God’s Plan

The two of them found an inn not too far from the church, one that was relatively cheap but had a good reputation. After checking in, they were led to their rooms where they could rest for the night. Israel's room was simple but clean, with a bed, a table, and a chair. The bed had fresh sheets and a soft pillow, inviting him to rest.

"My lord, if you need anything, please do not hesitate to knock on my door. I will be more than happy to assist you."

"Thank you, Israel. I'll be sure to do that if I need anything. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your rest as well. Tomorrow's another day, and I'm sure we'll have much to discuss."

"Yes, my lord. Sleep well." After saying his farewells, Israel closed the door behind him, leaving Phos alone in the room. The dim light from a single candle flickered softly, casting shadows on the walls. Phos took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed, his mind racing with thoughts about their encounter earlier and what the future might hold.

Phos started pondering to himself, "How will I explain everything to him tomorrow? God has already told me not to share my encounter with him to anyone since it would break the law and rule of the universe. But considering I haven't been punished or anything peculiar happening, it means that Israel still doesn't truly believe what I told him yet."

One can change their ideals and even their perspectives, but what one can't change are their skeptical nature from gathering or trusting sources. Despite Israel giving Phos his loyalty of being under his command, Israel's soul has still not fully accepted Phos yet. However, everything was still according to Phos' plan, and he already knew of Israel's nature from the very beginning, thus he was still testing Israel even after their fight by letting him know of his encounter with God. In order to see how Israel reacts and testing his skeptical nature, Phos revealed his secret in the risk of being punished by God. 

In the next room, Israel lay down on his bed, his mind also racing with thoughts. He wondered about the encounter they had earlier and what it all meant. "Is it possible that my lord truly is a holy messenger sent by God?" he asked himself, feeling a mixture of awe and confusion. "Or could there be something more to it?" He knew that if he were to accept Phos' words as the truth, it would change everything - not just for him personally, but for the entire church as well. But at the same time, he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something off about Phos' story.

Even so, he has already sworn loyalty to Phos and Israel is the type of man who'd rather die than going back on his words or promise. His most prominent validation and acknowledgement as a commander and a leader has always been his character, though he had lots of enemies outside and sometimes even inside of the faction for political and authority reasons no one can dispute him as an honorable opponent worthy of respect. His reputation would be much alike to a Chinese historical general like Guan Yu, who is worshiped by many as a deity embodying loyalty and righteousness, and it would be the same for Israel if he ever leaves this world.

"It's no use to keep racking my brain about this, I'll talk to him about it tomorrow." Israel did not want to have a sleepless night, especially after an intense fight. He started closing his eyes hoping morning would come, listening to the sound of crickets chirping as he fell deep into slumber immediately. Being in the military, sleep has always been a treasure of a time for soldiers and commanders, thus sleep discipline has always been the first thing they instilled in them when they joined. Those who don't sleep on time or get enough sleep will not feel rested, which would also slow down their performances or raise the chances of making mistakes while being on duty. 

Meanwhile, Phos was still awake, half sitting by the window which he left wide and open, so he could gaze at the glimmering stars aligning with each other one by one surrounding the perfectly round moon. His face was pale like snow, his long hair which he had let down was being blown gently by the city's cold breeze, and his sharp gaze showed that he was in deep thought. His long fingers wrapped around his fan's handle loosely indicating his mind was somewhere else, far and distant from where he was sitting. One could tell that many things were on his mind, his memories of his previous world were racing through his head, he was asking himself many questions as to which God himself could only answer, but there was no answer, only the silence of the night and the noise of crickets. 

"I was once a military strategist, a statesman, chancellor, but who would've thought that I would be a priest now in a different reality. What's above all is that there is an entity even beyond the heavens that can define the Tao itself. In my previous life, I have always thought the Tao was the ultimate truth in which I have chosen to cultivate and reach the highest understanding of its principles." As Phos began to let out a sigh he started to wonder, "Does this mean that I have truly become immortal? An individual who has truly transcends time and space, and being able to encounter God? But whether I'm immortal or not, I still have to acknowledge God's existence and that I'm still part of his plan, God's plan. Heaven's will has always been his idea from the beginning, oh how ignorant I was…" Phos chuckled softly as he stood up and stepped away from the window to put his fan on the table.

