Chapter 35 – The Truth

“The time is near.”

“This is the end.”

“We begin the ritual… to put the God to sleep.”

The cloaked figures chanted, their voices low, their words echoing in the vast chamber.

The air shimmered, the intricate patterns on the Temple floor glowing faintly, pulsing with a hidden energy. Are these… the ones who sealed him? And the man… the sacrifice… was he truly… a god?

I watched, listened, my heart pounding, my mind racing.

“You are the final sacrifice,” one of the figures said, their voice cold, emotionless. “Close your eyes.”

“We… will seal you.”

A cloaked figure raised a hand, and the patterns on the floor blazed with light, the air shimmering, distorting, the ground beneath our feet vibrating.

And then, the kneeling figure… slowly raised their head.

I held my breath, my gaze fixed on their face as it was revealed in the pulsating light. The cold, ethereal glow of the Temple illuminated their features: disheveled hair, dirt and blood smeared across their cheek, slumped shoulders, trembling hands, the rise and fall of their chest as they gasped for breath. And their eyes…

Their eyes… they weren’t the eyes of a god. There was no divine light, no transcendent power, only… fear. Raw, human fear.

This isn’t a god. This is… a man. Just a man.

My lips trembled, my heart aching for this stranger, their wrists bound, their body trembling, their silent plea for… life… echoing in the stillness. He was alive. And they were going to…

Why? Why sacrifice him?

“Noah…” Yuri whispered, her voice trembling, her gaze fixed on the kneeling figure. “…he’s… he’s just… a man…”

I nodded silently, my mind reeling, the pieces of the puzzle refusing to fit. We’d been searching for the traces of a god, a being of immense power, but the sacrifice… he was just… a man. Like us.

He looked up, his eyes meeting ours, a strange, unsettling smile touching his lips. And then, he spoke, his voice quiet, yet filled with a chilling mix of mockery, anger, frustration, and… resignation.

“Is this… what it means… to be a god…?”

The words hung in the air, a chilling indictment of… everything. I felt a shiver run down my spine, the truth, stark and brutal, settling upon me like a shroud.

He smiled again, a twisted, broken smile, and then, as the cloaked figures raised their hands, he spoke again, his voice barely a whisper.

“This place… it was always… a lie…”

“Begin the sealing,” one of the figures chanted, and the patterns on the floor blazed with light, the air shimmering, the ground shaking, the Temple itself seeming to… groan.

The man’s body convulsed, his form flickering, dissolving, his body breaking apart, becoming… light, then… nothing.

“No!” I reached out instinctively, but my hand passed through him, a phantom, a memory, a ghost. He was gone.

The Temple shook violently, a deep, resonant sound echoing through the chamber, strange whispers swirling around us, the air thick with… something… ancient, something… powerful.

And then… silence. The god… was gone.

“Wait…”

I took a deep breath, my mind racing, the pieces of the puzzle swirling around me, refusing to coalesce. There was something… something I was missing.

“It doesn’t… make sense…”

Yuri and Luna looked at me, their faces mirroring my own confusion.

I pointed back the way we’d come, my voice low, urgent. “He wasn’t a god.”

Yuri nodded slowly. “Just a man.”

“But they… made him a god,” I said, my gaze fixed on the floor, the patterns, the symbols, the remnants of the ritual. “They… forced it on him.”

They needed a god. To maintain the city, to control the people, to… something. They’d chosen him, for whatever reason, and then… when he was no longer needed… they’d taken it away.

I thought of the cloaked figures, their faces hidden in shadow, their motives… unclear. I’d thought they were worshippers, but… they weren’t followers; they were… creators. They hadn’t worshipped the god; they’d… made him. And then… they’d unmade him.

“They didn’t find a god…” Luna whispered, her voice barely audible. “…they made one…”

I nodded. To control the city, to maintain order, to give the people… something to believe in. But why him? And why sacrifice him?

He hadn’t wanted to be a god. His last words, his mocking laughter, his quiet resignation… it all made sense now.

“Is this… what it means… to be a god…?”

He hadn’t been a willing participant; he’d been a victim, forced to play a role he hadn’t chosen, then discarded when he was no longer needed, his humanity, his very identity, stolen from him.

