The Heavenly Tale - Nameless God's

Chapter 7's

The sun was already standing on their heads as they walked in a housing built surrounded by arid brown rock hills.

“By passing the toll road, we can reach the capital probably tomorrow, or if we need to rest, maybe tomorrow by night. Just like the previous city, the city is quite large, but here there is a wider toll road than there. We can cut through the shortcut and save time.” Faith said while pointing to the surroundings, as if describing the highway they were about to cross.

“You really know the direction, yes,” comments the guy gently.

“Not so. I've been to the capital a few times before, and the path I've been through is through this city. I just remember it.”

The man is still smiling. “May your calculations be correct. Don't forget we have to rest during the night.”

Hearing this, the girl rounded her mouth and lowered her head. He muttered, “Oh, I forgot. If we have to seek refuge during the night, maybe... the day after tomorrow?”.

The man heard the girl mutter and then chuckled. “To which exactly does that toll road lead?”

“Through the arid hill over there. We'll go through a long tunnel later, and that tunnel will take us straight to the capital. The capital is across the hill.” Faith pointed at the brown stone hill lined up to the left of the direction they were walking.

They were walking next to each other like they used to when a strong earthquake shook the earth. Faith reflexively grabbed the man's hand as a pedestal, but the earthquake was too big and it was impossible for him to maintain balance under such conditions. When he staggered and allowed himself to fall to the ground, the man pulled him and grabbed him. His hand still faithfully held his red umbrella. There was a strong rumble in the distance, then the earthquake stopped suddenly.

The girl raised her head and the smell of wood filled her nose. The scent did not come from his surroundings, but from the man's red coat, and it now follows wherever his nose is. Feeling that he was too close to the man, Faith walked away suddenly and intended to apologize. But his body staggered again and he almost fell. Apparently, the earth was still swinging, and he was still not separated from the dizzying effects of the earthquake. He stayed in the air, half standing half crouching with the help of the man's hand.

“I'm sorry.” Faith said as she tried to stare at a single point on the ground to restore her balance of sight. This earthquake is the largest he had felt during the trip with the man, no wonder if he felt very limp.

He looked up, but the man was turning his head back, towards the arid rock hill, but his body was still facing the girl and his one hand had not yet released the girl. The girl followed the direction the man saw and he was surprised a little. The rumbling sound he had heard earlier was apparently the sound of a rock hill landslide from the row of hills to their left. Clumps of rock and brown dry soil scatter down the hill, rolling in the direction of gravity. The place they were standing was indeed a bit far from the landslide location, but the part of the hill that was landslide was right in a straight line facing them. Despite this, no part of the landslide touched them. Only the dust and the flying sand began to touch around them.

‘That was dangerous,’ Faith would say so, but she had not yet opened her mouth when the man thrust his umbrella. His face was still not looking back at the girl. “Can you hold this for me?” tanyakanya. The girl was surprised but she took the umbrella rashly, afraid that this man who was not human was in a state that could not be digested by human reason. He now held the red umbrella in the air with two hands, unlike the man who always did it with one hand. The umbrella was not heavy, but imagining his hands should support the umbrella for a full day, Faith felt compassion and guilt for the man.

The man walked a few steps away from him, approaching towards the part of the hill that was landslide. He then raised both of his hands parallel to his shoulders, his palms looked up, and his movements stopped for a rather long time. This girl had not seen the man's face since the earthquake happened, so she did not know what expression was on the man's face. Clearly, his broad shoulders and field, as well as his tall and slender posture, looked very gallant when viewed from behind.

The tip of his red coat fluttered slightly, which was strange because at that moment Faith did not feel the wind blowing around them. The girl looked up, sensing that the umbrella in her hand was not swayed by the wind. Then he looked down to see the straps on the bag that could be adjusted in size. The rope also did not sway. But when he looked at his feet, he saw some gravel seeming to sway. He stared at the man's feet and the pebbles under the man's feet swayed violently.

“Master of Spirits, the ground is shaking.” Faith said rather fearfully, afraid to disturb the man. But the man remained silent and remained with his hands raised in the air, ignoring the girl. Faith looked back at the ground, and this time, the pebbles on the ground were lifted into the air knee-deep. The girl stumbled. He shifted slightly to the left, trying to peek at what the man was doing.

