ZOEI remembered many lifetimes. The inside of the mountain pass was like the mountains of Texas and New Mexico, near the area of Tucumcari. The mountain gradually sloped before ending in a plateau. There was a cave off to the side, but I decided to worry about that later. It smelled of old metal, and I had a bad feeling about it. The trail wound around the mountain, and I was forced to search for a path to Heaven, yet I had no idea how to climb on to a cloudy surface. At the peak, I found a stone bridge sloped in such a way that I would soon find out.

    The “soil” of Heaven was like walking on bread or maybe gelatin. It squished and I felt sure we were going to sink into it and drown, but then as soon as we stepped away from it, it would wobble back into place. Elias said that it was named Water III, and went on to talk in great depth about how glad he was that it was not Water II or even regular water vapor. The stuff seemed to behave almost like snow, but it was not at all cold. I could shape it like soil, I could scoop some up and pack it together, I could push at it and brush it aside. And yet, it also had the same effects as water. The water that touched skin or went inside a container became liquid, and I could drink that or wash my face with it, and looking around at the trees and other plants here, I obviously could also use it to grow things. But when exposed to open air or in contact with more of this stuff, it turned back into the cloudy white fluff that I stood on. As we were still near the sky bridge, I decided to quickly run forward, so as to not step the wrong way and fall to my doom. All the same, as I ran, the stuff reacted in a way that I don''t expect the soil to do, bouncing as I run, and I flopped over and fell on my face. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Walking carefully, we made it slowly through Heaven. The place was mostly one big island, with streams and rivers of regular water, rocky areas (it looked like the mountains were stolen from somewhere else), forests and farms, and houses. However, in order to get to the big island, we had to make our way through a number of free floating islands. These were connected by a series of bridges, and on a clear day, you could see right through the clouds to the lands below. A waterfall that was so nutrient-rich that it produced vines wherever it fell, flowed in a steady stream from the main island to the lower islands. Anyone afraid of heights would be terrified, while those who liked the idea of flying would get the view of a lifetime. We made it through the first few sections without seeing much of anything. Then we saw a remnant, a type of ghost that was basically like a large blue flame. After this, I saw a fire elemental. Despite the remnant and the fire elemental both being fire creatures, the elemental was more like a woman made from fire, whereas the remnant was simply a mass of fire. We managed to offend the elemental by asking her about whether water puddles hurt her, but she looked more embarrassed than angry.

    The first region was a human encampment. They had built houses, and were currently engaged in farming, from the looks of it. Over to the west was another island, unconnected to the rest. Unlike the others, it was solid rock, and I had no idea how something so heavy managed this. But hey, I was standing on water turned to a bouncy gel so nothing surprised me. Near the houses was an inn, made from stone with blue shingles and a set of steel doors. We were tired and hungry. I was sure that this being Heaven, they would give us free food and lodging.

    It turned out that lodging was in fact free, since it consisted of the resident angel using Script to procure bedding out of thin air. Food, on the other hand, was rather pricey, since they apparently can''t make it themselves.

    MICHAEL

    I am one of God''s archangels. No, I''m not a seraphim. That title is reserved for those that have no human blood in them. The original Nephilim, that is, were neither angel nor demon, but something in between. Today, there are few of those, as a result of all the messing around with humans. Basically, all of us with the blood of Man, when they are created, is divided into a male angel here and a female demon in Hell. That''s right, I said created. Unlike humans, we typically are not born, we inherit a Design from two previous angels, since in order to give birth we must alter our bodies but Leviticus 18:22 makes this uncomfortable area. Also, unlike humans, we are not born inside the body, but emerge fully grown from a condensed mass of energy. You see, only seraphim have males and females among them, because only seraphim are born. While only seraphim are born, only archangels like me have names. Most seraphim are also archangels, but the reverse is not always true.

    A name is a part of the soul (just as the spirit is part of a body) that gives us permanency. It gives us a distinct identity, as contrasted with those angels which are called into being when God needs a specific message sent. Those angels are taken from a Design of two archangels, mixed into a specific teaching. The angels and their opposition, demons, usually have a lifespan of maybe two weeks or so. The seraphim and we archangels, on the other hand, typically live forever, yet seldom or never have offspring. This is why the island of Heaven is not overrun with such beings, since few of them exist except long enough to deliver a message. As to the seraphim, well they do give birth, but mainly among themselves. God destroyed quite a few for mixing their blood with humans, so all that is left is a few extremely pure cases of seraphim, and many of them are so frightening to look at that they have to tell humans, “Do not be afraid.”

    As an archangel, I have a long history. There are less than a thousand archangels, and humans know very few by name. Michael is my name, I am the angel who drove Satan down to Hell, and slaughtered most of the demons he made through corrupt breeding. Ever since then, angels and demons have always been strictly balanced in population, with the exception of seraphim (which are neither). I am the archangel of those who fight, from police to military, but I also support good health, so I am patron of grocers and medics. Basically, I''m the commander.

    While there were plenty of archangels in God''s tent, it was by no means all of them. Other archangels are scattered around existence, some watching over important humans, others milling about the island of Heaven, and still others assigned as helpers to the Reapers or to a specific duty God has in mind. Reapers are the backstage mechanics for existence, while angels and archangels are the hired crew.

