Finale Part 3

“Angels?” Lad looked at you. Georgius was waiting. He stared most expectantly at you, as if wondering how much of your memory had returned. The truth was, quite a bit. You remembered the deal, the people you lost, the Triumvirate. It was all coming back, and with that came information about Angels.

“Cosmic entities.” You stated, much to Lad’s shock.

“Without getting into too much detail, they want everyone on this planet to be consumed, and for the planet itself to transform into one of them. Two were defeated. There are supposed to be many more out there.”

“That goes over my head.” Djir muttered.

“I don’t know anything about that.” Lad remarked.

“Stephan?”

Stephan shifted uncomfortably. “We… Have ideas.”

It was Georgius’s turn to look surprised. “Ideas?”

“ChesAn started out as Cheshire Analytics and the original founders were Foxes. So… Naturally they invested in projects that would provide more information about their natural enemy and all of those were inherited by us when we took over the company.” Steph looked up in thought.

“Looking at stars is like looking at a video of the past being played for you. That being said… In the ‘movie’ that is our universe, sometimes Galaxies just disappear without explanation. There’s also cases where suns blink out of existence, only to be replaced with a different light. We’ve tracked some events… We still don’t know exactly. I’ve seen some of the reports. We have two that were defeated, apparently.”

“That’s impressive. I didn’t know about that.” Georgius claimed.

“All that goes a bit further than what I was going to say. To sum it up, Angels are a terrible threat to all life everywhere, at every point in time.”

“Goes without saying.” You shrugged.

“I don’t know if it does.” He looked at you.

“Because, you still have people that think you ‘defeated’ two of them.”

“Aren’t you using the power of one to make this Odyssey work?” You asked.

“I am, and it’s an imperfect solution. We need to evolve past using these rings because the fact of the matter is… If these twins were really defeated they would have just sent another Angel and we likely wouldn’t be here.” Georgius explained gravely.

“The thing that saves us is their patience.”

“Patience?” Marrien cocked her head to one side.

“Neither Coronia or Irisia are gone, therefore their mission is still in effect. If it takes a thousand years or a hundred-thousand, it’s the same for them. They’re looking down on us. Even when the twins failed, to them it is only an instant in time. They see a future where they are back and have won so there isn’t even a need to worry. How frustrating is that?” Georgius smirked.

You frowned. “I never thought of it like that. We were always preparing for the next. The common thought was to use the ones we defeated.”

“You haven’t gotten rid of the ones you have.”

“What about you?” You stare at him accusingly.

“You’re using the Angel just like us.”

“That’s true.” He nodded.

“I’m using it until I no longer need to, because my end goal doesn’t involve this Odyssey.”

Lad lifted a brow. “I thought this was a battery that was meant to constantly output energy into infinite potential?”

Georgius chuckled, leaning back. “That’s right. But my intention is to drain that energy into something else as quickly as it can be created. Storing unlimited amounts of energy into the Odyssey only strengthens Irisia.”

“I’ll bite.” Stephan stated.

“What’s it for, then?”

“Earth.” Georgius stated.

“Your planet?” You asked.

“Correct. On my planet things are a bit different than they are here. Basically nobody has power, basically nobody has the potential to have power. The dimension that mine sits in is a playground for Angels because despite that fact, humans have souls even if they do not have Soma or Aura naturally. Good things come in threes.” He held up three fingers and counted.

“Trysk’s Tripartite, Your Triumvirate… My own group before it disbanded. Of course there’s a third access here, too and it’s soul. To be frank, Humans, creatures, everything in my dimension have exceptional souls to make up for the fact that we have no power. It’s so strong in fact that the moment one of your kind enters into it you’ll naturally begin to leak your very being out into your surroundings unless you stop it. Because a soul is like a whirlpool that attracts Soma, and Soma is soil for Aura and then Aura is the vacuum that attracts the energy of the Soul.”

You took a deep breath. “Your dimension is one where Soul is weighted highly and Angels are beings of near-infinite Aura, so Angels are essentially a complete drain on your world… Even more so than they are here.”

