Vacant Throne

“I can’t believe we just let them leave. Shouldn’t we have captured them or something?”

“Weren’t you the one who told them to go tell their comrades to expect doom?”

Alyssa propped herself up on her elbow, frowning at Brakkt. He was on the bed next to her, eyes closed and resting. She was pretty sure that he had enough spatial awareness to know that he was getting a bit of a look at the moment. “You say that, but we were going to let them go anyway, right? Nobody would willingly come to that kind of a meeting assuming that they would be captured at the end of it.”

“We are a civilized people,” he said without opening his eyes. “When negotiations fall short and disagreements come to blows, it is traditional to meet with the opposing leader before a battle to dictate relatively humane terms of engagement and conditions for surrender. If these meetings regularly turned into ambushes, the battlefield would become pure chaos. More lives would be lost on all sides.”

Alyssa wasn’t sure what to think about that. It seemed to her that just having the generals duel each other would probably save more lives than any battle. But then there would probably be all kinds of assassinations and revenge taking and other such violence. And it would open the possibility of a really good duelist winning and imposing his values as the victor despite being a villain worse than the Taker.

So maybe it was for the best? That seemed wrong, somehow, but…

But! “The Juno Federation didn’t do any of that. They just said ‘surrender or die’ and ‘we will be ready at daybreak.’”

“Barbarians. Not used to civilized engagements, though still trying to emulate what they see of us.”

“And what is with calling out the time they will be ready? That is absolutely insane! They’ll be ready at sunrise? Then let’s show up an hour before and ambush them while they’re still trying to put on their boots!”

That got Brakkt to open his eyes. He didn’t sit up, but he did turn to face her and offered a wan smile. “As the Pharaoh decreed, if the Juno Federation wishes to play at being civilized, we will comply. Within reason,” he added with emphasis. “Although he didn’t say it, I believe the hope is that the Juno Federation might cease their cowardly attacks like the ones earlier this year.”

Huffing, Alyssa flopped back down, sinking into her pillow. “I don’t like it. I can’t believe Lyria hasn’t just marched its armies up to the Juno Federation and wiped them out with the advantage of competent arcanists.”

“The vast majority of our combat-focused arcanists are down at the Fortress of Pandora. Attempting to maintain security there while also carrying out a protracted campaign against an entire country has always been a less viable alternative than simply defending our city from periodic yet weak attacks.”

“Yeah… well… I have half a mind to create a portal directly into their capital city and just blast their seat of government to smithereens.”

He let out a soft chuckle. “We never had that option before. Even my father and Irulon couldn’t carry out an assault like that. An assassination, maybe. But my father has an entire country to run. My elder brother is being groomed to eventually take over for him, but I still doubt he would go off on such a quest. And you know Irulon. She has become far more… outgoing since meeting you, but that is an extremely relative term. Aside from them, the only Rank Six arcanist in the city is the head of the Observatorium.”

A bunch of old people—and Irulon—who didn’t find the status quo problematic even when a thousand swords clashed every year, probably leaving hundreds dead.

Alyssa sat up again, this time swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. It was so early that she didn’t think she would be able to sleep no matter what, but even if it was later… “What are we doing right now? Shouldn’t we be preparing or… something? I know I can probably just blast the entire army from the face of the planet… and after what I did today, I am probably expected to do that,” Alyssa said without making any attempt to disguise her distaste.

The thought of just straight up killing a few thousand people in the blink of an eye did not sit well with Alyssa.

“I don’t think you are expected to do anything of the sort,” Brakkt said, resting a hand on her arm. “Tilt the scales, perhaps, but no one is asking you to be a one woman army.”

“Even still… what if Tenebrael comes and plucks me off the world right before the battle starts? People should be getting ready to fight for themselves, not wait for what is effectively divine intervention.”

“People are getting ready. Half the city is running around, ensuring supplies, armor, weapons, potions, and everything else needed for a battle are ready. For us, the people who are actually going to fight, a good sleep is both preparation and advantage. The Juno Federation has been marching across a desert. They will be worn out, tired, exhausted. This isn’t our first clash with them.”

“They have new weapons.”

“We have forewarning. Arcanists are deciding which spells work as the best countermeasures using the replicas you created for testing. Even just that is probably enough to tip the scales in our favor. Kasita infiltrating their camp and sending back periodic reports will undoubtedly prove valuable as well. I doubt you even need to appear on the battlefield, if you don’t want.”

“I don’t want… but… I can’t just run away. If you or Fela or Companion… any of the draken…” Shaking her head, she stood before Brakkt could do something like offer an empty reassurance that everything would be fine. It would be fine, but only because Alyssa would ensure that it was. “I need to do something. I don’t know what, but I’m just disturbing your sleep at this point. I doubt I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

“Try,” Brakkt said. With Alyssa having stood, his arm moved back to his side. “Maybe not now, but later tonight. Get some rest before dawn. You’ll thank yourself later.”

“Yeah. I know. But I am so very wound up that I don’t know if it is possible at this point.”

