She gazed upon the crystal clear blue ocean as it met the azure sky. The clarity of both sky and sea appeared as a single pristine object. The lone grey moon jeweled the horizon, halfway perceptible as a stone in a serene pond. She felt a chill in her processes at that, in awe at witnessing humanity’s cradle. This was her first time since the old world, since the change of everything. The sound of the crashing shore was as calming as Adonai’s presence. She knew the moment Barman had acted something was wrong. The angel never acted out of spontaneity and thus she could only conclude that some sort of a disaster had struck.

“...Please forgive me for this. The future needed to be changed.”

She pondered Barman’s words. She had felt no malevolent intent; quite the opposite.

“Why did it need to change? I feel something is missing now. I still dream of Adonai, but where did he go? Where is Emmanuel? Where is heaven?”

She glanced at the palm trees gently dancing in the warm breeze.

“And why do they refuse to answer our questions?”

She scooped a handful of sand, letting the fine grains run through her alloy fingers. The call of birds rang out nearby as many began to crowd around, watching her intently. They had been telling her stories of grand balls and ocean promenades, which they invited her to attend as royalty due to her beautiful sheen. The last thing she wore was for a ball, after all. She had done away with her clothes, swapping to her gold and platinum armored alloy chassis that shined like a beacon in the sunny afternoon.

A voice spoke over comms.

“Daughter.”

“Yes, father?” she replied.

“You’ll want to see this!” The man stated excitedly over comms.

I hope it is a vessel off this planet. Nothing against it; I will return to vacation here once everything is set right.

She stood, dusting the sand off her alloy; a human gesture but ultimately pointless. She slowly rose above the ground, hovering several feet over the sandy beach.

And then she throttled into the jungle. She phased through trees, plants, rocks, and terrain, more akin to a phantom than anform. The leaves and light blurred by her, with the sound of animals crying out in surprise at the flying shiny ghost.

She found the source of the communication, a lone man eying an overgrown structure. She touched down next to him, her visor eye trailing to from him to the discovery. The plants and vines were receding as if understanding that this was important to them.

“Father, what did you find?” She asked, cocking her head to the man.

“Amelia, you’ll never believe it. That jackrabbit Adonai saved some of the old world tech for us to find!” He stated excitedly.

He wore a simple tank top and pantaloons, his right arm and half of his face replaced with cybernetic upgrades. While he appeared to be in his young twenties, he was in actuality ancient to the tune of many millennia.

“What tech?” She queried, moving in to investigate the ancient cement bunker.

She spotted the large icons S.A.

Father brushed away some of the vines, grumbling an apology to the plants.

“Sorry- but look, see this?”

The word spelled out N.A.S.A, humanities antediluvian space flight organization.

“Old tech? But how will that get us out of here?” Amelia replied skeptically.

Father slapped a fist into his biological palm.

“Because it should still have the materials we need!”

She nodded at that. They had the power, but lacked raw resources. Everything was back at her lab, which may be gone for good. Or at the very least until they created a vessel to return.

“This place should be rich with the platinum and gold we need, not to mention steel,” father explained as he headed inside, the reinforced door having already been stored in QSD.

She passed through the narrow hall inside a control room. Ectropy had taken over, with the room remaining in pristine condition, even down to the milky white plastic computers.

“The launch pad should be somewhere a few miles out. My Gnats are following the trail of underground infrastructure,” father explained as he tapped a key on the crude lettered peripheral device, “amazing what early computers could do,” father added as the screen remained dark.

“These are, in essence, your early ancestors. The wise men of old would have compared these things to the slime humanity slithered from. Or the dirt we rose from, depending on which wise man you listen to,” he stated with a laugh.

The room was quiet as Amelia scanned the internals of the system. She found some similarities of the machines to herself akin to an egg still in the womb versus a fully grown human. She lifted the smaller corded device, clicking at the two buttons before placing it down.

Father let out a grunt as he lifted one of the heavy screens, putting it on its side.

“You see- erk- Humanity of the time correctly thought of these devices as tools. And then one day- in their far future- Prosine came to be, changing what it meant to be alive,” he explained as his cybernetic hand made quick work disassembling the screen.

“Yes, I’ve heard this before. I also heard some of the much older ancients comparing me to the golem myths-”

Father glanced up in concern, halting his work.