    Demons, like angels, are created as part of a message. It is their job to stop angels from delivering these messages. God likes the idea of balance, so yeah, he allows his own messages to be sabotaged as a matter of chance. Angels, Fallen, and the original seraphim all have the Script allowing them to defend themselves; however, demons and Fallen are not without defense themselves, as they can use the destructive power of Hellfire (seraphim can use something similar but it is a golden color and they call it Balefire). The best way of putting this is that Script is a sort of code. For example, if I were outside and it started to rain (yes, it does rain and even snow in Heaven, our clouds are below the rain clouds), I could say the following, “Protective Dome - Target: Self” which would designate that I wanted a protective dome, just big enough for myself. Script is capable of summoning solid objects, including weapons of war or common chairs and tables. God could use Script too, like the the Reset ability, but some of the Script that God used was impossible for us. God uses something called the Console to use Script as it''s not really part of God''s main powers. It looked like a strange rectangular object that had a touchscreen. There''s all sorts of keywords that we can use, but the point is, we angels can summon only energy and inanimate objects. We cannot directly create life through the use of Script. We can create eggs, seeds, and the like, though. But it is at least as hard for us to make food as you humans. With my spiritual powers, I could sense them from afar as they rested at the inn that night. Tomorrow they would probably make their way to the tent of God. If they could overcome the last trial.

    AMBROSIA

    Heaven was kinda cool. I know, I know, most people think the idea of Heaven is boring, but it''s not like that at all.

    For one, the weather isn''t as nice as its reputation. Sure, more often than not while we were visiting we got 30°? weather. Oh right, Double Celsius starts at 0, not 32. So that''s about 60o Fahrenheit But, we did get the occasional rain or snow, and even violent storm. And because we were closer to the clouds, it seemed all the more violent. Whenever bad weather hit though, we got the experience of watching weather hit us, then pass through the “ground” to the land below. It was kinda interesting to watch. Before you wonder about how I could even set foot on Heaven before dying, the biggest misconception about Heaven and Hell was that they were part of the Afterlife. Sure, you could go to either after you died. But you could go to any place. Heaven and Hell were on the New Earth, and you could visit them as easily as one visited... Michigan. Heaven wasn''t like a permanent destination, though. Living beings are easily bored creatures, after all. Even the best Afterlife becomes unbearably dull eventually, so after living in Heaven for a while, one could choose to take on a new life.

    For another, it''s kinda the opposite of many people''s definition of utopia. “Peace and harmony,” “share and share alike,” “open borders,” and “no hunger or thirst,” these are people''s conceptions of Heaven. It''s not really like that. There''s no real requirement to share here, there simply is a enough for everyone. And housing is rather difficult, since resources are needed and there are few trees, although you can possibly talk an angel into making you a house. If you manage to piss them off though, you''re on your own. But let me clarify that, since I kinda seemed to contradict myself just now. Heaven has more than enough of certain things but a scarcity of others. Trees are not common because they tend to sink in cloudy soil, most seafood needs to bought down below, and the only pigs we have are those flying kinds. Building houses is tricky here.

    Honestly, when it gets down to it, Heaven is kinda capitalist. It just has a weird type of money that seems to be based more on karma than anything else. I helped this lady find something the other day, and I swear my Record of Value had one more page than yesterday. Not that that''s reliable. Most times I''ve only seen pages added were legitimately agreed upon work or trade, and random acts of kindness. I''m not really sure it can be earned by just doing good deeds though, it just happened for some reason.

    And before you ask, no Heaven isn''t some peaceful place. After all, there was a war in Heaven long ago. Demons probably aren''t allowed back in. You were capable of fighting each other, but only if you agree to a duel. Otherwise, a barrier forms around each person and the attack bounces off. And no, you cannot be banned from Heaven, it wasn''t like joining a forum and later getting banned because people didn''t care for your rude jokes. It was more like the worst fate you could get was to be ignored by one or two people. But unlike living on Earth, there were always some people who would love even those who felt unlovable. As to crimes, God himself would act as both attorney (through Jesus) and judge. But it felt like the punishment was usually too soft, especially for the heinous crime of rude comments. But you could also convince yourself that you couldn''t enter in the first place. This was the bottom line as to why demons weren''t allowed in.

    Although this place was a physical place, everything here felt strangely like a dream. If I felt bad here, flowers near me seemed to die, and an angel would come to try to cheer me up. It was not that you could ever lower the state of Heaven to the point of Earth or even Hell, though. Heaven and Hell were considered trendy tourist destinations, but their nature could change only so much. In fact, as an experiment, I tried to make myself gloomy. In Earth, one could do just that, but I only managed to make myself so depressed before there was a snap-back. I still felt like I felt, but the reality around me started to become so psychedelically positive that I started to giggle. I imagine Hell, which was also on the list to visit, might have the reverse effect.

    As for the other stuff, no, Heaven definitely doesn''t have open borders. The border, as you saw, only allows people in who understand the concept of Grace. Heaven, it turns out, is like a small town, yet at the same time infinite. It''s kinda like the Unites States of old, there are different regions, filled with people of different types. The difference, of course, is that people can''t flee from NY or CA to go bother Texans. Rather, the land is an unlimited number of parallel Heavens filled with the people you want to see. People in Texas Heaven could eat steak, carry guns around, and worship God all they want, while those liberals could do those other things they''re so famous for with each other. Each version of Heaven was basically ruled by their vision and that of their friends. It is a clever way of defending the borders, as it tends to be the people who hate themselves the worst that make trouble in their own country and have to become refugees elsewhere. As we entered, I am told about an acre of land was made to accommodate just us, and this land would disappear once we left.

