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More worlds and chambers Pretty much all of the planets have fallen They feel old and cold Art says these were some of the earliest settled worlds, the first planets that the Old Creatures populated
"You&039;re like gods," I mutter "You spread life across the universe"
"We nurture life," Art corrects me "We don&039;t create it We don&039;t knohere the living things of this universe came from, how life was born out of fire and chaos There are forces at work beyond even our knowledge"
"Then gods-or God-ht be real?" I press
"Perhaps"
"What about an afterlife?" I ask "Do you knohat happens to our souls e die?"
"No," Art says "We will talka s at a constant speed, but now Art slows
"We are ale to his voice I feel the ball of light tighten around me
"What are you doing?" I ask suspiciously
"The Crux is a place of great danger," he replies "We cannot stay long, and I htly to you while we&039;re there, or you will be disintegrated"
"Hold on!" I yelp "You never said anything about disintegration!"
"I didn&039;t want to frighten you," Art chuckles
I stare anxiously at the ondering if there&039;s anything I can do to stop this
"Don&039;t be afraid," Art says "I knohat I&039;"
"Wait!" I cry as we draw close "Have you ever taken anyone like me into the Crux before?"
Art hesitates, then says sheepishly, "No"
"Then how do you know-"
Before I can finish, we ss, as if riding the wildest roller coaster in the universe
As soon as we slip through the , the te towards afire This must be what the sun is like close up The space around us throbs withit to shield us frolare, and radiation I can&039;t i here
We zip closer to the ball of fire It shiely as I stare at it, awestruck and horrified It doesn&039;t have a constant shape The edges buckle and warp, bulge out, then twist back in on themselves Pillars of flame shoot from the surface, spiral around the face of the orb, and are absorbed by it again Sooes black and becoainst the expanse of space around it Most of the ti across the surface and bubbling over without pause
The sun-like ball terrifiesI feel like I&039;lobe of wondrous fire
"We&039;ve brokenyou here," Art says "But we cannot always be prisoners of the lae live by Sometimes we have to transcend them"
We press closer to the orb We&039;re almost upon it MyMy eyes seeet as far away fro Art to stop, we hit the outer rim and are sed by a billion licks of ravenous fla I&039;ve fought de new But this fire is hotter than any I&039;ve experienced It roars about us like a living, furious sea But Art holds fir walls of the furnace
Finally we break through the fla rey space, illu There&039;s debris everywhere, asteroids, pebbles, and dust swirling around The lightning regularly splits rocks and splinters theer rocks, which in turn are split again
The space is dominated by a series of enormous square panels Half are black, half white The panels revolve slowly around the sphere, neverforks, rocks, flickers of flame-is absorbed, then spat out ht-Old Creatures-float around the black panels Hundreds of demons cluster around the white squares My insides tense when I spot the Demonata, but Art speaks quickly to calm me
"They Will Not Harm Us," he says "This Place Is Sacred To Both Sides We Do Not Kill Here"
"You could have warned rowl, then frown "What happened to your voice? It&039;s deeper than before, and echoey"
"We Are All Speaking To You Now," Art says stiffly "We Do Not Experience Individuality When We Are Together"
I glance around at the various balls of light They were pulsing in unison as Art spoke It&039;s too confusing to think of the at the sa to a single entity
"What&039;s the story?" I ask, shivering as a bolt of lightning strikes the filht aroundsecrets?"
"The Panels Are The Key," Art says "You Remember The Chessboard We Saw On The Earlier World?"
"Yes, but what does" I stop and cast an eye over the panels again, doing a quick count There are thirty-two black squares and an equal nuinal Universe Was Shaped Like A Chessboard," Art explains "There Were Sixty-Four Zones, Half Black, Half White Each Zone Was Limitless In Size Time Did Not Exist The Universe Had Existed And Would Exist Forever It Was The Same For Us And The De has to begin somewhere"
"Only If Time Exists," Art corrects me
"How can tian With The Big Bang"
"I told you I don&039;t knohat that means"
"Peace," Art calms me "We Will Come To That First, Accept That This Was The State Of The Universe Sixty-Four Zones, Equal In All Respects, Black Separated From White By A Force We Called The Kah-Gash"
I focus intently when he s I don&039;t understand I can try tobits later
"Demons Existed In The White Zones," Art continues "Vile, Violent Monsters, Who Could Reproduce We Inhabited The Black Zones, And Were Sterile That Did Not Trouble Us Since There Was No Time, We Were Immortal Death Did Exist-We Could Be Killed-But It Rarely Bothered Us We Roamed The Endless Depths Of Our Zones, Peaceful And Content
"Demons And Old Creatures Were Never Meant To Mix The Kah-Gash Kept Us Separate"
I spot a disturbance aroup of demons clustered around one of the white panels Until a few seconds ago, they swar two neat ranks One of the beasts glides between the others, angles for the panel, then brushes against it and is absorbed I wait for it to e happens
"The Demon Is Dead," Art says "It Was Ancient, One Of Those Who Existed In The Original Universe No Living Creature Can Touch The Panels And Survive Most Of The Original Demonata And Old Creatures Choose To Perish Here When It Is Their Tio," I chuckle humorlessly Then I pause "Is that why the other demons are here, to bid farewell to the dead one?"
"Yes"
"I didn&039;t think demons worked that way Those I&039;ve known don&039;t care about any of the others"
"The Original Demons Are Different," Art says "They Have Known Each Other For So Long That They Have Formed Bonds We Would Normally Stay Away At A Time Like This, As They Do When We Gather Here For A Funeral But It Was Iht you said you don&039;t kill here"
"We Don&039;t," Art says "But If They See A Huht Attack We Will Distract Them If They Grow Curious, And Defend You If Necessary"
We watch the end of the cere much happens The demons hold their ranks for a while, then break apart and drift towards the ring of fire that encircles the Crux
"Initially We Were Not Aware Of The De Of Us," Art resumes "But The Demonata Were Curious They Tested The Barriers Where White Met Black, And Found A Way To Cross They Discovered Us"