God-Hood

As the group ascended, Anna reached for the shimmering tube above them. "Well, I doubt anyone's in the mood to take the lift. Tube it is," she declared, impatience sharpening her tone.

The moment her hand brushed the floor's top, it responded.

With a sudden hum, the group was pulled inside, propelled upward at dizzying speed. The streaking lights outside painted a kaleidoscope of colors across their faces, heightening the surreal nature of the moment.

Breaking the silence, Aether's voice was steady, though tinged with unease. "I didn't know the consequences were this vast." His gaze remained fixed on the swirling lights, his expression darkening. "If a Sage wields that kind of power... who in their right mind would dare to defy one?"

Marquis leaned closer, his smirk barely visible in the flickering light. "A fool, obviously. Or someone desperate. Though if I had to bet, the Church is involved somehow. They always are," he added, his tone laced with scorn.

Elara raised an eyebrow, giving him a sidelong glance. "You've always hated the Church, haven't you?"

Marquis scoffed, leaning back with crossed arms. "And why wouldn't I? The Church trades in convenient fictions. Always have. But even I know tales can cut deeper than blades. Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the work of another fanatic. I'll admit there's likely a god—only a fool would deny that. But a single man bearing divinity? A reincarnation of fate itself? Spare me."

Aether studied him, intrigued by the sharpness in his words. "You're connecting dots. Not just ranting about the Church but linking them to the explosion—and all this chaos. Yet the man in the hall didn't mention the Sages. He spoke of a king, a war… something stirring in the Central District."

Kai, silent until now, nodded. "A war has been simmering there for decades. It flares up, then dies down, but it never truly ends." He hesitated, searching his memory. "The Central District was founded four millennia ago by Rigor. It began with two factions..."

"Two factions," Anna, Marquis, and Ryuji echoed in unison.

Kai snapped his fingers. "Exactly. Two groups under Rigor's descendants, who eventually unified into a single district. But that unity crumbled during the Succession Wars—fights over who should rule, much like the 500-year contest for the Stem's 18 Heads."

"And how did they pick their kings back then?" Marquis asked, tilting his head curiously.

"At first, it was simple—Rigor's closest relative. But as the bloodline thinned, they turned to other methods," Kai explained.

"What methods?" Aether pressed, curiosity sharp.

Kai shrugged. "Nobody knows for sure. Some say the heirs are taken to another city for a ritual. Others claim it's something… darker."

Anna chimed in, her voice tinged with frustration. "The District Council denies everything, of course. They've labeled it a state secret. But that hasn't stopped people from speculating."

Marquis leaned forward, a sly grin spreading across his face. "You realize how close the Central District is to us, right? It's practically in our backyard, surrounded by Nexus and Deacon. From the Sky District, you're only a stone's throw from the Central's borders."

The tube's ascent suddenly slowed as a blinding light filled the space. They shielded their eyes as the shimmering glow faded, leaving them momentarily disoriented.

"You still haven't told me the purpose of the war," Aether pressed, his tone more demanding now.

Mirakos, clinging to Aether's arm as if for dear life, whispered, "It's about power. It's always about power."

Anna took a deep breath, steadying herself. "The war started over forty years ago. The Squidi—those strange advisors—have long been attached to the royal family in the Central District. They're supposed to serve as neutral arbiters, but their influence complicates everything. In short, the war—what they call the Sovereign Schism—is over the choosing of a new king. The district is divided illegally, though it's still called the Central District. Its inhabitants are split in their loyalties."

Finally, Ryuji, who had remained silent until now, stepped forward. His voice was calm, measured, but carried an undeniable weight. "The division is between two ideologies: the Crowned Ward and the Free Dominion. The Crowned Ward supports the royal family's divine right to rule, advocating for tradition and preserving Rigor's legacy. The Free Dominion, on the other hand, rejects the idea of divine rule. They push for autonomy, sovereignty, and a government that serves the people—not the bloodline."

Ryuji's gaze flickered between the group as he posed the question, his voice dropping to a near whisper. "And you? Where do you stand?"

Marquis answered immediately, his voice resolute. "Crowned Ward. But if bloodlines alone brought peace, a father wouldn't have bathed his city in blood."

Ryuji's aura flared in this confined tube space.

Anna crossed her arms, her tone icy. "Free Dominion."

Their eyes locked, tension filling the tube as an uneasy silence descended.

Aether glanced between them, his voice breaking the quiet. "And so the division spreads... even here." Curiosity sparking in his eyes, Aether quickly posed a question. "Who is the current runner-up for king?"

Elara parted her lips, the name leaving her mouth like a whisper carried on a cold wind. "Zephyros Vainar."

Anna cut in, her tone sharp and focused. "So, in summary: the Crowned Ward makes up the overwhelming majority, while the Free Dominion barely accounts for seven percent of the Central District's population. And yet, this entire district is being dragged into chaos over the Crowned Ward's internal war—the choosing of their next king."

Aether's brow furrowed slightly as he repeated the name in his mind—Zephyros Vainar. It felt weighty, like a storm cloud lingering in the back of his thoughts, refusing to dissipate.

Marquis, standing with his arms crossed, chuckled dryly. "Zephyros confuses apocalypse for salvation. Grandfather would've called it... theatrical nihilism."

Kai picked up where Marquis left off, swiping through his phone as he quoted, "A man can ascend to godhood, but not all men are worthy of it. Only one can claim divinity, and that man has been born into this generation—a generation soaked in blood, anguish, and despair. His wrath will burn the old world to the ground, and from the ashes, his mercy will spark a new dawn, a light the likes of which this world has never seen."