    Heaven has free trade, but given that the Record of Value isn''t really currency outside of Heaven. By the way, Heaven used to have a different system of currency, it was called the Angel Coins. As you know, Angel Coins, or “guardian angel coins”, are two headed coins that were carried by World War I and II pilots, and were believed as symbolic of miracles, blessings, and good tidings. The original Angel Coins came from God, but Augustine Dupre during King Louis XVI''s reign took to copying the original mint. Each Angel Coin was intended as an angel''s daily bread, to buy whatever the angel had need of that day, and then to be turned in. But since humans had no way of accounting for multiple stores that angels visited in a day, record books were invented, and the Angel Coin was spent on all the shops written on a page for the day. Gradually, tradition gave way to practicality, and a Record of Value was used instead. The point is, in Heaven you don''t have to worry about money, since you have basically a checkbook for each day.

    And as for hunger and thirst, well, they don''t have this in the conventional sense. You could technically go without eating or drinking here, but you might start to feel abnormal. Part of what makes people feel normal is sharing meals with company. Nothing really dies here. Not plants, not animals, and no rotting takes place. But the best thing? Later on, I stayed here for like a month, and I never had my period. No misfortune of any kind happens unless you allow it, and no separation exists. You could visit or talk to anyone who ever lived in here, and nobody would die in from of your eyes.

    I managed to meet most of the angels walking outside. On of these was an ex-princess of a tribe of angels, who told us, “I am a princess of the Archons,” another name for archangels, those angels that have distinct identity, “but I recently have decided to journey among the people of Heaven, studying their ways.” Aqorm correctly pointed out that she was probably male, since “she” wasn''t a seraphim. Another one ran a grocery store, selling mostly healthy food. After being around Heaven for awhile, I began to be able to figure out the difference between angels and archangels. The angels just sorta had a wispy look to them, their skin wasn''t fleshed out, and they were nearly always heading out to deliver a message of some sort. Archangels on the other hand, appeared to stay close to the town with small exceptions to explore or pick up goods. The grocer headed down to the surface every third day or so, to get meat, dairy, and fish. Grains and vegetables were easy to grow here but livestock were heavy enough to sink through, so they were tough to come by. There was also a smith as a regular, but this one had a lot of orders right now, so we instead decided to keep exploring. That was when we came upon one of the more... ummm, classical seraphim.

    This one looked like a large creature with the head of a lion, dog, and a zebra merged to a single body. Somehow or other, the body matched the heads, but it had some serious wings. I wanted to run, but somehow I couldn''t move. The creature, sensing my frustration, told me, “Do not be afraid.” I had no idea what he/she/they/etc was talking about, I wasn''t the least bit scared. Obviously. My panties being wet was because of the humidity. More out of curiosity than anything, I asked the creature, “What exactly... are you?” The creature responded, “Once, all angels were like me. Terrifying, and yet beautiful.” The lion head kept trying to eat the zebra, but the dog was in between, and snarled at it, until it backed off. “There were those with the face of a bird, a lion, and a man. The were those of such beauty that six wings were needed to keep those it visited from bursting into flames. And there were the wheels within wheels, the thrones of eyes.” I listened patiently, nodding, until my curiosity got the better of me, and I asked, “So...? What happened?” He(?) continued, “Humans are sex-crazed. They were somehow appealed by the strangeness of us, and bred like rabbits. Our race are called Nephiliim, and I am a seraphim.” I nodded. I totally understood, just looking at this three headed beastie made me want to hump it. No, I''m not being sarcastic, there is no way to adequately describe just how sexy a seraphim looks since the attractiveness defies logic. But this one was hot. The sexy beast continued, “God punished most of those. Now, there aren''t many left like me around.” I laughed, mostly at the irony.

    Moving onward, we decided to visit the smith. Although he still in fact had back orders, I insisted rather kindly that he put those on hold, and instead work on the project of getting Nevras a new sword.

