An Unexpected Visit

An Unexpected Visit

(Takes place between Lore VI and Lore VII. Major characters: Solomon and Thirteen. ~1200 words)

MICHAEL

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Solomon: [Michael?]

Solomon: [Michael?]

Solomon: [Michael?]

Solomon: [Michael?]

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It had been one hundred and eight days exactly since Solomon had sent his first mildly-panicked message to Michael. Exactly one hundred and eight days that Michael had ignored him. No, not ignored him. The messages didn’t show up as “read” like they had with Raphael. It had been at least one hundred and eight days of Michael not checking his messages.

No one else was responding to messages anymore, either. Solomon had tried reaching out to Simeon and Raphael again, only to be met with silence. He’d tried contacting Asmodeus, who he’d been sure would have called him immediately to explain everything, eager to talk to him again... only to be met with silence. Day in and day out, Solomon had been surrounded with silence.

Today was no exception. Once again, Solomon got no response.

Solomon sat at his desk, his drooping, tired head held up only by the hand obscuring half his face.

What is going on?

The words rattled in his head like an obsessive chant, holding him together just as much as they were destroying him. It was all he could think about anymore. It was shattering his brain and holding it together with weak glue.

It had started out with the power of the realms. Solomon had detected major disturbances in the power balance, disturbances that continued to fluctuate over the days. One day, it was the Devildom being more powerful than the Celestial Realm and throwing off the balance; the next day, it would be the Celestial Realm. At that point, Solomon had been worried, but not concerned.

He got concerned when the power jumped a tenfold. Then twenty-fold. Soon, thirty-fold. Before long, Solomon had to ask whether it was possible for either realm to sustain these power levels safely, even if they were in balance with each other.

The answer was no.

Every bit of research Solomon had done pointed to the obvious. The power levels he observed were not safe nor sustainable. Either his power estimates were innacurate- and his magical intuition had never been wrong in his two-thousand-year life- or something was very, very wrong.

Books littered the floor, pages dog-eared and spines cracked from books held open by the floor. Papers were strewn everywhere, a vast sea of white and aged beige leaving hardly a crack of wooden tile left. Sections of floor that were exposed bore large footprints, worn into the wood by countless hours of pacing.

None of it had gotten him anywhere. Well, nowhere useful. All of it gave him more and more reason to be concerned.

The sorcerer dug his nails into his face.

What now?

Crash.

The sound of shattering glass rang through the air.

Solomon froze up, considering the possibilities. Was it an aggressor? Was it some angel or demon, finally ready to give answers? Or some human looter taking advantage of the chaos?

It wasn’t long before a familiar voice rang through the hall.

“Solomon!” It was Thirteen. And she sounded none too happy.

Despite her angry tone, the sorcerer breathed a sigh of relief. If Thirteen was here for another game on his soul, perhaps he could get some sense of normalcy, even for a second. Maybe seeing Thirteen’s indignant pout of defeat could cheer him up, even just slightly.

“I’m in here.” He called out, standing up from his desk, pushing out his chair and turning to face the door.

Fast, light footsteps pattered down the hall, followed by the whoosh of sliding paper.

“Wha- AAAH!”

Thunk.

The reaper was sprawled out on her stomach on the floor, having slid on Solomon’s carpet of research papers. The wind was knocked out of her for a moment before she vigorously pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, and then to her feet.

“Hey!” She yelled, lunging herself forward a few steps in his direction. “What was that about?! Setting traps is my-” She paused, her green, lizardlike eyes widening as her head tilted slightly to the side. “You don’t look so good.”

She wasn’t wrong. The sorcerer’s eyes were sunken and weary, drooping into dark circles from countless sleepless nights. He’d lost weight- he’d forgotten to eat a fair few times while studying. The absolute mess that was his workspace certainly didn’t help.

“I guess not.” Solomon said with a frown, stepping away from his desk.

“Uh, anyway...” Thirteen said with an awkward blink, before her tone hardened once more. “I came here to ask you what the hell is going on.”

“If this is about what I think it’s about, I wish I knew.” The sorcerer said soberly, casting his eyes across the books and papers scattered around the room.

“All my candles are burning super fast now.” Thirteen said. “It’s insane. Usually they burn at a steady pace, but now I have candles that were nearly full the other day rapidly burning below halfway! The death rates have been ridiculous! Do you understand how hard it is to be a reaper, even when conditions are normal? Trying to keep up with all of this is so aggravating! What’s going on?! Is this some prank?!”

For a moment, Solomon just looked at her with wide eyes. Then, with a soft sigh, he lowered his head into his hand. The only thing the wise sorcerer could utter was, “Fuck.”

“What the hell kind of answer is that?! Tell me what’s going on, now!” Thirteen stepped toward him.

Solomon shook his head grimly, taking a step back and looking back up at Thirteen. “Something is seriously wrong with the power balance between the realms, and both the Celestial Realm and the Devildom appear to be launching attacks on the Human World.” He explained.

“Okay, the attacks explain the deaths. But what about the candles burning so weirdly? Usually, I’d know far in advance if something like this was going to happen!”

“Magic is woven so deeply into the three realms that any disruption of it can prove dangerous. With the magic of two of the three realms severely skewed, it’s likely they’re suffering immense consequences. With how high the Celestial Realm and the Devildom’s power are right now, I’m surprised either realm is even habitable; no being should be able to withstand that much power asides from God and the Demon King themselves. This power boost only started a few months ago and very likely wasn’t meant to happen, so it has severely interrupted the lifespans of angels and demons alike.”

Thirteen’s eyes widened.

“Now that I think about it, it was getting quite cold in my cave. I couldn’t help but feel something was off” She frowned. “I guess my cave was somewhat sheltered, and I hadn’t left it at all the past few months until I teleported to the human world to come get you.”

“I have to say, I’m flattered you came to me first.” Solomon said with a smile that immediately earned him a nasty glare from Thirteen.

“It’s not like that!” She protested. She took a deep breath and composed herself, “It’s just… you’re the most powerful sorcerer around, right? I figured that if this wasn’t just some prank by you to make my job harder, then you’d at the very least be knowledgeable enough to help.”

“Unfortunately, you may be disappointed.” Solomon replied with a bitter smile. “I’ve been researching this every since the first signs, and I haven’t made much progress. Everything I’ve read points to bad signs, and it doesn’t help that I can’t get any information out of anyone.”

Thirteen scoffed. “Well, you’d better find something soon, sorcerer.”

“Say, Thirteen...” Solomon cracked a smile. “How would you like to work together on this?”

Thirteen’s eyes widened, and for a long moment, she was silent. Eventually, she let out a soft sigh and stepped toward him.

“Fine.”