Atop the heavens hung a temple fortress, coloured a bluish black much like the night sky. Light used to orbit the grand structure, but had faded over time. All around the main structure, giant diamond-shapes floated, directed downward like swords ready to fall. They had remained in place, disconnected but still a part of Innominat.
To Velvet, their walk down the different rings and layers was uneventful. She distinctly remembered fighting her way through droves of mind-controlled mala-, seraphim, but now it all lay silent. Walkway after corridor after staircase, inert. The faint thrum of mana rushing through the structure was subdued in comparison to before; only slight tremors went through the stonework under their steps, like faint breaths or a heartbeat.
It was eery how much this solid structure could feel like a living being, even if it was one.
There were only the three of them, a procession that remained mostly silent for the first part of their journey. Zui Fuu spent some time explaining an arte developed by Maotelus and Mayvin to hide sight of Innominat from below as an additional precaution, the behemoth's position unchanged far above the Empyrean's Throne; the grand temple once built for Innominat lay abandoned now, for Maotelus had been sealed beneath it.
Soon enough the scenery changed, from blue-tinged air around the various rings, buildings, and spires to a purple and black flow, the latter clear and deep in difference to Malevolence's inky darkness. They descended to the cosmic earthpulse that ran through Innominat's center and encountered an issue: the path was unstable now, leaving them no way further down. Velvet dipped her foot into the flow to test it, but the mana gave without even a token resistance. She sighed and shook her head at the other two. "What now? Do the other teleportation artes below still work?"
She received a shrug from Laphi, who took to the air again. Zui Fuu fluttered her wings in response and both got a flat stare from Velvet; her brother just motioned for her to go up. "Just do as I do and will yourself to fly," he offered with a shrug. "Will yourself to take to the air. The base of it is the same as creating cloth and other things."
So Velvet did, surprised at how easily she rose once she focussed on it. Her braid bobbed back and forth as she tried to keep her balance, moving this way and that; the body in her arms made it more difficult, but she held on firmly so as to not drop him. Laphi clapped for her when she hovered in a stable position with a cheerful "Well done!".
Their descent continued from there, though this time more vertically; the three travelers could easily glide downward and made certain not to cross the streamers of mana more often than they had to, just in case. Ring by ring they passed, time that Velvet spent thinking and getting used to her new powers. She slowly began to realise that the sensations from her draconic body did not become in any way weaker, but asking Laphi just brought out a dismissive "distance doesn't matter"; either way, she decided to look into what else changed before long.
"I am quite glad your awakening went so smoothly," Zui Fuu admitted to them along the way. "I expected greater complications than I encountered and the seal itself was easy to remove."
Laphi turned her way in mid-air at that. "Actually, now I'm curious: didn't you worry that you might get suppressed or killed in a rage after waking us? It was fairly reckless."
"That it was, but I accepted those consequences in exchange for a chance." Her voice was solemn and Velvet's opinion of the malak rose a notch. She was far less annoyed about being woken now, understanding how important this was to Zui Fuu.
The next revelation followed by the time the sun shone at them from the other side, blasting the three with bright light; they traveled for hours, yet neither Velvet nor Laphicet were tired while their companion had to rest her wings from time to time and desired to take a longer break now. "I'm not used to such exertions anymore, my ascent took days."
"Well, Laphi is a big boy now," Velvet mused out loud while her brother shuffled awkwardly at the side. Then she shrugged and made to sit, but he had a better idea.
"If it isn't too intrusive, I could carry you? We can get places faster that way." Laphi still fidgeted a little after Velvet's last comment, but his offer was genuine.
Zui Fuu hesitated and considered, then she nodded and toddled toward the boy; he had to fiddle a bit and create a scabbard for Arthur's blade first, but then he picked her up to carry in his arms, almost vanishing under her mass. "It is quite alright," the older malak explained gently, "I am just not used to having company anymore. Thank you kindly."
Neither of them could see Velvet's grin; like this, it looked just like a boy and his pet rapig.
As their journey continued and they scaled the various rings, their goal at the very bottom slowly getting in sight, Velvet continued to practice her flight while Laphi and Zui talked about the latter's duties in the Heavenly Steppes; she already knew what those were, so she paid no mind to it. By herself, she wondered about this way of flying; anything else she ever saw in flight had wings, even if some dragons appeared far too heavy to be carried by theirs. She had none, simply willed herself to move in any direction. It would be an incredible boon in combat.
