by P. S. Power
"So... You, and I presume, your kind, have kept yourselves secret from the rest of us because..." She held up a hand and then sighed, getting the basic idea without being told. "Because the rest of us are morons?"
That wasn't really true, but she still fell into the trap of thinking that regular beings that couldn't understand things like that weren't as bright as the others, didn't she? It was more than possible that a few different sorts around the greater world could see Angels too, didn't it? The rare Human that was more than a bit mentally unstable, for instance. It took a lot of work and some genetic gifts, for regular people to be able to understand that anything existed that way. Even if they were raised around them, they'd eventually end up forgetting about it and believing that it was all just a dream, or fantasy world, if they weren't living with strangeness all the time to constantly refresh their thoughts on the matter.
For instance Hally, when she went off to college, would probably forget that her girlfriend was a Greater Demon. Oh, she'd remember the words, but if Keeley wasn't around a lot, she'd eventually imagine that it had all been a game that they'd played, or that Keels was just a bit weird, or narcissistic. It might take years, but it would happen, if things were normal, long enough.
Eve would be fine, since she was going to become a Vampire. Gary...
She was pretty certain that he phoned in most of his beliefs that way already. His life was too stressful for there to be more strangeness in it. So he heard people claiming to be Vampires and figured them to be Humans that liked to drink odd beverages and wear fake fangs. Only, because of everything he'd seen, he also knew that wasn't really true. It was starting to tear him up inside. That was Zack's trouble for now however, not hers. She nodded, getting the basic idea then.
"I can pretend that Angels are real, after a fashion. They don't fit what I know, but if you aren't too... Um, Godly, for me, being nicely presented as you are, then I should be able to remember that we had a conversation, and if nothing else that you said the words. I know that isn't the same as belief, but it's all I can think of for the time being. I'll try to work on that. Condition myself to understand it." She grinned at the rather peaceful looking man and then shook her head a little. "However, if this is a game, fess up now, since if I do that, and you're playing with me, it will pretty much drive me insane. In the short run, if nothing else. Is that the real Second Crucible then? I did kind of think that first one was a bit too easy. So now I have to work out that you're all a bunch of douche nozzles, and get around it? Which you wouldn't admit... if you were really tricking me."
He made a sharp, but not aggressive, pointing gesture at her. "That right there. It's why none of the other Greater Demons have ever managed to understand that we exist. Not since the change was made. The forgetting. The best results any of us have gotten have been high level attacks. We can hold our own in battle, my kind, but it's much closer than I'd like to admit, and on a deep level Greater Demons are simply better at fighting than we are. I can box a mugger, at need, or even slap around some terrorists like I really mean it, but my act falls apart if I have to do too much of that sort of thing. It has, as you will no doubt understand, come up." He looked at the wall of the place and then patted the smooth stone of the wall behind him. "So, in general, I cheat. I live a protected life, much of the time, and keep to myself when possible. When it isn't, I bring back up."
He waited then, because, as she remembered, he'd asked what that other Angel had wanted. It was a strain to think of him that way, but if it was real, then she needed to make herself do it. If not, then she was going to look like a giant clod, but that was always the risk with reality. You had to give it a chance, and at times that meant going in blind.
"Mike, if that's who he really is, suggested that I kill some Greater Demons, rather than allow them to be trapped. Something about a balance? Tarsus has a plan in place. I'm good, personally, not trying either one, if you want the truth, since... You get the idea, I don't really want to die?"
"Oh? Whom? If it's all right to ask?"
She shrugged.
"Well, that's the kicker isn't it? If you're really who and what you say, then... I guess it's fine. If you aren't, or things are much different than I think, then telling you," she looked at him and thought for a bit, not speaking. "Actually, doing that probably won't make a difference at all to the real end game. I may not be able to do anything at all, no matter how hard I try. It's The Rage, The Chaotic and Helmsman. Also The Void, but I have a strange idea that this Mikey fellow, or at least the Angels like him, might be responsible for all the activity attributed to that one."
There was a long pause, and the sitting Demon, or Angel, as the case may turn out to be, made a steeple of his fingers right under his chin. His glasses glinted as he turned his head a bit, thinking, it seemed.
"You can't beat them, singly or as a group. Not quickly. In a few hundred years you may be able to take The Rage. The nature of the others will make that much more difficult. On the good side, for you, I doubt that they would have an easy time returning the favor, either. My guess is that you'd come to a draw each time. Trapping them... In a different local space?" He seemed interested, but it was hard to tell if that was too much attention for the project, or held too great an insight into what was planned for him to have.
"A different reality. One where there is no magic. I don't know more than that, and haven't been given the books yet."
"Ah. Sensible, on Tarsus's part. My personal suggestion is that you tell them both, thank you, no, and let the balance handle things. If God has a plan for this, he can handle it himself. It's very hard to get around that kind of thing, if it's His true will. On the other hand, if he wishes you to handle this, then, as you might have begun to understand, you will. We are all but agents of His efforts, no matter who we believe we are."
