“Preparations are complete, Marie.” Aziz looked up at the floating artefacts that had been set up. Five of them, each around a metre tall and wide, were placed at one thousand metre intervals, each of them capable of capturing anything a few kilometres away…probably.

These things were something that Thunderbolt had carried with them as they left the South. The State Council wanted them to capture the moment of the East’s destruction, if…when such an event occurred. The Republic had clearly prepared for this — they had found a place for Thunderbolt to wait at, a place that had line of sight to both Mi-Zu’s and Feng-Lang’s shorelines.

“Thank you, Aziz.” She looked at the night sky. “This would have been far more romantic, if not for the fact that we’re observers of this important day.”

“How many people does the Eastern Territories have?” Aziz asked.

“Too many to remember,” Marie replied. “What we’re doing now…is to document their final moments. Can you feel it? The certainty within your heart, that the Human God will come.”

Aziz swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. Time ticked down. The other members of Thunderbolt had already landed on the island. Most of them were asleep, taking this chance for the last rest on land for the next week. Aziz and Marie were also standing on a smooth patch of land, watching the coastline of the Eastern Territories from afar.

Streams of air continued to streak towards their position as their men rested. These people were like them, observers sent to the East as the Human God’s deadline loomed. Most of them seemed to be Lords and beyond, judging from the sheer might emanating out of their bodies, but none of them were in the mood to speak.

“He’s here,” Marie muttered.

Before Aziz could look at where she was pointing at, the darkness of the night scattered before a radiant golden light. The soldiers of Thunderbolt sat up straight instantly, scrambling to their feet as an enormous, sun-like globe appeared above Feng-Lang and Mi-Zu. Shadows quivered and danced, stirring up a primordial fear within Aziz himself. He was too far to sense the energy radiating off the shadow beneath the golden globe of might, but the colonel’s knees were shaking.

“What is this?” Aziz felt an overwhelming urge to kneel, to prostrate before the small shadow, despite his logical objections against the Human God and his actions. Marie wasn’t faring any better idea, but she, like him, was not going to give in to their reflexes. Somehow, Aziz knew that Marie was also aware that kneeling here would change them in fundamental ways, and he reached a trembling hand out to her.

“The Human God is our progenitor,” Marie explained slowly, her words faltering and halting. “At this moment, he wields utmost authority over all life on the Five Lands. He is the source and the destination, the Bounded Presence of man and beast. It is our nature to bow down.”

Her fingernails dug into Aziz’s skin, but her knees remained straight, unyielding. The colonel forced out a bitter smile, and fought the burgeoning urge to kneel within him

Rings of gold light swept outwards, crossing the skies in mere seconds. Immediately afterwards, the pressure on Aziz’s shoulders doubled, tripled. His bones creaked, and within moments, he was on all fours. The Lords that had shown up had been forced to land, pushed down by the overwhelming might of the Human God’s punishment.

“People of the East,” a melodious voice rang out, “my words have been in vain. Not only have you failed to reconcile with the Lifespring, you are enablers in his passing. The demons are coming. They batter on the Great Divide as we speak. And yet… a pillar against the World’s Blight was felled by you, my own children.”

Waves, stirred up by the Human God’s words, slammed onto the small island Aziz was on with incredible strength, shaking the small piece of land. The colonel could feel a palpable anger radiating off the great god, something that could not be feigned.

“I name you traitors to your progenitor, to Orb.” The golden sheen turned into a blinding white light, and Aziz turned his eyes away. Right now, he could imagine the population of the East on their knees, helpless as the Human God passed down his judgement.

“Guilty of sins against the world. And for that, you shall pay the ultimate price.” The Human God’s voice echoed out with a solemn finality. The wind began to pick up. The coastline of the Eastern Territories began to shudder, deforming as the white light continued to flood outwards. The island they were on began to shake and fall apart, but that was nothing compared to the coastline of the East, which was visibly shrinking.

Please, thought Aziz, someone, anyone. Save them. Don’t let these innocents die. No one should be butchered like this, forgotten by all and remembered as a simple monument. Please!

Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see other soldiers, their hands clasped together. Like him, most of them were trembling. It was the East today — would it be the South a year later? No one knew. But one thing was for certain. If nothing was done to stop the Human God, a horrible precedent would be set.

And above all, millions of lives, who had little say in the political direction of the East, would be lost. No one would condemn the Human God for this massacre, just like the Second Extermination, and the lives lost here would be forgotten in the wake of the Preserver’s justice.

The horrifying light began to descend. When it landed…Aziz shivered at that thought. It would be the end of a continent, and of the innumerable lives on it.

Where were the Paragons of the East?

The secretive Demigod that supposedly resided in a secret area within the great landmass?

The colonel, withstanding the pain he felt in his eyes, forced himself to look at the East’s end. The blinding sphere fell slowly, painfully…and ground to a halt.

“Hold, Human God.” A majestic voice echoed outwards.

A grey film rippled into existence, intercepting the falling sphere, and a terrific wind whipped outwards where the two objects met. Whatever observers that were still somehow in the air were sent reeling backwards, but the pressure forcing them down had subsided.

“You.” The Human God spoke, his voice resonating in everyone’s ears. “You would oppose my judgement, Chanter of Innocents?”

“Mine purpose is in mine name.” The visage of an old, bearded man surfaced into Aziz’s mind. “In good faith, I cannot stand by and watch thee massacre the guiltless.”

“I am judge, jury and executioner. You would question my sentence?”

“Verily.”

“Show me, then, if you can.” Power, one that dwarfed the sphere’s volume in both might and quantity, began to radiate outwards from the Human God. “Prove to me your resolve.”

“Very well.”