11 Epilogue

It was on a cloudy Monday Hana and her parents stood on the train platform, still dressed in their mourning clothes. She clutched the program for Jan's memorial service close to her heart, willing every last muscle in her tiny frame to not let her cry.

"Hana, are you sure you want to transfer schools?" asked Eliza. "Isaana's Temple is the best in the nation. You might be giving up a lot of internships in the future…"

"Don't you understand why she needs to leave?" said Téo. He laid his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Of course I understand." She clutched Hana's other shoulder. "Hana, you know we support you no matter what. You can't be around her. How could you after what happened? But why didn't you say goodbye to Uncle Crowe?"

"… He wouldn't let me save Silvio." Hana's voice was tiny and weak.

"There's nothing you could have done," said Téo. "He was just trying to keep you safe."

"He wasn't! He was…!"

The train doors opened.

"Let's go home," said Eliza. "You need some rest."

"Hana! Hana!"

Hana stopped as Lydia ran up to her. She was also in her mourning dress.

"Oh, thank the Gods I got here in time," she huffed.

"What are you doing here?" asked Hana.

"I wanted to say goodbye." Lydia wrung her hands. "I can't be in Gesmaura forever. Once I'm done with school, I have to go back to Uswana, so I'll probably never see you again." She wiped away a tear. "I mean, we can talk on the Message Crystal! But it's not the same…"

Hana tried to smile, but her lips wouldn't crease upwards. "Thanks," she said. "I'll be sure to write."

"And Hana?"

"Huh?"

Lydia's hands clenched together. "When you find him, bring Silvio back home safe."

"Thanks." Hana stepped into the carriage. "I'll definitely bring him back."

The doors shut behind her.

The Sabatka family was silent as the train chugged across the snowy countryside. Hana looked at her mother. She was trying so hard to be strong for her, but she still saw her puffy eyelids, her cheeks red from sobbing. Her father wasn't much better off, but he showed his grief differently.

She got up.

"Where are you going?" asked Eliza.

"To the bathroom," said Hana.

She made her way through the aisle to the bathroom. She mostly just wanted to mourn alone. Suddenly the train lurched forward, causing her to stumble into a person.

"S-Sorry!" she stammered, getting off her.

She was a gorgeous woman in a shameless black dress and high heels, grey hair tied back into a slick ponytail. Her bangs covered her left eye. She wore all sorts of bobs and bangles, from the tiara on her head to the bracelets on both her wrists. The woman smiled at her, baring a row of sharp, pointed teeth.

Scary!

What a scary person!

"Oh my, why the long face?" she asked in a singsong voice. "Wait, don't answer that. Your dear friend already knows the reason."

"H-Have we met?" asked Hana.

"Many times, darling," said the woman. "Ahh~, but this is our first meeting this time around."

"H-Huh?"

"Ooh!" Her smile grew wider. "Aren't I a bad girl? I've said too much. I've been around thousands of years, you know. Sometimes this old mind of mine goes a little dottier than usual!"

Great, she was insane. Hana looked desperately for a way to exit the conversation.

"Not so fast, dear. Let your friend give you a little gift to cheer you up." The woman opened up her purse and rifled through it for a few moments, finally finding whatever it was she was looking for as her blood-red eye lit up. She pulled out a silver locket and placed it in Hana's hand. "There! It'll look darling on you! Every girl deserves nice jewelry, don't you agree?" Her purse snapped shut. "I recommend you keep that on you at all times. It'll come in handy. Well, I'm going to surf on the roof of the train. Good luck, Hana! Toi, toi, toi!"

She brushed past her.

Hana spun around, wanting to ask how she knew her name, but it was no use. The woman was gone. It was just the necklace and she. Hana eyed the locket. The lady was nuts, but at the very least, it was a pretty locket. She tried to open it. No use. It was sealed shut. Well, at any rate, she appreciated the crazy woman's attempt to cheer her up. Clasping the locket around her neck, Hana took a deep breath, and continued on her way.

--

At two in the morning, a new moon waxed in the sky.

Isaana sat up in bed and wriggled out of Crowe's embrace. Goddesses didn't actually need to sleep, of course, but she did it anyway to put her human lover more at ease. Dressed in only a sheer babydoll nightgown, she got out of bed and made her way to the balcony, opening the door. A gust of cold air hit her in the face, and it was snowing, but the temperature didn't perturb her.

Sighing, she draped herself across the railing, deep in thought.

