A Tale of Forgotten Gods

Chapter 66: A Blind Faith

The God was dead. Alongside, another God found his devotee, but things weren’t over yet. Not too soon before the chaos would unfold.

Mo Fei was away from them, amidst the pillars, he saw their tainted faces, etched with various expressions but all of them meant one thing. He must escape.

He tried to stand but before he could. The very next, a shadow fell over him. Mo Fei realized it, that wasn’t the comfortable shape to witness. Merely, all of that was just a nightmare that wouldn’t end. How pathetic a moment it was, his own legs couldn’t move, one ankle broken enough to not move.

With a soft, audible whimper, Mo Fei closed his eyes and prepared himself to look at the death standing ahead. Simple as that, unavoidable.

He opened his eyes, then tilted his head to face the Curator.

Shangguan was standing there, watching his futile attempt to move. His expression soon turned dark from the rage, the corruption that had taken over began to boil his blood within. His eyes that were pitch black before now burned with an unrecognizable ancient hunger.

The Curator launched his hand toward him and pulled Mo Fei’s collar from behind. With a crushing force he smacked Mo Fei on the wall, the dust crumbled down alongside stone.

The rock dug deep under Mo Fei’s back, he gasped and cried out a loud scream in pain.

From behind, Zhuo couldn’t watch. He rushed forward toward Shangguan, but he couldn’t have taken more than one step before someone grabbed his hand and threw him in the portal.

Xue Lan had thrown him out and muttered. ”Foolish.”

Zhuo’s breath was still fast, his heart was pounding so much. His body trembled and eyes turned watery, his entire figure began to shake uncontrollably. He wanted to scream loud, and let out all of his frustration, all of the things that had happened, he wanted to cry loud until his throat became sore. But he couldn’t, a warrior must not falter...

There was a veil against Zhuo and Mo Fei, a gap that wasn’t just physical anymore.

Xue Lan exited through the portal doorway, supporting Yi Jyuhan, but his expression didn’t change at all. He didn’t even look behind.

Alisa clenched her hand in a fist, she couldn’t watch it happen. Her eyes trembling, almost as if close to breaking. She slowly turned, but looked back twice, and as soon looked back again. She exited too.

Jim left the blade on the ground and with trudging steps, he exited through the portal too. Lin waited for a moment, she couldn’t accept that, she wanted to reach out, she couldn’t save Jian Yue... But at least one... Person.

She shook her head, and pressed her lips together before turning back. She only heard Mo Fei’s loud scream which made her feet stop, but that was it... She couldn’t help, it was worthless, the Curator was out of their leagues.

Lin’s lips moved, almost saying ’Sorry’ but she knew that it’d not heal anything. It’d not bring him here, it’d not drag him to safety.

The portal shimmered once, then slowly it closed.

Mo Fei watched the light go dim. He felt betrayed for once, but soon he knew that it was worthless, he’d have dragged them into that chaos too. Yet, he still wanted to call out their name, to take him back, so that the pain would go away.

His gaze flickered to Jian Yue’s silent body. His eyes were closed, his face was calm and peaceful.

He didn’t even have time to truly grieve.

Then the world blurred again and he found himself descending toward the floor, yet he clenched his Glaive tightly, not leaving even when the pain became unbearable. It was almost like a comfort.

Thud!!

The Curator smacked him on the floor so hard that his spine fractured. He gasped loudly, letting out a loud scream.

Shangguan lifted Mo Fei near his own face. ”If you hadn’t stopped me, I’d have killed every single one. Now, what did you get by that? You are going to get a death that’d make you beg for mercy.”

Mo Fei grunted, his jaws clenched together, his clothes soaked in blood. The bruises all over his back and arm, yet his hand never left the Glaive. And from behind the mask Mo Fei only said one thing. ”Haha... Hah... beg for mercy.” His glare hardened at the Curator. ”Bring me to death and your godless empire will fall. For you, I’ll open the darkest pit of hell to swallow you whole, don’t keep the devil waiting monster.”

