[They would have died if we weren’t here, so let them die.]

  Everyone winced as Fogo’s anger bubbled at Kōritsu’s words.

  [What kind of backwards ass thinking is that? What if this is the last and only chance life gets in this universe?] Fogo barked while absorbing nearby residual Kilnessence, which made his eyes burn terribly red.

  [That is improbable. If it happened once, it may very well happen again, and besides, who’s to say that everything down there will die- some may survive. All I'm saying is that we shouldn’t interfere.] Kōritsu tried his best to keep calm, but he felt too strongly about what was at stake.

  Back on earth, life had to evolve without much aid or divine intervention, and whenever someone tampered with the natural order, there was disaster.

  Kōritsu didn’t mean to drop his ant farm.

  He didn’t mean to engulf their prison of a world in chaos and destruction.

  And so, he concluded that nature was at its best when untouched by meddlesome hands.

  [You know, my mom taught me that you should help whenever you can. I guess you’re the type who just walks past those in need because that’s just the natural course, right? Well, fuck that.] Fogo squeezed his fist and punched at the gas cloud, vaporising it in an instant, but the resulting shockwave was so powerful, it pushed the planet behind them into a wider orbit.

  The others rushed towards the planet to see if it was alright, and while global temperatures were dropping significantly, life persevered.

  [You will live to regret your short-sightedness.] Kōritsu scowled, making Fogo scoff.

  [Any loss I make on behalf of another is not a loss at all. Maybe you should—]

  [Enough! Both of you!] Thabit cried, finally silencing the two.

  [Kōritsu, there’s nothing wrong with helping when you can and Fogo, please think before you act so recklessly—]

  [But, Ma’am—]

  [No buts! Your haste could have destroyed the planet or the life on it, so both of you, go back to Hereafter and stay there for a while.] Thabit firmly instructed. This was the first time she had ever yelled at her students, and they all felt how much it pained her.

  [Yes, ma’am.] Kōritsu sighed deeply before ascending.

  Fogo begrudgingly followed him up, and it wasn’t long before they were gone.

  [The rest of you, please look around for other worlds with liquid water and favourable conditions. Then take some of the life there so that we avoid a situation where all of the life in the universe can so easily be snuffed.] Thabit firmly instructed.

  [Yes, ma’am!]

  Her students then all flew off in different directions, leaving her with Vidente, who keenly eyed the world below.

  [Do you think I did the right thing? Sending those two back, I mean.] She asked her most studious of learners.

  [I can’t say. Only time will tell what comes of this, but that’s my cautious side talking. My more… human side is saying you did the right thing and that those two knuckleheads need to cool down.] Vidente smiled, and for the briefest moment, Thabit saw the big glasses that once adorned the girl’s face.

  [I miss them.]

  [My glasses?]

  [Yeah, a little.]

  Vidente rolled her eyes.

  [Everyone keeps saying that. Might as well make myself a pair of fake ones at this point.]

  [I mean… if it isn’t too much trouble—]

  [You’re supposed to fight peer pressure, not add to it, you useless teacher!] Vidente pulled at Thabit’s right wing a little.

  [Oh no!] She whined, making Vidente roll her eyes again.

  [That aside, can you see them?] She pointed down and, after gently rubbing her massive ethereal wing, Miss Thibet turned her gaze to the planet’s surface where she saw tiny reddish gold sparks appearing only to disappear shortly after.

  [The souls of the dead. This is where it begins, it seems… the Cycle of life and death.] Vidente breathed.

  Thabit’s eyes widened at the revelation.

  [You know, when we first appeared here, I always thought that we would end up looking for a way back home, but now I see that the only path we have is ahead and, for a reason I have yet to understand, I am willing to tread the path to its end.]

  .

  ..

  Without prompt, the class divided the universe into fourteen sectors, which they each scoured in search of suitable planets.

  The problem was that the universe was still a very young and violent place, so Miss Thabit instructed that they watch over the worlds they favoured until they were safe enough to hold life.

  Nozh was the first to report that her planet was safe, and she subsequently seeded it with life by grabbing a palmful from the Genesis World and gently placing it into hers.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The others followed suit, and it wasn’t long before each of them had at least one planet under their protection.

  Even Kōritsu had one whereon life developed.

  The oceans were filled and then the lands of their worlds until they were lush and green. Winters came and went in some places. Some experienced decades-long summers, and some planets had gravities that were marginally stronger than that of the Genesis World, but even in the face of all these factors, life persevered.

  Yana found it inspiring.

  How desperately life clung to existence.

  It made his own limbs twitch with the desire to actuate, to live.

  He already had a reason for living and, thanks to the life under his wings, he was more motivated than ever.

  When he wasn’t watching over the trillions of little bugs that crawled over his world, one he decided to call Caesia, due to the fact that it had days that were the same length as those on the earth down to the second, he was in his chambers in Hereafter meditating on the integral parts of the cosmos.

  Mathematics, physics, biology, the physical and ethereal planes.

  All of it was laid bare before him as a being who could perceive it all, but seeing was only part of the battle. It was something entirely different to understand it all.

  After all, you could show a caveman a wheel, and he wouldn’t know where to begin to understand what its near limitless uses were.

  So, Yana pondered.

  On everything.

  All while calling out to his friend in the distant place.

  His longing permeated throughout all that was, and eventually, he was joined by Thabit, who knelt by his side in his messy, dimly lit chamber.

  [May I?] She warmly smiled, and he nodded.

  [Go ahead. I’ve tried everything from whispering to shouting, but my voice doesn’t seem to reach him, so maybe both of our voices will.]

  Thabit nodded before closing her eyes and tapping into Yana’s feelings.

