[206] 3. Ra the Eternal (3)
Shirone closed his eyes and accepted the memory Peope passed on. It felt warm.
"Thanks, Peope."
If not for Peope, he probably wouldn't have made it this far. If Shirone managed to rescue Amy and the others, he would gladly attribute all the credit to Peope.
"Hmph! Me? I just got curious watching what you lot were up to and followed along. Don't expect me to care about it forever, okay?"
Peope refused to admit it to the end, but Shirone knew. She had a soft, pure heart. That was why, despite her immense lifespan, she could never pretend not to feel human pain.
"Peope, you'll surely become a fine fairy."
"Enough. Just get in quickly. I'm tired and don't want to be here anymore."
Peope stepped aside toward the opening. Shirone was curious about the interior, but he didn't dare peer into the angel's room.
As Shirone entered, the iron door slammed shut with a thud.
It was only a single door between them, but Peope felt as if Shirone had vanished from the world.
The realization that no one else remained nearby brought a sudden wave of loneliness. Is the summit of the world this lonely?
"Tch. I'm going back, whatever."
Shaking off her unease, Peope took the elevator of light down to the first floor.
When she reached Shamain she would report to Igirin. She had to watch over her until the impersonation ended. Then she'd sleep, and the next day life would return to normal.
Thud. Thud.
The ground trembled at the entrance Peope was heading for. Someone was coming in.
Just from the sound Peope's face drained of color.
Only a shadow showed so far, but it was clearly a giant. If the floor shook, how enormous must the creature be?
One giant came into view at the entrance.
Contrary to expectations, his frame wasn't huge.
Barely over two meters tall, by giant standards he was almost a runt.
Judging by his clothing, however, he seemed to have reached a fairly advanced stage of Ilhwa's Sul.
Broad shoulders and a pronounced lower jaw. His forearms were rock-hard and his gaze burned.
Peope, who recognized the giant through her primal knowledge, forgot even to flap her wings. She nearly crashed before catching herself and flying up.
'My goodness… who am I looking at now?'
It was Imir, king of the giants.
Though not towering, the tremor in the earth came from the sheer weight of the muscles composing his body.
He was approaching—the strongest giant in history, reputed to have absorbed over ten thousand humans into Ilhwa's Sul.
Imir's stride quickened when he spotted Peope.
A giant's rank was lower than an angel's or a Mara's, but Imir was different.
Primal knowledge said he had destroyed several worlds by pure physical force.
By raw strength alone he was a being whose power matched or exceeded that of a mid-level angel.
Peope swallowed and waited for Imir to arrive.
When he planted his foot with a thud and stopped, she couldn't help but blurt out a greeting.
"Ah—hello."
Regret rushed over Peope for her rashness.
Giants and fairies were bitter rivals; their meetings usually ended with barbs and mutual distrust. So she had no idea how a giant might take advantage of her.
To her surprise, Imir greeted her warmly.
"I've heard. They say a peculiar one was born in the fairy realm—so it's you."
Peope had never heard that. It must be talk among the higher Laws.
Still—peculiar? What had she done to earn such a judgment from above?
"You're quite cute. So, what brings you all the way to Arabot?"
"Oh—I'm here on behalf of Igirin, head of the Fairy Bureau."
Peope lied smoothly. It wasn't exactly false, but she felt guilty for using Igirin's name.
Now, though, she had to use whatever connections she could to smooth things over.
"I see. I heard Ikasa came to Shamain and took in the heretics."
"Yes, I think so. By the way, do you know what happened to the women who were captured?"
Peope pinched her lips that had betrayed her thoughts. What good was asking now?
There was nothing more she could do; she could just go home.
Still, her ears pricked up to catch Imir's words.
"They're said to be in Kariel's laboratory. They found a Metagate. That's why the Great World War is in uproar."
It would have been blasphemous not to use honorifics for the archangel Kariel, but Imir didn't care. That alone hinted at how great a warrior he was.
"Ah, I see. But what do you mean by 'uproar'?"
"It's said the Metagate recorded the coordinates of lost worlds. I don't care for the complicated stuff, but a war will break out soon. I came to petition Ra for that reason—to ask that my body be returned."
"Ah, is that so."
Imir's having had his body taken was famous in Heaven.
If Ikael had lost her power for grave sin, Imir had been stripped of his original flesh simply because he was too strong.
He was strong—so impossibly strong that Ra had to set limits on his body.
It was a violation of the Law, an extraordinary and rare event in Heaven's history.
When Imir raised his hand, Peope shrank back and closed her eyes in alarm. It felt like a massive wall approaching.
But the touch that landed on her was gentle. The giant's finger stroked her head.
"War is unavoidable. When it comes, fight by my side. If you stay near me, no foe will lay a hand on you."
"All right. I will."
Imir smiled with his eyes and passed by. With each step, the earth shook—thud, thud.
