Tieria recognized the burgundy dress and long purple wig right away. He slipped into the outfit and adjusted the fake hair with slow deliberate gestures. It did not at all came as a surprise that Ribbons should summon him to a vast hall not converted into a ballroom or that he should be wearing a version of the frilly shirt and long blue coat from that fabled party.

The skirt swished softly as Tieria made his way across black start studded floor. A wide window and transparent ceiling opened up the already very large division by letting in the grandeur of space. An orchestra had been assembled and began to play as soon as Tieria made his entrance. He wondered briefly if the players were human or simply very realistic androids.

Ribbons was waiting for him.

"Welcome, Tieria. Shall we dance?"

With a graceful bow Ribbons offered his hand. Tieria took it let Ribbons guide him. Despite his cruelty and his overt rejection of humanity, Ribbons was the one Innovator who appreciated human accomplishments. So much so that Ribbons not only patterned his public image in the guise of an absolutist king of old but introduced all sorts of historical references in his personal life. It was as if Ribbons saw himself as the rightful heir of humanity, an heir so superior that could not fully assume his absolute superiority by wiping out his predecessors.

Strange as it might seem, Tieria found it almost reassuring. Regene tried to accommodate him in little ways like writing notes on paper when communicating with him but he was essentially left indifferent by anything human. Only Ribbons bothered to actually learn something by reading, usually in an actual physical book, instead of simply downloading information directly into his brain. It was part of his sense of aesthetics and life philosophy.

Tieria was not blind to the irony of it all, he considered now as he twirled in Ribbons's arms: that the one in charge of the ultimate annihilation program of all human beings should be the one who teared up at the opera.

"Are those actual people?"

"They are. I kept a few musicians and artists."

"I see."

"How do you like your new human pet?"

Tieria knew he had to be as careful of how answered Ribbons as he had been when answering Regene.

"She's satisfactory."

"Oh? In what regard?"

"She does her job well."

Ribbons graced him with one of his chilling smiles.

"You're allowed to like her and express it."

This came as a surprise and caused Tieria to nearly trip. Fortunately he had a lot of practice and could get back into the sweeping rhythm of the waltz.

"I'm not sure I follow,"

"It seems you misunderstood why we gave you such a present. It wasn't to weaken you, on the contrary. It was to empower you."

Tieria was mystified which obviously amused Ribbons.

"Empower me…?"

"It used to be frequently said that you become stronger when you have someone to protect. This human is to be that to you. Someone for you to protect."

"Do you have someone like that yourself?"

Tieria was genuinely curious.

"Of course. It saddens me that you have to ask. I have you to protect."

Ribbons's hand slid to Tieria's waist. They swayed to a halt.

"Protect me, you say…"

Ribbons held him close now.

"I've always protected you and I'll always protect you. How about letting your hair grow long once more? I miss that."

Tieria expected this kind of language and overall tone from Regene but not so much from Ribbons.

"Always protected me…?"

Ribbons was now whispering into his ear.

"It was no accident that you survived your trials as a pilot."

"What…?"

Tieria almost wished Ribbons would make this a sexual encounter so that he did not have to be entirely lucid. He feared Ribbons's next words as a fearful revelation.

"The humans who protected you, even the one who died for you was chosen precisely because he would do so. I planned ahead."

"Why go to all that trouble,"

"For your sake."

"Why do that at all…"

How much better it would have been if Tieria had never be handed to Celestial Being in the first place. It would have spared him so much grief and ultimately not even have affected the final outcome.

"But it did affect the final outcome. Your experiences made you who you are and it is who you are that I desire."

Tieria's voice was reduced to a whisper now.

"Does that mean that you knew, all along that you'd win?"

"But of course. That was never in doubt. That's why you were never truly against us, you never betrayed us."

Tieria felt his strength drain altogether. At some point the music had stopped and the orchestra had left but he did not even know when it had happened. He nearly started as Ribbons kissed a tear from his cheek. How long since he had truly cried, for ages his tears had only been the result of sexual manipulation. And how much more horrible this was.

Ribbons must have done something to deactivate the artificial gravity, Tieria felt himself gently float.

"Is that some kind of consolation?"

"You have all of eternity to be consoled."

Tieria allowed his body to collapse against Ribbons who held him in a loose embrace. They floated together.

"Do you think we're gods, Ribbons?"

"We are the true gods of the new world."

And with this pronouncement Ribbons kissed him, a long, soft, deep kiss that Tieria could not help but deem tender. After all this time it was still love that tripped him up, Tieria Erde had loved humans without ever fully coming to terms with what love did to him.


"It's remarkably mono-thematic."

Tieria hardly knew what else to call the colony. Last time he had checked T-14 had been a standard colony with the designed plots of farm land, clusters of villages, a thriving industrial sector and a capital city. What he now saw was a massive purple crystal temple of highly bizarre architecture that spanned the entire capital city with its forest of colonnades fading into the distance, fires burning at the feet of absurdly large and hieratical Tieria Erde statues.

"We live by Your grace, Oh Great One."

A whole crowd of purple robbed priests had come to receive him and already Tieria could tell that this kind of silly speech was going to get on his nerves. That they kept prostrating themselves so that Tieria could not establish eye contact only annoyed him further.

"Get up. Is the whole city like this?"

Tieria waved in the general direction of the monumental temple that loomed eerily above them all.

"T-14 has been consecrated to the Angel of the Earth."

Tieria could not afford to sigh. He turned to Mileina who stared at everything with very wide eyes.

"We'll tour the temple later, I want to see the industrial sector first."

A panicky glance between the priest who had spoken and an aide told Tieria that this was not desirable.