Shangguan moved his hand to Mo Fei’s throat and clenched it so tightly that no air went inside. Then he threw Mo Fei toward the ceiling, hitting him on the hard rock. Finally, he appeared in mid air and held his throat again and thrusted him on the floor.

Behind Mo Fei’s thoughts the Serpent’s voice whispered. ”Great master, return to the Lightless realm! Lord Lightless, escape!!”

Mo Fei’s mask disappeared, appearing in the Lightless realm.

It was already too late.

Shangguan slammed him on the ground with a crushing force.

Mo Fei’s skull broke, the pieces of sharp rocks dug deeper. His body lay still now completely silent without any movement. His face was no longer hidden by the mask, the Curator’s gaze lay on his face once, then he turned toward the God’s corpse.

The story was over in a way Mo Fei hadn’t expected... but was it really the end?

The blood flowed on the ground, soaking the dust in crimson. Mo Fei’s entire body soaked in ocean of his own blood. His one good eye was only slightly opened, the faint glow flickered then slowly it dimmed.

The Glaive... it was still held tight in his grip, never wavering the grip, but the holder was gone.

Shangguan stopped near the corpse. Under the shadow of the ceiling, his back began to twitch. The winged bone in his shoulder grew, and expended over ten feet. Something moved in his back, he snapped his hand toward his head, only to fall on his knees.

Amidst the dark mist, the royal guards watched it happen. Their faces tensed as the words echoed in their minds. ”Run.”

Leaving him entirely alone, they stood and rushed out of the hall.

The Curator’s back tore apart with spider hands came out. With a sudden tap, a green fluid dropped viciously. As it did, suddenly the threadbinder’s artifact illuminated in a strange yellow light.

Words in a poetic, archaic language came out of the tip and curled around him. ’The light that forged the sun, the greatest ambition of cosmic purity. The light that began to hunt dark, to unfurled the sun’s purity. The darkness would sob for the holy lord.”

They made no sense... Yet. But they meant something, after all, not everything had been found by the cosmos.

Slowly, the hands broke. They detached from his back. The ancient hunger in his mind slowly melted. Above him, a pitch black string snapped.

Shangguan’s finger traced the ground, finally his eyes found the chopped head of his God. He whispered a few words to himself. ”My lord... my dear God... I don’t deserve to be yours, I don’t deserve to praise you. I don’t deserve to stand beside you, to admire your divinity. I failed you again...”

He reached his hands toward the artifact. He tried to rewrite the fate itself but as soon as he wrote the first word. ”Alive.” His heart stopped beating, and from behind him, a hand reached out toward the quill.

A pale hand of a man, it held the quill softly in his hand and curled his fingers around it. From behind him a few words echoed through out the dead temple of the God. ”That quill belongs to humanity.”

And with that, the soft, gentle voice was gone. Shangguan opened his eyes slowly, his heart began beating again. He stared at his empty palm and clenched it. ”Tch,”

He slowly stood up, dusting off his clothes. He didn’t hear the voice nor saw the movement of the hand. He just stared at his God again, the quill was gone, he couldn’t change the fate, but he was unsure himself whether he could. The artifact had no limit but he had no access to the Threadbinder’s authority; how could he use it without the will of ’Him’. ”It’s gone, only if I was an Angel.”

Shangguan turned and walked out of the hall way, his boots clicking against the ground. The dust touched his face as he came out of the hall way, shutting the door behind. He touched his heart once, the feeling of stopped heart still made him think.

The quill was stolen, or may have been reclaimed?

In the end, both sides lost. None of them turned out to be the victorious, none of them turned out to be defeated.

Both Mo Fei and Jian Yue’s body still remained there, utterly silent.

The group had returned, but they’d come back to get back their bodies. What was the point after death, bodies were just a borrowed ornament for souls, once they are taken back, the soul was left behind, just to remember the beauty.

What remained in the worlds were their efforts, their failures and their choices. But against fate, sometime even choices becomes incompetent.

Sometimes, it was just a semicolon of a story;