He drops back on his bed with a thud, facing the ceiling as his long black hair spreads out on the bed sheets. Phos began to close his eyes, as his thoughts completely stopped in its track, he slowly fell asleep.

Time passes by quickly, and soon enough the next day arrives. Israel wakes up early putting on his uniform and boots to immediately head towards Phos' room. He had a lot on his mind, and he felt that talking to Phos about it would be the best course of action. As he walks through the hallways, he notices that the air is different today. Not just the air but there was a scent that he could smell, a very familiar smell that he usually can sense during his time on the battlefield which made him very confused. It was a stench of gunpowder, but why would there be gunpowder in an inn like this? Israel's nose was very sensitive to such a smell, because of his high sense of smell he was able to escape death and saved multiple men during his time on the field, thus he can sense the smell coming directly from another guest's room down the hall right next to Phos'.

"Phos!" As he shouted out realizing Phos is in great danger, BOOOM! The middle of the Hallway exploded before he could manage to react, the force of the explosion caused him to get blown away 10 feet back hitting the walls like a ragdoll and denting it with his hardened body. Sweat was dripping down his face, there were many thoughts racing in his head, "What was that explosion? Was it a bomb? Why would they plant a bomb here? Were they targeting Phos or was it just a coincidence?" analyzing what was going on as he picks himself back up witnessing a tragic scene. He heard a men's cry and women shouting in other rooms that were also blown to smithereens. It was a desperate scene, but it was not a foreign experience for Israel, thus he was still able to remain calm and sane in comparison to other people that were there.

"If Phos was still in his room, then he's definitely caught up in that explosion as well. That was no ordinary bomb..." As much as Israel wanted to rush over to see if Phos was still alive, but he couldn't, due to the fact that there might be another bomb set up somewhere and waiting for him to walk over to trigger. They could be people whose targeting him, after all, it's very normal for Israel to have enemies outside of war considering he has made enemies with many that would even go for such attempts.

So, Israel took his time steadily walking over to Phos' room while assessing the situations around him. There were junks of body parts mixing in with wooden and concrete debris splattered all over the ground, both of the left and right side of the hallway were destroyed. The explosion from earlier was big enough to cause the whole inn to shake a bit. There were people running away evacuating from the scene, bumping into him screaming and yelling for help. Israel was not shaken at the situation as he had watched and experienced something like this many times before. But this is the first time someone has set up an explosive in an inn he stayed at. 

In the faint distance he heard sirens and many people screaming rushing out to leave the inn. He decided to walk up a bit more in the hallway. He noticed Phos' room were blown apart and were destroyed, a pale arm was sticking out but was crushed entirely bleeding through the concrete rubbles, the arm's hand and long fingers reminded him of Phos'. Noticing this he couldn't help but to assume Phos was caught up in the explosion.

"I couldn't protect you... I'm sorry Phos, even though I said I would protect you." feeling disappointed, mad, and resentful in himself he balled his hand up and bangs it against the half-broken wall cracking it and causing it to be dented further. "My lord, you were so young… How could you leave before me? All of my friends have already passed away, and you somehow left me as well."

As Israel was having an emotional moment mourning Phos' unfortunate demise, he suddenly heard a calm familiar voice speaking to him, "That was quite an explosion... Israel, do you think it was the terrorist?"

Israel glanced back; he saw Phos standing there right behind him holding his fan closely to his face watching the scene. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" Israel shouted in great relief and a bit of confusion not believing his eyes for a moment.

"Uh... Yes." Phos responded awkwardly making Israel feel dumb for believing Phos was already dead.

 "I thought you were caught in that explosion! Where did you even go?" 

"I was going around town this early morning to look for anything necessary to buy before setting out, I came back here to see if you were awake so we could get coffee together. That's when I started to rush here after witnessing the huge explosion. Seeing that you're okay makes me glad." 

"So that's where you've been? Why didn't you say anything?!" Israel was frustrated that Phos didn't tell him beforehand.

"Well, it's a bit complicated, sorry for not informing you. Anyways, let's get out of here before anything else occurs, let the C.I.D do the rest, I'm sure they'll start asking us questions and give us a hard time if they find us here." 

"You're right, that would indeed be troublesome. Let's head out immediately and find a place to discuss things." Both of them jolted out of the inn afterwards, avoiding the C.I.D's members' gaze and detection. 

