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Noctae slowly walked through the city of Advent. It was growing quite quickly. He saw new buildings every time he decided to walk through the city and some buildings were even growing taller. Noctae heard his name be called from somewhere. He didn’t really like drawing attention to himself, but being the famous Noctae made it difficult to not be recognized every once and a while. Noctae usually just nodded his head or lifted his hand in a simple greeting and moved on.
It was nice getting out of the lab every once in a while. Noctae thought about his recent work. He had discovered a way to predict every single life and death that ever will happen, including his own , using mathematics. It was truly haunting being able to see the course of the world like that. Walking through Advent made him remember quite a few chilling deaths. Noctae’s math has shown hundreds of people dying around the same time in the same place, a great battle in a floating city. That made him remember the story of a young owl named Otus. He, too, was going to die in a great battle in a floating city. However, Otus would see the hologram he would be making for Surnia in a few weeks. And no matter how many times Noctae did and redid the computations, those two events could never happen together in Otus' life.
(There will come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword. He will tear your city down, oh lei oh lai oh lord. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord. He will tear your city down, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.)
Noctae wondered how all those people would die. He imagined a great soldier with a great sword drawn out in front of him. A powerful man with a mighty sword wiped out multiple people in one swing of his weapon. Maybe there will be a great war with even more casualties Noctae had not been associated with before then. He wouldn’t know if this fantasy would come true, since he had predicted his death the day after he’ll record his hologram for Surnia’s project. He had tried to hint his death to Aegolius, but he feared it was to no avail. Aegolius didn’t seem to pick up on these hints, and he was afraid of what would happen to Aegolius after he died.
Noctae noticed he was leaning against an arch on the outskirts of the Advent square. Aegolius was commanding a squadron of automata in the center of the square. There were four of them. Each carrying a small pillar of limestone-like material. Alba and one of the battle instructors were talking about something, but Noctae couldn’t make out what. Alba’s probably complaining about something with the automata. He always does. It’s like he has some vendetta against Aegolius , Noctae thought. A young child was guiding a more advanced automaton somewhere.
“Hurry up, Alphonse!” the child giggled, “we’re set up over this way!”
Noctae instinctively drew back when “Alphonse” and the child came close to him. And he noticed how closely he was watching the automata under Aegolius’ control at the center of the square. How easily one could go astray and… Noctae felt his hand rubbing the back of his head. Never mind, now is not my time to leave this mortal coil. He couldn’t help but notice his paranoia. Noctae knew he was going to die to one of Aegolius’ automata. He always thought that knowing his death would calm his nerves about dying, but now that he knew, it caused almost more anxiety than being left unaware. And as a man of philosophy, the concept of death was all too common of a topic among his peers. Questions about if an afterlife exists, how to properly say goodbye to a friend, things like that. Now it was almost time he would know the true answer to those questions he had debated for so long. Well, some of them anyway.
Noctae had been looking down in thought when Aegolius walked up to him.
“Noctae, my friend, I didn’t notice you were here! How are you?” Aegolius greeted.
Noctae jumped at Aegolius’ voice. He seemed peppier than usual and Noctae didn’t see him coming.
“I’m fine, thank you. What have you been up to?” He asked.
“I’ve finally ironed out the last bugs in a new model. Why don’t you swing by sometimes and check him out? I need a better name for him anyways.”
“Thank you for inviting me. I’ll have to go check him out the next time I’m free. I don’t know when that will be, however. The universe seems to have plans for me in a few weeks.”
(There will come a poet, whose weapon is his word. He will slay you with his tongue, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.)
It was a week later that Noctae went to see Aegolius’ new machine. It was a war automaton he has been working for months on. Noctae had warned Aegolius about making something built entirely for war, as the automatons seem to continue their last given task if given no further input. Who would know what a war machine would be able to do if left alone.
The automaton was tall and imposing. He looked to be able to kill a trained soldier with little effort in his bare hands. And Aegolius needed a new name for him.
“The best I could come up with was Maelstorm,” Aegolius sighed, “something like this deserves a better name than that.”
“That’s a start,” Noctae thought out loud, “it almost sounds like the word maelstrom. Maybe that will give you an idea.”
“Maelstrom…” Aegolius repeated quietly, “Maelstrom… Malstrom… no. Melstrom… no. Mulstrum… not quite. Molstrom. Yes! Molstrom, that’s what I’ll call him! Molstrom.”
“Molstrom does sound quite more imposing than Maelstorm, my friend,” Noctae agreed.
“Are you questioning my ability to name things, Noctae?” Aegolius asked, sounding almost offended.
“Well, if the best name you could come up with on your own for a war machine was Maelstorm, I think you should leave naming things to your wife,” Noctae chuckled, “Congratulations again on the child, Aegolius. Do they have a name?”
“Why, yes she does. Her name is Celeste.” Aegolius boasted with a hint of pride.
“Beautiful name for who I’m certain is a beautiful child. And with the pride in your voice, Aegolius, I’m guessing your naming rations for the past couple of months went into her name.”
Aegolius couldn’t help but laugh. Noctae laughed along with him. For possibly the last time he would be in a casual setting with his friend, it was nice to see him happy and enjoying himself.
That’s when they heard Celeste crying from the nursery. Aegolius sighed and shook his head.
“Well, it’s time to get going. Celeste is in need of something, and I’m sure the missus needs a break. She’s been taking care of our baby since 5 this morning. Let me go tend to her.”
Noctae went towards the door, looking back at Aegolius.
