01G - Prologue

As the forces in his grasp converged, Galileo's eyes grew increasingly heated. The furniture around him had long decayed into crumbled piles covered in dust but he was paying them no mind. Even as his roughly sketched notes turned to nothing but disjoined pulp the ear to ear smile on his face did not relent. He was a scholar, one which dared attempt to research even the most intricate and hidden laws governing the world. And today would be the climax of his efforts, the conclusion to millennia of work. Today he was going to fully comprehend the two most fundamental forces driving the universe: Chaos and Order. A tall task to find order in Chaos and chaos in Order, yet after countless sleepless nights, Galilelo was close. Like a machine containing millions of gears and cogs, the very fuel of reality was understood piece by piece and then carefully inlaid into the greater picture.

A countless sleepless night had gone by like this before now. Piece by piece the truth he sought became ever closer. And that day it was finally grasped. As the cogs clicked and moved Galileo observed the picture within his mind and noticed something incredible:

Order and Chaos, the two opposite forces were in fact also one and the same. Without doubt, if they truly were a machine built of cogs, all the gears would be the exact same size, placed in the exact same place, indistinguishable from one another. Polar opposites, yet equal, a beautiful paradox and a perfect equilibrium. What made the difference was in which direction those cogs turned. If a gear in the array of Order turned one way, the gear following Chaos would always turn the other way, flawlessly and without exception.

Galileo inspected and finally truly understood those concepts. He could comprehend each minute motion and every dent in all among the millions of gears, and he understood the force driving them. It was the lifeblood of all things supernatural: Mana.

Knees hit the floor as Galileo collapsed underneath the sheer emotion of his understanding. He felt pleasure beyond description as the very purpose of his existence was completely fulfilled at that single instant. All else stepped aside, and the scholar relished in the fruits of his work, in the immense intimacy in which he came to understand yet another law ruling over nature. In that he felt ecstasy incomparable to anything. Slowly those overwhelming feelings abated, and longing immediately surfaced in Galileo's dark green eyes. It had been many years since he had last felt so alive and it might be even longer before he would again.

As his composure began to recover he went over the masterpiece outlined within his brain and obsessively committed it to memory, until he could recall any singular part by heart in perfect detail. Only then did he stand up and look around himself. Seeing the devastated room he raised an eyebrow, realising he had perhaps been a bit too consumed by his research. Now that the exhilaration was gone, the exhaustion set in, and since his bed had long rotted away Galileo collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep dreamless slumber.

He awoke much, much later, and immediately returned to the last thoughts before his sleep. There was certain grace in his research of all things supernatural: Whenever he answered one question, two more arose. A headache for most who claimed the title of scholars, yet a source of immense joy for a fanatic like Galileo. Knowledge was a drug to him, and Galileo was deeply addicted, he lived for that moment of comprehension, the instant when he came to understand a bit more of what made reality flow.

Yet searching through his latest discovery he could not find anything, no matter how hard he scoured through those complex machinations, he could not find a new way forward. Each possible mystery offered had been long explained by him and every potential unknown was already understood. Desperation quickly surged through Galileo. Could it be that there was nothing left for him to discover, as that would be utterly abysmal. Though just as quickly as it had risen, the dismay died down and he returned to rationality. There were still things he did not even begin to grasp in nature, such as whether travelling backwards through time was possible or what was the origin of mana. It was just that he had never happened upon any hints about how he was even supposed to begin tackling those problems.

Standing up he stepped out of the dirty room, deciding that a change of pace was in order. He had been shut in this room for far too long. It was helpful to occasionally read the works of his junior seekers of truth. Even though the problems they were tackling were simple child's play, sometimes a rare talent might appear, someone who could find a perspective even Galileo hadn't considered, and in that he might just find the first signs of the next great mystery to solve.

The reinforced steel door still held on, unlike the rest of the things in the room, and as he stepped through it he found himself in a hallway leading to many other rooms, through the doors were mostly also the only items that withstood the passage of time. There was a small exception: a cracked and dust-covered mirror dropped in the corner of the room, it had fallen from the wall where it used to be attached. With a wave of Galileo's hand, the mirror melted down and rearranged itself into its original form. It was destroyed and then recreated, more perfect than it was ever before.

