[204] 2. Age of Upheaval (4)
Rian accepted Signa and Exd and inspected them. Relying on another's weapons bruised a swordsman's pride, but with a friend captured, Rian wasn't the sort to quibble.
"Thanks. But I might rough them up a bit."
"That's fine. No, I don't mind if they break. Please—just save my sisters."
Peope fell into thought.
Until a moment ago, these had been subjects who fretted day by day about their shrinking lifespans.
But now? Each of them was shouldering risk to crush another's misfortune.
Why does the Law control humans?
Maintain population, regulate lifespans, not even allow them to leave Heaven. What danger could increasing numbers of humans possibly pose to Ra?
"Are you really going?"
Peope couldn't understand why she was asking such a thing.
Everything had changed since meeting Shirone. He was chaos—like a boulder hurled onto Heaven's placid surface.
"You know I have to go. Thanks earlier for holding back in the fight. To be honest, I didn't want to fight you either. Letting Kanya and Rena off easy… I feel like we understand each other."
Peope forced herself to ignore Shirone's words. She didn't want to hear about "understanding" with him.
How could a faerie and a human ever connect?
"Take good care of the subjects from now on. If we come back safely, maybe we'll be closer then."
For an uncertain future, Shirone turned and departed.
Peope's tiny heart thudded. She watched Shirone recede with the Norin; his figure blurred as if swallowed by mist.
"So you'd come if I were taken too?"
Shirone looked back at Peope. Hesitant, she mustered courage and asked again.
"If I'm captured, you'll come rescue me? I mean… if we're friends."
Shirone answered with a gentle smile.
"Of course."
Peope dropped her head. Of course? If that were true, Shirone would die.
He was walking toward death.
"Even if we get to Sector One, we can't pass the Gate of Jebul. I have a way to rescue the girls. So I'll go with you."
Shirone's eyes widened.
He had said there was a way to save them. For now, Peope couldn't even imagine what that method might be.
"Really? You can really save them?"
"I can't promise. But if you go by yourselves, you'll definitely die. That's why I'll go with you."
Shirone looked at Peope, moved. Peope's face flushed and she turned away in embarrassment.
"Hmph! Don't get any weird ideas. I only felt a responsibility to see this through."
Igirin accepted the situation calmly.
The subjects helping Shirone, and Peope being drawn to humans—both violated the Law.
'So it comes to this after all? If this too is an unchangeable Law…'
Having made his decision, Igirin spoke.
"Peope, come to me."
Peope's shoulders twitched. He'd decided without even getting the chief's permission.
Contrary to expectations, Igirin didn't scold her. He closed his eyes and transferred memories to Peope.
New information began to settle in Peope's mind.
"What is this…?"
"Peope, take my memories. They'll help you move in Jebul."
Memory transfer between faeries was common, but when a higher-ranked faerie passed memories to a lower-ranked one it carried special meaning. It was like handing over a proxy appointment to carry out a mission in one's stead.
A mid-ranking faerie among the seventy-two ranks—realizing the sincerity of a senior like the sky itself, Peope recalled her own days filled with complaints and discontent and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry, Chief. I've disappointed you again."
"I've never been disappointed in you. You were born into Heaven's upheaval. From now on, what happens will differ from the Law you know. So see everything with your own eyes, and judge for yourself."
Tears of gratitude filled Peope's eyes. For the first time since she'd been born, she saw Igirin's smile.
"You tend to blunder, but that's how you learn. Remember: a spiral watches all directions while it goes straight ahead. I believe in you, Peope."
Peope wiped her tears and nodded bravely.
Igirin's approval multiplied her courage a hundredfold.
Shirone's party left the square with Peope.
The portal controller led them to a Norin building not far from the central square.
Inside it was a maze. Magic circles were drawn in every room, and different spirits dwelled in each.
They opened an iron door set into a corner, and in the center of the dark chamber a spirit of light floated alone.
The controller approached and gently caught the spirit. When the spirit stilled, his arm began to glow white.
"If we use the spirit's power, we can go straight to Sector One. But it takes time to gather the charge. About five minutes."
Having experienced Purgatory, no one found this strange.
While they waited, Shirone looked at Peope floating at eye level. She stuck out her tiny bottom and fluttered her transparent wings.
Shirone extended a finger and poked the adorable little rump.
Peope yelped and covered her bottom with both hands.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
She was a one-year-old faerie no bigger than a palm, but apparently a girl. Shirone hadn't meant to tease her; aside from the wings, that was the only place to poke.
"Thanks for helping. Let's get along from now on. You gave us hope."
Peope pouted. But sensing Shirone's sincerity, she turned back to the light spirit.
The five minutes passed slowly. Time's relativity was at work again.
