The Heavenly Tale - Nameless God's

Chapter 12's

The claw stopped shortly afterwards as drowsiness struck Faith and she fell asleep curled up in the hull. During sleep, he had not dreamed anything, and it could be said that his sleep was quite sound. During that time the man continued to paddle until they arrived in a hill-like area. The water from the previous tsunami disaster apparently will no longer recede, and the hill that may have been high enough that it can be climbed to its peak in just a few hours. The man woke him up and after fully waking up, the two continued on their way.

They talked throughout the journey, talking about various kinds of disasters that hit the earth. Even after talking for hours along the way and then deciding to take a break, the two continued the conversation. The girl was sitting by the tree, the umbrella was still open and leaning on her shoulder. The lanterns lay in their midst.

“The disaster that Heaven sent was indeed devastating, but Heaven always considered his punishment. The punishment of Heaven is always weighed with various aspects, including love. So even in the midst of destruction, it is not strange that you find the miracle of forgiveness. Only Heaven can do this,” said the man as he sat next to the girl.

Faith who was leaning against the tree had just finished gulping down her drink nodded. “It would not be wrong if I was sure that Heaven really loves its people, right? They can test you or punish you, but they keep the door open. But, I experienced it myself while inside the sinkhole, that terrible monster, does it belong to Heaven?”

The man shook his head. “No,” the answer is firm. “Heaven always tried to keep the demons from descending to earth, but they could not intervene directly to help humans if the demons had escaped and descended to earth. However, there is one time where Heaven lets the demons escape Hell to haunt the earth, which is Judgment Day.”

“This is done not without reason. Heaven does so to demonstrate explicitly how they always fight against the devil. For some people, it is very difficult to explain something with words, illustrations or tropes, legends, or even the theory of science. Something that is easy to understand for them is the direct attraction that the eyes of the head themselves can see naked. The monsters were demons that were allowed to escape only for a conditional period of time throughout Judgment Day, if they broke the rules, Heaven itself would deal with them. Imagine, by looking at this scene of war, humans would begin to believe again in Heaven, with so many more of those who had not believed becoming believers. Can you understand it?”

“Oh yes, I can understand that mindset. Oh, really it turns out Heaven is very smart,” murmured Faith excitedly.

This answer made the man laugh. “They have a lot of knowledge and they have been watching humans for a very long time. They knew all too well the humans, from their holy thoughts to their filthy thoughts. They will never stop trying to make humans believe in them.”

“To be true, there are some people who still do not believe that Heaven and the gods or gods are real, or about the war of Heaven and Hell, good against evil. But I am grateful that such people exist, with them I know a wide variety of mindsets and classifications of human characteristics. Imagine if people like them did not exist, maybe science could not increase,” said the girl later.

“Absolutely. What a good way of thinking miss,” replied the man. “Man needs to be aware that not everyone will agree with him or follow his ways, solely because each human being is very different.”

“Hm, and you're so great. By the way, in the war between Heaven and Hell, if you had to choose a side, which side would you be on?”

“Hmm,” the man muttered for a moment. “Which side is your heart on? For me it's hard, because I don't have a heart.”

Faith looked a little. “How?” he sounded like he was asking the man to say it again.

Already expecting that response, the man laughed softly. “Give me your hand,” he said. After the girl's hand was in her grasp, she pulled the small hand to her left chest. In a place where there should be a heart.

There's no familiar beat there.

The man didn't lie. There's no heartbeat there. Faith grew wide and pulled her hand slightly before sticking it again, trying to make sure.

“The heart is the essence of something's life, isn't it? Especially for humans. For us not humans, we also have something at the center of our lives. When it is destroyed, or ‘disabled’, then our life will stop. The center of my life is my heart, but it's gone, so I don't have a guideline stating that I should side with one or more sides, whether it's good or bad, do I have to do something that is absolute or not, and others.” The man said.

“Where is your heart?” Faith asked carefully.

“Cubury. Actually my heart was stolen, but after I took it back, I decided to bury it myself,” replied the man calmly.

“Why did you do it?”

“If if something were to come after me and intend to take my heart again, they would not get it and only end up disappointed. Thus I protect myself.” The answer sounded tragic, but the man said it calmly.

“Why would someone want to take your heart?” Faith asked again, her face worried.

