Chapter 67: The Birth Of God

Time distorts around me again, and this time, in front of me is a scene far too familiar – yet a scene that I should not be familiar with in the first place.

The clanging sounds of clashing blades. The battle cry of countless soldiers. The chaotic noises of their steeds. All accompanied by the stench of smoke and blood. A classic war.

Standing in front of an army of thousands are only two men. Their helmets have covered most of their features, but judging from their heights and muscles, I can make a vague guess that they’re still quite young, only a few years older than me at most.

“Vanquish our enemies, o’ stars from above!” One of them stabs their spear onto the ground. Rummaging soon ensues, and cracks start to form on the ground behind them. As if a higher being has descended to the battlefield, chunks of earth form and lift themselves off the ground, floating menacingly in mid-air. The young man then gestures forward, and the giant boulders launch themselves at the enemies, crushing them with the might of a meteor shower.

Meanwhile, the other man moves around the battlefield with lightning speed, picking up any injured soldiers in a blink of an eye. Just when someone suffers a lethal wound, the man rushes to their aid, and with a glow of green light, said soldier is as good as new, without so much as even a scratch on their body.

The battle is soon decided with the army of the two men being the victors. Cheers erupt on the field as soldiers cry out tears of joy, while the opposing side… well, there is no opposing side anymore. Their camps are riddled with corpses, while on the field, any signs of their flesh and bones have been completely and utterly eradicated.

Another warp in the space around me, and I’m already inside the victorious commander’s tent. At the same time, the two men from earlier go inside, finally taking off their armors after a hard-fought battle.

“We were awesome back there, am I right Peter?” One of them, revealed to be none other than the white-haired boy from before, exclaims with a gleeful smile.

“Yeah,” the other nods. “You saved a lot of people there, Chris.”

“It’s our perfect combo, I tell you. My Infinity saves our side, while your Zero can destroy the enemies. Together we’re unstoppable.”

“Infinity and Zero?” Peter tilts his head in confusion.

“Yeah, I just named them last night,” Chris answers. “Our powers, I mean. Took me a long while, but I’ve finally found a good name for them.”

“When did you start that again? From the moment we received them from our father? So that makes it, what, ten years now?”

“Hey, a great name needs time,” Chris playfully hits his brother in the arm.

“I don’t know. It sounds childish,” answers Peter in an equally joking manner.

“At least it’s better than yours. ‘o’ stars above’ when you’re actually hurling ground from below at them.”

“It’s called a distraction.”

The two brothers, at the end of the joke, both let out a hearty laugh. It’s as if they’ve never laughed before, their sounds of childlike joy echo on and on across the entire camp and lasting until the sun has long set. In a moment, I feel like I’ve just witnessed the boys living out their childhoods once again.

Once again, I’m warped to another time – the next morning. And soon enough, the two brothers show up once more, but this time with an entirely different expression on both of their faces – distraught.

“Chris, did you have a strange dream last night?” For the first time since I’ve seen them, Peter is the first to initiate the conversation.

“I did. And from the looks of things, it seems like you had the same dream as I did.”

“Father appeared out of nowhere…”

“And reminded us about the true heir to our power. A being from another world.”

“He would arrive four thousand years from now, and reclaim what was rightfully his.”

“What do you think of this?” Asks Chris.

“I… I’m not sure.”

“What’s there not to be sure about?” Chris raises his eyebrows with a doubtful look. “You don’t mean to give this up, do you?”

“It’s four thousand years from now, Chris,” Peter shakes his head. “Even if I didn’t agree now, who knows what I’ll be like when that time comes. And besides…”

“Besides?”

“Are we… really doing right with these powers?”

“… What do you mean? Aren’t we helping our people right now?”

“But what about the others, Chris? What about the ones we’ve already killed?”

“Those are the necessary sacrifice for the greater good, Peter. Don’t you remember how they were terrorizing these poor people when we came to this land? How every village was burned down and everyone was massacred before our eyes? How even our father’s grave was destroyed because of them?”

“I… I know all about it, but…”

“Don’t worry, Peter,” Chris pats his brother’s shoulder. “We’re doing the right thing, I know it. Even if there’s anyone that calls us evil, I know that we can prove to them otherwise. Now, we just need to finish this war.”

“… Okay. I believe in you, brother.”

At this point in time, the rapidly-changing sceneries don’t bother or surprise me as much anymore. Even now, when all traces of the battlefield are wiped clean, and around me is a bustling square with a giant castle in front, I’m not too amazed. What does intrigue me, however, are the two figures on top. Still the same two boys, but now adorned in the most luxurious items one can imagine.

The crowd surrounding me, upon seeing their figures, all chant in unison:

“All hail the two great Saints! All hail Saint Christopher and Saint Peter!”

“Saint?” I think to myself. “I’ve heard of this title when I was still in school, but isn’t that for a devout believer of God? These two don’t strike me as the type, so why are they called Saints?”

Immediately after, I’m brought into the throne room inside the castle, where the two brothers drop their pretentious covers to be themselves once more.

“Don’t you see, Peter? The people adore us!” Shouts Chris, but this time, it’s not a joyous shout like the other times anymore. “And you’re still saying that we should give this up?”

