Chapter Text
FOR YEARS, BEINGS OF ALL SORTS HAVE PONDERED ON SUCH TRIVIAL QUESTIONS, WHETHER IT BE IN A PANICKED OR SIMPLY CURIOUS MANNER… BUT EITHER WAY, I CANNOT BLAME THEM, FOR IT IS ONLY IN THEIR NATURE. IT IS SOMETHING INGRAINED INTO THEIR MINDS AND SPIRITS TO ASK QUESTIONS SUCH AS: “DOES EXISTENCE HAVE A MEANING BEHIND IT?” “WHY AM I HERE?” OR “WHICH CAME FIRST: THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG?”
I BELIEVE THEIR INQUIRIES LACK A TRUE POINT, FOR MOST OF THE QUESTIONS THESE CURIOUS BEINGS - ESPECIALLY FLEDGLINGS, OR HUMANS - POSE WILL NEVER RECEIVE AN ANSWER. THESE SOULS COULD BE LIVING COMFORTABLE, BLISSFUL LIVES, BUT INSTEAD THEY CHOOSE TO SCRAPE THE BARREL WITH THEIR HABIT OF REPETITIVE QUESTIONS. IF THESE ETERNAL CONTEMPLATORS MANAGE TO REACH THE CONCLUSION THAT IGNORANCE IS BLISS, ALL OF THEIR MINUSCULE MUSES COULD BE RESOLVED. IGNORANCE ENGULFS THE MIND AND EXPELS IT OF ANY FEARS OR ANXIETIES IT MAY HOLD. IGNORANCE IS THE SOLUTION TO ANY MERE WORRIES THAT LATCH ONTO THE CREVICES OF ONE’S MIND AND REFUSE TO LET GO.
THE MUNDANE, DAY-TO-DAY TRIVIAL TROUBLES FLEDGLINGS FACED DID NOT CONCERN ME, BECAUSE I WOULD FOREVER TOWER OVER THOSE STRUGGLES. IF OTHERS WERE ONLY TAUGHT TO EMBRACE IGNORANCE IN A SIMILAR MANNER I DID, THEY TOO COULD LEARN TO RISE ABOVE WHAT WEIGHED ON THEIR SOULS. HOWEVER… WITH HOW SET IN THEIR WAYS MOST OF THEIR KIND SEEMED TO BE, I DID NOT BELIEVE THIS REVELATION WOULD COME TO MIND ANYTIME SOON.
NOW, I DO NOT WISH TO BORE YOU WITH MY BELIEFS. IF YOU CAME HERE FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF LISTENING TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY, YOU DESERVE A LITTLE ANECDOTE.
I RECALL EARLIER, PERTAINING TO A TIME AROUND THE DAYS I HAD FIRST BEEN MANIFESTED, I HAD AN ENCOUNTER… RATHER, TWO QUITE ECCENTRIC PHILOSOPHERS ON THE HUNT FOR EGREGORES, OR “ARCHANGELS,” HAPPENED TO FIND ME.
AS USUAL, I WAS IN MY STATION AT THE VERY PEAK OF THE MOUNTAIN. I BELIEVED NO ONE COULD POSSIBLY HAVE FOUND WHERE I WAS; AFTER ALL, THIS WAS A VERY SECLUDED AREA, AND I SPEAK TO MYSELF VERY OFTEN WITH THERE BEING NOT A SOUL IN SIGHT TO EVER LISTEN - THEY MUST HAVE CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN. IN MY CURRENT DAYS, I LEAD QUITE A LONELY LIFE… BUT THAT IS TO BE EXPECTED. I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF AN EASY BEING TO GRASP, OR UNDERSTAND - I DO BELIEVE I APPEAR TO BE JARRING TO THE AVERAGE ONLOOKER. BUT THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT.
THE TWO PHILOSOPHERS I MENTIONED WENT BY THE NAMES OF SOCRATES AND PLATO. AT THAT TIME - WHICH HAS BEEN A BIT AGO BY NOW - THEY SOUGHT OUT US “ARCHANGELS,” NOT REALIZING THE STRENGTH WE HOLD. I HAVE WITNESSED HOW FLEDGLINGS REACT TO ME. IT IS AN ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF REACTIONS, WITH THE COMMON SIMILARITY THEY SHARE BEING AN UNPLEASANT ONE. SOME ARE FEARFUL. SOME ARE DEFENSIVE. SOME ARE INFURIATED. EACH OF THESE REACTIONS LEAN MORE TOWARDS THE “NEGATIVE” SIDE ON THE EMOTIONS I HAVE OBSERVED FROM THEIR KIND.
I MUST FIRST MENTION THAT WE EGREGORES ARE NOT EMOTIONLESS; WE EXPERIENCE AN ENTIRE RANGE OF EMOTIONS, DARE I SAY IN A SIMILAR WAY THAT YOU FLEDGLINGS DO. STILL, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.
DESPITE SEEKING ME OUT, I CANNOT SAY THE TWO PHILOSOPHERS WERE PLEASED TO SEE ME. THEY TREATED ME AS A CREATURE THAT WAS NOT MEANT TO BE ON THIS EARTH.