“Angels take the place of ‘God’ in my world. I believed for a long time. The truth is, some people, a very lucky few, have power but it was always decided by some outside power. The Murim in the east is influenced by one from this world while many of the western sects are drawn from worship of Angels as a ‘Abraham.’ In antiquity our pantheons were propped up by individuals from your world that acted as gods. Zeus, Odin. Name a god on my world and I will name a corresponding entity that has stretched their long fingers from this world into mine. Angels are quite devious but this world isn’t innocent, friends. The issue I face is that my people are powerless and the people we look up to like ‘Hercules’ are simply dancing in the hands of beings that are playing at being Angels on their own terms. It’s terrible for us…”

Marrien gave Georgius a sceptical look. “Tell us in less terms that you want to be the one to have all of those people dancing on your palm instead? With all due respect for what you’ve been through and what you’ve accomplished here, you are angling to become a god and you are reasoning to us right now why we should NOT help you.”

Stephan seemed to agree. “Marrien is correct. You’re not different from any of those entities you described. You’ve played with lives, taken and manipulated Souls. You are undoubtedly guilty of every single thing you condemn, so what exactly do you expect from us? That we just go along with all this?”

Lad nodded. “You think we’re just going to accept that you’re the only one who’s immune to the draw of power? It doesn’t work like that, Mr. Saint.”

It was your turn to lean back comfortably. “The jig is up. You’re trying to convince us and you’ve failed. Now tell me what you have to offer us.” You glanced back at Marrien.

“Right? Is that good?” She smiled at you and nodded.

“Good.”

Georgius frowned. “That’s fine. I understand completely. But we’re pulling at straws. You’re actually right. All of you are correct.” He shrugged lightly.

“I am guilty of all of the things you say and more. But… If not me then who? Which of you is immune to the draw of power?”

Stephan points to Lad. “Him.”

“What?” Georgius squints.

Lad covered his face in his hands. “No! I don’t want to be in charge of this… This… Whatever this is! Listen… hear me out.”

Georgius smiled. “I’m listening.”

You nodded as well and Marrien, Steph and Djir looked at Lad as well. He caught his breath and continued speaking.

“Failsafes. Keys. In history, when nations were fighting with Aura bombs it was a weapon so bad that you needed three keys to turn before it could be launched. This is worse than that. There should be keys, fail safes in place to stop anyone from using it for their own selfish goals. The use of it should be decided by consensus..”

Georgius smirks. “Ah yes, how convenient. The consensus of your dimension and your world deciding for-”

“You didn’t let me finish.” Lad stared him down.

“You deserve a say. Your PEOPLE deserve a say, Georgius. Not JUST you. Do you understand?”

He was shocked. “I… Do, yes.”

Stephan and Marrien furrowed their brow. “I think we’re giving too much-”

“I think we’re giving the bare minimum.” You sighed wearily, rubbing your eyes.

“There’s such a thing as taking too much. Lad’s right. Georgius, you said that there are individuals with power in your world.”

He nodded. “In your terms and… In ours in some cases you would call them Heroes. However, there may not be suitable individuals to represent all of the interests as it stands now… If you actually want a consensus from the majority of the peoples on Earth there is simply not enough. Most have passed.”

Lad shrugged. “Bring them back.”

“Eh?” You looked at Lad.

“What’s time? I’ve heard of people that messed with time. They changed it. It’s just a matter of Aura, right? You have enough power and you can go back, or bring people from different times and if you know who you’re looking for you can just do it. The odyssey is the battery and you WANT to use the energy for something.”

Georgius chuckled. “Too true. The only thing that can’t be affected is the future.”

“That’s not true.” You claimed.

He shook his head. “You can’t. The only reason you think that you can move things from the future is when you are the past of the current present.”

“That’s stupid… Then everything could be the past of-”

“No. There is a present. So far as I know, there is no acceleration beyond the current point in the timestream on Earth. Or… The whole universe in my dimension, I suppose.”

