After the hours of the day dwindle and the two have shared dinner together, Caspian and Alain say their goodbyes so she may go back to her home. When the finally clicks shut and a few moments of silence are given, he turns on a heel to return to the office. He locks himself in, then taps the band of light on his arm three times, each one at a different interval. The parlor-like room begins to alter itself, the bookcase converting into a massive board of light. The candle sconces swap out for dim blue lights, and the couch transforms into an operating desk with another platform made of dull light. Finally his tables disappear and the leather chair elongates and morphs into a tall seat facing the board. “Deacon Urius.”

From the corner of the room, the wall tears with onyx black ripples, its foundation somehow still holding up as a dark shadow appears from it. The shadow shrinks just before it comes into full view, and a tall Demon emerges. The Demon wears a uniform-like black suit and a blood red tie. Hair equally shaded as his suit is slicked back, flowing past two horns. A sick smile is plastered on this being’s face, and two yellow, slitted eyes stay on Caspian as Deacon Urius approaches. “Good Head Reaver, nice to see you finally got rid of her.”

“Great to see you, too,” Cas coldly responds, shaking the Demon’s hand once he finally reaches the desk with him.

The Deacon turns to view the board, now lighting up with what looks like hundreds of documents and details centered around a map of all worlds. Chassa is in the center, Ascentia is to the north, Descentia falls south, then Bea and the Void hold places to the east and west, respectively. “She is hardly required for this, you know. Why spend so much valuable time on her?”

“Good question.”

“Hmph,” the Demon grunts. “Not even going to give a real answer?”

“Mortals have different values than you of the Below, Deacon. I value her as an asset and a friend. It just isn’t a bridge I’m willing to burn right now.”

“Nonsense, I say. Anyways, have you located the source of those night terrors yet?”

“Not quite, but the coin certainly holds the source within it.” In the middle of the desk, a slot holds the gold coin. At the mention of it, the desk channels energy into the object to activate it. On the board, a new world forms above the Void, though the mapping of it is complete nonsense- it doesn’t make sense. There is no actual pattern to the land and, when focused in on, the features actually appear to converge and mold over themselves constantly. “As you can see, there is no great way to find one soul within it, but the Council and the Below are doing their work on preliminary mapping.”

“Very interesting,” Urius practically purrs. “Interesting how we can do all of this without a single foot placed on the ground. Makes you wonder why we need Reavers in the first place, hmm?” A sly, cruel smirk is shot at the Human, to which he receives a glare in return. “I’m kidding, Head Reaver. All of us in Chassa have our roles and no one role is more important than the other.”

“Is that so?” Cas questions, looking back to the board. “What is it you do in the Below, anyways?”

“Oh ho, questioning an unholy member of the cult? Very well, I suppose I can humor you at least once.” The smirk becomes a toothy snarl, somehow twisted into a smile still. “We of the unruly, sadistic Below are beings of otherworldly creation- some think us to be Void beasts, but we are more sophisticated than those transforming pawns of fate. No, we are a product of the center of Chassa; for you to begin to imagine our full stretch of abilities would render you braindead in seconds. Did you know that, because of boredom mere centuries ago, we thought to wipe Ascentia and start it over again? It’s true!” the monster snickers. He continues, “Ah, the ArchGoddess of Man- ironic, I know- became such a pain when she attempted a raid on Chassa- us! Can you believe the audacity to bite the hand that feeds such sorry creatures?

“Oh, but wiping Ascentia meant having to fix the inaccuracies in Bea and Descentia. It became such a nuisance and we were getting a bit tired of the same leaders and UnGods as well, so we wiped the rest of the worlds, too! Now, let me tell you, my ‘colleagues downstairs’ aren’t nearly as cynical or what you could call ‘immoral’ as I am, but they do enjoy a good world wipe. It really livens up the place with a new start. Then again, history tends to repeat itself over and over and over and over and over-”

“I get it, Deacon. Thank you for the lesson,” Cas interrupts.

“Mm, feisty Head Reaver, aren’t we?” Urius bites. His cat-like eyes snap to the board. “What is it you’re doing now?”

