《Return Divinity》


 Chapter 0

    Life here seems idyllic. On a large hilltop on the outskirts of the city, I lay down on the green grass looking downward at the streets. Bustling markets with shouting traders, children play by the canal. The sun shining above and all is good.


    But this is all an illusion. An illusion created by ignoring what is really happening.


    Lurking in the sky are three Deities. The glorious twin Suns Ognian and Amar. Their light gives warmth those under it and growth to the world a plenty. The warm golden haze shines down beautifully from the clear blue sky.


    However, where there is light, there is inevitably darkness. The twin Sun''s light allowed a dark shadow to pass. A Dark Deity. This new deity conquered all and eventually has consumed even the light of the Twin Suns.


    A shadow that encompasses the sky, only conquered by the combined light of the sunshine. This Dark Deity has a name now forgotten by most, but I... I remember the days when there was balance. Balance between the light and dark. The Dark Deity wasn''t always pure evil and malice but that''s for another time, I need to get going.


    I dispel the Illusion I crafted and see reality. Dark and grimy. I look at the grass once lay upon, only to see darkened and corrupted mud. The city once beautiful was now nothing but ruins. A shadow of it''s former glory. The Dark Deity''s reign over all began centuries ago. It corrupted the pure desires and happiness of life, slowly morphing humans into what I see before me.


    Instead of children playing I see monsters. Gross abominations not worthy of being ''human'' anymore, devoid of real divinity. The sun now blocked by black fog encompassing the entire world. One day, this world shall be returned to its former glory under the Twin Sun''s light. I will make sure of that myself.


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    Only with the power of both Twin Sun''s can the dark be held back... Sadly ever since the start of the Age of Darkness Goddess Sun Amar has not been seen. With only one sun, how can it pierce through the great power of the newest God.


    My only choice is the either find the old sun, or become the Sun. Throughout the world there are vestiges of the age of Light. Only by collecting these pieces could I revive the light and punish the darkness. If only I could remove this shroud of darkness and let light divinity flow.


    I stop reminiscing and sit up, pushing against the corrupted earth.


    "The darkness is growing everyday, if I procrastinate bringing back the sun hope may be lost..."


    I knew that everyday the darkness of the Dark Deity will corrupt the ''people'' left and soon they will be lost forever.


    Only by creating a gateway straight to the divine kingdom of Ognian can I can somewhat bring light from the remaining sun and bypass the Dark shroud covering the physical realm. But now, with the shroud growing thicker I can only hold the gate open for a few minutes at best. As the light passes through the gate it becomes my own light which allows me to marionette the monsters with light, bringing them back to humanity.


    Sigh


    "This world really is unfair, I''ll be back soon.... Goodbye"


    I turn my back to the city and turn to the wilderness. In the olden days they were forests of green trees and wildlife.


    Now though, it is pure and concentrated malice. All sorts of animals have been morphed into monsters. I call these monsters Disciples. Even plant life was not immune to mutation. They have become beings I call parasites, they can make those who come into contact become charged with maleficent divinity; we call humans who do this ''lost ones''


    ...

 Chapter 1

    Luckily I don¡¯t need to venture into the wilderness, just like how


    I created a gateway from the divine kingdom of the sleeping Second


    Sun Ognian I can create a gateway anywhere else. Usually I can only


    create gateways to places I have seen or experienced: Unusually when


    I was in danger of being parasitised and prayed I accidentality


    created a gateway into the divine kingdom.


    Now, I should


    probably head home. Back to the sanctuary, Sacrarium, a place I


    created myself in times of danger. I wasn¡¯t always able to protect


    myself with the powers of light.


    <hr>


    More than a decade


    ago, I ¡®awoke¡¯. I had no memories, I just woke up in the city I


    just ¡®revived¡¯. At some point in the distant past it was called


    Penates. At the time I didn¡¯t realise my power and was merely a


    lost child in a dangerous world rotting at its core.


    Luckily there was


    someone still alive when I awoke, no one uses names any more but I


    called him Arm. When I was almost attacked after I awoke, he saved


    me. His left arm was extremely toned and monstrous. There was a vine


    attached running up towards his neck, which seemed to radiated a


    golden glow.


    The monster was a


    disciple, originally a small dog but now a large and grotesque


    monster. It stalks its prey until it sees an opportunity and lunges


    and it grows five times the size. With a momentary burst of power its


    bite strength can overpower any normal human.


    Just as it gaped its


    mouth open to consume me, it stopped mid air. Losing its opportunity


    it shrunk again and tried to run. However it was stopped for a


    reason, Arm had stopped it. With his extreme power in his left hand


    he grabbed the beast and stopped its attack mid-way.


