"Your zeal is misplaced, deva. We are not allies of the netherspheres. I am known as Gord. I am the foretold champion who must oppose the caged evil. These two with me, the man Gellor and the woman Leda, are likewise sworn opponents of the dark Tharizdun." Gord then awaited the being's apology and perhaps assistance, for his explanation was clear, concise, and truthful. He was disappointed.
"All who are not of like mind are adversarial to me," bellowed a solar whose radiant hue was of golden topaz, from his position to the left of the three wayfarers.
From opposite that being, one of pearly glow boomed, "No writ not of our making is valid, mortal Give over the Theorparts!"
The solar whose brightness shown as sapphire and who stood squarely before Gord also objected. "You serve only Evil in what you do! You may not pass!"
"You cannot bar our path," Gord said without heat. "You prate of 'right' and 'Evil' and suggest that only the ethos you pronounce is noble. Where were you and your fellows when we fought and bested daemons and the lords of the Abyss? Now, because of your narrow concepts, you demand what is not yours to ask Should I choose to give over the key — and I do not — then you would but postpone the inevitable. Then there would be none left to oppose Tharizdun. One champion alone is prophesied to stand before Evil when it arises in all its strength. I have shouldered my burden, accepted the responsibility, and will continue to do so. I exist to oppose the Darkest One, and until he is risen, I am unfulfilled in purpose!"
Pausing, Gord swept his arm to include the whole of the assembled beings of Light "You might be truly good and Just, you devas, but not one of you, not you all together, can successfully confront and defeat Tharizdun. I am unsure whether even I have any chance of winning, in truth, but it is written that I am the one who might do so. I must, then, retain the key and free the great Evil now. It is foreordained."
"We of light forged the prison, wove the barries, laid the slumber upon the ultimate woe," the central of the three solar devas proclaimed.
"It is so," intoned the others as if speaking to themselves.
"The three parts of the key were also made in the Celestial Realms," the titan thundered. "The Theorparts are ours by right!"
"Not if I choose to retain them. I do so. The multiverse demanded a balance when you chained Tharizdun, and the key's portions were sown for any to discover, as was decreed. Now I have all three. We will pass."
At those words the Guardians of Light drew back to a greater distance, and the solars and planetary devas conferred as the lesser ones looked on. "YOU gainsay our demand?" queried the one of amber radiance.
Gord nudged Gellor. "We do," the troubador responded firmly.
"You defy the requirement of Good?" the pearlescent titan asked, righteous indignation plain in his great voice.
"We define 'Good' differently, and do reject your words," Leda affirmed without prompting from Gord.
Perhaps she had read deep in his subconscious.
"The unending enmtiy of the realms of light — such prospect dissuades you not from the folly of resistance?" This stentorian-voiced question rolled from the azure-hued solar who had first confronted the three. "It is all the cosmos which must suffer your evil!"
"As you yourself stated, those who do not assist, hinder. Should we then pay heed to threats of enmity? Active opposition? You speak of folly, but the Empyreal Realm now basks in that very stuff, as you and your pack of stooges evidence," Gord said angrily. "You have narrow interpretations and misplaced values in this regard. Save for our action, you and all of the beings of Light would now be facing Tharizdun and his swarming hordes of netherlings, risen here to destroy you, the higher spheres, and impose Evil everywhere.
"You prate of cosmic consequences, but in all the multiverse there is but one appointed to the duty of opposing the scion of darkness. You know I am that one, yet you care more for your own concepts than for the ultimate fate of the cosmos you pretend to defend. Narrow, distorted, and mistaken. All truth does not rest with you.
"We have but one course now, and we will carry through with it. Away with you, all of you!" As he said the last words Gord drew forth the two portions of the relic, holding them upright before him, so that they were plainly visible as badges of his intent. Then he willed himself and his two comrades ahead, directly toward the devas.
At that the full population of the beings manifested itself. Elemental devas, aethereal and astral too there were, totalling eighty-four ready to serve the celestial beings, the planetary devas. Those twelve great beings, in turn, stood ready to fulfill the bidding of the three empyreal devas. those of solarian form.
But if the first were large, the next gigantic, and the stellar devas of titan size, the one which materialized to bring the assemblage to its full one hundred was so awesome as to defy description. The nine and ninety others bowed as the greatest of them appeared directly before the three humans.
"There is no evil in tour purpose," it said simply. "I will guide you to your destination."
"But.. ." Gord managed to stammer.
The archdeva was suddenly diminished, transforming itself to a size that was commensurate with the stature of the folk who floated there in the airless plane. "these others were but one last test — the final one prior to that which is to come. I regret the necessity, gord the champion. this too was prescribed, beyond my authority to alter. know now that your trials in the netherworld were sufficient opposition. No physical resistance is posed here."
"The threat was made," Gellor suggested.
"In truth," the being agreed, "we did make the test real. conviction and courage both were tried here, and neither was found lacking in you three. That is finished. The time to move onward is now. Follow."
With the celestial warriors escorting them, Gord, Leda, and the bard traveled onward through the near infinity of the Celestial Sphere. At last they exited that glorious realm, passing onward into another that was even more incredible.
"We have moved higher," the archdeva informed the three when they paused in awe. "We now enter the exalted place of pure color and fire, the Empyreal Sphere. Because I am of this plane, our passage will be swift."
"And then?" Gord managed to inquire.
"We shall see," the archdeva said. "what is beyond here is for you to assess and cope with as you may. MY abiltiy to assist ends with the culmination of the passage here."
Eventually the three and their majestic escort of devas traversed the wondrous place of light, and flame and hue gave way to growing colorlessness. In the distance grew a wall of pale stuff that appeared as would cliffs to wayfarers trekking across a vast plain. Still the entourage pressed on, and their way took them up something like a road that wound through great mountains. The onyxlike strata of milky white and glowing gray that composed the mountainous formation through which they traveled grew paler still as they went, until finally it was almost colorless where the path topped the range at a place like a mountain pass.
"This is the border of the empyreal sphere. Yon beyond is the place you seek. fare well!" Gord turned to say something to the great deva, but it and all the rest were gone.
"At least we were given swift and safe passage," he said with some small degree of confusion.
"The upper realms are an enigma, to my way of thinking." Leda said with a frown. "First we are made to feel as if we were malign and in peril, then those same beings serve as a noble train to see to our welfare, and then they vanish! Compared with these, even the workings of demons are more straightforward and understandable!"