Chapter 33 – Was He a God?

“Noah… what… what is this?” Yuri whispered, her voice barely audible, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe and… fear.

Luna, too, stared at the scene before us, her golden eyes wide, her small body trembling. “This place… it was always… like this?”

I slowly turned, taking in the scene. The wasteland… it was gone. Replaced by… a city. A city teeming with life, its streets bustling with people, their clothes, their architecture, their very presence… alien, unlike anything we’d ever seen. They moved around us, through us, as if… we weren’t there. Or rather, as if we were… ghosts, observing a scene from a forgotten past.

I looked down. Our shadows… they were gone.

“Noah…” Yuri whispered, her hand gripping my arm, her voice trembling. “…are they… real? Those people… are they… alive?”

I pressed my lips together, taking a step forward. The air was cool, crisp, the sounds of the city – the chatter of voices, the clatter of cart wheels, the distant music – washing over us, yet… no one seemed to notice us. We were… invisible. Intangible. Spectators in a world we didn’t belong to.

A commotion in the distance drew our attention. People were gathering in a large, open square, their voices hushed, their expressions… tense. Their gazes were fixed on something at the center of the square. A massive statue.

I recognized it instantly. The headless statue from the ruins. But here… it was whole, complete, its stone face serene, its eyes closed, its presence… commanding, its very stillness radiating a sense of… power. A wave of déjà vu washed over me, the feeling that… I’d seen this before. But how?

I looked down at the metal plate in my hand, the words etched into its surface echoing in my mind.

After the eyes of ■■■ are tightly closed, only the door of emptiness opens.

The eyes… closed… This statue… this city… this is what the message meant.

“Something’s happening,” I murmured, my gaze fixed on the square. “We have to… see.”

It wasn’t a conscious decision; it was an instinct, a pull, a need to understand, to witness… whatever was about to unfold.

We moved through the crowd, the people parting before us, their eyes unseeing, their movements… almost mechanical, their faces devoid of emotion, as if they were… sleepwalking. Can they really not see us? Or are we… something else… something… they can’t comprehend?

But as we approached the square, my heart began to pound, a strange, irregular rhythm, a sense of… anticipation, of… dread, building within me. My senses sharpened, the sounds, the smells, the very air itself, vibrating with a hidden energy. This place… this square… it’s more than just a gathering place. It’s… a focal point. A nexus of… something.

We reached the center of the square, and the crowd parted before us, revealing the statue in all its glory. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people stood there, silent, motionless, their gazes fixed on the statue, their faces a mixture of fear, of awe, of… expectation. The air was thick with tension, with a palpable sense of… something… about to happen.

The statue, its stone face serene, its eyes closed, dominated the square, its presence radiating outwards, a silent, watchful sentinel. And at its base, on a raised platform, stood figures cloaked in black, their faces hidden in shadow, their forms humanoid, yet… different. They raised their hands, their voices echoing through the silent square.

“The time of ■■■ is at hand.”

“The door must be closed.”

“Will you be… the final witness…?”

A murmur rippled through the crowd, some stepping back in fear, others bowing their heads in silent resignation, but no one… challenged the cloaked figures, their authority… absolute.

After the eyes of ■■■ are tightly closed, only the door of emptiness opens.

This is it. The closing of the eyes.

One of the cloaked figures gestured towards a lone figure kneeling at the base of the statue, their hands bound, their head bowed, their face obscured by dust and shadows, their body… still. They didn’t struggle, didn’t cry out, didn’t even… breathe.

And then, the cloaked figure reached out, their hand hovering above the kneeling figure’s head, and the world… shifted.

Time seemed to slow, the air shimmering, distorting, the light bending, the sounds of the city fading, as if… the very fabric of reality was… unraveling.

This moment… this is… the beginning.

“Noah…” Yuri whispered, her voice barely audible, her hand gripping my arm tighter. “…that person…”

I narrowed my eyes, studying the kneeling figure, a flicker of… recognition… stirring within me. I’ve seen them before. But where?

“You are the last,” the cloaked figure said, their voice echoing through the silent square. “Now… close your eyes.”

And as their hand touched the kneeling figure’s forehead, the world… shattered.

The statue began to crumble, cracks spreading across its surface, pieces of stone falling away, the sound of shattering rock echoing through the square. And then, the head… the head fell, shattering into a thousand pieces, the fragments floating in the air, then slowly, gracefully, falling to the ground, as if… time itself had stopped.

The sky above twisted and turned, the buildings around the square shaking, their foundations crumbling, the very air shimmering, distorting, the city… dissolving, the world we’d just witnessed… vanishing.

“Luna! Yuri! This way!”

I reached out, grabbing their hands, pulling them towards me, the world collapsing around us, the ground beneath our feet dissolving, the light fading, the darkness… consuming everything.

We closed our eyes, and when we opened them again, we were back in the ruins, the desolate wasteland, the broken statue, the silent city.

Who was that? The one they sacrificed? And who… were they? The cloaked figures?

“…Noah…” Yuri said, her voice quiet, pointing to a small metal plate lying on the ground, its surface gleaming faintly in the dim light.

I picked it up, reading the words etched into its surface.

That day, we put the God to sleep.

I stared at the plate, the words echoing in my mind, their meaning… chilling. This wasn’t just a record; it was a statement of fact. A testament to what we’d just witnessed. The city, restored to its former glory, the ritual in the square, the cloaked figures, the sacrifice… it had all been… real.

“…Noah…” Yuri said again, her voice soft, her hand resting on my arm. “…that scene… it meant something… didn’t it?”

“Yes,” I said, my mind racing, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling into place. “Someone was sacrificed. And then… the city… collapsed.”

“Did the city collapse… because of him?” Luna asked, her brow furrowed. “Or… because he… died?”

I thought of the kneeling figure, the cloaked figures, their words echoing in my mind.

“The final witness…”

“Close your eyes…”

And then, Yuri’s voice, quiet, hesitant, yet filled with a dawning realization.

“Noah… do you think… that person…”

I looked at the metal plate again, the words stark, chilling.

That day, we put the God to sleep.

The God…

“Wait,” Luna said, her eyes wide. “…put the God… to sleep? What does that… mean?”

“You don’t… kill a god,” Yuri murmured, her gaze fixed on the plate, her expression puzzled. “You… put them to sleep?”

I felt a shiver run down my spine.

“It means… they didn’t destroy him,” I said, my voice low, the implications of the words sinking in. “They… contained him. Suppressed him. That ritual… that sacrifice… it was to… imprison him.”

“But why?” Yuri asked, looking around at the ruins, her voice filled with confusion. “Why would they… imprison a god?”

I pressed my lips together, my gaze sweeping across the desolate landscape, the broken statues, the scattered debris, the faded patterns, the remnants of a forgotten past, a forgotten city.

“To maintain the city,” I said quietly, my gaze returning to the metal plate in my hand. “I think… that’s why.”

“What do you want to do now, Noah?” Yuri asked.

“We find the place,” I said, my voice firm, “where they imprisoned him.”

If he’s still imprisoned.

“The… door of emptiness…?” Yuri whispered, her voice barely audible.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Not to open it. But to understand… what happens… when it is opened.”