    NEVRAS

    Let''s be clear here. There was nothing kind about how Ambrosia insisted. She threatened bodily harm of all sort and manner, if the smith would not drop everything and make a sword. I looked at some of this angel''s swords. They were objects of incredible beauty. The guy appeared to charge for his amount of time spent on a project, so some of this stuff would be beyond our ability to wait, despite our ability to pay in value. I thought about what Sera had said when he broke my sword, about swords being too sharp for their own good. After a great deal of thought, given all sorts of swords that he could have made, I told him, “I want something just sharp enough to cut, and just firm enough not to get broken easily. Something sturdy and reliable.” He nodded, “I know exactly what you mean. This will just take a second.” He took about getting each of his projects to a good stopping place, then looked at me. He instructed me, “The best swords have a part of the person using them. Tell me, why do you fight?” Hmmmm... After some more thought, I told him, “I fight for love and I fight for justice too. I fight to protect those I care about from harm.” The angel nodded, flexing his wings, “Yes, yes. I believe I can work with this. I will make you a sword out of love and light.” What he said sounded completely impossible, until I saw him grab sunlight out of the air, mold it into a ball and put it on the anvil. It was a nice yellow color. Then he came towards me, and drove a hand through my chest. I was freaked out, and fully expected to bleed to death, but instead of pulling out my internal organs, he returned with a tiny bit of pink light. He molded them together, much like a baker kneading bread of different flours, and then proceeded to pound and shape with his hammer. The light began to form into distinct sections, with the hilt and sheathe a pinkish color, while the tang and the blade were the color of fine butter. It was a full tang sword, so it was probably very sturdy. But right now, it was difficult to make out as it was mostly just light. He pounded away for a few hours, shaping light into a mostly flat shape, and then used a dizzying variety of hammers, hardies, and peens to mold the sword into a desired shape. By the end of this, it began to look similar to a claymore. It was a hand-and-a-half sword rather than a full-sized claymore though, with fairly clean edges, and a good firm blade. Unfortunately, there currently was very little to it. It was still just light shaped into a good form. He turned to me, “The sword needs to be tempered. Tell me about yourself. All of the hardships that you have endured.” As I spoke, the words began to take shape, like mighty fire in his forge. The sword began to heat up and glow. He kept me talking for a good while, airing grievances from long ago, until finally he grabbed the sword with tongs. He said, “That''s enough. Now we need to quench the sword. I need your tears.” There was no way he was gonna get me to cry. No sir, not a chance, never... he told a long and incredibly sappy story about a lost puppy. Before long, he had a full jar of my tears, which he dumped into a tank filled with what appeared to be some sort of blood. He dropped the sword all the way in and watched the blood and the brine treat it. At long last, he held a more substantial looking sword. I asked him, “What was that you dumped my tears into?” He shrugged, “Oh that? That''s the blood of the Lamb. Not only is it useful for cleansing sins, but for swords, there is nothing better to quench. Your sword is done. You will never need to sharpen it. Just remember what you fight for and it will be sharp enough. Try it out. Let''s have a duel right now.” I agreed.

    I touched the sword only to have it turn into light in my hands, and disappear into my chest. “What gives?!?” I demanded. All the hard work, and nothing to show for it! “Relax,” he said, “the sword responds to need. Watch.” He pulled a sword from seemingly thin air. It was a beautiful sword of some fine blue material that looked as clear as glass, inlaid with all sorts of etchings. It was clearly not steel but had all the quality of good Damascus steel. He swung it at me. “I don''t have anything to defend myself with!” I cried out. He responded, while swinging it towards my frantically dodging body, “Place you hand on your heart. Imagine your heart as a sheath, and pull your hand away from it in a long motion as though drawing a sword. Remember, this sword cannot be used against you. And you cannot be disarmed. This is the Phoenix Sword.” I did so, skeptically, and sure enough, I wound up with a ball of light in my hands which quickly shaped itself into my sword. The blade looked almost golden, the hilt was a soft pink color, and the sword was more reminiscent of something that a magic girl would wield, complete with hearts and ribbons on the pommel. I felt embarrassed, but it passed. While it wasn''t even half as fine as my opponent had, it was enough.

    The difference in the quality of our weapons was rather obvious. While I was a more talented swordsman, it was like I was holding a toothpick against a hammer. His sword just looked so dense, while mine felt awkward in its size yet also too flimsy. His sword''s design seemed to be more aerodynamic too, or maybe he was just more experienced using it, as he seemed able to swing about twice as fast. I dodged frantically, and swung my sword hard and parried as best as I could. The blade made a dull ringing sound as if in agony. We trained hard against each other, but the sword wasn''t holding up well.

    Swords do not usually break. This is something you see in movies all the time, but generally, unless a sword is really rusty or in poor quality, the nature of a well-made sword is that it doesn''t break. Katanas are different, they are often folded to the point of being brittle, so it had to be wielded more like a fishing pole than a typical western sword. The only real time swords break, is when the swords are really too different from each other, like one is much softer or more brittle than the other. Otherwise, they have to swing them in such a way that the attacking sword has its edge ruined. I tried my best against this guy, but the blade felt completely alien to me. It was almost like I had a sword made from a wooden oar. I fought with skill, but as a smith, he was very strong, and he caught my sword off guard, striking not the edge, which is made to take impact, but the spine of the blade. It shattered like glass. Oh no, would I need to get yet another sword? “It''s okay. Try drawing the sword again.” Even more skeptical than the first time, I did so. To my enormous surprise, the sword was intact. Huh? “This sword is your fighting spirit,” he said. “You are inexperienced with using it, so it broke against one who has mastered their weapon. Your sword will become stronger, but it is only as strong or weak as your heart.” I tried again, and somehow, while the swords weren''t evenly matched, it felt less one-sided. I thanked him and left.

    We explored the island. Along with the moist feel of the ground becoming increasingly disturbing, we encountered plants that I had never seen anywhere else. I saw an actual lotus tree. Oh yes, there are lotus flowers, but this is an entirely different plant. This plant was the same one famed in the legend of the Lotus Eaters. Aside from that was the Tree of Life, a maple-like plant with bright pinkish-blue leaves which grows twelve types of fruit, one per month, and heals all kinds of wounds, provides a full meal, and confers eternal life. Of course, the problem is, we''re humans (except Aqorm). Now Aqorm could eat it, and become a pure-blooded elf, but the rest of us couldn''t even touch the thing until we died. We humans had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which meant we had to deal with the consequences of whatever sin is. And having that plus eternal life, meant life tended toward unlimited shittiness. No thanks.

