⚠️Warning: This chapter contains explicit violence, graphic depictions of suffering, psychological trauma, and terrifying elements. The author does not intend to sensationalize, but the events depicted may be disturbing. Reader discretion is strongly advised; the incidents described include abuse, death, assault, and intense emotional conflicts.
___________________________________________
The morning was stifling—not because of the cold, but because of an unsettling silence.
The streets were empty; it seemed everyone had fled, leaving their belongings behind.
In the distance, the grinding of tanks and the clatter of soldiers carrying their loads could be heard.
It was the Soviet army, marching toward Germany.
Several kilometers away, amid dust and rubble, the silhouette of a man appeared.
He dressed like a long-traveling wanderer, oblivious to the disaster.
The refugees looked at him with restrained surprise: Asian features, long hair braided behind his ears—a rarity in that era.
He walked quickly, his gaze fixed on the horizon.
I have to find her. If I don't, this war will kill her: by a man, by hunger, or by the cold.
"God, please, help me," he murmured.
"To understand the present, we must travel back to the year 153 A.D., and discover the origin of the last ancestors."
In the mountains, near the jungles of Yunnan, a cave served as a refuge for a small group of youths.
There lived Gao Li, a man with a charming smile.
That afternoon, he was returning from the market with three chickens under his arm and two fish freshly taken from the river.
The saints were in the cave, and beyond the title each held, they were also soul brothers, bonded by mutual companionship in that confined space that Galton had prepared.
Waiting for him were his companions: Lei Li, the group's prankster; Aki, lazy but clever; Zao Li, serious and reserved; Merit, with her constant mischief; and Xiaoxui, observant and silent.
Zaziel was missing.
They all were part of the nine that Galton had gathered after more than a decade of searching.
This time, Galton seemed determined: he wanted to find the saints.
"Finally, you bring chicken," Lei Li joked as he received him.
"I don't know what you had to sell to get to the Shuang market. But I'm glad it's this… and not the abomination from last week."
He made a face and shook his head.
"I don't know what that thing was, but I'm sure it wasn't a fox or a dog. Gross! It ruined my liver."
"Frankly, for such a lazy rat like you, I don't know what I'd give you: chicken giblets or the fish?" said Gao Li.
"I want the fish, please. If you want, you can give the giblets to Li," replied Merit.
"Hey, woman, who asked you to comment on what I like?" Lei Li complained.
"Women should spoil us."
"Spoil you? Haha… you already have Zaziel for that. Didn't you cuddle with him yesterday?" Xiaoxui laughed.
"I always suspected you leaned that way," Merit added mischievously.
"I wasn't here yesterday, but if they say it happened… they must have watched like crazy," Gao Li intervened.
"No one hugged me," Lei Li protested.
"I just felt something warm; that proves nothing about Zaziel."
At that moment, Egil and Enos entered the cave, laughing at Lei Li's embarrassment.
"Don't believe it so much," said Egil.
"I went outside because I had to go to the well, and I saw you babbling 'please hug me' or something like that. Zaziel couldn't get away from you; he almost hit you, but didn't out of pity. You fell asleep next to him. I've never seen anything so stupid. Like my grandfather used to say: a man in the dark with another man gets all sentimental."
"I didn't do that, Gao. Among brothers, we shouldn't do this," Lei Li protested.
"Whenever I try to help you, I end up getting smeared with the misfortune you emit," said Gao Li, sarcastically.
"So I don't know if I'd want to help you… I'd get dirty."
Zao Li was the only one not interested in the conversation.
Without drawing attention, he left the cave.
He walked toward the mountain peak and there met Zaziel.
Zaziel was trying to maintain his balance with his sword, almost cutting his leg.
Once alone, they broke the tension with words.
"You know? Since I met you, you've always been the same: quiet, strange, and a little grumpy," said Zaziel.
"It's not easy; I just escaped another awkward conversation in the refuge," replied Zao Li.
"See? This is what I'm talking about," said Zaziel, walking toward a rock and leaning on it.
"You should enjoy these absurd moments… spending time with us, without worrying so much.
Enos and I… we thought maybe we should explore another place. This area is fertile, rich in food… but I feel there's something beyond these mountains."
"My father should propose we go to the other side of the sea," he continued, waving his hand.
"To an unexplored continent. Sailors bring stories of incredible things… new civilizations, cultures we can't even imagine."
Zao Li listened in silence, letting Zaziel's curiosity fill the air before responding:
"Maybe… but for now, it's better not to do anything that would upset your father."
"I know you don't like my father. The only ones who can leave here are Gao, Enos, me, and… him.
