191 Let Justice Be Done...

For all that I have learned, I humbly admit that not even I know the answer, even though I was to be his fount of wisdom and guidance. 

In the end, what was my purpose? Where do I go from here? I do not know. Everything has been made undone — my destiny, my death, and... my duty. I have nothing left now and yet, I am immensely grateful for it. Paradoxically, I feel as if I've been given everything if that makes any sense. 

But this is such an incredible miracle I've been given that I doubt that I will ever be able to repay it, for I fear what it must have cost to have created it... 

Beyond the terrible storm, the gentle chorus of distant bells, and the honeyed ambrosia that continued to bless the land, an old world that had been born anew welcomed an unbelievable number of new souls. 

"I welcome you, dear Mulia, to the realm of Iliai — the land of memories. My domain..."

It was a place without precise dimensions... and had no true border to speak of. There were no boundaries in the truest sense of the word... anything was possible within it as long as one understood how it functioned. 

Where mainstream reality was cruel, rigid, and indifferent, Iliai was formless, boundless, and defined by the passion of the soul. Illai was a hundred million heavens refracted by the inner beliefs of those who walked into its ethereal soil. A conceptual prism that held all of the brilliance of the world. 

Illai took the form of what the person derived their happiest memory from, making it a unique place for every single person who had climbed up the heavenly staircase. 

To an old, frail man, it was his childhood home. The scent of his mother's cooking filled the air outside of the front door as the old man trembled in astonishment. And as if to invite him in, the voice of a woman he had not heard in decades — his departed mother's voice — called for him as he so fondly remembered in his youth. 

He was no longer an old man; he was a young man returning home where he felt safest. 

To children, it was their dreams. What they truly dreamt of in their heart of hearts, their souls not yet stained by the harsh reality of the world below Iliai. They were closest to the essence of Iliai itself, each one a free mind still full of hope and desire to see the wonderful possibilities that the world possessed.

There were no lies in Iliai. After all, it was a mirror of the heart at its core. Here, truth was the only dialect that could be spoken.

Another type of illness, one that was not based on the soil of the continent, but rather the essence of its people. There was an eventide of faith present in the people of Mulia that could no longer be ignored. 

It was in the entertainment the people consumed. The way that they had been shepherded like cattle by a select few into a state of unconscious compliance and indolence. An incredibly sophisticated system of hyper-surveillance, psychological manipulation, and censorship had dominated Mulia for the last five thousand years.

Modern Mulia was a utopian world of eternal stagnation where nothing happened. A world where people are born without eyes, ears, and tongues in exchange for everlasting artificial bliss.

Their minds sedated from birth to death; their souls anesthetized on a lifelong dose of lies and sweet whispers...

Reed would have initially pointed his finger at the Dreaming Council for this horrific deed and they would have been correct on all accounts but after his journey across Mulia's history, he had come to a new understanding. 

The fault lied on the Dreaming Council, yes, but they were not alone when it came to the sin of abusing their power as Chosen. "No, they were not alone."

Every single Chosen who had ever lived stood accountable for a different crime — for not performing their duty. They had been given power for a single purpose: to protect the mortals of Mulia. To protect those who could not defend themselves against threats beyond their abilities. And yet...

For five thousand years, they had done nothing to rectify the tremendous injustice that had been done unto the very people they were supposed to protect. Afraid of what the people of Mulia would think of them if they knew what truly transpired during the Dark Age when Chosen tyrannically ruled over them, the cowards chose to abide by the Grand Lie. 

"They had grown accustomed to the reverence that mortals gave them and the incomparable ecstasy that came with them acting as modern-day gods."

And last of all, the last sinner of this wretched story.

The one was worshiped and treated as a goddess, despite being the same person who had put them in harm's way. A pitiful woman who had offered her ignorant children a terrible lie so sweet that they could not have refused it even they had tried...

There was once was an old foundational myth about a hero of a forgotten epoch, back when a certain race had barely begun to develop their civilization. It was a tale from back when they had not yet even acquired the knowledge to explain how the world around them worked. 

And, of course, it was about a hero... or rather, a heroine. A female warrior who had been, after proving herself worthy with many a heroic feat, granted an audience with the gods. They had become interested in the woman after observing her triumph over every single trial that they had prepared for her. Not once had she failed them, despite their greatest efforts to hinder her. 

Thus they summoned her presence from their abode in heaven and sent down an ethereal staircase made of light for her to climb — one that was formed from her accomplishments, each one a divine step made of the very legend she had written by herself. 

It was an honor granted to her and as the first of her be allowed into their domain, the gods decided that she would be awarded a boon fit for her achievements. 

The boon they offered to her was a single wish. She would be permitted to ask for anything under heaven as a reward. 

She need only think of what she desired and the gods would grant it to her. But this was nothing more than deceit; it was, in fact, her final trial — if she wished for anything in the name of selfishness, they would deny her the wish. 

