"I found it. The resonance is strongest right here."
Luna abruptly stopped her confident pace, raising a hand to halt their advance. In the center of the crude, naturally formed cavern stood a stark anomaly: an exquisitely carved, pristine humanoid statue.
Cradled delicately in the cold stone hands of the effigy was a heavy golden book. It was not merely reflecting ambient light; it was actively exuding powerful, rhythmic waves of pure Holy Light.
Against the brilliant, blinding backdrop of this glowing tome, the entire statue was bathed in an aura of absolute sacredness, looking exactly as if the divine creator had personally descended to bless the very rock.
"So, that is the target," Ethan Hunt murmured, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the glowing relic.
Ever since infiltrating this hidden hermit monastery, he had seen countless crude wooden crucifixes and faded religious tapestries, but this was undeniably different. This was the only object that radiated the true, terrifying weight of a genuine god.
Under Luna's silent nod of approval, Ethan stepped forward to retrieve the golden book. He reached out, fully expecting to feel the cold, hard surface of ancient metal. But the very microsecond his fingertips made physical contact with the golden cover, a blindingly intense, explosive burst of golden light erupted outward.
It bypassed his passive vector-deflection fields entirely, as it was not physical kinetic energy, but pure spiritual resonance.
A warm, impossibly soft, and encompassing force instantly enveloped Ethan's entire being, pulling his consciousness away from the material plane.
Simultaneously, a voice echoed directly within his cerebral cortex. It was incredibly gentle, yet it carried an undeniable undercurrent of sacred, crushing majesty that demanded absolute obedience.
"Humble mortal," the voice boomed, vibrating through Ethan's soul.
"You are remarkably fortunate to be granted an audience with the supreme, the almighty, the righteous, the holy, the faithful, and the loving Creator during the fleeting, bustling moment of your short mortal existence. As the chosen child of this era, you have the rare opportunity to become a fragment of the divine, the destined savior of this shattered world. Tell me, child: are you willing to take on the heavy, glorious responsibility of saving your world? Will you become my ultimate heir and dedicate your entire life, body, and soul to the eternal Holy Light?"
"I absolutely do not want to. Get out of his head!"
Before Ethan could even process the overwhelming cosmic proposition, Luna's icy, commanding voice sliced through the divine broadcast like a razor blade.
For Ethan, who had been momentarily lulled into a state of absolute, comfortable paradise by the warm light, Luna's magical intervention felt exactly like having a massive basin of freezing ice water dumped directly over his head.
The sensory shock was violent, but it instantly refreshed his mind, snapping him out of the divine trance.
As Ethan's spatial awareness violently snapped back to reality, he immediately realized that his physical surroundings had drastically altered. He and Luna were no longer standing in the dusty, subterranean stone cavern of the monastery.
Instead, they were floating in an infinite, boundless space constructed entirely of solidified golden light. Floating directly in front of them was a massive projection of the golden book, and sitting cross-legged upon its glowing pages was a diminutive, indistinct humanoid figure made of pure, shifting golden energy.
"Fascinating. I truly did not expect that it would be a walking demigod who triggered the spatial magic I left behind," the little golden entity remarked, staring directly at Luna. There was a distinct hint of genuine, cosmic surprise echoing in his harmonious voice.
"Since your soul clearly does not belong to the faith of the Holy Light, I can only assume you have come to this specific dimensional fold to seek my ancient inheritance."
"What do you think, genius?" Luna rolled her eyes, crossing her arms with an expression of sheer exasperation. She was not remotely intimidated by this glowing entity.
With her vast Atlantean knowledge, she had already deduced that the little golden man floating casually in front of her was not the true, omnipotent creator, but merely a fragmented ray of consciousness—a localized avatar—that Jehovah had left behind on Earth millennia ago.
"What a profound pity," the little golden man sighed dramatically, shaking his head before shifting his glowing, featureless face toward Ethan. Almost instantly, the entity's entire demeanor shifted. He gave Ethan a subtle, glowing wink, and his tone suddenly became incredibly animated and excited, resembling a corporate recruiter who had just spotted a prime candidate.
"Son, I have been observing your energetic signature, and I must say, I think you are incredibly talented and possess absolutely excellent aptitude! Even in my vast travels across countless living planets throughout the expanding universe, there are very, very few mortal beings who possess a dormant potential quite like yours. I have a spectacular deal for you: I have this magnificent book right here. As long as you agree to believe in the Holy Light and sign on as my representative, I will give it to you completely free of charge. No hidden fees! What do you think of that offer?"
"Why do I feel like these lines are incredibly familiar?" Ethan stared at the little golden man, his gaze turning highly skeptical and deeply weirded out. He crossed his arms, leaning back. "Let me ask you a serious question: what exactly is your relationship with that sleazy old devil, Mephisto?"
