February 21, 1976
Capital City Acrya, Holy Knight Estate,
(One Week Before Present Day)
(Riad's POV)
Humans. They're funny creatures are they not?
Everyday of the week, whether they be man or woman, each of them just love to put on this show of sophistication and advancement.
In reality, they are nothing more than savage beasts playing dress up. In the end, they still are nothing more but imperfect creatures….
Gluttony, Greed, Wrath and Sloth; all four sins that once originated from humans, and they dare run out around thinking they are one of the most superior species on Yggdrasil.
It's honestly enough to make me laugh, but in reality, it really doesn't. If anything, it makes me sick.
Especially those damn nobles...
Can none of them go an hour without flaunting their social status and money? How can a person look down on others when their whole lives were built on the damn backs of the minority?
In my opinion, it's really pathetic.
As I began to get lost in thought, my mind jumped back and forth between delusions.
Looking back on it now, I guess its not much different then back home.....
I miss Earth.
Okay, maybe I don't.
After finishing the rest of my glass with another swallow, I placed it on a table nearby before letting out a scoff of disappointment afterwards.
I sighed a little bit afterwards, subconsciously covering my eyes with my palm.
As I leaned against the fence, I realized that with every passing thought I had, the more painful the truth sounded.
Before long, I started diving even further into my mind,
spewing out random tangent of dialogue of incoherent yet, (in my opinion), perfectly valid statements about the fundamental flaws of society.
It was a little too chaotic to talk about properly, but if I had to simplify it, it would go something like this.
For the past several years during my time in active service, I had witnessed with my own two eyes the "corruption" that ran deep underneath the world.
Politics. Government. The black market. Whatever you can think of, I've most likely seen it, if not, "experienced" it for myself.
I absolutely despise the horrific fact of how
the slave trade system was so commonly accepted around the world.
As if it wasn't bad enough before, the people in this world literally built slave camps disguised as "orphanages" designed to take in children who have no where else to go, only to eventually sell off the poor kids away to who knows where, never to be seen or heard from ever again.
Some villages, hell, even literal governments, gambled the lives of their soldiers through terrible yet perfectly orchestrated civil wars.
Good virtued folks took up arms to protect their loved ones, and fight for what they believed was right before dying meaningless deaths.
All the while the bastards from "up high", hide behind the scenes and play their role as the puppet master.
And all for what, you ask?
The money, the expansive land, and the bragging rights of having exotic resources.
During wartime, many nations would label their dying soldiers under labels like "unable to recover bodies", but sometimes, the real truth to that is this:
Those bodies were taken and accumulated elsewhere to some hidden laboratory where they are to be processed, extracting and even selling organs rich with strong "spiritual circuitry".
In places like the Black Market, such prices were more expensive than even diamonds and gold itself.
Rinse and repeat this process with the help of a working business strategy, and we would be talking about enough profit to financially fund a small nation for several years on end.
Rumor even has it that some of the elf nobility from a few years back mimicked these same practices all the while driving one of their own clans to extinction.
But that was a morbid story in of itself, and a rabbit hole too deep to go into right now .
The things that I spoke of had addressed the boundless gluttony, greed and the wrath of the world itself.
And as one of the Holy Knights, I had the clearance to learn those truths, but disclosing their deeds to anyone was a different matter entirely.
To put simply, the
punishment of going "public" with anything that's truly damaging to our reputation is the death penalty, no questions asked.
These truths of how the world really worked is the very thing that keeps me awake at night. And for years, I have kept it bottled inside and never tried to address it, but unfortunately today.....
My "wrath" just wouldn't leave me be.
I seriously need a way to vent my frustrations. I'm too emotionally pent up for this shit. It's almost enough to make me want to explode in somebody's face.
If I could have my way, I would try shedding light on to the dark situation and reveal the truth to the world.
But unfortunately, not everyone are willing to learn the forbidden knowledge that torments me.
Once upon a time, there was this philosopher who compared the very concept of humans and everyday society to clueless, if not, helpless sheep being led to the slaughterhouse.
Let's just say I wholeheartedly agree with him.
The majority of people in which makes up our society are either too young, too naive, or outright too afraid to understand what is going on.
Let alone take action against it.
Here's an interesting question. If given the scenario, which would you choose?
Truth or falsehood?
Either way, the real answer is funny. Statistics say that, even if it was purely unintentional, a majority of people would rather live a life filled with easy to understand "lies", rather then accept and face the cold harsh reality that we call the "truth".
In other words, "ignorance is bliss".
By refraining themselves from asking the true questions, they would never need to stumble upon the painful answers that lie beneath.
The "cover up" agendas made by the government and what have you are what simply keeps the status quo, therefore making it easier to maintain order and keep everyone in line.
