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Chapter 104: Atoning with Eternal Solitude
Under the dome of the temple, a bright bonfire crackled to life, bringing warmth and light to this place for the first time in thousands of years.
The fire cast long shadows across the cracked walls. The old murals had faded to almost nothing, and the statues were broken and worn down. But you could still make out a goddess through the damage, robes, outstretched arms, a face smoothed by time.
That was Fertility Goddess Yggnia.
Smoke from the burning wood cleared away some of the dampness. Eric and Somo leaned against the weathered pillars, relaxing after the day's travel and fighting. Eric cleaned his hunting knife while Somo tested his axe edge against a piece of rubble.
Norn sat cross-legged nearby, writing steadily. With Kurtz's help, the magic book was coming together well. Soon it would be done, the first magic book written entirely by humans.
Serie sat in a corner by herself, a magic book open in her lap. She'd finished reading all the texts from the Dwarf Ruins that the Elf King had given them before they left. They contained spells and theories she'd never seen before.
Kurtz sat by the fire, occasionally feeding it broken pieces of temple wood. The old lumber burned well and kept them warm.
He had just finished explaining the truth about the goddesses to Olivia. She'd gone silent afterwards, staring into the flames with empty eyes.
She had never imagined there was no such thing as true and false goddesses, that the Life Goddess she worshipped and the so-called false god were just two sides of the same divine power. Both controlled life itself, just in different ways.
And the conflict between the goddesses had started with her own people, the Skywing Clan.
After a long silence, Olivia spoke.
"Master Kurtz." Her voice was barely a whisper. She'd returned to calling him formallyāa sign she had something important to say.
"When all this ends... after we defeat the Goddess, I will convince the Life Goddess to let the Skywing Clan leave this world entirely."
Kurtz's hand froze halfway to another piece of wood. Even Serie looked up from her reading.
Olivia met their stares, her sacred eyes filled with determination.
"This war has gone on too long. We've lost everything that mattered. The council is destroyed, and barely one warrior in a hundred is still alive."
Once, Olivia had believed she would carry out divine commands like her predecessors, taking pride in war, obeying the gods without question. That person felt like a stranger now.
"The Skywing Clan was a race created for war. Now we're nearly extinct, and this conflict is almost over, but the sins we committed won't disappear just because we suffered losses."
Olivia looked up at the temple's broken dome, pierced clean through by that ancient God Strike. She could picture the moment of impact, total destruction, where everything would have turned to nothing under divine wrath.
Just like how they had suffered under the Demonic Race's God Strike.
Only by experiencing the same pain could people truly understand the weight of their own actions.
"These temple ruins prove we were never as sacred and pure as we claimed. We fought because we were ordered to, without questioning those commands or thinking about the consequences."
"I think..." Kurtz began, wanting to comfort her, but the words stuck.
No matter what he thought, the facts remained. The Skywing Clan's reputation in the mythical era was indeed stained, and they had destroyed many races in the name of divine will.
If the Demonic Race hadn't proven even more brutal and impossible to work with, the Elves and Dwarves never would have allied with the Skywing Clan.
Olivia continued.
"Now the Skywing Clan doesn't have the strength to stay in this world. Staying would only cause new conflicts, or we'd be used again by some higher power, repeating our past mistakes."
She paused, her voice growing steadier. "I will convince the remaining clansmen to leave this world and find new homes among the stars."
Kurtz listened in heavy silence. He wanted to say much but couldn't find the words.
"What about you, Olivia?" Serie asked suddenly, her tone sharp with urgency that surprised everyone. "Will you go with them?"
Olivia shook her head slowly, though she couldn't understand why Serie looked so intense.
"No. I will stay behind, alone in the Divine Kingdom, to atone for my people's sins through eternal solitude."
She raised her hand without thinking, fingers touching her lower abdomen where she could feel the magical connection between herself and Kurtz, proof of how far she'd fallen from her original faith.
She was no longer truly a follower of the Life Goddess. The power from her changed faith now flowed to Kurtz instead.
If she left with her surviving kin, they would call her a heretic. Olivia knew this perfectly well.
Since that was the case, she might as well remain in this world, in the Divine Kingdom, keeping the last evidence of the Skywing Clan's existence alive.
"Even if the Skywing Clan leaves, the core of the Divine Kingdom will keep working. I'll stay there, becoming the final link between the Divine Kingdom and this world, making sure it never falls to the Demons."
She paused, looking around the shattered temple again. "I'll repay the sins of my people through solitude. This is the path of exile and atonement I've chosen."
"Atonement..." Kurtz repeated softly. "I have no right to forgive you for the races destroyed by the Skywing Clan, but people whose hands are clean shouldn't carry others' guilt."
"But this is the only meaningful thing I can do."
The Skywing Clan lived exceptionally long lives, and Olivia had no idea how many centuries stretched before her.
In that vast future, she needed to find a purpose worth living for.
Sometimes carrying guilt provided stronger motivation than freedom ever could.
Her determination crumbled his arguments. "Let's discuss this after the war ends. By then, maybe I can help you find a different direction."
He couldn't accept her self-imposed exile, partly from compassion, but also from selfishness he couldn't admit. He wanted Olivia to guard not just the Divine Kingdom, but the entire world itself.
For now, though, he didn't voice such expectations.
Maybe it would be better to speak after he killed the gods and ended this eternal conflict.
As if sensing his turbulent emotions, Orger pulsed with faint light, and broken visions of possible futures flashed through Kurtz's mind.
There was a figure of himself, swinging a sword at some divine form.
There were shadowy beings swallowed by darkness, more than one person, though he couldn't tell who they were.
Some would begin new journeys.
And there was a lone figure kneeling in an empty hall, praying endlessly to silent stones.
The images flickered past too quickly to understand fully, carrying glimpses of unwritten futures until the visions faded.
In the temple's ancient silence, the fire continued to burn, casting shadows on walls.