I don't understand why Aki doesn't have that freedom; she did nothing wrong… she's just a little lazy," Zaziel said.
"I… I'm looking for something beyond. More than my freedom.
I don't know if I'm being coherent; I feel like there's something I'm not seeing.
I have knowledge, but not enough to consider myself a saint.
And I feel like your father doesn't like me," Zao Li confessed.
"Relax. He has his moments, but I think he does like you," Zaziel replied, smiling.
Zaziel stretched and yawned.
"Well, I'm going back to the cave. I'm cold, and I won't try that sword practice again.
Please, don't tell my father; it's very embarrassing.
By the way, did Gao bring food? I don't want to eat that fox thing again from last week… I don't even know if it was a fox or a dog. But it tasted horrible!"
"Yes, he brought chicken and fish," Zao Li replied with a small smile.
Zaziel, in an almost absurd act, jumped from tree to tree shouting, "Chicken and fish!"
Zao Li couldn't concentrate on that.
His mind was elsewhere, trying to sort out thoughts that churned in his chest.
Everyone had been orphans, but he had had a family to return to… or at least, that's what he hoped.
"I never told Zaziel, or any of the others, where I come from," Zao Li murmured to himself.
"I didn't protest because I thought they would have gone through something like what happened to me, but it doesn't take a genius to realize: I was the only unlucky one.
When Galton found me, I was under the control of a merchant, like a slave.
My mother was too.
I will never forget that day… that bastard killed the merchant, and in the struggle, he killed my mother as well.
The only one left was my sister; I never knew if she was bought or if she's still alive."
A deep melancholy washed over him.
Blaming Galton for everything that happened seemed the only sensible thing, especially since he never explained why he had recruited him or what that prophecy he always talked about even was.
He decided to quiet his mind and continue the way back to the cave.
But then he heard something: distant voices whispering from the peak of the mountain.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand what they were saying… or where they were coming from.
"Who's there?!" Zao Li shouted, his voice fading among the narrow spaces between the trees along the path.
The echo died, but no one answered.
Only a damp, heavy silence that seemed to crawl up from the depths.
It wasn't the first time he had heard whispers in that place; at first, he thought he was going insane.
But this time, something was different.
With his stomach growling, he returned to the cave.
They only gave him the fish tail; Aki and Zaziel had devoured the two whole chickens, laughing without remorse.
Hunger led him back to the river.
The cold current hit his ankles as he cast his fishing line, trying to calm the tension he felt in his chest.
And then he saw it: a familiar figure at the foot of the river.
"Mom?" he whispered, unable to believe it.
"Come, let's go," she said, her voice floating over the murmur of the water.
Zao Li followed her, confused and awestruck, as they crossed terrain he had never seen.
They passed through an invisible barrier—the same one Galton had set—and behind a waterfall, he saw his mother leap as if gravity were only a suggestion.
They entered the cave together, and suddenly, his mother's smile changed.
What had seemed a warm face transformed into something strange, chilling.
"You know what's the funniest thing? You're always so predictable… it's very easy to fool you," she whispered, showing a flash of something evil as her face twisted.
Zao Li stepped back, terrified, and let out a scream that tried to sound masculine… but ended up sounding more like a frightened little girl.
Nothing worthy of a hero, indeed.
From the shadows, the demons began to laugh.
A laughter that seemed to come from every corner of the cave: it was Heshin, watching since the first day Galton kidnapped him.
The pleasant moment vanished.
The light entering through the waterfall was swallowed by dense shadows, where only hands moving like specters could be seen.
And there, in the darkness, the scene began to unfold…
"Why did you bring me here?" Zao Li asked, his voice filled with fear.
"To show you the truth. To open your eyes," the demons whispered from the shadows.
"What is this?" Zao Li exclaimed, stepping back.
"It is what you need… what you have been seeking," they said, with an echo that ran throughout the cave.
"Why did you bring me here?" Zao Li repeated, trembling.
"Because the time has come for you to see with your own eyes what you believe is right.
God has abandoned that man long ago.
He is a killer. A traitor.
You are not the only Saint, besides your brothers, to be kidnapped.
You were not the first natural saint; there have been many before you, and they were murdered in cold blood along with the first.
The man you call Galton will kill them all sooner or later.
Why do you think they kidnapped them as children?
You need to survive if you are a thinking being.
God is no longer with him; he only uses him to cover his penance.
For you… you are only a blasphemy against life."
"There is no future for you," the demons whispered, amid laughter and screams bouncing off the cave walls.
"He wouldn't do that… though I must admit, he has a side I don't like. He's almost like a father to me," Zao Li responded, his heart clenched.
