Gods… An existence that dwells beyond reality. They were the symbols of fate and the ramification of concepts. Many worship the Gods throughout the land. Whether they'd be the northern mountains, the southern seas, the eastern valleys, or the western fields.
Such worshipers spread the words and faith of their respective Gods. As a result, the existence of such Gods became even more prominent. Sacrifices were even given in exchange for the Gods' blessing. But questions arose amongst some of them.
Where were they? How much worship do they need? How many sacrifices do they want? Do they not care about their worshipers? Or do they think of their worshipers as slaves? That would have been better. But what if they do not exist?
Doubts emerged within their hearts. Their questioning thoughts began to fuel something within them. It was that. The Gods couldn't do anything to them. No matter what they do, even if they don't worship the Gods anymore. So why bother?
Following this was the birth of stigma against religion. The world where religion dominated began to fade, and the power of faith dimmed along with time. So, another question emerges with the recent events.
What gave birth to the stigma against religion? Was it the hate against God? Was it the devil tugging the strings of hatred? The answer to it was simple. It starts with doubt, and it ends with doubt.
To those who stigmatize religion, what if a being akin to a God materialized before them? Would their stigma against it fade? Or would more questions arise about the spoken God? Such things weren't important.
The most important was that the concept of faith became a reality.
God was real, and their questions had the capability to be answered.
And for faith to be born, the being must loo- be all-powerful.
――{<●>}――
In the center of a tiny settlement known as the Janus village, there was one house where the authority of the village dwelled. He was the village chief of Janus and had led its people for dozens of years ever since the exile.
His name was Dux Janus, a 40-year-old middle-aged man. As the village chief, it was his duty to protect and ensure the village's prosperity. That was, of course, his wish. But, the settlement he had built became a place of division and strife.
It was saddening and disappointing, not at his people, but himself for not being able to make his people content. He had dreams, though the cold reality kept saying otherwise. Was there really nothing he could do about it?
Such a question kept echoing within his mind, and there was no way to answer it. Besides, even if there was an answer, he had the entirety of his focus on his beloved daughter. He didn't have the manner and mentality to enact the given answer.
"Is your health becoming better, Erste?"
The chief entered his daughter's room while gazing at the bed with a worried expression. It has been two months since his daughter became sick. Because of that, the village he had built, along with many others, became divided.
It was a problem in itself, but the chief had all of his priorities on his daughter, Erste. She was the only remaining family member he had. He didn't want to be left alone in this world. And he didn't want Erste to leave him like his wife.
"*Cough!* *Cough!* *Cough!* I'm getting better father."
"The medicine you gave me is probably working."
A soft yet mature voice answered the chief's question. It came from a lady with onyx-black hair and unique pink-amethyst colored irises. She was somewhat beautiful, though she was incredibly pale because of her sickness.
She was like a beautiful withering flower awaiting its end.
"Are you sure? I can send more hunters to pick more herbs for you."
The chief didn't appear to believe the words of his daughter. Well, this was to be expected. Her appearance became even more, worse than the last time he had seen her. Erste's health wasn't becoming better. She was simply reassuring the chief.
"There is no need for that, Father."
"They need to hunt for food so that we can have meals for this week."
Erste didn't want her father to sacrifice his position as a chief for her well-being. She knew that it was impossible for her to get healthy. She was sadly fated to die. And her duty was to make sure that the living wouldn't be distraught because of her.
"But your health comes first, Erste."
He crouched and held Erste's pale hand with a resolute expression on his face. He wasn't giving up hope, and if there was a problem with food stock. Then he would personally solve that problem himself.
"There is no need to worry about the food stock."
"I'll take care of it myself."
The chief stood up and had a wide smile plastered on his face. He was confident of his abilities as a hunter and his strength as an umbra. There was a reason why he managed to build a village in such a dangerous biome.
"So the only thing you need to do is focus on getting healthy."
"You must not give up, Erste."
He slowly walked out of his daughter's room. The chief looked forward with a determined expression as he clenched his fist. He already had something in his mind that might save his daughter.
'I have to take the flower of Vita.'
Meanwhile, back in his daughter's room, Erste was in her bed gazing at the ceiling above her. There were times when she wanted to die so that she would stop holding her father back. If not for her, the village wouldn't have been divided.
Though, she was a coward that couldn't even hold a weapon. She was a useless daughter that couldn't even help her own father. Erste felt disappeared at herself.
'Why can't my father simply let me die?
It was Erste's question, and it was fated to be answered.
A couple of hours later, it was early in the afternoon. Erste still lay on her bed, deeply asleep, though her slumber was hindered when the outside became incredibly noisy. She then opened her eyelids and found herself staring at the expected ceiling.
She slowly moved her sickly body forward, and it took a lot of hard work. Simply moving in such a small manner was already enough to take a segment of her stamina out. Though, the cries of the villagers outside might make her move.
"The hunting party got massacred!"
"Oh my-"
"T-This is not possible!"
"Gather the elders!"
