Chapter 25

The dream ended there. But my mind kept wandering around the dark space without waking up. It’s too deep and dark to be just a dream. My limbs were intact and I didn’t feel any pain, but somehow I don’t feel a sense of reality. I wonder if this is a flashback before I die.

How could I forget something so important?

Grandpa Winder lived another nine years then and died last year. His face, as if asleep, looked calm. I continued to work as a saint after Grandpa Winder died. However, the goddess never appeared again, and she didn’t even remember what happened that day.

But why did it come to mind now?

I finally realized who the child Goddess Gremia was talking about. Intuition gave her the answer before reason does. It was clear that she was talking about Heath. But isn’t Heath a little too old to be referred to as a child? It is too much to call him a child with that wide shoulders of his.

Then, I heard a new voice again in my head.

“To me, you are all children.”

It was the nurturing voice of the goddess that I had heard before.

I was surprised and looked around the black space where there was nothing. Before I knew it, a light shone on one side of the darkness, and the Goddess Gremia appeared surrounded by white light. The Goddess Gremia told me.

“It seems you have just remembered my request.”

“Goddess Gremia……?”

“I didn’t know you and that child would be like that.”

I was embarrassed in an instant. This is because I realized what the goddess meant by “be like that.” The stark time I spent on the Demon Realm passed through my mind.

“D, don’t tell me…. You weren’t watching, were you?”

“Don’t worry. I don’t want to see anything hideous like that.”

What hideous is she talking about… The goddess’s assessment was relentless.

“But from now on, make it obvious before you do that.”

This must be a dream before my death if I’m hearing something like this from Goddess Gremia herself.

There was a faint glow behind the goddess. As soon as I saw the light, I was so moved that I almost burst into tears. The light was similar to the energy of Grandpa Winder. It was clear, clean, and refreshing.

Is Grandpa Winder out to greet me?

He said he would stay healthy and live with me, but he left first without keeping his promise. Alone, in such a relaxed manner. I took poison in my room on the day of my grandfather’s funeral. I didn’t like anyone in the temple except for Grandpa Winder.

The priests were uncomfortable with me, Leo was awkward, and the Pope only intended to use me. I wanted to follow Grandpa Winder.

But I survived because of my divine power. I got a stronger drug and took it. It didn’t work, though. The power of the goddess in me soon purified any poison. I was forced to live. I thought I could die if I healed the sick and used the power of the goddess recklessly.

However, even if I used sacred magic to the point where I was exhausted every day, I lived the next day. It was the power of the goddess that everyone envied, but it was a curse to me.

So when Heath attacked the temple, I deliberately got myself kidnapped. I wanted to take the 100,000 gold ransom and run away, or die…… I wanted to end it anyway.

But it’s a good thing now. Just Grandpa Winder.

I said that when I meet him again, I will get angry at him for leaving me first, and I wanted to pull his beard instead of his bald head.

The goddess restrained me from walking toward the light.

“It’s impossible for you to meet Winder.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re still alive. The living cannot meet the dead.”

“I’m alive?”

I didn’t die from the poison made by Grand Duke Keith? I’m floating in a black space of nothing, and I’m alive? I thought the goddess came to meet me when I died.

“My alter ego. You have to keep your promise with me. You promised to save him.”

I remembered Leo’s story that he could completely unseal Heath through a human offering. From the beginning, my life belonged to the goddess. So I’m the key to the seal? To save Heath with my life?

“It’s not like that.”

But the goddess cut me off with a firm tone.

“There’s no way I’ll let my alter ego die.”

“Then what can I do? Heath, how do I save him…….”

“At this rate, the world will perish.”

I was stunned by the sudden remark. She must be kidding. She’s making all these lame jokes. But there is no smile on the goddess’s face.

“I’m not kidding.”

I only nodded awkwardly at the words that were added straight away.

“That child, Heathcliff, was born with the power of the evil god Ramuta. He’s been able to use a very powerful magic ever since he was born. And the evil spirit, Ramuta…….”

“He’s the god of disaster and destruction.”

I answered, recalling the words in the scriptures of the temple. The two leading gods and goddesses of the world, Gremia, is in charge of birth, and the evil god Ramuta is in charge of destruction. In other words, the power of evil itself that constantly destroys the world.

“Yes, if you leave him as it is, he has the power to throw the world into chaos. But a hundred years ago, I couldn’t purify the child’s power. It’s because the evil god Ramuta interrupted. That’s why I put him to sleep instead. Wake up when you’re ready to purify that power.”

“And Heath has woken up.”

I remembered the first time I met Heath. He didn’t mean to start a war or destroy the world. He used strong magic, but he was friendly and kind.

“Wait, but why is the world coming to an end?”

“The evil god Ramuta is back in the way. At this rate, the power of evil will soon wake up from that child’s body. By then there’s no turning back. Save the child before that.”

There was tension in her heavy words.

“What should I do?”

‘…….’

Then there was a sudden gust of wind. The wind that made it hard to open my eyes closed around me. The goddess said something more, but I couldn’t understand it well because of the sound of the wind. Light began to shine into the dark space.

No, there was still something left to ask the goddess. I shouted at the goddess.

“What can I do? Please tell me! Goddess!”

You’ll find out when you meet Heathcliff. Go, my child.’

That’s the end of my dream.

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