A faint smile adorns the man's face. “For once, there was a time when I was willing to die for something. It turned out that what I believed was not welcomed by most other beings, so they took my heart so that I would not die forever, and stepped on and humiliated me as someone who had promised to die. So when I regained it, I had already failed to keep my promise and decided to punish myself.” His words were soft and his speech was soft, as if he was talking about something he deeply appreciated.

The girl looked at him wistfully, a sense of pity coloring her heart. He wanted to say many things so that the man would no longer grieve or punish himself, and began to learn to forgive himself no matter how difficult it was. But he himself wasn't sure if he deserved to say it. He was never in the man's position, and had he been in the man's position, he had no idea what he was going to do. Faith understood that this might be huge for the man, so she tried to hold herself back.

“I'm sorry I asked you the thing that hurt you.” That's what Faith wanted to say. But only halfway through said, an extremely strong wind emerged from the sky in a mysterious manner. The two looked up, Faith holding the red umbrella of the strong man.

“I think we should move. It's okay to leave the lantern, the wind will only extinguish it.” said the man when the wind was weakened. They got up and continued their journey. This time, the man held her umbrella again.

“How many days now?” the girl asked as after a few minutes of silence.

“Still eleven days. There is still some time left until the eleventh day is complete,” replied the man. “How? Do you still want to continue the journey to a place that is not exposed to the anger of the gods?”

The girl nodded. “Yes. Judgment Day is not finished yet, if indeed the place exists, I would like to see it for myself.” The girl paused for a moment. “Do you think I'm really stubborn if you want it?”

The man gave her a faint smile. “With you, I would say you are not stubborn or selfish. You want to save yourself, so you're looking for a safe place. But since you are intelligent, you managed to guess the existence of such a place. I thought you were lucky, and you wanted to find out more about the place, so you decided to go there. I don't feel any evil or hidden intent from your desires, so I can't say that you're an opportunist.” His words were clear and flowed gently from his mouth.

After pausing for a moment, he continued, “And you walked with me, something that will later take your soul. Doesn't that describe your courage?”

The words made Faith unable to help but smile. He laughed at his fate. He wants to go to a safe place, but being with someone who will ‘kill him’, isn't that ironic? But still, he threw away the fact because he had determined beforehand, that whatever happened he would welcome his death.

They walked until they found the edge of the cliff bordering the high seas. The end of the water seemed to be close to the cliff, probably because the water level had already risen. The water at that time was very calm, it was strange to not be able to hear a single drop of the waves. Both of them stared out into the sea. Although it was very dark at the time, they could see some other small cliff shards before them, separated by the sea.

“Come.” The man hinted with his head to follow him. They walked a few steps then found a section of the cliff that was hollow like a niche. Getting closer, Faith could see that the niche was descending downward, like a slide down a cliff. The man came forward and thrust his arm. “Hold my hand.”

Faith obediently grabbed the man's arm, holding on tightly while following the man down the cliff through the path. Apparently, the girl thought the previous slide was a ladder, there were small steps there. The niche was so narrow that they had to walk one after another, but the man did not leave it. With the same hand, he held the umbrella and became a pedestal for the girl while she walked slowly and obliquely, so that she could always keep an eye on the girl. Their pace was very slow this time because the path they were going through was very steep and narrow, so they had to be more careful.

After a rather long and tense time, they arrived at the end of the stairs bordering the water. They can't come down anymore. But sure enough, the man's feet descended into the water as if there were still steps there. He stood with his shoes floating above, seemingly having found another step, then shifted slightly. He then said. “Do you believe me?”

The girl had not yet descended to the steps where the man was standing, so she looked back at the man. Even though he was on a higher step than the man, he still looked inferior to the man. The guy was really tall. “You'll always be there wherever I go, right?” he asked back.

“Ya.”

Faith nodded and said ‘oke’ in her heart. He went down to the water-covered steps where the man stood. Both of his hands held the upper arm of the man to rest. He was sure that the man could easily take care of him because as soon as his hands wrapped around the man's arms, he could feel the muscle rows from behind his clothes. He stood up stable.

“Stay holding on to me.”

The man started to step up, and Faith followed him. In the second step, he realized that he was not resting on anything. They walk on water.

A feeling of horror rose from the tip of the girl's legs to her crown, reflexively making her grip the man's arm stronger. He stopped his steps, one leg raised and he rested half-dead on the man's arm.

