Moving through space with a superluminal speed, Jarka reflected back on what had happened on Yorx. The old senceptian was unable to help him with the destination. How could he when all of what Jarka was able to tell him was whom he was seeking? He needed to state a destination to set into the suit in order to even lift off.
When Jarka was about to give up hope, he had heard a voice in his head, the same voice that had urged him to find the IMG in no other place but in Afterlife.
He had spoken in incomprehension of what he had heard in his head, in almost a whisper, "Zyphon?"
The old senceptian had seemed to recognise the place. "Well, if that's where you want to go then I can set the suit up for you. It should take you there in an hour."
"Yes. Take me there," he had almost spoken on impulse. "That is the place. It is where I need to be." Then, astonishing the old senceptian even more, he had asked for a breathing apparatus. One giving out air that was the same found on his planet.
The old senceptian had tentatively called some other beings who had prepared what he wanted. He had then enhanced the speed to nearly three times the speed of light, near to the maximum capability of the suit.
After Jarka was ready to take off outside the building, he had asked him, "Are you alive?" There was disbelief evident in his old voice.
Jarka had nodded before he took off.
Now floating in the awry space he was in, he kept repeating the scenes of the past few araks. He let his body move in the direction in which his blazion guided him in. Jets of energy released from under his triceps from the cylindrical thrusters. There were a few on his back too. He didn't know what he was doing. He only knew that whatever was happening, was destined and that he had a part in it. He had to make sure he succeeded. It was the only way.
__________
Letting out a scream of anguish, Juvo fell on his knees. There was a dent on the flooring where he had smacked his fist in rage.
"How could they do this?"
"Was there never any key left?"
"Were all keys destroyed?"
His incredulous followers questioned to each other in utter disbelief of the situation.
"No this cannot be. The book cannot be empty! We must be missing something. Maybe it's written with something that does not show itself everywhere. Maybe it requires special conditions to show its contents." Juvo tried to rationalize the situation. He turned to all of his followers. "I need ideas from all of you. Find a way to read this book. We are so close, we cannot give up!"
They scrambled accross the area and some took books off the shelves in the library.
Juvo's eye glinted in the dark in red. This is only another layer of protection. We will be able to read out the hymns. We just need the right conditions to see them.
He started pacing around the library as his followers muttered to themselves, trying to find a way to read the Book of Gods.
__________
Everybody looked at Saaret now, their faces hopeful. A wave of unease swept over his body as he took a few steps back. "Now don't look at me like that, I am different from them. I have been assigned to assist the dead, not read the writings of the Gods."
Their looks changed as they broke away from their stare at Saaret in disappointment. "What then? We need to find someone to read this scripture. It's incomprehensible to us... I don't think any linguist could crack this. It just seems so different than any language I have seen." Lily moved her hands through the pages, her eyes absorbing the strange letters that were connected to other letters in other lines by curves.
"Only the Gods can read their own writings. None are authorised except themselves. Well, to be more specific, the ones who were authorised don't exist anymore. They have taken the cycles of life and death and have thus been bereft of the knowledge of the Gods' language. To tell the truth, this is the first time I have laid my eyes on their writings. I am not required in this business, so I have never been able to before," Saaret maintained a neutral outlook as he replied back to Lily. What he said did not soothe her or anyone in the room in the slightest.
"And you can't... like, call the Gods?" Sharlotte asked.
"No, my lady. It's up to them to show themselves." Saaret smiled in commited devotion. "I am so delighted whenever they choose to show themselves to me."
"Is your reach limited to only Afterlife?" Sanduo enquired, his hands crossed and a frown stretching from one brow to the other.
"I am afraid that is the case."
"Okay let's go back to our residence, then we can discuss the matter further," Sanduo remarked as he turned around. The others followed him and they backed out of the temple, making their way towards the Sanctum.
__________
In Moruzen, the Gods were notified of the affairs in Afterlife. Valal, now noticed there was, yet another multiversal criminal on the loose. Only this time, the crime was far more serious than the previous case he had handled not too long ago. Someone had dared to open the Book of Gods. Someone who was unworthy.
