Misery Nomaki the human vessel, the small creature made of flesh and bone and limited will, the mortal tool that will lead the crusade against the Heretics, that Misery Nomaki, chosen of the Larex Forge, becomes infinite. Becomes archangel. Becomes a being that knows no boundaries, in touch with the breadth and depth of the whole of the universe, one with the core of Creation that humanity calls the Larex Forge. The Demiurge. God. This is a homecoming: from the stars we are born, to the stars we return. Zie is archangel and the archangel is zie. The archangel Misery looks out upon the world with new eyes-that-are-not-eyes. Zie is aware of so many things at once: the geography of hir new body. The force of omnipotence that is Ruin, truly now part of hir consciousness, one and the same. The place in the universe zie must travel to, where the beginnings of hir destiny await hir. The station, Angelsteeth. Systems and systems away now, but not for much longer. At hir feet is the cocoon that holds the body of the princess Alodia Lightning, whose life shall be restored by Hir Grace, the will of the Larex Forge. Zie must deliver her back to her people.

The human vessel Misery Nomaki had felt a fraction of this holy power when they stood upon the platform in the Capital, in sight of the Emperor and all the Faithful. Then, they had moved stone in the name of the Larex Forge, a tiny gesture to bring Hir loving wrath upon those who had strayed far from Hir guidance. That display was a pittance, a terrible first skim of the potential and power that the Messiah could wield. Now, as the archangel Misery, zie has a far greater mission to carry out. Zie must destroy the Heretics.

The archangel Misery breaks free of the fragile stone that has protected hir until now, its usefulness at an end. The archangel Misery scoops the white stone containing the human Alodia Lightning to hir chest, precious as an egg. The archangel Misery sees Angelsteeth Base as a pinprick in a soft galaxy that can be folded upon itself like fabric, no more than a breath away.

The archangel Misery is ready. The archangel Misery is coming home.

INTERLUDE 6

And so it was that Misery Nomaki returned to Angelsteeth in hir final form, archangel, the promise made before hir birth finally fulfilled. Hir new form was all angles, all limbs, and zie knew every part of it intimately as though zie was made like this. The universe spread like a glittering blanket before hir, dancing with potential like the heart of a burning star. Zie pulled open the fabric of space-time and emerged into the lands of flesh in sight of Angelsteeth Base.