Chương 40: 38-The Pale God

//BEGIN LOG TRANSCRIPT// The room was now empty; a pitch-black void with the only source of light being that six-spoked wheel. Terror replaced the joy from the puzzle Alice had solved. She frantically looked around for Professor Bernard, running towards the direction where the doors were, only to find that the void was endless.

"PROFESSOR!!!" she cried out, desperately looking for him, scrambling all over the room looking for some semblance of normality. Tried as she might, she found nothing but emptiness. After a while, she fell to her knees and began sobbing.

"Professor? Where are you?" Then a voice, a strange, booming voice, answered.

"Why are you crying? This is but a time for a jubilant celebration!" The child prodigy turned in the voice's direction, and in terror asked, "W-Who are y-you?" Her words were answered as the wheel fell to the ground, erupting in a brilliant white light that engulfed the void, blinding Alice. When Alice opened her eyes, they adjusted to something that baffled her. In the new, shifting room she was in, she found many more of these so-called "fractals" she painted. Endlessly looping into infinity and never ceasing.

She stared at all of them, admiring their strange, eldritch beauty. My paintings must have gotten past Merasglow's gates? She thought to herself. B-But, that doesn't explain why the entity would-?

"Keep such magnificent wonders in my study?" The voice answered.

"It has been a long time since someone made fractals so beautifully and elegantly; an earnest reflection of the truth of existence." Alice looked around, scanning this Fractal Room for the source of the voice.

"Show yourself!" She angrily shouted with her fists clenched.

"What did you do with Professor Bernard?!"

"Nothing," the voice replied.

"You are in a plane of reality only perceptible to beings like you and me." As the voice answered, a spiral fractal formed in the center of the room, forming a man of pale, ivory skin. The legendary, extinct race of the Pale Men was forming in person before Alice. What an exciting, but terrifying, development! He was deformed, shifting with the chaotic fractals.

Eventually, they destabilized and eventually exploded as man finally materialized, in the image of the ancient gods predating the Great Fragmentation, only told in hidden tomes locked away in the Merasglow Archives. Nay, this was not a Pale Man, but a Pale God. And truly pale white he was, with glowing emerald eyes that illuminated fiercely.

The Pale God held a large, bronze shield depicting a crudely drawn lion in his left hand, and a blackened, long spear in his right hand, tipped with a brilliant magenta crystal. He wore bronze greaves above laced, brown sandals that exposed his toes to the elements, shining like steel. Adorning his chest was a bronze cuirass depicting the white, six-spoked wheel Alice had seen earlier, except the globes were now of a magenta color, similar to the crystal on his spear.

The cuirass had a brilliant blue tunic extending halfway to his knees. On his head was an open-faced bronze helmet that covered his neck-length black hair. On top of the helmet was a plume matching his tunic. The man emanated an aura that dwarfed everything around him. This man was indeed a god, having an audience with someone for the first time in half a millennium. Alice stood in awe of the man towering above her before he spoke.

"Be not afraid, Alice Skein of Merasglow, for your presence here was always destined to be by your mother and father. I am known as the Pale God, Epsilon. I am the final creation of the ancient race; the people of this world call 'the Pale Men'." Alice stared in confusion at the Pale God. Did this god know of my parents? She asked herself, clearing her throat before speaking to the ancient deity.

"S-Sir, I don't understand?" She began with a nervous stutter.

"You say you knew my parents; is this true?" The ancient god smiled.

"Yes," Epsilon answered.

"Your mother was the last of the Pale Men before you were born. But because of her lineage, she was hunted across Halcyon. Your father, of course, a 'New Man', helped foster her escape to the northern lands where the City of Merasglow is unbothered by the chaos in the South." Alice, of course, stared at the deity, but she was troubled. To learn she was the last of her kind, let alone that the ancient god had long expected her, was confusing.

It seemed as if the deity was enthusiastic to meet one of his creators, but she wondered more about her long-lost mother. With a nervous but curious voice, Alice asked the Pale God, "Sir, if I may ask, did my mother ever meet you?"