She looked at the man, flatly, her mind rebelling against the very idea of there being a real God at all.
"I... pretty much thought that all the religious people were being... Um, morons, actually. Delusional. You're saying it's all true? I'm almost certain that the world isn't six thousand years old, for instance, unless that's a different trick of some kind?" She didn't like how she sounded, which was slow and confused, but Gregor didn't make fun of her about it. In fact he leaned in a little, to show he was more than a bit fascinated by what she was saying.
"Yes and no. Evolution so clearly happened that you'd have to be a fool to ignore the fact. It didn't even take much guidance to achieve, as I understand it. On the other hand, there was a man called Jesus. The son of a carpenter, or more exactly, an architect. It was more like a general contractor back then, than what we have today. He didn't provide any miracles and was no more than a local religious leader at the time. I rather... Embellished the story about seventy years later, so that no one could use the facts against me. So in that way, it was both true and not. The purpose is to instruct people, not for them to take the tale as complete truth. Not that it matters either way, as long as they gain the needed basic form, which underlies the whole thing. Anyway, yes, there are bits of real things in the story. I was tasked with making bits of the plan accessible to the Humans, since the vast majority of them cannot see, or remember, the Host. They are like your kind, in that way. Blind to parts of what is. The idea was to simply get them to not destroy the world, but, as you know, that didn't work too well. In my defense, it isn't simple to work with beings that can't even admit you exist."
She... didn't buy it. Not even for a second. Oh, it was all as logically consistent as what she'd been told over the last months, but it just seemed wrong. Which it would, if her mind was going to constantly try to reject it. Keeley couldn't mentally find a way around the idea either. She could pretend it was real, and act her way through this, maybe even carrying on that way for a time, but in the end, her being, her very self, had to reject it.
Being right wasn't enough to change her thoughts on that idea, was it?
Not yet.
/> "I sort of got, from both parties, the idea that we either had to control those three, or four, Greater Demons, and get rid of them, or that bad things would happen? At least my mental note mentioned that concept to me."
"No doubt." This sounded just a bit sour, but the Angel shrugged, still looking like he always did. "Because when the totality of what is real is in the balance, go to a mere child to fix it? I'll have a word with Michael, but I wouldn't go hunting The Rage just yet. My guess is that he fears The Librarian. My elder brother Michael, that is. Not The Rage. That one has no room left inside for things as subtle as worry or caution. We should try to work out why Michael feels that way, but things will, ultimately work out. Probably with a lot of us dead, but the totality is very hard to actually destroy, or so I hear."
That was reassuring, if nothing else.
"What does that mean for me? I can't just tell them no, not and expect to live. I can't kill those Greater Demons either, and while I might, possibly, pull off trapping them if I have help, I don't think that visits from your people is a good sign there. Would this Michael guy lie to me? You mentioned that some of you can? The Fallen? I do like the way that sounds. Far more approachable than Archangel, isn't it?"
There was a smile then. A real one, that seemed much lighter than his face had been, even a half moment prior.
"Not him. He is incapable of saying something that is not Truth. With a capital T, meaning from His voice directly. Not even a little. Your note said that I was him? He can't have told you that. What probably happened is that you came up with the idea and he didn't reject it well enough. The effects of the forgetting can be a little disorienting, around his sort. I used to be like that as well. The answer to your question is... no. If he gave you information, it was, as far as he understands it, the truth. It may not be complete, but it won't be a fabrication. It will not be a trick. The difficulty there is that you cannot recall what was said, can you? I can, so let me see about this in your stead. In the mean time, you should try to remember all of this, and perhaps enjoy your new found freedom? Try to be good and all that, for one of your kind at any rate, but being on your own for the first time is exciting, isn't it? How are things going, in your new territory?"
They chatted then, for about half an hour, over plans that she had, some troubles that he wanted to get Zack's help with and a few other things that had little to do with anything Angelic, or even close to being that stupid sounding.
It really did seem silly to her, even as the magic in the place kept her cut off from everything else so totally. Short of being in another dimension that couldn't happen really. Not and let anything through at all. It wasn't a thing in her mental library at any rate. True, it could have been that Gregor had simply worked out a magic that Tarsus didn't know, but nothing else even came close, which was a hint that the whole thing could be real. Not that it was.
Only that it might be.
That was less than perfectly reassuring, but she made herself let go of that bit of things. It either was, or was not, real. For the time being she needed to keep that in mind without simply dismissing the idea. It was more than possible to hold something like that in place, it just wasn't comfortable. Not even for a Greater Demon.
So she spoke about her plans, didn't let herself forget what they were talking about or simply dismiss it, and then looked at Gregor closely, wondering how long he'd been pretending to be one of her kind. Also, how hard that must have been. It was difficult to be a Greater Demon even when you were one. Faking it had to be a pain.
They didn't have food or drink, and it wasn't offered. For her part, she did get hungry, but suppressed the feeling, gathering energy from the world instead, to offset things a bit.