That Eleora… she thought. If she hadn't interfered, I could've ended this cycle before it began. What does that silly girl have in mind?

"Your Holiness?" Crowe stood behind her, dressed in a considerably warmer bathrobe. "Are you alright?"

"Go back to bed, Iggy," said Isaana, catching a snowflake on her finger. "I just can't sleep, is all…"

"Isaana…" Crowe embraced her from behind, kissing her neck. "I'm your right-hand man, remember? You can't fool me. I know something worries you."

"Mmm… Iggy, stop that. Yes, something weighs heavily on my mind, but it concerns us Gods only. Humans needn't worry about it."

"It's okay. You can tell me anything."

"My dear Ignatius." Isaana turned around and buried herself in his arms, stroking his chest. "My High Priest, and trusted advisor. And above that, the one I love most. You're completely loyal to me?"

"Your Holiness." He rubbed circles across her back. "You're the reason for my existence. I couldn't betray you even if I wanted to. Tell me what's wrong and share your burden with me."

"Very well then. We are in grave danger. That boy, your nephew… he is the key to bringing ruin to this world."

"What are you saying?"

"The False One is very real." She gripped his robes. "Iggy, you know there are eight Gods in Gesmaura, correct?"

"Yes."

"Let me tell you a secret: of us eight, one of us is the False One. I have my reasons for not divulging their identity, but you'll probably be able to figure it out eventually. But rest assured, I'll not allow them to destroy everything we hold dear! Just sit tight and… ah… you know what? Iggy, you love me?"

"So, so much."

"Then prove yourself to me. Here is your next mission: Iggy, we're going to smoke out a rat. The girl, Hana Sabatka, has something the False One wants. She's bait. Watch over her and make sure they don't get their claws in her. Keep her safe, but if need be, I must have you dispose of her. You don't have to take this mission. Her being your niece and all, it would be too much to ask of you to…"

Crowe silenced her with a kiss on the lips. After a few moments, he pulled away, nuzzling his forehead against hers.

"Anything for you," he whispered.

Isaana smiled a thin-lipped smile. "Good, good," she said. "That's my Iggy."

--

At three in the morning, a brown-haired man sat at his desk, furiously scribbling away at a document. His hand cramped, and he tried to put his quill back in the ink, only succeeding in spilling it all over his work instead.

Letting out a flurry of curses, he shoved it in the bin and sighed. The man rubbed his temples and took a swig of coffee, his fifth cup that night.

"What a case!" he muttered to himself. "What a big case this is! So interesting! If only I were in the courtroom, though…" He slapped himself on the cheeks. "Focus, old chap! You've got to get your work done, and then… even more work!" He sounded a bit too happy about that; giddy, even. "What will the sentence be, I wonder? It's all in the paperwork!"

His joyful celebration was interrupted as a tiny monkey climbed up the table leg and scuttled onto his shoulder. It leaned into him and whispered something in his ear. The brunette went rigid, dropping his coffee cup. It shattered on the floor.

"… So the cycle begins again," he said. "How much more do we have to suffer?"

--

At four in the morning, a chubby woman wandered the catacombs beneath her patron city, lugging a massive bag of cat food. Green eyes watched her from the shadows. She tore open the bag, throwing handfuls of food about. "Soup's on!" she announced.

With that, hundreds and thousands of cats emerged from their hiding spots, gobbling up the food and having rows over the table scraps.

"You n-need to behave purrselves!" she scolded them. She spoke with a slight stutter. "There's enough food for everykitty!" As if to prove her point, she took a piece of food and chowed down. She actually seemed to enjoy it. "Mrow! That's good stuff!"

One final cat made its appearance. It was bigger than the rest of them… because it was a lynx.

She wasn't scared. Actually, she was happy to see it.

"Hayyel!" she greeted it. "Do you have mews for me?" She crouched down, and like the monkey, it whispered in her ear.

"Really?" she asked. "A-Already? I guess it's that time again, meow. I wonder what Isaana was thinking, trying to intervene like that? M-My guess is she's going to try and mewddle again. She's always so impetuous! You know, sometimes that woman really pisses meowff! Well, she shouldn't get her hopes up. Nobody can outsmart the will of the Outer One itself, meow."

--

At five o' clock, a group of thirteen people huddled around a makeshift altar. Okay, it was less of an altar and instead a… pile. Of twigs and leaves. A man who had once assaulted a Worker and two Sorcerer boys was tossed onto it, trussed up like a goose from the butcher's shop.

