Dawn- An age of Darkness

"Kid…. are you sure?" The old man was looking at me with a sweaty face. I was leaking too, albeit from various regions of my body.

God of light? So basically he's the god who gave humanity light, in that case. But I decided to provoke him further. That was the only way. In other words, praises and stuff wouldn't have worked on him. So this was my only option. Sometimes reverse psychology is very important. "I don't know what happened to you but you'd rather keep your sword to yourself and let millions die instead? What kind of god were you!"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS WORLD! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I CARED FOR THE WORLD? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I DID FOR THE MORTALS? I GAVE THEM THE GIFT OF HEALING. I CREATED ANGELS FROM MY VERY SOUL AND PLACED THEM IN THE DEADLIEST OF PLACES TO PROTECT THE WORLD AND ALL WHO LIVED IN IT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA!" The whole ocean reverberated. Oh, he was mad alright.

The old man was shaking. That was justified. The sheer voice of the serpent was enough to send brave men cowering to their beds. He was indeed a fearsome god. But my idea worked. I got the exact reaction I wanted out of him.

"I don't have any idea. I am not from this world. I come from a place called earth. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this world and to go back I'd need to kill the emperor." I tried to be honest. I didn't really have feel the necessity to lie. I didn't want to die ofcourse.

"YOU!" He was about to squash us but stopped midway, again. And again, that scared the shit out of me. This time perhaps literally. "I see. You do smell a little different than regular humans. But what makes you think I would care now? I was betrayed by your kind, the very kind I tried to protect with my soul," he said in a calmer voice. He was calming down. After talking to him for a while he seemed like a normal person, with very high ego that is. Betrayed? Then…. Then this could work, and I betted everything on that small fraction of a chance.

"I too was betrayed. Not once but twice in a matter of weeks. But I still haven't given up on this world. And I promised Misrael that I'd free her as well. I believe you know whom I speak of." According to him Misrael and Sisrael were part of his souls. So I betted on the possibility. I crossed my fingers and betted everything on that possibility, hoping I'd have at least some leverage for those names.

Well, mostly because I want to go home.

"What makes you think I haven't given up?" He ignored the whole angel topic. Maybe he knew from the start.

"Because I believe in you. I don't really care about the gods but if you help me, I'll forever pray only to you and you alone. But I need your help to beat the emperor and return home," I answered. I was utterly serious. I didn't give a damn about gods. But if he helped me than that was prove enough that he cared. And I'd be obliged to respect that.

"So you only want to return to your homeland and you're not doing this for the people?"

"Unfortunately I'm not that nice. I have my own selfish desires too." If I was being honest, I didn't really care all that much about the people. But if that was true than the emperor would have probably killed me back then. Maybe I was betraying my own feelings and ideals. Even I didn't know what I wanted.

"There's a hint of lie in your speech. Maybe you, yourself are unaware of it."

Oh! Trust me, I'm aware of it. I just didn't find the need to think about it, that was all.

I exhaled, prepared myself and stared directly in his eyes. "In any case, lend this sword to me. I give you my word that I shall return the sword after one year, given the fact that I survive." I waited for the reply, and boy was that wait a long one. It felt like an eternity. It was probably not more than a minute though.

He thought for a moment and his body swirled. "Interesting. The weapon you carry in your hand is carved from my very soul. I pray that it illuminates your path and keeps you from falling from grace. Don't make the same mistakes I made."

A God praying? That's not even funny. But I was glad that at least he gave me a chance.

"What is he saying?" the old man asked.

"Can you shut up for a moment?" I said.

The serpent's body floated and glittered. If I wasn't scared to death, I'd have considered it pretty. "Now that you've gotten the sword, what do you plan to next?"

I took a closer look at the sword. It was still glowing. There were strange insignias on its blade. The blade itself was double edged and glowed in pale blue.

I stared at the sword and answered the serpent. "We will continue to search for the other two mystic weapons and I will get strong enough to stand up to the emperor." It wasn't a lie parse, but it wasn't the truth either. I still had to figure out why I was betrayed in the first place.

"It seems you are mistaken. There are seven of them scattered throughout the world. They all contain a fragment of my soul. When all seven are gathered you shall became the bearer of godly strength, my strength."

"That's reassuring. I'm actually glad to know that. "

If that's the case then I might just be able to….

"Just a word of caution, some of the equipment is guarded by grand monsters, the former gods, and they won't listen to you even if you talk to them, so you better not waste your time with that or jump inside their stomach." That was actually a fair warning.

I didn't know if he was serious or just humoring me. The former gods? Better keep my mouth shut.

"Thank you, for the warning. Just so you know, it wasn't my intention to end up in your belly."

"Judging from your eyes you were betrayed, yes? But betrayal always comes for a price. The people who betrayed me ended up cursed and walked these lands in the form of neither the alive nor the dead. They too have faced redemption. In time your enemies will face a similar or even deadlier fate." He grunted. "The time for my slumber has come yet again. Be on your way, and don't forget our promise."

He really was a god. He read me like a book. And I liked his thinking too, except for the grand monsters thing.

His accent slipped from time to time. Maybe he wasn't used to talking. He was a god who spent most of his time underwater after all. I was genuinely curious but didn't have the guts to ask questions to him. He was too damn scary.

"I won't." I had no intention of breaking my promise anyway.

"Interesting…" I could only see his shadows. He dived deeper into the ocean.

"Are we good now?" the old man said.

"Be patient please." I was shaking too.

The old man was already beyond his limit. It was clear to me that any moment we would end up in a very undesired situation.

"Alright then, we'll be on our way." I breathed a sigh of relief and signaled the old man. He was sweating buckets and looked at me with a pained look. "Please tell me, you, we can go up?"

The old man didn't respond and just closed his eyes.

And then the bubble burst and the old man fainted. Holy shit!

"Since a part of my soul already trusts you I shall too. This is a gift in recognition of our pact." My body glowed but my full attention was locked on the crushing water that had me surrounded. "May you succeed! Farewell!" With that said the serpent God used his tail and launched us in a straight path. The tail was so fast that I couldn't see it before the very last second. A stronger bubble appeared and surrounded us but the old man was already unconscious so, there was only one explanation. The motion of the bubble was too much for us to handle. I too was gradually becoming unconscious.

The serpent in the distance became invisible as we moved further and further away. With my cheeks running down like I was in a fighter jet simulator, it was very hard to stay straight, let alone have the luxury to look around.. I blacked out the very next second.

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