Chapter 25

The Empyrean were fucking awesome! If Death incarnate looked this cool while coming to collect you, I wouldn't mind following. 

The hands that were touching my shoulders were frigid and made me shiver. It felt like my whole body was locking up and my muscles and limbs were becoming stiff and unmoveable. Every movement would make my skin break and bleed and my soul was getting lighter while by body was getting heavier and heavier. I wasn't sure at what point my soul would get tired of dragging my useless ass around and just leave. Then I would be in the full mercy of this badass angel group. 

I say angels, but don't let that confuse you. They were nothing like the conventional angels you would see in fantasy art or in steamy romance books. They were nothing like the biblically accurate angels either though. Only one pair of wings in each of their shoulders and hypothetically one pair of eyes, I couldn't exactly say. They were so white that it hurt to watch them but you couldn't look away. The upper half of their faces was covered with white masks that also covered their eyes and a golden thread around them that ended in a couple of golden braids that hang from the end of the mask and went down to their chins. You couldn't tell if they were male or female by their features or builds. Their robes had many golden symbols that looked like the ones on Nax's fur and now that I could see them more clearly, they looked kinda like the runes on the floor for the portal to here. Their wings were very grand but the reason why they flattered and sounded like this when they moved was because they looked mechanical. There were golden knobs that connected the white parts of the wings. They didn't have feathers with the way you would think of them but there were smaller panels that would move when the wind went through them that obviously aided the navigation while flying. The design was so detailed that I had to stop myself from reaching out to touch them. 

There was an Empyrean for each one of us and they stood spreading out to stand right opposite of us. One of them stood a little further apart from the rest and closer to us, to me specifically. They didn't give off the sense that they were the leader or something like that. All of them moved in very synchronized and disciplined movements and didn't seem to have such rivalries about leadership. It would just be easier to communicate with one of them than with all of them at the same time. We, for our part, stood frozen and breathless as we waited for their move. The Empyrean right opposite of me lifted their arms and we all collectively flinched and moved to take a few steps back. They started signing in slow and deliberate movements so that we could be able to keep up but we still blinked in dumb shock. We couldn't understand a word. I didn't even know regular signing but those movements didn't look like anything I had ever or would ever see. They gave us a little time to consider the info and reply. None of us made a move.

They seemed to get impatient but before they could do something about it, Toliz moved in front of me and started signing in the clumsiest and most nervous movements. She looked so uncertain that I wanted to start signing just for the principal of it. The Empyrean cocked their heads in perfect sync and we all got creeped out. Then it seemed to dawn on them that we were entirely too stupid to understand them because they signed again but even more slowly and simply actually making the shapes of the letters with their hands. They weren't letters though. They were runes. What was it with the runes anyway? The more I watched them try to communicate with Tol, the more entranced I got. Their movements were so beautiful and interesting. I started mouthing the symbols.

"....cannot....let...y-o-u...tare?...tate....take!...Wait I lost the rest!....ahm...only....you....l-e-a-v-e!" My eyes widened and I wasn't sure if I was more shocked of the fact that I could understand the runes the more I tried to keep up with them or the piece of information I had collected. We had made all this journey for nothing! They wouldn't let us take the rest of the Keepers and the Seekers that they had arrested! I turned towards Toliz to ask her but her expression was answer enough. She turned back to the others.

"We can't take the others. The only way out is to find your way out. So the punishment here is to suffer the Mirror Shard while you hold the key and don't know how to use it." I hadn't gathered any of those things and I got caught up in wanting to congratulate her while the others all started protesting. They opened their mouths that is, but none of them dared come up to the Empyrean and say anything. Their aura was too terrible. Fett was the only one who managed to take a few steps forward but he still bent under the pressure. "Since we found our way out of that room, they can only let us go."

"But...the others...they didn't...THEY DIDN'T EVEN DO SOMETHING SO WRONG" It burst out of Fett along with this righteousness and need to protect. This couldn't all have been pointless. At the crack of his voice, the Empyrean all reached for their weapons but something in his voice or expression seemed to give out what he was saying even if they didn't speak the same language so they didn't attack. Their expressions, however, stayed grave and unrelenting. They crossed their arms and waited for us to accept reality. I looked down and was suddenly drawn to something entirely different than what was discussed.

My arms, legs and collarbone had been itching a little before and now I saw the reason why. I had just gotten rune tattoos out of nowhere and I could tell their meaning. They were the demographics of my skills, level and the amount of thirst, stamina, health and all the other points available. It was like unlocking a new language, made your communication in the game different and unlocked a more varied understanding of the game world. Which actually made o much sense. When I glimpsed at the Empyrean, Nax, Tol and Fett I realized I could tell what the runes on them said. Not exactly what they meant but still this was progress! 

"What in the Mortal Instruments?!" I exclaimed in enthusiasm and bewilderment. And then I remembered the setting at which this had occured and what was going on in general. The Empyrean lost patience. They moved instantly and took each one of us in their arms. Fett tried to fight it, the trio looked entirely too uncomfortable and mortified, Tol was looking back down at the Mirror Shard in a mournful expression and Nax yelped and tried to nip at the mechanic wings only to whine as his teeth scrapped it harmlessly and felt pain. I....Okay, it is shameful I know. But I am not sorry. 

I giggled uncontrollably and spread my arms like wings. I mean, WE WERE FLYING. The wind was harsh one moment and then gentle the other. Aiding us or going against us. My arms and legs hang in a way that I could distract myself from when I noticed that we were above the prettiest most clear water and we were leaving that darkness and absurdity of the Mirror Shard behind us. Now that I wasn't falling to my doom, I could actually see and appreciate the biome of the Echoes of Eden. Each island actually looked like a Shard, a broken part of a world lost long ago. Apart from the Frozen Wastes, there the Verdant Shard was and the Mirror Shard and a shard that looked like a Swamp. I couldn't see the Glitching Fields have a physical depiction and I was relieved but at the same time worried. Where the hell had I been while I was there? And then, I could see the Ark Gate. Tall and marble-like looking like just an ordinary gate and there was no way to say what it hid behind it. It was closed, our actions could determine if it could open or stay that way. For some reason though, I felt like the stakes were much different and higher than we could imagine.

We passed the Swamp and the Verdant Shard. I wss confused.

"Hey-" We weren't going back to where we came from, nor were we sent into the nearest Shard so..."Oh, sardines!" To clarify, I hate sardines. As much as I hated the Empyrean at that moment when they dropped us off right where I had started. Thing was, they didn't even leave us in the frozen part. So we were left at the feet of an active volcano.