Chapter 346: Obsession...
Julian could not see another method where everyone could be happy. He couldn’t kill a god of creation, nor could he assure Norx that if he stuck close by and tried to be a good person—or rather, a good fallen god—that he would eventually love him.
He couldn’t promise that. But he never knew what the future held. Maybe, just maybe, Norx could finally avert his gaze.
Maybe he could find who his soul truly yearned for.
Maybe he would fall for another.
Norx felt a sudden flare of offense, his jaw tightening as he prepared to pull away and anger snapped in his chest. But Julian only hugged him tighter, his grip unyielding as he refused to let the fallen god retreat into his isolation.
"Don’t think of it as an insult, Norx," Julian whispered softly into the quiet of the void. "In fact, do not think at all right now. Just... live... and love. If you are by my side, it will torture you initially, I know that. But in all the times where I averted my gaze toward Theo’s soul, did you ever turn your gaze as well? Did you look around you?"
"Never!" Norx choked out, the answer bitingly defensive.
But it wasn’t exactly something to be proud of. Julian gave a small, incredibly gentle sigh. "And that’s not a good habit. You know, I used to tell my students back when I was a simple teacher that if they look at their phones all day, and the moment it runs out of battery, they just put it down and go to sleep, they will never see the things going on around them."
Obsession was a cruel and dangerous thing.
"They will never see the exciting and amazing new experiences they can get. Just being on social media and playing games doesn’t let you see much. You need to actually look to see. And I assume, across a thousand years, you have never once averted your gaze. That is why you have never seen another that suits your taste."
Norx narrowed his bloody eyes, his voice cracked and stubborn. "I don’t want to see another. I only want you, Alias."
Julian nodded slowly against his shoulder. "Yes, that’s how it is at first. And that is exactly why I am asking you to come with me. Come with me and open your eyes. See the world. This time, with so much around you, so many places to look and so many people to see, you will never know when your eyes naturally avert from me. Just... give it a try. Please."
Norx went entirely quiet. The dark void around them seemed to settle, the jagged edges of the pocket realm softening. He didn’t... he didn’t want to avert his gaze from Alias. He didn’t want to see another person. He just wanted to love him. Only him. He wanted the cycle of rejection to stop.
This was Norx. Always so bullheaded, and always so childish.
Then, Julian did something the fallen god least expected.
Julian gently lifted his head, cupping the side of Norx’s face. He leaned in and kissed his lips.
It was a soft, gentle, and entirely pure kiss. It was a kiss of promise, completely devoid of lust or romantic longing, carrying only a profound, divine empathy.
This was Julian’s first time kissing someone who wasn’t Alaric by will—Aurelian doesn’t count—and though he had absolutely no plans of ever doing it with another again, he did not regret his actions now.
This kiss... was a bridge built across a thousand years of hatred. And it was one that Norx would finally feel... finally understand from.
As Julian pulled back, a faint, radiant smile touched his lips. His blue eyes teared up with golden tears as Alias’s soul fully supported and merged with Julian’s decision.
"Get rid of your restraints, Norx," Julian whispered. "Let’s love the world together."
Something inside the fallen god finally broke. The rigid, venomous walls of resentment he had spent a millennium building crumbled into nothingness.
All he ever wanted... All he ever truly sought through this millennium was the warmth that came with a single kiss. The warmth that came with this recognition. Alias did not become his, but somehow... some way... It felt like... His heart had finally found the peace it had yearned for.
Norx’s eyes overflowed with fresh, clear tears, and with a broken sob, he buried his face deeply into the fabric of Julian’s blue robes.
He cried. He cried so loud, so messily, his entire body shaking as each ragged, hitching breath expressed the raw depth of his accumulated pain and sorrow.
"I’m sorry, Alias... I’m sorry..." he wept, his voice completely muffled and small against Julian’s chest.
Julian held him, resting his hand on the back of the god’s head, feeling an immense sense of relief. This was the right thing to do.
The iron outside didn’t need to slay a god; the light just needed to reach him.
And then he wondered, If this had been the action Alias had taken from the start, calmly sitting and talking instead of yanking away Norx authority and then putting the life of his lover in danger, would things have gone a much simpler way?
He closed his eyes for a second. In the heat of the moment, one can’t exactly think rationally and nothing can be done about it. Besides, if they had happened, the souls might’ve never been split and this side of his consciousness would’ve never existed.
Julian opened his eyes and shifted his gaze, looking past Norx’s shaking shoulders toward the shimmering, blue digital fragments of Maya’s soul.
As he watched her, a deep, pervasive warmth spread entirely across his chest, anchoring his consciousness.
"Let’s... go home," Julian murmured softly.
The blue digital shards of Maya’s soul didn’t shatter further. Instead, under the warmth of Julian’s gaze and the sudden, tranquil clearing of the void, the glitched fragments began to stabilize.
The sharp, trembling lines of the interface softened, melting away their constraints until the glowing blue light gently wrapped around itself.
With a faint, melodic chime that sounded entirely human this time, the silhouette of Theo’s sister gave a small, peaceful nod.
Her translucent hand lifted, pointing toward the upper boundaries of the darkness where a single crack of natural light was starting to tear through the abyss.
Julian held the weeping god for a few more quiet seconds, letting the heavy, messy sobs slowly run their course until Norx’s breathing finally stabilized against his chest.
The suffocating weight of a thousand years of malice was dissolving into nothingness, leaving behind nothing but a tired, empty soul that was finally ready to try again.
"It’s time to wake up," Julian whispered down into the black hair of the god, his voice perfectly centered.