  A single tear then fell from her left eye as she called out to her sleeping student.

  An eternity had passed since they had been reborn, and she too missed him.

  She missed their simple, seemingly insignificant lives on earth, but it was those moments which gave their new lives meaning.

  And so, she prayed.

  To Kiln.

  That he may one day awaken and join them in this new universe.

  Thabit and Yana eventually opened their eyes, and they sat for a silent moment.

  [Did I… did I ever tell you why I became a teacher?]

  [No, ma’am.] Yana’s wings fluttered curiously; their ethereal spans harmlessly passed through the walls of his chamber.

  [My friend and I thought it’d be easy.] She softly laughed, making Yana smile in turn.

  [We thought we’d go to our classes, yell at our students, mark their tests and go home, but those five years were anything but.] Thabit rested her hands on her lap.

  [Sometimes I felt more like a parent to you all even though I was a childless Bachelorette, but through all the hardships, every fallen tear, every broken heart, every triumph and graduation, I found meaning. So, walk the path that you would for his sake and yours just as I did for myself and my friend who would go on to be a principal in her own school.]

  Thabit stood up and gave Yana a polite bow.

  [Thank you, Yana.]

  [For what?] He tilted his head as she turned to leave.

  [For being a good student and a good friend.]

  Yana was confused.

  All he ever did was slack off, and he rarely ever handed his assignments in time.

  But he felt the truth in her words.

  She appreciated him.

  And so, Yana silently swore to appreciate her as well and how patient she had been with him in the brief time they had on earth.

  .

  ..

  Fogo stood atop the Diamond Needle, and he peered at Kōritsu, who was in the third dimension, watching over his worlds.

  Back on earth, people like Kōritsu were dangerous.

  That’s what Fogo believed.

  That the idle hand, the complicit hand, the callous hand was just as guilty.

  The universe needed protection from those who were willing to let harm befall others, and Fogo was willing to take that role.

  He knew the others felt his feelings, but he couldn’t deny them in any capacity.

  He descended to Vidente’s laboratory where he found her desperately pouring Kilnessence into a small, brown slug that was rapidly shrivelling.

  [Come on!] She yelled as she stood at the centre of a pile of carcasses and machinery.

  While her lab was as big as an entire university campus, she spent most of her time in the main Hall, with the rest of the space being used as storage for archival reasons.

  Adamantly, Vidente had learnt to completely manipulate her wings, which meant that while she was busy in the Main Hall, her wings were doing at least a thousand other things elsewhere.

  Fogo watched as she tried to keep the slug alive, but it quickly succumbed to the stress of being in a plane of existence it was never meant to be in and died.

  Its soul, however, a small thread of reddish golden light, persisted for a moment before fading away.

  [Tough luck?] He asked from above.

  [You have no idea.] Vidente sighed before leaning against the operating table.

  [What’s up? I can tell you want something.]

  [The universe will soon change greatly with the advent of life, and while we will be more than enough to protect all that is at macro level threats, we’ll—]

  [You want an army.] Vidente droned, making Fogo clench his teeth a little.

  [Surely you understand my feelings.]

  Vidente sighed at his words and nodded.

  [Of course, I do. We all have our own ideas for how we want this universe to be like, and it will be absolutely necessary to have a moderation force, but if I do this, if I help you create an army, you will not be the one to command it.]

  [Then who?] Fogo frowned.

  [Ma’am, of course.]

  Fogo felt a strange relief wash over him.

  He had half expected her to say Kōritsu.

  [I can live with that. Now… where to begin.]

  [Golems seem like the obvious answer. It’ll be a good long time before sentient life comes around and who knows if they’ll be able to help defend anything at our scale.]

  [I agree. What will you need from me?] Fogo asked, his eyes burning with determination.

  [I’ve been looking for a way to store Kilnessence and it seems as though the clue lies in our bodies and crowns so…] Fogo shivered as a dangerous glint appeared in Vidente’s eyes.

  [I’ll need a volunteer to help me see just what we are and what makes us tick.]

  Fogo suddenly wanted to run away but it was too late.

  Vidente grabbed him and slammed him onto the table as her wings closed in on him.

  His cries reached the highest dimensions, and all Kōritsu could do was shake his head as he sat on the moon of the world he had been assigned to watch over.

  He profusely protested this but Miss Thibet insisted that he do it so that he may learn something from the experience.

  Kōritsu assured her that he was completely willing to watch over life, he just wasn’t sure it was right to interfere in its development or ultimate demise.

  They were originally humans themselves, so what right did they have over the lives of this universe?

  A terrible thought then surfaced in Kōritsu’s mind.

  It was they who were the anomalies.

  He knew for certain that the cataclysms and apocalypses of the future were going to be at the hands of one of them.

  Miss Thibet, Fogo, Kōritsu himself or any of the others had the power to obliterate large swathes of existence, meaning that they were the disasters.

  Kōritsu took deep breaths and calmed himself, taking care not to alarm the others.

  He kept his mind clear and his emotions levelled.

  What he was feeling was caution.

  Yes, caution and worry, which were natural emotions for one to have from time to time.

  He guided his thoughts along those lines and eventually concluded that the only way this universe would be safe was if none of them were present or able to access it, but where could they go? What could they do?

  Kōritsu didn’t know, but he planned to find a way.

  An optimal outcome that came to mind was one where they were sealed in the seventh dimension.

  He’d have to ask Vidente about how to develop such a seal.

  Forever separating the physical and ethereal planes.

  Allowing the universe true autonomy over itself.

  A brief flash of Kiln appeared in Kōritsu’s mind.

  Yes. Surely this is what he’d want too.

  As he was the new father of all things.