Vacant Throne

“Prince Brakkt took me on a walk through the palace gardens yesterday. We had such a lovely time. You should have followed along.” Alyssa stressed the latter line, hoping that Kasita would get it. While the mimic was on the bed, Alyssa sat on the edge of her desk, trying to remain casual and avoid any trembling in her voice.

Kasita blinked. Her eyes flicked from Alyssa to the Endless Expanse through the window then just a little to the side. She could probably sense something. But she didn’t comment. Instead, she put on a bright smile. “That must have been lovely for you. Unfortunately, I had a meeting with the Lady Oxart. She has been quite concerned about unknown intruders and I had to console the poor woman.”

“Ah yes. I have heard of these unknown intruders. Word is, they seem to be ignoring us for the time being. I can only hope that won’t change in the near future.”

“Should we not be seeking out these intruders ourselves?”

Alyssa considered for a moment, then shook her head. “Word is, they are quite powerful. Maybe as strong as the strongest intruder we do know. I’d rather they look over us until we have a little more time to prepare. And maybe find out if someone else can deal with them for us.”

“I see…”

The plan came together in an instant. There wasn’t time for Alyssa to explain to Kasita. Thankfully, Kasita was playing along.

The moment Alyssa saw an unknown angel appear in the room, she decided to do what she should have done every time a new angel popped up. She ignored it. Mostly. Alyssa kept moving about the room in just such a way that the angel was always within her line of sight. Though, realistically, she could probably be a little more overt with her attentions. The angel hadn’t looked at her even once. Alyssa would have suspected that her connection to Tenebrael would have given her away instantly, but yet this angel seemed entirely focused on the window to the Endless Expanse to the exclusion of all else.

The biggest reason Alyssa was trying to act as if she couldn’t see the angel was because of the angel’s wings. There were four of them. The same amount as Tenebrael. They were smaller than Tenebrael’s wings, but that might not mean anything. This angel was clearly not trying to show off. All four were folded up behind her back. Tenebrael, on the other hand, was almost always trying to show off at least a little. The Dominion kept her wings spread as wide as any given room would allow.

Though Alyssa did have to wonder if this angel wasn’t an ally of Tenebrael’s. This angel certainly picked her clothes using a similar color palate. She didn’t wear a dress. Not like Tenebrael’s. Her outfit was more along the lines of a long coat with a tight vest and long pants underneath. Her boots were heavy in a militaristic style. And they were flat against the ground. A bit strange for an angel. Except for Kenziel the one time she had pretended to be a mortal, Alyssa had rarely seen an angel actually plant their feet against the floor. They always had at least a slight hover to them.

And this one was mumbling to herself. Even while Alyssa and Kasita pattered on about the angel through thinly-veiled code words, the angel kept talking. Most of it seemed to be numbers with a seeming explanation for the numbers immediately after.

“Three zero seven: Temporary redirect found. One two five: Data connection already open; transfer starting. The requested action has been successfully completed. Logging results for Authorities analysis.” As the angel said that, she pulled a thick tome from inside her long coat. It opened roughly to the center of the book without her even selecting the page, but that was apparently the page she wanted. She gently grazed the paper with the tip of her finger. Enochian script formed in a dark ink trailed behind her finger as it advanced across the page. The script was strange. Much like when Alyssa casted a complex miracle, it was in three dimensions despite being flat on the page.

It reminded her of Tenebrael’s first mathematics lesson.

As the angel wrote in the book, another angel appeared. This one didn’t pop up inside her room, but rather, on the other side of the window. The Endless Expanse side. She flew right up to where the window was looking out to, showing off far larger wings than the one inside Alyssa’s room, though that might have just been because they were spread out. This angel was strangely identical to the one inside Alyssa’s room. There might have been some difference in facial structure, but the long coat and boots and even the white hair was all the same.

Alyssa couldn’t hear anything on the other side of the window. She had never been able to, even when it displayed a busy street or a trainyard on Earth. But this new angel was clearly talking to itself as well. Or maybe they were talking to each other. That seemed more likely given that the angel in her room seemed to nod as it finished writing.

“Temporary redirect deemed unstable. Redirect will collapse on its own within one over three six zero turn degree. No further action required.”

