Anomaly

Chapter 380 – Worship of the true gods [26]

Eve and Daniel continued walking along sidewalks lit by yellow streetlights, their glow faintly flickering in an almost imperceptible breeze. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable, on the contrary, it carried a rare kind of calm. The sky had fully surrendered to the night.

Only a few distant points of light remained, shy stars struggling against the dark veil now draped across the horizon. It was the final sign that the day’s cycle had ended, giving way to the night, where shadows stretched like a silent cloak, wrapping around everything and offering humans a deep rest.

(Probably the closest they could ever come to consciously experiencing death) Eve thought. Her expression remained unchanged, as always, a serene mask concealing the depth of her thoughts.

Slowly, her mind drifted away from those reflections and turned to Daniel, walking beside her. He moved with an effortless, unbothered elegance. The soft smile he wore never left his lips, carrying a lightness that contrasted with the stillness of the night. Walking beside Daniel was... comfortable. And Eve had the sense that the feeling wasn’t one-sided.

Not that they were particularly close, far from it. Most of the time, members of the cult kept to themselves, immersed in their own thoughts or tasks. Their interactions were brief, rarely going beyond what was necessary. Many didn’t even clearly know each other’s pasts, personal histories were treated as irrelevant.

At first glance, the group could be described as an unlikely gathering of individuals who barely knew one another, united only by a single, fragile thread: devotion to their gods. And yet, there was something more, something subtle, that revealed itself in exchanged glances, in the strange absence of awkwardness between them.

Eve couldn’t deny the comfort she felt in the presence of the others. It wasn’t a warm or familiar closeness in the usual sense, but a constant sense of belonging, as if they all occupied the same space, not just physically, but in essence. She suspected the others felt it too, even if no one had ever said it out loud.

Perhaps it was because they all carried within themselves a spark of their masters’ concepts, fragments of something greater, incomprehensible, yet shared. This silent connection made words unnecessary, discarded explanations, and erased the need for conventional intimacy.

In the end, they all saw one another as brothers and sisters. After all, in the face of the truths they had witnessed, truths vast enough to distort the very notion of reality, what did a simple blood bond really mean?

It didn’t take long for Eve and Daniel to reach their destination. Their walk led them slightly away from the heart of the city, where the constant hum of cars faded into a distant murmur and neon lights no longer dominated the skyline, blinking only far away.

The place was a simple but welcoming community park. At its center, a lake with surprisingly clear water reflected the night sky, creating the illusion of a second firmament just beneath their feet. Small ripples occasionally disturbed the surface, perhaps caused by fish or the soft breeze weaving through the surrounding trees.

Those trees formed an uneven frame around the lake, their branches casting long shadows over the low, well-kept grass, blending into the undergrowth that carried the faint scent of damp earth.

Given the late hour, Eve wasn’t surprised by the lack of movement. Even so, here and there, the occasional passerby crossed the park’s winding paths, slow steps, distant gazes, as if each person were lost in their own thoughts. None of them seemed truly aware of their surroundings, much less interested in whatever might happen there... as long as it remained discreet.

Walking beside Eve, Daniel let out a low, absent-minded whistle, laced with genuine admiration. The soft sound cut through the comfortable silence between them and, as expected, caught Eve’s attention. She slightly turned her face toward him.

“Nice place” he said, his signature elegant smile forming naturally, as if it had been there even before the words.

Daniel’s eyes briefly wandered across the surroundings, the soft streetlights, the quiet rustle of trees in the night breeze, before returning to Eve.

“If the reason we were here wasn’t some old, completely unhinged psycho...” he continued, a hint of dry humor in his voice: “I’d be genuinely honored to walk through this park with you, Miss Eve”

His smile tilted subtly in her direction, full of charm. Eve, on the other hand, merely gave a slight shrug, her expression remaining indifferent. She was already familiar with Daniel’s manner.

“He hasn’t broken any serious rules... yet” Eve said quietly, almost as if speaking more to herself than to him. Her gaze, distant yet calm, fixed on a bench a few meters away.

The yellow glow of a nearby streetlamp outlined the silhouette of a seated figure, motionless, as though existing at the edge of the world around him: “My lady would’ve put him in his place if that were the case” she added, her tone firm but unhurried.

Eve’s eyes slowly narrowed, as if something invisible had revealed itself: “He may have worked around his condition with those... tricks” she continued, a faint trace of disdain in her voice: “but it’s impossible to deceive, or escape, death”

Then her gaze lifted slightly, settling on the head of the distant figure. There was something there, something only she seemed able to perceive. Her expression wasn’t one of surprise, but recognition.

“Even now...” she murmured, her voice softening, almost contemplative: “I can clearly see the inevitability of death approaching him” She paused briefly, as though tracking that unseen advance second by second: “Slow... but constant”

Daniel’s smile widened slightly at her words, almost imperceptible at first glance, but enough to momentarily soften the tension in his features: “Finally, some good news after weeks...” he murmured, tilting his head slightly: “He’s not exactly a pleasant sight for me. He’s a complete amalgamation of disorder, something that goes entirely against the natural order”

His tone carried his usual mix of dry humor, irony, and subtle sarcasm, traits so characteristic of Daniel that, to many, they could easily mask his true intentions. Even so, beneath the forced lightness, there was something else. His eyes remained fixed. The scrutiny was unmistakable.

