Afterwards, I passed the remaining manuals to Mia to assign and headed for the bed since sleepiness washed over me. I was surprisingly tired and intended to skip the meal in order to get to close my eyes faster. I unintentionally saw the finished Monument, which was about six meters in height and almost tripped over my feet when saw just how much of a change occurred to it.
Something told me there was more to it than what it currently showed; however, I had no way of knowing just yet exactly what those hidden secrets might be.
"Maybe I'm just overthinking it again..."
After considering the situation, I took Alexandra and headed towards the 'dinner hall’ that I promised myself I will make into a proper building soon. Before feasting could commence, I let everyone know of Alexandra's accomplishment and warned the others about not even thinking of attempting such a stupid thing.
+2 Intelligence attribute points gained! +3 Dexterity attribute points gained!
With that subtle reprimand covered, I silently accepted the attribute points I gained and declared day 12 done. I fell into the bed after washing slightly and before I knew it, my consciousness vanished in the pits of time.
“Even if you keep running away, sooner or later you will have to face your past… Let’s start by telling you a story…”
A deep voice I haven’t heard from the dungeon in the demo, quietly made its way into my ears and the scenery chanced with it…
“Someone once said, that in order to understand who we are, we have to know our past, so we can avoid repeating it. However, for you to completely understand who both of us are, you must go to the beginning, when we were the same person. There you find out how the truth became story, story became legend and legend became myth, of course after small modifications from Lucius. And there you have it... the story of humankind! It is quite funny if you think about it. After all, grudges cannot be held for longer than a thousand years, even among family members. You will understand soon enough what I mean.
However, this is the story of Earth and humans, after how Chronos, the God of Time, wanted us angels to know of it, telling it to us, in order to pass it further to our descendants..."
Back in the early times when the Earth was covered in darkness and it was still empty, one being decided to change its fate and make it his domain. When he reached this newfound place, he discovered to his surprise that this small planet was in fact divided into three realms: the sky, the earth and the underground. He was astonished by this planet's complexity, therefore he decided to get it out of darkness and created a small, young star near it, in order for light of life to be bestowed upon it. Nevertheless, in the absence of light for such a long time, nothing existed there except for an empty landscape and a lot of water. And so, Chronos started working arduously, creating the fauna and the plants of this world. At least that is what he told us... but, he was a lazy-ass old man, you can believe that much, so in my opinion he found that place as it was and just imagined doing that himself in order to have a better story to tell. He was such a braggart…
However, he felt lonely after some time passed and decided to create a "contest" in order to populate the planet. It seems that it exists somewhere out there, another place far from Earth were angels and gods used to live. That was supposed to be Chronos home planet and apparently, he called angels from there to this place. But of course, none of them knew how cunning this guy is and the poor lot actually came in large numbers.
[I want you to build a magnificent city in each of this planet's realms. The most beautiful town's builders will be rewarded with much happiness!](Chronos)
That was what he told us. So, he separated all of them into three groups and left us to start working. You see, we angels are not as different from you humans as you may think, after all we were the same... the only thing is, that back then, all angels were immortals, body and soul. Therefore, an eternity did not seem like such a great idea without anything to do... and of course, getting bored easily, we started working even if we were not that attracted by the idea of a reward. I mean what could we want more than what we already had. We back then and our brother Lucius were in the group that was supposed to build the city in the realm of the Sky… maybe that’s how it all begin…
After a long, long time spent with various tools in hand, we finished it. It was an amazing city surrounded by clouds and inside it, a palace truly fit for a God. When he came back, Chronos was so pleased that he decided to reward us anyway. We were already immortals and after such a long time spent living, we were pretty informed... so he decided to give us a gift like no other: wings! We were happy beyond words, after all it was our dream to fly since... well since forever. He rejoiced himself seeing us so happy and went down on Earth, in order to check-up on what others have done. However, things were not so fine down there. It seems that the Earth was so beautiful that the angels could not decide where to build their city. So, they have split into small groups and spread around the globe building small villages here and there. Chronos got so angry to see that he hasn't been listened to, that he gathered and addressed them directly, preparing a punishment fitting for their disobedience.
If us from the Sky were rewarded with wings, the angels underneath were cursed with mortal bodies and memory loss. They were now ageing and their bodies were rotting away, while it seemed that all the knowledge they once possessed, was now gone. It was a sad thing to witness…
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[You are not worthy of being angels anymore! As so, from now on you will be called earthlings as reminder of your love for the earth being bigger than the one for me and your disobedience. Go now, leave from my sight and fill the cities you've created with you and your offspring.](Chronos)
Such was the start of the humanity. We watched them having to learn everything all over again. They were primitive and stupid, thing that was a bit funny.