"You mean Mephisto?!" Hearing that cursed name, the little golden man completely froze for a long moment, the light flickering around him before he let out a helpless, echoing laugh. "Of course I have absolutely nothing to do with that deceitful reptile! In fact, considering our respective domains, I should rightfully be regarded as Mephisto's ultimate mortal enemy. It is a simple matter of market competition; our core businesses directly collide on a cosmic scale."
The golden avatar puffed out his chest proudly. "But please, do not worry for a second. I am fundamentally not the same as Mephisto. I absolutely disdain the concept of cheating my clients in a transaction. My divine business model is strictly about getting exactly what you pay for. It is a simple metric of equivalent exchange: the exact number of devout believers you manage to bring into my fold directly correlates to exactly how much raw, holy power I will grant you in return."
"So, that is exactly the business model Jesus used back in the day, huh?" Ethan asked tentatively, rubbing his temples. He genuinely didn't know if he was experiencing a stress-induced hallucination, but he could not shake the feeling that the supposed God of the universe standing in front of him had been acting like a crazed multi-level marketing salesman from the moment they arrived.
"Precisely! As long as you simply pick up this book and accept the terms and conditions, you can instantly become my premier regional agent on this planet, just like Jesus did," the little golden man explained with a remarkably serious and responsible tone. "And if one day you decide you do not want to do the job anymore, as long as you have successfully accumulated enough faith contributions to meet your quota, I will personally open the grand gates of Heaven and introduce your soul directly into the luxurious heavenly plane for a peaceful retirement."
In truth, Ethan was slightly misunderstanding Jehovah's current predicament. It wasn't that the cosmic deity genuinely wanted to act like a desperate, fast-talking salesman trying to fool a mortal. But Luna had immediately seen through his divine, majestic facade, completely shattering his intimidating aura. Therefore, he had absolutely no choice but to drop the mystical act and bring out the practical, transactional benefits to make a deal. Thinking of this harsh reality, Jehovah could only sigh internally. The faith business was incredibly hard in the modern era; it had been vastly easier to recruit and impress Jesus back in the ancient past. Before he had even finished two sentences of his pitch back then, the poor carpenter had been so overwhelmed with emotion that he cried tears of joy and immediately begged to agree.
"Okay, let's hypothetically say I agree. What exactly do I have to do specifically?" Ethan pressed, his scientific mind trying to analyze the mechanics of this so-called divine transaction.
"Oh, the activation process is wonderfully simple! You just need to physically pick up this book, concentrate your mental energy, and sincerely, with all your heart, call out the title: 'Father of the Holy Light'." The little golden man suddenly paused mid-sentence, seemingly remembering modern demographics, and quickly added a clarification. "Of course, I recognize that some intelligent, sentient beings do not comfortably resonate with the patriarchal identity of a 'father'. Therefore, for the sake of cosmic inclusivity, you can also successfully obtain the official identity and powers of a Child of the Holy Light if you prefer to call out 'Mother of the Holy Light'. The system is flexible!"
Ethan stared blankly. "..."
I have definitely met a false god, right? There is no way this isn't a cosmic pyramid scheme. Is this intense MLM brainwashing smell just my imagination, or is it real? Ethan thought to himself, completely dumbfounded by the sheer absurdity of the situation.
"What a profound pity. It seems quite clear from your micro-expressions that you genuinely do not wish to become a Child of the Holy Light," the little golden man observed, instantly noticing the distinct shift in Ethan's body language and deducing exactly what he was thinking. The avatar's glowing shoulders slumped slightly. "I am the Lord of the Holy Light, and the vast, infinite power of cosmic knowledge safely contained within this original Bible can strictly only be accessed and utilized by those who truly, completely believe in the Holy Light."
"I am not interested in reading the superficial, dogmatic religious things written on the pages. What I want to do is to deeply analyze and spy on your specific evolutionary path through the energetic residue of this book, so as to verify and confirm the trajectory of my own path to godhood," Luna stated firmly, stepping forward with a completely serious, uncompromising expression on her face.
"In that highly specific case, I will gladly give you this original Bible," the little golden man waved his glowing hand, making the grand declaration with sudden, unexpected generosity.
"Are you entirely serious about this?" Luna did not immediately reach out to take the floating Bible. Instead, she frowned deeply, her eyes filled with intense suspicion. "As far as I know from the ancient galactic records, the one thing Jehovah cares about most in the entire universe is the absolute sanctity of a fair trade. Therefore, I simply do not believe for a second that you would just give away a supreme artifact for no reason whatsoever."