Kanis asked Peope, "Is that Tabu guy really dead? Or to be precise, can a Mara be killed? He said before he died that if humans fell, he'd come back."
Shirone felt suddenly curious as well. It was a crucial question: if a Mara couldn't be annihilated, their whole approach to fighting it would change.
"Hmm, how to explain… Annihilation is possible, but it isn't an eternal death."
"Explain it simply."
"A Mara is a being made of concept, so even if it dies, it will revive someday. In Heaven they call that a reset."
"How long until it resets?"
"There's no fixed time, but it won't come back immediately."
"So when it's killed, it stays gone for a while."
"That's right. But from another angle…"
"Enough. That's all I need for now."
Kanis thought of nothing but battle. To get Arin back, he had to grow stronger.
He began a simulation to raise his willpower by the second. At the Magic Academy they called that a sequence formula.
"Fine, fine, think whatever you want."
Peope waved as if to say, suit yourself.
Shirone thought gathering information mattered more than running a formula.
Above all, there was one thing left unsaid.
"You said there's a way to rescue the friends. What is it? You can tell us now, right?"
Peope propped her chin on her hand and considered.
To be honest, it was an operation with no guaranteed success. But it was far more realistic than charging unarmed into the angels' domain.
"Not exactly a method—there's someone who loves humans very much. I thought they might be able to help you."
The controller signaled he was ready to cast the ancient spell.
Walking into the cluster of light, Shirone couldn't help asking again.
"Really? Who is it?"
Peope spoke with reverence.
"The leader of the angels, Archangel Ikael."
A pillar of light ascended.
3. The Immortal Ra (1)
After parting with the attendant at Shamain's exit and walking about thirty minutes, they reached the walls where the tall towers of the Seventh Heaven, Arabot, loomed.
Peope said the women were in the Sixth Heaven, Jebul. Virgin conception was made using the elixir of life, and the one who oversees it was Archangel Kariel.
Shirone asked, "How do we get into Jebul? There's no way to pass the gate."
"That's right. So we'll enter Arabot."
"You can't even get into Jebul—how do you get into where the gods live?"
"That's why we'll ask Archangel Ikael for help. She once served as Chief Angel; if we plead, she might let us in."
"That's even stranger. No matter how high-ranking she is, Jebul is a Sixth Heaven domain. How can she open a gate in the Seventh Heaven?"
"Because Ikael is currently staying in Arabot."
Shirone tilted his head. It was unexpected that an archangel would be exiled to Arabot instead of remaining in her own Jebul.
"Is there some reason we don't know?"
"Yes. Ikael was stripped of her rank as Chief Angel for some sin. But Ra loved her so much that instead of disgracing her as a fallen angel, he exiled her to Arabot."
It was a startling anecdote. From their experience, gods were stern arbiters who wielded the Law.
That such a god made an exception was odd enough, but exile to Arabot rather than the Second Heaven was stranger still.
"What kind of angel is she? What sin did she commit?"
"I don't know that either."
"What? How can you not know? If she rose to Chief Angel it must have been a huge scandal."
"Maybe it was. But we all forgot it. We only know Ikael committed a grave sin and is exiled to Arabot now."
Shirone felt a chill at Peope's words. Saying they had "forgotten" implied they once knew and those memories had been erased.
Even if someone erases memories, others would still pass them on. Given the speed of information spread, the only way that could happen was if everyone's memory were erased at once.
Rian said, "After lifespan control, they erased memories too? That's literally omnipotence. How old is a god—tens of millions of years?"
"Age is meaningless to a god. They're the beginning of everything. We don't know the primordial start—so we don't know an age."
Kanis said, "Doesn't matter. We're not going to fight a god. We just need to rescue the women and leave."
Shirone noticed Kanis had said "the women," not Arin. Though they bickered, it seemed he'd grown attached in ways he didn't notice.
When they arrived at Arabot, they looked up at the wall. Though it was an inner wall of Heaven, it rose higher than the outer one. There was no visible device to summon Ikael.
Kanis muttered, "Don't tell me we have to wait until that woman's done walking her dog or something?"
"Hmph! Your arrogance won't last long! Without Ikael's help we can't even enter Jebul."
Peope, a Heaven official who supported Shirone, wouldn't allow an archangel beloved by the subjects to be belittled just because Ra had erased the memory of her sin.
Shirone said, "I'll apologize for us. She's probably just on edge. So what do we do next?"
Peope, knowing how urgent their situation was, stopped snapping at them.
"All right! Then let's try to speak with Ikael."
Shirone's eyes lit up as he asked, "Oh? You can do that?"
"No, I can't."
"…Are you joking right now?"
"What am I supposed to do about that? But it's not entirely impossible. Ikael might be watching us."