Alma 108 Salvation

Reed buckled under the weight of what he'd been forced to carry. The decision he had been burdened with was beyond his ability as an individual.

He wasn't prepared. He wasn't ready to handle the consequences that would come with making such an important decision. Not even close.

This was a decision that should not have fallen upon a seventeen-year boy, of all people. The decision required proper judgment and a clear, unbiased viewpoint — something that he most certainly did not possess.

For the first time in his short life, Reed felt the weight of a life.

Despite having been embroiled in numerous conflicts over the better part of a year and a half, he'd never taken the life of another person.

At least, not intentionally.

Who was he to decide whether another person should live or die? What qualifications did he possess to make such an important judgment?

His legs suddenly felt as if they were made of lead. He couldn't move.

As if to pressure him even further — force him into choosing — the fight outside had taken a turn for the absolute worst. Everyone in the control room had witnessed the dramatic turn of events and the destruction of the south-western coast.

The fleet had been completely destroyed in an instant. The fight had ended. An angel had arisen from Hell to save the world and its people from themselves.

"…What is it?"

"An adult. It has severed the final tie that once connected it to the World and has chosen to walk down the path set by its masters. Think of it as a Child of the Outsiders and not an expendable pawn to be discarded like Infested you have previously fought," said Lu'um.

It was a wholly unique existence, separate from its former brethren.

It could no longer be described as 'it'.

A clear and gentle voice suddenly entered the minds of everyone on the continent at the same time.

"Hear me and listen, children of this hidden realm. My name is Sephira, Emissary of the Blessed, and I have come to free all of you from the unfair pain and suffering that your creator has burdened you with!"

"No longer will you grow old and sick! No longer will you starve or hate! No longer will the curse of death take your loved ones from you! I have come to deliver you all to a better place, a boundless land of eternal peace and prosperity!"

Even now, more than ever, Sephira believed in what she had said. She would save them all, even if it meant destroying the continent in one fell swoop. It was the responsible thing to do.

Reed's expression darkened when he heard the creature's speech and said, "It has a name? Why is it trying to—"

"Lies spoken by a deceiver, Ka'an. Nothing more. It is a clever swindler that wears the mask of an angel in order to better deceive the ignorant and lost. Nevertheless, it is a formidable foe, one capable of threatening the entire continent by itself. We must act NOW."

Kanosis fell on his knees and said, "What can we do to help, Heiress of the Moon? Is there anything we can do to assist both of you in this task?"

Lu'um grimly said, "No. There is little we can do in the way of fighting it ourselves. Even when we were at our prime, it still took a fully armed fleet to take one of them down and even then, the losses were still very severe…"

"Most of the time, only a couple of battered ships would return to relay the outcome of the fight. That is why we actively hunted as many Infested Pupae as we could during the Great War. We simply could not afford to fight too many of these damnable Adult-forms."

"......…" Reed simply stared at the large, obsidian monolith in the middle of the control room, unconcerned with the discussion.

It had caught his attention. Felt like something was calling to him from within it. There was an odd pull that was trying to get him to walk, but he had stopped himself from following it. He was rejecting the call out of an instinctive fear that he couldn't pinpoint accurately.

The fear he felt came from the fact that he had glimpsed what his answer would be. What he would choose in the end. What he needed to do.

He moved toward Kanosis and then handed Astrid to him without a word.

When Reed walked up to the monolith, everyone in the control room stopped talking.

"I know what I have to do, but I don't know what will happen once I do it. I am fully aware of how I must sound like right now, but I can feel that I'm right."

They were speaking to Reed in an unknowable cypher, relaying to him what he needed to do to activate it. To start the process. Beckoning Reed to touch the monolith and give it permission to begin.

"Ka'an... Do what you must. I will be beside you, no matter what you choose to do. I have faith that you will make the correct choice," said Lu'um.

She could not assist Reed this time, for she had no authority within the Divine Furnace. After all, she was not its master. It would only serve its creator and no one else. That was how it was built.

The Twilight Children moved behind Lu'um, and Kanosis said, "We stand with you, brother, no matter what you choose to do."

Reed had seen enough. It had shown him enough. He turned around to face everyone and said, "Go. Leave me alone — I cannot have anyone else in here when it begins…"

He had lied.

The truth was that he did not want them to see what was about to happen, especially Lu'um, even though she probably already knew. There was no way she didn't know. Reed guessed she had lied out of pity.

A lie for lie. That's fair, I'd say...

There was no going back from what he was about to do. That was for certain. It was cruel and unfair, but it was necessary.

Reed put his hands on the monolith and then channeled his Anima inside of it like he had been told to do. The monolith glimmered dimly and burst into flames.

It wasn't supposed to be this like this.

The flames quickly spread across the control room until they filled the entire place. It would not be long before the process would begin. A price would have to be paid for the activation of the Divine Furnace. It required special fuel in order for it to do what it was built for.

Anima would not be enough. It required will as well to function.

I was just trying to save two people.

The monolith heeded its master's order and spun into life. A tremendous amount of Anima suddenly started to swirl around the Reef outside, forming an Anima storm more than a dozen times larger than the one that had previously covered the south-western coast.

It was the mother of all storms — a vast majority of the continent witnessed the formation of massive auroras of Anima that all began to converge toward the distant North. The world creaked and groaned under the incredible pressure that the Reef had begun to emit, to the point that cracks had begun to appear in the skies.

Sephira looked at the cracks in the sky and felt overjoyed. Her plan had worked — the Divine Furnace's power had begun to destroy the Heavenly Barrier. It would not be long before the walls cracked, allowing her to freely escape.

She would destroy the continent, take all of the souls here, and then make her way Outside in a single move. The Divine Furnace, incomplete as it currently was, would likely suffer catastrophic damage because of the premature activation, too.

Everything was going according to plan. She wondered how her masters would reward her for everything she'd done. Perhaps they'd even sanctify her — bless her with their powers, making her even stronger.

She flapped her wings in joy and pushed Anima toward the Divine Furnace, speeding along the process. The faster, the better as far as she was concerned.

For millennia, she had suffered at the hands of the Mulians in that underground prison cell they had built for her. She longed to be free once more, above all else. The culmination of thousands of years of planning had finally paid off.

Anima continued to gather around the Divine Furnace and it shone brighter and brighter until it turned into a luminescent star. The Heavenly Barrier continued to break under the pressure until it completely shattered.

The false sky shattered into pieces. Grim darkness had been laid bare for all to see across the world. The only thing that separated the continent and the Outside was the flimsy barrier that was the Void…

Chapter end