Even so, the man said, “It's okay,” and still waiting for him to stop panicking. The panic of the girl was nil because with the strength of the man, both of them remained standing stably on the water. They crossed the sea which at that moment was calm, heading to one of the cliff shards across from them.

The girl would never, never even know or feel the sensation of walking on water. He was just an ordinary human with no special abilities. Walking on water is something beyond reason to him. It was an inhumane experience. As he was about to get closer to the cliff opposite him, his feet just started to feel something to tread on. There were real rough rocks at his feet, and with great relief he set his feet there firmly, trying to feel the stones.

“Are you scared?” the man suddenly asked while looking at her.

Faith who thought too much, froze and her mouth was muddled. After mastering himself he said, “The experience just now was scary, but it's not about you.”

The man smiled hearing that. They continued walking until they arrived before a human-tall crack in the cliff wall. There, the man stopped.

He continued, “If I could accompany you there, I would be very happy to enter. But I cannot, so I can only say to you that way; whatever you find there is a form of love, perhaps you will not understand it as a human being, because this love belongs to the gods. Look for the golden flower and look at it for as long as possible. The flower should grow opposite the red flower. You will know the time to stop.”

The girl looked into the man's eyes with respect. After gazing, he hugged the man, his head sinking in the bottom of the man's chest because it was only that tall. His hands were tightly wrapped around the man's back, trying to convey a feeling he could not express. Before long, she felt the man's hand wrapped around her, one hand on her shoulder without taking off her umbrella, another on her waist.

A few seconds passed, and Faith looked up without taking off her arms. “Thank you so much for everything that has happened and that will happen. Take care of yourself, and please don't forget me.”

The man wore an expression that was difficult to describe. “Never,” he replied. “Beware.”

The girl smiled and they took off their arms. “You said it's eleven days now, right? You know, I told you once that when I was with the survivors in the capital, I learned a lot of things including the little things. I actually found something, but I refused to talk to you about it back then because I thought there was no meaning in talking about it. But I think I can say it now. I managed to find out the time and date of a friend of mine there. And I did a short calculation. If you say now is the eleventh day of the Judgment Day series, then tomorrow, if there will be tomorrow, is my birthday.”

Silent.

Hearing this, the man widened his eyes for a while, his face as if devoid of emotion, yet his face did not always display what he actually felt. He then blinked and said, “Then is there something you want as a gift?”

The girl seemed to mutter and tilt her head. Before long, he answered. “No need, you've been very kind to me. I just want to remember you.”

The man blinked once more, then smiled faintly. “Of course, I'll make you remember it.” He took off the golden scarf around his neck, then tied it up like a scarf around the girl's neck. “It's proof that I've promised.”

Faith smiled broadly accepting her new scarf. “Thank you. See you, Mr. Spirit. I like you.” Thus the girl turned around and began her journey into the crack.

The man looked at the back of the girl who was spinning leaving him. Without realizing it, one hand was raised in a movement trying to reach the figure of the girl. But after a while his hand was raised in the air, he lowered it again. She just kept standing under her umbrella in silence.

The brave girl entered the high enough gap cautiously. The path was narrow and filled with rocks everywhere. The place was indeed dark, but there seemed to be some sort of plant or perhaps a living organism that stuck to the entire part of the wall and gave off a greenish glow. Under such circumstances, the girl could outline the surrounding conditions, even her path and stone curves.

Before long, he then found the stairs descending, and since it was the only way, he followed it. Initially the space on the stairs was narrow, before long, both sides of the stone wall that squeezed him began to widen, and the steps of the stairs were widened. He walked still slowly but his steps were more certain.

After going down the stairs that seemed to be spinning, the girl saw the end of the stairs. There was a semi-green white light from the end there, brighter than the light that illuminated it all the way down. He hurriedly headed towards that light source. It was then that he realized that he had since walked towards a cave under the cliff. The cave is tall and the roof is curved. He suspected that maybe the stairs were around the cave, circling it. Inside those two, grew small, glowing green grasses. As he approached, he could see that not only did the grass glow greenish, the soil and rocks he was peeping on also shone like warm yellowish-white lights. The glowing organisms he had encountered along his previous journey were also perched on the roof of the cave in a large and dense crowd, so they looked like lights.