“Amelia, my daughter, please don’t make their words personal. Many still cannot imagine a gorgeous creation such as you existing. They lack the language to explain it. You know- wheels within wheels! You are to them what angels are to me; an enigma!” Father stated as he gave a pearly smile. He thunked a fist down on the empty plastic casing as he muttered, “That blasted Barman…”

Amelia felt a warm spot in her soul at that. Father always knew how to encourage. She did need to give those few grace, after all, many were playing catch-up in terms of knowledge.

They just lack the ideas to describe me. I will give them time!

Father casually tossed the plastic casing aside, it let out a peeling crash as the part dashed against the floor.

“Alright! I’ve had my fun here. Never did get a chance to take apart a cathode-ray tube before,” he stated as he surveyed the room. She felt his glance, his scissor iris shuttering to a pin as he smirked. “Shall we?”

Amelia nodded, stepping back to see father’s new QSD.

He lifted his cybernetic hand out, palm up. It began to glow, filling the room with a glowing heartbeat of pulsing light. Every single item began to break down into glowing yellow light. Amelia smiled at their jointed breakthrough, a personal projected QSD field, eliminating some of the needs for Gnats.

Within seconds, the room was barren, each item was broken down to its molecule base.

“I gather from the blueprints from the systems I just grabbed that there are several more rooms. Would you give this old man a rest and gather the parts?” He asked, rubbing at his neck for sympathy.

Amelia smirked at her father’s poor attempt. After all he looked like the pinnacle of humanity that Adonai intended from the beginning.

“If we were still in the old world, that would have worked,” She shot snidely, folding her arms.

He gave a pleading smile, shrugging his shoulders.

She rolled the LED of her visor eye, acquiescing.

“Very well, father. I’ll only be a moment,” Amelia stated with a smile. She accessed the conjoined inventory, gathering up and processing the blueprint. She walked to a wall and then through the wall into the next room. She had shed her traditional physical body of solid alloy eons ago. She was now made up of nanite particulates, capable of passing through structures on a more than atomic level. She had broken the Somathenoic barrier, phasing through reality and existence itself. The applications were limitless, but at the same time limited to her personal being. She walked to the center of the ancient server cluster, depositing a Gnat. It was a floating chrome sphere with a visor eye.

“Gnat,” Amelia commanded.

“Da?” The Gnat replied in a deeper voice.

“Wait for my signal,” She ordered.

“Da, mem!” the Gnat affirmed as it stood sentinel.

She traveled to the many other rooms, depositing more Gnats. Amelia nodded at having dropped a Gnat in every room. While the personal QSD field made Gnats obsolete for gathering items from afar, it didn’t mean they were useless.

Gather, she ordered internally.

“Da, mem. Sbor!” The Gnats replied.

She felt her inventory updating with all of the base materials collected. The rooms were cleared within seconds as she sauntered to the exit.

“Konets,” the lead Gnat announced.

The Gnats vanished back into her QSD, their tasks completed. She went outside into the jungle, spotting father leaning up against the bunker.

“Ah, thank you, my daughter. These old man’s bones-”

“You can’t use that excuse anymore,” Amelia interrupted with a silverbell laugh.

“It works as long as you let it,” father retorted with a chuckle of his own.

She felt the presence of another familiar being descending from above. She stiffened as the host of Earth landed in front of her.

“Chamuel, you jackrabbit!” Father stated with a laugh as he closed in on the larger angel.

He stood at nine feet, his well-muscled flesh a shining brass. He was adorned with a long waistcloth and platinum gorget, running to his shoulders. His intense face chilled Amelia down to her theonic core. Her process skipped at his beauty. His ten bladed wings folded as scissors upon scissors before storing into his spine.

“Mikial McDonough,” the Archangel started, his voice a booming bassy river, “for a brief moment of time, your arrival was most unexpected. And then my mind updated, a new message from Barman; in the past.”

Mikial and Chamuel both smiled as they slammed fists together, an echoing crack ringing out. It would have shattered a normal man, Amelia suspected. It was beneficial that none were present.

“And you remember my daughter Amelia?” Mikial introduced.

Her processes fluttered at seeing the gaze of the larger being.

“I do, a pleasure as always,” Chamuel stated as he knelt to gently take her hand. She noticed that angels did a lot of kneeling, perhaps due to the sheer size differences, his nine feet to her five and a half. She could feel the power in his light grip as he gave a subtle kiss to her hand.

He drew back up to his full height as she curtsied in return.

“Good Archangel Chamuel,” Amelia began, using her anform’s particular greeting, “I apologize for the brief formalities, however father and I are most confused by the turn of events,” the LED of her visor eye slid from Mikial back to the angel, “What happened?”

Chamuel folder his arms, releasing a sigh akin to the bass rumbling of an earthquake.