"Yes, she did," he answered, nodding with a smile.

"She was an alchemist who produced a great deal of potions that healed many using recipes thought to be lost to the ages. There were other places where I spoke to her, in her dreams no less." Dreams? That didn't make any sense, Alice thought to herself. Then a realization came to her, and her eyes opened slowly. But he apparently can hear my thoughts, which could explain this abnormality.

"Yes, that is true," Epsilon answered, relaxing his shield arm.

"My creators wisely created a neural connection accessible to those who are descended from the Pale Men." The deity sighed as the weight of his memories filled his eyes with sadness.

"Unfortunately, your father's New Man blood interrupted that connection, so I waited for you to come here. Your mother, of course, wanted you to know of your origins; a wish that has been fulfilled long since her passing." Sadness filled Alice's eyes over Epsilon's words. Her mother: dead. It couldn't be so, but the Pale God had been very truthful thus far. With grief forming in her mind, Alice asked Epsilon, "Sir, my mother is dead?" And she trembled a bit, deliberating over her next immediate question.

"Is my father dead too?" The Pale God nodded slowly as his eyes drooped. He grabbed his spear into his shield arm as he paused. Alice saw that grief was embedded within his soul, remorse for those whom he once knew.

"Yes," he answered sadly.

"Your mother and father were murdered not too long after you were delivered to the University of Merasglow's front steps. They were being hunted by those who obeyed an evil god of Infernal Flame, a god who did not want them to uncover the lost secrets of my creators and bring the New Men out of stagnation." And Epsilon knelt before Alice, his back upright and held by the blackened spear inside his shield. He trembled as he struggled to form the next words from his lips.

With a soft voice, with sadness in the back of his throat, he spoke to the child prodigy, "They wanted you to live a peaceful life; a life where you were loved and treated fairly. And thankfully, you have been raised by good people. Professor Bernard, the man you call a father, is proof of that." Tears welled in Alice's eyes upon analyzing Epsilon's words. All her life, she was never aware her mother's kind were hunted in fear of what the Pale Men had left behind for the New Men to understand.

She was the last hope for the New Men, to bring about a new age from one of suffering and strife, the last hope to unleash knowledge from the time before the Great Fragmentation. As she cried, the Pale God comforted her, wiping away her tears as he gently smiled at her.

"Your parents' sacrifice was a gift not just to you, but also to humanity." And Alice stopped crying as Epsilon continued.

"It has long been my creators' intention to help mankind rebuild from the ashes; give them a second chance this evil god and the dying Shards of the Shattered Heart would not. Now, that chance may come about-with you." Sadness left Alice's eyes as a realization flooded her mind. She was the last hope to bring mankind to a promised golden age. Yet, a part of Epsilon's words were strange. The Shards of the Shattered God, were they not good for humanity?

They saved them from annihilation and brought forth miracles for their worshippers. But her thoughts made her realize one other thing: the Shards were being overused as a panacea for problems the Pale Men's technology could solve. And the Shards' power, as Epsilon implied, was dying, and once they died with their progenitor, chaos would ensue. This answer formed in her mind as Alice fully comprehended the Pale God's words. But curiosity stirred her mind as the Pale God had what appeared to be a Shard on his spear.

"Sir, if I may ask, if the Shards are dying along with God, why do you have that one on the tip of your spear?" The Pale God smiled and turned to his spear.

"It was a gift gifted to the Pale Men long ago," he answered. His smile faded, and he exhaled.

"Unfortunately, even the Shattered God has forgotten the kindness he once bestowed upon my creators." If what he says is true, then-? The Pale God interrupted her thoughts scratching her hair gently.

"That will not be for a while, but what you shall do may prevent the chaos that will come about from your god's death." And Epsilon stood, lifting himself with the spear as Alice followed. Sadness left her eyes as he stared into those bright emerald eyes, asking him, "What do you wish me to do, sir? Unlock all the relics of the Pale Men? Give some panacea to the Shattered God?" She was giddy at the thought of her messianic nature.