The center of attraction of the cave is a stone box built in the middle of the cave. The stone was tall and slashed neatly, so he could see that the stone might have been deliberately made, not naturally appearing, and there was a stone step on one side. Around the surface of the stone was overgrown with small flowers in a similar shape but different colors. Upon closer inspection, the stone box looked like a flowering altar. The whole place looked like a small hidden garden.

He approached, left his bag near the stairs and climbed up the altar, then began to look for flowers as the man had instructed him before. The flowers were so small and grew so low that he had to crouch down and duck again to carefully inspect one flower after another, unwilling to damage them. He saw beautiful colors like rainbows, but he did not find red or gold flowers. He searched again until almost around the altar, then he found a flower with red petals.

A sense of happiness filled his heart, then he searched for a moment around the golden flower. Not finding it, he moved to the flower section opposite the red flower, again looking in the same place who knew he had missed a golden flower. But he didn't find it either, and he began to doubt. He paused for a moment to straighten his body and relax his exhausted back and neck muscles. When she massaged his shoulder and looked up, he saw her.

A large collection of gold flowers grew attached to the cave wall, being on the part of the stone wall that was slightly indented inward so he missed it when checking the roof of the cave. The girl nodded happily. He stood up to stare at the flower whose brilliance was so beautiful it was clearer. Just then, a chill covered his entire body.

Outside, the man was leaning next to the entrance to the cave, his umbrella was closed and leaning beside him. His hands were folded on his chest and his face was calm. She glanced at her umbrella once. “You miss him again? Don'worry. You have done your job well.”

After saying so, the man sighed softly and said. “I'll look around for a moment, please don't go anywhere.”

Closing his eyes, he could feel the darkness enveloping him. But in the darkness, he heard voices milling about. The sound was similar to the sound of flames blazing and flashing in the wind, yet it did not give up on extinguishing. He also heard the sound of wind roaring as if passing through a pipe. The man focused his hearing, then he heard a voice like something was conversing among the commotion earlier.

“I just got back from earth and ate big.”

“I heard Disaster before has consumed a lot of people, but did you hear that Plague also harvests big?”

“Many delicious food on earth, no one wants to waste it.”

“I heard from those who are still on earth, he said Plague met a very good soul. The news soon attracted some demons, but he said the soul was inedible.”

“Oh yes I heard too. Plague itself, which says that the soul is very good, but there is a very terrible creature next to it so that no one can approach it.”

“Did any of you find that soul?”

“No.”

“Not also me.”

“I heard Slander found it! But he was defeated horribly, so he retreated.”

“Really? I wonder what kind of creature he is!”

“You don't want to meet him.”

“Bencaster?”

“That's the sound of Disaster?”

“You don't want to meet him, he can kill a thousand of you easily.”

“She is that strong?”

“She's terrible. He publicly challenged four calamities.”

A low boisterous cry sounded shocked. “Did he win? Who is he?”

“He Who Eats For Forty Days.”

The voices stopped instantly, becoming silent and tense. The man opened his eyes, not hearing anything he needed to know anymore. When he looked up, he saw the sky slightly open and a soft light shining from there. A round and familiar figure appeared in the sky, re-lighting the earth with its silent light. That was the moon.

“My task is done.” He walked over and took her umbrella and made it look like a walking stick. “Come we meet him.”

The man walked along the path that the girl had previously walked. His steps were sure and his face was calm. When he reached the garden inside the cave, he paused for a moment in his place.

The girl knelt down and bowed down on the flowering altar. His body stared to one side where the golden flower grew, yet his head was bowed. From his back, stuck a long sword with a gleaming golden handle, pierced through to the end of the blade stuck in the altar stone, that was why the girl's body fell stiff. Blood flowed from his wound, like a stream, dyeing the altar in red. Flowers that were once colorful petals are now decorated in red. A sheeny golden scarf hung down from her neck, her front surviving from the bloodstains, but her back was stained. Apparently his blood flow was so extensive that the grass and glowing rocks below the altar were also red.

The man then opened his umbrella and carefully stepped over the rocks and stood before the dead body of the girl. He stopped when the tip of his shoe touched a pool of blood on the grass. Carefully she placed her umbrella next to the girl's body on the altar, then retreated to her original position. He knelt down, not taking his eyes off the girl. Then after staring at the girl for a while with a sad face, she squeaked until her head touched the stone and bloodstains.

If one saw it, the man would look like he was worshipping a statue.