Chapter 320: The beginning of the doctrine
"Mama,"
The sharp, high cry shattered the merchant’s bartering. Kael had spotted the silver hair at the edge of the square. For the first time in a month, the boy’s voice broke through his self-imposed silence, the word tearing out of his throat in a sob of pure, desperate recognition.
The sound warmed Alias’s chest and pained him all at once.
The bandits and the merchant spun around, their hands instantly dropping to the hilts of their blades as they saw the solitary, silver-haired figure walking toward them.
"Who the hell are you?" the leader barked.
Alias didn’t answer with words. He unleashed his rage for the first time since descending to the earth.
He didn’t touch the innocent, suffering people of the village. His wrath was surgical. With a flick of his wrist, the air pressure in the square dropped instantly. A wave of pure, concussive force erupted from his form, slamming into the four bandits before they could even draw their swords.
The impact was deafening; their bodies were hurled backward into the stone well, their weapons shattering into splinters.
The fat merchant let out a terrified shriek, scrambling backward into the mud as the very ground beneath his feet began to crack and hum with a terrifying, golden light.
They were fortunate; fortunate that he could not take a human’s life. But he was sure the enraged people would finish the job.
Those who had been abused and those who had been taken advantage of. So, he made it easy for them and destroyed the legs and arms of the bandits, as well as those of the merchant.
Alias walked through the chaos, his eyes burning with a blinding, silver fire. He reached the post, his fingers touching the ropes, which instantly withered into ash.
Kael threw his small arms around Alias’s waist, burying his face in the tunic, sobbing hysterically.
"I have you," Alias whispered, lifting the boy into his arms and holding him tight. "You are safe now."
Alias felt relieved that at least now the child was safe, but... this village.
He looked around at the village. The dazed, plagued citizens were crawling out of their hovels, staring at him with wide, hollow eyes.
Alias knew that if he left them like this, the sickness would claim every last one of them within days. They were miserable, desperate, and caught in the crossfire of a celestial game they didn’t even know existed.
This was also Norx’s doing. He’d know because Norx was very good at sending out plagues and drought. How much more from here was affected by this plague?
Did Norx plan to destroy this world once again? No, he could not let that happen.
Alias set Kael down gently behind him and whispered. "Stay here."
Alias walked to the center of the square. He knelt, his long, elegant fingers digging into the dead, infected soil of the marketplace, and all eyes were fixed on him.
He gathered a handful of the gray earth, stood up, and looked toward the horizon. With a slow, deliberate motion, he threw the dust back into the air.
As the sand fell, the restriction on his physical vessel completely dissolved. A brilliant, blinding wave of Ethereal light followed the dust down, exploding outward the moment the grains of sand touched the ground.
The light expanded in a massive, sweeping shockwave of pure cleansing energy. It tore through the streets, rippling outward to the neighboring lands and fields, descending into the choked, stagnant wells, and purifying the very water beds beneath the mountain.
The gray sores on the citizens’ skin instantly withered and flaked away, replaced by healthy, vibrant flesh. The foul stench of the air was replaced by the crisp, clean scent of ozone and morning dew.
During the purification, Alias’s human guise completely fell away. His body glowed with a terrifying, majestic radiance.
His divine halo appeared above his head, spinning in a silent, perfect crystalline circle that moved in a steady rhythm, and his simple linen tunic shifted, weaving itself into the shimmering, impossible folds of celestial silk that marked his true rank among the stars.
The villagers stared at the blinding deity standing in the mud of their town square. As one cohesive unit, hundreds of people dropped to their knees, pressing their faces into the newly purified earth, weeping, praising, and trembling before the miracle.
"The God of Light..." a village elder choked out, his voice shaking with absolute reverence. "He has delivered us!"
Alias looked down at them, his voice now carrying the deep, resonant echo of the higher spheres, vibrating through the valley. "Live kindly," he commanded, the words settling into their hearts like iron. "Live purely. Do not engage in acts that will tempt you to sell your very souls for coin. Do not trade in human lives. Take in the poor, shield those who have no refuge, and have faith. For only faith can alter the weight of your fate. And above all things... love."
Those words were meant as advice, to condemn the actions of the merchant and the bandits.
With those words, he reached down, picked up Kael, and turned his back on the valley.
He didn’t know that behind him, the villagers were already gathering the shattered stones of the marketplace to build an altar, establishing a fierce, unyielding doctrine based on the words he had just spoken.
As he carried Kael back toward the mountains, Alias’s mind was a storm. NORX, NORX, NORX. Every fiber of his being wanted to tear through the veil, ascend back to the crystalline halls, and strike his partner down for what he had done.
But as he looked down at the small boy sleeping soundly against his shoulder, a cold caution checked his anger. It might be a trap. If he ascended to confront Norx now, he wouldn’t know how long he would be gone. Time in the heavens was fluid; an hour above could be months or years down below. If he left Theo and Maya unprotected now, Norx would have an open road to finish what he started.
But why? Why was Norx doing this? He knew he had no regard for mortal lives, but this level of calculated malice, this desperate attempt to destroy everything Alias touched, was becoming unhinged.
It was as if he was losing his mind for real.
High above, in the silent, ruined halls of the heavens, Norx was indeed losing his mind.
