Chapter 46: Discovering the Truth

Luke grumbled to himself and kept the paper out like he was warding off evil as he stepped into the room. The moment his foot crossed the threshold, an unbelievable amount of pain shot through his body. He fell to his knees and hunched over as his mouth opened in a silent scream.

It felt almost like what he experienced at the hands of the evil god within the seal.

He could feel himself fading in and out of consciousness, unable to tell what was even happening anymore other than pain.

Why? Why? Why? Why did it hurt so much?

Luke struggled to lift his arms up and covered his head with them as pain continued to tear at his body. Flashes of what he experienced at the hands of the evil god played before his mind, driving him mad, and deranged laughter escaped his mouth.

What was he doing again? Why was he trying? Wouldn’t it be better to be dead?

As Luke prayed for the pain to end, he thought of Fidall and silently asked himself why he had to endure all this.

Suddenly, the pain stopped, but Luke didn’t notice right away.

He was so caught up in his memories of pain that it took him a while to realize that the pain had already stopped.

Luke remained curled on the ground, not daring to move, afraid that any movement would cause the pain to return. He lay there for some time before he regained enough sense to know he couldn’t just lie there and tentatively shifted slightly.

When he wasn’t struck by pain, he slowly pushed himself off the ground. Luke wobbled, but he remained standing. He walked towards the statue of Fidall on uneasy steps.

Under normal circumstances, he would have taken the time to admire his surroundings, but after the wringer he went through, he just wanted to be done with everything. Hopefully, he would finally be able to reach Fidall.

The moment he stood before the statue of Fidall, he got down on his knees, clasped his hands together, and prayed.

It had to work. It absolutely had to.

If, after everything he went through, Fidall didn’t respond, he didn’t know what to do. He might just lose his mind.

Silence answered, and he felt himself slowly grow crazy.

Was this how it was going to be? Was Fidall really going to ignore him even when Luke was in the seat of Fidall’s power?

Right as Luke was about to lose hope, he heard a voice say, “Welcome back, my child.”

He sucked in a sharp breath.

Was that Fidall? Was he hearing the god’s voice?

“It isn’t an illusion, my child. I am here,” Fidall said.

It was as if a dam was unleashed, and he shamefully sobbed in front of the statue. His whole body shook from the intensity of his sobs.

After some time, he finally calmed down and said, “I apologize for my behavior.”

“No, there is no need to apologize. You have endured long enough,” Fidall said, his voice a soothing balm to Luke’s soul.

“Fidall, you must know why I’m here, but I wish to ask for your help. I…I have no right to ask, but please help me,” Luke pleaded, uncaring of how pathetic he must look.

The god was silent, and Luke feared that he had caused the god to turn away from him in disgust.

“I would never abandon my people, but I can’t help you,” Fidall said with sorrow etched in his voice.

“Why not?” Luke blurted out.

Why was Fidall refusing to help? Did he not consider Luke as one of his own anymore?

“Luke, you chose this path yourself,” Fidall said.

Luke’s mind went blank.

He had chosen this himself?

What complete and utter nonsense. He would have never chosen to be betrayed and tortured by the evil god. It was all lies.

“I told you it was pointless. Your god has abandoned you,” the evil god whispered.

“Luke, do not listen to his words. Have you truly forgotten the choice you made that day? Have you forgotten the words you told me the day you were chosen by me?” Fidall said, his booming voice overshadowing the evil god’s.

Luke didn’t understand.

When had he ever spoken to Fidall?

He had never spoken to the god once in his entire life.

“Stop listening to him. He’s just saying whatever to make you look and feel bad to convince yourself that you deserve to suffer,” the evil god insisted.

Fidall remained silent, but it didn’t matter. The evil god had made a huge mistake speaking.

“That’s not true. Fidall is the god of everything that is good in the world. He wouldn’t lie to hurt others, unlike you,” Luke said, feeling that there were things he had overlooked.

Why had his ex-comrades betrayed him?

Luke had always wondered about that and had intended to demand answers from them once he confronted them.

However, what if that had been a lie?

He knew that people who suffered torture could be malleable to manipulation and had unfortunately seen it a couple of times.

People’s memories could be warped, and they could be convinced something was true when that wasn’t the case at all. Given how long he had been in the evil god’s hands, it wouldn’t be shocking if some of his memories had been twisted by the evil being.

The more he thought about it, the more certain he became.

They didn’t betray him. Something happened that day when they fought the evil god, but he couldn’t remember. In fact, Luke couldn’t remember how they fought and defeated him. All he could recall was that they did fight, and it ended with the two being sealed away.

“What did you do to my memories?” Luke demanded.

Both gods were silent.

Suddenly, a sinister laugh escaped the evil god as he said, “You finally figured it out. I thought you would never find out and run around like a chicken whose head has been cut off.”

“Shut up. What did you do?” Luke demanded.

The evil god didn’t answer and just laughed, filling Luke’s head with his horrible laughter.