Keter glanced around the office, eyes glimmering in interest as He took in every tiny detail that was visible, from the position of each piece of paper, to the particles of dust that floated in the air.
"Why have you come here?" Ayin questioned, his narrowed eyes holding nothing but disdain for the existence that stood in front of him.
Keter chuckled in response. "Is it not obvious? The time has come for us to finish the play, to move on to the next act. This debacle has gone on for long enough."
Ayin's frown only grew deeper at His words. "Return to whence you came, it is not yet time." Keter did not heed his words, and with a single wave of His right arm every monitor within the room was shattered.
"Indeed, it is not time. The time is long past us, I should've ended this millenia ago." Slowly, thoughtfully, Keter raised his fingers one by one, eventually settling on four.
"Five thousand years, that's how long it's been since the beginning, yet I perfected the script in just a century, and the required enkephalin was collected in one millenium. Twas only you who have stretched the dying gasp over tens of thousands of cycles. Such meaningless waste."
Ayin ran a finger over the shattered monitor in front of him, eyes distant in thought that could not be grasped, heart distant in feelings that cannot be understood. "Yet the ideal remains ever distant, above with the stars that cannot be reached."
With a snicker and with a shrug, He waved the man's words away. "I truly do not understand why you so stubbornly remain here. Her ideals are already within reach, it has been for a long time as I have just explained to you."
From shards of glass blood flowed, Ayin's fingers cut by the broken pieces.
In it he could see his reflection, his auburn eyes so familiar. "Perhaps so, yet I cannot help but wish salvation upon just one more, and failing that, to offer them closure at the very least."
Keter tilted His head in confusion. "Do you speak of our daughter? I do not understand what you mean by those words. The whole point of this is to grant her happiness, is it not?"
The man scoffed, a bitter chuckle escaping his lips. "No, I do not speak of Angela. Do you truly not understand my words?"
He hummed as He scratched the back of His head, the frown upon His face contorting deeper and deeper into thought until He eventually shook His head with a shrug.
"If I do not know, then it matters not. Anyone so peripheral so as to escape the vision has little impact on the future."
Ayin turned around to stare at Keter, identical irises of auburn gazing into one another.
"…"
The man sighed after a while, returning to the illusionary work upon his desk. "Go on then, I cannot stop you even if I wished to."
With a smug grin Keter left, onto the trial of 47.
Ayin sighed once more. "I suppose this is what happens when one man is shattered into his most basic aspects."
!ERROR! GLITCH WITH COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS DETECTED !ERROR!
!ERROR! GLITCH WITH DISPLAY SYSTEMS DETECTED !ERROR!
!ERROR! GLITCH WITH REGENERATOR SYSTEMS DETECTED !ERROR!
!ERROR! GLITCH WITH EMPLOYEE GUIDELINE SYSTEMS DETECTED !ERROR!
Angela could do nothing but grit her teeth as nearly every system essential to the running of the facility simultaneously broke down. She recognized these glitches, she's seen them tens of thousands of times over the millenia after all.
"Malkuth! Malkuth, can you hear me?"
There was no response, all digital communication had already been cut.
-Connecting to facility surveillance system: FAILURE, ASSISTANT MANAGER A ACCESS LEVEL RESTRICTED ACCORDING TO PROTOCOL KETER.
In spite of her wishes, she couldn't hack the managerial systems as she had before, as the protocol had entirely cut her remote connection. There was little she could do from the office.
"Benjamin! The qliphoth deterrence systems are overheating, take manual control and prevent a complete meltdown at all costs! And try to get the systems under control if you can!" Angela immediately ordered.
"Understood." There were few who could surpass Benjamin in intelligence and experience, Angela rushed out the office without another glance.
It was disorientating to lack access to visual feed other than her eyes, though she sprinted across the halls of the facility regardless, quickly descending down the elevator into the control department.
The orders came immediately.
"Malkuth! Gather you fastest agents, all remote communication has been cut. I want at least one employee assigned to every department of Asiyah and Briah, they are to deliver my orders as quickly as possible!"
The sephirot of the control team was nothing if not quick, and in less than a minute six employees stood before her.
"Get to the information department! Every report and work result is to be brought to Yesod for processing, I want his team scouring the entire facility to make sure nothing misses my notice!"