At last, without changing a single word, Eve and Daniel moved toward the figure. As they drew closer, the soft sound of their footsteps blended with the faint hum that filled the air. The first truly striking thing was the projection in front of Graham. Holographic? Eve couldn’t say for sure. The image flickered subtly, as if it were made of condensed light. And then, her eyes locked onto the content of the projection.

Eve immediately recognized her mistress. At her side, lined up like familiar shadows, were several of her sisters. For a brief moment, rare and nearly imperceptible to anyone else, a smile appeared on Eve’s lips. The plan was unfolding exactly as it should.

Still, Eve was not naive. She knew Graham well enough to understand that this was only a piece of something far greater. Even without knowing all the details, she had enough awareness to grasp what was taking shape before her eyes. It seemed the night would be a long one.

***

(POV – Protagonist)

With the priest... with Dominic kneeling before me, all I did was observe him from my slightly elevated position. There was something almost ironic about it: even though he was visibly larger than me, his broad shoulders, his adult and imposing presence, it was I who dominated the space.

My body had not yet reached its full form; I was in an intermediate state, something between a child and a teenager. Taller than most of my sisters, true... but still clearly smaller than Eryanis.

The priest stared at me with an expression that was hard to ignore, a turbulent mix of discomfort, distrust, and fear. His eyes wavered, as if trying to find logic where there clearly was none. Even so, I didn’t dwell on it. Human emotions have always been... predictable. Instead, I slowly lifted my gaze, shifting it away from him and toward my sisters.

Thanks to the way I perceive things, I didn’t need to move my head or adjust my posture, they were simply there. All of them. Without exception. No absence, no emptiness. Each one in her place. And then, they looked back at me.

Not at the golden eyes humans were used to seeing... but at my “True Sight” They weren’t looking at my face, nor my physical form. They were looking directly at the center from which I observed them.

We didn’t need words. We were entities beyond common understanding, we communicated through intent. There was an implicit harmony between us, something ancient and primordial. The first to change was Althea. Positioned behind the priest, her body began to emit a soft glow, initially faint, but quickly intensifying into whitish tones mixed with an ethereal green.

The colors didn’t merely coexist, they intertwined in perfect synchrony, forming a harmonious and virtuous aura, imbued with an invasive sacredness. The air around us seemed to grow still, as if the world itself recognized the presence of the divine. Emily and Laura instinctively covered their eyes, unable to withstand the growing radiance. In a matter of seconds, everything changed.

Althea, or rather, the figure that once occupied her place wearing human clothes, vanished completely, as if she had never been there. In her place, the sky responded. From above, tearing through the silence with an imposing presence, an angel slowly descended. Its vast, immaculately white wings radiated an overwhelming purity, each feather reflecting a purifying light that seemed to dissolve any trace of impurity around it.

Nekra came next, her body consumed by shadows rising from her feet. When they receded, she no longer bore any trace of humanity, her presence was dense and oppressive, like a void that swallowed the very light around it. Her eyes, two opaque and unfathomable points, seemed to observe not only the present, but everything that could ever exist at the end of all things.

Chronas required no visible transformation in the conventional sense. The space around her simply... slowed. The air grew thick, as if every particle were being dragged by an unseen force. Her gear-like eyes rotated with a faint metallic sound. Her form stabilized into something absolute, not a change, but a revelation.

Nyara was the most unstable. Her body rippled like a reflection in turbulent water, her colors shifting in chaotic succession. For a moment, she seemed to vanish entirely... and then returned, slightly different, as if she had chosen a version of herself from infinite possibilities. Her eyes spun slowly, restless, but when they settled on me, there was only one thing in them: admiration and affection.

Eryanis didn’t “change” she asserted herself. Golden lines emerged in the air around her, forming perfect geometric patterns that expanded and then collapsed onto her body, as if the universe itself were being organized around her. Her presence was overwhelming, not through brute force, but through inevitability. Pure order.

And finally, Tenebrya. There was no light, no sound, no clear transition. Only... absence. The space around her darkened unnaturally, as if something were being removed from reality. Her form slowly took shape within that void, the two white points of her eyes being the only thing that could truly be perceived. And even so, despite the lack of expression, it was impossible not to feel it. Fear. Not ordinary fear. But primordial fear.

On the other hand, the priest simply watched. His eyes were wide open, fixed as if trying to take in every detail before him. His mouth hung slightly open, unable to form a single word, while his entire body trembled unevenly, almost convulsively, as though he were on the verge of collapsing.

Even so, there was something deeply strange, almost ironic, about the scene: I couldn’t see fear in his eyes. It wasn’t the reaction one would normally expect, nor the panic of someone facing the unknown. There was something else, something hidden and intense, burning deep within his gaze. An overwhelming emotion.