“Well, guess I’ll be going. It was nice seeing you, Aegolius. I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to do this again.”
“Wait,” Aegolius said, “why don’t you come meet Celeste? I’m sure you’ll love her.”
So Noctae followed Aegolius to Celeste’s nursery. Once they entered the room they could tell what Celeste needed.
“Hello, my little dove. It’s Dada! It’s Dada! Let’s get that dirty diaper off of you, my love. Yes, yes, I know. I got you, I got you” Aegolius cooed at his daughter.
Celeste still was covered in soft down feathers. Her eyes were as bright as her father’s, but was more of an orange instead of her father’s red.
Celeste cooed back up at her father as he picked her up and brought her to the changing table to clean her up.
“Oh, yes, I see, Celeste. The table’s over here. I’m going to put you down now, ok?” Aegolius continued to coo to her as he put her down on the table.
The door opened and Aegolius’ wife entered the room. Noctae nodded in greeting as he usually did. She looked exhausted. The story about her being up since five did seem to line up.
“Darling, what’s wrong with Celeste?” She asked, half asleep.
“Hello, Love!” Aegolius greeted, “The baby seems to have gone to the bathroom. I got Celeste. You go take a nap. You’ve been up early taking care of her. I love you.”
He walked over and quickly kissed his wife. Aegolius walked her to their room to make sure she actually went to rest.
Once he came back, Aegolius quickly turned his attention back to Celeste. She was babbling at him and grabbing at his face.
“Why, of course, Dada loves you too, Celeste,” He said to his daughter slowly, “I’m going to get you a new diaper and some things to clean you up. You keep doing what you’re doing, my dove.”
Aegolius kept narrating what he was doing to Celeste. He told her everything he did slowly as he did it, making sure his daughter understood everything he told her.
“All clean!” He announced once he was done, “All clean!”
Celeste let out hints of giggling and started grabbing at her father again. Noctae slowly approached the father and daughter. They were having some needed bonding time, and he didn’t want to impede on it. Celeste started babbling and reaching towards Noctae once she noticed him.
“Hello, little one,” he said quietly.
He lent his hand to the baby and she grabbed one of his fingers. He smiled and laughed a bit.
“My, my… aren’t you a cute little thing,”
“She likes you, Noctae”
Soon enough, Celeste put Noctae’s finger in her mouth.
“Little dove…” Aegolius started.
“It’s fine, Aegolius, she doesn’t have anything in her mouth. And babies usually explore by putting things in their mouths, anyway.” Noctae dismissed.
Celeste took Noctae’s finger out of her mouth and started babbling again. Aegolius copied her noises in a fake conversation with her. Noctae almost wished he had children of his own, but he questioned his abilities as a father. Seeing his friend being so close with his infant daughter made him smile.
(There will come a ruler whose brow is laid in thorn. Smeared in oil like David’s boy, oh lei, oh lai oh lord. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord. Smeared with oil like David’s boy, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord. He will tear your city down, oh lei oh lai, oh…)
It was finally the day of the recording. Noctae was going to die tomorrow. That filled him with a weird anxiety. The knowledge of the date and the means of his death had also filled him with a form of existential dread and a slight crisis. He thought about if what he did truly was of his own free will or not. If everything he did would lead to his death the next day by one of Aegolius’ machines, who was in charge of his actions? Was it his fate or destiny to die to an automaton or did something happen in the timeline that changed it? Would his death be in vain?
Noctae had so many questions and none of the answers. He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths to try and calm down. Then he walked out the door and into Advent for possibly the last time in his life.
Noctae eventually met Surnia in the place they previously agreed to and waited for the set up to be complete. He rehearsed what he was going to say in his head. It felt like he said the same few paragraphs to himself a million times. Once the seat up was complete, they nodded to each other and Noctae went to the place Surnia told him to go to record his hologram.
Once he was given the thumbs up, he eventually started speaking.
“... I am Noctae. Surnia convinced me to leave a message behind. I don't think even Aegolius knows. But I'm unsure what to say,” he started, “Mathematics and Philosophy are my callings, and the calling of my House. I never was one for talking, unless someone could pull the words out of me. Mathematics never lies. It makes predictions. If you master mathematics sufficiently, you will find that you can make extraordinary predictions,” Noctae continued with a sigh. “The trajectory of a rock. The orbits of the stars. I learned those as a boy. Now, as my maths is better, the predictions I make are somewhat different. I predicted my own death to one of Aegolius's machines. Not once, but again and again in infinity. No matter how I adjusted the parameters, I saw my own death there as an eternal wave function, over and over. And applied correctly, I could see every death. Every life. Even a young owl named Otus, who dies in a great battle above a floating city. And yet, Otus, my maths tells me that you will be at this hologram. A strange inconsistency,” Noctae shook his head and smiled softly. “... Perhaps our Hex Machine worked, after all. Tomorrow is the day that I die, Otus. It is my hope that by doing so, my prediction will come true. ... So that I will see you here today,” Noctae knelt down as he sensed Otus would be crying by this point, held his hand where he estimated his face to be in an attempt to hold it, and wiped the tears with his thumb from the boy’s cheek that wouldn’t be born for possibly hundreds of years. Knowing that his attempt to console the young owl was in vain as he couldn’t be there to physically touch him. “And perhaps in the next Loop, I will not have to die after all. Maybe then I could spare Aegolius some grief.”
Noctae sighed. He eventually stood up once the hologram was finished recording. That was it… his final message to the world.