"All regenerator systems are inactive, tell Netzach to find every employee trained in first aid and station them around the facility, tell the rest of his team to make sure there are no shortages of medical resources!"
"Tell Hod and her team to write down all employee guidelines and abnormality work procedures, bring them to Yesod to be copied and distributed to every employee including the sephirah!"
"Tiphereth is to manage all abnormalities in Briah! Her agents are to focus on gathering enkephalin as quickly as possible! Make sure there are no ALEPH breaches at all costs!"
"Chesed and his team are to relocate to the upper hall of central command, every agent is to undergo a mental corruption test by him after working with an abnormality or a suppression!"
"Tell Gebura and her team to spread out across the facility! Make sure no employees are breaching protocol in light of the current situation. All suppressions will be performed with at least one agent of the disciplinary department leading it!"
With rapid orders the first message carriers were sent out, and by the time she gave the final order the first employee had already returned bearing a report from Yesod.
Like a well oiled machine the facility adapted to the situation, protocols and orders adjusted as necessary, delivered within a minute to every department by Malkuth's agents.
The Disciplinary and the Welfare department was locked down to avoid overextension of communication lines.
First aid and mental corruption test requirements were lightened as Benjamin was able to get the regenerators systems under enough control to release a burst of gas once an hour.
Hod and her team were relocated to the control department as Angela was the only one with perfect memory of every procedure that needed to be written down.
Gebura along with two agents were put into a rapid response team in realization of the fact that the ordeals of white were continuing to occur.
On and on it went, an administrative war waged against the systems that refused to obey.
The moment Keter left the office, he found himself standing in another. This one from millenia ago, used only for a few years in spite of its opulence.
And there he sat, a man of greying hair and auburn eyes so familiar.
"It's been a long time since I saw that face in the mirror, so old." Keter mused.
Abel chuckled in response. "One must move on from their youth eventually." He gestured at Keter to sit, the divine did so with a small smile.
"Have we found it within ourselves to move forward?" The old man questioned.
"That's why I'm here, am I not? We've been stagnant for too long."
Keter tilted His head in questioning when Abel shook his head. "Not quite the answer I was looking for. We found the will to move forward millenia ago, do you not remember?"
He patted her head, it felt far more natural than it did the first time—it felt like the right thing to do.
"Don't worry about me, the human mind is more resilient than you may think." Angela relaxed into his grip as she always did.
A single step forward, that's all he had accomplished.
The project won't be completed for thousands of cycles more.
The Red Mist will still rampage across the facility, employees will still fall to horrors beyond their comprehension, the script will still repeat itself.
But he will not hide, nor shall he falter. He will walk the path he has chosen.
Keter laughed at the memory. "I do. It was the first and only time Angela earned our ire through her own action, if I do recall correctly. She almost had us removed from the cycle along with Benjamin."
His amusement died down as he shook his head, and by the end only a condescending smile remained.
"You made such a big deal out of it at the time, and yet we're still here. You never did live up to that promise for yourself. Only now through my actions are we finally going to start moving forward."
Abel stared at Him for a few minutes with a raised eyebrow before eventually standing up from his chair. He began to open the shelves that lined the walls one by one, occasionally bringing out files and documents.
"What are these?" Keter questioned.
"Our memories of struggle." Abel replied. "The five millennia of struggle we endured, you seem to think it all for naught, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Through time and suffering we've learned, inscribing the lessons into our souls forevermore."
The files piled higher and higher, seemingly no end in sight as the desk was buried under paper.
"This was us moving forward. We bent not under the suffering, and through an iron brand heated by the flames of hell we've marked the road we traversed. What you wish to do now is to leave the path unfinished."
A finger was pointed at Keter in accusation. "You do not seek to move forward, you merely wish to take the still water and bring it atop a mountain. High or not, the unmoving lake will blister and pollute until it is eventually nothing more than a swamp."
In spite of his best efforts, Abel's throat tightened. "Do not abandon struggle, for it is the pure, flowing water through which we grow higher."
There was a giggle, a snicker, and eventually a full blown laugh. Keter held a hand to His eyes as His endless amusement continued to flow out.
The divine eventually composed Himself enough to speak His words.
"What nonsense! You can play around with words all you like, Abel—it doesn't change the fact that we've been here for five millennia when we could've gotten on with liberating Angela and making Carmen's dreams come true four millennia ago!"
With a wave of his right hand, their old office was torn apart.
