Core

The First Flame

His heart had stuttered, wanting to stop pumping. He no longer had the resolve to live, feeling the will to breathe shattering into tiny pieces. His whole body felt cold, stiff, and painful. He wanted everything to stop.

'If only I was stronger...' was the only thing that circled his mind other than subconsciously knowing that he wished for death. Even when he know it was a useless thought, for there was nothing that could ever bring his family back ever again, all but shattered in just one night, he still thought of it. He couldn't stop thinking about it nor could he stop resenting the Capital Army, resenting fate, resenting himself.

(Just stop already.)

"Do you wish for power?" Caelum stiffen, feeling as though time had suddenly stopped. In fact, it somehow did. The men in his house (no longer the safe haven he owns) froze, the blood that stained the carpet seemed to stopped increasing.

Everything was silent.

He lifted his head just barely so he could see the two cloaked being floating, one in grey and another in pale blue and white. "Do you wish for the ability to judge someone's worth in living?" The white one said, closely followed by the one in grey, voice echoing. "Do you wish for the power to bring one to afterlife and decide their path?"

A part of Caelum wanted to die, to cease from existence, but another part of him screamed, screamed inside him to take revenge. It screamed at him to say yes and kill-

"Why me?" He asked instead, for he knew that these beings weren't human. He didn't felt the urge to freak out, however. He didn't know why, and he just had to ask. "Why me, of all people?"

"It is merely Fate's decision, it designed this path for you, for you to see and for you to balance the world. It is Fate's decision for you to be the Historian of the world." As though knowing what Caelum was thinking, the white one continued. "A Historian is a spectator, a judge and the one who records the world's event. A Historian is the outsider who watches over the three pillar of the world as it sways and regains balance. What you see shall be recorded, but what you shall experience may scar you."

"Selfless one, do you have the resolve to live?"

"Do you have the resolve to shoulder the burden of being a Historian in exchange for the powers we'd bestow you?"

Distantly, Caelum could hear the ghost sound of rattling chains, temperature dropping slightly. He had the answer right at the tip of his tongue, but the will to answer was barely there. Is it truly worth living for the sake of revenge, however? Is it truly worth living, for he should die just as how his family had?

Do he deserve the reason to continue living?

He swallowed. This was his punishment, for his sin. His punishment to repay his debts to his love ones. (Although, he knew that he wouldn't be able to repay even a single one.) He will take his punishment. He deserved it. He deserved to suffer for what he had put his family through.

(The first flame was lit inside him, unknown to the ginger yet as clear as daylight for the other two. The flame that would soon grow bigger until it made itself known to the world.)

"I do."

With that, the white one shifted closer to Caelum, hovering its hand over his forehead. "I, God of Judgement, gift you the ability to judge and to bring one to their downfall or to give a second chance. I gift you the ability to deliver punishments as you please." Judgement's hand glowed. Judgement moved back as the grey one took its place, hovering its hand over Caelum's forehead as well.