The dog light acolyte leaped, narrowly avoiding the tortoise light acolyte's attack. Thundering explosions echoed in the sky as the two divine beasts clashed. In the front row of spectators was a frail middle-aged man. He observed the praying holy men, blind to the ferocious battle raging in the sky.
Above the frail man, an ancient serpent coiled, its golden body emitting a faint glow while its eyes shone brightly, fixated on the battle between the light acolytes.
To the side of the frail man was Alan the future prophet of the church. Alan like the rest of ordinary people was blind to the light acolytes who lived among them. After his conversation with Al, a change occurred. He had started to suspect that his god might not have the best intentions for humanity.
Shortly after that, a change in his vision had taken place. He could see subtle distortions above the heads of exarchs and priests he passed. Similar distortions were above the head of the current 5th apostle who was seated next to him.
"Apostle Mortly, you've seen how these festivals end. Are you scared?" Alan asked, his voice carrying the blunt curiosity of a child. Apostle Mortly remained silent, his gaze distant.
As the distortions in the air intensified some of the praying holy men became unconscious and had to be escorted out. Alan looked at the crowd of seated spectators. All eyes were on the praying holy men and occasional flashes of light above their heads. All except for a woman with pink hair who was next to a red-armored woman and a man with armor that looked like stone.
"Those three are companions of Al and emissaries of New Ark City," Alan recalled. While he couldn't see the eyes of Red Queen or Raging Stone who both had helmets he could see the moving eyes of Pink Bunny. "What is she looking at?" Alan asked himself as he concentrated on the distortions.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn't discern past the distortions. As the number of praying holy men dropped an idea struck Alan. It was so obvious that he felt like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner. He began to pray, communing with his God as he had been taught all his life. "Show me the truth that is you."
Upon his request, an electric impulse shot up from the base of his spine, like a lightning dragon racing toward his skull. His vision blurred, colors blending together as his eyes were forced shut. When he opened them again, divine beasts clashed above the praying holy men, their bodies radiant with white light.
He could hear a thundering voice calling his name. The voice was powerful and exuded royalty yet it sounded distant like an echo. In the next breath, Alan opened his eyes he could move again but now he could see divine beasts doing battle in the air the praying holy men.
The bodies of the beasts were made of a beautiful white light. Alan's mouth was agape he intuitively knew that the beasts were manifestations of a singular light. Their beastly forms were a reflection of their vessel's instinctual intelligence.
Alan was almost shaking from the sudden transformation he had undergone. He looked around wondering if he had drawn any attention to himself but he hadn't no one had taken their eyes from the festival.
Regaining his composure Alan turned towards 5th apostle Mortly. Alan's eyes widened at the sight of a golden-coiled serpent hovering over the 5th apostle. Its bright vertical eyes met Alan's. "Observe." The serpent telepathically spoke to Alan before turning towards the battle of the light acolytes.
Only three holy men remained they were all exarchs. Their light acolytes were the dog, the falcon, and the lion. Among them the dog was in the worst condition its light had begun to fade and its exarch was sweating profusely he had grown pale and coughed up blood multiple times.
"If this continues exarch Otis is going to die." Alan realized. Before Alan could say something the serpent light acolyte placed its tail in front of him gesturing for Alan to continue watching.
The falcon transformed into a giant eye, aiming for the dog it shot a powerful beam of light from its pupil. Zig zagging the dog transformed into a pack of dogs some of which were destroyed by the beam of light.
Approaching the giant eye the pack of small dogs reformed into the big dog. Only feet away from the giant eye the dog turned into a spinning disk attempting to slice his opponent.
Before it could do so the lion intercepted the spinning disk which transformed back into the dog. The lion clamped down on the dog's abdomen, tossing him onto the platform near the praying exarchs. Otis felt the pain in his own body, a heavy exhaustion seeping into his bones, but he pushed through, focusing all his might on the words of his prayer.