Different reactions came from the villagers after hearing the news of the massacre. Some were shocked, some couldn't accept it, and some were asking for the elders. There were multiple reasons for this. But the simple reason was that the hunting party was the only fighting force of the Janus village.
Hearing the words outside, Erste immediately got out of her bed. This jump of energy came from her throbbing heart, which was wildly beating. Upon walking to the door, she fell onto the floor. It was painful, but she gritted her teeth.
She climbed back up using the doorknob and slowly opened the door. She was breathing heavily and was already soaked in a cold sweat. Her appearance was excessively weak, but she kept walking forward until she reached the front door.
Erste held the doorknob of the front door of their house. Her pale arms were shaking as she hoped that nothing bad would happen. She closed her eyelids, imagining her father to be only injured. After all, her father was the strongest umbra in the village.
He shouldn't be very injured and would be waiting for her outside.
'That's right. Nothing can kill my father in this misty forest. He's a powerful umbra that managed to establish a settlement and protect it for decades.'
She turned the doorknob and walked out of the front door. She went outside the house only to see multiple bodies on the ground covered by ivory silk. Many villages were gathered around the bodies with each of their depressing reactions.
The cries of sorrow, the loss of hope, the confusing chaos, and the rising anger. Erste could see many clear things from the villagers around her. This was the first time the Janus village fell into their dark times.
With the hunting party gone, the Janus village was left defenseless. There were retired warriors, but they wouldn't be able to last long against the terrors of the mist. At any rate, Erste walked forward, heading to the center where one corpse dwells.
She had a shocked expression on her face, and the light of her pink-amethyst irises had already been lost. Her body should have felt weak, but Erste couldn't feel anything. It was as if she was nothing more but an empty husk.
Erste crouched and held the edges of the ivory silk that covered the body. Her pale arms kept intensively shaking as if not wanting her to open the covered body. But no matter how much hesitant she was, only the truth was before her.
So she opened the ivory silk and saw the entirety of her father. Or what was left of it after having half of the body eaten by the terrors of the mist?
"*URGH!*"
Erste felt sick as shivers ran across her spine. Tears began to escape from her eyes while she covered her mouth with her shivering hands. What she was seeing was a sight she had never thought to see. A horrific sight that will never be forgotten.
The corpse of her father was far from complete. The bottom layer of his body got eaten by the terrors, and he lost his right arm from it getting bitten off. The eyes of her father were still opened, though it was cold without the brightness it formerly possessed.
This was how her father died, in the most horrifying manner. Erste knew that her father didn't die in an instant. The broken fingernails on his remaining arm were evidence of that. He resisted the terrors despite being eaten by them.
"F-Father…"
Erste's tone was broken while tears kept pouring out from her eyes. The answer to her question was given to her. The reason why the death of loved ones was something most would want to avoid.
It was too painful, and it was something that could break someone. The death of someone important will always change one's self. They might look the same as before, but one would always feel their change.
'It should have been me.'
'Why?'
"W-Why?"
Erste stood up while clenching her fist. Crimson blood kept dripping from her hand, though she was still unfazed. But as she looked forward, she noticed everything differently. The world seems strange, as if it wasn't real.
Upon turning her head downward, what she saw shocked her. Despite standing upward, Erste found herself still crouching on the ground, frozen. The body kept itself in a crouching position while she was standing to it.
The others looked at her with saddened expressions, though they weren't looking at her. But the one crouching on the ground along with her father's corpse.
It was at this moment Erste realized that she had died.
Erste had many questions, but she couldn't find any answers to them. She gazed at her own pale hands in confusion. Though it didn't take time for her to accept it. It was hard to believe since the umbras were believers of knowledge, not uncertainty.
But she was experiencing it, the feeling of being a spirit. It was none other than the truth, no matter how mystical or strange it was.
"I died? Just like that? Haha, Am I cursed?"
Erste chuckled as if mocking herself whilst everything around her faded into ashes. The village, the people, the misty forest, and her father's corpse. They all disappeared only, leaving behind a field of a seemingly vast and endless wasteland.
She was sure that she was becoming hysterical with time. Erste was losing her sanity as the seconds passed by. Would she be stuck in some afterlife? Or would she fade in the annals of time, forever trapped in this void?
"Am I alone?"
This question was something Erste could surely answer. Its answer was somewhat clear. She was far from being alone. In this pitch void, Erste wasn't the only one dwelling in such a place.
There was another one.
And in this wasteland, it was something Erste could only consider as one thing.
"A-A God."
It was a horrifying monstrous being that sat on a massive throne rivaling a mountain as it penetrated the abyssal skies. Its body was entirely covered in pitch-black as dark as the void. While its eyes glowed in crimson amethyst, resembling a lustrous star.
It was an entity that stood above everything else. Such a terrifying being sat on the throne as if it considered itself the ruler of the world. And above all else, it was something that wasn't supposed to exist.
It should only be a figment of fiction and imagination. Something invisible and not real. Though, everything was wrong. It was real; they were real. It was right in front of her.
A Deus.