“I’m hunting,” he says. Caspian has blown up the new world to cover the entire board, and by flipping through each section and layer able to be mapped out, he seems to be looking for anomalies, or objects that are moving or otherwise different from any static thing. There are many of these anomalies, though none of them seem to be huddled together in one place like would be expected of normal societies. These beings, formless and faceless, simply meander about in groups of one or two- like shown before, none of it makes sense. “Definitely artificial.”

“What’s that, sweetie?” the now disinterested Urius asks.

“This place was certainly created by a sentient being. They are an amateur at world-making from the looks of it.”

“Nothing like what us of the Below can do,” the Demon boasts.

“Why do all of you even exist? Why do the people of Chassa exist if the Below can do our work alone?”

“Oooh, lovely questions make me so excited to be here, ‘H.R.!’ Let me answer your question with a question: why does anything exist? Not rhetorical- come on, tell me what you think.”

“All living things have reasons to be and reasons not to be. When the reasons not to be outweigh the reasons to be, they either find more reasons to be or cease to exist, and they are recreated to be once more.”

“Do you really believe all of that? I’m not telling you that you’re wrong by any means, why of course not. I’m sure you snagged that knowledge from the Council, but we can keep that our little secret. Anyways- you are essentially correct, but allow me to let you in on my take of things- the ‘D.U.’ supreme knowledge drop.”

“I’m thrilled to hear it,” Cas replies, his eyes glued to the board.

“Ah haha, yes I know. Now, what I think is that we, all creatures big and small, useless and useful, are created for the sole purpose to continue creating. When there was nothing, what was created? The worlds! When there was no life upon those worlds, what was created? Beings! Those beings created more beings, and so on and so on to the point where we have this- a being of one of our worlds creating a new world. Can you believe this? This is history in the making, and you’re being sent to snuff this new light out.”

“Not necessarily, Deacon. Are the Below neglecting to weigh in on this matter, or are you just going to partake in playground talk on the sidelines?”

“Oh, do the Below truly care these days? By all creatures above us, we have outlasted our uses long ago. The time we are of need again is when Chassa inevitably falls, and that doesn’t appear to be in the near future, not for another millennia at least. My question is why do you care, H.R.?”

“I care about my world, the other worlds, space and time as a whole-”

“The girl,” Urius adds, aiming to annoy. “Right, right, right, patriotism or something along those lines. I have seen world after world, and believe me, you are by far the man who is greatest at being in denial. Some say I am a true romantic at heart, after all.”

“A romantic?” Cas scoffs. “It doesn’t count if it’s against their will.”

“I sense a challenge, but will let it go for the time being. No, Head Reaver, I will not give in to your silly games until you tell me once and for all- why her?”

“I’m beginning to think you were asked to come annoy me.”

Urius continues to drone on, stepping away from the desk to speak with his hands. “I mean, a man of your power could sway anyone- a Goddess, believe it! You could steal the heart of any woman on any world and you decide... gah, if I had an ounce of strength to care with, I would act on a whim. A whim, I tell you!”

Caspian sighs. “Do you really want to know?”

The Deacon now nearly slides fully onto the table, head in hands. “Oh yes, tell me of how love truly feels!”

He gives Urius a worried, disgusted look for a moment before panning back to the board again. “I truly believe us, as individuals, are molded to be incomplete for the point of creating a reason to be for another individual, to make another complete, whole. If you’re so insistent on it being her, then I’ll humor the idea for the sake of thought and to keep you from opening your mouth again, if just for a moment. Alain, she is... much more of a people person than I am. She is compassionate yet biased, terrible with feelings yet full of energy and life. I am gloom, she is sunshine. I am order and she is chaos. We are two halves made whole when put together.”

Silence overcomes Urius, thought just for a few seconds before he exclaims, “Awwww, that’s so lovely, H.R.! Oh, if only it could come out with more feeling. If I brought her here, would you give some punch- some pizzazz to that confession?”

“Do not disrupt her, Deacon, please. The last thing I need at this time is for her to be even more conflicted days before she must experience... this. It’s the last thing she needs.”

However, unbeknownst to Caspian, Alain sits mere houses away listening to every word he says.