Back to humanity

In the quiet of the night, when the dormitory was silent and the only sound was the soft snoring of the workers, I slipped out of my bed and crept down the hall and made my way towards a room full of books and artifacts.

It had been several months since Raphael shared his story with me, and my desire to understand this world had only grown stronger.

Sophia read me the contents of some of these books many times , so learning the vocabulary went smoothly.

Perhaps it had something to do with this body's ability to memorize well.

It took me a week to really understand the scripture they use, and after I was able to read the language, many of the books here were actually quite interesting, though there were only about eleven or so books.

Night after night, I returned to the library, eager to learn more about this world and its mysteries.

As I read through the books of the facility’s library, I wasn’t able to distinguish between fact and fiction.

There were so many borderline mythological stories here that just sounded unbelievable to me.

One such book was titled ‘Traveling Around The world’, written by John Wonders. In essence, it’s a guidebook that contains the names and unique characteristics about the various societies on the world.

For example, it alleges the existence of a continent mostly populated by human-like creatures called demons. Although the author notes that the population there are impoverished due to a lack of food and political stability, the people themselves are very kind towards foreigners and their families often stick together like glue.

There was also a bestiary titled ‘The Monsters of Elshire’, which talks about the different kinds of animals and beasts that roam the region of Elshire, the region where I live in.

However, there’s one story that was the most interesting of the bunch by far.

As I read through the story of Sophia and Alexander, I found myself completely absorbed in the tale.

The real story is far more epic, so I will condense it to the best of my abilities:

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there lived a young man named Alexander. Alexander was an intelligent and wise son born into a family of rebels who opposed the rule of the tyrannical king of the land. The rebels had been fighting against the king for years, but their efforts were in vain.

One day, Alexander met and fell in love with a beautiful young woman named Sophia. Sophia was the daughter of one of the king's most loyal supporters. Despite their families' bitter enmity, Alexander and Sophia began a secret affair, and soon they were deeply in love.

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Simon, Alexander’s best friend, was able to keep the relationship hidden for far longer than it should have been.

One day, the king found out about their relationship, and he was enraged. He ordered his soldiers to capture Alexander and bring him to the palace.

Alexander was brought before the king, who demanded that he renounce his rebel family and swear loyalty to the king. Alexander refused, saying that he would never betray his family or his principles.

The king was furious and ordered Alexander's execution.

Sophia pleaded with her father to spare Alexander's life, but his hands were tied. Simon tried to take the blame in Alexander’s place, but his request was firmly denied. Sophia was heartbroken and knew that she couldn't live without Alexander, but Alexander was happy knowing that his love and his friend would be safe.

She refused to accept this, and devised a plan to save him from the king's wrath.

Sophia sought out a powerful sorceress who lived deep in the forest.

The sorceress told her to walk from the mountain Zam, towards the mountain Zara three times, and so she did.

Her legs hurt, her clothes were tattered and her muscles were torn, but she continued all the way until she reached Zara for the last time.

A Valkyrie descended from the skies and healed the barely able Sophia, and she was glad to assist her, but in return Sophia would have to give the ultimate price.

she was given a divine vision.

In the vision, she saw Alexander being executed by the king's soldiers, but she also saw the rebels rising up and attempting to overthrow the king, but they were massacred just a few days later. However, if Alexander lived, the rebellion would succeed, and the king would be deposed.

She knew that her sacrifice would be worth it if it meant that her beloved Alexander would be able to live to see the day when justice would be served.

Sophia thanked the Valkyrie sincerely, but she just shook her head.

“I will always be with you.” She declared.

“Now hurry, time is running out.”

On the day of Alexander's execution, Sophia appeared before the king and his soldiers.

Sophia, and released the boy.Deaf towards Alexander’s protests, she pleaded with the king to spare life and offered her own life in exchange.

The king was shocked by her request, but firmly denied it.

Sophia, furious by the king’s answer, pointed towards a group of aristocratic families who chuckled and laughed at her bold attempt of self sacrifice, and declared: “By the grace of the Gods, smite my enemy and make them pay.”

In that moment, a massive lighting bolt hit the people who were at the tip of her fingers in the open field, leaving nothing but ash in their awake.

The king was flabbergasted at this show of power, and immediately ordered Sophia to be seized and restrained.

However, the girl yelled that “The king will be next if you won’t execute me in place of Alexander!”

Even if Sophia killed the king and their enemies and ran away with Alexander, she knew that they could never truly be happy, that they’d have to hide for the rest of their lives, and that both of their families would promptly be executed.

And so, against the cries of Alexander, the king beheaded Sophia and released Alexander.

He returned to his family, and with his bravery and Sophia's sacrifice, they were able to behead the king and bring peace and justice to the land.

Alexander ruled over the lands with benevolence and compiled a celestial scripture which covers the creation of humanity and their history, values and morality as well as the letters that were exchanged between Alexander and Simon, and not just the country but the whole continent entered an era of peace and prosperity, until he died at the ripe old age of one hundred twenty three.

The people began to worship Sophia as a divine martyr who had given her life for the cause of justice and Alexander as the man who guided and liberated the people under divine enlightenment, and the legend of Alexander and Sophia's tragic love story became a cornerstone of the new religion that emerged in the kingdom of Sylvaria, which eventually spread throughout the continent as his sons and daughters became kings and queens of their own in all parts of the central continent.

The believers of this religion call themselves the “Aurelians”, meaning the ‘Divinely enlightened’ or used to describe Alexander’s golden era.