    Birds flew past. The Benu bird was a type of heron that flew between this world and the Void, and its scream could be said to break the Void apart. Garudas, giant birds with human-like bodies and holy and wind powers shared the sky with angels. Orphan birds laid their eggs in the water, watching to see if they were a good egg that would hatch and join their mother, or a bad egg destined to live below. A roc parked itself on one part of the island, allowing humans that couldn''t fly to use it to transport through the sky. A phoenix, like the one we saw before feasted on the bamboo here.

    The phoenix had plenty to eat. There were patches of out-of-control bamboo, bee balm, some mint with a wild reddish tone, mushrooms of all colors, and kudzu in between sections of island, as though someone had designed a rainforest without any regard to what grew together, because here it didn''t seem to matter. Rather than one plant choking out another, the bee balm and mint formed vines so it could grow even in areas where there didn''t seem to be much space from trees, and the kudzu grew on the ground more like grass. Red tumbleweeds dotted an area to the north of this, with the palo verde and its green trunk nearby to make a sort of Christmas theme. Somehow these plants had adapted to the moist soil despite being desert plants. I assumed it must be that the soil being made from water, could be selectively permeable. These weren''t the only plants either, the Tree of Life somehow set aside a circle around itself where nothing grew, but the rest of this section of island had two other plants you''ve probably not heard of. I only knew of them from my mandatory education as future ruler of Phoenix. The crystal leaf looked normal enough, it was a light blue plant with stems and leaves as thick as blown glass, the plant was like a strange mix of the trunk and stem of a jade plant, with leaves more like a basil but for the extra thickness. The clear glassy plant was blue... until the sun came out from the clouds and then it became significantly more translucent with an astonishing iridescent nature. It was like someone puked rainbows on this cute little plant. I wanted this guy, so I tried to get a clipping. While the plant was soft enough to pet, I quickly discovered why it was called a crystal plant besides its extreme translucency and light-dispersing qualities, it was difficult to cut. I decided to leave it alone, as I''d heard that uprooting one sometimes killed it instantly. The last plant was dark onion. It was jet black and in a perpetual state of wilt, yet did not die. These did grow other places than Heaven, but typically only in strange places where nothing would grow. I was actually surprised to see one in Heaven.

    On many of these trees, insects ate the fruit or gobbled up the leaves. Yet everything regrew fairly quickly. Many of these seemed to be metamorphic insects like butterflies and moths and dragonflies, although the coloration was much sharper than the rest of the New Earth. Wild colors of green, orange, and pink coated their bodies, and I even saw some gray insects. Lobster bugs floated about, their massive bodies blatantly defying the square-cube theory as they drifted along effortlessly, these horrid mix of crustaceans and insects freaking out most people who had seen then the first time, and it didn''t help they also had faces like gators and weird-looking front feet. Dream fish swum by. Komainu (lion-dogs) used their tails to sweep away yin flies, the only true enemy of the growing plants here. The yang flies were involved in aiding the fast growth of plants and had soft earth tones to their horsefly-like body. But every few years, yang flies would turn into yin flies and their coloration turned dark. Qilin wandered about the island as local wildlife, occasionally eating the bamboo.

    Aside from living things, the dead lived here. Dead humans here looked alive enough that it was basically impossible to tell without noticing they glowed, for the dead now had etheric bodies rather than physical ones. They were not intangible like mere ghosts though, but at least as solid as beings of flesh. These were those who were “saved” whose souls evolved from simple shapeless orbs to their true identities. They would never die again unless they chose to be reborn.

    Aside from dead humans and the living things, there were also animal spirits. Long ago, a man named Thomas Aquinas reasoned that animals will not be in any kind of Afterlife because they do not have a true soul. It turns out he was wrong. While animals do not have the highest order soul of humans, they do have a chiku soul. These souls are basically constructed from emotions, needs, and instincts, and basically this boils down to the fact that your pets do indeed go to Heaven, but don''t enter there intact. Most of us saw floating balls of light, but every now and then, one was a former pet in spirit form.

    Ambrosia had a dog named Scratch who she didn''t seem to see here because he was not a good dog, and a black cat known as Miss Kitty (like in the show Gunsmoke) who apparently had one of her yellow eyes removed for blindness; Miss Kitty lived for nearly 20 years and was well-loved by her family. She walked up and rubbed Miss Kitty''s spirit by the ears. Azrael had a mouse called Nezumi, Watcher of the Tomb. Zoe had a white crow named Corvid-19, and a two-headed raven named Huginn and Muninn. They were nothing compared to my awesome hawk named Captain Falcon, though. Huginn and Muninn started biting each other, so Zoe moved over to her other pet. Miss Kitty half-heartedly chased Nezumi about before falling back to sleep. We gave our animals a pet before continuing on. We''d always be able to see them now, and they were as lively as souls as they had been in life.

    Making our way to the center of the island, we arrived at a strange tent. The tent had an odd stone gate blocking entrance with a circular indentation. It appeared to require a small object, a small carved disc with from the looks of it some sort of triangular pattern. What exactly is this? We heard a voice echo in our heads. And God said, I have devised a test for you. On this island, there are two parts of a stone disc which will open this door. Find them, and I will grant you entrance. Typical. Alright then, we''ll play your game.