The C.I.D which stands for City Investigation Department were only funded by the city's mayor and only given authority to investigate what happened inside Baldwin, and each city has their own C.I.D with different fundings. There's a division between religious factions like the Taoist Church and the C.I.D, due to the fact that they would normally need permission from the nation's government to detain or arrest anyone from the Taoist church faction which causes them to feel insecure about the limitations of exercising their power and authority, thus they feel like religious sect members have exceptional rights.

The two of them quickly disappeared into the crowd, making their way to a nearby tea shop to discuss their situation. The explosion had caused quite a stir, and it was only a matter of time before the C.I.D would start looking for them. They needed to figure out what had happened and who was behind it before they became targets themselves. But since they don't have enough time to assess or investigate the situation at the scene, they are missing real evidence that it was the culprit.

"I've heard that some Satanic members blew up an Inn this morning, so many people were caught in the explosion."

"It's all over the news, but it was really fortunate that the C.I.D came to the scene right away before things got worse."

"Damn those Satanists, those terrorists should be eradicated. How can these bastards live with themselves killing innocent people like that?"

The customers and waitresses were gossiping over the terrorizing event that took place this morning. Meanwhile Inside Israel's head was racing with suspicions and thoughts, "who could the target be? If it was truly the Satanists, why were they targeting the inn? Or were they aiming to kill a certain someone." He was thinking to himself as his gaze was set on Phos, trying to analyze his expression and behavior. 

However, Phos paid no mind to the gossip around him, and showed no signs of worry while being emotionless to what happened this very morning. He picked up the warm teapot by the handle and started pouring hot tea into his stone teacup while not making a single droplet of a sound. With grace he gently puts the teapot down and stares at the tea in his cup, waiting for the aromatic smoke to clear a bit until he can clearly see the bottom of his cup through the green liquid. As soon as the smoke cleared, it was an indication that it's now the right temperature for him to start drinking, so he gently wrapped his fingers around the cup's rim while his other hands leveraged the bottom. Bringing the teacup to his lips, as the aroma of the tea hits the tip of his nose, tilting his head back a bit to let the tea naturally run through his lips. 

"He's too calm, no ordinary person would be this calm after witnessing such an event first handedly. Even if he wasn't there when the explosion happened, he should at least feel a bit of fear. But right now, he shows no signs of fear or worry at all, it's like these things were just a harmless prank. It's as if nothing had ever happened this morning, how can a person be this calm when they were lucky enough to avoid death?" Israel tries to make sense out of things in his head as he continues to observe Phos sipping his tea. "Now that I think about it, the more I get to know him the more questions are raised, but he's definitely not an ordinary man or just a priest who spreads good will, not to mention what he had told me last time… I still can't bring myself to trust what he said about his encounter with God, maybe it's because of my pride, but as I ponder more and more, Phos is too mysterious of an individual."

"This green tea tastes very good… But it seems like someone doesn't seem to like or enjoy it as much as I do." Phos gently smiles as his eyes are now staring back at Israel's gaze, Israel feels as if his mind and thoughts were being pierced through by a sharp sword. His mind completely stops at its tracks as he glances over the window, changing the subject wittingly, "Hahaha, Sorry I was just thinking about the things we need to discuss. I was blown back by the explosion earlier too, so I was just trying to pull myself together from that, luckily, I was outside of the explosion's radius only to be knocked back by the force. So, forgive my rudeness, my lord."

Phos let out a gentle sigh, it wasn't a sigh of relief, but it sounded more like a sigh of disappointment. He was a bit disappointed that Israel's tries to hide himself and not tell him the truth of what he truly thinks but understanding the natural order of human's relations and power dynamics between a good teacher and a student, or an emperor to his generals he can only guide his followers through his wisdom indirectly. 

"Tea is more enjoyable when it's at the right temperature, if one is not careful and rushes to drink one could end up burning their tongue and mouth. And if their hands aren't steady, one could also end up spilling tea on their own hands." as Phos says these lines, it took Israel a moment before he realized what Phos meant.