    Once it shrunk


    again, Arm took the opportunity to use his strength to crush the


    beast¡¯s head form sheer strength.


    That was how I found


    Arm, and to cut a long story short he took care of me until I found


    my power. Once I found my power I was able to take in more survivors


    and form a colony, Sacrarium.  This was my life¡¯s achievement,


    creating a semblance of civilisation within chaos.


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    It wasn¡¯t too big


    but almost everyone had something special like Arm and could defend


    from beast until we moved using my gateway. Sacrarium didn¡¯t have a


    permanent position, it moved every time a group of disciples too big


    to defend attacked.


    <hr>


    But that¡¯s enough


    reminiscing, now I should really make a gateway home.


    As


    soon as a connection is made, a bustling atmosphere is created. A


    streets of vendors and shoppers filled my vision. This is home.


    I


    take a step in and prepare for the greetings,


    ¡°Saviour is back!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve


    returned! Arm was looking for you¡±


    ¡­ The full street


    seemed to stop what they were doing to greet me. Ever since I


    gathered everyone I too got a nickname, Saviour. I really don¡¯t


    like the name but its too late to change it now. Normally people got


    a nickname based on their ¡®power¡¯, I count myself lucky I wasn¡¯t


    called ¡°Mr Door¡±


    Immediately after


    hearing Arm was looking for me I took a step and quickly created a


    gate to the strategy room. Hearing my arrival Arm came bursting into


    the room.


    ¡°where were you?!


    You¡¯re a leader now, you cant just leave without announcement¡±


    ¡°Just let me know


    why you wanted me first¡±


    ¡°we found a new


    Symbiote¡­¡±


    ¡°is it one we know


    of?¡±


    ¡°no, this is a


    completely knew species¡±


    Powers are based on


    Symbiotes. Essentially they are the same as Parasites, plants filled


    with divinity. However, unlike Parasites you retain your sanity.


    There are two main things that change what abilities you can gain


    form a Symbiote, location and species. Vine type plants, like Arm¡¯s,


    give an enhancement like super strength. But this is only in the


    location the Symbiote latches onto. Just a mere thought can trigger Sunlight to be released and the ability to be activated.


    This is why Arm


    needed to inform me of a new Symbiote, it can give someone a power


    up. But because it¡¯s power is unknown we need to decide who to give


    it to and where.


    But there¡¯s a


    problem, Symbiotes contain large amounts of Sunlight, the Twin Sun¡¯s


    divinity. This can attract the malice of the Dark Deity, causing


    strong Disciples to appear. We need a human host to bond to suppress


    the divinity. If not, we¡¯re going to have to move Sacrarium to


    ensure the safety of everyone here.


    ¡°lets go through


    the candidates, announce to all eligible that a new power has been


    located¡±


    ¡°yes sir¡±

 Chapter 2

    All the candidates who were eligible and wished for an ability were


    sent to the strategy room. I¡¯ll just call them [One], [Two],


    [Three], and [Four].


    Immediately I opened


    a gateway to the closest location I have to the found Symbiote.


    Immediately the surroundings became dark and the air stuffy. This is


    the real difference between Sacrarium and any other safe haven, due


    to my gateways I can use Sunlight to clear the Miasma of dark


    divinity.


    It resembled a blade


    of grass but much larger. By intuition, I guess that its an attack


    type Symbiote since it resembles a blade of sorts.


    While I said there


    were two important factors to determine power, I missed one crucial


    factor. Some may call it talent, I¡¯d say compatibility. Some people


    are more attuned to hold and use divine powers through Symbiosis.


    The reason I brought


    everyone here is to test compatibility, all four were eligible so


    instead of choosing randomly, I¡¯ll decide through who would gain


    the most benefit by hosting.


    There¡¯s a simple


    way of testing compatibility we¡¯ve deduced, all that is needed is a


    small amount of blood from each candidate. Then I can pour each next


    to the Symbiote and whoever¡¯s blood is absorbed first has the most


    compatibility.


    As I poor the blood


    in four corners around the plant, Sunlight starts to glow form the


    spine of the blade. The blood starts to simmer, then boil. It bubbles


    up and releases a flash of light which temporarily scares away the


    dark divinity around us.


    In an instant the


    Symbiote launches out of the ground and pierces [Three]¡¯s throat.


    His blood starts to splatter until it stops mid air. The droplets of


    blood flow back as if in reverse while the hole created by the


    Symbiote blade is covered by a crystal green like material.


    ¡°We¡¯ve never had


    a Symbiote attack to the throat? [Three], try to focus your attention


    on your throat¡±


    ¡°mmh¡­ I¡¯ll


    try¡± As he said this a sunlight infused sound wave blasted out of


    [Three]¡¯s mouth


    To dodge it, I


    create a gateway under myself to teleport behind [Three].