Otis huffed loudly momentarily losing his breath. The pressure he was under felt like his head was about to explode.
The lion and the falcon teamed against the unrelenting dog. Otis felt a numbness spreading throughout his body and his face grew cold.
Ignoring the condition of his physical body, he focused on what had pushed him to this point. He focused on the nights he had spent as a youth in the temple reading and transcribing the thoughts of his ancestors. After he'd lose himself in the mysteries of man he would walk the temple grounds with the stars speckled in the infinite expanse above.
In that infinite expanse, he was so small so insignificant. Yet he found comfort in his insignificance and smallness. No matter how old he got or how many mistakes he accidentally made he was forever a child in the arms of his creator.
That humble beating heart of Exarch Otis was like a symphony that only Alan could hear. The spectators including Red Queen only heard something akin to a trumpet due to the entire colosseum vibrating violently.
The dog resonated with the symphony coming from the Otis creating a synchronization. Both of them began to glow like the sun and floated to the sky. The lion and falcon retreated back into the bodies of their exarchs.
Three suns could be seen in the sky the spectacle was visible to the people. The smaller two suns merged creating a tall human body; the new 5th temple of the Church of New Light, Temple of Otis.
With the sharp armor and helmet with dog features, the Temple of Otis looked like a celestial dog warrior. The remaining light coalesced into 12 small blades that floated around him.
In that same moment, the serpent above the old 5th apostle uncoiled itself and turned to look at his host apostle Mortly one final time. For a fraction of a second apostle Mortly's eyes grew bright as he raised his hand reaching out toward what was a glittering light to him. "We'll forever be one, no more dreams." he hoarsely spoke. There was a slight twitch in the serpent's eyes however its countenance remained cold.
That ancient snake then shot up into the sky like a reverse lightning bolt and it exploded into a rainbow-colored light. Alan could see the 5th apostle Mortly take his last breath as his light acolyte exploded in the sky.
The crowds began cheering and congratulating Exarch Otis who was now Apostle Otis one of the 9 Temples of the Church of New Light.
The crowds were oblivious to the light acolytes. All they knew was what they saw. That was Otis transforming into an angelic being and the sky exploding into a rainbow after apostle Mortly had passed away.
Alan looked to his side apostle Mortly's deceased body was being escorted out by fellow exarchs. Alan had no words for the events that were unfolding before him but he began to feel a sense of nausea.
The people knew apostle Mortly was going to pass as this was the purpose of the festival. The rainbow-colored light was a sign that apostle Mortly's soul had entered the kingdom of heaven, his body had merely been a shell.
Temple of Otis had descended unto the empty platform, only he had remained. He turned to the crowd and with a voice that shook the sky he addressed the people. "The light of the body is the eye. Therefore if your eye is one, your whole body is full of light. But if the eye is evil, the body is full of darkness. No mortal can serve two masters!"
The crowds listening understood the words were a reference to their holy books. To them, the Temple of Otis was speaking on his union with the light. But Red Queen listened to the words and trembled. She had read the holy books of the old world and was familiar with the verse and it was the key to a question she had kept for a long time. The idea that this entity had read her mind made Red Queen feel like an alien intelligence had made contact with her.
"Am I... are we all unknowingly serving this entity?" Red Queen's mind started flooding with doubts about reality itself. She then remembered the cultivators she had met throughout her life and the pieces began falling into place.
Red Queen placed her shoulders on Pink Bunny and Raging Stone and brought them close to her. "Listen up you two, were small fish in a big pond. I want you to pay close attention to what I'm about to say." She whispered to the two.
"Cultivators strive towards immortality. Through their Will, they go from servants to masters. But New Ark City is different we too have reached Immortality but we have relinquished our Will to a material God and so we remain servants to both." After saying that Red Queen let go of the two.
Pink Bunny and Raging Stone had never seen Red Queen behave so personally. Pink Bunny hesitatively said, "Senior Red Queen are you saying we should start cultivating?" Raging Stone remained quiet but he had a similar question.
