Lilith confirmed that her sisters did indeed have nothing to do with the sabotage. Nirrti and Amaterasu demanded a deep telepathic near-interrogation to be confirmed trustworthy as well as they both wanted to know what was going on.

  Sariel had confirmed that there were indeed strange meetings between God and a demon she wasn’t informed about, and between Gabriel and said demon. She had no closer insights as, at the time, she was not part of God’s court. God led what is now Gabriel’s court and was an equal to Sariel at the time, but they were not close until he seized power over the heavens. Still, Sariel promised to discretely ask the other fallen angels if they knew anything.

  Kate had met with Azazel and expined everything. The High Inquisitor shook her head in exasperation.

  “I need you all to stop for a moment. There is so much going on that is far more imminently important, I will be able to get to the bottom of all you told me, but I need to make sure a few things either happen first or hopefully don’t happen at all. You know that we didn’t make the needles, right?”

  “Under fae stone… yes, I had a vague idea.”

  “The fae made them. We simply used them for their intended purpose. Now that I have moved them out of the border world, the fae are likely to show up and ask questions. The entire inquisitorium is preparing for that. Then there is the death of Uriel, we need to keep an eye on the political developments in the heavens. And, of course, RICA and the FBC will have to answer for their deeds in a few days. Once all that is over, I will get to the ancient conspiracies. Until then, please don’t dig too deeply, it might make my work more difficult.”

  “I understand and I’ll tell everyone involved. I suppose that leaves no room to check out a list of potentially alive former Atnteans for Phea and Saliria.”

  “No, that won’t be much of a bother. We kept good records of them and it will be a nice distraction from the annoying things. Sometimes making people happy is just what you need.”

  Kate teleported the list into her hands. “Here, and thank you. I appreciate it and I am sure they will too.”

  “My pleasure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there is much to be done.”

  “Of course. See you around.”

  Azazel teleported away and after a moment filled with a strange feeling that there was something the High Inquisitor didn’t tell her, Kate left for the library as well.

  Outside the Hell side entrance, Jolene was waiting.

  “Ah, Librarian, it is time we speak again.”

  “Didn’t you say we would talk before we free Lilith?”

  “A path was taken that circumvented that conversation. I did not see that path as likely, but it appears I was wrong.”

  “I didn’t think you could be.”

  “Neither of us in infallible. I take it that Azazel has just told you to not continue on your path to unveil the secrets of the past.”

  “For now, yes.”

  “It would in your best interest if you discretely ignored her. She will involve herself when it becomes necessary and she is correct that you should not act on your knowledge but gathering that knowledge… she is wrong about that.”

  “That was clearer than I expected from you.”

  “The paths you are on are nearing the point where the best path forward will be absolutely certain or inaction will have made it inaccessible. I can enforce a path of near perfect quality, but that brings casualties with it. Casualties I am yet unwilling to accept. Azazel would be wise not to push me.”

  “That almost sounds like a threat.”

  “There is human saying: ‘It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.’ Well, while the most suffering will be prevented, yes, it is a threat of sorts.” Jolene put on a smile. “Rest assured that your quality of life is not at stake, neither is that of your friends. I will leave you with two pieces of advice. While you should do research on your own, you will not uncover more about the sins of the past before the hour of the stranger, use your time elsewhere. Finally, forgiveness is the key to many paths.”

  “That st one is so cryptic again… can you eborate?”

  “No. But I can tell you that we will speak again before the hour of falling.”

  Kate shrugged. “That’s something. Just to confirm, no need to dig into anything until the hour of the stranger, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “Good, thank you. That is quite helpful and a bit of a relief.”

  “It was supposed to be. Now, I shall leave again.” Jolene vanished.

  Kate sighed.

  Kate found Phea browsing the shelves in the main Hall of the library. Her human disguise didn’t look the healthiest, mostly thanks to keeping some of the grey-violet tint of her skin. It was a bit strange not to see her hair coil into that cute tentacle anymore. Instead it was just normal.