“Listen to yourself, Chris. You’re already blinded by power. We’re still humans, not some higher being. Who gives us the right to judge people, to deceive them like this?”

“We don’t deceive people, we guide them,” Chris retaliates. “Don’t you wish for tragedies like before to stop completely? People are dumb and arrogant, Peter. They don’t know what the best course of action is. But we do. We, with our powers gifted by our father, by the God of this world, are the ones capable of leading them to the right path!”

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With each word that is uttered, Peter’s face pales even more. And finally, in the end, he snaps, grabbing his brother’s shoulder with all his might.

“Chris, no! Our father is not God, nor we are anything other than regular people! Drop out of that delusion of yours! We can’t guide people, Chris, when we’re barely able to guide ourselves!”

“You’re the one who’s blind!” Chris immediately pushes Peter away. “People will die if not for us! People will suffer if not for us! We might not be God, but we’re the ones with power, Peter! We have the power to change things, to make things right! Or are you planning to be the same as our father, not doing a single thing until the end of his life?”

“You’ve gone too far, Chris! Don’t bring our father into this!”

“If he was doing a good job, then it wouldn’t even come to us, Peter! Face it! Our father was nothing but a coward! A bystander with the power to change the world to be a better place, but he didn’t! And now I plan to fix that, and no one can stop me! Not even my own brother!”

Upon hearing his last words, Peter grits his teeth and clenches his fist. However, at the last moment, he breathes a heavy sigh and loosens himself. Turning away from his brother, Peter waves one last goodbye:

“Then our path together stops here for now. But like our father said, when one of us would be on the wrong path, the other would pull him out. Remember this, Chris: I’ll do everything I can to bring you back, and even if I end up dying, there will always be a Peter ready to stop you from traversing further.”

As Peter disappears from the scene, a servant enters the room.

“Saint Chris, I just saw Saint Peter walking out upset. Is there anything wrong?”

“… Tell the masses. There is no Saint Peter nor Saint Christopher. Saint Peter has betrayed us; he’s been corrupted by his twisted ideals. Saint Christopher died protecting what’s right, and now there’s only one person… no, one God left to fulfill it. Let the name Jesus Christ sear into the people’s mind, for He shall be the only one you need to revere.”

“Um, Sir… that’s just a sound away from your name.”

“… Shut up.”

 

 

Another warp, and now I’m inside a bedchamber crafted for royalty. On the bed is a lone sickly man, while sitting beside him is a young man with a tea set placed beside him. Aside from the pair of glasses that he wears, his face is almost exactly like the Peter from before, and he’s the same young man I just met outside Heaven’s Gate, the same young man that led me to the room to confront God.

“And that’s everything that has happened,” the old man finishes with a hoarse cough.

“Don’t pretend to be sick,” the young man shakes his head. “We both know you were just faking everything.”

“Heh,” the old man lets out a smirk before snapping his fingers, instantly changing his original appearance to that of a young man with hair white as snow – Chris, to be exact. “Nothing escapes your eyes, huh? Just like with my brother.”

“In a way, we are all alike, after all,” the young man replies with a sip of his tea.

“Maybe that’s why Father told us that you were supposed to be the heir… But I do have to ask: aren’t you already immortal? Why do you still wish to seek our powers?”

“Two things you were wrong, old crow. First of all, I’m not immortal. I don’t age, but I can still die, and that’s mainly because of me being exposed too much to the time stream.”

“You… managed to connect to time? Not even Infinity could do that…”

“I don’t know how I did it either, but this isn’t our first conversation about it, by the way.”

“How many times have you reached me, then?”

“Four. This is the fifth time.”

“Then I hope for you to fail this one as well.”

“No. This is the time I’ll succeed.”

“How? Peter has already split Zero into his 72 Demons, and I’ve already chosen my next heir for Infinity.”

“Can’t believe that, by the way. Old and stubborn Jesus Christ actually stepping down as God.”

“… In the end, Peter was right. I really am just human. But I can still do everything that I can, and finally, when the time is right, I’ll pass down my legacy to the next generation. And that’s the key factor where all of us were wrong.”

“You do know your ‘heir’ was brought by me, right?”

“And do you think she would aid you just because you saved her life? That child is the spitting image of me in the past, Ryuuro. You’ll never convince her to let go of Infinity.”

“I know. That’s why I had a player in this world to do it for me,” the young man smirks as he hears the claim.

“You mean the child of destiny? That one is just as much of a wildcard as anyone else in contact with those Demons. Only in your dreams will he help you.”

“… We’ll see about that, old crow. Oh, and goodbye.”

“Good riddance, otherworlder,” Chris let out a smirk one last time before his body starts to dissolve just like his father all those years ago.

As the last of Chris disappears, lights flood the room yet again, and before I know it, I’m actually, physically standing in that same room again, exactly in Ryuuro’s position from before. And in front of me right now is the same bed, with only a different person sitting on it.

That silky silver hair.

That slender figure.

She turns around to face me.

Those sparkling, crimson eyes.

That cheerful voice.

“Hey, Petey. Did you miss me?”

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