"You are correct to be suspicious, because this offering is actually part of a much larger, predetermined deal—a transaction regarding another major cosmic event," the little golden man said, his voice dropping into a tone of mysterious reverence. "I have also done some extensive, highly accurate research regarding the flow of time and prophecy. When I was preparing to leave this specific world many millennia ago, I had a powerful, undeniable premonition that someone unique would inevitably come here one day. Although my foresight did not specifically reveal that it would be an Atlantean demigod, and that a young, highly potential human companion would bluntly refuse my generous offer to become a Child of the Holy Light, the core of the vision remains intact. I know with absolute certainty that in the inevitable follow-up events of this prophecy, immediately after you obtain this original Bible, you will end up doing me a massive, invaluable favor. Therefore, the cosmic scales are balanced. This is a perfectly fair trade."
"If that is truly the case, then the deal is officially concluded." After remaining silently contemplative for a long moment, carefully weighing the potential risks against the massive rewards, a flash of absolute determination finally ignited in Luna's eyes. She confidently reached out her hand and firmly grasped the heavy cover of the original Bible.
At the exact moment her fingers closed around the artifact, the entire golden, infinite space began to violently shake and shudder. As it was an independently constructed, localized pocket dimension, the moment its central energetic core—the Bible—was removed from its pedestal, the structural integrity of the mirror space naturally began to collapse in on itself.
"I am terribly sorry for the sudden turbulence! In order to efficiently maintain my singular ray of consciousness for such a long period of time, the specific mirror space I mathematically created is a bit fundamentally unstable upon deactivation. I sincerely hope this rapid collapse does not cause any severe inconvenience to your physical forms!"
Accompanied by the final, rapidly fading apologetic voice of the little golden man, the blinding light shattered like glass. In a dizzying rush of displaced air and shifting gravity, Ethan and Luna were violently violently violently transported back to the exact spot in the subterranean cavern where they had disappeared mere moments before.
"Have we fully transitioned back out yet?" Ethan asked, blinking rapidly to clear the lingering golden afterimages from his retinas. He quickly surveyed their dark, rocky surroundings, his eyes finally landing on the heavy, glowing golden Bible now resting securely in Luna's hands. "By the way, what exactly do you think that supposed God meant by his very last, ominous words about an 'inconvenience'?"
"I am not entirely sure of the specifics, but given Jehovah's well-documented cosmic character of intensely focusing on the exact parameters of fair trade, whatever minor issue he casually mentioned as an apology shouldn't be a massively life-threatening deal," Luna shook her head, dismissing the warning as she closely examined the intricate bindings of the divine book.
"In this case, let's stop standing around and head back to the surface immediately, lest the two optical phantoms you mathematically created get discovered by the monks after operating for too long," Ethan suggested pragmatically. After he finished speaking, he took the lead, pulling Luna along as they navigated back toward the cavern's main exit.
However, the very second Ethan stepped out of the secluded passageway and into the wider, main cavern of the monastery, he stopped dead in his tracks, his brow furrowing deeply. His enhanced senses instantly picked up a highly metallic, coppery scent hanging heavy in the cool subterranean air. It was the unmistakable, raw stench of freshly spilled blood.
Looking out into the dimly lit clearing just a few dozen yards ahead of him, the horrific scene became clear. Several of the tattooed ascetic monks were currently engaged in a desperate, incredibly fierce, and bloody battle. Their opponents were a terrifying swarm of grotesque, heavily muscled demons with massive, leathery bat-like wings sprouting from their backs.
Because of the sheer, overwhelming numerical superiority of the winged demonic forces, the defending ascetic monks appeared to be in a truly dire, failing condition. Almost every single one of them was bleeding heavily, sporting deep, jagged lacerations and puncture wounds of varying, horrific sizes across their torsos and limbs.
The moment Ethan and Luna stepped into the open, the sudden shift in ambient energy drew the attention of the horde. Noticing the sudden appearance of the two newcomers, a large contingent of the winged demons immediately shrieked, abandoning their current assault on the weakened ascetic monks. With a synchronized beat of their massive wings, they turned their bloodthirsty focus entirely on Ethan and Luna, rapidly encircling them with predatory intent.
Ethan let out a long, tired sigh, raising his hands as he began to rapidly calculate the precise aerodynamic trajectories, wind resistance, and optimal kinetic impact vectors required for the coming slaughter. He manipulated the air pressure around his fists, condensing the atmosphere into razor-sharp, invisible blades of compressed kinetic force.
"Right," Ethan muttered to himself, his eyes locking onto the closest charging demon. "I think I fully understand what that little golden problem God warned us about actually was."
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Word count: 2689
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