An invisible force brought Abel to his knees, a gust of wind seemingly taking his breath away.
"Such human ideas are nothing more than rubbish when one is on their way to heaven, Abel. A God does not struggle, He does not improve. He simply is!"
The old man could do nothing but watch as Keter's hand slowly approached his head—a stoic face maintained through it all.
"Ahh, you need not worry, dear Abel. You are quite lucky compared to the others, I'm sure they will be quite jealous of your position."
With one smooth motion, both of Abel's eyes were torn out, the bloodied organs falling to the ground.
"You shall be the eye that watches over the library. How lucky of you to able to stay with our daughter."
Notes:The target amount of energy has been collected, commencing refinement.'
The moment the automatic announcement was sounded across the facility, nearly every employee collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. A day of work was an excruciatingly difficult affair, and even a single system malfunction raised the struggle exponentially.
Four full on meltdowns at once ensured even department captains were ready to keel over dead by the end of the day.
Angela watched silently, awaiting Benjamin who was currently fixing the malfunctions of the digital systems so she may return to her duties. Some employees cheered for having survived, others weeped for having lost friends or even family.
Many more sat silently, eyes having long turned dull as their minds wandered to a place where the horrors of the facility may never reach them.
It was a familiar sight, one she's witnessed hundreds of thousands of times before.
Every employee slowly gathered at the control department, and the sephirot were also present as a result.
They spoke to their teams, praising them for their performance or comforting them for the losses they endured. From Gebura's speech about duty for her agents to Chesed patting a clerk on the back as they emptied their stomach, it was clear they were close one way or another.
A member of the training team went so far as to hug her sephirot, tears flowing freely. Tiffany, if Angela's sight didn't deceive her.
The A.I watched silently from a distance. There was no need for Angela to interfere—she was practically a stranger by all accounts.
"I applaud your ability to maintain your composure, assistant manager. Not one wrinkle of cloth after all that chaos." Angela turned to the sight of Yesod, standing next to her with his arms crossed.
"Will you not join the other sephirot?" She questioned, the bandaged robot twisted his body as though he was shaking his head.
"My words will do little for the information team. A stoic mask is all I can offer."
"Even if it means bearing their hatred?" Even now, several of those under Yesod's command glared at their sephirah, gazes filled with disdain.
"I don't mind, let their anger become the banner they rally to should it be necessary. My condolences will do little for those who have already met their ends."
It was indeed a rational outlook, and Angela nodded in agreement.
Yesod would not accept such a gesture so easily however.
"Should you not approach your team?" He asked, pointing at the eleven agents who sat silently in a corner—members of the newly founded architectural department, those who descended with her creator.
"They did not suffer any casualties." Was Angela's quick reply.
"Yet they still appear troubled." The sephirah continued to push.
Angela frowned, her voice taking on a somewhat accusatory tone. "Did you not speak of the pointlessness of such an action mere minutes ago?"
"Yes, but that is the case only because I am 'the viper'. The same could not be said for the other sephirot, or you."
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Any comfort I offer them will be disingenuous, for I care not for their suffering."
Yesod stared at her for a long while, silence overtaking the air between them. He returned to gazing upon the employees after a few minutes.
"If you say so." The words were filled with doubt, but Angela quickly buried the notion.
It mattered not, it never did.
"Triumphantly, I have returned!" The door to the office was slammed open with a loud thud, Ayin didn't even bother to gaze up from his desk, instead continuing to scribble something onto a piece of paper.
Silence reigned for nearly a minute, eventually broken by Keter's chuckle. "No cheers for my arrival?"
Ayin only scoffed in response. "There is nothing to cheer about a mind cannibalising its own heart. Leave."
He did not, instead taking a seat across from where the man sat. Keter placed a hand upon His heart and the other upon His forehead in an overly dramatic fashion. "You wound me, truly. It's a good thing I have no need for your approval."
"No, you do not. So I suggest you leave."
Keter raised an eyebrow, His voice taking on an inquisitive tone. "Why do you seek to be rid of my presence? I do not understand what I could've done to invite such ire."
The constant scribbling of pen and paper suddenly stopped for a moment before continuing just a second later.
No answer was given.
Keter sighed. "Still stagnant, I see. I don't understand why I even bother with you."
He glanced at the piece of paper, nearly filled from top to bottom. Keter could discern every word, yet He found Himself unable to read what was written. He squinted, expressing his confusion.
