Chapter 315 - Crossing the Midpath (1/2)

Li appeared in the material world again, blinking as the realm of gears and blue orbs disappeared. Faint flickers of golden light dissipated around him, leaving him staring down the winding yet majestic path of the Midpath.

The Aviania angels perched atop the arches lining the bridge were not active, their blue cores dull and lacking energy. Helius had been right – he truly had given up on his angels.

But all that power had to have gone somewhere. It went to the Sunspear, and once Helius himself faded away and his essence imbued itself fully into that weapon, it would be easily on par with the Prometheas in terms of killing eldritch beings.

Well, it was a good thing Li was out to retrieve it by going west.

”Papa, you back!” said Tia as she grabbed Li's arm from behind.

”And not gone very long, just like I promised,” said Li. In fact, as he started to figure out from the sky – the very same early dawn he had left behind – he had probably not been gone almost anytime. ”Looks like I was gone just a few minutes.”

”Every minute without you boring,” said Tia.

Well, we will not have any more detours for now,” said Li with a smile as he hoisted Tia up to his shoulder. ”We go now to this Gigant.”

”Aye, we'll be the first men in centuries to ever wade these giant lands,” said Old Thane as he flexed his arms in preparation. ”Oh, the prospect of adventure, of new adventure, does make this old heart beat so strong.”

”If I may, seer,” came Mason's voice.

”Hm?” said Li.

”What…did you have audience with the One Light?” said Mason.

”I did,” said Li matter-of-factly. He stared at Mason's almost slack-jawed awe, a stare with eyes alight in curiosity that clearly expected good news from the sun god.

Li looked at Mason and wondered how the young man, a boy, really, even compared to Li.

How old was Mason? Twenty? And his brother comfortably only in his late teenage years. Both of them were basically children. Even in his past life, Li would have been their senior by a bit over a decade. Older enough than them that the only time he would ever see people their age was if they showed up to his company as new interns, some of them holding that same starstruck or determined glint to make it big and do something with their lives that Li once had.

Inevitably, the years would wear that shine down, and then, there would be nothing, just another cog in the company machine that droned on and on.

Li mentally shook his head, clearing the old pessimism from him. If there was any part of his humanity that he could afford to lose, it was that, a byproduct of a world that had lost its heart and soul.

No, this was a new world. And unlike before, Li had the power to change it and shape it to his will. If there was anything his training with divine powers taught him, it was that: he had power. He had power over life itself.

His very presence could infuse life where before there was nothingness. He could hear and change the songs of life, a remarkable feat that no level of genetic engineering from his past world could ever muster up to. And, exercising these powers, his perspective grew.

Mortal lives were, at their base, a collection of notes and beats strung together in a bag of fragile flesh and blood. At any given moment, that bag could pop with all the intensity and suddenness of an imploding balloon, leaving nothing behind, only death.

But even if that was what they were, they were not just that.

They had potential to be more, to show more, they just needed the right environment to grow in. This, Li knew he had to keep in mind lest he become too detached, too used to seeing the lives around him, some of which were close to his heart, as units and not people.

”May, I ask, seer, what did the One Light say? The priests all claim to hear his voice, but this, I doubted. I knew the One Light was there, shining over us all, but I did not know he had a voice. Tell me, seer, how was it?” said Mason.

So much expectation. Li could see that Mason had faith in something that was not truly there. Helius could not give a damn about any single mortal, though he would be willing to give his life to save them as a whole.

”Your One Light will fade soon,” said Li.