"Elmitrios, I command you to embark on your vessel and bring the criminal to my feet," Valal gruffed as he struck his sceptre on the ground.
Elmitrios obeyed and went out through the famed double arched doorway to hop on his vessel.
He then shot out for Afterlife.
As he entered the world of the dead, he noticed an anomaly. Instead of one, two books seemed to be open. It could mean only one thing. Somebody had rightfully opened The Book of Gods besides the unworthy.
He stopped. He had to bring both of them, but whom should he bring first?
After a moment of thinking, he reached a decision. Moving his hand near to his mouth he said, "Saaret, bring the criminal who is unworthy of opening the Book of Gods to me. I am also going to pay a visit to the other later on. The one who is worthy. They both need to be personally dealt with, but the unworthy has to face punishment."
Saaret's super conscience picked up the call.
And on Zyphon, the face of the present iteration of Saaret lit up.
"What is it?" Radhika noticed the change in his demeanor.
He looked towards Lily, a glad look brightening his otherwise unattractive structure. "We don't have to find a God. One has come right to us!"
__________
Nothing. Vengeance could come up with nothing. Juvo sat on a chair with a blank expression, lost in his mind. H-how...?
He put the book inside his utility pack, and watched his followers. They were all looking at him, probably waiting for instructions of what to do, how to act now. But what could he tell them? He couldn't even blame them for anything. He was unable to grasp what had occurred. He was unable to believe that the reason he had come to Afterlife, the goal he aspired to achieve, had met failure so soon.
Saaret stepped near the Library, keeping his feet just above the ground lest the gooey substance climbs on. He had been instructed to handover Juvo. He couldn't force him out of the place. He knew he had immense power. So, he had a better plan.
Putting his arm out, he manifested a portal right above the building. Then with a wave he brought it down to the ground. The building vanished.
It then, reappeared right infront of Elmitrios The Powerful.
Elmitrios broke everything in the building and captivated the inmates. Once he had secured everyone, he returned to Hitharia, to lay them before the feet of Valal.
Now out of Afterlife, he reported to Valal about the unknown individual who had rightfully opened the Book of Gods. He told him that he would leave the captives at his feet and at once set forth to the worthy one.
He had made them unconscious so they could not cause any trouble. Even if they did, another punch from him would return them to their present condition.
Reaching Moruzen, he brought his ship to the grand doorway of the holiest abode. He threw them all inside such that each piled atop the other and laid before Valal.
Looking at the arrivals, Valal scowled. Then with a gesture of his sceptre, he awakened them.
Blinking incessantly, Juvo could feel his head throb. As he regained consciousness, he looked around. Where am I?
A giant fortress. Beings of intimidating stature. He could not understand what had happened. One moment he was lost in his thoughts, the next moment he felt a ringing in his head as he lost grasp of reality. The last thing he could remember was a hulking figure standing by him.
As he looked down he saw all of his followers, underneath him. He realised he was at the top of the pile. As the others regained consciousness, they wriggled and Juvo came tumbling down to meet the floor head on. Pain erupted in his skull, as blood leaked from his brow region.
"LOOK AT ME!" A booming sound came from above followed by a sharp thud of an object. He looked to see a formidable being sitting on a throne. He at once understood what was happening. "You... are a God?"
"I am Valal, ruler of the Multiverse! And you! You are a criminal-"
Juvo laughed devilishly as he cut him off(a disrespectful gesture for sure), "Yeah, yeah I know. I'm a multiversal criminal! So what?" he met Valal's eyes without any bit of fear, "You haven't got even the slightest idea of what I'm going to do."
"You puny insect, you can do nothing!" Juvo flew and crashed on the ground as Valal swinged his sceptre in his direction.
With blood dripping from his face, he still laughed. "I will dethrone you. I will end all of you. You have let the flaw remain."
