Heaven's Heresy

Birth of Law

The Spirits sat around their hall once again, but the seven had become five. There was a solemn air to the room. No one could bare to speak. Years had passed, and yet still the pain was clear.

"I-I miss my brothers," Vitalia said, tears running down her face.

"We've yet to find Etherum, and Craeus has remained unapproachable," Ben-Ammi replied.

Euphoria took her sister's hand as she fought to hold back her tears. "He has not put down the barrier yet?"

"No. We've been unable to breach it as well. The barrier that bars us is near impassible," Orm replied. "If I cannot take it down, it must be impassible. He will put it down himself."

"How do you know he will?" Vitali asked. "W-What if he just stays there forever?"

"I will attempt to speak with him then," Euphoria said, standing. "He should at least want to talk about this to someone caring."

"I suppose force wouldn't have been the best method of reaching him," Orm said, scratching his head.

Euphoria stood out in the void overlooking the world. She floated down gently, but saw a light shockwave travel from where she stopped. She placed her hand on the barrier gently. She waited several moments, and it opened.

She reappeared on the ground, and put up her hand as a gust of sand blew past her. She saw her brother kneeling in the empty sands. She hesitated, but walked towards him. She glanced behind her to see the ruined remains of what might have been structures. She focused on her brother instead. He was her goal.

"Craeus?" she said, standing beside him. He did not answer, so she continued. "W-We miss you. We haven't talked to you in many years. Vitalia cries that she cannot see her brothers."

He turned his head to her, the sand flaking off his body. Euphoria was surprised that he had sat there without moving all these years. The ground around him was solid glass.

"I am sorry for that. I need not make anyone else sad. That would be terrible of me," he said softly. "I don't know if I'm...ready to do anything. Why...Why should I? How could I?"

Euphoria tried to speak, but she knew no words to counsel him.

"I still miss her," he said, looking away. "But she is in a better place, I hope."

She put her hands on her head and sat down next to him. Craeus wiped away a tear as it formed. She took his hand and held it close to her.

"There are no words I could say that could bring you back to us. I prayed every day, for all these years, but now I feel so wrong for doing so. Who could live after such an event?"

"I can. I...Have."

"Are you really living? You're alive, but that is it."

"You are right then. No one guides the mortals..."

"Yes, that is it, your purpose! You and Etherum help the mortals. Y-you can do it still, can't you?"

He could see the light in his sister's eyes, and could not live to see it disappear. "If it is for more than me, than I shall."

Spread across the stars were many mortal realms, each unique to the other in every way. The Ancients continued their work, be it in the stars or with the mortals. Craeus once again stood beside the mortals, but with other younger spirits beside him, learning from his actions. With each one he taught that learned well, he moved to another, becoming a teacher of both the spirits and the mortals.