1

“Wake up Elias, were not done here”

A familiar voice, Jupiter, as deep and as coarse as ever, somehow even more devoid of emotion. As if stripped of something vital, and human.

Yet there he stood, as tall as a building and unharmed, blood stained his armor, and embers seemed to cauterize the scratches sustained on it’s metal, fusing them back together

“Is he dead?” I felt it would be best to ask, since the forest was gone, only the scorched remains of cut down trees remain, and only a few blood splatters remain, already being swallowed up by the flames.

“No, he sacrificed another part of his body to escape, next time we meet he will be much more dangerous.” He turned his gaze to far off, assumedly in the direction Kensei had left in, but what did he mean sacrifice?

All of this had to do with the strange power of Kensei, or of Jupiter, the both of them held power over magic that seemed to contradict it’s own laws. Perhaps this was the depths of mastery you needed to command to survive in this world, that which challenges the Gods.

Suddenly a sharp pain filled my mind, like so many voices crying out in defiance. My magic pushed against the corners of my body, my skin felt like it would tear, are the Gods so terrifying? Did Jupiter feel this pain when he used his power?

That wasn’t something to pry on, I could tell that he wasn’t in the best state of mind to talk, what had happened to the friendly and tough Jupiter? All that I see now is a broken and raging beast, words could cut that deep?

“Jupiter, our mission out here is to find the shrine right?” I wouldn’t have forgotten something so important, especially not now, I at least needed to remind everyone of why we were here. Europa was busy tending to Jupiter, she had climbed on his shoulders and was currently caressing his head from behind, in any other situation it would have been funny, she was nearly the size of his head.

“Right, that was just a distraction, it’s more important that you reach the shrine.” His voice was returning to normal, the emotion disappearing, leaving only the numb, and the tough Jupiter. With how quickly he recovered, you could barely tell that only an hour before he was more destructive than a natural disaster, and as heartless and aimless as one too.

That was his power though “no collateral damage”, somehow someway, no one he was defending was ever hurt, nor was he. It almost felt like cheat, someone reached from beyond the grave to stop harm from coming to him and whoever he was close to, the problem was that if he faced the same rules as everyone else, that protection would cease if he exhausted himself and passed out.

“Elias, I’ll explain everything later, right now we need to head to the shrine, you can hear it from the mouth of that God directly…”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

That’s right, we were going to have a communion, and speak with a God, The God of the Just.

2

I thought for a moment, I was meant to get firewood in this forest wasn’t I? and now the whole thing had burned down, I scoffed, under my breath…

It was a little funny.

That aside, the shrine was no longer hidden, the forrest was a web of lies, every tree looked the same and there were no landmarks, and indeed the influence of a God had warped it in such a way that only those with a completely clear mind could find what they sought.

At least, that’s what Europa had told me, she had also told me that the only way she could reach the inner clearing was by being unconscious, it was just that hard to completely clear your mind, but Jupiter had no problem navigating it on his own. The more I learned about him, the less I understood, like he was different, separate.

Kensei was also different, but not in the same way, the both of them clearly shared a kinship in their outlierness, but neither were on good terms, if the world now was separated by the conscious and the unconscious, were they on another level entirely? it was certainly possible.

All my theorizing had kept my mind occupied and before I knew it I was in front of the shrine, with Jupiter and Europa nowhere to be seen.

3

Before me was a dilapidated temple, clearly not touched by man in hundreds of years, its grand structure stretched and twisted in every direction, as if it were tree growing around an obelisk. Shards of broken glass were scattered across the dirt surrounding the shrine, almost like seeds…

I approached the shrine, sweat drenched the inner lining of my armor, it was hard to breath, and my power threatened to rampage, surely as the night followed day, I was in the presence of a God. This shrine was built to hold a deity, something that governed the very principals that held the world together, it would not be wrong to say this shrine was built to contain a shard of the world. The God of the Just, a half of a full concept, the twin Gods sharing the same name, they form the basis of communication and they are said to be able to control the very belief that humans hold.

Right, that’s what I was facing in there, if I wanted to truly know what to do with the world when it wakes up, I needed to face what was kept deep within the earth. Despite myself I felt a smile creep onto my face, the face I’ve never known, I couldn’t emote because of how messed up my face muscles were, but nevertheless I smiled. A God, within arms reach, why was it me? why did my spine tingle like it wanted to jump out of my back? was I really able to handle this?

My legs began to move, I wasn’t about to let the fear on pain stray me from my path, I have been sick and hurt before, this was only stronger.

My body screamed, my every hair standing on end, before I knew it I was at the doorway, long rotted away and wide open, the cavern that was the shrine to The God of the Just lie just beyond the darkness.

“What secrets do you have for me, God? I’m dying to know.” Whatever creature a God was, it already knew I was here, I was sure of that. Honestly I only spoke out loud to calm my nerves, but I needed to speak to something that had no reasons to hide things from me, what better subject than The Just.

Then, it spoke.

A long sigh, the breath of a God, darkness descended from the roots of the artificial tree enveloping the world, a warm feeling accompanied it, but that wasn’t all.

”Isn’t a sweet lie, better than the bitter truth?”

Cold

Sharp wind escaped the crevasse that was the entrance to the shrine, and beyond it, A Pair Of Glowing White Eyes, And A Devilish Smile.

“Human, I have Lied, more than anyone else.”

“Elias, have you ever told A Lie?”