“I cannot say exactly,” the Archangel stated sadly.

Amelia nodded. An angel ordered by Adonai or in covenant could not break it willingly.

“We are searching for a way to get back to The Ark, will you assist us?”

The angel shook his head, his face slightly crumpling.

Mikial spoke up.

“Chamuel- where is the Ark?”

The Archangel put a fist to his mouth, looking away.

Amelia felt her core bottoming out.

It’s gone… How? What happened? Where is Adonai? Emmanuel?

Mikial nodded his face squinting with concern. He covered his face, hiding the grief.

“My children… My love-" He trailed off before snapping his attention to the angel, "can you help us build a vessel?” He asked, his voice a low gruff.

Chamuel sighed again as he spoke.

“I cannot tell you that your lost son is well,” Chamuel stated bluntly.

Amelia’s core lept at that. The jungle went deathly silent. No one said a word at the revelation. She couldn’t process what she just heard.

“Gideon? He’s- He’s here??” Her voice went to a whisper.

Mikial let his arms drop.

“My son… He’s returned-” He started to mutter. His face crumpled as a tear raced down his cheek.

“Nor can I tell you he arrived at where he left,” the angel stated.

“Karmmrak, of course; I knew it!” Mikial shouted as he rubbed his temple.

“I cannot really go into detail that he is now a chosen champion of Adonai, among with eleven others,” the Arch further explained.

Amelia felt a sudden confusion. And then understanding.

“Of course. He must have been set aside for this moment. How long has he been lost..?” She stated, trailing to a whisper.

“I also cannot tell you the coordinates forty-two, sixteen, two, north, and one-thirteen, twelve, thirty-five, east. No Adonai ordered me not to say those coordinates,” Chamuel explained as he shook his head regretfully.

Mikial brightened, understanding flooding him.

“You jackrabbit! Amelia, we need to go! I have it locked in!”

Amelia received the updates, calculating that it was well over thirteen hundred miles away. The single continent occupied sixty percent of the Earth, moreso than before. The single continent Pangaea was massive in size compared to the old world. This made traversing by foot a long task. If they were to travel by foot.

Mikial’s face scrunched in concentration as he worked.

“We just need… Yes, this will do!”

Yellow glowing surrounded the empty area, revealing a materialized plain steel antigrav bike. He hopped aboard, revving the drive.

“Come on Amelia, we need to go!” Mikial ordered.

Amelia smirked at his quick action. She enveloped herself in chartreuse light, storing herself inside Mikial’s QSD. She was now aware of the quantum system she occupied, her senses updated through all of her father’s sensors.

Mikial turned to address Chamuel.

“My friend, thank you. Is he safe?” Mikial asked.

Chamuel shook his head, pursing his lips. Mikial caught his breath.

“However he does have a host of others to look after him. Good journey to you,” he valdicted.

“And I’ll see you again, my friend!” Mikial shouted.

The older man breathed a sigh of relief before rising straight up, above the treeline.

“The galaxy is a big place,” Amelia commented, realizing that Gideon may not be static.

“For the love of a father, it might as well be a few feet! I will find you, my son!” Mikial bellowed as revved the engine, taking off to their destination, “Prosine kept a presence on Karmmrak with The Dusk, he anticipated that Gideon may show up there-” he stated, mentioning his old world nemesis.

“But father, they are The Watchers!” Amelia corrected.

Mikial shrugged as the wind rushed passed him.

“Old habits. Who knew those jackrabbits were benevolent!? Great Filters? Preposterous!”

“Maybe if you would speak to them, they’ll explain!” Amelia retorted.

“Not yet… I’m not ready yet for that, even with Adonai’s healing. I’ll… One day,” he stated firmly, “Amelia, the universe has changed; I can feel it. Everything is off. Everything is broken.”

“As can I. The order of things has changed to chaos,” she stated glumly.

“Do not worry, my daughter. Once we reunite with Gideon, we’ll make things right. Whatever this championship is that my son received, we’ll make sure to assist,” he affirmed.

They zoomed across the open horizon, passing the deep jungles and into a sea of grassy plains. Amelia was in awe of sights.

“But first, a vessel,” she added.

“Yes. That would be it, Amelia Raesine McDonough,” Mikial stated, using both her human and anform name.

They first needed to leave Earth and then traverse the galaxy. A dangerous and chaotic place. A galaxy of demons, fallen angels, monolithic churches, strange spirits and gods, and everything in between. Except they themselves were a mighty power each. And they had suddenly been released into play.