Being content with creating insignificant splashes in the sea of life was something Isaac frowned upon. If one's ripples ended in a mere century or two, had they truly existed? This world had been spinning for billions upon billions of years, at least according to Archmages. So what was a century? A fraction? Even that gave it too much credit. It was nothing.

“Don’t you agree, father?”

It wasn’t a question Isaac wanted an answer to. After all, it didn’t feel right to force an answer from someone who couldn’t even tell what was asked. His Majesty, the Protector of the Arjies Kingdom was confined inside a lightless room as if he was livestock. Beside him was the chained bodies of his family, all lifelessly slouched on the walls.

The Emissary of the Kingdom, the one chosen by the Goddess Aria was seated upon a table within the room, a smile blooming on his lips whilst he ran his fingers across the cold iron. Shivers passed through his body, but he felt his smile melt away the harshness. His mind wandered to small, fragmented snippets of past memories as he looked at the sleeping body of his family. Sliding off the table, Isaac willed himself towards them, crouching down before their bodies.

Narrow. In a land without light, Isaac still felt his vision restrict when gazing at their faces. An unseen weight pulled down his father’s brows, his siblings still carried slight traces of blood that he hadn’t had time to cleanse and the distress on Dianne’s face still remained clear even without her consciousness.

He wanted to extend his arm out. Yet, the slight tremors that pervaded his fingers kept pulling him back. Even still, Isaac steeled his heart and continued to push his arms just centimetres away from Adam’s head,

A sigh.

That was all Isaac could do. Hovering above his face, Isaac’s arm continued to quiver. Though they shared a negligible distance, Isaac felt that it could not be bridged.

The world itself was closing in on him. All that remained in his vision was the face of Adam. I can’t breathe.

Isaac jolted back. Doing so, the arms of Dianne that were spread behind him broke his balance, sending him to the floor. With a thud, Isaac felt himself be embraced by a piercing frost.

Laughter paraded from his mouth.

“Well, who knows, father. Maybe I’ll return, maybe I won’t. Let’s hope your family can make it.”

—

“Gather round, gather round! Another Revelation is blessing our Kingdom! Gather, I tell you, our Kingdom’s struggles will be heard!”

These words would be heard anywhere all throughout the Kingdom. After 5 months, the Goddess’ will was about to descend upon them and guide the way to prosperity. People came in doves into the Limitless Mountain, all with their own conversations about what was to come. Step by step, thousands upon thousands trickled in, filling the area within an instant.

“Another one? So soon? Mhm, Goddess Aria has been blessin’ us thoroughly recently. I wonder if we merchants can get another profit from this Revelation. Keke, last time we really hit the jackpot. Who’da thought those random orbs we kept collecting would be of use? Ahh, praise you, Goddess Aria!”

Night had fallen, giving stage for the stars to demonstrate a grand stage. Even for them, however, tonight was playing a show on a much larger scale. Each star gave off an intense burst of luminance, as if they were on their best performance for tonight.

Though hours had passed since news of the Revelation coming, there was an abundant number of individuals still pouring into the Holy Land. However, the crater formed upon the peak of the Limitless Mountain had already begun to reach its maximum capacity, forcing the newcomers to stand on the trails that led to the summit.

Finally, as nearly the entire mountain became dotted with people, midnight struck.

With that, a streak of light plummeted into the centre of the mountain, hurling ripples of gleaming gusts in all directions. The mountain itself shook, miniature cracks slowly emerging from multiple areas. But the people held no fear. No, there was nothing close to fear within their eyes.

Utter reverence. All bodies had dropped to their knees at the agglomeration of light, bowing their heads as far as it could go. Blood had leaked out of the heads of certain individuals due to the impact of their bow yet not a single person paid any mind to it. Everything about them was being concentrated upon the light.

