Zhou Mingrui wasn't really at the point of being able to eat solid foods, I mean he tried but immediately started choking much to the dismay of Amanises, who concealed the offending piece in a flash, finally allowing Mingrui to take a deep breath. The poor thing acted as if the fault was his own, his ears falling down and his gaze turning to the ground.
[Sorry, I Don't know why] Amanises looked at the tiny sprawled letters, and felt more guilty. In the end as the caretaker it was her fault, why did she think a piece of hard meat was okay? Of course he wouldn't be able to digest solid food, just look at him.
Now realizing his mistake, she took Mingrui up into her arms and held up some milk from an unknown animal in a waterskin. The waterskin had a tiny hole cut up in one corner. She softly held it up as Mingrui suckled on it.
As she held it up, she thought about what to do again, momentarily the food situation is under control. She had appeared in front of them as a god with all the fancy shit. Placing the the light of the crimson behind her, she tried to show herself as a shield against the madness represented by the moon, and had taken the tiny amount of food placed at an altar she didn't know the purpose of for her protection. Now, thinking of it, she wondered if she had accidentally taken over the identity of some made up god.
She remembered them gathering after she "left", devoutly praying at the empty altar. It felt good, strangely good. Did she have a hidden egoistical side? Why else would she feel good when they prayed and worshipped her?
Then her meandering thoughts flowed to another point she needed to take care of. Zhou Mingrui! He was too weak now, if one day everything goes to shit, he might be killed under the foot of one of her "siblings".
Either she killed everyone and everything dangerous to him, which she didn't have the power for. So the only logical thing she could do is to help him advance so he could protect his own life.
But how? Amanises really didn't want to risk Mingrui's life, after all these numb and useless time she spent rotting, she finally felt like a real person with someone to accompany her. That the life of Amanises the human wasnt just a drean that Amanises the demon wolf had.
So just sitting there hoping that Mingrui wouldn't be subjected to whatever happened that killed the original Amanises wouldn't do at all. She thought over her choices again, to stay stagnant would also hurt him too. This weakness. . . is only going to be used against him in the future. After all in this cruel world, only strength mattered
"Mingrui- " Amanises looked down, the little cutie in her hands were desperately pushing the makeshift nozzle away "ah, sorry" she brought it away from him letting him catch his breath. "So, I was thinking of the future. I really don't think you should remain this way for too long," her hands clutched him, feeling his fur between her fingers. "I mean you don't have to try if you don't want to but-" Zhou Mingrui reached down to the ground, his short paw swiping at the air a few times before he was able to touch the ground. He was finally placed a little closer to the ground.
[I want to get stronger] Amanides blinked, quite astounded at the speed of his reply.
"Don't you want to . . . think about it more? I don't mind protecting you for the rest of your life-" She was really stuck between two horrible solutions. Either he dies quickly, or he dies slowly, what could she choose?
[Amanises, If I die, I want to die having fought for my life, I don't want to roll over and accept my fate] as if he'd read her thoughts, he answered with clear resolution
". . . I see, I'll try to figure out a way to get you stronger"
---
The sky shone with an eerie dark red light , the crimson flooding the world. It looked as if the world was stuck in time in midst of the sky falling. There were pillars of bright crimson light falling on the world, but it did not illuminate the world well. The darkness was filled with geometric, unnatural shapes, forming a landscape reminiscent of hell, he could see vague forms of large beings. So large that entire mountain rages were covered in their shadow.
Mingrui never really seen anything like this before, his curious eyes wandering the horizon before a hand softly blocked his vision. He turned to look at Amanises, well what he assumed where her face was from his position in her arms.
"It's not safe to look. Come on" she shifted him to be further into the cradle she fashioned out of some fabric. "At your strength, looking at it will kill you" This caused Mingrui to jump in her arms, and stopped trying to look outwards. Feeding his curiosity was not worth his life.
They traveled like that for who knows long, he would sometimes see flashes of red light through the thick coarse fabric.
Then finally, he felt the air shift, the scary crimson fading to something, an air of serenity. And all of a sudden, the surroundings became lively. Sounds of walking, talking, he struggled a bit, pushing his head through the cloth.
It was a village! This was the first time he saw other people. Unconsciously his tail started moving on his own, his eyes drifted from the buildings to the people taking in the foreign culture and architecture.