Then however, thinking of wings, she thought of birds. And from there she thought of Arthur, the weight in her arms becoming more prominent to her senses again.
Velvet thought back to her friends, her little band of misfits. It had been a thousand years, yet she wondered whether some of them might still be around; Eleanor and Magilou had both been human and obviously died long ago. Both were far too steadfast to become dae-, hellions. Laphicet, Phi, she knew was still there as Maotelus, if currently in danger. A flash of determination made Velvet glide faster for a few seconds, but she caught herself before Laphi noticed.
This left Rokurou and Eizen. Hellion and seraph they were, and both tough as nails. She doubted either of them would get killed easily, so there was hope to meet at least someone again.
These thoughts slowly began to worm their way deeper as Velvet realised there was nothing else left. A thousand years had passed, anyone she ever knew had long since turned to dust. Aball, her village, likely was wiped off the map. The map itself would be unrecognisable due to her own actions in the past. She and Laphi both, they had nowhere to go and no one they knew. All they possessed at the moment were an unusable armatisation catalyst, the corpse of a shepherd, a pendant, and each other.
Velvet's jaw clenched and she fought down a wave of sadness as reality crashed down on her. She felt her eyes prick, but fought back the tears. She was where she stood now due to her own choices and she knew she would make them again, do the exact same things, were she back at the beginning. This was who she was and if they had nothing waiting for them now, she knew, they would just build something of their own instead.
Soon after her surge of nostalgia, the little group reached the lowest ring, only a few dozen metres wide and connected to the next one over various pristine spires. The singular platform it consisted of held a circle of solidifed mana glowing in faint white mixed with gold, a curtain of the same colouration roiling above it like a portal.
Velvet let out a quiet sigh and turned away from it, addressing Zui Fuu: "Give us a few minutes, there is one other thing." Laphi let down the rapig, who seemed to understand without any need to explain. Velvet stepped over to the walkway's edge and put Arthur's body down with great care, her little brother by her side. "I don't think he'd want a grave in nowhere," she mused. "Aball is gone, Celica's grave never even held her body... do you mind?"
She produced fire from her palm and glanced to Laphi, who raised his own hand to do the same. "We will do this together," he told her quietly and Velvet nodded. Her gut clenched and she allowed the tears to flow this time; Laphi did the same and neither cared.
Wordlessly, the siblings weaved a ring of fire around their dead brother before raising the temperature and incinerating him. Zui Fuu was the only witness as the first shepherd, the man meant to save the world yet lost faith in mankind and sought to end it, turned to ash under his solemn family's hands. Neither spoke, but both Velvet and Laphicet thought back to happier times, when they were just a family living together.
In the end, when the fire died, Laphi broke the silence. "Your soul has long since departed, but it is only right to give your body back to the world you loved so much. I'm sorry it took us so long." He turned his head to Velvet. "May I?"
She nodded and stepped back while her brother created a sphere of wind to gather up every last speck of ash; he then split it into two even amounts, two spheres, one of which he slowly offered to Velvet. A few words of advice on how to keep the winds steady and she held onto it, understanding what her brother intended to do. They began to float and left the stone archway, away from Innominat in opposite directions.
Once she made some distance, Velvet steadied herself and cast her sphere outward. Her control broke after it made a few dozen metres, but it was enough; when the winds dissolved, his ashes fluttered out and began to sink slowly. Artorius Collbrande would return to Desolation, what was left of him to be carried all over the world by the winds below.
Velvet could not think of a better way to put him to rest.
All three kept an almost reverent silence for a minute as they watched the ashes scatter, brother and sister returning to the glowing arte in the meantime.
After a time, the entire structure lurched and Innominat's head came into view from above, bending backward on his long neck; he carried Minkkubi's body between his teeth, so gentle that Velvet barely felt them poke her scales. Zui Fuu watched the head grow closer with them, saw him gently deposit the newborn goddess on the archway right next to the teleportation arte before retreating; a wave of hot breath ruffled their hair and feathers and clothes, then the head bent out of sight.