"A'right, comin' through, idiots!" A white-haired boy (with one black streak in it) pushed his way through the throng, putting his hands on his hips. He was haughty, way haughtier than he should be considering the rags he was dressed in. "Lemme see the sacrifice, and it better be a good one this time!"

He paused, and scowled.

"Oh, for the love of me!" he snapped. "I told you, a virgin sacrifice! It has to be a VIRGIN sacrifice! How can I drill that into those thick skulls of yours?"

"He looks like a virgin to me!" said one.

"Hey!" snapped the man.

"Ugh!" The boy dramatically smacked his palm to his face. "Let me clarify, yet AGAIN. I meant a beautiful virgin."

"Where the 'ell are we supposed to get a beautiful virgin sacrifice all the way out here?" asked another. That was a stupid question, as the boy punched him in the face.

"Do you think I care about that? Figure it out, numskulls! As for this one…" He scowled at the man. "Let him go. He's no good. Ehh… maybe torture him on the rack for a bit before you do. Whatever you want. Just make him screamAHHHHHHGGGGHHHH!"

A centipede bit him on the cheek.

Cussing up a storm, he yanked it off, squeezing the arthropod in his fist. "Sadiel, you useless Angel! You don't have to bite me every time you want my attention! Just have out with it and don't assault me further, or I'm having you pinned!"

The centipede delivered its message.

Growling, the boy threw it at top speed into a tree. "It never seems we get a damn break!" He kicked at the man on the altar. "Well, whatever. I hate this stupid world anyway. I can't wait for it to burn!"

--

At six o' clock, a man sat in bed, thumbing through a girly magazine. It was the same scandalous magazine he'd been staring at the last eight hours. He supposed he should sleep, but he lacked the motivation to do so.

He flipped over, pulling his blanket over his head. He was tall and muscular, and would be very handsome, if not for the dark circles under his eyes. He pulled out a wad of used gum from his unkempt white hair and shoved it in his mouth, chewing.

The room around him was more like a "nest." There was garbage strewn everywhere in his basement bedroom, the clothes he never wore chucked haphazardly into a closet that reeked of mildew. On the walls were peeling posters depicting women in various states of undress, and in every corner was a pile of porno rags, stacked almost a meter high. Most of them dated back at least forty years.

"G'waayyyy!"

A bird called out to him, pecking the window to be let in.

The man didn't bother getting up. Summoning a long glaive from nowhere, he propped the window open, just long enough for the go-away bird to fly through and perch on his head.

"Cassiel? You're back?" He spoke in a strange language, neither Eastern nor Western Gesmauran. "Did you bring this month's edition of Catgirls Gone Wild like I asked?"

The bird squawked, delivering its news.

"… Uh-huh. Okay. Who cares? Our orders are to sit around and do nothing, and those are the only orders I want to obey. Besides, anything to bring me closer to the sweet release of death … Step up." The bird hopped onto his hand. "Go get my literature, птичка."

--

At seven o' clock…

Time didn't exist in the Celestial Heavens. A lone God sat in his personal realm, surrounded by crystals. Scenes of events on Earth unfolding around him played on every facet.

Humming to himself, he pulled up one screen, showing a black-haired Unforgivable stumbling across the countryside.

"Eleora," he said, "she didn't have to be so rash. If Silvio didn't come to me, I would've come to him." He shook his head. "And now I have no idea where he is! Cheese on a cracker! Where in the world is this supposed to be?"

The God returned the screen to its facet. Still seated, he spun one of the crystals around, looking for something. At last, he found it, bringing up yet another screen of a girl returning to her house.

"This is Caershira," he said, "that's an easy one to figure out. Poor, little Hana…" He cradled the screen in his hand. "I promise, no matter what, I'll save your brother. There's a red string that binds us all. I won't let it be severed."

He stood up and stretched.

"I guess I should return to my physical form soon before anyone notices I'm here. I've got some work to do. Azrael! Be my eyes and ears!"

The God summoned his Angel into his hand.

"Their names are Hana and Silvio Sabatka. Find them and keep surveillance on them at all times. I need to reunite them. I mean, if I fail again this time, the False One won't be able to be stopped."

Tearing open a portal with his Divine Weapon, he sent Azrael through.

"To think I'd bet everything on two children," he chuckled to himself. "I truly am goin' insane, aren't I?"

Rirasiru, God of Selflessness and Good Karma, spread his black wings and followed after the Angel.

"But I guess love is a form of insanity, after all."

Volume I end.