Nobody seemed to noticed them, passing by them as if they were just a gust of wind. Though Mingrui didn't take that for granted pushing his head little more into the shadows. If Amanises were to be kicked out for bringing in a monster, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Yet his bright eyes curiously wandered, if anyone could truly see through Amanises's concealment they would have seen two large eyes staring back from the void under a loose bundle.
They finally arrived at a small square. We'll he could call it a square mostly because of absence of buildings, but there was minimal decoration. Nothing to indicate this place had been used as a communal place at all. More like a piece of land that people forgot existed.
He turned A bit looking from right to left, it was so so lonely. Quiet, there was no one to speak here, obscured by some tattered buildings from the central road it was a silent place. He pawed at Amanises's arm to be let down.
[I really enjoy this but, how will this help me get stronger?] he carved it out, this time the soil being a little hard and his words a little long it took him quite the amount of time.
"It will not. I don't know how you will get stronger. I just wanted you to see the world a bit" She sat down to get closer to Mingrui, uncaring if her makeshift dress getting dirty. "Besides I'm thinking of making a cult?"
This caused Mingrui to look at Amanises with an odd look. She hurriedly explained herself.
"Well, yesterday, when I got this food I pretended to be a god? Well not exactly that I just showed my might and got some offerings from them. And besides the food. . . It's a strange feeling, I actually felt good? There is always this numbness that wouldn't go away but it felt a bit better when they kneeled down and brought out the offerings" Mingrui ignored the strange logic for now
[Do you even know how to create a cult?]
"Ah, well how different can it be from a company? This older sister used to be a ceo you know?" Amanises smiled.
[No no no] Mingrui as a qualified keyboard warrior didn't think so, it was different from a company. Especially when you take the place as the god.
[You can't lower your prestige by doing something like that!] Amanises blinked.
"then what am I supposed to do? "
[Choose a "Beloved", make him do it properly
If you want to speak, then use his voice
If you want to punish, then use his fists
Use your new mouthpiece fully comtrol the cult] his paws moved amazingly quick, with precision.
[Make sure to organize it properly
Make the people do the work
Keep the Beloved on the tightest of leashes and make sure his words are the truest
To do that you need his faith, you cannot show up willy nilly, your mystical nature falls down in accordance to your appearance
So be mysterious, talk in riddles, make them think about you and let them come up to their own ideas and truths. ]
"You know an awful lot about creating cults. An awful lot" Mingrui blinked at her once then twice. How to say in a gentle tone that he used to argue a lot about the semantics of a cult.
[Wdym? I'm just an average man who worked an average IT job]
---
Klein Moretti sat in a simple prayer hall with his entire family. It was quite hard for an energetic young boy to sit still during such a long mass, even if he was generally well behaved, he was still a boy after all.
"Klein, stop fidgeting!" his mother scolded with a low but stern voice, barely above a whisper. But in this quiet chapel with the only other voice being the priest's, it sounded like a thunderclap for little Klein.
He quickly fell back into obedience, listening to mass closer. The priest was reading passages from the scriptures.
"- So within the darkness the lady of crimson was born, and with 'Her' arrival, the madness and danger within the darkness retreated, and thus the serenity won. The tears that fell from the eye became rain as they fell, and from the mists, the one in gray was born, bringing with 'Him' the light of hope and miracles -" Klein never really focused on the specific words. He had already heard the holy scripture many times over, his parents, who were quite devout, had always attended Sunday masses.
"-And thus the light of hope dimmed, angry at the impudence of mankind, the gray mists that covered the sky disappeared and the miracles of 'His' faded. Soon- " Klein's mind wandered to something more interesting, ignoring the retelling of the scripture he heard a million times already.
Notes:The people gathered around the altar, young and old they kneeled not daring to look up. Beside them were the ruins of their previous faith. Strings of beaded necklaces lay ruined, and the totem had been long destroyed by - by him. . .
They only knew him as 'Charon'. Charon was a young man, nobody would have suspected that currently he was the strongest person in this camp.
But here he was, wearing a course cloth over his head, wielding nothing but a long stick. It would have been quite the hilarious sight if it weren't for the strength he excuded.
The chief cursed under his breath, if he had known these lands were under this mysterious god he wouldn't have made them settle here. Monsters and gods did not come here, so they had foolishly assumed that it was the lands itself that safeguarded them. Finally finding a place to rest and build homes, they had let their guard down.
