Chapter 30: Aspects
"...and that's pretty much what happened. Honestly it was like taking candy from a child"
Amon and Renfi were currently alone at her office which had a small addition of a poster next to the door. They were currently discussing how he dealt with Sarah.
"How is it even possible that she believed you just like that? A demon approaches you out of nowhere and says everything you stood for was a lie. Was she that naive or was it that your ability influenced her to that extent? Are you sure she didn't just pretend to agree with you just to save her skin?"
Renfri seemed a bit doubtful as to how all that was even possible.
"You seriously question my judgement? I will have you know that I can sense the emotions of others and when I influence them enough I can even hear their thoughts. It's impossible to lie in front of me so if you think she simply pretended to agree with me you are wrong"
Amon was clearly in a great mood as he boasted about his skills.
"Then what was that whole charade for? To make Arthur believe we were really pleading our case?"
"Of course not. You see, in order for me to influence someone I need them to be… vulnerable. For example they need to experience intense emotions or have some hidden desires I can exploit. Remember how I played with you until you were utterly terrified of me? This time it was a bit more complicated since I also needed her 'aspect' to be temporarily unusable as to make sure she won't be able to resist me but it was easy to do so since the Church of Purity was practically crippled when it comes to understanding their 'aspect' but after that was dealt with and when I pulled her into my illusion and made her interested in what I had to say it was as good as over. At that point if I seriously wanted to I could make her believe she was an overgrown chicken although that would take a bit more time and of course most of what I said to her was straight up bulls*it"
Renfri felt bittersweet about this but was really curious about those 'aspects' that he kept on mentioning.
"I am guessing that part of your storytelling about 'aspects' was true since you constantly mention them. What are those?"
"Oh my I practically forgot you are completely ignorant in that… aspect"
Amon grinned widely as he made a terrible pun and that caused Renfri to look at him with an expression that said something like:
"I swear I will pull all your teeth out if you say something like that again"
Of course she did not say that out loud but Amon got the memo.
"Okay, okay calm down. You don't want another silly poster covering another hole do you?"
"I'll see"
Renfri was not amused and Amon judged it best not to overestimate his luck. He knew well by now that she had some anger issues and to say that she didn't like him would be an understatement so his expression turned somewhat serious so as to avoid any unnecessary… hole making.
"Very well… In order for you to understand what 'aspects' are and how they work I need to explain to you a bit how our world operates. The best way to do so would be to compare our world to an organism and there being two organs that ensure it's working properly. The mortal realm in which all living beings exist and the afterworld or hell but you probably know that since it's common knowledge. What you however don't know is their actual function in the greater scheme of things and that being… souls and the flow of which that makes our world tick"
Renfri had her brow perked up as she did not understand how that was related to 'aspects' in any way but did not interrupt him since what he was about to explain was even more interesting.
"Every living being receives a soul upon one's birth. I can't really say how they are created other than the world itself wills them to be but that hardly matters. What matters however is that every soul possesses a small amount of the world's… I am not sure how to describe it properly. Consciousness? Will? Authority? Anyway that's the reason we can affect the world with just our thoughts alone and is pretty much the origin of magic and 'aspects'. Magic uses knowledge to control and develop that tiny seed into something greater whereas 'aspects' try to tackle it by making yourself a part of the world thus increasing it that way"
"Then how does for example understanding what 'purity' is make you closer to becoming a part of the world and what use does faith have in this if any?"
"What? You want a guide as to how to become a God? Sure why not… So at first you need to pick an 'aspect' and it's best if it's not occupied as only one God can occupy one 'aspect'. Then you have to slowly learn what it represents and act upon what you learned but before that though, make sure you comprehended it properly since well… you saw yourself what can happen if you suddenly realise you were wrong and it gets worse the further you develop a faulty understanding of it. After that's done however and let's say a couple years passed and you are certain what your 'aspect' represents you can finally start merging your existence with the world for which some conditions must be met. Firstly you need a large amount of spirituality which can be achieved in a couple of ways for example using faith or a heaven defying amount of nora crystals and secondly you need to be acknowledged by the world by proving you are worthy of representing your chosen 'aspect'. At that point from a simple follower of an 'aspect' you evolve into a being that represents it, an Angel and from that it's pretty straightforward. You just have to make at least a couple of millions of people believe you are in fact a God so faith is pretty much required to do so at that point"
Renfri just learned how to become a God but she did not feel any awe or shock and was rather calm. Maybe it's because Amon explained it so casually as if what he described was extremely easy? She was still a bit confused as to how faith could achieve something like that though.
"Then how is it that faith is so powerful?"
"Did I not mention that people have the power to influence the world with their thoughts alone? That makes faith the most powerful tool available…"