“I would suggest a potion, but if something were to happen before dawn…”

“I know, I know. Don’t want to be unconscious when a gaunt comes sneaking into my room.” Alyssa grabbed her robe from the back of Brakkt’s desk chair and slipped it on over the top of her nightgown. “Make sure you get some sleep. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”

With that, she slipped out from the room.

Unfortunately, she didn’t exactly have a destination. She wasn’t about to go marching toward the Juno Federation’s army. Taking into consideration her actions against the bandit camp that had captured Volta, she might be able to do something against them all. She had been nervous then, seeing hundreds of people. But now, she was far less afraid of a crowd. True, there were a lot more of them, but she was just one person and there was a limited amount of space around her for enemies to occupy. A part of her was still hoping that having a death ray blast over the top of their heads would have sent some of them cowering, but another part of her was quite convinced that the majority were somewhat fanatic. Deserters would probably be dealt with… harshly by those who weren’t routed.

Conjuring up a Message card—Alyssa had yet to figure out how to telepathically talk to someone else without the spell—she burned it immediately. “Message. Kasita. Anything interesting happening?”

She didn’t bother waiting for a reply. Kasita couldn’t send a Message back if there were people around and, if she was doing her job properly, there were almost certainly people around. She would have to find the time to slip away. And if something interesting was going on, she would hopefully stick around to finish gathering information before reporting back.

So Alyssa decided to head down to her room. It was a little awkward to have the Virtue hanging over her shoulder while she was with Brakkt and had told Bastiel to stay in her room while she was with him, not that anything had happened today. As far as she was aware, the angel had obeyed.

When she arrived, she found the angel doing what it always did when she wasn’t actively asking it questions: Mumbling to itself over an open book.

“-one seven. Mismatch. Verification request logged for later review. Seven one three dash four one four one four. Nominal. Boundaries holding. Proceeding. Three—”

“Hey,” Alyssa said, interrupting the nonsense. She had asked about it before. Apparently the Virtues had the primary task of processing information. Any discrepancies found in the information were to be verified against some master record with the Throne to ensure that there was no error. If there was an error, the Throne would alert some other angel, dispatching them to try to resolve whatever had gone wrong. Usually Authorities or Archangels, depending on the nature of the problem.

The problems could be just about anything, apparently. From a world having monsters running around when there weren’t supposed to be any to reality itself coming apart. Which was apparently a thing that could happen. It hadn’t happened in a long time, but reality had allegedly been far less stable in the distant past. Distant meaning billions if not trillions of years.

“Suspending processes,” Bastiel said. “Switching protocols: Personable. Good day, mortal. Do you require assistance?” She closed her book, which was filled with more nonsense as far as Alyssa could tell. While she had a decent grasp of Enochian, the language of the book, it was arranged in ways that didn’t make sense to her.

With her limited knowledge of programming, she imagined it was something like that. A computer program was written with English words and letters. However, the words and letters were written not only in a different language entirely, but also in a completely alien format.

Perhaps studying up on programming languages wouldn’t be a bad idea. Just in case. Although she was using it as an analogy, she doubted anything on Earth could be like what she saw in that book. But maybe there was just a little something that could provide a clue.

Later. After the Juno Federation was dealt with.

For the time being… “I don’t suppose you could give me tips on telepathy.”

“Telepathy. Direct communication between two souls.”

“That… sounds like the definition of telepathy. I think.” Alyssa would have said mental communication, but maybe soul communication was more accurate. Irulon and Companion, with their linked souls, did seem to share a type of innate telepathy. “Not quite what I was asking for.” Though maybe that was still a clue in and of itself.

“Manipulation of the soul has been found possible with Nod-realm mortal-cast miracles.” Magic, the angel meant. “Observation of subject Irulon demonstrates desired end result.”

“I don’t know that I want that. I was looking for something more along the lines of a telephone call with Kasita.” Alyssa could create and burn through as many Message spells as she wanted now, but Kasita couldn’t. So a direct telepathy would be nice. “But that is kind of just an idle thought that occurred to me on the way down here. Don’t put too much thought into it now.”

“Too late.”

Alyssa narrowed her eyes, wondering if that was a joke. After a moment, she decided that it wasn’t a joke. The Virtue had, thus far, never shown a sense of humor in the slightest. It was probably being literal. Though she wasn’t sure how it quantified ‘too much’ to be able to determine that it was too late.

“I was actually more interested in something that I thought of a while ago… regarding that Tree Diagram thing.”

“Information regarding the Infinite—”

“I know, I know. Denied to non angels or whatever.” It was a little irritating that she would respond to certain things in the exact same way, from her words to her inflection. But Alyssa had really been expecting it, so she carried on with only a small sigh. “When you first met me, you thought I was a Guardian Angel. Because of my connection to Tenebrael and the way I was talking to you, right?”

“An accurate assessment of the situation.”

“If I had asked then, what would you have told me about the Infinite-State Machine?”

