It’s Not Night - Chapter 173.1

His face was ghostly white, so drained of life it felt like touching a marble statue, cold and hard. It was a natural consequence of being consumed by the darkness. Anat carefully stroked the man’s cheek. Tears welled up, wetting his otherwise immaculate face.

Dean, my human.

I cannot forgive you.

Yet, I love you.

That’s why I chose this.

Whispering softly into Dean’s ear, Anat thought her intent might still reach him, despite his deep slumber showing no sign of awareness. Dean’s heart was not still. It was beating slowly but surely.

“It’s going to be a very long time. It will be painful for you too.”

The primordial god had accepted Anat’s request to give humanity another chance. Only possible after passing eight trials set by the other eight gods, excluding Anat, the god of wisdom and ideals.

This was to determine if humans could manage their own world without God’s intervention.

“Dean, you may confine yourself to distorted truths and repeat your mistakes. You might even try to destroy the world. You will become a calamity.”

The primordial god had designated Dean as the disaster to emerge in these trials. Hence, humans granted this new chance would need to overcome the partly amnesiac Dean and solve the trials to gradually erase the intervening gods.

This journey would be arduous for both Dean and humanity, and it was set to take a very long time.

The world would also keep repeating during these trials.

“I loved you, and thus did not hesitate to love humanity. Now, I trust these children will manage to resolve the trials and save you.”

What tasks the eight gods would set for humanity was beyond Anat’s authority. She could only wait at the edge of the world created by the primordial god’s mercy, hoping for it all to end.

Anat might occasionally help when the gods turn a blind eye, but ultimately, she knew she could not be of much help. It was the humans who had to navigate the trials set before them. They should rely on their own will and courage to overcome the hardships triggered by their past sins.

In fact, the tasks laid out by the eight gods could range from being cruel and complex to simple and straightforward.

Gods like Anat, who wished to offer humanity a chance, would prefer the latter, but not all were like her. Thus, Anat was more concerned about Dean, who was set to become a catastrophe, than the humans who would face these trials.

Could Dean endure?

Even in her time, Dean had been profoundly flawed and yearning. Could he survive in a world without Anat, and could he fulfill his role as a calamity to its end?

Anat gazed at Dean’s face for a long while before speaking again.

“Dean, I trust you. You were the first human I ever loved.”

I love you, foolish and ignorant. I love you, imperfect human who yearned for a god.

Anat kissed his forehead gently.

“Wait for me. I’ll wait for the moment you are whole again.”

In our shared past in Hezel.

After one final kiss on his forehead, Anat stood up. As soon as she let go, the darkness swiftly enveloped him. With tears falling, Anat watched the spot where Dean had disappeared and then walked out.

At the entrance of darkness, the god of death looked on with pity.

“A plague is coming.”

The god of death, now merged with the shadows, spoke to Anat as she walked away. Anat paused to look back at her sister. After the god of death disappeared, Anat whispered her thanks into the void and left.

There was one last thing to settle.

The primordial god was at the highest position, an unattainable and unfathomable place where all began. There, the primordial god watched over the world it had created, occasionally pondering the unfolding tales.

Before Anat, another visitor had come to the primordial god.

“Great primordial god, Creator of my essence, I earnestly request you. Please consider my plea.”

Nera, the goddess of greed and conflict, was pleading the primordial god.

“My beloved child, my daughter. You have already pleaded with me. You must know that.”

“This too is my path, Mother. I am but one of your thoughts, and desiring this is my role. Why do you reproach me?”

Nera spoke evenly. Anat, overhearing this, understood what Nera meant. It was Nera who had saved her, driven by the desires that stemmed from their mother’s will.

It was indeed true. After all, it was only through the primordial god’s sanction that Anat could transition from human back to God.

“Is it not misplaced to not want the loss of a sister, yet is it wrong to want to be with one? Even if the child wishes for it, I cannot accept it. Surely, Mother, you must know this.”