The angel on the other side spoke back, practically confirming that they could hear each other, even if Alyssa couldn’t hear that one.

“One zero two. Request received; locate source of anomaly. Processing.” The angel snapped the book shut, making Alyssa jump. For the first time since entering the room a full ten minutes prior, the angel looked away from the window to the Endless Expanse.

Alyssa, tense with it now looking around the room, said to Kasita. “I am a little concerned that those unknown intruders might be looking for me.”

“Should we just flee? Leave and come back later?”

“I’m pretty sure distance doesn’t matter too much to those intruders. Moving now might just draw their attention.”

Though talking apparently didn’t. The angel still ignored the conversation between Alyssa and Kasita, choosing to first look at the projection box that was still set out on the desk. There hadn’t been time to remove it. From the corner of her eye, Alyssa watched as the angel picked it up.

She held it out on her open palm and said, “Beginning analysis.” Although she lowered her hand, the box stayed right where it had been.

And started coming apart. The top panel split off from the rest, floating upward. The bottom panel lowered down a few inches. All the side panels peeled off, floating a short distance away to their respective sides. Several plates, one for each of the card slots, also split off like a deck of cards falling through the air for a moment until gravity stopped caring about them. Even a few little metal pins that had been holding the box together had come out and were floating roughly where they should have been were the box larger than it actually was.

At this point, Alyssa wasn’t sure if staring was someone normal people would do or not. With the angel interacting with a real object, other people would probably stop and stare. Kasita certainly noticed. There was an involuntary twitch of her eyes toward the box when the angel first picked it up. Not the seizure-like symptoms she experienced when Tenebrael pulled an object out of her wings, but just a normal flicking glance.

But even with Alyssa and Kasita both taking more obvious notice of the angel’s actions, the angel didn’t spare them even a casual look. She was too busy investigating the box.

The card that actually projected the light was gone. Projecting the light and casting the projected spell consumed that particular card. Unfortunately, the card that was the template for the projection was still in there. Although the angel examined each piece of the black box individually, including the little pins, it was the spell card that she stopped on.

“Positive threat detected. Designating Backdoor:MROH.Observation!lnk. Reality pinhole. Objective: Observation of the Endless Expanse. Creator: Unknown. Request historical log files.”

Through the window, the identical angel responded. Again, Alyssa couldn’t hear.

“Further analysis results available. Vector: Angelic hijack. Prayer routed through local Dominion. Local Dominion location: Unknown. Logging request for Archangel investigation.”

Great. Maybe Kenziel would be sent to look into it. If not, there would be another Archangel running around, causing problems. Actually, now that she considered it, as long as this angel was ignoring her, there was nothing stopping her from sending a text to Tenebrael right now. Although Tenebrael had sloughed off their meeting tonight, she would surely come running if she discovered another angel interfering with her world.

Just as she slipped the phone from her pocket, the angel in the room said something that sent small chills down Alyssa’s spine.

“Historical log files attained. Attempts at locating threat creator completed without issue. Analysis of two dot nine one five billion mortals complete. Creator located. Moving to—”

Alyssa’s hand clamped down around the angel’s wrist. She couldn’t let it go. Irulon had created that spell. Angels were not supposed to harm mortals, but this might be an exceptional circumstance. That was ignoring the fact that Adrael had harmed mortals before as well.

Golden eyes turned to Alyssa for the first time since the angel appeared. “Interruption. Suspending investigation processes. Switching protocols: Personable.” The angel blinked twice before applying a pleasant smile. “Good day, Guardian. How can I be of assistance?”

It was Alyssa’s turn to blink, to she did so in confusion rather than because she had extra personality modes. Guardian. As in Guardian Angel? Adrael had once called her that as well, though that had clearly just been the Archangel mistaking her ability to see angels as being because of divine nature. Was the same thing happening now? Or did Tenebrael’s power confuse this angel’s senses…

“Guardian? Is there a problem with which you require assistance?”

“I…” If she didn’t say anything, the angel would probably leave and go find Irulon. But she was a little shocked over the question. It was too… helpful? Both the offering of assistance and the angel’s sudden shift in personality. Before, she had been talking like a robot. Cold. Mechanical. Little to no inflection. As if she were repeating words from a dictionary one by one. Now, while not overly exaggerated, the angel spoke smoothly and with a smile.

