What if someone told you that they can solve all problems in a single second? What if God truly came down to heaven with a fully structured plan , all set out to quell all distress in your life and everyone , all in hopes of creating a Utopia?

Ariel was certainly not going to transcend into that figure; of that she was sure if not anything else. So just what was Crezina's intent behind selecting her as medium of intervention in this world ?

As much as she wanted to believe that it was simply for purpose of amusement, Ariel was quite sure that it has got to be something more , something more fundamental considering Crezina's choice.

"Wow ! You are unarguably the most rude girl I have ever come across ." She vaguely paid heed to bemoaning cries of stranger before her .

Ah ! Why couldn't he just be quiet for a moment ! She was trying to think something here..

"Sorry alright ! Anyway, what is this place ? "

" Huh! Such a lax apology ...." He seethed.

"Look ! I don't know what else to say so can you tell me already now." She pleaded.

"How can I stay mad at someone looking so desperate ! Honestly...! You are in Antithesis "

"What ?" She squeaked .

"Don't you even know that ? I guess not." He nodded seeing her baffled expression . " Well according to ancient legend of land, Goddess Rezina had placed a saved this land from devastation by summoning a powerful weapon made from earth's mantle to create a burning lake , a contradiction in itself .

Before parting away , on being pushed further to reveal her thoughts, she had found a divine name quite appealing you see .."

He carried on but Ariel had already stopped listening. All that etched her face was a look of utter disbelief and annoyance .

"What is up with that ?" He raised his eyebrows noticing her face .

"That Crezina..she didn't even make effort to hide the fact , did she? Goddess Rezina !...My foot ! She deliberately went to sleep and contrived all of this just to play a big prank on me after all.

Antithesis ! Yeah right ! That damn word couldn't be further away from divinity than it already was ! "

Wait! She was allowed to intervene back so early in rise of civilisation . Did Ilahen really overlooked that all Crezina was doing by proclaiming to be a goddess was fulfilling her underlying fantasies ?

And if so, then wasn't it unfair that she was suddenly pushed into this world against her will by Crezina ! But then, she can't even complain without revealing that she was simply enjoying relaxation by feeding on credit solely belonging to Crezina and Jean.

Ah !....it was so frustrating to be played like this .

She took a deep breath and found to her amazement that all of sudden, she could feel the air again. Well! This was makeshift earth after all.

"Sorry! Hey... Wait for me!" She called out to the guy who was already pacing quickly far ahead of her.

"No! Take your time thinking about your entire life, I have somewhere else to be."

"Hmph! And you say I'm rude." She pouted rushing towards him.

"So if you are going to latch on persistingly, mind telling me your name at least?" He remarked as they moved through woods.

"I am not latching onto you!" She replied indignantly.

"Sure!"

"It's Ariel!" He stared at her for a second and then bursted into laughter, holding his stomach.

She was dead right! Then why did she feel a sudden rush to kick this guy on his jaw? That didn't make any sense.

But she knew quite well that being dead was nothing more than ephemeral transition for her now.

Wait! All of sudden, something mischievous sparked in her mind.

"Oh ! I am so tired .." Her body slithered down like rag bones teeming from skin to ground awaiting impending collision with surface , only to be interwined by him .

"So you oka..." He felt a familiar ache coursing through his body at that moment.

"My ankles .. what are you doing? Ahh.." He quickly left her side backing away at which she grinned .

She knew quite well that when she had stepped on him accidentally , then it didn't violate the norms of Utopian realm unlike her time with Tsuneoki which meant that all she had to do was contrive a distraction big enough first to bypass the basic principles applied to this world.

Well ! At least that was one way of putting things . All she really wanted was to just stomp on his toes for that comment earlier .

At that very accomplishment, she felt a surge of incomprehensible contentment ever since her arrival to this realm. Ariel scampered fast , slipping right from his angry outreaching grip .

A stark outline of fortress boundary wall bumped her as she held her head wincing in pain.

" What is that ?"

"Antithesis Palace " A tired voice answered her as she held her laughter seeing him bent on knees .

"Oh ! Hey .. So." She clicked her fingers .

"You aren't planning to crush my toes again , aren't you ?" He backed away concerned .

Not right now . But she didn't say that aloud ." Nope ! Just what is your name ?"

" That is pretty simple . I am Antithesis LV ."

"Seriously ! Are all of you guys simp for Antithesis ?"

"What is 'simp'? " He scratched his head confused.

"You are better off not knowing . Well Won't you show me around then , Esis ?"

"Sure ! Ariel ." He lifted the heavy iron clad door .

"Huh! Did I tell him my name? ... What a silly question. I must have ! After all , how else can he know my name ?" She dispelled the thought and was awestruck by the interior.

Each pillar sparkled greyish brown , probably from allot of zinc and copper being used here .