"He would never save you. Don't fool yourself. Don't try to cling to his kindness," the demons replied, in a voice that chilled the blood.
"Thank us," they said now, with an echo that made the stone walls tremble.
"We, unlike the Elohim who chose that trash, care about you. We want to help you.
What stands before you… is your legacy.
The legacy of your parents.
What many tried to hide, we show you."
Before Zao Li appeared a strange staff.
Its surface showed a swampy green, almost opaque, mixed with black veins.
It had a curved tip and two perfectly aligned rods, with a leather handle that seemed heavy in the hand.
"What is this?" Zao asked, fearful.
"It is a staff that your father protected before he was killed… before your mother was abused and enslaved," the demons responded.
It is an ancient, mystical artifact, of a power that no longer exists.
It was created from a tree that bloomed before the flood and forged by humans who aided those we would today call titans or giants.
If you manage to master it, it will serve you all your life.
Your father couldn't… maybe you can.
The staff began to dissolve, like sand carried by the wind.
From its form emerged a snake with three heads and two tails.
It entwined around Zao Li's arm, moving gently, showing affection and acceptance.
The shadows of the cave began to laugh:
"I knew it!"
"I never doubted he could do it!"
"I knew he would have the spirit to tame it!"
Zao Li was stunned.
Something uncomfortable churned in his stomach; he had never felt anything like it.
"What we offer you," the voice began, deep and reverberating, "is a gift.
For not being able to help you when they killed your mother… but contracts are contracts; we cannot break them, even if we wanted to.
If you use it… not only will you be able to free yourself from this cursed immortality.
This gift will also allow you another way to live… without being chained to this place."
It would be more than enough.
With this act, we would have repaid the favor your parents did for us.
Zao Li saw in visions all that Galton had done; how they killed the first saints.
Each child begged for help, screaming, "Mom!" as blood ran, soaking the ground.
They died without even getting a hug, without saying goodbye.
Galton did not kill them quickly: he made them suffer.
Each blow took life, took screams.
Zao Li could only watch as his brothers fell, their names floating in the air, disappearing silently.
Fear and agony surrounded him; everything was cold, melancholic.
Perhaps those children were indeed born to suffer, because they had known nothing else.
"Their lives were short, and no one gave them another purpose… these innocents… perhaps they were only born for the slaughter."
He was outraged.
He couldn't believe someone was capable of such atrocity… though deep down, he had suspected it.
"It can't be… what do I do now? I won't be able to go back if he is capable of something like this," Zao Li said.
"You don't have to go back," the demons of the cave responded.
"He did all that," Zao Li murmured.
"And God has not punished him yet," the demons continued.
"Would you trust someone like that? Would you trust someone as abominable as him?"
"If you come with us," they added, "I assure you he will pay for his sins.
They may consider us enemies, but we have come to free her.
Humanity saved us from extinction, and we also want to return the favor."
The staff floated before Zao Li, brilliant and heavy, with swampy green and black tones intertwining as if breathing.
Zao reached out his hand, trembling, while the shadows of the cave danced around him.
For a moment, fear and hope mingled, leaving him frozen… and ready to make his decision.
Zao Li remained in the cave all night, inspecting the staff and exploring its possibilities, for the artifact had its own consciousness.
After two days, his brothers became worried and began searching for him throughout the camp and confined area.
Meanwhile, Zao left his creation element in the cave, but without the divine vessel that Galton possessed, he managed to confine it in a plant, transforming its original nature.
His gift, which had no defined specialty, remained intact, thus preserving his capacity for creation and immortality.
In his right hand, he carried a cursed seal with a life of its own: a small snake.
This seal, a pentagram of five circles, four triangular stars, and an oval symbolizing an eye, distorted the reality of anyone upon whom it was applied.
All this was possible thanks to the staff, which understood his pain and decided to help him calm it through indirect communication of feelings.
With a heart full of rancor, Zao Li planned revenge against Galton for what he had done to his mother.
But he did not want to harm him directly; his target was Zaziel, as a twisted form of retaliation: an eye for an eye.
Although he considered him a brother, his hatred toward Galton was strong enough to dehumanize even those he once called family.
"That man took the only thing I had left.
The merchant was a son of a bitch, but at least he let me keep my mother and sister.
That bastard didn't even do that," Zao Li said, his voice broken.
"Galton… you are a ruthless killer, a heartless scoundrel; I don't understand why God would choose someone like you."
This young man, though seemingly good, carried doubts and resentment capable of turning him into a catalyst for tragedies.
And he would be the one who, unknowingly, would unleash the next horrors.