"Can we offer You our hospitality, Oh Great One? We have prepared refreshments after Your arduous space journey."

It had not been arduous at all but that was beside the point. There was a protocol to follow and Tieria figured he might as well go along with it.

"Fine. Lead the way."


Tieria gazed at one of the many inner courts of the temple. He had been allocated to a palace that was part of the temple complex and existed for the sole purpose of serving as Tieria's residence. As to why such a vast building should exist to serve as temporary housing on the chance Tieria visited was beyond him but in the couple of hours he had spent on the colony he had realized that the irrationality ran very deep.

"I wonder how they make everything so purple. I also wonder why."

The inner court had been converted into an otherwise graceful garden were it not for the odd colored grass, trees, topiary and the water that sprouted from a wide fountain.

"It's all so pretty!"

Tieria sighed but at least he could appreciate Mileina's innocent enthusiasm.

"At least you like it."

Tieria slid into a comfortable and suitably colored purple tunic and lounged on a sofa that kept the same chromatic scheme. The entire chamber was pleasant but again there was simply too much purple, from the bed covers to the suspended chairs. At least the walls were a shade lighter even if still far too purple.

"Master Tieria, is there anything I can do for You?"

Tieria waved desultorily.

"Not really. Just stay put."

His experience with his acolytes had been minimal but already Tieria had had enough of them. For all their worshipping him as a god they simply could not be brought to obey his injunction to drop at least some of the formality. Tieria was beginning to realize that there was something a god simply could not do and that was to abjure his godhead, for lack of a better term. He could not make them treat him with anything short of awe.

Tieria was reminded of the now long gone country of Japan whose emperor, once deemed a god, had renounced such a status officially. He remembered that it had taken two nuclear bombs, too.

Yet for all these humans' blind trust in Tieria's all-powerful ways they treated him like the most vulnerable and creatures. As used to having his needs catered as he was and to a life of idleness Tieria still found all this constant fussing about him more than a bit aggravating. His life with the other Innovators assigned him a particular role where he was not above anyone else. Having humans abase themselves had been depressing at first but became annoying very fast.

Tieria knew that underneath it all was raw, instinctive and very real fear. Humans were absolutely terrified of him. Ribbons's wanton destruction of a colony must surely weight heavily with these colonists.

"Can't say that I blame you…at least you're not afraid of me."

"Afraid of master Tieria?"

Mileina sounded so puzzled that Tieria had to laugh.

"I'm not cut out for this."

There were more ceremonies scheduled later that day and Tieria was already anticipating extreme boredom. He cast a glance at the massive bed knowing that he would be sleeping alone that night. Suddenly Tieria felt all too lonely. As well-meaning as these humans were they were so different from him that he felt alienated. The closest he had to a companion in the whole colony was this little girl.

"Everyone is so excited to see an Innovator in the flesh!"

Apparently it was a marvel that never got old as far as Mileina was concerned.

"So it would seem."

A door sliding open on a wall caused Tieria to jump from the sofa.

"Hello, Tieria. How are you doing?"

Tieria blinked at the figure that now emerged from the door.

"Regene…? What are you doing here? And what's with your hair?"

Regene touched the ends of his now very straight hair.

"I got it match yours. Very pretty, isn't it?"

"More importantly, what are you doing here? Did you use a secret passage?"

"That's right. There are quite a few Innovator exclusive passages a bit all over the place. I dropped by to see how you were doing in human environment."

"I can hardly say, everyone treats me so strangely that I hardly know how to react."

"Just be regal and proud."

"'Regal and proud', you say."

Tieria could think of few attributes that applied less to him. Regene now seemed to notice Mileina for the first time.

"Hi there, human girl."

"Welcome, Lord Regene."

"Do you love Tieria very much?"

"Lord Tieria is my reason for living."

"Is that so? Then you should be able of telling us apart, right?"

"Yes, I'm certain of that."

"Great. Let's have a little test, then. Go wait in the other room until we call you back. We'll change into the same clothes and have you pick the right Tieria Erde."

Mileina bowed some more and left the room.

"What's the point of this?"

"Just like a little game."

Tieria was more nervous than he would like to admit. Regene lost no time in changing into a tunic and Mileina was summoned right away. She bee-lined toward Tieria and knelt at his feet.

"This is Tieria Erde."

It was very brief but Tieria could not miss the flash of anger in Regene's eyes.

"Very well. But that was a 50/50 chance, let's repeat this a few more times."

Ten times later and after Tieria and Regene changed their relative positions Mileina's success rate remained a hundred percent. She smiled adoringly at Tieria.

"Have I done well, master Tieria?"

"Very well. But how can you tell?"

"I can sense master Tieria."

"That's quite a talent you've got there, human."

Instinctively Tieria moved in front of Mileina as if to shield her from Regene's barely repressed animosity.

"There's something to be said about human intuition. She can probably pick up some clues from our expression."

"I see."

Tieria was not entirely sure why this caused such a knee-jerk reaction in Regene but he suspected it had something to do with the same-ness that Regene prized so much. It was one Regene's rules that he had the greatest possible compatibility with Tieria and that he understood him better than anyone else could possibly even hope to. Usually reinforcing their differences kept Regene very entertained but there were plenty of times when Regene got a kick out of their peerless similarity. That a mere human should be able to see through it was quite disagreeable.

"Right. At any rate I have more ceremonies to attend to, unfortunately."

"No need to worry about that. I'll take your place."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Impersonating you is a lot of fun. I've already secured you a way to visit the colony in disguise."

It was more than Tieria had hoped for.

"Thank you, I can't imagine I'll see much when everyone is so on their guard around me."

"Take the human with you."

Tieria nodded.

"Alright."