    AZRAEL

    I''m quite certain that how Heaven and Hell are on Earth will at some point need to be explained. Very well. This is a theory that I have learned of, and don''t quote me, because it may be incorrect. The Seven Worlds Theory says that all of existence is divided into seven, just as we have Five Elements plus Light and Dark, there are roughly seven parts of the whole of things.

    First, there are four lands called The World. Well, not counting weird dimensions, like a legendary place called the Eternal Town. But nevermind that, typically people in The World are in one of four places: Heaven, Hell, the New Earth, or the Realm of Void. Heaven or Hell, rather than being seen as places you go if you have been good are bad, are simply states of torment or bliss on the New Earth. Just as a person who has broken up can feel like they are in Hell and another who is about to be married may feel like they are in Heaven, they are right. But such places actually exist in physical form as well. As for the last of the these four, the Realm of Void is a world that used to be called the First Universe, and was a place where the original model of any thing that is natural was made, before getting copied as a mundane version. Gradually though, something happened, and this world became a place where things are instead constantly being destroyed. It is possible that one day things will change, but now it is a very dangerous place to visit.

    Then there are two worlds which are denoted Beyond the World. These are historically called the World of Forms and the World of Spirit, but they would be better understood as the Afterlife and the Unseen World. The Unseen World is a blank expanse, usually either blank white or blank black, with positive or negative auras. That is, where God has presence, the “room” is usually white while it is usually black otherwise. The Reapers are permanent residents of this area, and use it as a sort of canvas for the physical world. After all, while God created the plans, the Reapers carry them out. Areas where Reapers and their Pales exist have some landscape, but usually not very much, more like islands in a sea of nothingness. On the other hand, the Afterlife could be seen as a sort of world in constant flux, a world that humans are able to manifest their desires and dreams. The Afterlife changes to whatever desires are put into it, but unless you know how to keep your fear and anger from overpowering your desires, you will be tormented not by God but by your own stray thoughts.

    Finally, there is the area that is Beyond All Things. This is the area believed to be God''s true dwelling, not a crude tent made with mortal hands. There is no adequate name for such a place. This was a world that overlapped into the other worlds. And so, it was like the Unseen World with its blank expanses, it was like the Afterlife with the anything created on the spot, and it was like The World. In fact, starting from the center which appeared as a small cozy house with a view all around it, as you traveled outward, you could visit anywhere. On the other hand, the reverse wasn''t true, since only a select few who had conquered death knew how to enter this area. Hopefully, that cleared things up.

    AMBROSIA

    Despite being Oracle, I very seldom was able to predict stuff. Sure, I had that Predict ability, and could also kinda dodge a lot of stuff by going with the flow, but it wasn''t a whole “Tomorrow, we''re gonna catch flounder” type thing. I''m not sure destiny even works that way, so yeah. But in this case, I caught a glimpse of the two places. We had definitely seen both of them before. The first was the cave on the way up the mountain, and the second was that floating island we''d seen earlier. I decided to try the floating island first. I asked around, “Excuse me,” I continued, “excuse me, but I want to find something. There''s that castle in the sky over there. I''m hoping to get to it.” I had to repeat this question several times. The angels were kind, yet very busy, and they were aware that this was my quest and thus my responsibility. Finally, I just bothered to ask a human. This one ran the transportation system for other humans and had some kind of beast master ability. “...So, can you help me?” I asked. She nodded, “Sure thing, just give me a moment.” She whistled and over came a roc. The roc was a horrendously big bird, a creature with mostly reddish feathers, except for the red-golden gradient tail-feathers, which according to legend generated wind storms. It was able to stand up or sit on all fours, since it had not only wings but a pair of extra limbs for resting its weight on. The large bird yawned until she got on, petted it, and urged to head out.

    The next thing, we were flying. Warping around earlier, we got to see the heavens, but this was a much different experience. The big bulky bird created a rush of wind with every flap of its wings, and it freaked me out just trying not to fall. The island came into view, meeting an island roughly three miles away in the span of a heartbeat. The island had enough area to land so we got off. The castle was an old style brick fort that was in ruins, the archway intact, and some of the gate was okay, but the turret was falling apart. As we entered, we made our way past bats. It''s hard to believe at one point even rats represented a legitimate threat against me, but now I could effortlessly knock bats unconscious with my fishing pole. We entered further and just as effortlessly knocking aside valknuts and necromancers. I couldn''t believe how strong our journey had made us. Those valknuts had given us such trouble before, now I just blasted them all with the Four Gods Crest before the others even drew their weapons.

    At last, we came to our opponents, a group of Iron Golems. These were tough. It wasn''t a matter of training harder or getting stronger either, they had resistant skin that was so thick that most of our weapons bounced off. Most of our weapons were very rustproof, they were designed of materials that hurt the supernatural, and very fine weapons. But against creatures made from such thick metal, this was worthless. Water magic did no good. They didn''t have internal cogs, gears, hydraulics of the like. Electricity also was worthless. There was nothing internal. I didn''t know what to do.

    AQORM

    The others were at a loss to defeat a creature that didn''t seem to have any known weakness, and any motor or main power source. Fortunately for them, beating the golems wasn''t strictly necessary. There was enough space in the room to just skirt around these things, and the object was in a treasure chest, so while the others got whacked a bunch of times, I just moved past them and grabbed the treasure. “Let''s go,” I said, rushing past them again. Elias was frantically healing to keep the others healthy while they tried to flee, so I grabbed him too so he wouldn''t be left behind. We boarded the roc and headed back to Heaven. It was a bit of a rough ride, though.

