Soul of Searing Steel

The life of Lifechasers were all but fated to be full of ups and downs.

Within the Nightfall Zone, which was perpetually without light, their kind had to steer massive mobile cities and chase after the trails of stars, absorbing their light and heat. However, the stars which could be used for moving cities were truly scarce across the Nine Skies—if it was not too close to the Steel Continent and risking the chance of everything being possibly reduced the dust, it would be too far from the continent to the point that there was not enough light to charge the mobile city so that it could move and maintain the energy of the ecosystems within.

Even if a suitable star cold be found by chance, the excessive and volatile gravity emanating from the Steel Continent could cause those suns to lose balance at any given moment and drop off, crashing over the land—should that happen, the mobile cities had to change directions and avoid the entire sector to escape the destruction caused by the falling star.

Be that as it may, the Steel Continent would still absorb the bursting momentum in the devastative crash of any star into the land, preventing seismic tremors that spread over light-hours or even light-days, even condensing the crumbling gas of the fallen star so that it could reassemble as a new star. Even so, it would still mean that the mobile cities would lose all sources of energy, and that they had to embark on a voyage as early as possible to reach vicinity of the next viable star.

The pursuit of light and stars could last for millennia or just mere decades—the mobile cities were huge steel shells that eternally rushed about over the continent, coming for stable stars and going for falling stars. In turn, the Lightchasers were the insects buried within the shell: for most mortal Lighchasers, the sheer gravity of the Steel Continent and the various radiation or pollution from realms beyond were all real threats to their lives. If not for the protection from the mobile city's manmade World Barriers, it would not have taken more than a few minutes for mortals without Extraordinary ability to simply die.

Therefore, there was actually no 'stability' within the Radiant Domain itself either. Even if the densely-packed clusters of stars would bring about boundless, powerful light and spare the headache regarding energy supplies for citizens within, the denser clusters would still mean that there would be more 'Starfalls'—every year, there would always be some mobile city that would run into meteor rains and be decimated as hundreds or even thousands stars dropped on them.

And what was worse, it was a regular natural disaster in the Radiant Domain.

Stars would rise or fall, just as stars would be born or perish.

Upon the Steel Continent, endless things were in constant motion, existing in cycles which had no stability to speak of. Furthermore, beyond the light, endless spawns of Chaos poured within from the edges of the world, roaming throughout Nightfall despite their fear of the light—every Lightchaser individual hence yearned for security, for eternal and peaceful illumination and not to be forever imprisoned in a cycle of migration and flight.

Though such hopes sounded rather insignificant, they were also conundrums which had never been solved by anyone over the hundred thousand years since history began. Countless individuals would invest themselves into astrology, astronomy, or exploration of distant stellar regions, intent on seeking the principle of motion which the stars obeyed, desiring the unraveling of the cause of all those turmoils.

Nevertheless, there had been none who could find the answer up until now.

Furthermore, no one could theorize how the entire world had come to be, or how it was made. According to stellar models, as well as the examination of fundamental attributes in regards to both physics and Extraordinary power, the cleverest Alliance scholars had once deduced the model in which countless worlds were born, but no particular model had really cultivated such a unique and perplexing place like the Three Worlds and Nine Skies. In return, the scholars could only helplessly admit that there might really have been a Creator in this world, a genuine divine being.

The 'god' here was not a reference to the known deities, however—those divine beings could not actually reach the Nine Skies, not to mention that they were simply champions who were unable to ascend up to the Sword and Axe realms. Like the others, they were simple beings pursuing the light.

That was why everyone could only attribute the causality behind everything to the omnipotent Father, molder of the endless Steel Continent, Creator of all Life, and declare that all their tribulations were a 'test'.

After all, they simply could not find any other existing reason aside from that.

***

But now, Alpha Falster, astrologer scholar most ordinary and former famed explorer, realized that he had presently reached the trail directed towards the 'Truth'—within the faraway Lightless Zone, he had seen the giant black star whirling at the heart of worlds, as well as how the endless other dazzling stars were sinking into it, turning into tiny sparks…just like firewood, used as fuel for the fire.

