Page 151 of Architecti
My mouth sours, and I’m not sure why.
She is planning something, I’m sure of it.The way my stomach roils tells me it is nothing good.Nothing that will end well.
I could leave.
I could abandon her and make my way back to the city.Sense tells me that is the right choice, but my mind can never forget the images from the mirror.
The chaos.
The destruction.
Millions and millions of endings over and over.
I can’t leave her because I understand what the mirror was telling me.It is my destiny, my responsibility to stop her.
Every step we take closer to the bridge, my chest grows heavier.The type of heavy that your subconscious says is a warning, but your consciousness tells you to ignore.
Interitus opens her arms wide as she steps onto the bridge.
“Fate is just another word for dictator,” she says as I catch up to her.
The bridge is enormous, stretching further than my eyes can make out.The entire thing is made of a glass that was once crystal clear, but the ash from the underworld rising to meet it has stained it smoky.I hang back; this is the most dangerous place in our city.Our wings don’t work here.It’s the one place that if we fall, we cannot save ourselves.
“Interitus please, fate is about as far from dictatorship as you can get.Now, come on, let’s head home.I’m tired.”
She smirks.“And I’m exhausted.”She edges further and further onto the bridge.
I roll my eyes, having to shout my sentences at her.“From what?We have wonderful lives, we’re free and fulfilling our roles.What more do you want?”
“More, Architecti.I need more.”
“How can you want more, when we have everything?”
A sneer curls her upper lip.“Your eyes are closed.Our system is broken.Fateisanother word for dictator.It determines who we must become.What we do with our lives.What we do with theirs…” She points down towards the mortal realm and the underworld.
I shake my head no.“We create possibility.”
“Yes, we.Not them.We are not gods, yet we are behaving so,” Interitus says.
“You’re wrong.Our souls are capable of creating infinite possibility.”
She sighs, her eyes softening.“That’s not true.We can only do that at the expense of our soul.To truly give them free will, we must die.”
“Their lives are short.The number of possibilities we provide feels infinite to them.It feels like free will.”
Interitus scoffs.“And yet, it isn’t.Don’t you see?This where the problem lies, sister.Weare creating their options.We are still controlling.”
“Interitus, what is going on?You have never cared about the mortals.”I make my way onto the bridge, every step like dragging anchors, my stomach heavy, legs jellied.I can’t look down or I’ll throw up.
“You’re right.I don’t care about the mortals.But free will is just an illusion, even for us angels.And that I do care about.Look at the Mirror… our fates have already been determined, and I do not approve of mine.”
I turn away from her.“The Mirror is no more.You saw to that.”
“Yes, and much freer we all are for it.No one should control our destiny but ourselves.So, I got rid of our method of seeing it.But that was just the start.”
She lurches right suddenly, stepping onto a ledge that juts out the side.
“INTERITUS,” I shriek.