"You dare to do so! Huh?" He crashed him on the floor again. A scream screeched through the Gods' ears as it echoed through the hall. His followers just watched the spectacle, unable to do anything.
Valal walked to Juvo and kicked him. His figure crashed on the imperial door. "WHAT FLAW?"
"Inter-universal travel- this law preventing us from going out of our 'verse. It is a flaw! Have you ever imagined what species of a 'verse might go through if they know their end is near by a Big Crunch? Or some inevitable catastrophe wipes out their universe? Ha, that doesn't concern me much." He spat blood. "What does is that, if what you say is true, that is if someone managed to go to another 'verse, it can annihilate the Multiverse by setting off a chain reaction of exploding 'verses. That, is a flaw."
"Well, we've been handling it pretty well, for a long time. You can't question our-" a God began only to be cut off, yet again by Juvo.
"You punish criminals after they do the crime! It makes no damn sense! You don't stop them," Juvo shouted.
"We do warn those who are able to do the crime, of its consequences."
"That's enough? You think so? What makes you so sure that some primitive species won't accidentally stumble into a black hole. Ones without knowledge, or suicidal races believing in stupid ritualistic sacrificial superstitions. What makes you so sure they won't feed one of their kind to a black hole, in hopes of pleasing their secondary Gods? Would you have known them to even warn them?"
There was silence in the hall.
"I want to change this. I want to change this law. I don't want to think about the consequences. I want us to live in the perfect system."
Valal scowled at Juvo as he looked away. "Guards, take him away to our prison. I will prescribe a punishment for him when I have finished my other businesses."
They followed the order and Juvo and his team disappeared in the shadowy depths of an abyss as the guards jumped into it alongwith them.
__________
Elmitrios returned to Afterlife. Now directed by his signal, he approached a planet called Zyphon. It was from there that the worthy one had opened the Book of Gods.
Now, I am in for a delicate play. I have to keep as calm as possible and guide the worthy to the right path. With that thought set in his head as the goal he had to achieve, he kept on in the direction of the signal, waiting for the confrontation.
__________
Finally, after the long journey, Jarka arrived on Drelary. He was before a large building. Looks like a monastery? I pray, this is the right place. After all the old senceptian did say that the dead come to the monastery when they arrive from the mortal realm.
With a resolute mindset of finding out the IMG at any cost, he entered the monastery.
He found it empty. A storm blew through his insides as his face gave way to horror. N-no no no. They must be here! They must be here! Might have gone for a walk? Could be, right? Let's stay positive. He closed the door behind him and went deeper inside the building.
"Yes?" someone said from the side. He looked in the direction to find a being cleaning plates. He was bulky and had the complexion of a stone and even looked like a walking boulder.
"U-um, I'm here to meet with the IMG. They are here right?"
"I see. A visitor. Well, Saaret has taken them out for a visit to the Temple. They will be back shortly. For now you can order anything you'd like to eat and rest yourself there on the couch. We can arrange a room if you'd like to stay. Make yourself at home." He waved his hand in the direction of the couch and smiled politely.
"Yes please." Jarka accepted the offer. He was now to assist the IMG. So he had to stay with them. He walked to the couch and sat on it, sinking into the soft membrane of the foreign material.
"Well, would you like something sir?"
"No. Not now. I would ask, when I need anything."
"Sure sir. Sure."
__________
While on their way to the Sanctum, the IMG spotted a light in the sky, rapidly approaching their position.
"Wh- what is that?" Drio shielded his eyes as he looked up to see the object. The IMG followed his gaze to marvel at the shining ball of light.
"Meteor?" Radhika proposed, then she turned in the direction of Saaret for confirmation.
"Looks too shiny and white for a meteor if you ask me," Sierra said, "More importantly their seems to be no tail... could be because it's directly headed for us, but have you noticed? It's taking way too much time."
"It isn't a meteor. It's Him. Elmitrios." Saaret smiled as he witnessed the craft take shape before his eyes as it neared to their location.