What he witnessed happened as fast as a lightning strike.

The man swung his right hand as if pushing into the sky, while his left hand came back down to his side. Instantly, a thunderous sound was like the whip from lightning splitting the sky. And a thick ray of gleaming golden and terrifying lightning actually descended from the sky, striking the rocky part of the hill that was landslide. It was still day, and the sun was shining, very strange to hear and watch the lightning descend at a time like this. What was even more horrifying, another rumbling sound emerged from all over the hill, deafening the girl and forcing her to close her eyes and shrug her shoulders, avoiding the terrible noise, she said, it was because both of his hands were holding umbrellas and he could not cover his ears. A few moments later, he opened his eyes again.

A very thick and large cloud of dust dyed the part of the hill that was struck by lightning earlier. The cloud of dust and sand gathered in one place, probably because there was no wind to carry it everywhere. But no matter how the girl looked, gradually the dust faded by itself, either going where, or whether the wind was carrying it. His gaze was distorted when he realized that the man had lowered both hands, and the pebbles that had been hovering around them had already returned to the ground. Just then, he looked back at the hill and guessed that the dust cloud had already disappeared.

But what he saw was more shocking than anything that had happened before, from the floating pebbles, from the flash of lightning, even from the existence of the man himself.

A large basin appeared in the middle of the sand dunes that had stood firm. The basin resembled a crescent moon facing the sky. The basin is so large, from the total height of the hill there are about 4/5 parts eroded. And the basin was so perfect, round curving with a right angle, it almost looked beautiful. What's more, the basin breaks down an entire section of the hill, displaying what's behind the hill.

It was the most unnatural thing the girl had ever seen in her entire life.

Faith was still glued to the spot with her eyes wide open and her mouth half open. He was in shock. Meanwhile, the man turned around and approached himself again. It must be that the man looked at the girl's silly face, otherwise he wouldn't have smiled. “Can I have my umbrella back? Thank you for taking care of it for me.”

The girl said ‘oh’, but so her consciousness had not returned to her body, no sound came out of her mouth. He handed the man an umbrella in slow motion. When the umbrella was no longer in his hands, both of his hands were still clenched as if the umbrella was still there. His whole body was still in shock. He remained silent in his place, still staring at the perfect crescent moon basin that broke into the rock hill.

The man stood up straight, umbrella in his hand, and waited for the girl to recover from the shock attack. He did nothing, just stood there staring at the girl who was not looking at him. But above all else, he was a patient man; he kept paddling the girl, and waiting for her.

Then, Faith lifted her face, for the first time seeing the man's face. Welcoming her gaze, the man gave her a faint smile. Deep inside the girl's heart, a big question mark appeared. He is brave, and he has faith. But that didn't stop his little heart from giving him the impulse of doubt. Is that a danger? Was it doomsday, or was it walking with the man? So, what is safety? Did it survive on its own in the middle of the doomsday and entrust itself to the will of the gods, or follow this man?

Faith doesn't know. Again, he doesn't know. Instantly, he felt he knew nothing.

As his consciousness began to recover, the girl blinked. Realizing that, the smiling man asked, “Are you hurt?”

As if her head was hit hard, the girl regained consciousness from her daydream instantly. She shook her head. “No,” the answer is doubtful. He lowered his head and blinked a few times because his eyes absorbed too much light.

The man moved a little. “Is that part of the capital you mean?” he pointed across the hill. A sighing voice that sounded confused came out from Faith's mouth, but her head nodded. This man went back silent for a moment. “I will only move if you are ready to go.”

It took a few seconds for Faith to fully realize—, even though she was conscious. He apologized, and the two walked back. This time, they headed straight for the basin on the hill. The goal was clear, they cut off the road to get to the capital immediately. But as for the reason why the man made such a big and shocking phenomenon, the girl knew nothing.

The man led him through a path that was not so dangerous to pass, it was inevitable that when they would pass through the former ruins of the hill, there would be dangerous paths along their journey. But with a confident step the man when he stepped, the path they passed seemed far from dangerous. Yes, they did occasionally encounter a rather large rock and had to climb carefully, but both of them could still stand. Normally when someone has to climb, he will need something to hold on to. This guy is not. He climbed with his right hand holding an umbrella and his left hand remained silent. In fact, he lent his hand to be the focus of the girl. The path they passed by did not feel at all like a former rock hill, but merely a rather rocky wasteland.

