Mid Evening - Late Fall : The Tree of Prayer

- Leif Vilulf ~ (A few minutes prior)

*vvVwwWwWwOOooOmmMMM* It had been about 5 minutes since the ceremony began, and it was about time to wrap it up, but even though I needed to prepare my finishing speech, my attention was elsewhere.

-I wasn't just imagining things...- An ecstatic smile crept onto my face as I looked up to see the fog starting to circle the tree. -They're really here!-

It was truly surreal seeing the Fog of Sin start to move for the first time in countless generations. Not only was it a sign that the gods were present, but it was also an indication that an event was about to take place.

-To think I'd be able to take part in a Divine Appearance!- It was an event mentioned in countless ancient texts as it happened at almost every prayer for thousands of years when Siratha was being founded, but now it was simply a legend lost to time.

To describe it simply, it was an event where the gods would lift the Fog of Sin to make examples of sinful apostles, appoint new ones, and give out oracles and guidance as they deemed fit.

It was the god's way of keeping the apostles in check, to make sure those leading the common folk used their power to help the weak rather than dominate them.

At the time, it was an odd ideal, but after numerous perfect oracles, and undeniable blessings, people came to consider their decisions as undisputable and followed their word no matter what.

-I truly can't believe people ever dared to doubt such generous Lords... With their guidance, the dog-eat-dog world this nation had been, ever since people first stepped foot here, became a thing of the past...-

At the time, it made Siratha nothing short of a utopia, giving rise to previously unfathomable growth.

Even the Siratha of 300 years ago, when I officially became an apostle, was simply unrecognizable from the current nation.

-And it was all done to fit our Lord's guidance!- I honestly felt proud about what I had managed to accomplish in my time as an apostle, and although I didn't expect praise, I hadn't the slightest concern that I wouldn't be accepted by the gods.

At least that was the case until a few minutes after that when I finally traveled up the tree to see our beloved gods.

*tap-tap-tap-tap* Hastily running up the side of the tree, I quickly made it to a place known as the Gods' Abode, an area that the Tree of Prayer grew around to form a shelter.

"Woah..." I let out a breath of awe as I looked into the massive opening in the trunk lined with beautiful carvings and runes that perfectly matched the descriptions I read from ancient texts. -To think the carvings are still in such perfect condition after all these years...-

Continuing up the gradually decreasing incline, I quickly made it into the room itself and felt a childish passion deep in me grow like a fueled flame.

-So this is where the gods stayed...- The visible part of the ceiling was lined with ancient carvings that seemed to tell a story, and the ground was covered in a single, inexplicably colossal rune.

But at the very center of that rune, where I expected to see two over 200-meter-tall Fenrir sitting, I saw a single pure white Fenrir that could have only been 18 meters tall, laying next to a black-haired demihuman with a level of majesty that mortal beings simply couldn't obtain.

Even I, someone who had never had the slightest reaction to a man, felt my heart flutter.

The boy had his hands pressed firmly into Dagr's side with a calm expression on his face. It made me wonder if the boy was somehow Nott, but at the same time, neither Dagr nor Nott were ever known to have a humanoid form.

But before I could reason through that possibility, I saw Gulbrand, one of the apostles that was supposed to be under my guidance, dash out into the room and charge straight at them.

My thoughts stopped, and my mind went blank as I questioned what he could possibly be trying to achieve, but that was when he finally got close to them and threw a punch at the boy.

My heart sank like a rock in the ocean.

-

- Vasilias ~

*pshh-FWOOOSH* Throwing my head back with a thruster, I narrowly managed to dodge the incoming punch. -WHAT THE F*CK?!-

Before I could even look at the aggressor, a knee entered my aura just above my waist. -SH*T!- I tried to quickly brace myself, but it wasn't enough.

*cRaCk* A rib broke as my body bent around the man's knee. "Ack!" *CRACK-FWOOSH* I smashed through the sound barrier immediately as I was launched out through one of the openings in the tree trunk.

*Crunch-crackle* *crackle-CrUnCh* I smashed through several small limbs before catching myself on something.

But even though I couldn't tell what it was the instant my aura was around it, all that mattered was that it was strong enough to jump off of. "You're dead now, you f*cker!"

*CRACK* The odd protrusion shattered the instant I jumped off it, but even though I was well past mach... -It's not fast enough...-

*psh-RUMMMBLLEE* A wall of blue flames appeared behind me as I was slingshot through Mach 10 in an instant.

Setting my sights on the elven man as he reached his hand toward Ilios, I drew my sword in a fit of rage. -You filthy scum!-

I was moving so fast that I practically appeared next to him before I threw all my momentum into my sword. "DON'T YOU DARE!" *SHIIIING* My sword sliced into his flesh like butter, but once it got halfway through him, I felt like I hit a wall.

*DIIIIIIING-FWOOOSH* My sword rang like a bell as he was launched into the opposing wall, obliterating the carving that had been there for thousands of years.

He was bleeding profusely with his sliced-apart intestines hanging out of the gash in his side.

But the part that really sent me over the edge was when I saw that he was still alive.

*crackle* Clenching his fist, he ripped himself out of the splintered wood he was embedded in, shredding his skin and covering his body in countless cuts.

He looked possessed as he stood there while dripping blood, but I had no choice but to turn my attention away from him.

"Ilios, are you alright?!" I hurriedly injected an ocean of aura into his body, doing everything I could to help minimize the alarming amount of damage that had accumulated in the few seconds I was gone, but that was all before I realized Ilios had passed out. -Sh*t, why now?!- It was the one situation I wanted to avoid at all costs.

-I can't afford to be away from him if he can't move out of the beam on his own...- A mix of anxiety and fury filled my mind as I pinned all the blame on the man.

"To think you'd be able to obtain more divinity than this child in less than 20 years after being reborn..." A man's voice came from behind me, just outside of my aura. "You really are a monster... One that can't be allowed to grow..."

Looking over my shoulder with a fiery glare, I saw the man staring at me with a crazed smile on his face, surrounded by an air of confidence that simply couldn't belong to someone on the verge of death.

"You know, I used to wonder why they despised you two so much. After all, your influence and dominance over this pitiful world is what gave them the chance to grow and rise to power, but now I understand..." *cRAckLE* A gut-wrenching noise came from him as his skeletal structure morphed and changed. "As mortals, we all believed that the mountain only seemed impossible to climb because you two were gods, but once we eventually reached that peak ourselves, we realized just how impossible you two were to overcome."

Hastily calming my surging anger to stay rational, I did my best to make sense of what he was saying but was only left with questions. -If he really is a god, why did he have to possess someone to come kill me?-

It didn't make much sense, but at that point, it didn't need to. -All that matters is that he wants to kill Ilios and I...- *creaak* Clutching my sword so hard it creaked, I turned around to face him while keeping a close watch on Ilios's condition.

*Pop* The man casually popped his limp jaw back into place as his bones finally stopped morphing, leaving his appearance as something completely unrecognizable from before.

"But now look at you..." His smile was full of arrogance. "You used to be a monster that wiped out gods on a whim, but now you can't even cut through someone as weak as this apostle. Was trying to save that damned lizard worth it?" His smile only turned more psychotic. "How does it feel to be like us? How does it feel to be powerless in front of an insurmountable wall?"

His expression made me want to skin him alive, but I couldn't bring myself to attack first, not because of fear, but because of uncertainty.

Even without him being inside my aura, I could see just how ridiculously the fabric of space was bent around him. -For his presence alone to bend light...- The warp I had talked to a few days prior could barely be considered existent in comparison. -Just what am I about to fight...-