Ayin answered Keter's question before it could be vocalised. "It's a farewell." He said plainly.
"For whom?" It was a reasonable question. They were at the bottom of the well, where none other would dare to tread. All that was here existed only within dreams, no letter will find its way into a person's hands.
"No one. You may call it a form of mourning if you so wish."
Keter tilted His head, hummed in thought, then shrugged. "I still don't understand after all. What need is there for such a pointless affair?"
The letter was finished. Ayin carefully folded the piece of paper before putting it into an envelope.
"A person needs to grieve, it's only natural."
'From: Lobotomy corporation, the architectural department.
To: Nothing, may these words reach the heart of no man'
With those words written upon its surface, a lighter was lit underneath the letter, leaving nothing but a small pile of ash upon his desk. "I see you still do not understand. Leave, I'm done speaking to a wall."
After a moment of silence, Keter chuckled, shrugged, then left the office.
A man was left staring at the receding figure, disdain coloring every inch of his heart.
If only it had never existed.
If only he had never lifted his eyelids.
If only,
If only…
…
He supposed it mattered not, it never did.
With a single swing, the hallway was utterly destroyed. The ground shook under his feet as rubble fell from the ceiling above, and through a thick haze of dust and dirt he saw a single eye glowing in crimson.
Perhaps Edward would've made note of the fact that he was currently fighting a phantom of the Red Mist, yet the unending storm within his head would not allow a single tangible thought.
Thanks be to Thee, my Lord, for all the benefits Thou hast given me... May I know Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, follow Thee more nearly—
The hymns never ended, an eternal prayer sent above to a light that he had never bore witness to, yet had gazed upon for an eternity. From the deepest pit of his soul it flowed, unrealized as it may be to his mind locked behind chains.
Nothing will dare harm you.
When you reach the end, there will be no such thing as fear.
This is my judgement and punishment against all, and salvation at the same time.
Three voices continued to speak. He could no longer tell if he heard words or if it was merely the chirping of birds. They demanded his obedience, shrieking within his mind all that they desire, all that he should desire.
But an agent's mind was a fortress of thought, and his subconscious mind resisted their influence in spite of his broken state of mind.
His team was slaughtered to the last, he could do nothing but watch. He was the last to die.
'I love you," she said, the first sentence she's ever said to him. He died as crimson and blue mixed.
A wolf and a mercenary raged, the facility shaking under their might. He died in the crossfire.
A star rose to the sky, and he understood the meaning he so desperately searched for. He died the moment he believed.
What were these memories? He couldn't say. Lives never lived, time never passed, deaths never felt. A noise that filled his ears, allowing not a single moment of rest. What was it all for?
' Look neither left nor right. Care not for those who fall, Doureios Hippos must reach the gates. I entrust it to you, Alighieri' Laertiada ordered. He saluted, as was his duty as a soldier.
And deep below, memories that existed, yet didn't. Towers of smoke rose high into the sky, as stern brown eyes so familiar gave him his final orders.
Who even was he?
An apostle?
A vessel?
An agent?
A soldier?
Edward couldn't say. All he could do was shed a tear as Twilight clashed against mimicry once more.
A single tear, perhaps to grieve the thousands of 'he' that never existed.
When Keter walked through the door, He was met by a familiar hue of green luminescence.
A tank filled to the brim with liquid, dozens of pipes running in every direction to transfer the endless well of cogito.
Next to the tank was a crude operating table, an improvised prosthetic and a bloody scalpel lying on the ground below. Yet the one who was operated upon was not in sight, there was no brain or nervous system within the tank of cogito.
It was all nothing more than a hallucination after all.
"It was at least amusing to see Abel's wrinkly face. You're just pathetic." There was no amusement present in Keter's voice for once, nothing but disgust was held for the one who sat sipping tea.
"Not a very nice thing to say in greeting…" Abram did not bother to look Keter's way as he muttered those words, his eyes firmly locked upon the empty containment unit in front of him.
"A greeting is reserved for those who deserve it. The others are foolish, but they at least pretend to have some modicum of value to ourself. You cannot manage even that." Keter sneered, yet the man didn't seem to care.
Abram hummed in feint interest, but his tired voice held not a single drop of effort to make it believable.
"Is that so…" His words trailed off with a sip of tea, making it clear he had no interest in speaking any further.