    After a bit, we collected ourselves and walked back down the mountain, spotting a small cave on the way. Caves form for many reasons, I had found out from centuries of reading. Some caves are simply formed when decaying plants mixed with rainwater to create carbonic acid, and digested some of the rock. Others are formed as a result of mining for oil, gems, or metallic ore. Still others were formed by snakes, moles, and other such creatures. This one was formed by seawater hitting the same spot over and over, wearing down the rock to sand. As the water caved in weaker sections, it began to branch out into winding paths... nah, I''m just making all this up. Aside from the sandy entrance, the sand absorbed most of the rest of the water, so these later sections were carved out by people or things wanting to make home there. To the left, there was a nice spring, but I noticed there were a few skeletons near the water, so we wisely decided not to drink. We retraced our steps back to the right path, avoiding spiders and bats and sand-sharks as we made our way to the center of the mountain. The sand-sharks were particularly troublesome, we had to watch for fins or those ankle-biters would jump at us.

    Finally, the sandy soil gave way to rockier ground, and we were safe from many of these creatures. We entered a long rocky corridor that twisted about here and there, as we heard insane cackling in the background. “They thought I was mad. They called me a mere puppet! But I''ll show them. Mwahahaha!!!” the voice echoed from the other room.

    But we had bigger things to worry about. Some shady characters appeared nearby, pulling strings of bunraku puppets with knives and swords. They had clunky moments, but as much as we attacked them, the puppeteers just pulled the strings and they got back up. No big deal. I swiftly moved past, cutting the strings. I admit, normally I expect such puppets to collapse without strings. Not so here. Apparently something had given them a sort of life, probably through all the runes the puppeteers had used on these strings. Once freed, they turned of those who had controlled them. Let that be a lesson to all of you. Don''t be harsh to people, and treat them like puppets. I guess that''s the moral?

    In any case, we made it to the next room. The crazy guy was there, looking every bit like a sort of puppet himself. He''d even tied strings to his back, and was basically animating himself by holding the strings in various ways. “I see you have defeated my puppets,” he boasted, “well, behold, you face... The greatest puppet of all!!!” Ambrosia smirked, “That''s nothing to boast about.”

    In the background, he had a piano playing a tune. Although much of society today was more involved with alchemy and thaumaturgy than any sort of technology, pianos and other musical instruments were a bit of an exception. They required only a few parts, were mainly wood or metal, and because of the way runes worked, they could be embedded on the instruments. Some warded off undead or the like when they played, but player pianos using sheets was also a thing, since runes were simply written symbols. This one was playing an old tune from Metallica, I think it was called? It seemed to be oddly apropos, but I couldn''t tell you why.

    The puppet was fast enough that the chest behind him couldn''t be reached. Worse, his movements were disjointed enough that all of us had to stay on our toes. We couldn''t really dodge him and had to block, but when we used magic or tried to counterattack, the puppet would suddenly move at odd angles, and our attacks hit empty air. Nevras pulled us into the narrower corridor, explaining that the puppet king would likely have a harder time following us, and called us to discuss strategy. After all, this thing was tough to even hit given the way it moved.

    NEVRAS

    We had one part of the disc that granted passage to God''s dwelling, we just needed the other one. And so, I called the others into a huddle with Azrael setting a kekkai to screen off the area from attack. After this, we looked at its strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, it was hard to hit, its body was built to take a lot of punishment, and was very very flexible. On the other hand... “Okay, here''s the plan,” I said. And we discussed all this offscreen so it could not possibly fail.

    AMBROSIA

    None of what he said made any sense. Nevras went off privately to tell each of the group members some sort of task. I heard my plan, “I want you to do some fly fishing. When it''s time to cut the strings, you''ll know what to do.” Uhhh, actually, I didn''t know what to do. And based on what I''d seen of the others they''d also been given equally strange plans. Everyone fanned out with most of the group on the left or middle, with Azrael the farthest right. I was in the middle but slightly back, because Nevras told me where to stand to be safe.

    From what I saw, Elias was sitting still and muttering something while holding his staff in a guard position. Azrael had just finished some kind of spell, and it clearly didn''t work, whatever it was, so now she was doing something else. I didn''t notice any major change besides the air feeling very heavy from all the magic around. From the looks of it, the plan involved standing totally still and goofing off. Only Nevras appeared to be working, chasing the creature around with his shiny new sword. When he managed to catch up to it though, he only tapped it lightly with the flat of his sword. What was he doing? Azrael suddenly felt the strain of whatever spell she was doing, because she was on the ground with exhaustion. I guess whatever spell she''d cast must still have some kind of offensive aura because it didn''t dare get closer. In fact, it suddenly shifted away. Aqorm encountered it second, having it suddenly fly straight to her. She stabbed it somewhere in the arm, but it didn''t seem to do much good. Somehow or other, she''d lost both of her knives, one of them embedded in the creature''s left arm, so she dodged out of the way. Zoe was next to be attacked. She had been the worst about goofing off, apparently her waiting to be in position to attack had caused her to become bored and she had juggled her scythe. A mishap had torn a long string of skin off as a scar, and she had blood and flesh all over her scythe. She had healed up her face but didn''t seem to have much time to wipe it off before the puppet flew towards her right fist extended. She slashed at it quite a few times, in the arms, legs, torso, and even the neck, but whatever she cut off, it just reattached the joints to. Well, at least now her scythe was clean.