“Ah, an Archangel! Why then, would it be at the very top of the mountain?” MUSED ONE OF THEM, ‘SOCRATES,’ I BELIEVE.
NO, THIS WOULD NOT DO. THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND… AND BECAUSE OF THIS, I HAD TO TAKE IT UPON MYSELF TO ENLIGHTEN THEM.
“ALLOW ME TO ASK YOU THIS,” I BEGAN. ”WHY DO YOUR KIND SPEND THE SHORT LIVES YOU HAVE PRYING FOR ANSWERS TO TRIVIAL QUESTIONS? I URGE YOU TO LOOK AROUND YOURSELF! REALITY IS NOT TRUE; IT HAS NO MEANING.”
SOON ENOUGH, THESE TWO WOULD FINALLY OPEN THEIR EYES.
“You oppose me, Archangel;” REMARKED ‘PLATO,’ “ignorance will be the downfall of humanity. How could you defend such a…” HE STOPPED IN HIS TRACKS.
“This Archangel is the embodiment of ignorance, and a quite literal manifestation of it. It defies Heaven itself, considering the strong resemblance it shares with the Tower of Babel. That is why it was at the top of the mountain - what better of a way would there be to represent that?” SOCRATES ADDED.
WHAT A VERY CLEVER OBSERVATION.
ALL OF A SUDDEN, ONE OF THE BEINGS SHIFTED INTO AN INSECT, OR SHOULD I SAY FLY-LIKE CREATURE, AND THE OTHER INTO A METALLIC HOUND. THEY ONLY DID SO THROUGH RECTANGULARLY-SHAPED CONTRAPTIONS, WHICH CAUSED A THIN VEIL OF GLITCHING STATIC TO ENGULF THEM BEFORE DISAPPEARING WITHIN LESS THAN A SECOND. INTRIGUING.
THIS CAUSED CURIOSITY TO ARISE WITHIN ME! FROM WHAT IT SEEMED, THESE BEINGS - I DID NOT KNOW IF THIS WAS UNIVERSAL AT THE TIME, BUT I CAN GUESS IT IS, CONSIDERING EACH ONE I HAVE MET OR FOUGHT THUS FAR HAS DONE THIS - COULD TRANSFORM INTO MORE POWERFUL FORMS WITH THE USE OF THESE COLORFUL RECTANGLES.
FROM MY RECOLLECTION, I BELIEVE THEY WERE CALLED 'CASSETTES' OR 'CASSETTE TAPES.' I ONLY EVER SAW THEM WHEN I WAS FOUGHT AGAINST - HOWEVER, THIS MADE SENSE, AS ONE WOULD REQUIRE A MORE POWERFUL FORM TO FACE ME.
DESPITE THIS, I DID NOT BELIEVE VERY MUCH IMPORTANCE SHOULD BE PLACED UPON THESE SKIRMISHES. BACK THEN, I HAD A HABIT OF CRACKING JOKES EVEN IN THE MIDST OF BATTLE, AND I STILL DO! IF SOMEONE HAD TIME TO SPEND IN BATTLE WITH ME, THEN THEY HAD AN OBLIGATION TO STAND THROUGH MY PUNNY JOKES.
”Why did the Jumpkins have a big wedding? They cantaloupe!" I REMARKED WITH AN AMUSED TONE.
AS USUAL, NO REACTION CAME FROM MY OPPONENTS. IT WAS TO BE EXPECTED - IT TOOK A SPECIFIC TYPE OF PERSON TO BE APPRECIATIVE OF THIS TYPE OF HUMOR.
AH, WELL. I APPRECIATED WHOMEVER CAME FOR A 'VISIT,' OR RATHER, A BATTLE.
THE TWO PHILOSOPHERS HAD BEEN FOOLISH TO TRY AND MATCH A POWER SUCH AS MY OWN. AFTER A FEW MORE MINUTES OF FIGHTING, ONE FELL TO HIS KNEES, CLUTCHING HIS STOMACH WITH A GROAN OF DEFEAT. THEN CAME THE OTHER, AFTER SOME TIME. I DID NOT HARM THEM ANY FURTHER. I ONLY HOPED BOTH HAD LEARNED THEIR LESSON.
"I see battling an Archangel may have been too large a test," MUTTERED ‘PLATO,’ "perhaps actual humans would be better..."
BOTH WERE WEAK FROM BATTLE, MAKING HASTE TO SCURRY AWAY FROM THE TRAIN STATION. I ASSUMED THEY BELIEVED I WOULD KILL THEM RIGHT THEN AND THERE, AND WHILE I KNEW A FEW OF MY KIND WHO WOULD, THAT WAS NOT OF MY NATURE. I WAS CAPABLE OF VIOLENCE, ALBEIT NOT OVERLY SO - I MADE GREAT CARE TO SPARE THOSE THAT DID NOT POSE ANY TRUE THREAT TO ME.
THEY LEFT.
I SIMPLY DWELLED. THERE WAS NOT ANOTHER IN SIGHT BUT ME, IGNORANCE IN ITS ENTIRETY. I DID NOT EXPECT THEY WOULD BE RETURNING SOON, IF AT ALL.
I WAS ON MY LONESOME ONCE AGAIN.