A few hours later, two solitary figures could be seen on the center, their hands grasping the railing overlooking the sprawling, yet empty grasslands of Angaria.
They were both looked out toward the continent, but their eyes were filled with different emotions. Daneel's wore a veil of sadness, while the Emperor's gaze was filled with hope.
Not for the first time, he turned to see what the Godking was feeling. He had detected the emotion long back, itself, but now, he finally spoke.
"What's wrong?"
His tone was soft, and anyone who knew the man could tell that any change in tone indicated that he really meant his words. To Daneel, he almost sounded like a father inquiring about the well-being of his son.
The thought made a smile appear at the corner of his mouth, and he gave the answer after leaning back and clasping his hands behind him.
"I'm just… gonna miss everything. This is my home. This is where I grew up. These lands, these people��� they are my everything. I'll have to leave them all behind…"
Hearing himself, he laughed.
"I sound like a college-going student, off to live without his parents…"
"What is a...college?"
The question made him open and close his lips, not knowing what to say. His mood had made him forget whom he was talking to, so he had spilled out a piece of his original homeland.
He had also only given half the truth. The other half was that he knew that he was going to face the grief of parting all over again. During the first time, he had had no choice, and it had come about abruptly. This time, he had time to think about it, and the more he did so, the more his feeling of longing grew.
For him, both of these places meant so much. They held equal importance in his mind, and he hoped that he would find the path to return to both of them on the Mainland.
Remembering this made him snap out of his reverie, and give an excuse.
"It's a new term for school," he lied.
"Ah… language is one thing I haven't studied in this new world, but I guess it isn't really that important, now. As for feeling sad… many might suggest that you should control it, but I say that it should be embraced. Hold it within you, and it will become your strength. I was recalling everything that happened before we embarked on our apocalypse…then, hope for the future was almost absent. I do not feel the same, anymore. I know that an Angaria that can never be destroyed again will rise from the ashes. I've almost never been wrong about anyone. In you…I see a talent more precious than any other: the talent to rise, rise, and keep rising no matter how many times you are made to fall. It will be essential in the next leg of your journey. Also…while you kicked off the preparations, I've been speaking to the Bishop. The Mainland…is a difficult place."
The Emperor did not elaborate, but he didn't need to. Daneel already knew most of what the Bishop had told him as he had found out many of the same things from the assassins. And the only reason he knew what the woman had been saying was that he had asked the system to keep an eye on her, in case she give any hints of betraying them.
The remarks on 'talent' had made Daneel's smile broaden. As for the man's advice… he thought on it, a bit, and then nodded.
Inside him, excitement, caution, and grief were fighting a war with no clear victor.
The excitement was due to his eagerness to reach the fabled Mainland and explore this new place that was apparently filled with opportunities.
The caution arose from the realization that had come to him during his lowest point, when he had seen that it was not good to always act with the confidence that everything would be alright. So far, on Angaria, failing would have meant the loss of just his life… but on the Mainland, if he wasn't cautious enough, the future of millions would be extinguished.
The grief was an underlying emotion that suffused all the others. It was coupled with the frustration that he had not been powerful enough to prevent this from happening, but this part almost felt like an old friend who would be with him for a long time.
He decided to apply the Emperor's advice to all three of them. With another nod, he said, "Shall we go help?"
Instead of responding by speaking, the Emperor directly flew out. All of the preparations he had set into motion centered around gathering all of the Energy resources still left on the continent. All of those still awake had been sent on this duty, and now, the two of them joined the effort.
Angaria was eerily silent as they went about their task. It was menial, and it could have been accomplished by using the Godnet… but Daneel was able to lose himself in it, and he welcomed this feeling. The only thing he didn't like was that it felt as if he was a gravedigger, stealing the possessions of the dead and buried in a graveyard, and in a way, this wasn't really wrong. After mapping out sections of Angaria, each individual has been given the task to cast a spell to identify objects with Energy so that they could be collected, and right now, he was going over a city in the erstwhile Kingdom of Lanthanor. Everywhere he went, objects would fly out and gather in a pile behind him. Most looked like heirlooms, but they were picked because they had been made out of Ether blocks. After all, for the people, these objects had been the currency with the highest value, so it was common for the blocks to be carved into precious items that would be passed down, generation to generation.
He went on for a few hours, doing the work of ten others even though he wasn't using the system. He would have continued after that, too… but he stopped when a voice whispered in his ear.
"Come to the place where you met me."
If anyone else had heard it, they would have been scared out of their mind as it would have seemed as if a ghost had spoken to them. There had been no stirring of elementary particles, and no signs to betray the use of magic.
Hence, of course, the message had come from the man of lightning.
Narrowing his eyebrows, Daneel wondered whether anything was wrong. Assigning the rest of his section to his best friend, he began to teleport in the direction of Elysium.
When he arrived, he found the vault empty, save for the floating droplets of blood and the marbles below them. It was an enchanting sight, but Daneel frowned, as he had just realized that he didn't know how to contact the amiable giant. He wondered whether he should speak out loud and hope that he would hear, but as soon as he got this though, he felt something behind him that made him turn.
In the center of the room, the row of droplets that represented his sovereigns still bobbed up and down, staying in place, unlike the rest. Only…the drop right in the middle of them had begun to glow, and as he stared, agape, the droplet began to expand.
It was almost as if he was seeing the process of a mother giving birth. It felt sacred, almost divine. The droplet grew to become a shapeless ball, then transformed into a fetus. When a baby with familiar features appeared in front of him, he staggered back and had to take support from the wall. Putting one hand on his mouth, he slid down and kept watching while his eyes filled with tears.
The marble had already fallen away, the consciousness within it extracted to give life. The baby grew into a cute little girl with her eyes closed, and soon, a naked woman stood in the center of the room, her face and body glowing pristinely while the rest of the droplets began to naturally gravitate towards her, as if feeling someone familiar.
Daneel's legs moved without him controlling them. She was soon in his arms, and once again…the world felt whole.
At the same time, a voice spoke.
"Well done. I've heard your plan, and I love it. This…is my gift to you. I know that you were toying with the option of reviving your wife. You were hesitating because you wondered whether you would have enough Energy to accomplish your goals. Well, I have a small store of Energy, too, so I thought I would show my appreciation in this way. After all, I knew that you would want to take her if you could. Take some time to relax, and rejoice. She is in a very vulnerable state…so she needs the love of family to make her whole, again. When you are done, we can speak. Farewell."
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