The stars seemed to be screeching, bursting with a brilliant radiance that looked to be swimming to the centre of the mountain. There it was. Life was swirling into the vague outline of a mouth that had formed inside. Petals arose from the air, starting to solidify the outline of a body.

An ethereal voice drifted into the air.

“My dear people.”

Roaring silence washed over the mountain. Hundreds of thousands had arrived, but not a single voice could be heard. Tunes of the birds had halted, the thunderous howls of the animals all ceased for this night.

There was only being permitted to rule this night.

As more petals circled into the mouth, the voice spoke again.

“There is a great unrest dawning upon the world. Evil will strike the heart of every mind, and the serpents will arise once again. Your innocence will be defiled by their fangs. But you are my people. I declared you, the people of Arjies Kingdom, the children I would look over with earnesty.

“I am ashamed to face all of you, at this moment.”

Hearing this, some heads began to shake. Words were pounding on their lips, begging to jump out in defense of their protector. However, they forced themselves to be silent. They had to be quiet,

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“There truly is only one way to save you all. Please forgive me for being unable to derive a solution to save everyone. This evil…the world will be corrupted to its core. Every mind will wail in despair when it arrives…but not us. I humbly beseech you. End your lives here, in this world.”

The night had been painted into white. Not only the Arjies Kingdom. But even neighbouring Kingdom’s had taken notice of the day that had descended only for them. This was not the main concern of the citizens of the Arjies Kingdom, however. All bits of attention had been shifted on their new revelation.

“...E-End our lives?”

An Absolute Rule had been broken by someone; a life that should've ended right then and there instead received the jittering eyes of the people around him. Some blinked with extra force, as if to convince themselves that this was a mere figment of their imagination. So, they reached out to pinch a cheek.

Distinctive pain was felt. This was not a dream.

Their Goddess had decreed for the entirety of the Kingdom to perish by their own hands.

Who was the Goddess? The being who imbued power upon the First King of the Arjies; the being who brought prosperity to their crops and harvest; the being who would grant their own power to the residents of the Kingdom to fend off attacks. A being who was directly responsible for thousands upon thousands of lives still existing.

She…wanted them dead? It couldn’t be.

There had to be a reason.

“G-Goddess, what do you mean? End our lives?” The soft voice of a young boy reverberated throughout the mountain, carrying the unspoken will of every individual there. Hearing this, the light had dimmed.

“I…am sorry. There is no other way. You will return. Please, do not worry about that. Place your trust in me, and I will pave a new way. The force striking the world is not something that mortals were meant to face. There…was no other way.”

Silence, once again. Every scream raging inside the minds of the people could not materialise out in the real world. The Goddess had never been wrong. But what if she was wrong just this one time? Life's value only became something appreciated whenever one felt that it was in risk of ending. The essence of their existence would be upturned in chaos as they felt the scythe of death arrive to harvest. There was only one, frail voice that managed calm the tumultuous sea called fear.

“There must be a reason.”

With a face whittled down by the tides of time, an old woman spoke aloud, ignoring the prior set rules. Instead, she lifted his head that was facing down. Her eyes perused the hundreds of thousands of heads that all looked downwards. In her younger days, she had clearly felt the touch of the Goddess and how dearly they had looked after the Kingdom. This life…it was one saved by the Goddess in the first place.

Was it wrong to return it to the Goddess?

With a hardened determination, she launched his head upon the firm ground, feeling a stream of blood leak out from her head. Again. Again. And again. The woman became immobile at her 5th strike, her head imprinted upon the mountain. Surrounding her was a small puddle of blood that slowly seeped out towards others.

Breathing itself became loud. It was only due to that why the deep inhalations that came from multiple directions were heard clearly by many. In its steps followed the dull thuds that could be heard from the ground. It...simply made sense.

With that, the breaths of hundreds in proximity tightened. They followed the lead.

Cries of determination, cried of fear and cries of shock. One woman's determination spread a wildfire, spreading across the entire mountain.