"I apologize to my lord; I was too hasty… I was already making too many judgments before coming forward with you. From now on I will be more patient and diligent in learning more about you and your wisdom." Israel was genuine as he confessed. Showing his outstanding ability to read between the lines of Phos' words and immediately adopt his nature. But what's impressive to Phos wasn't just those things, what impressed him the most was Israel's immediate confession as he realized his own mistakes. Showing Phos that Israel's loyalty is not being influenced or dictated by fear. 

Phos wants Israel to submit to him through his own will, and the only way for him to do that is to slowly make Israel confess and stay truthful to himself and his lord. Israel was already an ambitious man, but since he's also righteous he can't ignore his own mistakes. In essence, Phos has already begun to plant a seed into Israel's subconscious mind, which will be cultivated over time by Israel's own will itself.

In his previous world, Phos has studied not only military warfare systems, formation, and strategies, but he also specializes in psychological warfare. However, as a true Taoist who reached the pinnacle of clarity and wisdom, he does not misuse his abilities for his self-serving beliefs or actions although he does use it to overcome those who do. Furthermore, the seed that Phos planted into Israel will only be better for Israel as he continues to grow and be cultivated by him.

Both of them sat there discussing their plans of reforming the continent, Israel was then able to understand Phos somewhat more deeply about his general ideals, goals, and ambitions. Phos then took out a geographical map of the continent, showing exactly all the labeled nations, cities and land, the map was made out of silk for the purpose of not being easily burnt, drenched, replicated, and torn. Each of the surrounding cities were marked with different symbols, whether these symbols mean something only Phos really knows.

This is a smart way to conduct plans and strategies secretively, even if the scroll were to be taken or stolen by an outsider, the reader still won't be able to understand the intention or purpose behind what is being written or shown on the map. Phos has all symbols on the locations memorized as he already understands what it stands for by heart, after all he was the one that made it, so he had to take extra precautions.

It became evening by the time Phos finished explaining all the necessary information to Israel. Israel lets out a sigh of relief right after, "That's a lot to take in, I can tell that you've put a lot of thoughts into this as there's so many precautions behind your planning. But my lord, I have a question for you…"

"You may ask." Phos responded.

"I understand that you want to reform the world, but why don't you do it through the faction's system and using our military power? With your capabilities you should be able to reform the continent through military strength, so why not borrow the power of our Taoist Church faction?"

Israel shows great curiosity.

"That's because military strength won't be necessary, I only need to win the hearts of those who have potential and individuals who show great faith in God. Those who don't have such traits can stay ignorant, but those who do will receive a certain revelation. You will eventually understand what I mean, might and power is not all there is to conquer a nation or the world, have you ever seen anyone conquer the world through such means before throughout history?" Phos asked Israel confidently, knowing Israel realized his words to be true.

"You're right… I'm not sure why but humanity has always been that way, war has only ever separated men and drives people mad. But we've made countless wars and tragedies wishing such suffering upon each other. The reason why I became a commander is because I've seen the atrocities of war and what it brings to men, women, and children. So, I tried to win as many battles as possible as a commander, just to end this war. However, the more I try to end it, the more men we've lost…" Israel's eyes were calm, showing no fierceness as it usually does. His embers were flickering as he remembered his first time losing a friend at war. He could still see his friend dying in his very arms vividly, grunting a gasping for air trying to tell Israel something, but he couldn't, due to a big bullet wound in his vocal cords leaving a hole through the nape.

A moment passes by Phos still sipping on his green tea as Israel becomes silent. Suddenly a loud CLANG! Broke out and a girl's scream was heard. It seems like the waitress had bumped into a customer and dropped her teapot on the ground which ended up breaking into pieces. 

"I-I'm very sorry! Are you okay, dear customer?" The waitress showed great concern for whoever she bumped into.

"Nothing to worry about, dear. I just hope you will be more careful next time." The customer responded. He was wearing a priest's uniform as well but contrary to Phos' it was pure white showing that he may be different from Phos in correlation, his hair is cut short leaving parted bangs, brownish color but slightly more on the brighter side. His voice was gentle but also uplifting which often would make people feel warm and nice. In his hand he was holding a thick leathered book, in which one that looks like the bible from its cover.

"I-I understand!" The waitress blushed as she went to look for a broom to sweep the shards of the broken teapot up.

The young priest glances over at Phos, showing the glistening reflection of his glasses and proceeds to show a devious smile upon seeing Phos.