"I can do it, sir! I solved the Pedestal Puzzle!" Epsilon blankly stared at Alice before he spoke: "No," he answered.

"If you did either of those things, the worshippers of the Infernal Flame will find out, destroy those relics which you unlocked, and kill you." Alice cocked her head, staring at Epsilon, confused.

"What do you want me to do then?" The Pale God grabbed his spear with his right hand and tapped it into the ground, forming something sacred: The Temple of the Shattered God. Far to the east, in the ancient marble ruins of a long-lost civilization from before the days of the New Men and the Pale Men, lay the sacred Temple-the most important holy site in all of Melodiva and the Sanctified Empire of Halcyon.

Six towering, pitch-black spires circling the massive citadel in the center and going through each of them was the impenetrable, magenta wall that Alice knew all too well: The Wall of Wrath. It was a security system permitting only either a chosen few or the most devout believers an audience with the Shattered God himself deep within the citadel. The child prodigy stood there, baffled that the Pale God was showing such a sacred site.

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"I know you are confused, child, but in order to give humanity my creators' treasures and the possibility of restoring the Shattered God to his former glory, you must retrieve something within the Temple." Alice walked up to the image of the Temple, curiously inspecting the projection.

"Retrieve what?" She asked the Pale God. He pointed to the Temple, and spoke: "An object that can activate all of my creators' gifts at will and make them nigh indestructible along with a rumored panacea to save your god," The Pale God circled around the projection with Alice, continuing to speak.

"There is also a truth that will bring your parents' murderers into the spotlight, where they will be hunted to the ends of Melodiva. They will never know peace, and you will be safe. That, I promise." Alice paused for a moment, thinking about what Epsilon had said so far. Such a task would be perilous, and if the people who did indeed kill her parents followed her, then there would be no hope of reaching the Temple.

Alice was indeed nervous, as she did not want to disappoint the Pale God or forgo her ancestors' wishes. Yet, how would she know she would be safe?

"Sir, what you said earlier, the followers of this Infernal Flame, wouldn't they find me?" And of course, Epsilon saw the child prodigy's fears and spoke with calming clarity: "No child, they will not." The Pale God tapped his spear into the ground; the magenta Shard glowed briefly as a "painting" appeared.

The "painting" showed a familiar war machine that Alice had seen at the perimeter of the Akvamarin Ruins: a Sentry "This is but a projection of a schematic model of a Sentry, but I felt it would be appropriate since you have activated the main control module." He walked around the projection and turned towards Alice.

"What you did granted me higher functions. I will, of course, have the remaining unactivated Sentries protect the roads as you set forth to the ruins." Epsilon tapped on the image of the Sentry with his finger, and a single red light came from the head of the ancient war machine.

"The ones studying these ruins will be unharmed, but the ones wishing to destroy the relics of the Pale Men, the gifts to the New Men, and you…" He sighed angrily, staring at the machine.

"… Will be." Alice studied the machine more, curious about its form. Most of the machines around the ruins were rusted pretty badly, but to see one of them in such good condition, even with this projection, was a bit of a curiosity to the child prodigy. The Sentry shown was a dark green, humanoid automaton that had a wide, geometric body with stout legs and flat feet. The arms were bulky, but its hands were small and very human-like; no doubt dextrous.

Its head was small, surrounded by armor protruding from the chest. The Sentry was a utilitarian weapon of war, something that did not have any intricate elegance, but appeared to have been made in mass quantities. Seeing it in person, the old stories about them appeared to be true. The Pale God noticed the girl's curiosity as he spoke more.

"These machines were once the guardians not just of my creators, but also of the New Men. They are ruthless, efficient, and do not hesitate with their objectives." He turned to Alice sternly, standing in place as he gripped his spear.

"Stay on the road where you can see red lights; do not deviate from it. They are loyal to only me, and you." Alice reached for the image of the machine, lightly pressing her fingers against the projection of the Sentry.

"So, they're friends only to us and the Professor?" Alice asked Epsilon. The Pale God nodded.

"Yes, but they were not designed to be 'friends'. They were not made to have emotions-they were built to defend," he answered.