You rolled your eyes. “So… If we take that at face value, we can only draw from things at or before the current present?”

“Correct.” Georgius stated happily.

“Lad. I like your idea a lot. If we agree, how about you, the one incorruptible by power according to your own people who are definitely not hypnotised by your charisma, decide the ‘Keys’ for Turaise. I will-”

“Random selection.” Lad stated forwardly.

“What?” Georgius’s eye twitched.

“Lad’s right.” You smirked.

“If it’s up to choice, it’s bound to be abused. It sounds like we just need to get representation from most places.”

“There’s a limited number of keys… If we have too many it will become impossible to do anything.” Georgius was beginning to look tired.

“Plus, there are so many distinctions that just splitting it into regions would not work. Who’s to say that Alexander the Great would have any interest in the current iteration of Greece or Macedonia? Couple with the fact that those places have almost no representation in the world.”

Hours passed of extremely intense debate and discussion over very small details. At the end of it, Georgius, who began the meeting looking quite confident, was bent over the table with circles under his eyes. He was tapping the floor with his foot. Steph had removed his jacket and was beginning to loosen his tie. Marrien seemed fine, as did Djir. Georgius summarised.

“Giving the Keys to people in power that hold the highest degree of representation of the worlds that they exist in. This includes collections of nations who represent their populations, organisations that represent an overwhelming number of individuals and a floating few keys grants to others for the sake of balance.”

Lad nodded. “They get to decide among themselves how and when the keys turn. It’s up to them.”

“Fine.” Georgius nodded.

You summarised. “The Keyholders are then granted Heroes who will act as protections and enforcement of their Key’s power.”

Georgius made a rolling motion with his hand. “This is so that might does not automatically make right in the case of weaker Keyholders. Are we satisfied?”

“No.” Lad looked down.

“What is it now?” Georgius groaned.

“Yes, what is it, Lad?” Marrien asked.

“I feel like we covered all our bases. I wrote it all down and Stephan double checked the notes and we were even able to hammer out most of the loopholes in the background.”

“The Turais.” Lad uttered.

“Ah…” Georgius nodded, straightening up. He looked to you.”

“Fin. Hero. Turais. This is a complicated subject to broach.”

You finally felt like you understood. “Leave. Die. Stay. Is that what that means?”

“They are the three options.” Gorgeous claimed.

Marrien and Djir both gripped your shoulders tightly, refusing to let go. “According to you!” Djir shouted.

Georgius frowned. “The Odyssey uses the power of the Turais to function beyond the Angel’s Confluence Engine. You all know this by now as well as I do. Angels represent a knot in ‘Fate’ or whatever you want to call it. This is why we were biding our time. Without the Turais, the odyssey will just become another tool of theirs. The main power that the Angels hold is their ability to draw all possible lines towards one where they succeed and we fail.” he made a crossing gesture with his finger as he said that.

Steph rolled his eyes. “You have energy. Make the power yourself.”

Georgius smiled. “Can’t. It’s too special.”

“Why?” You wondered out loud.

“The Turaise is a power created by Aura, yes. But that betrays its importance and rarity. If you consider that the Angel’s Confluence is born out of near infinite amounts of Aura, the Turais should have zero chance.”

“Then why?” Lad questioned in frustration.

“Turais, the world, sits in a unique position spatially. She rotates around Mara, your primary sun, but also circling Mara in a very wide but still significantly close orbit are Coda and Serius. The red sun siblings are in a waltz together spinning around one-another, one always threatening to consume the other. Then further beyond those two in a wider orbit around Mara are the lonely blue and green suns, Mere and Lauda. In so many Galaxies in this dimension it is difficult to find this many suns in such close orbits.”

Djir chimed in. “In simple cosmology, the Sun is the most powerful entity in a solar system.”