"Elmitrios The Powerful?" Jayden exclaimed in disbelief, in his eyes was a glint of fear.
"Yes. It's Him. It was Him whom I was referring to earlier."
They all understood what it all meant. They were in for trouble.
As the vessel touched ground and purple soil lifted up in the air, their clean draperies got covered in the purple grime. When the dust settled, they removed their hands from over their mouths and dusted off the layer of dirt.
Out came a hulking monstrosity of a creature. His werewolf form was unmistakable not to notice, but what was more impressive was his thorny fur and muscular structure. His teeth were tusk-like.
"I am Elmitrios The Powerful. Identify yourselves," he said in a rough voice which was careful with politeness.
That caught the IMG off-guard as they had thought Elmitrios would know whom he had come to.
"W-we are the IMG," Sir Sanduo began and everybody spoke their names in the group followed by Radhika and her comrades. They all bowed to them following Saaret.
"Who opened the Book of Gods?" he looked at each intently and observed how uneasy they felt before him, a gesture he was too accustomed to.
"I," Lily hesitated, "I opened it."
None of them could imagine what would happen now. Would they all be arrested or would Lily alone be? Would Elmitrios listen to their words about Juvo, as to why they had opened the book in the first place? Or did he have something else in mind for them?
"Hmm," he grumbled, "Saaret guide me to their residence. I'd rather finish my conversation where they are a bit more comfortable." He looked back at the terrified lot.
"Sure my lord," he bowed before him in devotion then guided them all in the direction they were previously walking in.
The colours of the sky now shifted shades as evening neared and the luminosity gradually decreased.
When they arrived before the gate of the Sanctum it was almost dark. Saaret opened the gate and lead them inside. At the door after knocking, he waited for the caretakers to respond.
"Oh Saaret!" a caretaker delightfully welcomed, "They have a guest."
Saaret knew who it was. He smiled back to the caretaker and looked behind, "Follow me in please."
There, sitting on the couch was Jarka. He stood up at once when he spotted the familiar faces arriving. His grin was heart-warming.
"Who are you?" Elmitrios questioned, getting alarmed by the unexpected arrival. He assumed an attack position.
"Jarka?" Sanduo recognised the figure whom he had had an encounter with not more than a year ago.
"Sir!" he saluted. He sighed in relief for both finding whom he was seeking, as well as finding that the creature who was almost life-threatening, retreated back and returned to normality. "You never saw me after that day when I saved you from captivity on Juvo's ship. Turns out I have been a captive of him ever since."
Looks of pity washed over the members of the IMG who recognised the brave darovan. Belonging to the crew of Juvo and a member of Vengeance, he was the one who had liberated them all from the clutches of the evil monster that Juvo was almost a year ago. But what good came out of it for him? Deep inside he knew that he had saved millions by liberating the IMG but that didn't help him. After countless lashes and beating he had become a captive of Juvo; forever to watch and do nothing as Juvo kept on with his inquitous acts.
"We have been forever in debt to you Jarka. Had we known where Juvo had gone to that day when he seemed to disappear with his ship, we would have come to your aid. We would have come to save you. But for so long he was unheard of. It seemed he had vanished since the incident on NCC8," Lily said with an almost guilty outlook as she failed to look at the saviour of the IMG.
"It's okay. There was nothing that you could have done. I lived in peace knowing that I had done what was right. And I wasn't even afraid of death after that day knowing that if I die, the world will remember me as a hero. I would be a martyr." He smiled.
"Well, what makes you come to us here in Afterlife?" Jayden asked as he took a seat. He motioned his friends to take seats too.
"I'm afraid Juvo is back. With a greater goal this time," all listened to him intently as he continued. Elmitrios too listened, delighted by the mention of the name as he knew he had delivered the accused to his rightful place. "This time, he is after the Gods. He somehow has come to believe that what we live in is a simulation," he then told them Juvo's idea of voiding the law and in consequence, the probable destruction of the unfit 'verses.