Puddles became sheets. Sheets layered upon each other, and soon they became a pond. Ponds crashed into each other, and eventually, it became a dam. A dam that could not hold itself in anymore.

Flowing from the top of the Limitless Mountain, a river of red sullied the new day. Rather, it overrode it in its entirety. The light rapidly withdrew its wings, all syphoning into itself whilst the petals continued on with their masquerade.

All of it led to a single, weightless figure within the centre. Isaac de Vespertine. Emissary of the Goddess, and the one who conveyed the words of the Goddess under normal conditions. He stood atop the mountain, peering at the dampened rocks that he stood on. The natural blanket of darkness had once again returned to the Arjies Kingdom, making it troublesome for Isaac to fully grasp the depth of the vermillion he saw.

“411,952 souls have entered my body. Hmm, did I leave too many people? No, no, this has to spread far and wide. The ones who were truly grateful to the Goddess would’ve come here, leaving only the less devoted. If there are good people, there must also be bad; people who aren’t fond of the Goddess will most definitely leave the Kingdom and spread what happened here. The more the merrier.”

Nodding at his words, Isaac began to trek down the mountain, listening to the small splashes that came about his every step. An odd sensation came over him in the midst of this endeavour. His steps…were they sinking into the ground? But, why did he feel as if he was being thrown into the air? His world felt distorted. One foot forward.

My foot has disappeared. Did I ever have feet? No, I don’t think I did. How am I walking, then? Oh. I’m not walking.

Without even noticing it, Isaac found his back drenched from the blood. His hair too, felt the slow corruption from this fire.

Fire. Why is the world burning? Ah. How? I made sure all the Archmages left the Kingdom. Even the Runemasters…what? What am I even talking about?

His eyeballs rolled around, looking at the sticks that had been shoved into his shoulder blade. Was that what they called an arm? It had to have been. After all, those things called legs also were made of sticks from the looks of it.

But, who was this?

"Hello, Goddess."

Before he managed to fully get a grip on where he was, Isaac thought it would be good to greet the figure he currently saw. The ink hair that was neatly cut to her shoulders and the wisp of gold that brushed on her eyes could only mean one person—the Goddess of the Kingdom.

“Why? Why, Isaac? Why!? Why, why, why Isaac?!” His greeting didn’t seem to be appreciated, much to his dismay. Instead, he was tackled down to the ground and felt her fist smash into his face. Blood? Ah, complaining about that now doesn’t feel right.

He expected…more words. But rather than talking with each, he was having a face collapse in on itself. Did he even look like a human anymore? …I can’t smile now. No. After showing me this much mercy, I shouldn’t provoke her anymore than this. Aha, truly, what a sight this must be.

Strike after strike, Isaac felt skin tearing out from his face, but there weren't any signs of exhaustion on her body at all. Who knew? Getting clawed hurt like crazy, Isaac found. The soil his head rested on was becoming dirtied with his own blood, and more importantly, extremely uncomfortable. I’m on the brink of death. I won’t really die right now, will I?

She eventually came to a rest after looking at the blood oozing out from Isaac’s eyes. Her body collapsed to the grass adjacent. Both of them laid there, facing up to the endless clouds.

Indeed, a new world it was. Though his vision had reduced to a single line, his body could instinctively tell where he was. The Domain of Goddess Aria—Selyia.

“Fine. So what’s the hidden agenda to this? I know you must have a way to bring them back to life, so tell me right now what it is or else I’ll kill you regardless of the cost. Screw you, Isaac. Self indulgent asshole who does whatever he deems fit without a single care about the people with him. I felt it. I felt everything! And you did everything, even whilst knowing I would feel what my people had to feel! You sick fuck, how could you?! Mental magic on innocent children, innocent civilians?! You made hundreds of thousands of people kill themselves, for what?! For what, you bastard?!”

Goddess of the Arjies Kingdom, a being who transcended mortals, endlessly howled at the Emissary she had chosen.