"I look terrible," Galileo laughed as he stared at his own reflection in the reborn mirror. His hair and beard had overgrown all the way to the ground and the bits that were still visible around his crystal green eyes were covered in filth. In fact, his entire body was adorned in a thick layer of grime, even beneath his clothes, his regalia somehow being the only thing still spotless. That would not do if he wished to head out. Although their reaction could be hilarious, people generally weren't very welcoming towards dirt-covered vagabonds.

First of all Galileo waved his hand and the overgrown hair and bear combusted in a surge of flames, turning to ash in an instant. As his beard which used to reach all the way to the ground became a short goatee, and his grey hair turned only long instead of obscenely long, his filthy face was fully revealed. White and grey crud visibly covered every inch of his visage as well as whatever was visible of his hands and feet. With another wave of Galileo's hand a rampart wind rose, so powerful it tore the mirror off the wall again and slammed it into the wall. Galileo did not move as he stood in the very centre of that tempest, instead, the muck on his skin began to splinter away, revealing his pristine white skin beneath. After a minute or two, most of the grime was gone and Galileo once again appeared youthful. Even his hair and beard regained most of its black colour, though the filth covering them was far more enduring

"I could still use a bath," he nodded as he noticed that there was still a remnant of the pungent smell, however, there was not a sufficient amount of moisture in the air in this dust-ridden hallway. His gaze moved to the corner where the re-shattered mirror lied. He was a bit out of practice and didn't restrict the wind properly, yet another thing to keep in mind once he returned among people. It wasn't a big problem right now though, with a simple gesture the shards of the mirror once again melted and were reforged.

With a mirror once again available Galileo looked at the reflection of his regalia, it's design was simple: An ocean blue fabric with golden embroidery depicting various haphazard symbols. They didn't mean anything, Galileo just found them pleasing to the eye, and the concept of a daring scholar trying to copy and research them was hilarious to him. There had probably been quite a few of them who had still been wondering what those symbols meant as they drew their last breath. Although he lacked boots, his current appearance was passable to head outside.

"I should probably clear this place up," he once again spoke to himself. A habit he had developed through his many lone years spent in research. He reached for the handle of one of the doors, and a pulse of dense mana spread in all directions as the door creaked open. Behind stood a ginormous library. The shelves were surprisingly not rotten, in fact, they were spotless, and so were even the books. None of the many scriptures had even a slightly yellow shade to them. It was as though it was just built and well maintained.

"So the spell still held," Galileo commented. The formation in this room could freeze the passage of time inside, however, such a spell had a limited lifespan, and Galileo couldn't be sure how long he had been lost in his research, "It would be a bit too troublesome to move," he decided after looking over the thousands of writings. This was his small sanctum of knowledge. Although his memory was near perfection when it came to remembering the laws of nature, he still decided to collect every relevant piece of literature discussing them on a level he considered adequate. Needless to say, most of the books here were written by Galileo himself, so that perhaps might have played a role in his decision to built this sanctuary of wisdom. Walking to the centre, there stood a large crystal of solidified mana. It shone with all the colours imaginable at the same time and it was the core of all the supernatural pertaining to this ancient library.

Placing his hand onto the crystal Galileo mused, "In hindsight, this could still be improved," and as he said those words his will was injected into the core of the formation. With his recently found understanding of the force of Order he managed to easily revitalise and even improve upon his old work. When the power of the magic was renewed he nodded with satisfaction and left the room. As the door closed behind him, another nova of mana traversed the air as the library was once again sealed shut. Considering he was soon going to leave, and that moving the thing would not be worth the effort, he once again waved his hand, and the door slowly slipped out of sight, vanishing from what could be perceived. Since Galileo wanted to hide the library it would take a Deity to find it. And Deities, at least those who he had met in the past, lacked Galileo's interest in the nature of their power, "A shame," Galileo regretfully sighed as he recalled the attitude of his fellow immortals.

He entered the next doorway, finding only an empty chamber with a few piles of remnant rot. If he recalled correctly this used to be one of the servant's quarters. All of those who used to work here had probably left at some point, or they had died here and their bones had decayed beyond recognition. It didn't particularly matter to Galileo, those people were all mortals and had to be long dead by now.

Entering the other rooms did not yield much different results from the previous. Mostly unrecognisable remains which lost the fight against time. The area used to be rather usable for life before Galileo had entered his retreat, and also safe since it was protected by magic which barred anyone from entering without Galileo's permission. Going through the facilities, eventually, Galileo was left with only the last two doors. Ignoring the one he remembered lead to the outside he opened the other one. The familiar nova of a magical seal once again erupted as galileo entered. Unlike the library, this room was not frozen in time, and the decay also destroyed most of the things inside. However, there was a single exception.

