Chapter 147
Wherever the light touched, the foreign infection sizzled and burned, shrinking like mist under the blazing sun, restoring the purity of the land that had been tainted.
This purification force also struck the four siblings who had been controlled.
A subtle yet powerful spiritual vibration severed the chains gripping their minds, weakening the dark authority that bound them without harming their true souls.
Awareness returned to the eyes of Emhtartako, Ahael, Anity, and Regord.
Then, with a swift and efficient motion, Aldraya faced the source of all the chaos.
Equinox—who had been possessed.
Their battle did not last long, not even a matter of minutes.
The dark force controlling Equinox was powerless against the sword forged from a direct fragment of Quil-Hasa.
With a decisive strike, Aldraya disabled the foreign entity, separating it from her sibling without destroying them.
It all ended abruptly.
In the sudden silence that fell, Aldraya stood with a flat, composed posture.
The sword of light in her hand was firmly pointed at Equinox, who now lay limp upon the ground, their body freed from the clutches of darkness but appearing fragile and devastated.
The scene froze like a dramatic painting.
The elder sibling standing tall with a weapon of victory, and the younger one powerless—defeated not by hatred, but by the most bitter of sacred duties.
'Accept this judgment with surrender, just as we are all bound to bow before His unquestionable Will.'
In the courtroom that still bore the scars of battle, the Angels who had regained their clarity raised their voices.
They questioned the original decision, debating Equinox's fate with profound anguish.
Their voices brimmed with disagreement, arguing that the soul of the younger sibling was also a victim—a blameless vessel forced to harbor a dark will.
They insisted that Equinox had never desired the destruction of Heaven, especially since the light in their eyes had been extinguished by the foreign entity that had seized control of their body and soul.
That grueling and emotional deliberation finally reached the Throne of Eternity.
Quil-Hasa, who listened to every accusation and plea, then altered His decision.
The original punishment, which might have been final, was changed into a new assignment—a paradoxical destiny.
The duty to guard the Realm of Hell, a land of turbulence and agony, was given to Equinox.
That place became both their prison and their responsibility.
Thus, a punishment layered with duty was decreed.
Equinox was exiled from the heavenly realms forever, condemned to dwell in and oversee Hell.
"Please… please don't continue.
Look at me. Look deeper, and you will understand that I am the one truly wounded.
I do not seek forgiveness, but awareness from you."
Wuuuuhh!
"Wake up—before everything becomes too damaged to repair."
"Descend."
Wussssh!
"My freedom will not be chained simply because I am cast into Hell.
Remember that well!!"
At the edge of the yawning divide between heavenly light and Hell's seething chaos, a tragic scene was carved into existence.
Aldraya stood upright, her face like flawless marble, without the slightest trace of emotion.
Her hand firmly grasped the collar of Equinox, who hung over the abyss.
Below them, the seven layers of Hell blazed like the gaping maw of a starving titan, waiting to devour its next prey.
The hiss of scorching winds rising from the chasm sounded like the howls of restless spirits, deepening the gloom of this bitter farewell.
Equinox, with one foot still resting on the cliff's edge while the rest of their body dangled over emptiness, turned their head with great effort.
Their pain-filled eyes gazed directly at their sister's cold expression.
A final, heartbreaking plea slipped from their trembling lips—a desperate attempt to open Aldraya's eyes to the truth hidden beneath everything.
They cried out that they were the one truly wounded, poisoned, and chained—not the traitor everyone believed them to be.
Their voice cracked under sobs and desperate screams, striving to penetrate the rigid wall of dogma that had solidified inside Aldraya's soul.
Yet each of those words was like dust blown away by Hell's scorching winds.
Aldraya remained unmoved, her heart glowing with the satisfaction of fulfilling the Creator's command, rendering her deaf to every plea.
Without the slightest shift in expression, without a moment to reflect, her grip loosened.
Equinox's body plummeted into the terrifying chasm, shooting past layers of atmosphere filled with screams of curses and despair.
Throughout their inevitable descent through each blazing layer of Hell, Equinox's voice continued to echo—a pounding blend of fury and unwavering resolve.
Though their body was driven deeper into suffering's core, their vow resounded: their freedom would never be shackled.
Their screams were no longer lamentations, but a declaration of war—that their banishment to Hell was not an ending, but the beginning of a new chapter in a rebellion that had never truly died.
Buuuk!
Fiiiih!
'The words you shouted… why do they echo in my memory?'
Tsiiiuh!
'Is—Is the conviction you cling to the same as the freedom I once experienced without realizing it?'
At the edge of Hell's abyss, still radiating blistering heat, Aldraya's body suddenly froze.
Her steps, once steady as she prepared to leave the place, abruptly stopped—cut off by the lingering echoes of Equinox's screams, piercing through layers of reality and striking the deepest chambers of her soul.
She walked several meters, then stopped.
Walked again, then froze once more.
This strange rhythm repeated several times, accompanied by the echoes of curses rising from the depths of the chasm, as though each layer of Hell Equinox descended through added a new weight onto her consciousness.
Her final halt felt the heaviest, as though time itself had stopped ticking.
And in the sudden inner silence that engulfed her, an old memory long buried surged forth with overwhelming force.
Her mind was suddenly taken back to a time so innocent and bright—to a heavenly garden where the grass sparkled and golden light enveloped everything.
She saw her younger self, joyfully chasing butterflies whose wings glimmered, her tiny feet hopping across a field of green.
She saw her own shadow running, laughing freely without burden, surrounded by small, gentle creatures full of affection.
The memory appeared so vividly, so painfully real, that it crashed against the wall of doctrine she had built as her shield.
The contrast between the pure joy of her innocent past and the rigid cruelty of her recent actions carved the first crack in the fortress of her beliefs.
For a fleeting moment, she felt an immense emptiness—a question she had long suppressed writhing back into her mind.
'Are my actions today equal to the innocence of our childhood?
Throwing my own sibling into Hell… compared to our laughter as we chased butterflies?
Are they truly the same?'
Huuuuh!
'Have the teachings I uphold—of faith, devotion, and punishment for betrayal—slowly eaten away at my truest self?'
Wiuuuuh!
'For a moment I recalled His Voice when the decree was given.
How differently it sounded to my ears then—soft, enchanting, as though not a command, but a loving invitation.'
Hhhh.
'This doctrine is the path I chose myself, a path I will tread until the final line of my life.
I will continue forward, guarding this conviction no matter the consequences.'
Within the silence surrounding her after Equinox's fall, a violent storm raged inside Aldraya.
She stood frozen, struck by the most fundamental and devastating question imaginable.
Could her act of casting her own sibling into the blazing chasm of Hell still be compared to the purity of their childhood—when she and her siblings questioned the universe together with bright laughter and innocent hearts?
To be continued…