Now that young man had suddenly became a prophet. Using some sort of spell that caused everyone who disagreed to slumber.
Charon smiled sweetly, and he finally seemed to find it suitable.
"Do you understand why I have collected everyone here?" they all knew but no one answered "Because the gods we worshipped before are useless. They never protected us from the cold, they never sheltered us from the monsters. Why do we still worship them if they bring nothing to us?" With a simple kick he pushed down one of the offering plates, it went down with a crash, scattering various gems and shiny objects across the floor. It rolled out like blood flowing, past the trembling knees of the people.
"But we have new gods now. We have new patrons. They will protect us from the darkness and madness. Surely you wouldn't disagree, as we have already been under their protection for so many moons already." he grinned as he took a small statue out of his coat. It was a hand crafted little thing, it was obvious the carver was quite skilled in his craft. It depicted two people. One taller and one shorter. But wmmaybe because of the carver's intention no one could make out their features aside form the fact that one was obviously a man and the other was a woman
"The gods have come to me in my dreams. They will protect us. And in turn we just have to give them our faith. Our faith, such an inexpensive price. Dont you think so?" He grabbed the last remaining thing on the altar. Small wooden idol, it did not have a specific shape, it barely held a shape of something round. It fell to the ground with a crash.
"So who the hell are these new gods even supposed to be?" spat someone from the back, he was old, his frame filled with scars and shadows from many years of battle. "You ungrateful brat, we took you in from a dirch in some moonshone place. And this is how you repay us?"
He stood up his frame already much taller than a normal man's, but next to the shorter stature of Charon, he was comically large. Many years ago he had eaten the heart of a large monster, ever since then he had grown many heads taller than most men in the tribe.
"The god you so easily disregard has watched us over many generations-" the village chief stopped him, only holding his hand out.
"Boy, i dont know who you listened but there are no gods who will whisper in your ears, only demons."
"Don't. call. them. that" Charon simmered his gaze turning dark just for a second before becoming cheerful again. As if he thought if he explained a little bit more, everyone would suddenly be on board.
"You wanna, know who they are?"
---
"What?" An orphan found himself in a weird place, scenery appeared and disappeared with movements. He saw a shadow on the ground it was his own.
And all of a sudden the land stabilized turning into lush green fields with unidentifiable flowers and with a start he turned around to face the source of the light.
He was met with a soft light that he had never seen before. It was softer than the harsh light fire would shed on one, but it was stronger than the various glowing plants they have encountered.
In the distance he could see dark skies littered with stars and above all else what stood out was a pale object hanging In the sky instead of the moon.
It was so beautiful. So so beautiful. His entire vision only held this weird silvery light within it.
"You're quite distracted" Only now he realized there were people sitting at a table a few paces from him. The furniture was built out of a material he had never seen before. It was white and thin, yet it held their weight easily. As if they were simply sitting on air.
"Who are you?" He couldn't see them easily. It was as if their forms were covered in shadows that logically shouldn't be there.
"I'm the night. I'm the shadows and the silence." she laughed "But you already know me"
"What?" the Orphan didn't know them at all, he racked his brain for all he could remember but nothing came up.
"After all, who has protected you for so many moons? You think you just came across a magical place that drove away anything dangerous? You settled in my lands and came under my protection and don't even know me? How hurtful."
"I- please forgive my impudence" he bowed down, it was already a miracle he hasn't died yet, he shouldn't test her mercy.
There was a brief pause, he heard a bit of shuffling of fabric. He did not dare look up.
"So how about you fix it? We'll fully take you in. All we want is for the people to know who is protecting them" It was a different voice, a man's. It was soft barely above a whisper, so slow and deliberate. It had an inhuman quality, as if the person speaking did not quite understand proper tones and shifts.
"Our first blessed, what do you think?"
"I- I would be honored. But shouldn't this be given to someone more important? Im just a useless orphan. I have no name. I have no use" wasn't this the thing he always wanted? For the gods to look at them, for them to not suffer the madness anymore.
The goddess smiled, her features still unreadable, their outlines were barely shown by the light but he could tell she was smiling.
"We chose you because of your potential. And the name? That can be fixed " The light brightened and he spoke up. "Charon. That shall be your name. You are to guide the people, your voice shall be ours, and in turn we shall protect your people."
"So listen very carefully my dear boy. We-"
---
"-They are the gods that have protected us for so long."
