Chapter 80: Legend
"They're within you and me, Blaise." His eerie words echoed through helm, bringing a haunting silence.
As a heaviness covered the entire helm, the rays of sun flickered. There was the heavy breathing of three angles, who were still trying to process his terrifying words.
It echoed in their minds, and with each resounding, they felt the world turning dimmer and darker with no light. As the words lingered in their minds, there realised that there was no light in the eternal darkness, leaving them shivering.
'This is our world?' Blaise thought, his heart trembling, looking out into the darkness.
'There is no light. There is no light at all.' Lucas thought with a broken heart, his thoughts losing control as the darkness slowly consumed him.
'Although I suspected this. Why do I still feel this way?' Diana had a sad smile, her hands pressed to her chest as she breathed heavily. 'It's our world; A world without hope or light.'
The darkness was heavy and suffocating. It was twisted and crazy, like the abyss of creation. There was no light. It was just empty. It was indifferent. There were no boundaries to the abyss, only endless, empty darkness where everything ends. Forgotten and buried.
"Drink the coffee." A voice echoed in their minds, breaking through the darkness and pulling them out of the abyss.
They didn't ask or speak. They took the white cup and drank the coffee. They didn't care, even if their tongue got burned during it.
"Aucuses". Lilith said with a sigh. "You are pushing them over the edge. It won't end well."
Aucuses remained silent, eyebrows furrowed. He can feel their desperation, despair, fear and pain in their hearts and minds. It was forming a dark abyss in their hearts.
He knew Lilith was right. He pushed them to the edge. But the truth has to be told, cruel as it may seem. They need to know. He didn't want them to live in ignorance. He knew how they felt because he also had been there and went through it all. It changed him drastically, and in some ways, it was the catalyst for his ascension to godhood.
Not only him, all the gods have experienced it, albeit in different ways. The truth was something one had to know and come to terms with it. This was also a necessary phase that one had to go through if one wanted to attain divinity or godhood in the end. If this were not the case, the consequences would be unimaginable in the future.
'They really need therapy,' Aucuses thought with a sigh. He looked at them, who were slowly recovering due to the divine coffee. But their minds and their hearts were still scarred. These scars cannot be healed at all by his authority. They need help, professional help to deal with the scars.
"Can you ask Amanises?" Aucuses asked suddenly, looking at Lilith.
"I can ask her." Lilith nodded, turned and looked at the angels, who seemed to be improving on the surface, but their hearts told a different story. "But I don't know if she'll agree."
"I'll pay the price," Aucuses promised without thinking. His brows furrowed in concern and worry as he stared at the angels.
Lilith nodded and said nothing more. She closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.
An aura of tranquility soon descended over the table, with bright stars twinkling around them. The heaviness and depression in the air disappeared as a sense of peace swept across the helm.
Numerous night moons and vanilla flowers appeared from the stars and descended on the angels and gave them a blessing of night.
Aucuses noticed Amanises' gaze lingering on his angels. She also gave him a fleeting glance before the divine aura receded and the stars vanished.
Lilith opened her eyes, turned to him, and said. "She wants to talk to you in person after you return to Earth."
Aucuses nodded. He didn't think much into it, for he was focused on his angels of him. He can see that their emotions are settling and the scars in their hearts and minds are healing, albeit slowly.
Their complexion and condition visibly improved, as they should have achieved a sense of peace through the blessing of the night.
Aucuses sighed, he must say, the authorities of Amanines were too convenient. The authorities used by Amanines here were Soul and Night, while she still has Darkness, Concealment, and Misfortune.
He put those thoughts aside and focused on Blaise, who finally seemed to have some strength to speak.
"The fateful day had arrived. The Rose Redemption besieged Creator. In the end, we succeeded. However, before Creator could enforce "His" other plan to ensure "His" survival, I betrayed "Him" and disrupted it. Leodero and Herabergan quickly joined my side, and the gods, as one would expect, did not interfere. They simply stood by and watched betrayal and fall of creator."
"What? I'm telling the truth." Aucuses said, catching Lilith's glare. "Don't think all of you deceived me; I've always known all of you wanted 'Him' dead as well."
Lilith snorted at that and turned away, while Aucuses ended the legend with a sigh.
"The Creator has perished."
"His fall had many ramifications; the will of almighty has been greatly weakened. The barrier was also beginning to deteriorate. "His" remains crumbled to form the second blasphemy slate."
It completes the legend.
His angels were silent as they digested the vast amount of information in their minds.
"The legend should be enough to understand the true history of our world," Aucuses said as his gaze swept over them. "Well, before I let you all go."
He pulled something out of thin air and threw it at Diana.
It was Sequence-1 characteristic of the Hermit pathway.
Diana caught it in her hand. It took her a moment to realize what it was. Then, her mind went blank.
Blaise and Lucas were stunned, their eyes widening. They knew the gravity of what had just transpired.
Their Lord wants Diana to become the Hermit!
"Diana, rise to become King of Angels after your recovery." said Aucuses solemnly. "Then begin to prepare for apotheosis ritual. I will give you the uniqueness of hermit when you are ready. I expect you to become a god before the end of this era. Finally, you don't have to worry about Artisan, I'll make sure he doesn't dare interfere with your preparations."
Diana held the blank look. Her dream had almost come true, she should have been happy, jumping and partying all day, but there was only sadness and pain in her heart.
Eventually, she looked at the Lucas, who did his best to encourage her with simple and silly actions.
Diana and bowed to her lord, tears gushing from her purple eyes as her trembling hands held the characteristic.
"Thank you, milord." She said this in a strong and sincere voice, despite her pain in her heart. "I am eternally grateful. I will ascend, before the end of this epoch, to become a god."
Aucuses smiled, while sighing inwardly as he observed her mental state. Even though he expected change, he was still very worried, when he saw how much it affected them; Diana, despite her dream coming true, was not happy at all.
Still, he waved his hands at the sunlight. It began to converge before the three and morphed into his sacred emblem.
"You can stay on Voyager for a few hours to gather yourselves together. Then, inject your spirituality into the emblems, and it will transport you to Backlund's National Library. Hermes is the librarian there. He will be able to help you once you have given him the emblem." He issued the final instructions.
His angels nodded solemnly and took the emblem without hesitation. They bowed to him one last time before leaving the helm.
After watching them go in silence, Aucuses leaned back, shoulder slumped. He took the cup of wine from the table and began to drink it.
He and Lilith were the only ones now at the helm. And, he chooses to remain silent even after sensing her glares.
There was only silence between them, until Lilith spoke up, sighing in defeat.
"You were far too daring, Aucuses. You have offended all the outer gods by doing that. I can assure you that "They" are enraged and "They" are going to target you specifically in the future."