Tossing her phone to Kasita—the mimic would understand what to do with it on her own—Alyssa focused on the angel. Though she did note that its eyes didn’t even follow the phone as it arced through the air.

“What are you doing here?” Alyssa asked. She assumed she already knew the answer to this question, but the longer she could keep this angel occupied, the more time Tenebrael would have to muck about before she finally decided to make an appearance.

“Query accepted. This one has the primary task of locating the cause and reason for a recent disturbance detected by one of the Authorities.”

Right. Exactly what Alyssa thought it would be, though she hadn’t known that it had been detected by an Authority. Which, she remembered from Tenebrael’s notes on the subject, were not actually a part of the Astral Authority despite their name being roughly the same. It was confusing for her a bit, but, presumably, an angel wouldn’t ever get confused and their naming scheme had likely not been developed with mortals in mind. Still, Alyssa needed to keep her talking. “And who are you?

“Query accepted. This one is a Virtue of the Throne. You may refer to me as Bastiel, if you wish.”

Alyssa nodded slightly, acknowledging. Given how she had been acting, Alyssa had been expecting some strange name like XÆA. Bastiel was somewhat normal, but still with that angelic suffix.

“What do you intend to do once you find the cause of this… uh… error?”

“Unknown. Observations will continue until such time as a consensus is reached.”

“So you’ll just keep watc—”

“Query:” The angel interrupted Alyssa, looking down at where her hand was grabbing hold of the angel. “Analysis of your body reveals the presence of flesh and blood. The Virtues are interested in understanding how this came to be. How did a Guardian gain the body of a mortal?”

Alyssa felt her stomach churn at being called out like that. Bastiel apparently still thought she was a Guardian Angel, but that probably wouldn’t last forever. And she might be far less friendly and willing to answer questions if she realized that she was talking to a mortal. It was a bit surprising that she didn’t realize that Alyssa was just a miracle worker using Tenebrael’s power—such things had happened elsewhere in the past—but that might have something to do with pumping that divine magic into her body over the last several days.

While trying to figure out what she might be able to say, the angel interrupted her again. “Query: Name, title, or alternative identifier?”

Alyssa? Alyssa Meadows? Maybe make up something nonsensical like Alyssael? Would the Virtue buy any of that? That would probably be seen through in an instant. If Iosefael were here, it would be simplest to just toss the angel into Tenebrael’s prison along with Adrael. Though that might upset the angels on the other side of the window into the Endless Expanse.

“My name is Alyssa Meadows,” Alyssa said, deciding it was better to just tell the angel outright who she was. At the very least, it would hopefully keep the angel focused on her instead of going after Irulon. Irulon wouldn’t have any defenses against an invisible intruder sitting around spying on her. At least Alyssa could see and grab hold of an angel if nothing else. “I am a mortal.”

“Mortal? Not a Guardian Angel?”

“No. I didn’t see a need to correct your misunderstanding.”

“Understood. Altering interdiction protocols. Warning: No records found for ‘Alyssa Meadows’ within this world. Alternate identifier requested.”

“I… don’t have one? Just Alyssa. Meadows. Alyssa Meadows is my full name, but I just go by Alyssa normally.”

“Understood. Anomaly logged for further review. Returning to previous directive. Good day, mortal. With what can I be of assistance?”

Again blinking in confusion, Alyssa quirked an eyebrow. “You’re still willing to assist me even though I’m a mortal?”

“This one is a Virtue. It is our duty to lend assistance where needed. No protocol restricts us from lending that assistance to a mortal. Interesting side note: I have been informed that this is the first instance of a mortal requesting assistance from a Virtue. No other instances appear in the logbooks.”

“That… certainly is an interesting note,” Alyssa said with a wan smile. The angel didn’t react. She still had that faint smile that hadn’t changed in the slightest since first switching to personable protocols, or whatever she had called it. “So… what can you assist with?”

“Virtues are bookkeepers and librarians. Record holders and information specialists.”

“So knowledge, basically.”

“An accurate assessment of the situation. Do you require assistance?”

“Actually, I think I do.” Alyssa felt her earlier concerns diminish as she considered just what something like a Virtue could possibly do for her. Divine magic’s true power came from understanding. “Would you be able to make it so that I cannot forget anything?” She didn’t think she needed to get lessons from this angel if only she could properly remember what it was that she knew upon using Tenebrael’s crystal ball.