Kai paused before adding, "That was the speech he delivered at the last Council of the Twenty-One Districts."

Silence settled between them like a thick fog. The weight of Zephyros Vainar's words lingered in the air, oppressive yet mesmerizing.

Aether finally broke the stillness, sighing before letting a wide grin cross his face. "I'm starting to understand this world," he said, his tone light, but the glint in his eye far from casual.

He stared out across the tube, the floors passing by incredibly fast. For the first time, the world seemed less like a chaotic blur and more like a puzzle, its pieces slowly falling into place. The war, the factions, the struggle for power—it was all part of a much larger game, one he was beginning to understand.

"This world... it doesn't care about ideals. It devours them, reshapes them into something else. Zephyros isn't wrong—not entirely," he murmured, the words more for himself than anyone else. The runner-up king's vision of destruction, of burning the old to make way for the new, echoed in his mind. There was logic in it—in breaking everything down to its core, leaving only the raw truth behind.

"You're thinking too much," came Marquis's voice from behind him, cool and dismissive as always.

He could hear the flick of Anna's cloth as she floated closer. "The world is what it is. You're just trying to make sense of it."

"Understanding's the first step to changing it. Or repeating its mistakes," Kai said, his hands grazing the tube's walls. It increases and decreases based on the amount of people, but... it feels suffocating.

Aether turned slightly. "I've never been good at accepting things as they are. I don't think that's something you just do," he replied, his voice steady despite the turmoil churning inside. "Not when you see the cracks. Not when you know there's more beneath the surface."

Anna smirked, her eyes glinting with an unreadable expression. "And what exactly have you uncovered, Aether? What do you think you've learned?"

"I can't say yet," Aether muttered slowly, his smile beginning to surface—a fake one.

"We're home!" Aether shouted as the tube came to a halt, his voice echoing through the metallic chamber. With boundless energy, he leapt out, his boots striking the floor with a sharp, resonant thud.

He dashed toward the gate, but his pace faltered as his eyes fixed on shadowy figures standing in formation ahead, their silhouettes tense and unmoving.

Mirakos, who had been sound asleep through the entire ride, stirred at the commotion. With groggy determination, he stood and instinctively mirrored Aether's poised stance, his sharp gaze locking onto the same figures in the distance. "…2…4…6…8…10..." he muttered under his breath, narrowing his eyes to count them properly. "Sixteen," he finished, crouching down to the grass in thought, waiting for the others to catch up.

Elara walked past him nonchalantly, her gaze fixed ahead. "They can see you, you know?"

Aether glanced up at the figures standing by the gates. His breath hitched slightly. "Those are the Squidi?" he asked, incredulous.

They were exactly as the texts described. Massive. That was his first thought. Towering over him, their presence radiated authority.

One of them moved, stepping forward with unnerving silence. Marquis tapped Aether's shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts, and he sprang to his feet. But the figure was suddenly right there in front of him.

For a moment, Aether's thoughts spiraled. Did he sneak behind me? Is this some kind of Story Skill? Or did I just get lost in my own head? He shook it off, forcing a smile to his face.

"I'm Aether," he introduced himself, staring into six luminous eyes—each a different color, three of them shimmering and shifting as they caught the light.

The Squidi's skin was a patchwork of smooth, lizard-like scales with horns like a deer's, glistening faintly as though polished. Their robes were a masterpiece of craftsmanship: deep, regal purple with flowing streaks of pristine white, intricately embroidered patterns that rippled like waves when they moved. The fabric shimmered faintly, as though infused with energy, radiating an aura of authority and otherworldly grace.

The Squidi tilted its head, studying him. Its voice, when it spoke, was flat and mechanical, devoid of inflection. "I am Karnall. A pleasure to meet you." Its eyes briefly flicked to Aether's missing arm. "We are aware of your… condition."

"What?" Aether's voice barely escaped his throat, caught somewhere between shock and disbelief.

"I've been hearing," Karnall continued, his words deliberate, his eyes glinting with shifting colors. "Zephyros Vainar's ideology is... intriguing, isn't it? Destruction, rebirth—new god from the ashes. A world, remade."

Aether's heart skipped. How did he know that…

Karnall turned without answering. "We have come prepared with a replacement."

The group went past the gates, the silence between them stretching taut. A moment later, they entered the mansion's parlor—a grand space with high, vaulted ceilings and walls adorned with ornate carvings that reflected an air of opulence.

Aether's gaze darted to the far side, where the six-eyed Karnall stood in conversation with another Squidi. This one appeared more feline-like, their features sleek and angular, with a predatory grace evident in their movements. The feline Squidi removed a large, intricately woven scarf, revealing a flowing, layered robe with golden accents that caught the light like scattered sunbeams.

Aether's mechanical arm core was hammered bronze—dark, oxidized, and light-absorbing, bearing subtle tool marks.

Reinforcing joints were seamless matte blackened steel. Thin, vein-like wires wove through the bronze, converging at the wrist and knuckles where a deep amber glow pulsed like trapped liquid fire.

This light diffused through crystalline channels beneath the surface, intensifying at engraved Kol-Nic symbols along the forearm, refracting light like honeycombs. Amber sparks flared across joints when the sleek, pointed fingers flexed. The arm moved with silent precision.

Anna's voice broke the silence. "It suits you," she said with a confident smile, stepping closer and tapping Aether's back. The gesture was light, yet there was a sense of reassurance behind it.

Aether glanced back at her, the faint glow of the arm reflecting in his eyes. For the first time since its attachment, he allowed himself a small, uncertain smile.

"Does it?" he asked, his tone betraying a mix of wonder and unease.