He was in a crystal tower, one of many. Lurious spires poked the crystalline, crisp blue air around them. He was with his friends…

His old friends, again…

They had been around for millennia upon millennia. They had seen not just societies, or time periods, but whole planets come and go. But today, they were together, all the…

"Arbiters!"

Sakusa felt dizzy. Was he having lunch with Bralding?

"Wake up, big boy!" Bralding laughed. A white cloth was wrapped around his temples like a bandana… And his face was… Alive! So much more alive..!

"Hey," the voice rambled on, as Sakusa felt it should, "It ain't fair; you woke me up- now I can't-?"

"Come on!"

With a slap, Sakusa jumped up. They were on an island. And it was swaying… The waves lapped against the shores like foamy, frothy tentacles of the Sea Queen he had read about as a child.

"Where are we, Bralding..?" His memory was fuzzy- blank. He only had this moment before him.

What seemed an interminable amount of time passed before he received an answer.

"We… are on a beach! In tropical weather!" He giggled, hiding his eyes behind his hands. Curiously, he peered at Sakusa. "Shit, man, are you alright?"

Sakusa merely grinned and shook his head. If what had just happened, had actually happened, then he would be much better than 'alright'. Analyzing his hands, they seemed to be the same hands he remembered, but… they were alive. Everything was alive! The sheer brilliance of it made him so happy, he could weep!

Bralding was physically incapable of smiling any wider; the man had remarkable musculature control, Sakusa delineated. It made him want to smile as well.

A cold draft seemed to blow up his back, then he was on his toes, with his mouth hanging open as the cool spill of water lapped against his toes. He considered the existence of the water molecules colliding at his feet- immense omonglations of perfectly-functioning universes coalescing and colliding in a broader, more apparently-perfect universe.

His eyes looked skyward… The sun beamed brilliantly from nearly eight or nine light-minutes away, itself no doubt in some form of motion as well.

All was caught in motion. All was still, and alive.

Then he felt it- a nagging sensation. It was a devouring force of… something. Everything that was known or created had been constantly fed to this titanic… he couldn't place it. He thought of it as scrambled eggs but then he would be the syrup.

"Man, that's what I'm talking about!" Bralding laughed, holding a goblet to his chest, and another in his other. Sakusa looked through him and saw his death, lurking just over his shoulder, it seemed. He could easily-

"Drink, man! And lighten up! Today is a good day, Sakusa!" Bralding handed him a goblet with concerned eyes that eased slightly once he took the drink and nodded.

Sakusa sighed through his heavy thoughts and glanced at the glass before taking a determined swallow. His face blanched for nearly a second, then he resigned a weak smile, to his friend's content. He still wasn't sure what this all meant, however. Something in him knew that a great metamorphosis occurred- was it last night?- but, although he remembered the momentous awe of the events, specific details were a bit harder to place. He knew they had happened , and in what order, but that was all.

Bralding was staring at him, grinning.

"Thirsty?"

Exhaling after a last gulp, he turned the now-empty goblet over nonchalantly in his hand, admiring the veinwork of his body. His whole body, in fact, was quite an unspoken marvel- the irreplacable arrays of neurons, the contiguous and systematic diffusion of energy throughout… All the way down to his hardy, mutable feet that hardened when he walked barefoot for a while. The fact that he was composed of smaller organisms, at the molecular level, was fascinating. He wondered if ants were aware of such micro-denominations as well. Perhaps every living organism was convinced that their worldview was the end-all-be-all. How he could curtail such thought without soliciting death eluded him… perhaps it was a benefit of his recent transmutation..?

He turned to look squarely at Bralding. Wasn't Bralding also enraptured in that heavenly light? Was he not also… Arbiter? But it appeared the same man looked back at him now as had looked back at him from before. It was strange, how stoic- how consistent- his character was.

Then, for a moment, Sakusa fashioned a thought; Bralding's consistency was on par, almost, with that of a machine. What if he was, in fact, part machine..? It wasn't unheard of, really- replacing lost limbs and appendages with the aid of current technology was entirely possible- but what about enhancing existing organs or functions?

As if aware of his scrutiny, Bralding's eyes glimmered openly, suggesting the possibility as if it should have long-since been realized.

Not meaning to be impolite or intrusive, Sakusa cleared his throat, asking, "Well, what are my… duties…?" Scratching his head, he still found himself star-struck over the recent transpirations.

Bralding laughed, leaving Sakusa feeling as though a child, once again.

"Hmm…" He grinned and sat himself beside Sakusa, the both of them peering into the distance, over the off-kilter waves.

Bralding didn't look as if he had any Godlike imprint, or deitical aura about him; he simply looked a man, al beit with deep lines contouring his cheekbones, and a few other wrinkles around his lips, and eyes.

Feeling as if getting nowhere, Sakusa took him by the arm. "Bralding." For a moment, both men's eyes locked, momentarily cementing the realism of this otherwise dreamlike setting. "Bralding…" He continued, "…what was the true purpose of the starship Almacy?"

A frog-like sound croaked from behind them, in the reeds, and a low, cool breeze swept through their little cove. Bralding turned, and both men looked to the skies, but with disparate gazes.

"Look..." Bralding began autonomously, "Do you believe in God?"

Sakusa snorted amidst a grin. "I feel like we've had this conversation before… But, yeah, I do believe in God. He or she might not be-"

"Ok. Well, what separates God- in your mind- from human beings?"

Thinking for a moment, he sighed as his light blonde hair was tossed, stiff, by the wind.

"Well," he began, "'God', instead of being a part of this universe, is really… a part of every part of this universe."

"A part of..?"

"Well, he's connected to-"

"Exactly. God is connected to everything in existence."

"Okay…" Sakusa rubbed his chin. He had the feeling he was on the precipice of something monumental.

Bralding smirked wolfishly. "Well, if a connection exists, then you could say Arbiters are a joint, or conduit, of that connection."