, but when one extinction has a countdown and the second is unknown, what is there to say?”

Helenna let out a deep breath and stepped closer to Arascus, leaning her head on his shoulder. And immediately, he felt the need to stand straighter. To be sturdier. The pillar that had been crumbling once filled in its cracks, just like that. He released his breath, even that was easier now. And then he thought about the situation and wanted to burst out in laughter about it. It was borderline comical how easy the God of Pride could be to actually handle. “But does that change anything?” Helenna asked.

Arascus could not believe how easily he actually folded.

No. It did not. It changed nothing whatsoever in fact. Arda was still Arda. The Empire was still here. Arascus was still Emperor. He was still alive. He would still rule, until the end of his days, and then if Starpurge came, he would stay behind as a ghost to haunt the surface of this world until he reformed and rebuilt the Empire. And it would be a different Empire, and it would definitely be far worse, and he did not even want to consider the possibility of his daughters not being there to see it. But it would be done. Arascus was still Arascus. “The Empire still needs you.” Helenna continued.

Of course it did. What was the apocalypse after all? They had seen a hundred years of it during Worldbreaking, and they were still here. They had seen the Jungle, and they burned it down. And then they cracked a continent to end it. And Continent Cracking had been its own apocalypse, and Arda was still here, everyone was still here. And when Continent Cracking ruptured the Sassara and opened the land so that the main rift led to the surface? What did they do? They ended the dwarves’ thousand year night. When Ashen Skies rolled over. They annihilated them, they showed Tartarus how apocalypse was actually done, and they sent it back. And now, they would break the Second Arc, because apocalypse was just apocalypse, and they were greater than it. “Kassie and everyone. Iri, Fer, Olephia, Neneria, Mal, they all need you.” Helenna continued.

He could see what she was doing now. The Goddess of Love could wrap men around her finger after all. It was so obvious that he wanted her to stop. Arascus kept his mouth shut. The medicine was humiliating, but medicine should not taste good on the way down. It was true, what she said anyway, maybe not for the purpose of holding him together, but it was true for that. He had too many people, that mattered too much, for him to slow down and stare at the moon. “Fortia needs you.”

That was a low blow. That was the lowest blow she could have done. Arascus sighed and laughed as he stared at that massive white orb which lit up the sky. “Of all the fucking people.” Arascus said, his tone lighter now. “What is this drama?”

Helenna just murmured the reply. “What drama? Everyone can see it.”

“Do you even know what it is?”

“No.” Helenna said. “Olephia just told me she didn’t like how easygoing you two are.” That was Helenna through and through, throwing another under the bus immediately. Without even being prompted to.

“Easygoing?”

“That’s not how she put it.” Helenna murmured back as they looked up at the moon. “Why? Too low?”

“You’re the worst.” Arascus said. “It was during the Age of Tyranny and the Concordats, that’s the timeline. More than two thousand years ago. And now, Olephia is running around telling people she sees love hearts in the shadows.” Helenna chuckled.

“That’s so sweet of her.” She said then got back on topic, her voicing shifting into the murmur again. “Well Fortia needs you too. And Maisara. You know who else?”

“Who?”

“Allasaria, and Ciria and Halkus and Etala, and everyone you don’t like, they need you too.” And the pillar inside Arascus stood up taller and straighter, because it was true. Because it didn’t matter if it was him against the world, if it was him against the universe. If everyone one Arda was working to save it, he was there. If one person on Arda was working to save it, it was him. If no one on this planet was working to save it, he was dead. It was that simple. He would drag Arda up to the stars if it kicked and screamed, and if the planet wanted to be rid of him, then it better kill him. But it had not killed him yet, so here he was.

Helenna dropped the blow he knew would be coming eventually. This game was so predictable that he wouldn’t be surprised if this was a script she had written down somewhere. “And I need you.” The worst part was that it worked. It worked so beautifully, and easily, and it slid over Arascus like a warm shower that washed away the thoughts of the inbound apocalypses. What a farcical scenario. He was so easy to play that it was almost despicable, and yet, he knew exactly why she was doing it.

Arascus put his arm around Helenna. He knew she did. Here she was, working for him, managing an Empire that was flexing because all the moment it stopped flexing in its strain, it would snap apart. And here he was, staring up at the moon and thinking of things that he should be working to prevent. Wasting time on inaction and misery, and for what purpose? “I know you do.” Arascus replied.

“So don’t give up. Not for anyone, but not for me. Please.” Helenna whispered back. The words were a dagger in his heart, a stab, then a twist. How could he give up after that? How could he waste another second staring at the fucking moon?

“I won’t.” Arascus said. “Promise.” And after that, she had nothing to say. They stood there in silence, and Helenna breathed against him, her head tucked into his side. The moon above them. He didn’t even know what else there was to say. So they stood, and watched the moon, and the stars behind it, and the satellites passing overheard. And planes blinking, lights on the tips of their wings. This is the moment he worked to save. So that he could have this again, so that others could have the same.

Helenna eventually woke up from the moment when she felt him shift slightly, adjusting the pressure from one leg to another. How long had he even stood here? “Feel better?” She asked quickly, it was the cheek in her that was the worst of it. She no doubt knew that he knew what she had been doing, and she still did it anyway.

Arascus grumbled the reply back to her chuckling. “Don’t be so patronizing about it.”