“Master of Spirits..” Faith suddenly said after a long time they fell silent. They have already reached about 2/5 the length of the basin. “I have to ask you because I have absolutely no answer, nor guess. I... confused.” The girl paused for a moment. He just told himself he was confused. He chose his words, trying to be careful not to make the man feel uncomfortable. “What you just did was beyond my reasoning. Is that something I cannot understand as a human being?”

As the girl guessed, the man did not smile. He seemed to be dissolved in his mind for a while. “Every creature has its own abilities, as well as different human talents. As a spirit that is not human, I have different powers than you. I am capable of doing things you do not understand, but make no mistake, you are also capable of doing things I do not understand. If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will be forever stupid. Not that you are weak and I am strong, we only have different abilities.”

“But I will say it as a compliment; you are strong, Master Spirit,” the girl immediately replied. “Although I don't understand what you're doing, may I ask why you're doing it?”

This time the man looked at her. “You already have a guess about this, right?”

Faith opened her mouth, “Indeed I have a guess, but I don't want my guess to mislead me and make me misunderstand you. If I could ask directly, then I would ask directly. But, do you want to answer it?”

The man agreed with a small groan. “Good. I'm glad you think that. You're right, I did have the intention to shorten our journey. The landslide did give me an idea. That's enough for you, isn't it?”

The girl is now flinched. “Is that the only reason you did it?” In response, the man smiled and he continued his journey in silence. Realizing that maybe he had asked too much, this girl felt guilty. He decided to change their subject. “What happens to the Princess next?”

The man suddenly stumbled. He did not look at the girl, but his eyes turned towards the girl. “In your previous story, I heard the Princess who came down to earth and was let down by her humans. Is he back in Heaven?” the girl clarified her question. “I don't think I've reached that part yet.”

“Ah,” says the man. “That's apparently. I promised I'd tell you the rest of the story, huh? All right, I'll tell you a little. After being let down many times by humans, the Princess decided to return to Heaven. He knew now that he would not be able to defeat demons for humans, because in fact humans themselves had to choose whether or not they would believe in demons. Based on what he saw, man chose to follow the promptings of the demons, even allowing the demons into his soul. So when he returned to Heaven, he returned in a disappointed state.

But she was a Heavenly Princess filled with divine light. He had no sense of despair, and he enriched many ideas. In order to defeat the demons directly, he descended to Hell in a great war between Heaven and Hell that had been going on for a very long time. A great battle broke out near the Barricade of Light, a barrier wall that prevented too many demons from descending to earth. The barricade was made with the help of the Princess, and with sadness covering it after seeing her lost human, the Princess built a new layer of walls. Heaven won again the battle that day with the help of the Princess, then the Princess herself who healed the troops of the Heavenly Army with her divine power. He closes wounds, stops blood flow, restores the lost, connects the severed, and repairs the wounded soul. He expended a lot of his strength on that day, and it took some time for him to rest until he fully recovered.

Even though he did many things that made him hard, in pain and grieving, he had no regrets and was unrepentant. He did it for the human he loved, with that simple thought alone was enough for him to do even more. He was very different from the other gods because he himself had once engaged with humans in their best and worst versions. He accepts the good of men, also faces their evil. Although the gods had descended to earth at least once, what they experienced was not the same as what the Princess had experienced. The Princess knows how special humans are, that they are complex and not easy to understand, that they are white as well as black, that they are many faces but one being. Unlike the typical gods with their respective divinities, humans are very different. They're not perfect.

It was a story about the Princess' love and trust for humans. For as long as I can remember, there was a lot of good that the Princess did for humans. He was with them in a difficult and happy time. But over time, the gods willed that all divine power should be in the hands of Allfather, the Sole Creator. They drew out their existence and spread the goodness of the Allfather. And to this day, the story of the gods is nothing more than a myth told by mouth through generations. There is not much concrete evidence that can support the heavenly story in the glory days of the gods, because the gods themselves want it to disappear. The system that is now often used, a figure of the Single and Supreme God is the result of the actions of the gods so that humans worship the Allfather above all else.”

