Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

" A disappointing result,"the angel concluded. "The task we gave you was not that difficult. Why did you allow things to get so complicated?"

"Not that difficult!?" Zach repeated incredulously. "Do you know how difficult it is to stop an army on your lonesome, without being able to explain to people where your skills come from or how you know things?"

" Even though we initiated the Sovereign Gate prematurely, you still had hundreds of chances to get things right,"the angel said. "I suspect you have a skewed perspective on the difficulty of the problem. In the original scenario, you would have been tackling an unaware force oblivious to your shifting schemes. Even with our restrictions, it should not have been difficult to figure out a solution when you have infinite attempts and your enemy never learns from your mistakes. Instead, you have been competing against a rival time looper. Regardless of how it happened, that is your own failing. Not ours."

Zach looked like he was about to start yelling at the angel, but eventually restrained himself. He scoffed disdainfully at the spirit, and then folded his hands over his chest in silence.

They didn’t actually know how Red Robe got included as a time looper, so it was difficult to counter the angel’s claims there.

"So you deliberately activated the Sovereign Gate a month before the invasion," Zorian noted. "You could tell what was going to happen a month in advance?"

" The future is hazy and constantly changing, but some things are more certain than others,"the angel said. "Unless something was done, Panaxeth’s release was practically set in stone."

"Why not just inform the Triumvirate Church and let them handle it?" Zorian asked.

" Strange as this may sound to you, that would have been far worse than what we ended up doing,"the angel responded. "We are not supposed to meddle in mortal conflicts."

"Why me?" Zach suddenly asked. "If you have such an accurate way of predicting the future, surely you knew I wasn’t a good choice."

" On the contrary,"the angel disagreed. "You were the best choice. That is why we settled on you in the end."

"Best how?" Zach asked suspiciously.

" It is a secret,"the angel responded. "There were considerable restrictions in regards to candidates. They had to begin the month in Cyoria. They needed to have a certain potential and mentality. They needed to have considerable freedom of movement and association. They needed to satisfy the ethical guidelines. And so much more. I cannot tell you the details."

"If Zorian began the month in Cyoria, would be also be a candidate?" Zach asked.

Zorian gave him a strange look. Why would he ask that?

" Heavens no,"the angel said. "He fails just about every criteria, especially in regards to mentality. I am surprised he was even willing to risk his life in this manner, based on his previous actions and attitudes."

Annoyingly, Zach seemed really pleased to hear that response.

Zorian folded his arms over his chest in dissatisfaction. Jerks, the both of them.

"What is my status at the moment, then?" Zorian asked. "I defied the laws of the time loop and got out into the real world, but I notice you are not making a move against me. Are you fine with my presence, then?"

The angel’s burning eyes focused on him more closely, studying him in great detail for a couple of seconds. Zorian squirmed uncomfortably under its gaze, but stood his ground and stubbornly kept staring back at the angel without flinching.

" You are a forbidden existence, and you have committed grave sins to be where you are right now,"the angel judged. "However, we are not without mercy and understanding. So long as the primordial’s release is stopped in the end, we are willing to overlook some things."

"So… I’m safe from your wrath?" Zorian summarized.

" If the primordial remains chained by the end of the month,"the angel stressed. "If not, then we will be forced to directly intervene in the material world. At that point, it costs us nothing to be extra thorough and eliminate all possible complications. You understand, yes?"

"Of course," Zorian confirmed.

Even though he had made no contract with the angels, his life also depended on the outcome of the invasion. If he and Zach failed to stop Red Robe and Silverlake from releasing Panaxeth, the angels would take care of him all the same.

"If you’re fine with Zorian, does that mean that my contract can be renegotiated now?" Zach asked hopefully. "Because the way things are now…"

" We cannot renegotiate the contract,"the angel said. "It simply cannot be done."

"But you’re the one who made it," Zach protested. "Why wouldn’t you be able to change it?"

" It is divine magic,"the angel pointed out. "We obviously didn’t make it."

Of course. No one could cast divine magic in the current age, not even the angels. Only the gods themselves were capable of that. Everyone else, including their spiritual servants, were just tapping into artifacts and resources left behind when the gods went silent.

"How about just removing it?" Zorian tried.

" Also not possible,"the angel responded. "It is deliberately designed to be next to impossible to remove once placed. I am afraid there is nothing we can do about it."

"But the way things are going, I’ll die at the end of the month, even if I stop the primordial from getting out," Zach pointed out. "Isn’t that just a little unfair? It’s obvious the situation has changed from the time I agreed to the contract… and even you admitted the way you got me to agree to it was kind of dodgy and inappropriate."

" We cannot absolve you of fulfilling your part of the bargain,"the angel stubbornly said . "It simply is not within our power to do so. The only thing I can promise you is that if you find the way to remove or evade the contract in some fashion, we will not seek to punish you for it."

Zach’s eyes widened at the statement.

"You will not seek to… you’re saying if I found a way to trick the contract on my own, you would have gone after me for it?" he asked incredulously.

" We are not the primordials,"the angel told him. "Though our actions are restricted, we are far from powerless in regards to the material world. Even if you could trick the spell left by the gods, it would do you no good if we were also not willing to look the other way and accept this outcome. You made a solemn pact with us, and we have done our side of the bargain. We have every right to be harsh and demand that you fulfill your obligation to the letter… but as I said to your friend, we are not without mercy and understanding. So long as the primordial’s release is stopped in the end, we are willing to overlook some things."

"So I still have to do the impossible," complained Zach. "It’s just that, if I succeed at that, you won’t come after me in response."

" You can view it that way, I suppose,"the angel responded. The spirit froze for a moment, its eyes staring off somewhere into the distance, as if listening to some distant words that neither Zach nor Zorian could hear. "My time here grows short. If you have anything else you need of me, say it quickly."

"Give me the actual contents of the contract Zach signed with you," Zorian demanded. "Zach can’t tell me what it says and I need to know."