"They do respond to commands, but that is it. Consider them my angels." And the child prodigy was filled with glee, then curiosity as she cocked her head at him.

"Tell me, were any still patrolling the ancient roads? I heard rumors about them. Were they correct?" Epsilon nodded, smiling.

"Yes, they indeed were. They were those who were purposely left online to ensure the Infernal Flame would be kept in check." So that explains it! Joy filled her heart as she realized her quest would indeed be aided by the Pale God. What a gift Epsilon had granted her! To be on her way with no and no troubles before her.

"Thank you, sir!" Alice happily thanked the ancient figure. The Pale God smiled a bit wider and replied, "You are most welcome, child." He knelt before Alice, still clenching his spear as his smile faded. He sighed before speaking further.

"Trust only Professor Bernard and the stagecoach; the followers of the Infernal Flame are crafty and dangerous. They have eyes and ears everywhere. Know that I will ensure your safety as your parents ensured you would be in the hands of good people at the front doors of the University, understand?" The child prodigy nodded, smiling softly, which only made Epsilon gently rub her hair in return. And before Alice could speak, the Pale God paused and touched her forehead with a single finger from his shield hand.

He then said one more thing to her.

"Return to Merasglow. In the catacombs, you will find a 'carriage' that will take you to the Temple before the followers of the evil god can converge there. The path to this 'carriage' will be illuminated by a magenta light." The Pale God now had tears in his eyes as he stood, continuing to speak: "Take care, Alice; you are making your parents proud with this quest I have tasked you with." Alice nodded and watched as the Pale God tapped his spear into the ground.

The Shard on his spear glowed, and it flared a bright flash of white light that consumed Epsilon, and then Alice's vision. When her sight returned, she woke up to Professor Bernard, concerned and distraught.

"Alice?!" said the professor, frantically shaking the young prodigy. Alice groaned as the Professor helped her up and with great alarm, inspected her for injuries.

"Alice, are you okay?" The child prodigy smiled and rubbed her eyes.

"I am, Professor. Professor Bernard smiled but still knelt before Alice, asking her, "What happened?" She rolled her head as she recounted everything with great excitement. Professor Bernard had seen Alice with such energy before, but nothing like this. He was shocked to learn she had been granted an audience with an ancient creation of the Pale Men and was tasked by this "Pale God" to go to the Temple of the Shattered God in the far east.

He was also baffled to learn that Merasglow's catacombs had a 'carriage' within them. He was, of course, struggling to process all of this as Alice continued talking and talking with such quickness that it made his head spin.

"A-A-And, my mother was one of the Pale Men! I am the last one alive, and these bad people who worship an 'Infernal Flame' want to stop me from doing Epsilon's quest, and-" The professor quickly waved his hands as he frantically told her, "Easy Alice, easy!" Of course, his words made the child prodigy hyper-ventilate.

"So, to summarize, this 'Pale God' wants us to go to the Temple of the Shattered God to retrieve whatever will unlock the Pale Men's relics and make them indestructible so the New Men can use them?" Alice quickly nodded her head.

"Yes, sir!" Professor Bernard grimaced a little, thinking about Epsilon's quest. He sighed and smiled at the prospect of witnessing a potential golden age for humanity.

"Well, I think it is best we head off before-" BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! A loud, booming sound echoed from outside the door as the two stared at the entrance to the Puzzle Room. Alice shivered as loud, clanking footsteps reverberated into the room, along with a voice; a strange, grating voice.

"SABOTEUR TERMINATED. VIPS SAFE. THREAT LEVEL: GREEN." The two looked at each other in confusion as Professor Bernard, with horrified eyes, realized that their guide Martello intended to kill them.

"VIPS: ALICE SKEIN AND PROFESSOR WILLIAM BERNARD; IT IS SAFE TO COME OUTSIDE," said the mechanical voice. Alice, of course, was still terrified as the Professor stood up, turning to Alice as he reached out his hand to her. He was trembling, but tried his best to hide his fear.