Only after he reached the platform and vanished into a shard of light could Peope finally exhale in relief.
"Phew—anyway, that went without incident."
She was embarrassed to have been frightened of the giant, but facing Imir, she could at least be proud she'd stood her ground.
Still, it was an uncomfortable memory she'd rather erase.
Peope shook her head and left Arabot. In her mind she quickly mapped the route to Shamain.
But her eyes were elsewhere. Her thoughts tangled again.
Great World War. Metagate. War.
Ever since Ilhwa's Sul had cleared, such unexpected words had been ringing in her ears.
She fluttered about in turmoil. The urge to run clashed with the conviction she shouldn't.
Shirone's voice echoed in her head.
-You'll surely become a fine fairy.
Peope grabbed her head and shook it, but the words had sunk in deep and wouldn't be shaken off.
"Ugh, seriously! I'm losing it!"
She shot off at speed. One fairy headed for Jebul, the angels' sanctuary.
@
Anke Ra remained on the pinnacle tower of Arabot.
An omniscient, omnipotent being who could freely alter the lifespan of subjects and even govern their memories.
Imir had climbed the tower to see this great being.
Imir, king of the giants.
The strongest giant in Heaven's history.
Ilhwa's Sul is divided into ten final stages before reaching biological completion. Imir was the only giant in history to reach the tenth, final stage.
Even he felt nervous standing before the divine throne where Anke Ra resided.
The top floor, jutting toward the heavens, was less than one-one-hundredth the area of the first floor.
All that greeted him after taking the elevator of light was a crude iron door.
"Anke Ra, your servant requests an audience."
Imir waited.
The iron door trembled, a crack opened at the center, and it swung inward.
He strode forward without hesitation.
Dun. Dun. Dun.
A swelling sound beat in a steady rhythm, like a slack drum being struck and drawn inward.
It was a room no larger than a hundred pyeong.
Fine, hair-thin bundles of nerves filled the floor's crevices and spread in all directions, while hose-like intestines hung from the walls.
The nerves on the floor rose and probed at Imir's ankles, then, as if bored, dropped away.
Imir dropped to one knee before Ra.
"Imir the Giant greets Anke Ra."
Dun. Dun. Dun.
A massive chunk of flesh beyond Imir's shoulders pulsed like a heart to welcome him.
It weighed twenty-six tons. Encased in mucus and dark reddish-brown, its collapsed form bore no distinctive features.
The center bulged while the ends sagged like stretched balloons.
Bundles of intestinal tendrils extended from the ends to fill the walls, and nerves branching from there spread across the floor in waves.
Ra's body looked as if every organ that makes up a living being had been combined.
Heart and brain, digestive and sensory organs—all in one.
Ra's nerves began to lash about Imir like mad. The central mass swelled, split horizontally with a ripping sound; the outer skin peeled open, and a gigantic pupil emerged.
Anke Ra (the Immortal Ra, age unknown).
The pupil, the size of a human face, contracted and then widened to focus.
A high-pitched tone, like something piercing the eardrum, leaked out.
"Screech! Giant… Screech! Imir, why have you… Screech! come to me?"
Despite the noise like nails on steel, Imir's expression did not change.
"Heretical bands have infiltrated holy Heaven. Those who denied Ilhwa's Sul were handed to Kariel and are being prepared to receive the Wine of Life."
"I know…."
Ra's voice gradually steadied. Still high-toned, but no longer overlaid with noise.
Ra knew everything. Imir judged that he had not yet received an answer. But no matter how long he waited, Ra did not speak.
"What do you intend?"
"Nothing. Must I… concern myself?"
"This is unprecedented. Coordinates of worlds that had never been penetrated are said to be recorded in the Metagate. This is a perfect opportunity to convey Ra's will."
"I—mir."
Over three syllables Ra's tone dropped sharply, then swelled into a majestic voice.
"I am the beginning and the end of the worlds. All things are connected to me; nothing requires my concern."
Imir sealed his lips.
Ra was omniscient, omnipotent. Thus every incident fell within his domain. Still, Imir could not leave without his body.
"I wish to reclaim my body. Please melt the wall of ice that will never thaw."
"Imir, were you not my servant?"
"Do not twist my words. The giant keeps the Law. This is also to uphold Heaven's Law."
"Denied."
Imir lifted his head with burning eyes. But all emotion scattered when he met Ra's immense single eye.
"A single step by a giant can be louder than the blasphemous deeds of a billion heretics. If the owner of that step is Imir, king of the giants, all the more so."
"Do you doubt my loyalty? Do you think I would ever rise against you, the great one?"
"Imir, do not misunderstand. Your power disrupts the balance of the world. Do not forget that the Law exists to preserve the whole."
With those words Ra closed his eye. The gaps in its membrane sealed without a sliver of space, and the force of its pulsing intensified.
Dun. Dun. Dun.