The Sun - Lord of Mysteries (fanfiction)

Chapter 18: Crimson Moon

The silver moon shone brightly in the night sky, and the stars twinkled, illuminating the ruins of a once prosperous civilization before them.

Aucuses, Lilith, and Artisan stood on a dark road surrounded by abandoned cars, with street lamps and traffic still lights flickering with light.

Even though the skyscrapers appeared to be damaged, there were no bodies of the dead or any sign of the chaos that should have ensued if a cataclysmic event occurred.

'Did they all vanish?' Aucuses thought this with a heavy heart.

He had no idea what happened during the apocalypse that wiped out modern civilization. If most just vanished, leaving some to fend for themselves, or if this was the work of some great old one.

Even though it wasn't his world, it made him sad, but he quickly shifted his focus to their situation, rather than sulk in his emotions, as this was not the time.

'The past? I wasn't expecting the sefirot to project the past era, but on top of that, it just had to at this era. How did it manage to do this? Its strength should not be sufficient to accomplish this.' As he considered this, Aucuses' emotions were like a roller coaster.

Because this is not an ordinary time, the god almighty, the celestial worthy, and the mother goddess of depravity were all very active during this time.

When Klein tried to divine the artifact of the ancient sun god using the power of Sefirah Castle, the ancient sun god in the past noticed and cast his gaze at Klein in the future, Auceses remembered this exactly. This left a deep impression on him, because,

"We meet again, mysteries," Adam said when he met Klein during the fifth epoch.

The ancient sun god was only a half-pillar god almighty at that time.

'I completely miscalculated.' Aucuses was filled with dread.

Even though he had previously overestimated sefirot abilities, but looking now, he completely felt otherwise.

'The silver moon..' Lilith looked through the strange buildings at the silver moon with wide eyes that were filled with genuine shock.

Lilith was no stranger to the silver moon, as she was an ancient god of the second epoch, where remnants of the previous era could still be found. She had done some investigation into it.

She had heard the legend of the silver moon and even read a description of it, which stated that the moon was once silver, signifying purity, and that it was not always crimson. However, with the apocalypse that brought the world to an end, the moon's silver moonlight had long since faded.

'Is this the forgotten epoch before the first epoch?' Lilith examined the strange city and structures; she had seen similar ruins in the eastern continent at the start of the second epoch, but nothing compared to this.

Her red eyes flashed with tumultuous emotions as Lilith's hands were tightly squeezed. It's been a long time since something had such an impact on her.

It's because she's always been curious about her origin and past. Because her memories of the beyond the era of the second epoch are hazy, she has no idea what happened before. But she always had the impression that she was not born in the second epoch, but rather much earlier, in a time long forgotten by her and the rest of the world.

"Where are we?" A loud voice drew the two gods from their chaotic thoughts and made them turn in unison to face artisan.

Artisan, on the other hand, didn't notice their change because he was looking at the old newspaper in his hand and examining the surroundings before turning to ask.

Before, Artisan was taken aback by what he saw; the strange machinery and structures drew his attention right away. After studying what it was, his enthusiasm overtook his caution, and he wanted to learn more about it.

He came across the newspaper on the ground at that point. Just seeing this gave him a deja vu feeling, as newspapers were also available outside. He had the impression that these ruins must have some connection with their world.

Even this place...

Artisan had a thought as he remembered his scroll, which recorded the images of civilization up to the era of fire; he knew it was incomplete, but he couldn't find anything back before that time. However, this location might just have that origin, so he immediately inquired of the gods, who had lived much longer than he had.

"Give me the newspaper," Aucuses said and didn't bother to answer the question of artisan.

The newspaper held by artisan immediately drew the attention of the Aucuses.

After finally noticing the sun god's grave expression, Artisan handed the newspaper without asking any questions.

Lilith approached Aucuses' and studied the newspaper with complexity.

"The New York Times, Sunday, May 23, 2020, New York."

"Oil leakage is widespread near major oil plants."

The headlines were boldly written in English.

'We're in New York!' While looking up at the ruined city that was so unlike the one he had always wanted to visit, Auceses mused.

"Are you able to interpret it?" After noticing he kept looking at the newspaper and the city, Lilith inquired.