"The pale lady that sits under a silver halo. She is the shadows and the night. She is the veil that hides us from the madness. The lord that guides the lost. He is hope, he is the beacon of humanity. He is the one who leads us." Charon had an extremely zealous look, it scared many people. But many others found hope in what he said.
"They are siblings gods. The older sister shall protect us and the younger brother shall guide us"
After all, if they've protected them for a decade, surely they could protect them for many years more. They were tired of running.
---
[Maybe we did a little too much?] Mingrui asked from the ground, his paws a little shaky.
He sat with Amanises, under her shroud of concealment.
"It was your plan." she asked with a little uncertainty "And you were the one to choose Charon"
[He is the perfect choice! He has no family, no close loved ones that can question him and put in the seeds of doubt, yet he loves his fellow people so much that combined with his naivety will be the perfect person to use]
[But I really didn't expect him to go all inquisition on us] Mingrui's tail waved from his bed. A little box that had some sand for Mingrui to write in that Amanises held.
"I mean he isn't actually that bad. At least there is no uhh blood shed. . . yet " Amanises felt a little akward on how he described them.
[Well, I guess we have to be a little more involved then. Our idea of just letting him rub wild wouldnt work. But with him like this it would be easier to influence the cult] "Church"
[What?]
"We are a proud church, so call it a church" Amanises answered, she lowered her head her long dark hair falling from the twine she had secured it with. "Look if I'm gonna be some god, I would rather it be a church."
She looked up at the crowd, who aside from a few loyalists were tearing the shrine down further.
"Mingrui, don't you feel bad. After all we are quite literally destroying whatever culture they had left. And on top of that manipulating a person to do our bidding." Mingrui looked down a bit, pondering.
[Well. . . I don't really know. But it's important for you, and it helps you. For me that's all that matters. And it's not like we're doing this out of malice and their livelihoods WILL get better. After all, that's the least I could do] He wiped away his previous answers creating space for new text. [I admit, that I've been looking at things a little a little like a game. It's only been . . . how long has it been. Maybe days, maybe weeks? I miss my home, it feels like its just been a few hours and if i just open my eyes i would be back-] Amanises stopped him, instinctively her powers rushing to cover him in artificial calmness.
"Mingrui, calm yourself. I don't blame you. And it does help me. I don't know why, but I feel more. . . grounded. As if a chain had been added to my soul to stop it from floating away. I needed this, and I wouldn't have been able to do . . . any of this without you."
"I know none of this feels real, that you can just give up. But it's our reality now. The reality we have to live in till we find a way home."
"So please, just stay with me."
---
Archbishop Anthony, carefully unveiled the box from its many layers of concealment.
The thirteen Archbishops including Madam Arianna held the box carefully as they traversed the giant halls of the cathedral of serenity. The halls were decorated with silver and grey tapestries.
They finally came upon a chamber. The chamber was large, large enough for person to forget they are in a room at all. The walls were decorated with silver engravings and beautiful tapestries decorated the walls, but one would not see them as unnatural darkness seemed to cling to the periphery of the space.
In the middle of it all, the center piece was a willow tree, it was giant. So tall that it reached the ceiling, so wide that even if all of them turned into their mythical creature forms they could all easily sit under the mighty tree. It's drooping leaves were full and healthy creating almost an another wall in the room.
At the topmost part of the room was a pale halo that emitted light. It was soft as the moonlight bit instead of the crimson red it shone a beautiful white underneath it. Casting everything in shades of blue.
They passed the pale leaves of the willow as they entered the innermost part of the chamber. And there was a table that did not match the rest of the room under the willow tree.
They finally dropped the box on the table and Madam Arianna reached out to unclasped it. They did this ritual every year on the same day, June 21st the longest day and the shortest night of the year.
The box held a beautiful silver astrolabe. It was ornate yet so simple. The original design was probably quite simple, but as the years has gone by it seemed the owner added and remove quite a few patterns and details. It was a well loved one. It glowed faintly white under the gentle light.
Everyone held their breaths as Madam Arianna held it up, and faced it to the ancient tree. No one knew why they did this but it was the Goddess's oracle, and it had been done for many generations of archbishops and matrons.
They all spoke words unknown to them. It's tone and patter were completely different from any other language.
Finally the long verse was finished and they carefully put the astrolabe back in the box and back behind the central Chanis gate.