Dear Ms Lady Demigod: Twelve Days To Doom

6 6 The Symphony of Recreation

Vierne stood at the castle's roof, and looked at the gates far away, "What do we do, now?"
Lict stood beside her. He began thinking and suddenly remembered Ariel, "That golden boy, he might be able to help us. He's a strong one,"
Vierne looked at him, "You must trust him by your heart and soul. Are you sure?"
Lict shook his head, "No, but this would be a risk worth taking,"

. . .

Lict pressed his index finger on the ground covered with leaves and mud. As he drew lines over them, those lines turned golden. Nataniel, Adelaida, Annelece, Happiness and Vierne looked at the ground, "We are here, Earth or the mortal world." Lict drew a cross in the middle of a long line. Then, upon that long, perpendicular line, he drew a horizontal line, "The line below represents Gaia, the netherworld, or the world below the surface of Earth, in the oceanic trenches,"
"This had the mythological city of Atlantis?" Annelece asked.

Lict nodded and went further down, drawing another horizontal, "And this is Tartarus, the abode of titans," Lict drew another horizontal line beneath it, "And finally this, this is the abyss,"
"Hell," Vierne paraphrased.
"Exactly, now if we move up, on top of us, we have nine more planes, all constituting the astral world. The ninth plane is heaven, the home to all gods. And these together, make the twelve dimensions. Each of these dimensions represents one good and one bad thing, the yin and the yang. The good is a heavenly star, the bad might be a demon, a vampire or a goblin-What we call sin stars," Lict moved his fingers down the huge perpendicular holding all these dimensions horizontally, and this one thing that is common to them all is the Shire Towey, the centre of the universe, the centre of existence,"

"So if this falls," Lict drew a dotted line, turned away at an angle, "We all fall," 

Nataniel looked at him, "You mean we'll die?"
"Yes, everything will end,"
"If everything is going to end, then...Why are the demons flying towards that centre?"

Lict looked surprised, "Towards what?"
"I saw them all flying up the tower, all of them just left hell...It's bad, isn't it?" Nataniel asked.
Happiness looked towards Lict, "Oh my god...If I think it is what it is-"
"They are flying to heaven," Lict looked at Vierne, "Milady, we have to close the gates,"

"But they don't close anymore," Vierne said, "Ever since that tower shook,"
"I don't understand..." Lict seemed confused, "How could a demon move it? It's protected by divine spirit energy. A demon cannot break it!"
Nataniel stepped closer to Lict, "Then, who can?"

"A god," Vierne said. Nataniel turned back and looked at Ariel. He was still lost in a daze, looking at the golden, water lily. Nataniel looked at him for a while, "Ariel..."
"What happened to him?" Lict asked.
"We just lost someone dear to us," Adelaida replied. 
"Oh, forgive me. My condolences," 

"Is there no way we can fix it, my lady?" Annelece asked Vierne. She looked at Lict, he shook his head, "I don't think we can. It's a massive tower. No god can make that much energy. Shire Towey was established as the centre after the war of heaven and hell when the gods that died on hell's land turned to vines and gave their spirit energy to the tower,"

"Like my mother's rose garden," Vierne said.
"Precisely," Lict stopped, "Wait, milady! That's it!"
She smiled, "We got a base,"
"Yes!" Lict laughed, "We got a fundamental base to establish another centre!" Lict quickly picked up a stick from the ground, "Imagine the centre of this stick to be a fundamental sphere, a pre-existing source of a dead god's spirit energy, then the stick extending on both sides of its centre would be the pillar of existence, a reconstruct. That would merge with the falling pillar, and create a more compact and protected Shire Towey," He pressed the stick over the tilted, dotted line, "See, it will pick it up and put it down once again!"

"Okay? And how do we do that?" Happiness asked.
"If we could somehow collect all the twelve stars and perform the same ceremony of creation that the gods performed when they created Shire Towey, we could create another Shire Towey,"

Nataniel nodded, "And where will we find these stars? You said they live in the Astral planes?"
"Not anymore. Since the fall of Beauty, they are here, in the mortal world,"
"We must find them, we already have two, Sir Lict and Little Happiness," Adelaida said, "Only ten more,"

"And twelve days," Vierne interrupted.
Nataniel looked at her with terror in his eyes, "Twelve days?"
"Twelve days and the tower will crash into space and time; completely obliterating both of them. It will be the end of everything and the universe will come to a standstill. We only have twelve days to halt it,"

Vierne picked up her septor, "Twelve days to doom,"

All of them turned quiet and pale, "Don't worry, children. You are brave, needless to say since we stand in the City of the Dead. Not many children fly by here in these demonic forests. Yet you do. Admire yourself. And be brave. Take your knives and cut deep into this beautiful world and see, see the monsters of the mind before they are taken away from thee. Lict shall guide you," Vierne smiled at them.

Annelece looked at her, "You won't, my lady?"

"I must leave. I have to guard the gates. After all," The portal opened, "I am the gatekeeper,"
Lict bowed and she disappeared into the portal. After she was gone, Lict turned towards Nataniel and Ariel, "go to the South and find Maks. You will find him in China. He is there with his demigod," 

Happiness looked at Annelece, "I will go back to the North with Adelaida. We'll ask around in the kingdom," Lict nodded.
"What about you?" Nataniel asked Lict.
"I'll go West and find some help," Lict smiled, "Meet me at the Obolensky Mansion in Moscow on the tenth day. And remember, if you come across anything terrifying, be fearless,"

"YES!"

. . .

Vierne stepped inside the gates of heaven and stood before the greater god, Zeus, who was busy meditating. She looked at him and he opened his eyes, "Lady Gatekeeper," 
She bowed and looked at him with her strong, unwavering gaze. He walked down, "Where have you been?" 

"Nowhere special,"
"Oh? You know where I have been?" 
"Where?" She asked and he stood right before her, "In hell,"

She raised her eyebrow, "I know everything, Vierne,".
She looked at his face, "Would you mind sharing that everything, my lord?"
He chuckled, "Of course. Everyone must know who brought the tower down,"

All the other gods looking down from the clouds on mount Ida looked at him. Everyone held their breath as they anticipated what was to come. Zeus looked up at Aphrodite, "It's your sin. Your illegitimate son, Ajax,"
Vierne went numb as if the ground beneath her just fell apart. Aphrodite got up, "What?"

Everyone gasped and began whispering among themselves, "I thought she killed him!"
"Ajax is alive? How is that possible? I saw her break his legs!"
"SILENCE!" Zeus yelled, "Aphrodite, come forward,"

Aphrodite flew towards him and sat on his thigh. Vierne looked at her, Ariel looked nothing like her. She had long, golden locks and deep blue eyes. Her skin was as pale as Nataniel's and all her children resembled her. But Ariel didn't. 

Zeus looked down at her, "Aphrodite, I ordered you to kill that child. Hereby answer me," He held her chin by his thumbs,

"Why would you disobey me?"

-To be continued

Aphrodite 
Dear Ms Lady Demigod