She could just call it tin or was it brass ? It hardly mattered. She had no science lessons to give anymore . Even this action of her was due to more or less divine instructions.

Even tiny glamour of happiness which ever tried to seep in hee heart had to be driven away ! All of it must be gone. For she dreaded something might just be borne out of that unfettered freedom, she had to stop any attempts aimed to open her up more than necessary.

She knew quite well that the only reason she was among those chosen nine was due to acceptance of this morbidity and abandoning it even for once would make her doom so lucid that she won't be any different than those nerve wrecked girl she was 10 years ago .

A girl she no longer wish to meet again.

...........

"I am bored ! " Ilahen sighed .

"You can literally create anything you want at whim and are seeing your desired world underway and yet you feel bored ?"

"Yes"

"Such Purelity for someone so divine ." He chuckled .

"Don't ridicule him .. please " She voiced her thoughts firmly.

"No ! Don't get me wrong . It was just so astonishing that I couldn't help but laugh, dear Azane!"

"Oh..my bad then, Mr Tsuneoki " She apologised.

"It is fine . By the way , just call me Chikao , would you ? I am still 17 after all . Mr... feels like I am already so well past my prime ." He rose up from his seat stretching his arms .

"So mind telling me why such an unusual pair got together in Ariel's room ." Jean narrowed his eyes as they all looked at each other , wondering who should undertake the task.

"I see. No need for explanation. Crezina just relayed to me that you are keeping watch over Ariel's body here since she is split into makeshift reality . " He nodded his head leaving them in silence.

"So...that was awkward! " Tsuneoki said at last .

"Why did senior come here ?" Azane looked hopefully at him for an answer he had no way of knowing .

"You should ask him instead of me !" He looked at Ilahen who raised his eyebrows as if he wasn't even paying attention to what was going on .

Was he the only one adult here ? Chikao wondered.

....

"Wow ! This is something else alright . "

"There is really no need to be that amazed . It has been existing for centuries. Were you living under a cave or something?"

"No need to be mean now , is there ?" She hit him lightly. The whole place was covered with outgrown trees with sprouting branches holding wooden base upside down supported by a single weighted pillar for all.

Wooden shafts and domes slanted exactly beneath each other shaving against surface piled upon lower section so neatly and yet all that supported them was a single pillar .

Just how much confidence did these people have in their structure ! But that wasn't the only thing worth shocking here . No ! If it was , then it would still have been understandable .

Apparently the only way to step down from those large swinging tree houses was to jump straight on a soft matting of flower bed arranged symmetrically all around as landing pads.

"So how do you go up then ?" She had asked but all she had managed to elicit from him was a smirk . Just what was Crezina planning with an atypical civilization like this?

"Here ! Come along ." She felt a tug on her hands as she was dragged away by Esis towards a hollow burrow .

He didn't seem to be stopping at all as they headed closer to that hole. For some reason, she was already getting an eerie portent about what was coming .

"So here you go ." Screams died inside her throat as she felt her legs floating weightless before proceeding to fall with darkness etching her eyes .

Did Crezina send her here to die again ?

"No ! My dear Ariel . Of course not ."

"Oh! So now you are back again ..." She began but stopped at realisation. This time, it wasn't answered in mind which meant only thing.

"You .." She turned towards him who had a grin on his face.

"Oh! You should have seen your face . " He chuckled ." I tried to play it off cool but oh ! It is just so hard to keep it like this any longer."

"So all this time, you were here with me pretending to be ignorant . Just what do you want ? Are you mad ? Are you crazy? Are you..." She barely held her cool at sudden revelation.

"Shhh...all in good time "Crezina put her finger on her lips.

"Hmph! What a pain ! So are you male then ?"

"You are free to assume what you like , Ariel . Though I would like to remind you that Ilahen only appears male but he can shift anytime so it stands to reason that he can easily change anyone's gender too without much hassle."

"Can't ever expect direct answer from you . Right. I should have known since you tricked me already "

"Aw! Don't say that . After all if I hadn't done this, you would have never become happy enough and I would have never come to know"the girl ten years ago " memory in your mind ....

"DON'T peek into my memories . I don't care about the reason but if you do , I would make sure that your stay is as unwelcome as it could be in this mystical realm." Ariel glared .

"No need to get so defensive . I only heard your thoughts. Ilahen doesn't allow that much access to me . But if it troubles you so much , here ."

"What is this?" She asked perplexed on being handed a silver case.

"Mental strings . Whenever anyone other than Ilahen tries to access your mind , it will spark and then you can open it twisting the very specific knot blinking breaking that connection."

"Permanently?" Ariel questionned.

"Who knows ? After all , I am not the creator of this world ." She giggled as a bright light blinded Ariel who closed her eyes reflexively . Slowly and slowly , she scouted back and fro .

No matter how she looked , it was like back in completely different time again , a perfect facsimile of early mediaeval period of human history .