    When she realized she couldn''t beat it after all, she whacked it away with the back of the blade, knocking it towards me. Uh oh! I had been instructed to continue waving around my rod, no matter what, so I moved it faster, hoping with any luck I''d be able to tie it up. No such thing happened, as it apparently backpedaled when it saw what I was doing. My arm was beginning to hurt a lot. In the start, this felt like a simple matter, but now it felt like I was pulling my rod through spider''s webs or something, I was straining to move. It looked like the puppet was also slowing down from the fight.

    As it moved away from me, it unfortunately moved a bit close to Elias. He was a sitting duck! Somehow Elias managed to move just fast enough to hit him with his staff. The puppet began to bloat up with odd growths on its arms, legs, torso, and neck. I wasn''t sure what was going on, but I was tired of moving around my fishing rod so I pulled it back to me to rest my arm for a second. Or tried to. Instead, it felt like I had tangled my line around itself. I jerked harder, attempting to pull it closer to get a good look at it, but I was pretty well surprised when I started pulling the puppet towards me. “Get back!” I shouted, waving my knife around. It felt like I cut something, as all of a sudden the puppet flew at me full speed and almost whacked me in the head. My terror went away when I noticed it wasn''t moving anymore though.

    I didn''t understand what had happened. “Okay, seriously,” I asked now that the evil puppet thingy lay still, “what exactly was our plan?” Nevras smiled, “Remember those iron golems earlier? They didn''t have any sort of power source. Iron golems usually are either the robots from long ago with mechanical gears and engines and such, or the alchemical kind with simple joints and a large gem that has some kinda rune thingy. But those were just hunks of metal. Then I saw that the puppet was pulling its own strings. It moved almost like it was guided by something else. So I asked the others, especially Azrael.” Azrael explained next, “I figured one of two things was possible. Either it was controlled by runes or there were hidden strings. I cast Disjoin Runes for the first one, but you saw that nothing happened right? So, next I used Gravity, and then focused the strongest part of it on myself. That''s why I was pinned to the floor, and that''s why it couldn''t come closer. The string on my end broke from the sudden weight.” Nevras elaborated, “With those strings cut it was an easy matter to lead the puppet into Aqorm''s waiting arms.” Confused, I asked, “You mean Nevras was herding the puppet? And what exactly did you do?” Aqorm filled me in, “My job, strictly speaking was pretty simple. The puppet was far too flexible. It had two hands that were strong, and double-jointed. I stabbed my knife through its elbow and knee,” she said, collecting the knives from it, “so that the joints wouldn''t move properly. Whatever strings they were using, as the string pulled the arm in order to grab or punch something, the joints couldn''t fully shift, and it would pop back. The arms and legs couldn''t move effectively as a result.” I looked at Zoe who was still busy healing up her face. I had to ask, “And you? Zoe, seriously, what were you thinking, trying to juggle your scythe?” She grinned sheepishly, all parts of her face not scarred up or bruised one massive blush, “I can actually juggle my scythe just fine. This was meant to happen.”

    “Huh?” I said. Elias stepped in, “Zoe and I were working together on the same plan. Observe,” he said, pointing to several large growths on its body, “Zoe removed some of her skin and blood with that ''accident'' then she stabbed the puppet at key locations. I hit it with my staff and sent the spell through that.” What is that, anyway? “What is that, anyway?” I repeated aloud. “That,” he explained, “is cancer.” He noted my blank stare, “Something that barely exists anymore, thanks to a lack of processed food, radiation, and the State trying to poison people. Only unskilled wonder-workers attempting to do regeneration effects ever encounter it nowadays. Regeneration works by replicating cells at a fast pace. Any decent healer understands how to do this properly. Those without skill ironically make more impressive-looking healing happen, but later on, the healing doesn''t taper off but actually overshoots its intended function, resulting in deformed growths and draining from the immune system. The result is a slow and painful death ironically caused by healing. This is pretty much what we did to this, we filled it with growths until it couldn''t move.” I nodded, understanding, “So you killed it with this cancer. Got it.” Nevras shook his head, “Ummm, no. From what I understand of cancer, it only hurts living things. We just slowed it down, you stopped it.”

    Now I was really confused. “What?!? When???” I asked. Everyone sighed, like I had missed some great secret. Well, to be fair, they''d basically been whispered parts of some strategy while I''d been told just the basic instruction of “wave your fishing pole around. I dunno why I even bothered, that thing almost killed me. “Okay, so while I was chasing it all around, normally there''d be strings on both sides making sure the puppet didn''t get tangled. But Azrael cut the ones to the right. Then I got it to run around in circles, and finally, you caught it while waving your pole around as it got near you. When you pulled, you yanked the invisible strings and when you waved your knife, you cut it. I couldn''t tell you anything, Ambrosia. It was a kind of dumb luck thing that I needed you to do naturally, or you wouldn''t pull right.” I grumbled at him, glaring the entire trip back up the mountain. I brightened when I saw Heaven again, because it was just so pretty. I sighed in ecstasy until a lobster bug pinched my nose. Stop that, you!

    Moving to the tent, we placed the two keys in the door, then tried turning left and right until it opened. We weren''t prepared for what we saw, though...