It was a long shot, but Alyssa thought simply framing the question as a hypothetical might work. For being an information specialist, the Virtues did not seem to be the brightest of all the angels she had met. As with that almost joke a moment ago, they were just far too literal.

The angel didn’t answer right away, diminishing Alyssa’s hopes. The angel just stared. Tenebrael would usually put on the airs of being a normal person. That included blinking, breathing, and subtle movements whenever she remembered. The Virtue never bothered with such things. Right now, it was really unnerving having her stare without even tiny movements of her eyes. It was enough to make Alyssa shift under the gaze.

“Bastiel?”

“Status report:” the angel said immediately, abruptly enough to cause a slight flinch in Alyssa. “Processing query results. Pruning results to fit within previously established limitations for query responses directed to subject Alyssa Meadows.”

Alyssa blinked, confused for a moment before realizing just what Bastiel was saying. “Oh… Oh! Right. Take your time then.” Some of Alyssa’s earlier questions for Bastiel had come back with extremely long winded answers. The first of which had lasted a full hour before she had to tell Bastiel to stop. While she didn’t necessarily mind a long lecture, the responses frequently went into extreme detail on things that Alyssa was still having trouble even generally comprehending. After one particularly lengthy and one-sided conversation about the minutia of the Endless Expanse’s differing reality mechanics, Alyssa had asked that all future questions be distilled to general knowledge unless she explicitly requested a more in-depth dissertation. Which had worked out well so far. It let her learn about a lot more topics while still being able to learn more if she needed.

Though this was apparently a massive topic. Never had Bastiel just gone silent while trying to filter the overview from the details. Then again, something with infinite in its title was probably massive. If not literal. In fact, thinking about it further, it probably was literal.

Taking that into mind, Alyssa had to wonder if Bastiel would ever finish processing.

“Stop,” Alyssa said after another few minutes of no response. “Just tell me what is… I mean… Just tell me what you would have said if, when you still thought I was an angel, I had asked what the Tree Diagram is. Pure definition.”

“Query response: Tree Diagram is the projected path of the universe as derived from the Infinite-State Machine of the Throne.”

“Alright.” Now we’re getting somewhere. “And those black books carried by various angels… those show the Tree Diagram?” With Tenebrael avoiding the Virtues, Alyssa hadn’t actually had a chance to peek inside one of those books since she learned a bit about Enochian. She was a little curious as to whether or not they were the same as the books Bastiel kept writing in or if they were something else, maybe something a little more human-readable.

“Information regarding the Infinite-State Machine—”

“Same question if I had asked it while you thought I was an angel. In fact, I am asking as an angel for all future questions unless otherwise stated.”

Bastiel twitched as soon as Alyssa finished talking. Her face contorted for a brief instant, looking like she had a momentary seizure. “A-A-Authoriz-zation deni… Granted? Alyssa Meadows permissions elevated to Undefined Sphere. Greetings, Error: Undefined Angel. With what do you request assistance?”

Blinking, Alyssa hesitated, wondering if she should even comment on whatever it was that just happened. Drawing attention to it might not be the best idea. As long as Bastiel was smiling and not trying to correct whatever errors she was having, it was probably better for her. “Same question,” Alyssa said. “Do those black books Principalities carry show the Tree Diagram?”

“Query accepted. Response: Inaccurate. Tree Diagram too large to store within a limited space. Prescient Books limit display to notable events and deaths to aid in the collection of souls. Prescient books display only a single branch of Tree Diagram. Displayed branch is the highest probability to occur. Books contain self-updating feature to move to alternate branches in the event of detected errors.”

Crossing her arms, Alyssa frowned. So when the book changed because of something that Alyssa did, it just switched to a different path that it had already predicted? That didn’t sound like they were breaking it at all, even though it didn’t seem able to predict Alyssa. “How often do errors occur?”

“Average Tree Diagram error incidence rate in all previous turns of the Ophanim remains below six. Warning: Error incidence rate increased this turn of the Ophanim by 6.021832e9147. Rounded for brevity.”

“And the cause of those errors?” Alyssa asked, feeling that she already knew the answer.

“Error: Undefined Angel Alyssa Meadows.”

Alyssa nodded. Exactly what she expected. If she wanted to break those black books, was it enough to simply continue causing errors? The number Bastiel said sounded like a lot, but an infinite number of predictions was still more, assuming the Infinite-State Machine’s title wasn’t a lie. “What would be something that the Tree Diagram cannot account for? Or let me ask this: What would be something the Tree Diagram would not be able to simply hop to another branch to account for?”

“Tree Diagram accounts for all possibilities.”

Raising an eyebrow, Alyssa’s frown only deepened. “That’s wrong though. It cannot predict me. If it could predict me, there wouldn’t be all those errors.”

Bastiel did not respond. She just stared.

If it couldn’t predict one thing, then there were other things it couldn’t predict as well. Perhaps if she did enough, made a big enough splash, it would break it. If she could find more things that it couldn’t predict, that would probably break it too.

Or if she could figure out how to make other people more like her, that would probably break it the most…