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    ¡°woah. We¡¯ve


    never had a sound based Symbiote¡± I really am surprised, its just


    sound but it visibly pushed the dark divinity in front of it,


    although temporarily.


    ¡°I¡¯ll assign you


    to stay at base, using the sound waves you can do an area-of-effect


    defence for Sacrarium¡±


    ¡°...bu¡±


    ¡°ALL OF YOU! The


    Symbiote has chosen go back and prepare for the upcoming beast raid.


    Saviour, open up a gate to the city walls.¡± Arm interrupted [Three]


    before he could get his objection out.


    I raise my hand up,


    think of the city walls then from somewhere deep within a Sunlight


    divinity rises up. With that divinity and my thoughts, a gateway


    appears. Gateways don¡¯t have a definite look or border. Its as if


    the two spaces encompass the same area and they merge and shift


    formlessly.


    After everyone but


    me and Arm steps through I close it by shifting my focus off the


    ¡®image¡¯ or anchor. I would go back but I have a feeling Arm


    stopped everyone suddenly for a reason, so I turn to him expectantly.


    ¡°This is becoming


    a problem, just in the last few months two different new Symbiotes


    have appeared, 5 previously seen Symbiotes and even a Blessed one¡±


    ¡°yes, I too fear


    that what we¡¯ve theorised was true. Because I use gateways in


    Sacrarium to bypass the Miasma, more Sunlight can pass through. I


    cant keep this Sunlight in Sacrarium though and its been creating


    more Symbiotes and more Blessed.¡±


    Blessed beings are


    people who have been chosen by Sunlight directly. Like me they have


    perfect control over the ability given, without it being restricted


    and passed through a Symbiote.


    ¡°Yes it creates


    more people able to fight against monsters but at the same time it


    can attract more and more monsters¡­ There has even been recent


    reports of disciples spotted in some hunting spots.¡±


    ¡°Now that is a


    problem, disciples are very strong, Even with my gates it takes time


    to transport everyone, in that time only a few disciples could


    massacre the weak¡±


    ¡°This was


    completely fine when we had a few dozen people but Sacrarium has


    grown to almost everyone left in the habitable lands, there are


    hundreds nearing a thousand. With this amount we cant defend against


    disciples with only you and Cubit¡±


    ¡°We are fine. With


    Cubit¡¯s ability to increase distance between two targets, we can


    gain enough time to evacuate everyone¡±


    ¡°but what if one


    of those disciples can bypass Cubit¡¯s ability? What if¡±


    ¡°STOP. This is my


    decision, I¡¯m NOT going to leave people in the miasma, hell that


    might hurt us. If we abandon others they could turn to disciples


    against us¡±


    ¡°okay okay. I¡¯ll


    back down, this is why I simultaneously love and hate your


    leadership. You wont abandon your people, but sometimes losing things


    is necessary¡±


    Shaking off any


    doubts, I create a gate to Arm¡¯s encampment and gesture for him to


    step through. I said all that but if that sighting was right, I don¡¯t


    know if we can defend against another disciple. The last disciple we


    fought against was when we have just over a hundred people. Without


    another blessed like Cubit, all I could do was run around opening


    gates for everyone.


    Even then we had to


    sacrifice lots, even I was not left unharmed. I¡¯m still left with a


    scar from when a Parasite had punctured my chest. Without my abundant


    Sunlight from being Blessed the parasite would¡¯ve taken over.


    I pull down the neck


    of my shirt and look down at the large wooden-like growth on my


    chest, hidden within there is a parasite. Its hibernating right now


    since I flooded it with Sunlight but if it awakens when my Sunlight


    is low it might take over.


    However, I have a


    plan to deal with this Parasite that has been looming over my


    shoulder all these years. I¡¯ve been experimenting with miasma and


    found that some divinity and miasma have similar abilities. Perhaps


    if I replace the miasma in the parasite with  similar power sunlight


    it can be converted into a Symbiote.

 Terminology

    Twin suns = the two almighty Gods in the Mythology


    Dark god, new god, dark deity = Evil god


    Sunlight, light divinity = Divinity originating from the twin sun (divine kingdom)


    Miasma, dark divinity =  Divinity originating from Dark god


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    Parasites = Plants infected by Miasma, can latch onto others


    Monsters = Animals who have been infected by miasma


    Disciples = Humans who have been infected by Miasma, lose most of their rationality


    Symbiotes = Plants infected by Sunlight, can latch onto others


    Hosts = Those infected by Symbiotes or parasites


    Blessed = Humans who have been infected by Sunlight


    Both Sunlight and Miasma contain different domains which then transfer onto what abilities are gained as a Host or Blessed/Disciple