Chapter 145
The echo of the name Silvia Cantika Putri still left a faint bitterness in her soul, reminding her of the time when she had been an angel of absolute loyalty, before storms of betrayal and regret swept through her life.
'That encounter changed everything.
His light did not only answer but also called.
And so did this heart.'
In the same sacred heavenly garden where she once chased butterflies with joy, a radical transformation took place within Aldraya.
The blazing admiration she held for Quil-Hasa had turned into total devotion that consumed her entire being.
The feeling she harbored surpassed mere servitude, turning into an intimate attraction, deep and profound, like the heart of a woman captivated by the magnificence of another woman.
In the innocence of her fourth year, she declared an oath of loyalty that would shape the rest of her life.
With an unwavering resolve, young Aldraya began building her own personal belief system—a dogma she called the Trilogy of Devotion.
Faith, piety, and betrayal.
Faith became its foundation, the absolute belief that every decision Quil-Hasa made must contain the highest wisdom.
Piety became its pillar, the application of strict spiritual discipline to ensure not even a sliver of doubt existed within her obedience.
Meanwhile, betrayal became the eternal warning—for her, questioning the Creator's command was the highest, unforgivable form of treachery.
She carved this dogma into every fiber of her being, turning it into the filter through which she viewed reality.
Every morning she awoke reciting her vow, and every night she slept evaluating how much obedience she had shown that day.
Even in her duty to oversee the entire universe, she performed it through the lens of this dogma—everything was seen as the manifestation of Quil-Hasa's will, which must be accepted without reconsideration.
The philosophical foundation she built at such a young age became both a prison and a fortress for her soul.
On one hand, the dogma granted her purpose and a clear meaning of existence.
On the other, it clipped the wings of her once-lively curiosity, burying her natural wonder beneath the walls of blind obedience.
'Their tasks are set, and mine is to maintain unwavering focus.'
Within the heavenly pavilion she designated as her place of devotion, Aldraya built a life of isolation yet immense authority.
The crystalline walls of the pavilion reflected the eternal divine light, while its gleaming marble floor remained cold despite never being touched by sunlight.
There she knelt in perfect meditative posture, her body unmoving like a statue carved from the finest marble, while her lips constantly moved in ceaseless hymns of praise for Quil-Hasa.
From the tips of her delicate fingers radiated golden threads of light that connected her to all of creation.
These fine yet powerful threads pierced dimensions and time, reaching every corner of the universe under her watch.
Through them, she witnessed the birth of new stars, the extinction of ancient civilizations, the dance of subatomic particles, and the turmoil within every sentient being—all without leaving her sacred seat.
Each day, her melodious yet commanding voice continued to chant prayers of protection as well as dreadful curses upon anyone who dared defile Quil-Hasa's sanctity.
Her words carried cosmic power capable of shaping reality, etching the destinies of the beings she supervised.
Strangely, even though she never left her kneeling position and never rested, her appearance grew more radiant with each passing day.
Her skin glowed like pearl, her eyes shone like starlight, and her entire aura radiated an ever-increasing perfection.
This paradoxical physical transformation served as undeniable proof of how deep her spiritual connection with the Creator had become.
The divine energy flowing through the threads of her surveillance did not only grant her knowledge of the universe but also rejuvenated every cell of her angelic body.
Within her sacred solitude, she found a source of eternity and limitless beauty, while her total devotion became the fuel that perfected her form day after day.
'Four years have passed. Eight years of age should mark maturity, yet what happened was the opposite.'
Fiiih!
'The First Heavenly Betrayal. A stain that tainted the purity of heaven, orchestrated by my own flesh and blood.'
In the space between time and memory, Aldraya's steps suddenly halted.
The world around her froze for a moment, like a watercolor painting under rain.
From the depths of her darkest recollections, a name echoed like a forbidden incantation.
Equinox.
The name resonated within her consciousness, unlocking doors of memories long sealed shut.
In an instant, she was dragged back into the past—to the heavenly garden where everything began, where the golden light slowly shifted into ominous shadows threatening to swallow all purity she once knew.
Four years had passed since the sacred encounter with Quil-Hasa, bringing young Aldraya into the age of eight, which should have marked her coming of maturity.
However, the path she chose led only to deepening isolation.
She became trapped within the fortress of dogma she herself had built—the Trilogy of Devotion, which turned into a gilded cage for her mind.
Her separation from her twelve siblings, who grew together in shared camaraderie, created an immeasurable distance.
The mistake began with her solitude, with her misguided belief that absolute obedience must be upheld by isolating herself far from others.
At the peak of their eighth birthday celebration, a spiritual quake shook the foundations of heaven.
An event that would later be remembered as the First Heavenly Betrayal.
Equinox, the younger sibling whose light once shone as bright as the morning star, was revealed to be the mastermind behind a conspiracy that tore through the heavenly order.
With subtle, deadly persuasion, his words poisoned the minds of several other angels, hypnotizing them with the promise of false freedom.
Those who fell under his influence—without fully realizing it—became pawns in Equinox's daring game of challenging fate.
'Devotion is not meant to be imitated but lived by each soul. That was your first mistake, my sweetest sibling, Equinox.'
With eyes sparkling with admiration that bordered on worship, Equinox watched Aldraya's steps like a pilgrim gazing upon a sacred relic.
Every trace Aldraya left—since her innocent years before turning four to her transformation into a strict adherent of dogma—he studied with time-consuming devotion.
For Equinox, Aldraya was not merely a sister but an entire universe waiting to be charted.
Every principle of the Trilogy of Devotion she held was something he tried to deconstruct, every spark of curiosity she once had was something he attempted to retrace to its end—as if by perfectly emulating her, he would uncover his own essence.
His tireless pursuit eventually brought him to the edge of heavenly reality, to a place that felt alien and neglected.
There, hidden behind the usual veil of divine light, he found a strange material.
It was like a blot on a perfect canvas—an anomaly seemingly not created alongside the rest of heaven.
The material radiated unfamiliar fluctuations of energy, throbbing with contradictory rhythms, emanating ancient sorrow and frozen rage.
Its vibrations pierced deeply, defying every cosmic law he knew—and precisely because of that strangeness, Equinox felt drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Without a single trace of hesitation, Equinox's small fingers reached for the foreign material.
The moment his skin touched its cold, porous surface, a violent shockwave crashed into all his senses.
A dark, ravenous consciousness, imprisoned within that material for thousands of eons, immediately found a gap through which it could escape.
To be continued…