I looked at the metal plate in my hand, the words etched into its surface a chilling reminder of the city’s fate, its secrets.

That day, we put the God to sleep.

And what happened then? After the god was gone? The door…

“After they sealed him…” I murmured, the pieces clicking into place, “…the door opened…”

“The door to the void…” Yuri finished, her brow furrowed in thought.  The ultimate result was the opening of the door in the void.

Yuri suddenly gasped, realization dawning in her eyes. “The door… it’s where they sealed him! Isn’t it?”

I thought of the words on the other plate.

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

They sealed the god. The door opened. He was imprisoned… beyond the door.

“So… what do we do now?” Yuri asked, her voice quiet, the question hanging heavy in the air. “Do we… open the door? Or… keep it closed?”

The question echoed in my mind, its weight pressing down on me, the implications… terrifying. Should we unleash… whatever they’d imprisoned? Or condemn it to eternal darkness?

“Do we even have a choice?” Luna whispered, her golden eyes wide with a dawning understanding. “Maybe… the moment we came here… the door… was already… opening…”

I couldn’t answer. She was right. Perhaps our arrival… our journey… it had triggered something, set in motion a chain of events that… couldn’t be stopped. The city, the ruins, the patterns, the visions… it had all been leading to this. To a choice.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. We didn’t have all the answers. Not yet. But we had to… find them.

“We have to… see,” I said, my voice firm. “We have to… understand. Before we can… choose.”

Yuri and Luna nodded silently, their expressions mirroring my own determination. We had to find the door. The door of emptiness. The place where the god was sealed. The place where… the truth… was waiting.

“The door…” I murmured, my gaze sweeping across the Temple, the patterns on the walls, the symbols on the floor, the faint light pulsing, beckoning. “…the clue… it has to be… somewhere… in here.” This Temple… it wasn’t just a ruin. It was a prison. And somewhere within its walls… the key was hidden.

The interior of the Temple was darker, colder than the ruins outside, dust motes drifting down from the cracked ceiling, damp moss clinging to the walls, a faint, blue light emanating from somewhere deep within. It was ancient, yet… alive, its very stillness radiating a sense of… power.

I took a deep breath, the air heavy, thick with the scent of dust, of decay, of… something… ancient, something… otherworldly. It felt as if the very walls were whispering secrets, the memories of the past clinging to the stones, the patterns, the air itself.

I walked slowly, carefully, my hand brushing against the cold, damp stone, the patterns on the floor glowing faintly beneath my feet, a subtle vibration resonating through the soles of my shoes, a tingling sensation spreading up my legs. Something’s here. Something… waiting.

“Noah…” Luna whispered, tugging at my sleeve, her small hand trembling. “…something… here…”

I turned to her, and the air shimmered, a faint light pulsing, growing brighter, the patterns on the wall glowing, intertwining, forming a larger, more complex design.

“Those patterns…” Yuri murmured, stepping closer, her hand brushing against the wall, the light spreading across her skin, “…they look… familiar…”

I nodded. “The dots… the lines… it’s not just decoration…” I traced my fingers along the glowing pattern, a sudden realization dawning. “…it’s a map.”

A map. Leading to… the heart of the Temple. To the… door.

“Noah,” Luna said, her voice hushed, touching a section of the wall, her small hand resting on one of the glowing lines, “wall… moving…”

As her fingers brushed against the pattern, the light intensified, the entire wall pulsing with a brilliant, blue light, the ground beneath our feet vibrating, a low, rhythmic thudding, deeper, stronger than before.

“What’s… happening…?” Yuri whispered, her voice barely audible above the growing hum.

The walls trembled, shifting, the ancient stones groaning, the dust raining down from the ceiling, as if… something… was awakening.

And then, a voice, deep, resonant, echoing through the chamber, its words vibrating in the very air itself.

“Are you… the witness…?”

The voice wasn’t directed at us; it was… a question, posed to the… the space itself, to the ruins, to the… Abyss. I turned, looking around, but we were alone. And yet… the feeling of being… watched… it was… overwhelming.

The air shimmered, distorted, a vortex of light and shadow forming in the center of the chamber, something… unseen… awakening.