Velvet and Laphi picked up her new body while Zui Fuu activated the arte, then the four simply walked through and arrived in a hall of pristine white, marble-like architecture. Dust had settled in various places, on the stairs they were led down and on any of the ornamentation in the hallways they passed. There were no personal effects, no plants, not even something like frescos, just empty, white walls with some slightly darker spires and soft light shining from every ceiling, wherever they went.
"I am afraid you can not stay for long," Zui Fuu apologised to them. "I need to recuperate, and I feel the both of you wish to get to work sooner rather than later. My apologies for the rudeness nonetheless."
She was right, though Velvet did not much care for the rapig appearing rude. She had been far more abrasive not too long ago, at least where her own memory was concerned and not the actual passage of time. "It's fine, you're right." Though she would miss Zui Fuu somewhat, having gotten used to her presence by this point.
"Get better soon," Laphi supplied from behind Minkkubi's form and Zui Fuu's wings folded up a little tighter. "And thank you, for helping us get started."
They reached a gate at the bottom of the Heavenly Steppes minutes later, in the center of a once again empty hall big enough to hold hundreds of people comfortably, with only the stairs leading up and out. The gate opened only after Zui Fuu deployed six different artes to various sections of it. She bowed her head deeply at them while bright light cast her into a deep blue from behind. "I wish you two the best of luck. Follow the green earthpulse for now, it will lead toward the surface."
She made room for the siblings to walk through, but Velvet stopped by her side and balanced her new body on one hand; the other, she put on the ancient malak's shoulder while giving her a smile. "We'll see you later," she promised, "once this mess has been taken care of." A gentle squeeze later, she took proper hold of herself again and kept moving. Zui Fuu did not respond, but Velvet thought she saw her eyes glisten.
The gate closed behind them, leaving the two Empyreans to stand on a small rock platform in a sea of gleaming, blue mana. It flowed in the direction they were looking, intersecting with a red stream and a green stream that seemed to spread toward the horizon, under a sky which was an odd sort of black that felt more like a wall than an abyss. More importantly however, Malevolence coursed through all three in thin streamers like oil in water, standing out against the otherwise bright colours. They set down Minkkubi and Velvet looked out into the distance. "It's still weird to look at, you know? How does all of this fit in here?"
Laphi just shrugged before dipping a hand into the blue mana flow, explaining: "The space within an earthpulse is extradimensional, it doesn't conform to the area outside of it. If more than just the Empyreans and a few skilled or powerful malak-,er, seraphim could access it, there might be an actual second ecosystem down here. But that aside, you should eat."
The Malevolence streaming past them began to pool around his fingers and Velvet had her draconic body inhale, which drew darkness from the entire area and into her maw. It flowed down her throat like syrup, but she could feel it pulsate within. Some mana came along but integrated itself just as well. The stump of Minkkubi's second wing began to grow out as they watched; it would take a while, but she should be able to at least steer herself soon.
Then her brother stepped to the edge and made a clumsy nosedive into the mana, much to Velvet's surprise. He surfaced a moment later with a laugh and turned around to wave at her. "Come in, we need to swim and it's warm!"
She blinked at him before huffing and shaking her head. A harsh push to her other body brought it into the stream where she could keep drawing in Malevolence and mana, then Velvet followed Laphi's example and dove. It was indeed warm, pleasant even. Her clothes stayed dry, she noted to herself as she began to make breaststrokes out of habit to follow her brother.
At the subject of clothes, however... "Get changed, Laphi."
"Hm?" He looked down at himself, then at her. Not understanding what she meant.
Velvet pointed at his gaudy outfit as she explained: "Those are too attention-grabbing, I need you to wear more plain clothes for the time being." Not to mention that she had some issues with how his current garb had been cut, as well as some wonder about the strips of cloth spiralling around his legs below those short shorts. She would bring it up some other time, though; at least he got her point and transformed his clothing into long, dark brown pants and a white shirt with the same green jacket he used to wear. Velvet could not help but smile at the sight; they both picked outfits similar to what they wore before... everything.
They began to swim through the earthpulse, once again on an uneventful journey beside some trouble steering into the green stream and bringing Minkkubi along. Laphi emitted streamers of golden light that settled into the flows as they traveled, telling her that he would use Maotelus being out of it to slowly subsume some of the earthpulses, just in case they needed it.