Georgius nodded. “A Sun in this dimension is an Elemental that has existed since the very beginning of the universe. Angels can not fight suns. Not unless many of them devote themselves to a single fight. Even then they may lose and truly losing to them means billions of years of progress is wasted. This is why they target planets indirectly. Normally when an angel attacks a solar system the sun will fight back, however unless the Angel is engaging the Sun directly the full power will never be properly laid to bare. Therefore the Sun can only reach out with its vast Aura to influence the universe around it. Normally… This is an inevitable failure. An Angel that is on a planet will always manage to combat an Aura that is being projected from billions of miles away.”

Marrien gasped. “But there’s so many around this one world!”

“That’s right.” Georgius pointed to her.

“It started out normally. The Suns reached out individually and empowered creatures to fight on their behalf. Coda & Serius, Lauda, Mara…But it was still a back and forth. From what I understand, after the destruction of the world tree, a plan between Coda and the planet, Mere came up with a strategy of combining their Auras. With that the Turais was created. So… You can understand why it is unreasonable to just make another one.”

“That’s not true though. You split it between me and Fiona, didn’t you?”

He nodded evenly. “I did, but we didn’t make anything new.”

“This is unreasonable. You’re asking him to choose between Living and Dying and… Leaving?” Lad complained. Around him there were a few uncomfortable stares.

Georgius held his hands up as he looked to Lad questioningly. “I think you are not seeing just how reasonable this is. Fin, our Hero, our Turais, lived a long life. He lived a good life. Then he lived another life here that was ideal for his desires. The Turaise can’t be replicated, and it needs to stay here. Fin, I’m sure you understand.”

“Kind of.” You admitted.

“What about our world outside?” Steph asked.

“What about it?” Marrien eyed him closely.

“If we are taking him at his word, which we decided to do for the most part, it is imperative that the power… And my Son stays here.”

“Are you not just saying that because he IS your son and Fiona IS your daughter?” Stephan argued spiritedly.

“Outside, the powers that be will accumulate in favour of the Angels. You explained the mechanism for it doing so. That means that eventually we will come to rely solely on this Odyssey… Regardless of who has the Key, this is bad for our world.”

“He’s right.” Lad decided.

“It’s not good that you have this power for yourself.”

“It’s already split…” You offered.

“Why not let half exist on the outside and the other half in here?”

“That leaves the big question unanswered. “Georgius reminded you.

“I know, I know. Dying?” You gulped.

“If you die, your half will be able to go to someone else.”

“Staying…”

“We choose some comfortable solution of who gets the power between you, Fiona, or anyone else. Half still stays here.” Georgius stated accommodatingly.

“Finally… Leaving. You never really answered me. Did my Father work with you on this?”

“You’re quite clever.” He complimented.

“Your father was a key designer of this system.”

“His Father… My Husband was smart, but he was not a genius… How could he come up with something like this?” Marrien asked, throwing quite a bit of shade.

“She’s right.” You placed a hand over hers as it rested on your shoulder.

“Dad was… Not a genius. He was average in every way. Also, he left us in both worlds.”

“Ask him yourself.” Georgius motioned off to the side. You and Marrien both gasped as an image of your father flickered into view. A tall, decently handsome man with a lithe figure and short messy dark hair. He wore glasses and an Academy robe.

“Is- Is that-” You asked. Marrien covered her mouth.

“It’s only an image. A memory. But, he has some functionality for answering questions. Anything he guessed you would ask, he can answer.”

“Dad.”

John smiled. “Hello, Son. Hello Marrien. I’d say it’s good to see you, but I’m not actually seeing you. I don’t think it would be good to exchange pleasantries with an image. I can’t receive your love and you can’t receive mine.”

“Tch…” Marrien spat.

“What love, you bastard? You left!”

John shrugged. “Sorry.”

It rubbed you the wrong way. “Where are you now?”

“Right now I’m on Earth, slowly moving things towards our overall goal. I took on the persona of John Dee. I was able to influence world events somewhat easily as an advisor to one of the most powerful Kingdoms in the world.”

“Ugh..” You felt sick.

“Can we cut to the chase.”

“Of course.” John nodded, closing the book his image was holding. He adjusted his thin glasses and turned to fully face you all.