Unfortunately, the angel gave a small shake of her head. “Four zero three. Forbidden. I am sorry. Such a request is impossible to fulfill at this time.”

“Of course not,” Alyssa said with mild annoyance. That would have been too easy. It probably went against some rule of directly interfering with the world… though it was interesting that she was talking to a mortal at all. But that probably had something to do with the way Alyssa broke the little black books. “How about a treatise on… understanding reality? Or even understanding the Endless Expanse and the Throne? How everything works and just… everything, really. Is that possible?”

Bastiel hesitated a moment, but eventually smiled. “Four zero zero. Bad request. Query vague. With what do you request assistance?”

Alyssa crossed her arms with a scowl, wondering just what the Virtue could assist with. Sure, a book on literally everything would probably take an infinite amount of time to read let alone comprehend. But that would probably be true for most anything that Alyssa could request. Unless a topic was sufficiently small, any subject would probably be tomes and tomes of books. Especially when presented through divine information specialists who would have no need for brevity or a concept of time constraints.

With that in mind, a new idea popped up in Alyssa’s head. It was a bit far fetched, but it would let her look up specific topics at her leisure, much like she was doing with her phone currently. “Would it be possible to get a direct link to to the Throne’s archives so that I may investigate your knowledge whenever I wanted to?”

“This one can provide such a service.”

“You? Can you stick around permanently, answering questions whenever I have them?”

“That is correct.”

That was a little surprising. Though… maybe she needed to be a little more specific with such a seeimgly literal being. “Will you stick around permanently, answering my questions?”

“Permanent station is untenable. However, it would not be impossible to remain here for several turns of the Ophanim. Long enough to be permanent in the eyes of a mortal.”

So that was a yes then… “What about your previous objective of locating the one who created that spell?” Alyssa said, pointing a finger toward the card still floating in the air not far from the dismantled projector.

“That task has already been accomplished. Observation is underway by Virtue Rhoziel.”

Tensing, Alyssa just about rushed upstairs to find Irulon. But, she calmed down ever so slightly, realizing that she could probably simply ask this angel what she wanted to know. “It is just observation? No assault or harming or plans to harm?”

“Observation only at the present time.”

“I see. And can you alert me if that changes?”

“It is possible.”

Grimacing, realizing that dealing with this angel was going to be something of a pain, Alyssa had to rephrase once more. “I need an agreement. Tell me if angels change their plans or tactics for Irulon.”

“Authorization den-deni— Granted. Activities of the Virtues will be offered when in relation to the observation subject designated: Irulon. Is there anything else with which you require assistance?”

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at the momentary stutter. It sounded like Bastiel had been about to deny her access. “How many Virtues are on Nod at this moment?” she asked, deciding to simply test out whether or not it worked.

“Two. Virtue Bastiel and Virtue Rhoziel.”

“And their current status?”

“Virtue Rhoziel is observing subject: Irulon. Virtue Bastiel is interfacing with subject: Alyssa Meadows.”

Turning, Alyssa looked to Kasita. “Would you quickly let Irulon know that she is being watched by angels at the moment? And likely for some time into the future as well?”

The mimic slowly nodded. “Tenebrael responded while you were talking. She is aware of the Virtue? And is avoiding it.”

Alyssa gave the phone a flat stare, rolling her eyes. “At least she let us know this time. And it will probably be a while before she decides to show her face.” Turning back to Bastiel, Alyssa smiled. It wasn’t exactly a kind smile, but… the Virtue probably couldn’t tell one way or another given how little it emoted. “We’re going to go find Irulon ourselves and make sure that what you said is true—”

“This one is incapable of falsehoods.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard all that before.” Which was one of the main reasons that Alyssa wasn’t panicking. “Afterwards… Teach me Enochian.” Being able to understand the words on spell cards and in the air might go a long way toward understanding everything else. She had asked that of Tenebrael in the past, but had been given the simple answer that Tenebrael had no idea how to translate it into something Alyssa would be able to understand. Surely a divine being of ultimate knowledge would be able to figure something out.

And, sure enough, Bastiel gave a jittery nod of her head.

“Authorization G-Granted.”