#shoruel (oc)

[yutzen]

Where No One Calls Your Name

Ever since the Reevaluation of the Virtues and the upheaval of their respective Spheres, ever since the Seven of us were requested and established in our positions, it’s become clear how little we knew. We may be the Almighty’s own, but we were still fragments, meant to converse and join in order to paint – and thus form – the bigger picture. In this, mortaldom has taught us plenty – the Seven were chosen for their understanding of themselves, but were ordered to listen. And so we have…

The Sphere I represent has been, perhaps, better understood than most. Diligence is universal, something mortaldom practiced and admired even before they knew of the Almighty. The understanding of the toil, the joy of a job well done, of the tasks that kept them and those around them alive and well, and the simple happiness of having something done by one’s own hands, something that would leave a mark. The carving of a better world.

But my predecessors failed to account for those Diligent souls that stepped up because they had to. Because no one else could, or would. Those that saw the world threatening to cave in upon them and those they loved, and held it up on their shoulders, a pillar to those around them. Those that would’ve preferred for a world that wouldn’t crumble, but wouldn’t let it fall. Wouldn’t wait for another to take the burden. No one made them do it but themselves, and yet they stepped up, in the full belief they had to.

There were so many, from the beginning until now. And they continue to arrive to this day. Even those who find satisfaction in work well done often have such stories as well, and the needs that come with it. Those who would sacrifice the work that satisfied them to complete that which needed to be done… And it’s those who arrived most recently that truly need some of our latest constructions. It may have been late for some, but in Heaven, it’s never too late. Not truly…

The matter is, Diligent souls often needed respite, as many do. To be away from the toil that defined their lives. And for many of them, all that was needed was something else to work with, something to put their energy towards that they would enjoy doing, and freely walk away from once they believed they were done. Choice is what defines Heaven, after all. Many of these souls wanted to busy themselves with something that they could call theirs, projects of their own, collaborative or otherwise. And with their relentless energy, we’ve ended with the great towers, and castles, and palaces that one can immediately see upon crossing the thresholds between Spheres. And the endless halls within, stretching beyond space to fit all the wondrous things they have made…

But these uncovered cases, these souls that had to take reins no one else would take, they often didn’t want to be busy. They wanted nothing to do with any projects. And the sight of these toils only served to put them off, and sometimes distress them. And it baffled those before me, as it baffles some now…

I understood. They needed a different respite. And I toiled to make something that would bring them peace. It was one of the first works of Reevaluation, and thus one of the first that were questioned for intruding in another’s Sphere. But ours is complicated work that often cannot be so neatly subdivided. Far too many of my predecessors refused to understand that, and the strain that’s brought to the Choirs has been… I would not say regrettable. Tragic, perhaps. Our charges never needed to put up with such incompetence. But I have gotten sidetracked, and I apologize for it.

I set out to make something that would let them rest. To find them the respite they needed. And I found, as I spoke to them and delved into their stories, what I needed to know, even if it took me some time to understand it. I found that I would need to set apart a place for them, and weave it both into newer ground within Heaven and – curiously enough, I thought at the time – throughout existing lands and rewards, even grazing the surface of other Spheres as I went. Threads of it passing through others’ rewards, yet utterly unseen, never truly touching them. An endless, unseen observatory that would perturb no one… Especially not those inside.

I quickly figured these souls wanted to be undisturbed… Some of them were perfectly comfortable with the edge of a cloud, somewhere in the far reaches, where no one would find them, but others had a certain draw towards busier places. Busy, yet peaceful, some would say oxymoronically. I pondered how and why someone would seek respite in the heart of a grand metropolis, even in the midst of the busiest of parks, let alone the common avenues. I went on, threading together places until they could sit undisturbed and unseen, unacknowledged rather, whether sitting at the edge of the sky or in the midst of a raucous crowd, and obtaining their feedback as I went. I swore I’d listen, and so I did… They wanted peace, and in a way, quiet. They wanted to be alone, they said, but it took me some time to understand the very specific kind of isolation they wanted.

Even those that wished to be away from every other soul still wanted to watch the world go by. They wished to witness, yet not participate, to know it was moving on, yet not be the ones pushing it along, like passengers looking out their window. And most of all, whether high and far out in the edges of the Spheres, or lost within the populous depths…

One of them put it very succinctly. They said, and I quote… “I need to be somewhere where I won’t hear my own name”.

What followed was far easier for me to understand. These souls, they saw their world, the world of those around them, threaten to stop turning if they didn’t do something. Often, it was requested, if not demanded of them, but not always; the end result was just the same, with them taking up the weight of the world upon their shoulders. What else could I give them but a chance to let it go, and watch life go on without needing them at all times? Without anything or anyone calling for them to take up the burden once more?

What else would soothe their souls, but the knowledge the world would keep turning without their help? What else could a lifelong helper, exhausted after all those years, wish for?

And so, that’s what I weaved together for them. This reward is weaved far and wide, a singular strand with many loops and turns across the realms. Always close, almost touching, but never a true part of what it passes. And those outside it will pass this by without noticing anything but another face in the crowd, silent and peaceful where they sit. Another person on a park bench, or right off the edge of a cloud in the distance, or even just on the subway seat in front of them, there when they arrived and there when they walked off…

And the Diligent would get to see the winds and clouds of Heaven pass them by, with nothing but blessed breeze in their ears. Or they would get to see others live their new lives, in their instants between Rewards, or simply enjoying the afterlives they earned. Hundreds and hundreds passing them by whose names they would never know, nor need to. And the divine wheels would keep turning right before their eyes, without needing their hand. Life after life would go on, and they needn’t do anything to make sure there’d be a tomorrow. Not anymore.

Of course, it would be easy for them to walk away. To breach the thin walls of this weave and enter their witnessed scene, or simply return to the Sphere and find something to do. Something that’s theirs, at last. And eventually, they all do. Eventually being a key word in the process, of course, since some remain for quite a while to pull themselves together at last. Some never found a moment to do so in their lifetimes, after all, and only came to realize it once it was over… But in time, they all find their bearings, and move on.

As intended. This was never meant to be a permanent settlement – nothing is, up here, but my work here even less so. It’s an ephemeral stay, a place between places, little more than a breather. And yet, it is necessary, perhaps even more so than those places meant to last far longer. For these moments of transition, these rests between undertakings, these pauses that last so very little in comparison to all the rest? They are vital for them. The most ephemeral moments of all can be the most important for mortal souls… And this is something my predecessors, and even I, often struggle to understand.

But we understood this time, at last. And it will serve us well as the Reevaluation continues. Much of it has been to understand those we are working with, and for, to bridge those gaps we did not know existed. I know those that toil in Patience and Humility have found such knowledge useful, so far. And perhaps they will discover something that will help us in turn, thanks to it. Something to bridge another gap, correct another of our mistakes, and inch towards Perfection on our part… No matter how unreachable it is.

Our work is never done.

--Shoruel, Angel of Diligence and Fourth member of the Council for the Reevaluation of Virtues