The arrival of the other fae went the same way the first arrival did. The strange, bronze armoured entity arrived late at night and was guided to the office, where Kate called in Apollyon, Azazel and, this time, Yushamin.

Kate leaned forward onto the desk. “Did Jolene tell you why we asked you here?”

The fae took a few moments to answer. Their voice was cold and almost seemed to carry a hint of condescension. “We are aware.”

“Good. I hope you can and will answer the questions we have. Let’s just start with confirming that you fought someone in the lab in Hell. Did you fight an angel in there?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“They attempted to interfere.”

“Interfere with what exactly?”

“Work.”

“What work?”

“To prevent mistakes.”

“Which mistakes?”

The fae turned to look at Yushamin who answered in their stead. “Several of the magical illnesses back then could have easily killed humanity within days. We didn’t know about them and didn’t consider their existence a possibility. Hell and the heavens don’t have anything like them. Humans, before we granted them access to magic, were immune. We were about to take that immunity from them without any way for their bodies to protect themselves.”

The fae nodded slowly. “It was decided to assist. If our presence had not been accepted, we would have acted upon humanity beyond your efforts.”

Kate raised an eyebrow. “And the angel you fought wanted to prevent you from giving humans immunity to magical illnesses?”

“Yes.”

“Well, thank you first of all. But why help in secret?”

“We were not ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“To be known.”

“I see. Makes sense. I am still stuck on the fact that, we assume, Gabriel wanted to stop humanity from surviving. Why would he want that?”

“He did not.”

“What?”

“The end of humanity was not his goal.”

“What was his goal then?”

“Obedience.”

Kate rubbed her face then suddenly stopped and looked up again. “Obedience through a magical affliction that forces humans to obey the angels. Your work stopped that.”

“Yes.”

“Polly, Az, I’m quite sure Gabriel couldn’t have made such a virus or whatever on his own. God had that know-how.”

Azazel nodded. “And that means Gabriel acted with God’s knowledge.”

“I hate that. That just leaves Abatur and Ptahil. Why would they want to deliver humanity into the hands of the angels?”

The fae interrupted. “Control.”

“Control? Over humanity in some way?”

“Possibly.”

“But about what else could they have gotten control back then?”

Apollyon sighed. “Souls. Humanity was designed to be our best source of souls. We only decided to use synthetic souls later. It is certainly possible that they had some other plan to supply us with souls or Gabriel and God had one they were willing to give them in exchange for handing them humanity.”

“We need that tome and then confront them. Anyway…” Kate turned back to the fae. “High inquisitor Azazel has more questions, but I need to talk to some other people now. Things have been set in motion and I need to make sure everything is going well. Thank you for coming here.”

“Our cooperation… has been pleasant. We have questions but will return in the future for answers. We desire conversation.”

“That is high praise, thank you. I will let Azazel continue and take my leave now. I hope to see you again soon.”

“We will meet again.”

Kate and Apollyon teleported out of the room.

 

Apollyon looked around. Kate had taken her to the fortress city of Ersettu.

“Why are we here?”

“You said you talked to several demons about the heist. I want to talk to Hera about the timeline of that.”

“I see. Let’s find her then.”

That didn’t take long. Hera was going over several of the chariot’s systems in the large underground hangar.

“Ah, my favourite librarians. I wanted to visit you later to tell you that everything is ready to lift this beauty out of here.”

Kate nodded in appreciation. “Good. We just had our talk with a fae. I think Polly told you about them.”

“She did. Any interesting news?”

“Gabriel was involved with a plan to take control of humanity back then. That’s why he fought with that fae.”

“That doesn’t bode well. At least the fae seem to be on our side.”

“Certainly seems that way.”

“We should get this all underway then. The longer we wait, the higher the chances that Gabriel or our two potential traitors figure out what’s going on.”

“I agree.”

“Well, shall we see about freeing our chariot from her cage then?”

Kate nodded. “That will be awesome to watch.”

“I recommend teleporting into the courtyard once I activate the teleportation device. You will want to witness this from both ends.”

“Device? That sounds like there is more going on than just inscriptions.”

Hera grinned proudly. “Oh yes! A technological marvel, really. If we had just used inscriptions and runes, we wouldn’t have needed all this research, but it would have one major flaw. We as living things can act through reality stabilizing fields, anti-magic fields. Inscriptions can't do that, and the entire chariot would stop functioning. So, we recreated all the magical abilities it needed to have with, well, science.”

Kate needed a moment to let that sink in. “So, you made a teleportation device that works without magic?”

“Yes. Making the device needed magic, but it works without.”

“That is incredible.”

“Very much in the realm of what Amaterasu told me about human science fiction.”

“Seeing it in action will be amazing.”

“Shall we begin then?”

“Please!”

Hera put her clipboard aside and raised one hand, remotely activating the massive air ship. The chariot hummed to life and began to phase out of existence from stem to stern with a deep droning sound. The moment nearly half of it had disappeared, Hera teleported the group to the courtyard, where she gestured up to the chariot manifesting itself in the sky above the fortress city. Phasing in, it emitted the same loud drone which cut off abruptly as it finished teleporting.

Hera looked at Kate with a wide smile. “Magical teleportation is still faster, but I never tire of watching this. This way also has a benefit.”

“Angels and demons don’t feel it happening.”

“Exactly. Sure, it’s loud, but it won’t alert anyone on the other side of the heavens. We use the teleportation device to get into a rather empty spot in the heavens, then use the magical teleportation to get where we need to be. That way we will only be detected when it’s already to late and we are in Celestis. Once the chariot has arrived and they have responded, our strike team will already be at the vault.”

“And who will make up that team?”

“The four riders and Azazel. Meanwhile, you, Polly, Freya, me and a few other volunteers will remain on the chariot as backup and to distract Gabriel and his allies.”

“Alright. Sounds like a plan. When do we begin?”

“Once Azazel gives us the okay.”

“Then we will be ready. Polly?”

“Yes, Kate?” Apollyon had kept silent so far.

“This your plan, isn’t it?”

“It is. Though, it is more detailed than Hera described.”

“Are you okay with doing something like this again? You’ve been quiet this entire time.”

“Again?” Apollyon smiled. “No, this is the first time.”

“I mean, you have led an assault on Celestis at least once before.”

“Yes, but this is not war. This is a book return.”

Kate couldn’t help but chuckle. “True. So, you are okay with fighting the angels again?”

“I am. This is part of my duties as a librarian. I am merely making sure our collection remains complete. The fact that we are using advanced war machines is secondary. Besides, I never had the chance to be aboard the chariot while it is in use.”

“It’s certainly going to be interesting. One last thing I need to know before I can sleep peacefully today. We do know how to get into their secure vault, right?”

“The inquisitors do. If they fail, I have convinced a few specialists to join us. Amaterasu could blow up the lock and Valefor can get into pretty much anything. If those two fail, I asked Ipos to come. She always wanted to see the heavens and someone like her can easily analyze and neutralize whatever magic protects the vault. I intend to keep them safely on the chariot until they are needed. It is impossible to cover every contingency, but I have solutions for many issues that may arise. If things still become unpredictable, I intend to you rely on your talent for, well, human solutions and the skillful improvisation I have tried to teach you over the years.”

“Well then, let’s return a book.”