That worked, which was interesting. The basic power of reality was still in force, so whatever was stopping the flow of magic was geared toward her? More or less? After all, it wouldn't be about Keeley directly. That was way more work than would have been required, even to fool her into believing this was real.
Later, nearly two hours after she'd gotten there, she left, just standing, and smiling at Gregor.
"Do I forget all of this on the way out? The way you spoke earlier, it sounded like I might retain it?"
"You will. What you make of it, how you manage to rationalize and reshape it to fit what you want, that's the danger. I think however that we may have finally met the sane Greater Demon that can understand us. If you live long enough, that might help, in the end. Or not. Things are going more or less to plan. So who knows what improvements can be had? You came here for a reason today, Keeley. I have faith that it will be of aid to all, but how that will happen is not for one such as I to guess at. Not as more than idle speculation. He will let us know what should be, when the time comes."
It was cryptic, but she understood the basic idea, even if it was a joke, or trick. He was saying that God, who was real and not just an imaginary friend of his, had things worked out. It was, naturally, a stupid and delusional idea. There was simply no proof. If there was such a being, then she'd see the signs of it, wouldn't she?
"Hey, Gregor... If you see your boss, God, tell him to drop by and visit sometime? We should talk." Not that it would happen, which from the playful smile on the Greater Demon's lips, The Cleric knew as well.
"If it comes up, I'll mention it. Don't hold your breath, as they say. Talk about a busy person..."
That... well, it made sense that God would never show up, and it probably didn't matter anyway. That Keels still had a problem and all of this, which could be a game meant to break her mind or spirit, only made it worse.
Her mission with Tarsus couldn't be cancelled due to Angels, unfortunately, and while simply killing those other Demons might work out all right, she didn't think that she could do that. Except that, once she stepped out of the protected area inside the stone house, the door shutting gently behind her, she thought that perhaps she could. That she thought that even for a moment probably meant she was high on something, like her magical powers flooding back, but there was a real glimmer of an idea forming inside her twisty little mind.
The trick was, well, her ability. Making deals, and bargains.
She couldn't survive if she simply walked up to any of those beings and fought for control. Or, that seemed most likely. The Rage would kill her as fast as Zack had and not be polite about bringing her back. The others would probably take her as she approached, in their own ways. Helmsman turning her into an instant friend and The Chaotic just causing her to mess up so badly she died by her own efforts. There had to be a way however. A trick that would allow her to act faster than they could, and from far enough away.
What if she built a packet of information, holding it in her mind, then shot that, like a bullet, into the minds of the people she took over? It would take a lot of very high level rules layering, like a massive computer program, and she needed to be aware of how close she could get to those Greater Demons before they could be influenced, but if she could do it from far enough away, fast enough, then she could send them wherever she wanted to. Another reality that was accessed through a book, or even just back home, with orders to play nice from then on.
Leaving them safe and alive wasn't the best plan perhaps, and it would take even more care to make certain that they never had a chance to get around her rules, but that was about as good as she could hope for.
On the good side, it would work no matter what she did with them, after they were her slaves. That part was the basic key to removing them from a place they could harm her. Unless their powers were such that they could influence her through the link she built with them? The problem there was that no one in existence knew if that was the case or not. It seemed to her that The Rage, who was essentially just a giant and violent person with anger issues, wouldn't do much to her, unless he was in the same general area.
Even intense and overwhelming rage, if that's what came down the link, should be manageable. She'd just have to assume that it would be many,
possibly thousands, of times more intense than she was ready for. That was all. That a killer Demon was the least of what she might face didn't leave her feeling particularly comfy, or relaxed, however.
The Helmsman was, if she had the idea right, a lot like her, in many ways. Influential. Keeley took slaves, which gave her absolute power over particular individuals, but not others. The Helmsman did things in a way that might be resisted by some, like her, but also might not, if they weren't ready to protect against such things before hand. Most beings around her just sort of fell into being a slave, even without a real link set up. They could break free, or be sent away, which allowed release, but it was too close to her own abilities to play games with.
The Chaotic might just ruin everything the instant Keeley connected to him with her mind. Things just went wrong around that Greater Demon, and even a mental line between them might be too close for comfort.
Of course, that had always been the case. There was a chance, perhaps, for her to survive sending them away, and if she were clever, she might take them all, one at a time, and then have them kill themselves without knowing that she was involved, to keep her away from the retribution that would come if they ever suspected they weren't free.
It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Tarsus couldn't just be told that she was seeing Angels all over the place. Or... Could she do that? It was clearly either her being insane, or someone tricking her. Unless it was correct, which there was no way for her to prove, was there? Things had seemed real, as she spoke to Gregor about them, but what if it had all been her losing her mind? That hadn't happened before that anyone knew of. You were either born a crazy Greater Demon, or not. Except for Zack, but he'd been driven mad before he actually woke up as a Demon. So, she didn't know for certain that she wasn't just losing her control.
Her first impulse was to simply run and hide, but the facts spoke against that. She needed to make sure Tarsus wasn't right first. That part was hard, since both sides seemed to think that their way wasn't just the best, but the only way.