  “Hey.”

  “Ah, hello Kate.”

  “Didn’t think I would find you alone here, where’s your girlfriend?”

  Phea chuckled. “I almost didn’t think you would pick up on our retionship. She is out in the woods surrounding this pce, getting some exercise. I was never one for physical training, but the results are quite appealing, especially on other’s bodies.”

  “Oh yea, they sure can be.”

  “I can’t truly read your mind, but I can tell that you wander the halls often. And not just for work.”

  “Books are my thing. I love them, that’s why I chose to get my advanced education here, in this city and not anywhere else. I found out about this library and there was no other choice anymore. This is where I belong and if such a thing as destiny actually existed, I would say being here was mine.”

  “It’s great to feel such belonging. Apollyon told me earlier today what happened to Atntis. I must admit that I didn’t truly feel at home there. Sure, my temple work was quite interesting but it wasn’t what I wanted for my entire life.”

  “If I may ask, what was that temple about. I recall reading that the Atnteans didn’t have a religion as such.”

  “We didn’t. Temples were always just a pce to practice and learn about magical phenomena and skills. In my temple, the practice was a little less, well, doable.”

  “Forbidden magic?”

  “Not necessarily, just that it was impossible for humans to replicate. You see, every town including the capital itself had three temples: Here, There, and In-between, often called the Gap. Here was always about earth, this world, There was about the heavens and Hell. And the Gap is between Here and There. Those were usually the smallest temples and in practice, we mostly dealt with impractical yet rather fascinating research. We can’t poke a hole into reality to look out but there are pces where the universe is thin enough to see shadows.”

  “She hasn’t spoken to you, has she?”

  “Who?”

  “Jolene.”

  “Uh, no?”

  “A while ago, one of those beings from outside the worlds came into contact with us. She chose the name Jolene and is now running a food cart in Germany. And she is the one who pushed events along to free you.”

  “A being from outside the universe, outside time, meddling with us doesn’t sound very reassuring.”

  Kate smiled and shook her head. “You should really talk to her. The best way I can expin it is to compare her to us two. My ability to pretty much dissect every mind, every private thought and secret, and your ability to simply take control of someone or follow them from the inside unseen scare those who are far less powerful than we are. Jolene’s kind is incapable of malice. She cannot help but empathize and care. Yes, her power is scary and disturbing but she will always mean well.”

  “I suppose I will have to see for myself and actually thank her in person. Funny… we’re out of that void and we still stick to one pce instead of truly using our freedom.”

  “If I may ask, what was it like?”

  “To be in there? Boring. We found ways to kill time but it was rather annoying that conjured matter didn’t persist in there. After a few decades it would begin to crumble and fade away. Only what we brought in from the outside sted. It was a realm of nothing at the start, just warm white light. We made bearable with some additions, but we needed to keep redoing everything. That was at least something to do. We told stories, pyed games, had sex, taught each other whatever we wanted to learn, even tried new things and taught ourselves from scratch. Lilith turned both me and Saliria quite early and immortality helped. We didn’t need to fear dying in there. Lilith quickly found out that dying as a demon in that realm revived her in there as well, which sucked, but she was so certain someone would free us eventually. I’m gd she was right.”

  “I’m gd too. Speaking of Lilith, where’s she now?”

  “She headed out with her sisters a while ago, something about a Greek restaurant and an Evelyn, whatever that is.”

  “Ah, fancy human lunch.”

  “Eisheth sounded quite enamoured with both.”

  “We went there on our first dinner together, it’s great food. The Greek pce, not Evelyn. She’s just a good friend.”

  “Hm… maybe we should go there as well ter. I would love to see more of this city anyway, much has changed since I st met humans.”

  “Oh yes, so much has changed. Want to bring Saliria as well?”

  “If she wants, sure.”

  “We got a pn then.”