When one of us asked Chronos why did he left their souls immortals, he answered "Because they have done one part of what I asked them! Now when their bodies die, their souls will come back to me and all the knowledge they once possessed, as well as the rest of the eternity will be spent by my side!".
However, it seemed that after a time, some souls decided not to go for the Sky, embracing the generous God Chronos. A big part of the souls, were entering the third realm, the Underworld. Then Chronos was finally reminded of the third group he sent down there. He went to see his city but found nothing, not even his workers. However, he saw a large number of human souls there, unable to die, yet tormented by the flames of the center of the Earth. He was puzzled by this and didn't knew what to do.
The bad part was that, as always, he came up with an idea, one that was going to change everything, forever. He came back into the city we created for him, and to honor us even more he named it "Heaven", as in his natal language it represented the luxury and the beauty of this city. Then he selected a few people he saw working at this city. Between those people were us, Lucius and some other angels he picked. Believe it or not that, Adam and Eve thing you all heard was somehow true, because it was a special person we have fallen in love with. She was more of an forbidden fruit than the ones in the stories because of her brother... called ironically Lucifer. All I can say is that we and her fell in love really fast after the first time we saw each other. She and Lucifer were also present by our side, so when Chronos called us urgently sharing with his angels what he saw, he also shared his newfound idea. It seemed somehow bizarre... but after a short while we understood why. In fact, only after ten thousand years I was able to figure it out...
[Human souls are suffering in the Underworld. I saw that and that made me decide on something! You are my most beloved angels, the one that helped the most in creating the city worthy of a God. So I decided to offer you as an extra reward, complete control over this three realms. I'll give you a moment to think about which one you want, and then when I’ll ask you, we will decide where you shall reign as God's protectors.](Chronos)
His decision was so surprising that rendered all of us speechless. Now we were to decide which domain did we want. The problem you see, was that each one of the six present angels there, wanted something. Of course, after seeing what the Underworld was like, neither one of us wanted to go there. I figured that Chronos was testing us in order to decide what we are going to protect as his precious followers. I came to the realization, but only after much time passed, that between all six of us were bonds existing, bonds that were different from one another, but at the same time strong like no other. Us and Lucius were blood related and even if we had our conflicts, we were powerfully tied together by our sibling blood… or so I thought. The same was for Lucifer and Laura, being blood related they probably were stronger as a bond then us and Lucius. And then, there were Gabriel and Andrew, two other angels which were friends of us and brothers also. Above all Gabriel was looking up to Lucius as a brother and a friend and Andrews felt the same way about his brother Gabriel. We were in love with Laura and were really good friends with Lucifer. So we were three pairs of siblings each one different from one another, yet all of us bound to selflessly chose what we wanted to protect, disregarding those closest bonds.
[Before you make up you mind, remember this: you must choose between three places and 5 people, because everyone one of you will rule one land by the side of another.](Chronos)
Saying that was supposed to make thing easier for us, or so I thought, because in reality, we didn't know what to choose, or maybe we did and deep inside our hearts didn't want to admit it.
After a while, Chronos called us back in order to hear our request and decide who gets what. We bowed our head and kneeled in front of him. Then we herd what he decided all along, before we could make up our minds, because after all, being a God allowed him to hear our thoughts and know what our answers would be even before we give them. It also seemed that something got him rather wrathful.
[Before I tell you what I have decided, Andrew, I heard your thoughts being sincere and honest. Share it with the others and I will keep my promise to you, making them become true!](Chronos)
[As You wish my Lord! The humans disobeyed you indeed. However, they are now helpless without you love or some guidance. I want to help them through their dark period and lead them to more peaceful and wealthy times. That is my only wish. As for a partner, I will have anyone you see fit to choose for me.](Andrew)
[Yes my angel! Indeed your wish is pure and honest. As so, I will keep my promise and entrust you with the Earth and the humans. You will take the rank of 'Seraphim' and I will grant you knowledge of all the languages that are spoken now and the one to be spoken in the future. Come, stay by my side, my Red-winged Seraphim.](Chronos)
We watch Andrew walking slowly towards Him, sat in his right and gazed at us while we were waiting an answer from the God of Time. It seemed almost surreal what was happening back then. However, something got Chronos restless. Knowing already what choices did he had to make, even if he saw the future and the repercussions of his actions, it seemed pretty hard to decide. Only recently did I find out, that were those actions that led to his demise. If I think about it, he made those choices knowing that some day it would kill him, make it even more God-like in my heart and soul.
[As for the rest of you!] -He shouted out loudly pointing on three of us- [Your thoughts were insincere and selfish. At least three of you! So, I’ll be keeping my promise only for two of you completely and for the others I’ll grant only one part or none! Hear me out, because this is what I have decided!](Chronos)