A day passed that way before they reached another intersection; Laphi had a better grasp of these ethereal areas than her and could tell both earthpulses led to the surface, so they took the blue stream for no real reason.
After a time of drifting through the calm blue, Laphi bumped into his sister softly. "You might need a vessel sooner or later," he told her of his thoughts. "Maybe you won't need one as a former daem-, ah, hellion, but you just might. We can share the earth after dealing with Maotelus, there is enough space in here." Velvet nodded softly, recalling that a vessel helped seraphim to stabilise and to ward off Malevolence to a certain extent. She was still surprised when Laphi continued: "On that note, I would like to bond with you, make you my vessel for the time being."
They looked at each other, drifting through mana even as they took some of it into themselves. Velvet tried to make sense of what her brother wanted, but needed to ask: "Explain?"
Her confusion was obvious and Laphi answered while rubbing his hands together awkwardly. "Well, I know I don't need one, but I want it anyway. I can digest Malevolence, so I can bond even with a being consisting of it like you, don't worry." He quickly continued when he saw her mouth open. "It will be safe for you, too! It's just... well, I figure I could mask what few traces of Malevolence you have. Throw people off thinking you're a hellion. And it makes a lot more sense for us to be bonded if we travel together, you know?" He paused for a moment while Velvet considered, then added one more reason: "And anyone in the know would get suspicious at your speed and strength if you have no bonded seraph."
That, she agreed, was a good point. After all this talk, she had to admit that she was also curious what it felt like. So she agreed.
Unfortunately, her question was answered in a rather disappointing way; once Laphi completed the arte, she just felt a little weird. Her body did not need to adjust because she was already powerful, so she just felt odd, tingling all over for a few minutes. It took some getting used to Laphicet hanging around inside of her body, too; he whispered silly things into her head just to annoy her, became immaterial and phased inside from time to time, but she could not bear to chide him. He was just so happy and playing around even as they traveled. So she just quietly went back to practice, wanting to create and maintain a sword. She would want to have one soon.
By the following day, they were beginning to tire a little. Minkkubi's second wing had grown fully and she could now swim as well as steer with sturdy beats. Her forelegs were beginning to grow from their stumps when they came by a network of crisscrossing earthpulses in various colours, many of which connected directly to the surface. Something about the sight felt familiar, but she could not put her finger on it
Velvet was distracted from that thought by the vast amounts of Malevolence surging around everywhere. She drew in some more but held back on Laphi's suggestion, only taking some and then plunging her body right into the middle of it to keep feasting over time. He once again had a point with going slow and steady; if she acted too rashly, Maotelus or someone else might notice her within his vessel despite the haze on his mind.
By this point, it was almost second nature to direct two bodies at once; she tried not to think of the one time they climbed onto a solidified chunk of mana and she walked on all fours for a moment. Laphi laughed at her for a while after that one. Now they both watched Minkkubi paddle around with her wings, until Velvet realised something and had to chuckle. "Heh. Budding darkness below, a cruel god's light above. They won't stand a chance!"
Laphi laughed as well and she ruffled his hair, the boy leaning against her side as they rested. The two remained that way for a little while, but found they did not need sleep. As they enjoyed each other's presence, Laphi pointed up at one specific earthpulse, a green stream as far as Velvet could see. "We should take that one, it seems to reach higher than the rest on the outside, so that might be a mountain."
"Good thinking," she agreed despite having no idea how he could tell. "We can get the lay of the land from there and it's less likely anyone is that far up." Laphi received an affectionate squeeze, then Velvet got up. "Let's go!"
They left Minkkubi behind in the melting pot of mana and Malevolence, allowing them to move at a far greater speed. Up the earthpulse they swam, toward its highest spot where they pushed some mana together and made it float, a solid platform for the two of them to stand. Amber eyes shared one last look before Laphi nodded and raised his arm, gathering power. It fell like an axe, the edge of his hand cutting through the air and tearing at the earthpulse's internal dimension, tearing it open under the will of a god.
The air parted, space parted, to reveal an orange wound in this reality. A rift. The siblings nodded at each other and stepped through.
It was time to see what happened to Desolation while they slept.