“And The Princess also stopped?” the girl asked.

“Yes. As far as I can remember, it was the end of all the heroic tales of the gods. When Heaven decreed that there should be no more gods overshadowing the name of the Allfather, all the stories of the gods came to an end. It was not easy and it took some time to eliminate almost all the evidence regarding the existence of gods, even the remains are still there today. But that's the end. Even the Princess stopped interfering in human affairs on earth directly,” replied the man. Then he glanced at the girl. “But you believe that the gods still exist and above all else stands a most glorious deity, right?”

The girl nodded slowly. “That's all I can understand. When the books called ‘utdulan Heaven’ I could not stop imagining that they were divine figures symbolizing a certain power, almost like gods. But they remain messengers, there must be someone they serve,” he replied. “But I will never impose my trust on anyone. I won't even mention it.”

The man smiled faintly. Their journey is now approaching almost to the end of the basin. “So, when you are very strong, but you are not a god, could it be that you are still a messenger of Heaven?” Faith asked a moment later.

“You're talking about what I did just now?” the man asked back. The girl nodded, well, she couldn't possibly have lied to this man either, right? “Don't worry, that's all I'll do. I won't scare you any further.”

Faith fell silent again, then said, “Thank you. You're not only willing to take me to where I want to find, you're also helping me in many ways. I hope when we are separated by death, I can remember your kindness.”

The man did not answer, but he listened carefully to the girl. His eyes hinted that he wanted to say something, but his mouth remained locked. Gradually, as he got used to locking his mouth, the hint that he wanted to say something was missing from his eyes. Faith obviously didn't know the man's heart, but he was a wise man, so she was sure he was doing it because it was the right thing.

When they arrived at the end of the basin, a great city awaited them under the hill. The city seemed deserted for a capital, but skyscrapers dotted it everywhere, unlike previous cities. However, it is clear that many of the skyscrapers have been damaged or collapsed.

“We will only cross the capital, right?” said the girl while staring into the distance.

“Iya.” The man suddenly twisted his body facing the girl completely. The girl did the same. “I'm sorry I couldn't keep you company during the trip in the capital. I'm afraid there's urgent business I have to do.”

Oh, so this guy's gonna leave her?

“I'll be gone for a while, but I won't leave you. Sebrang the capital and go towards the city in the coastal area. You're brave, I believe you. But I had some conditions,” he stopped and seemed to take a breath for a while. “Whatever happens there, whatever you hear, don't look back. I'll see you in two days, and I'll only see you in two days by night. If you meet something that resembles me during the trip, don't follow him. Do not believe in the incitement of salvation. This is an additional condition that you must follow, just as you follow the conditions to find a high place and not come out or touch the ground when it is dark.”

The girl nodded and repeated the words of the man inside her head. He now had to walk on his own, and he had to run what this man said. He knew that the Master of Spirits would one day take away his soul, but he decided to believe his words. Whether this clue would lead him to his death or to salvation, the girl did not know. But once again, he chose to believe.

“I want you to seek refuge with another human being, so that you may have warmth with them.” The man said softly. His hand then grabbed the girl's left hand and held it tightly for a while before releasing it again. “Go.”

Faith went down the hill cautiously, for the first time without the man and his umbrella. He held back his desire to look back and check if the red-clad man had left or not. He had to keep his promise, only that way would they meet again in two days. But the girl was always brave, and she was sure she could get through a few days without the man.

Behind him, the man was still standing at the end of the basin, looking at the figure of the girl slowly moving away. For a moment she was stunned and sighed before closing her umbrella and making it a resting place for her two hands. His gaze, which had been pointing down the hill because he looked at the girl, was now shifting upwards, not towards the city or to the sky, just staring far ahead of him. His face was almost emotionless, yet it was as if there was a flash of fire in his eyes.

He then said. Either because he was still inside the basin so his voice sounded like an echo effect, or because the wind carried his voice, but his voice was heavy and sounded jarring. If the previous lightning sounded like a whip, the man's voice this time sounded like the rumbling of a storm omen was coming.

“So, which bilatung dares to fight me?”