The only wish they'd grant would be one that would not benefit her. They wanted to see what this seemingly incorruptible mortal would do when offered the possibility for anything. They wagered that even she would fall at the chance of obtaining her heart's desire, for despite all her virtue and discipline... she was still a mortal.

Naturally, this offer did not fool the heroine, as she had become well-acquainted with the gods and their mischief over the course of her life. So she, who had become tired of the gods and their condemned tricks, decided to make them suffer for once and do good for her people simultaneously. 

And then, with all the goodness in her heart, she gifted the world a treasure that she thought would grant her people a true chance to create Heaven on earth. 

The moment she decided upon her wish, the gods raged in glorious fury. Not because they had been bested, but rather by what she had asked for. Nevertheless, the gods could do nothing to stop it. 

That night, a great storm washed over the land unlike anything in history as droplets of sweet water blessed the world. The following day, the people of Mulia supposedly awoke and found themselves able to perform miracles — make their dreams real — with a thought.

Hence, the first tribes of Mulia referred to this gift as... Anima's blessing, in honor of the legendary woman who had cheated the gods of the power to create miracles for her people. 

"Such a wonderfully quaint myth to ground what they could not explain nor understand at the time, don't you think? Full of heroism, a strong moral framework, and a distinct spirit of hopefulness in what they perceived around them. But then... they perverted it for their own goals." 

A memory forgotten manifested itself across Iliai for everyone to see as per Reed's will. 

The promise of everything one could ever think of and more... as long as they complied and did their best for the Great War that they had been drafted into against their will. 

This was the truth — the first Otherworlders had been kidnapped from their home planets and made into soldiers for war. If not adequately convinced to fight for the sake of defending reality, then they were coaxed into servility and obedience with the very same offer that had once been presented to Anima herself ten thousand lifetimes ago. 

"Disgusting, don't you think? Poor Anima would have likely wished for divine judgment upon her people had she seen what they had done with her blessing, even her own legend? To see her story being used to dupe the confused, frightened people that they had stolen from their homes makes my blood boil, I must profess..." 

The Great Lie had survived even after the Ancient Mulians had abandoned the continent. For the next five thousand years, generations of poor fools had been swept along with this promise of everything, though it had been... somewhat modified to fit the new circumstances. 

To fight not for the virtues that define the best parts of us, but rather for simple desires and naked ambition or even, heaven forbid, questionable intentions...

As the wounded Goddess slept as she tried to recover from the wounds inflicted upon her during the Great Barrier War, she had thrust the responsibility of how power would be distributed in her absence. 

For matters mundane, it was decided that the Dreaming Council, a collective of the most talented representatives of the Otherworlders, would rule the continent and usher in much-needed stability. 

And for more important matters, such as the selection of future demigods and their management, the Will of the World —  an artificial entity residing at the bottom of the world — would control who would become Chosen and how much power they would be granted. 

"But I shall not mince facts, from what I have purveyed, it was a system of governance created with the best intentions, alas... that did not last for long as you see now." 

Ancient memories that had once been forgotten appeared in a myriad of ways to the millions of people in Iliai. Times of tyranny in the Dark Age, and times of tender deceit in the Modern Age after the Unification War.

Families being split apart. Children orphaned and mothers widowed.

Atrocities that could only be described as injustices against morality.

Endless suffering and despair. Killing and killing and more killing. 

Reed could have spared them all of the horrors that had been perpetrated in past in lieu of something more palatable. Perhaps, he could have shown them something less horrific and gotten his point across, but he did not want that. 

If the rot was to be purged once and for all, it had to all been shown. Every crime, every sin brought out into the light for all to see. 

"If the court of heaven is blind, then it falls unto us to properly judge those who have wronged the innocent. And no matter how painful, we must try everyone who has sinned, even if the Goddess and her angels must also be put on trial."

To this end, Reed had forcibly wrested authority from the Goddess via the reset nodes. They were now under his command, along with all the Anima that they produced. And with it, he had snuffed the Will of the World into submission along with all who would oppose him — the Dreaming Council and all Chosen now stripped of their power. 

Even with an Alma, it meant nothing if they did not have any Anima to empower them, hence stripping them down back into mortalhood. 

The Goddess had been removed from her throne; her host of unruly angels were clipped of their wings and sent screaming down to the ground. No longer would the people of Mulia worship these false gods who had lied to them for millennia.

A vacuum of power had been created and with came the opportunity of true change.

A chance to change everything. 

"There can be no lenience in our hearts; only justice and truth can put things back into order. There are no Chosen people anymore to irresponsibly guide you anymore, only the cold, hard facts. What you make of them is up to all of you. And then, after everything has been laid out and examined, I will ask you to make your decision..."

That much Reed had sworn to give them — the ability to decide. For five millennia, they had been robbed of that right, if not by Fate, then by the nefarious powers that conspired against them. 

But anymore. Today would be different. Today, the people would be free...