"…whatever the case may be, I no longer have anything else. They took away my Alice, my daughter, and my son."

"I have nothing but the Truth now."

 Laughing bitterly, the silver-haired middle-aged man shook his head and turned to look behind.

It was not to glance at the advanced exploration ship that Karlis had left him. What Alpha was looking at was the foot of the hill, and the final objective of his journey here.

He was now looking at a lofty mountain.

It was over four hundred million kilometers tall, meaning that it would have actually taken light twenty-four minutes to cover a single trip upwards or downwards. Indeed, it was so colossal that the mountain itself was much more massive than most other stars.

However, even such a monumental peak was not the highest there was in the boundless continent—the Godly Summit within the Radiant Domain, a former sacred sanctuary where the gods once lived, had been two full light-hours tall. That being said, such peaks, along with the valleys that stretched on forever away from them, were no more significant than wrinkles on the human skin.

And it was within such a colossal realm that the Lightchasers live, struggling with all their might to survive with their tiny bodies.

Either way, now, at the very top of the peak which exceeded the vision field of most people, there was a rather eye-catching sharp, pointed tip poking out. It was a crystalline, fully silver and luminous and appearing to be a prism, shining just like a star while also releasing blinks of starlight.

As Alpha gazed upon that light, he could feel the blood within his body boiling as a mysterious feeling began to emanate.

What was it? What could it be that was hidden in his blood? Why would he, a man who had lived in the Radiant Domain all along, have felt such familiarity towards a pointy crystal in the distant Lightless Zone atop a mountain?

Could it be that he really was not as normal as he had thought himself to be? Had Professor Karlis chosen him to be her student simply because of that, and what did a so-called 'Child of Silver Fairies' even mean?

Countless questions filled the head of the tired middle-aged man. But even after losing his family, as well as everything he had struggled and lived for in the Radiant Domain, he had never once lost his courage and his curiosity.

He had not lost his hot-bloodedness and his impulses, as well as the resolve to journey towards the truth!

"Time to go," he said, and as he mustered his courage, Alpha went back to his exploration vessel.

As the lights signaling that the craft's warp drive was energizing, he headed forth to the top of the 'mountain'!

***

[Alpha's Expedition Journal]

[In the dark and lifeless reaches of the Lightless Zone, I have discovered something puzzling: a pointed edge, entirely composed of crystal and shining in clear blue crystalline radiance.

It is shining brightly atop an unnamed peak, but it is cold light without warmth—meaning that the anti-thermal measures I had prepared was a complete waster. Still, it is not to say that it was a bad thing since I can leave my ship, bringing along my AI crew and equipment for a closer observation.]

[After days of detailed study, I can finally confirm, and am in turn taken aback, that the prism crystal shining on top of the mountains is in fact the tip of a gigantic crystal obelisk. Its main structure is buried beneath the mountains, while the entire valley—all of it—is composed of the corpses of Chaos aberrations! Father above…it is so difficult to even imagine the bulk of such vast mountains are endless piles of those monsters, but it appears that after a long time has passed, the aberrations have also lost their bizarre toxicity that had left people in madness. All that is now left of them is rock and soil that are just a little corrupted, while the entire obelisk is buried inside.

I am sure that there is a way to enter the obelisk. There must be a reason why Professor Karlis has led me here, and it certainly would not be to surprise me. Moreover, it would be more ridiculous for me to dig out such a massive obelisk instead of entering it… and for some reason, I sense that something within the obelisk is drawing me to it.]

[It took me a long time—actually just two hours—to find a way in. It was quite simply too: by leaving everything, even precautionary tools outside and entering the cool silver light and touching the crystal with my bare hands. Then, it drew me inside as if only natural…to tell the truth, if I had not found the heat suit too stuffy and wanted a breather, I would definitely not have done that, since meeting any accident after I have barely ascended as Gold-intermediate would mean that I would rest in pieces. Even so, when the cold light touched me, I actually felt as if I did not even need to breathe, and it would assuredly provide me all the energy I need to stay alive.

Either way, I entered since there was no other options. But in the instant when I was sucked in, I could sense an extremely profound power that far eclipsed any star sweeping through my entire body—it was a force far greater than the supernova explosion my mentor and I witnessed over decades ago, and could instantly level thousands of mobile cities. Come to think of it, those Chaos spawns must have been wiped out because they had recklessly touched this obelisk, and as they piled it over dozens of thousands of years, they eventually buried the obelisk under them too.]

[I also notice that the light from the crystal is modifying my body—eventually, I started feeling that I did not have to breath, just as I lost the sensation of hunger and thirst. There is that perception that the energy around me are growing in intimacy with myself, but at the same time, my ears are turning sharper, my skin almost a little metallic along with an exponential increase in need for energy… what should have been High Gold, or Supreme-tier abilities for elements and Psi are appearing over my form…is this good or bad? I am not sure, but one way or another, as I came to a realization from my trance, I had already arrived at a very vast crystal chamber, the walls of which were covered with small caverns.

There was a flight of stairs in the crystal chamber that would be narrow for most Lightchasers, heading towards the depths of the obelisk—it seems that the obelisk had been built by some lifeforms were smaller than most Lightchasers, and yet the structure itself was more massive than most stars. I have to say, this is a really stunning miracle in itself.

Without hesitation, I chose to venture deeper.]

Ceasing his record and continuing the good habit which he had kept up over a dozen years, Alpha took a deep breath and made his way to the stairs at the center of the crystal chamber, and headed deep beneath it.

At first, the chamber was semi-circular with a radius of almost fifteen kilometers. With his improved eyesight, Alpha could tell that winds were billowing out of the many small caverns on the walls of the chamber, with each appearing to be connected to some other place. In addition, the walls on both sides of the central stairs were inscribed with countless complex runes, as well as elegant engravings of an obscure language.

Alpha could feel as if he could almost understand some of the meaning of the engravings. Could it have been a rather rare ancient tongue? There was translation equipment back on his ship, and he could bring some pictures of the engravings back on board to check what was written.

Then, after walking down a considerable distance, the number of engravings were slowly decreasing until they were eventually replaced by sheets of murals. Alpha therefore quickly took out his photography equipment to record each one that he came across.

Unlike the engravings, Alpha simply needed a glance at the murals to understand them. It appeared to be a series of wall paintings which depicted the life of a 'clergy', a man who was born in an ordinary family of farmers. However, the clergy's parents perished when a wave of monsters struck (or at least from Alpha's perception, it was a wave of Chaos monsters, although he recognized none of those depicted in the murals), after of which he was taken in by the kind village pastor and gained training in the path of Extraordinary.

There were a total of seven gods whom the pastor served—which was very rare, because all seven divine beings had formed an alliance of gods while sharing rank and glory. Meanwhile, the young clergy poured his heart and mind into his own training, wandering the cities across the world and aiding starved peasants, but remaining unknown even until he reached middle age, with his accomplishments at most lauded amongst mortals. However, when the Pope abdicated and participated the treatise which the gods bore witness to, and triumph over every rival through knowledge and power, he was appointed as the pontiff.

It was a very stirring story—Alpha felt a little envious at that: a mortal with nothing to his name who had ascended as the pontiff and stood atop an entire world was not something anyone could have done, and would only ever be accomplished with great courage, resolve, perseverance, and wisdom.

When it came to himself, he could arguably qualify for courage, resolve, and perseverance. When it came to his wisdom, some things were best left unsaid.

Meanwhile, the murals and the story continued—after the clergy became pontiff, he had looked to improve welfare for every person in the world. He had also fought against a species of monsters that resembled oversized lizards, slaying many Chaos aberrations and confronting other vile deities, as well as joined forces with the Seven Gods and many other champions to seal a Black Fog monster that was several times more dangerous than a star.

His early life may have been quiet, but his later life was absolutely all ripples and waves. In the end, the clergy had also fought side by side with a Giant God who stood over the stars, making a dash through a place like the Lightless Zone, which was actually endless, dark swarms of Chaos.

"This must be a tale dating back to the later years of the Age of Gods. It must have been the last gods and the followers of their doctrine who had made a last stand, repelling against the Chaos swarming from the Lightless Zone. To which prehistoric mobile city could it have happened to, and so mythical that I have never heard about it?"

Alpha did not doubt the veracity of the murals at all—who could have been so bored that they would build such a massive stellar monument just to fool those who were born later? And in comparison, he was more puzzled by the paradoxical logic of it all.

The gods and their pope…could they really have built the wondrously colossal obelisk that was twenty-four light-seconds tall? Alpha would almost be convinced if it was the gods, but the murals clearly described a single pope.

Moreover…who was that four-armed Giant God who stood above the boundless stars? He was not one of the seven, just as he was not any divine being in known mythology, nor had there been hearsay or description that brought him to mind.

"By the way, it's a little weird but…could the defensive measures of the obelisk be malfunctioning?

Shaking his head and leaving those thoughts about gods and Pope for the time being, Alpha recorded every text and every mural, ready to use his ship's translation system for further study when he returned onboard. But more than those academic problems, he was more curious about the number of crystal sentry equipments, which were clearly used for security purposes, that he had seen along the way. Each of them was flashing as if energy was flowing in the almost-transparent barrels, but those sentry cannons simply stayed motionless when they realized that it was him, as if their eyes had simply dropped off.

On the other hand, the drones which Alpha had brought inside the obelisk would instantly disappear when he released them, burnt into cinders by some invisible beam, which left him crouching in fear as his feet turned into jelly. After all, the drone's structure was much harder than his head, and the beam could simply burn his head off along with the drone.

It was just so advanced that it could have instantly slain a Gold-tier individual or harm a Supreme grievously—there was no telling if it was the pinnacle of nano-sized weaponry, and neither the Alliance nor the other ruins of mobile cities dating back to the Age of Gods had them!

What building could it have been to boast such cutting-edge technology? The great pantheon of all gods atop the Godly Summit in the Radiant Domain was not even a fraction as profound as this structure. Though their ornaments were luxurious, the perception of power that lingered here completely upstaged them—even the temple of the most powerful deity during the Age of Gods, the God of the Stars and Exploration, was not as imposing as this single ruin.

And more than that, this place was only praising the feats of a Pope—a clergy.

"Could this ruin be something built during Creation when all life had been born, a long time before the Age of Gods?"

Alpha shook his head even when he thought of the possibility. Despite his silver hair, the middle-aged man did not appear handsome but very old and very tired instead. Even so, his solemn expression appeared very real, even as he mumbled, "It was said that Father had created the Three Worlds and the Nine Skies, banishing primordial Chaos from dark nothingness and created endless stars. And it was in that first light that the gods were born."

"However, banishing the Chaos was such a tribulation that even the Father had tiredly fallen into slumber after vanquishing most of the Chaos, entrusting the worlds to the care of the gods before he had himself became all the living things in the Three Worlds and the Nine Skies—it is a myth before time, the moment of Creation for all life."

Could it be that the ruin had been built in ancient times, but was lost over a hundred thousand years? Could the primordial gods and their followers which the mural depicted be a story where they had fought with the Father against the primordial Chaos?

How could that be possible!

"The Father is a myth the Lightbringers had created to avoid despair…he does not exist at all, because there is no temple or ruin…fine, let's count this one as half, but it still doesn't prove his existence. I'd rather this building be constructed by the prehistoric Seven Gods…"

As he almost reached the end of the stairs, Alpha's mind had floated off to the endless distance even as he kept photographing away. "In the end, the Father and the Trial is all smoke and mirrors that ancient scholars had used to glaze over questions that are yet to be answered," he muttered to himself bitterly. "It is no different from pushing anything they cannot explain and pointing at the gods—it matters not whether the Father exists at all."

"No. You are wrong. The Father's existence is very important."

A sonorous and solemn voice suddenly resounded from behind Alpha.

***

The voice could have been a massive iron-skinned drum, and after the voice, a series of footsteps began to echo as well.

Alpha turned in shock—he did not know at all when did the voice and footsteps had begun to follow him, and when he turned back, he saw an old white-haired man draped in a red-black coat resembling burnt ashes standing on the stairs behind him. He was also descending step by step, whereas an entire group of escorts dressed in the same ashen color followed him!

All of them were members of the Order of the Ashes!

While Alpha was still left gaping as if not quite able to react, the old man up front, who must have been a leader of the Order, stood steading above. His body was robust, his expression imposing, and his stride solemn. Apart from his hair, which was all white, and his wrinkled face, anyone would not have been able to tell that he had reached a withering age.

"Alpha Falster, do not blaspheme against Father and the gods. Even if He had never once bestowed any signs, He is most important to our civilization."

Ignoring Alpha, who was being evasive as if intent on slipping away when he had a chance, the leader of the Order looked around at the murals on the walls and turned to level his gaze with Alpha.

"I am aware that for scholars such as you, the Father and the gods are far beneath 'knowledge and truth'," he said solemnly. "As compared to ancient and delusional glory, you would rather believe that everything actually existing upon the Continent of Steel is reality…but have you once thought about how we could have developed into such a great civilization without the gods or the Father?"

"Well…"

Although Alpha seemed to be in a panic, his heart was actually very calm—he understood many things at once, including why the Order had abducted his family but warned him to not come back or captured him as well, which would surely have prompted him to continue his journey. They had done all that just to follow him and find the location of the crystal obelisk!

Still, the only thing he could not understand was why the leader of the Order had not already sent his escort at him, but was instead speaking to him about rather unusual matters. As for hate…a rational person would never unleash his rage so simply under such adverse circumstances. In the end, he was a scholar and not really that stupid.

On the other hand, seemingly able to see through Alpha's pretenses as well as the hidden hatred beneath his calm exterior, the old man simply grinned nonchalantly. He kept moving ahead, passing Alpha, and reached the end of the stairs behind him, while continuing with his solemn voice, "These days, most people—especially academics, have a hard time understanding that logical thinking could not have brought about progress in the early days of civilization. Don't you get it? The rationality of ancient times had not been used for exploring Truth and knowledge, but to consider methods in defeating beasts, finding food, procreating, and doing one's best in the name of survival."

"Rational thinking did not allow the ancients to examine the truth of the stars and the principles that keep all things in motion, unlike the scholars of the present. It had simply been used to compile practical knowledge about living, such as ploughing the fields, rearing livestock, building houses, or making traps. Instead, it is only the early emotional thinking—those primitive romances, illusions, and imaginations—that had considered about why the sun rises and falls, why the waters flow downstream, and not up into the sky. In other words, in those difficult, ancient eras, the rational would not have spared the effort to contemplate questions so meaningless in regards to survival, while the emotional and impulsive would craft the stories for all unknown phenomena—that is, so-called 'explanations'. In the same way, it is only the gods and doctrine which needed to explain to all living things and their own followers what those phenomena actually were."

"It is only through such irrational minds that tales of the stars would be imagined, and the gods who were born through such primitive worshipped. It was only after that, that things could be reasoned out: why fire burn trees, why water douses fire…why flapping wings and jet flames can create lift to raise things into the air, and why the stars rise and fall, keeping us in such turmoil."

As he spoke, the old white-haired man arrived before an archway. It was the end of the stars, and the escorts from the Order had followed the man while completely ignoring Alpha, leaving him behind as if not concerned at all whether he was going to run or stay—and after a battle within his own head, Alpha gritted his teeth and decided to follow.

The old man seemed to have expected that from him, and thus, both Alpha and the Order of Ashes stepped through the archway, reaching a great hall that had no end in sight.

The entire space of the hall was overflowing with gentle silver light, although its roof was swirling with a myriad-colored spectrum. Countless hovering, fusing, and splitting radiant bubbles cascaded above there or vanished, but all of them were encircling a crystal pillar that was hanging at the center of the hall.

Within the pillar was a beautiful youth with platinum blonde hair, his body curled like a fetus as he slumbered in peace—radiance of endless colors shrouded the pillar, presenting a sanctity that was also almost dreamlike and fantastical.

"The gods are the most romantic explanation that intelligent life provides in regards to the truth of all things! Because we have been curious about the reality behind the fire that the god of fires came to be, and with our worship of the sun's might came the sun god, whereas our reverence of water as a most important essence of life allowed the god of water to appear in his throne—but even all of that would never compare to the existence of the Father!"

Looking up at the youth who slept within the pillar to gaze upon the life which was nurtured within the monumental obelisk, the white-haired elder of the Order of the Ashes spoke with a growingly agitated voice, "Believing in countless gods is actually the same as believing in no gods. The curiosity of humankind would wear away that hollow 'explanation' that is the gods, since the divine never actually represents Truth. They simply embody power, and exist only as the ultimate creation of emotional minds…"

"But the Father is different. Unlike the gods we created out of necessity, it was the Father who had created this world, and yet left us enduring turmoil. Such dissatisfaction or even hatred—those emotions which have nothing to do with faith or worship—have forced countless people into needing religion for 'explanation', since gods that could not even make clear the 'why' does not exist and would not gain belief."

"That was why the first forerunners had built the first mobile cities: to explain the reason Father had created everything, and the pattern with which the stars revolved. They pursued the orbit of the stars and discovered the omnipresent gravity, dissecting suns and disintegrating physical matter to discover the Authority of fission and fusion—and that was not the end, because the omnipresent gravity does not explain the Steel Continent, nor was the Authority of fission and fusion, the most effective way to use energies. At the very least, Father did not apply such methods to obtain power, which is an even more profound truth existing above that!"

"The belief and existence of Father is critical. Civilizations need a target to keep them doubtful and debating, which is the only way to progress. Rational thoughts must trample over the corpses of the emotional, while denying imagination only allows a very slow upwards spiral. One who never leaves the fences of the logical would be like insect with intelligence that only lives for the sake of living."

"The Father is the only one and the greatest maker. He is eternally right, but in what aspect? Some people would therefore set up their target and hence begin to explain how Father had created the world, and then another group would retort, pointing out their inconsistencies. The intelligence of humans, which is bewildering and lost, would therefore develop by conflict."

"That is precisely the reason why each principle and regulation has been established over the endless conflict, just as we become progressively closer to the Truth of the world we know. That is how society has slowly advanced and production capacity has become ever more developed, that rational scholars such as you lot do not have to think about 'staying alive', and instead look up towards the skies with that wisdom."

"…I cannot deny that your doctrines certainly are interesting, but…"

At those very words, Alpha's brow tightened. He was repressing the hatred in his heart and to yell, calling out the old man's nonsense—but leaving aside that numbers were not on his side and every other person was more powerful than himself, he simply could not afford to be reckless for his family's safety. Hence, considering things for a moment and realizing that things could not get much worse, he simply asked, "That said, sir, what does anything you're saying have anything to do with us being here, in this ruin? In fact, what does that have to do with your Order of Ashes abducting my family, banishing me from the Radiant Domain and then following me here?"

"It has everything to do with that. And don't 'sir' me—I am Grong Danis, High Judge of the Order of Ashes. Don't bother with formalities, you could just call me 'Bloody Geezer' or 'Mister Violent Kidnapper'."

High Judge Grong turned, no longer watching the blonde youth who was asleep in the light but instead leveled his gaze again at the silver-haired middle-aged man with narrowed eyes. "Alpha Falster, Scholar of Academy City," he said with a solemn tone, "I am telling you all this to mainly enlighten you that the Lightchasers—or any other intelligent being, for that matter—are certainly not creatures who are composed of pure rationality. They would certainly be impulsive or emotional, and hence make the anything but the 'right' choice for all sorts of reasons such as romance and urges. That being said, those mistakes are the stairs with which we would progress, and as such, you mustn't be restrained by the orthodox scholarly mindset that 'the Father doesn't exist'. It's only then that you can understand the real Truth."

"Moreover, the Father does indeed exist. In comparison, those principles such as the speed of light and physical law and whatnots are all insignificant, because those truths could be bent, while the Father's existence is the only reality which would never change! Whether it is you, me, or that mentor and that superior of yours who had gone missing, everyone has come for him."