"Stay close to me." The child prodigy nodded, holding the Professor's hand as they headed to the two metal doors. They opened before a sight that Professor Bernard covered Alice's eyes over with his free hand. There was a blood-stained wall, the three-pieced corpse of Martello, and a familiar war machine looming over them with a violent, red eye holding a large "rifle" with a "block" at its base at the rear. A Sentry.

"FORGIVE THE SUDDEN INTERFERENCE, PROFESSOR," said the machine.

"THE SABOTEUR WAS PLANNING ON RELEASING A NEUROTOXIN WITHIN THE AUDIENCE CHAMBER ONCE INSIDE WITH CO-CONSPIRATORS. ASSAILANTS HAVE BEEN TERMINATED ALONG WITH THIS INTRUDER." The machine pointed to Martello's mangled corpse. Abruptly, the machine quickly pointed towards itself.

"YOU ARE TO FOLLOW ME TO THE ENTRANCE ALONG WITH ALICE. THE OTHER SABOTEURS ARE BEING TAKEN CARE OF AS I SPEAK. THE SITUATION IS UNDER CONTROL." The Professor nodded, and the machine began walking slowly as the two followed the Sentry. Once the carnage was out of sight, the Professor removed his hand from Alice's eyes, leaving her to marvel at the reawakened war machine. Epsilon's guardian angels were now amongst the New Men once more.

Soon the two returned to the entrance, finding that the Akvamarin Ruins were not just populated by curious scholars, but also the Sentries who had awakened, now patrolling the perimeter. Some of Professor Bernard's colleagues tried to stop him and Alice, asking how the ancient Sentries were awakened, only to be shoved away by their escort and other Sentries as they walked down the road.

Others were waiting for them, strangely carrying their luggage as their escorts surrounded the child prodigy and the Professor, seemingly zealous in their duties as they returned to their carriage. They found the stagecoach in awe along with his horses over what seemed to be a miraculous resurrection of the Pale Men, but also the fact that there were multiple Sentries guarding the child prodigy, and the Professor. He was even more confused why the two were suddenly being treated like royalty.

"Well, neva' in my years have I witnessed a sight like this," said the old stagecoach, still shocked by what he witnessed.

"Did'ya two turn wine into wata'? Be crowned the king of the land? Di'ya-?"

"No, we didn't do anything like Emperor Halcyon," answered Professor Bernard. He tapped Alice's shoulder, pointing to her.

"But she solved something no one else could." The old man, with a few missing teeth, couldn't help but smile at the child prodigy.

"Well, you were always the brigh'est kid 'round Merasglow," he said, laughing, pointing to the machines.

"But I neva' saw her waking some shiny knigh's like that!" The old man continued laughing while the duo and their guards blankly stared at him. After a while, he settled down and wiped a tear from his eye, clearing his throat in the process.

"I presume ya two's vacation is over?" The stagecoach pointed to the Sentries carrying their luggage.

"Those tin men are carrying yer two's crap." Professor Bernard sighed and nodded, trying not to laugh any further.

"Yes, it is." He motioned to the Sentries to place their luggage within the carriage as he and Alice went inside the body and sat in their seats. The horses were frozen as they blankly stared at the ancient war machines, built by the fabled race of the Pale Men, just loading their master's cart with no concern for their existence. Once they were done, the Sentries simply left, but all three of them (including the horses) watched them return to the Akvamarin Ruins.

The Professor and the child prodigy relaxed in their seats, as the stagecoach returned to his seat.

"Why weren't the horses scared?" Alice asked the Professor.

"Because they've seen a lot more horrific things than this," he answered. The stagecoach turned to the window where he could see Professor Bernard and Alice, asking them, "Wher' to?" The Professor stared at the old man, and with confidence restored in his voice, he told him, "Merasglow." The stagecoach nodded, turning to his horses and grabbing the reins. He flicked them, shouting to his steeds, "YA! YA!!!"

And the horses obeyed their master's command as the carriage drove back towards the City of Merasglow: home, and a way towards the Temple of the Shattered God. //END LOG TRANSCRIPT// {SKIPPING FOOTAGE… DONE}