Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 102: Plea to the Gods

Wow, who knew watching the past can drain your energy of happiness (or mental health, as Dad and Wind call it)? I don't know how much I want to stop after seeing Origia's troubles with her mission. Yet, I want to not only finish my [Hidden Quest], but for two additional reasons.

1. To see if what I guessed about the creation of [Signs] is true.

2. To see if Origia conquers everyone's beliefs that the gods would never come back.

It feels a little nerdy of me to practically react to some scenes that only happened in the game's lore, but I'm not ashamed of it and I'm not letting anyone say otherwise. Origia reminds me of myself and if it wasn't for Wind and his friends, I wouldn't have a reason to move forward and be myself.

Right now, the scene is now showing some sort of a montage where Origia is experimenting with the theory that she (and I) theorized. Not only am I watching it so I might find some details, but it gives me time to calm down from witnessing that tear-jerking scene. Honestly, I don't know if it might work in practice. But thinking about it, it makes kind of sense. One rune, one character. It's no different from what I know in real life. Either way, it's only a matter of time until I witness that event very soon.

And it only takes one time skip to let me see all of it to reality.

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I'm now standing on a cliff where the largest church is perched. According to Origia, this place doubled as a border between the messengers and the then-dangerous world of <Volo> itself as it was also the highest perch. "High enough to reach the domain of gods" is what she said.

Either way, I watch her walk near the edge with her staff in hand. I'm expecting her to wear something fancy for the occasion. But instead, she is only wearing her usual white dress. Except she is also wearing some kind of a belt with a small pouch, white and gray boots, and a white headband. I'm surprised since I'm expecting her to wear something daring as a sign of plot or character development. Although, I feel like it sounds a bit biased and unnecessary if I think about it. I've read some fantasy novels outside Sereph (including some of Hayate and Zac's) and I've seen so many of them to the point that I'm kind of bored with them. So this looks good enough, I guess.

Fantasy story tropes aside, I watch Origia staring into the sky as her father approaches behind her.

[Are you sure about this, Origia? You said this spell may cost you a lot of Mana you have within you,] her father asks with worry in his voice.

[True. But in exchange, I can send it while minimizing the cost at the same time,] Origia answers. [I know it may exhaust all of my Mana, but it's a risk I can take if we want to end this era of suffering.] She looks down on the cliff and when I do the same, we see monsters roaming in some sort of a canyon. I see several warriors trying to defeat a monster that appears to look like a [Wild Bear] or a [Terror Werewolf]. [It's time for the gods to open their eyes. I'm not going to do so by force. But I want them to finally see the current state of the world so they can finally own up and end this punishment that has been lingering for many years.]

[But you also invited most of the messengers here. If your Master hears about this...]

Origia sighs. [I know. Master Protegio will not approve of my methods and my friends will hate me if this goes all wrong. But I want to give them hope. Ignoring the situation is only hurting them more and I want to show them that it is possible to keep praying.]

She then places her hands on her father's and gazes into his blue eyes. [If anything happens to me, please don't blame anyone or yourself. If it's my fate to fail for my transgressions, then I will bear that responsibility.]