"Welcome to Western Empire ." The wooden signboard read .

"Good way to be discreet ."

"Don't worry . Only you are able to see if beside me . The sign doesn't exist in reality ." Crezina smiled .

"You really had to conjure up all this facade just to simply deter from telling me directly that 'Hey ! So this is how eastern empire looks and now the tunnel leads to Western Empire '.

Furthermore , if only I am able to view it , then why did this silver case stay silent ? I can't help but draw only one inference here . You are still lying about something , Crezina . So why don't you end all this facade and tell me facts directly for once?" Ariel stepped closer towards her.

The wind blew strongly brushing against their open sleeve jacket . Silver eyes interlocked in a fierce gaze against dark rims of unknown abyss blotted by tinted creamy sky .

"Very well then. "

The leaves flying with light breeze stopped their movements for her. All sensation , thoughts and feelings transfixed on the emergence before her .

A being so effervescent .. just for that moment , even she had been taken away from her senses . Such a remarkable sight...was hiding beneath the mask all along . Just why would someone cloak themselves forever, a being worthy of unrequited admiration.

"Exactly for reason such as that ." The voice..that voice was just so distinct from the usual Crezina she found it even hard to believe that the person in front of her eyes was not a mirage of her fantasy .

"Come back to your damn senses." She felt a tingle on her cheek as she found it imprinted with Crezina's hand .

"Right! I was totally not fawning over you ."

"Right. " Crezina sighed exasperately.

Ariel wanted to touch the flowing hair itself but seeing the latter's reaction , she quickly dissuaded herself from doing that .

"When I created the Western Empire, I had appointed Jean Morgan to be its Curator so he divided this into 16 sections and Eastern section was assigned to Azane . After 500 years , I was born in this kingdom in a small town to observe the events myself.

Don't ask questions now . " She warned Ariel who was about to speak.

"After that , I wandered around in identification of what was needed to improve this society. Just what sort of deviation would lead to right possible future ? All these questions confounded me day and night that didn't exist anymore.

After that , I decided to let the flow of time beign again but then I finally saw just what had to be done . All this time , I was thinking of imposing another , a new rule passed throughout genealogy but then relying too much on self endowments straight from God would make it all senseless.

In order to make a perfect society, I just need one thing . I trust that you are already of how this world works , aren't you ?"

"Huh! ..not really." Ariel scratched her head.

"Well ! Good then ." She continued ignoring her ." All you have to do is try to brew conflict in the society "

"Oh ! That is not ...wait ! What." Ariel gasped clutching her heart ." Did you lose your mind finally , Crezina ? Our goal is to ensure end of conflict..."

"No ! I am perfectly sane and crazy as I ever was since my birth . Tell me Ariel, can you ever know someone's worth unless you put it to duress ? Can humans ever know the sanctity of life unless they are in danger themselves ?

Scarcity and conflict are two things that are always seen as obstacle in Utopia but at the very same time , it is impossible to ascertain the stability of that world without testing it's endurance against them ." Crezina smiled faintly .

"I see .." Ariel widened her eyes ."After a millennia , the only way to test durability of this Utopia would be by threatening it's existence itself right?"

"Exactly ." Crezina caressed her cheek.

"Why me though..I mean ." She crossed her arms , barely trying to keep herself from getting flustered.

"Won't you help me in this endeavour then , Ariel?"

"Uhm...I "

"Just kidding . I don't expect you to be bewitched so easily after all."

"Right. That would be pathetic of me ." Ariel lightly chuckled.

"Azane is too young and Jean is already too busy . Tsuneoki doesn't seem like type to go through this . Same can be said for Rebecca and others."

"Oh. So I simply happened to be easy enough to manipulate ." Ariel bit her lip .

"No . You just happened to easy enough to trust with a mission to save humanity." She whispered in her ears as a chilling feeling coursed through her veins.

"Don't worry, Ariel. No matter what happens, you are definitely going to survive any forthcoming disaster that may arise even if you fail from Ilahen"

"Unfortunately I don't share your blind optimism regarding my existence ." Ariel eyed her suspiciously. Just what was this Crezina talking about now ?

"All in good time, Ariel. All in good time ." She patted her shoulder . " Try to break the society from inside as much as possible . I want you to test extremes of humam survival and psyche . I want you to delve so deep that each day feels like abyss , to show me whether an abyss can truly be crafted in such a way that it's existence poses no hassle to survival given enough modification."

"Sounds like a lot of unwanted weight and pain without any promising benefits ." Ariel frowned.

"You never know until you try ." She winked at her before vanishing leaving latter uprooted.

"Great ! Here begins new life as a quarrelsome visitor. "As Crezina's face flashed before her ,she felt that unreal sensation again. " Though I suppose it might not be bad to get that benefit..." A small smile curled her face .

Vehemence of love can never extricate one from pain.