"I have seen this language before." Aucuses stated. Simultaneously, he tried to calm his emotions, which had been on a roller coaster before, so he wouldn't expose himself like he had done now.

Even if knowledge moor projected something like this, it shouldn't possibly involve god almighty and celestial worthy, so he calmed down from his previous findings, only by thinking like this.

"Were have seen this language before?" Artisan inquired urgently.

"From the ancient sun god." After a brief pause, Aucuses responded with a prepared excuse. "The words here are similar to the unknown language he used with us on occasion."

But, he wasn't lying; during those days, the ancient sun god spoke and wrote in English on several occasions.

"You mean.." Lilith's thoughts strayed to far-fetched conclusions. "It's possible that the ancient sun god..'' She said while pointing to the ruins.

"He could have just known the language at the time, because he was almost omniscient and omnipotent." Aucuses dismissed her guess without hesitation and looked at Lilith deeply, puzzled as to how she had arrived at this conclusion so correctly and easily.

After hearing Aucuses' words, Lilith remained silent and didn't ask any further questions. Despite the fact that her guess was based on nothing, she still believed it was most likely correct.

Artisan was about to ask again when he noticed the two gods looking up at the sky in unison, as if something had captivated their attention.

Artisan also noticed that the silver moonlight that illuminated the ruins was turning crimson, which caused him to raise his head as well.

Artisan witnessed something he will remember for the rest of his life.

The stars that gleamed dimmed and extinguished one after another, as the crimson light that was veil that draping the entire sky became visible to the naked eye.

'Boom!' 'Boom!' 'Boom!'

The skyscrapers began to collapse one by one as a crimson sky appeared, and the entire environment began to change as blood began to seep out of the ground around the ruins.

The bodies of various humanoids were floating on the surface of the blood river that soon formed, some of which seemed to have life, as their chests went up and down, as if they were breathing.

As something was approaching the silver moon in the sky.

Crack!

Aucuses punched at the reality without hesitation, his hands were covered in golden flames, and a crack appeared in the very reality.

The crack grew larger and larger, as if reality were nothing more than a breakable mirror.

And, before 'its' appearance, the "order" of this reality began to collapse with his punch.

"Wither." A deep voice echoed as the rate of collapse increased exponentially, as reality began to wither visibly, turning the surroundings into likes off an abstract painting.

Lilith also used her "desolate" authority to hasten the collapse of reality.

But, just then everything came to a halt, the collapse and withering of reality vanished, as the authority of "order" and "desolate" was erased by an unknown power that appeared out of nowhere.

Everything was restored by this mysterious force.

Aucuses looked up at the crimson sky, his face heavy and his eyes filled with dread, a wry smile on his lips.

"'She' noticed us. No, no, it's the other way, 'she' had always known."

With his words, the silver moon turned crimson and expanded to cover half of the sky.

A indescribable being appeared next to the moon, obscuring the entire sky and casting a shadow over them.

The being was several times the size of the moon. 'It' had an endless number of bloody tentacles and eyes on them.

From the crimson sky, all of 'its' eyes turned and gazed at them.

___________________________

At the same time, Amantha mountains.

As twilight and night met in the sky above the northern continent, war horns were blown.

As blood and flames covered the entire land, angels and saints entered the battlefield. Two kingdoms' banners swayed in the realm, one with a crimson moon symbol and the other with a twilight sun.

Above it all, two gods battled it out, while twilight and darkness flickered across the sky in response to their actions.

Clang!

The reality between the clashes collapsed completely when a sword soaked in twilight met with a scythe shrouded in darkness.

In the twilight, a massive mountain-like figure wielded the sword, wearing ragged silver armour and a helmet visor that only revealed one orange eye.

In the darkness, an equally large figure held the scythe; she had a veil over her face and wore a black layered gown. It was studded with numerous brilliant lights that looked like stars in the night sky.

As the scythe and sword separated from the clash, they moved in lockstep.

However, something intervened in their war before they could continue.

A crimson moon appeared in the sky obscured by night and dusk!

The crimson moon shone brightly, its light illuminating the entire sky around the world. Its glow fully engulfed the night and the twilight.