Red Queen turned her attention to the concluding festival "I'm not telling you to do anything. What you do with the words I've shared is up to you." She replied, beneath her helmet a burning fire had been ignited in her eyes.
Back on the platform the Temple of Otis had transformed back into apostle Otis. He was completely healed from the injuries he had sustained during the festival. He introduced himself to the people as Otis Plyersworth. After a speech on his appreciation for apostle Mortly, he was escorted out of the stadium.
Alone standing on the sides of the front row Alan pondered. "This is not a festival but the life cycle of light among human hosts. If darkness truly exists I wonder if it is as parasitical as the light."
****
Hundred of miles east of the Church of New Light in the blue skies of New Ark City, a tower known as Hero's Tower stood above the rest. Its top floor was flooded with activity. Heroes were coming and going from the floor.
Inside the main office of the floor, Carlinn Ioaniss was seated in a leather chair. Ragjiel a middle-aged gentleman with a goatee and Jeremy a young man with a blank stare stood at Carlinn's sides.
Across from them was Yulia the head witch of the spiritual institution known as the Hidden Hand. "What Loh' did to Robert and A.R.M. was unpredictable. Our members have been so busy trying to pinpoint the exact date of when the Rakh-ahtan might attack that we never considered an attack from within." Yulia explained with a tone of remorse.
Carlinn took a deep breath. He skillfully masked his true intentions, his voice filled with feigned remorse. Inside, he relished the thought of revealing his true power. "Let us not dwell on the past," He said.
Maintaining a pained look Carlinn continued. "Loh' and Asoto' are still in hiding. Have the Hidden Hand shift their attention to locating them." With those words, Carlinn dispatched Yulia from his office.
After closing the door Carlinn changed appearances from a young black-haired alchemist into Taczlopalic a decrepit skeleton. With a wave of his right hand, the wooden desk transmuted into a metal cauldron. Ragjiel watched with reverence as Taczlopalic transmuted matter as easily as waving his hands while Jeremy retained his empty blank stare.
Taczlopalic's eyeless skull turned to Ragjiel, his voice like grinding gravel as he spoke. "While Yulia locates those two blue apes for us, we solve whatever potential problems arise," He then turned to Jeremy and asked him if anyone aside from the Tonovians might pose a threat to his power.
Jeremy's eyes began to glow as images flashed through his eyes in a trance-like state he answered, "Bee Maxx will discard his Sprite Node and rush to the Church of New Light to bring them against you. An Immortal Ring of Cultivators will come from the East after being contested by what is left of A.R.M."
After speaking Jeremy's eyes returned to their empty blank stare. Taczlopalic's eyeless skull turned to Ragjiel and began lecturing him "I've taught you the method to creating living homunculi such as Jeremy. As you can see they are quite useful with potential futures. However, they are more suited as encyclopedias for alchemical recipes." Pausing Taczlopalic recalled the blonde woman who had just exited their room. "Yulia's channeling of the mineral world tends to be more accurate with locations and timelines. If you can you should have her teach you a thing or two someday."
Ragjiel nodded respectfully "Yes teacher." Taczlopalic swirled the green liquid on the cauldron and an image began forming on the liquid's reflection. Taczlopalic and Ragjiel could see Bee Maxx through the liquid reflection.
Bee Maxx was slowly flying through the forest with his sprite node at his side. Past every other tree swarms of bees would come flying out gathering into a massive cloud of bees. In a split second, the bees swarmed the sprite node.
Taczlopalic was connected mentally to New Ark City's Heart Drive he could see the vision of the sprite now belonging to Bee Maxx go dark.
"Do you want me to go after him teacher," Ragjiel offered but Taczlopalic raised his hand stopping him. He gestured to Ragjiel that there was no need. Mentally Taczlopalic ordered the two most powerful Heroes of New Arck City to trail Bee Maxx.