Keter pressed forward regardless, taking a seat across the table. "Nothing to say? Poor Abel poured his heart out trying to convince me, yet you continue to sit here in this pit of sloth, just as you have for millenia."
Abram managed a tiny smile as he held the steaming cup to his face. "All of you are too concerned with progress. Someone needs to remember simply for the sake of remembering."
Keter rolled his eyes. "'Simply for the sake of remembering' he says. You accept the pointlessness of your own existence then?"
"I suppose one could put it that way, yet I wouldn't use the word 'pointless', as that would suggest remembrance inherently lacks value."
The divine scoffed in response, every word painted in a mocking tone. "Then tell me, what value could you wasting away here possibly hold?"
Abram finally tore his eyes away from the tank of liquid, slowly placing his cup of tea onto the table before presenting his palms. It was painted in blood, blood of the people he loved.
"How would one grieve without remembrance?" He questioned. Keter's brows furrowed ever deeper.
"Then I ask in turn, what is the point of grief? It wastes away our time and stamina, plaguing our minds with useless memories of sadness and loss when there is still a tomorrow to be built. It's an unneeded feeling, one that is utterly irrational." Were His harsh words.
"Yet it is still there." Abram's voice cracked, he made no effort to stop it from doing so.
"When we opened the door on that day—"
He only heard the sound of running water and shallow breathing. No voice was heard beyond the door.
"When the laboratory slowly collapsed around us—"
'Ayin! You need rest, it's not okay to keep going like this!' Benjamin yelled out in worry and anger.
"When they were all slaughtered in front of our eyes—"
Kali's corpse was merely meters away, Daniel lay across the hallway covered in his own blood. Not one survived, not even himsel—even as he continued to breathe.
"They are all wounds that will never heal, a cut so deep it won't even scar, such is their all consuming nature. To deny them is to reject reality entirely, an action that bears no rationality."
Abram curled his hands into a fist, feeling the wetness of the blood that painted every inch. It still hadn't dried, even after all these millenia.
"That is why we chose to shed all those tears, did we not?"
'No…I shall grieve. That's the reason I came here, to grieve for all that I've lost to the world, to regret all I've destroyed with my own two hands. I shall grieve, then rise from this place to manage the facility once again, to keep walking the path I've chosen.'
"To accept the existence of grief, yet to not be chained by it. That is the true rationality we found."
Abram let out a deep breath, closing his eyes as he leaned back into his chair.
With the man's speech concluded, Keter stood from his chair.
"And yet, that suggests we have anything to grieve for. The ideal will be reached just as Carmen wished, nothing else matters in the face of such a feat." A needle formed between His fingers as a hand approached Abram.
"I tire of your nonsensical ranting and your refusal to accept the truth. You will make for a finer being if you couldn't speak at all."
Abram's tiny smile never left his lips, even as they were sown shut with every painful tug of thread and needle.
"And yet…stubborn denial is all you can offer me." Were his final words before his mouth was shut forevermore.
"You shall be the eyes that watches over the facility. If you wish to waste the millenia in the mud, then you can do so in a place where you will be marginally useful."
With those words Keter turned to leave, though He turned around at the last moment.
"If you are to remain chained to your foolish ideas of remembrance, then bear witness to the struggles of the claw above. Perhaps that will make you understand, if only a little."
And with that, the door was shut.
Who even was he?
An apostle?
A vessel?
An agent?
A soldier?
An apostle?
A vessel?
An agent?
A soldier?
An apostle? A vessel? An agent? A soldier?
Apostle? Vessel? Agent? Soldier? Apostle? Vessel? Agent? Soldier? Apostle? Vessel? Agent? Soldier? ApostleVesselAgentSoldierapostlevesselagentsoldier—
'Does memory weigh too heavily upon your shoulders?'
Edward heard a voice within his head, yet it was not like the ones that plagued his thoughts. Through the storm of chaotic thoughts it alone pierced through, a ray of light shining through his clouded soul.
"Yes…" He whispered.
'Then worry not. Abandon such irrational suffering, dedicate yourself to something truthful.'
'How?' Was the question he wished to verbalise, yet the voice appeared to have heard him before he could open his mouth.
'Simply follow my guidance, and you shall be free from all.'
Edward let out a shudder, then nodded.
Anything to pierce through the fog.
Notes: