Chapter 301

A god born from desire,


A god forged from origin,


If that desire is denied, it too will vanish.


The moment the origin is denied, the end is decided.

Unlike humans who gather desires to become gods,


Born as a myth without effort or process,


From the moment of birth, it wields divine authority,


Yet it cannot overcome its inherent weakness.

No matter how high its status,


No matter how many desires it gathers,


Even if it ascends to the rank of a great god,


It cannot be an exception.

If it fails to fulfill its duty, it can no longer exist.


Though it knew all this, it never cared,


Because it never once thought its desire would be denied.

– Longing for the Sky.

The boy murmured. Gazing at the black sky, not the blue,


He whispered in a tired voice,


Uttering the desire that was his very foundation,


A vow from his small lips.

– What created me.

On the surface of the moon, where even the closest must traverse a vast distance,


He spoke in a sorrowful tone.

The Three Divine Gods and Oberta, born from human faith,


Could never understand the strange feeling of devouring oneself.

A god born from desire, rooted in that desire, has a weakness.


If the root is denied, it can no longer exist.


It’s only a matter of time before it faces extinction.

The Death God. A twisted being born from twisted origins.


They too are the same.


If the hatred, anger, or grudge that birthed them is denied,


They can no longer exist in this world.

The world calls it enlightenment,


But for the Death God, it is simply extinction.


Thus, the Death God is a corrupted being, forced to walk a twisted path.


The moment it admits its path is wrong, its existence is denied, and it vanishes.

– In the end, it’s just childish sentiment born from ignorance.

The boy was not a Death God, but he resembled one.


In the process of birth, there was no difference.


The only difference was that he was born not from hatred-filled grudge,


But from the longing for the sky, the desire of those who sought to explore it.

– A taboo that, once known, leaves only despair.

Because of his origin, the boy once held boundless curiosity for the heavens.


But now, he had fallen into despair.

Because he had come to know.


That humans have no right to reach for a higher sky.

– It would have been better not to know.

The fate of discussing distant stars is not humanity’s.


When he noticed the long-slumbering sun slowly awakening,


Nothing else mattered to this god.


He wished what he saw was false,


But this reality, unlike an illusion, does not vanish just by denying it.

– It’s better to turn away from the sky and live only looking at the ground.

This god, born with infinite curiosity for the sky,


Went against its own nature by its own will.


It no longer wanted to see. It no longer wanted to know.

For a god born from the desire to explore the sky,


To utter such words is to defy its very origin.


Just as a Death God self-destructs when it loses its origin,


This god too cannot live if it loses its reason for existence.


Yet, Aldehir did so.

The god, having closed its eyes, threw itself into the darkness of the universe.


A being born from desire denied that desire.


Thus, all that awaits is the extinction of its existence.

Ah, it had already prepared itself.


From the moment it saw what was in the sun, it had no choice but to prepare.

What is in the sky is not worthy of longing.


It has always been that way.


Perhaps it would have been better not to know from the beginning.

Thus, it did not respond to its followers,


Nor did it grant any revelations.

The divine punishment for breaking the taboo and learning what should not be known.


For it, this meant extinction,


But humanity cannot even enjoy such a fate.

It would be better to remain ignorant,


Wait until the celestial beings of the sun grow angry,


And face a painless death at the appointed time.


That would be better for them too.

While the people of the land argue among themselves,


If the ultimate responsibility lies with the sun,


Who can hold the sun accountable?


At best, they will tear at each other, expressing their fear.

– So, in silence, in this desolate place, you will embrace all the truth alone and face a lonely extinction?

The crouching boy felt the cold. He shivered from the chill that enveloped him.


Humans feel cold from physical chill,


But for this god born from desire, the chill has a different meaning.


It means the passion that once burned within him, his desire, has frozen.

To freeze to death like this is his end.


To endure this cold alone.


He chose this moon as his grave, where no help would come,


So he had no one to blame.


Thus, the boy buried his face in his legs and endured the cold.

This is the far side of the moon. A place where no sea or land is visible.


Looking around, all that can be seen are twinkling stars and a sea of darkness.


In such a place, it’s impossible for someone to come and speak.


So he ignored the voice.


He simply endured the solitude and waited for the end to come.

– After destroying your own principles, burning your passion, and trampling your desire, will you truly vanish so lonely?

But the voice was so vivid that the boy soon opened his eyes and looked around.


Nothing had changed.


This place is an infinite sea of stars.


Only the stars twinkle.

On the surface of the moon, beyond the sky,


Nothing existed here. Only the voice could be heard.


He couldn’t even be sure where the voice was coming from.

Was it coming from within his heart, or from outside?


He couldn’t even tell, so how could he know the direction?


No, was there ever such a thing to begin with?

– To torment yourself and plunge into an endless abyss, you have made your decision too early.


Your mission was to fulfill the desires of all humans reaching for the sky.

But with each utterance of the voice,


The coldness within him warmed again.


Clearly, someone had grasped the handle of flowing time,


Delaying his end.


Forcing a god who had lost its mission and should have vanished to remain in this reality.

– Master of the mission. Reviving that mission is not something I can do.


All I can do is offer you a chance to change your mind.


But no matter what you think,


The exploration of the sky by humans still needs a guide.

This is absurd. Such a thing cannot be possible.


It defies the laws of the universe.


But reality was so.


It held a god with a dead heart in this reality.


This miraculous act, of course, will not last forever.


If he truly wishes to vanish,


He need only crouch and wait again.

This unknown effect will likely not last forever,


And as long as he continues to abandon his heart,


He will ultimately not overcome the inevitable.


But having tasted that cold solitude once,


He could not bear to freeze again.


Unable to do this or that, the god looked around anxiously.

Now the voice was no longer heard.


And the warmth brought by the voice was no longer felt.


Now, to warm himself,


He must reignite the flame of passion he himself extinguished.


Only then can he stave off extinction.


He still had that chance.

– Longing for the Sky.

He closed his eyes and sank into thought.


He remembered when the desires of those who wished to reach for a higher sky gathered,


And gathered, until they finally surpassed the threshold and created him.

– What created me.

Though all his thoughts had frozen, leaving not a shred of light in his heart,


The longing for the sky still remained.


For one’s origin is not something so easily discarded.

– Surely, it would have been better not to know. Surely, I will regret it. But…

Though it had been long since he last looked at the sky, especially the sun,


And though he knew this act would only hasten his extinction,

– Even so, I will look at the sun one last time.

But he decided to do so.


He made up his mind, knowing full well.


For that was the very reason he existed in this world.

The boy leapt, leaving the far side of the moon where the sun could not be seen.


He flew until he could see the bright sun with his own eyes.


When he finally beheld the sun, Aldehir’s eyes widened.

– Such a thing…!

He marveled, marveled, and marveled again.


Only then did he realize that the voice that had come to him was nothing less than a revelation.