The IMG had known Juvo was upto something, but they could never fathom that he would want to achieve something of the magnitude of what Jarka was telling them all. He continued, "He has gotten a key. A key to open something called a Book Of Gods. I cannot imagine what will happen when he opens that thing and uses its powers. I don't even want to," he looked defeated as he hid his face behind his palms, "I could only think of you all, who could try to stop him. And so I came here, with a humble request of help, to not only stop Juvo, but to save the Multiverse."
"You need not worry, my friend," Lily reassured him, "We know that the key he has in possession is not the one. It's a fake. We have opened the Book Of Gods. In an attempt to stop him... " she looked at Elmitrios who looked to be pleased. Then her expression changed as she knew her next words won't appease the God, "...and to get our lives back."
As expected, Elmitrios' expression changed in disturbance. "You are not allowed to do that! We are the judge! We decide who goes back; and when. And whoever goes back, takes rebirth."
"We want our lives back! We did nothing wrong." Tears fell from Lily's eyes as she said the words.
Elmitrios waited a moment to think, then he said, "Well we may make an exception in your case as your cause is just and you want to help save the Multiverse. That, in my opinion, washes away your sin of helping the Multiversal criminal," he glanced at Sharlotte who was furious with rage.
"I told you! What I did was for my planet! I only wanted to save my world." Her words were laced with an emotion which could only be described as the feeling one gets when they are misunderstood for doing the wrong thing when they have done quite the opposite.
"You are still saying the same thing, Valal had explained to you that-" he was cut off mid-sentence when Sharlotte said something no one had heard before.
"I was assured by the Time Keepers. They assured me that if I bring matter from the 'magic' 'verse to our 'verse, nothing would happen. They also told me about the developments with Juvo, and to stop him. It was destined, they had said... So, no. What I did was right, and you can't change that truth."
For the first time since they had met Elmitrios did they see an expression of bewilderment. He seemed to have lost words to say anything. Anything at all. What Sharlotte had said was a fact that had surprised even a God!
"Time Keepers?" Drio asked.
"Yeah, who the hell are they? Why haven't you brought them up earlier?' Markus impatiently demanded.
"I told you, when the time is right I would tell everything. Ask yourselves, if I had told you everything back then, would you have believed me?"
That gave a solid hit to their guts. They would have not.
"I only demanded your trust, so that I can complete what I am here for as instructed by Lord Kahaden, the leader of the Time Keepers." She looked around to see all of their stunned faces and sat back down.
"The same thing!" Jarka exclaimed loudly, suddenly jumping off of his couch. "I witnessed the same thing! I got visions of a being asking me to do things, like finding you all and tell what Juvo was really up to. It's prophesied, they had said." Jarka now felt a new wave of satisfaction as he had gotten this information out to someone who could understand what he was going through. "I told this to Saaret too, though not in as much detail."
Saaret nodded, "Can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree. I have been receiving seemingly unacquirable information too. Though I haven't had any visions, I have been directed to do things which I had no idea of why I was doing, or how I came to be doing it in the first place."
Everybody blankly digested the perplexing information that had come out from Sharlotte, Jarka and Saaret. They couldn't understand the meaning of any of it.
"I can't believe. It's them." After the long break, Elmitrios spoke again, "The realm of the Time Keepers has time represented as a physical dimension through which they can move about. Happenings of all 'verses can be observed there. We Gods don't hear from them much as they don't break the time continuum. But them telling you three this... it's so... I can't explain why they would do this. Why guide? Why break the continuum?"
They all remained silent. None could speak, being muted by the facts delivered to them.
"I will take you all to Moruzen, I hope they know what it is Saaret."
"They do, my lord." Saaret confirmed.
"Great. Take seats in my vessel. We are leaving. Valal has to decide our next steps. And if possible, make out just what the hell is going on."
And following his instruction, the group exited the Sanctum, and set forth to the site where they had met the God. Where his vessel awaited them for departure to Hitharia, the planet of the Gods.