With the common masses subconsciously willing to turn a blind eye and deaf ear, it was obvious that voicing this through some public speech wasn't going to do, and pardon my language, "jack shit".
And let's say that even if it did, both knights and secret organizations alike would simply mobilize from all over the world quicker than a heartbeat just to silence me.
*Sigh*.
"The truth is stranger then fiction..."
Heh, everyday, I start to better understand the true meaning behind those words.
Unexpectedly, as this was happening, a bit of my suppressed magic was starting to show on my expressions.
Uh, oh.
It looks like "he" was becoming furious again, even beginning to whisper dangerous words into my ear yet again.
Having a couple minutes of being alone with myself and the...."beast" within me, I eventually grew tired of hearing my own voice.
Growing quiet, I stared back towards the sky. This time though, I wasn't enjoying the atmosphere.
I might as well be frank and just say it.
There is a certain man that I hate.
Someone that I hate so much, that I would go as far as kill him if I ever had the chance.
The problem was, he wasn't no regular guy, or even ordinary being.
No, he was one who was supposedly declared, "the father of creation".
To put things simply, he is the one behind everything. He is the he true mastermind as to how all this chaos existed in the first place.
Yes, as crazy as it may sound, I blame God himself.
That's why, on that one fateful day, I vowed to fulfill a certain promise with "that woman".
And my philosophy on this whole situation is simple.
If a god, the metaphysical manifestation of perfection, couldn't do his one job properly, then he should have no right to be a god in the first place.
And if the creation of said god reflected the failures of his mistakes, then wouldn't it make sense to just erase it and start from scratch?
I want you to ask yourself something. Putting aside the whole vendetta against God and whatnot, what is it that you think I'm after the most?
Is it justice? Peace? Salvation?
No.
During my years in active service, no, even earlier then that, the one thing that I have been searching for so long was something so dangerous that, with a mere snap of a finger, not a single trace of any vermin would exist.
It was a power that could bring about "justified destruction".
The very thought of it was enough to make me stare at my right palm for no reason.
"That is what this world needs. A cleansing. I'll show them all that there is no such thing as justice. Only truth and falsehood."
Voicing my promise and resolve to the world, crimson red and pitch bland strands of ominous miasma were emanating off not only my hand, but the rest of my body.
This intense amount of sheer magic was enough to create a rather violent and "bloodthirsty" aura.
After finally noticing what was going on, I ticked his lips in displeasure. As time passed, the "beast" that was inside of me was starting to get harder and harder to subconsciously suppress.
Since I share the same body with "him", the idea to just go on a frenzy and destroy everything in sight becomes much more tempting as the days pass.
However, as fun as that may sound, I'm not the type to be reckless. That's because I understand the importance of staying under control and keeping my emotions in check. Hence the reason as to why I try staying in a happy mood if at all possible.
Even if means, enduring through the moments where I reach my limit.
While it was close, the time is not yet ripe.
Right now, I wouldn't really gain much of anything from just randomly going on a mindless rampage.
If anything, it would just ruin all of the progress me and my "friends" had accumulated up to now.
Despite the multiple "setbacks" that I encountered throughout his journey, I have traversed through he and back, acquiring major necessary pieces needed for our master plan to work.
Slowly but surely, I and many others were moving specific pieces around the board that was called the world, or rather the universe.
Rather than rule with only a flawed dictatorship, I perfer to blend into the surroundings and build friendships, trust and/or other beneficial relationships of people in high places.
Instead of stepping into the light using my power to instill fear into the weak, I choose to bid my time from somewhere in the shadows, manipulating and creating certain key elements that will aid in breaking the very foundations of this world and the hereafter.
With a huge majority of the masses oblivious to these plans, I was setting up what would later become the "ultimate endgame" that will soon fall upon all of Yggdrasil, and possibly the omniverse itself:
To dethrone the clumsy bastard that sat at the top and become the next god in his place.
If everything goes according to plan, then the most potent force of magic would be in my possession.
The strength and the authority that could delete and create absolute and undeniable possibilities.
In other words, this allowed the user to create or remove a past, present or a future that cannot be avoided or ignored, even going as far as affecting, altering, or outright deleting living and inanimate paradoxes and concepts out of all forms of existence.
In other words, it was the power to warp logic and reason to such absurd levels to perform abnormal feats otherwise considered impossible.
This was the pure strength of unrivaled and absolute omnipotence…The power of Alteration.
And only one being in all of the Omniverse possessed that power.
A deity who created and governed over all known and unknown forces of creation, matter, timelines, dimensions, laws, rules, concepts and even causality itself.
All of this was but an example of his power.
Many people would refer to him as one of the many gods that exists, however only a small handful knew the true name of that unknown being.
The Godfather, Jezebel.