"I knew I was forgetting something!" Galileo exclaimed, realizing his mistake. On the opposite wall there was a frame of a woman impaled to the wall. A large colourful crystal, even bigger than the one powering the library, penetrated her stomach. Moreover, there were smaller crystal needles impaling almost every muscle she could conceivably move, and one of her legs was bisected, attached to the wall just next to her. In front of Galileo's eyes her flesh constantly contorted as the resilient illusion attempted to adjust to him. It was the woman's supernatural charm, which attempted to replicate the perfect beauty in the eye of any beholder, however, to Galileo who was not attached to the beauty of flesh it merely turned her form into a mangled mess as the charm was warping her silhouette in an attempt to find that perfect form.

"YoU. ARe. BaCk," the woman looked up with her dead eyes and struggled to speak. It was as though those eyes had long given up any hope.

"Yes, hello Angelica," Galileo laughed awkwardly, "Damn, your old man is going to be mad at me. How long exactly had it been?"

"2 110 years, 15 days, 5 hours and 12 minutes had passed since you captured me," the woman's voice was much clearer than when she spoke before, though her eyes still lacked any signs of life.

"That means I had been gone for almost two millennia," Gallileo inhaled, "That is far longer than I thought," he then stepped closer to Angelica, and sighed, "I hope I won't have to deal with another inquisition after me," he then manually removed the crystal needles holding Angelica's bisected leg, "Say, could you perhaps try to persuade your pops that it would be a waste of time to instigate half of humanity to try hunting me down? He would probably listen to you since you are an archangel and his right hand."

"You are a cruel man," Angelica just stared at him with those dead eyes and without a change in expression, yet a golden tear ran down her cheek.

"Now, now, don't cry," Galileo tried to comfort her as he placed the bisected leg to the stump. Without any help it almost instantaneously reattached. He had originally captured Angelica since he wanted to research celestial flesh and its properties, and she was by far the best source of samples he could find. He originally intended to let her go once he was done, but his excitement once again got the better of him as he delved into further research and forgot to release her.

"Damn you," Angelica spoke with a deadpan expression and an emotionless voice as she cursed Galileo. He newly movable leg moved and kicked forward. A sonic boom sounded in the room as the speed of her leg broke through the sound barrier. However, Galileo easily stopped the impact with one hand, only his hair and regalia fluttered.

"I guess that is a no," Galileo sighed as he began to remove the crystalline needless from all around Angelica's body. Each time one was removed it vanished in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Angelica seemed surprised, though her expression and dead eyes barely let that emotion surface.

"It's a misunderstanding," Galileo tried to defend himself as he removed one needle after another, eventually the only crystal remaining was the large chunk impaling Angelica straight through her chest, "I originally intended to release you once I was done, however, I… kind of… forgot," Galileo admitted, sounding bit embarrassed. He placed his hand on the large crystal and it began to dissolve into raw power which was rapidly absorbed through his palm.

"F-forgot?!" finally emotion entered Angelica's face and her dead eyes even regained a dim light. She collapsed to the floor as soon as the crystal was removed, her large chest wound quickly sealing and melding, the damage so old it did not even bleed. From a single look, it was obvious, she was flabbergasted and uncertain what was happening.

"You are free," Galileo said, "Go ahead and leave if you want," Angelica stared at the man for a few more moments before golden wings spread from her back. Gilded feathers created a wingspan of over 5 metres, taking up the entire room. Galileo noticed many golden tears running down Angelica's face before she flapped her wings. A sonic boom sounded as Angelica seemingly vanished in an instant, though Galileo saw her barely fit through the not large enough door. He bent down and picked up one of the golden tears left behind. It was as viscous as mercury and beamed with power. Although useless to Galileo it would be a treasure to most mortals. After a moment of consideration he shook his head and all the gilded tears in the room evaporated in a short while. He did not need the extra trouble that would come if he was caught giving away Angelica's tears. Having dealt with everything, Galileo left the room. In the hallway a fresh breeze travelled from the last door which was now open, revealing an exit to the outside world. His journey this time around might be a bit bumpy. He accidentally imprisoned the favourite child of a major God for two millennia after all.

"Perhaps I should hurry," Galileo breathed in the fresh air after such a long time, and took a step outside "Before the crusade arrives at my doorstep."