“The Odyssey was conceived during my time at the Academy. I was never a particularly intelligent, wise or powerful student. I was basically just an academic, meaning I was headed for a role as a public servant with some minor control of Aura. At some point I began to forgo my studies in favour of unravelling the unique properties of the Academy itself. The internal space, the rules, the reality warping nature of it all. Aura’s all-powerful ability to create. I gradually navigated my way very carefully to the centre of the Academy and found the truth. Well… My truth. It will tend to appear to anyone that enters as whatever they want. For someone that wished for control it may show up as a control room or a bridge. For me it became a library and Tintamere’s Image became my guide through all of the information on our world and the Angels. Gradually, the two of us brainstormed a plan that could subvert their authority for good. That plan was the Odyssey. But, we needed heavy hitters. Primals who neither worked for or against the planet. Then there was Georgius who had a unique interest, and who provided a context we did not yet have. That of Earth and humans.” John stared at you quizzically.

“I… honestly did not expect that my son would become the Turais.”

“That’s enough.” You slumped down.

“I hated all of that. You bastard… Did any of that mean you had to leave Mom and Fiona and me?” He remained silent, staring.

“Which means you didn’t even prepare an answer to that question…”

He sighed. “Because I did not assume you would be important.”

“Aahhhh! Fuck! I hate you so so so much!” You shouted, slamming the table.” He continued to stare passively at you.

“Assumed I wouldn’t be important… The only thing you give a shit about is THIS.”

“It’s the fate of so many worlds. Of course I care most about this.”

Georgius lifted his hands in a stopping motion. “Okay okay… John. Please stop speaking.” John shut his eyes and shrugged. Georgius looked at you apologetically.

“Fin-”

“Leaving. What does that entail?”

“Your presence is not necessary.” John stated.

“Everything here is within our control.”

“Here.” You huffed.

“That means leaving would send me to where that bastard is?”

“I- I suppose.” Georgius uttered nervously.

“And I could hunt him down and fuck him up?”

“Well…”

“So emotional.” John sighed.

“My resources. The gate. None of these were put in place to facilitate pettiness such as this.”

You chuckled. “Pettiness? If I leave, what happens?”

It is Georgius’s turn to slump down. “If you leave, the power will not leave with you, because it is bound to all of the Sun in range of the planet in this dimension. So you would go there and you would find some complications, but I don't think you will have too much trouble. The issue is, we really can’t have infighting at this stage… Opening the gate for your benefit is something we will do because you and your companions' consent is very important for various reasons. It already uses up so much energy and we are trying to enter the next stage sooner rather than later.”

You smirked. “Sounds like you’re saying you’ll do it, regardless.”

“I’m going too.” Djir stated.

“No… You’re not. Sending multiple people through could crash things here. We already lost so much power with the destruction of Orr… We basically need to start this Odyssey over again as soon as all this is sorted.” He massaged his temples.

You looked around. “What do you all think?”

Lad smiled at you. “It’s your life. Your soul. Do whatever feels right, Fin.”

Marrien hugged you from behind and kissed you. She whispered in your ear quietly. “Kill that piece of shit for us.” You blinked as you heard that, then cautiously glanced back at Djir. He was upset.

“I’m really sorry… I- I don’t think you can come with me.” You said apologetically.

“If you die, I’ll die with you. If you stay, I stay with you. If you leave… He grinned, winking subtly.” Your mouth fell open a little as you wondered just what exactly he meant by that.

Steph stood behind Lad. “I support Lad’s decision. All of the factors involving us are solved. This is a choice that solely affects your life going forward… Or… The end of it, I suppose.”

You looked one last time at your Father, John. He eyed you coldly. “You lived a good life already. Dying makes sense. You could also stay and live blissfully in this Odyssey I helped create. Your memory will be adjusted since my words seem so painful to you.” His eyes roll unsubtly.

“Just don’t be an idiot and waste unnecessary power coming here.”

Georgius stared daggers at John. He calmed himself and adopted a convincing smile. “Well?”