The air was freezing cold in the praussurian capital, but the streets were certainly full of people. A young woman stood out like a sore thumb. This girl had the allure unlike those of her kind, she rather had the look of a warrior.
The woman pushed her way through the crowd and reached for a stall, almost falling on a pile of snow.
The man at the counter looked at the girl's white hair before handing her a journal, which the girl gladly took as she reached for her wallet.
"Don't bother, it's on the house." The man waved at her to leave, not asking for money.
The woman was shocked for a while before nodding to the tanned man.
She stuck the journal in her grand coat's inside pocket before putting back her hood and disappearing into the crowd of commoners.
"…"
19th of Artuxia, 1691
"Another murder, huh… Doesn't seem like those will stop anytime soon isn't it?" A young boy with a green coat looked at the journal before throwing it in the opposite direction
Fortunately for the paper's life, another person caught it right before it touched the ground.
"This is the 9th murder this month, I can't believe we haven't caught this guy yet. What is the Graibensha even doing?" The man in a navy suit put down the journal properly unlike the young man in the dark green coat.
Suddenly, a ring echoed in the room and both of the men sat back in place and went back to their doings.
Footsteps approached rapidly from a room further down the place. From the second room on the left side of the corridor, a man came out, one that couldn't be identified as young or mature.
He pinched his glasses and started tying his hair in a loose way as he walked out of the room and into the corridor.
"Welcome to the Svobotsa Print Shop! How can I hel…" The man's voice turned from joyous to bored over the course of his greetings.
He immediately loosened his long, dark hair and took off his glasses to clean them.
"Sigh… I told you to stop entering from the front door, use the one in the back instead Anastasia."
The person at the front door had white hair that barely reached her shoulders and had golden eyes that no one had apart from her. She stood tall for a woman and was covered by a great white coat.
She took the journal she had just took out from her inner pocket and threw it at the man in front of the corridor.
The man caught it easily before putting it with a bunch of other rolled journals.
"Are you going to keep buying journal we already have or are you finally going to start saving money instead?" The young boy in the green coat spoke to Anastasia.
"I don't need savings Rodion, I'm the count's daughter, and I'll say that what I'm doing is encouraging the local economy. You should probably take example of me my dear Kiril."
Kiril, who was about to take off his navy suit, looked at Anastasia with a look of disgust.
"Look who's talking, aren't you the one with an Alfehilandian coat on her shoulders?" Kiril said it with a smug on his face, one that screamed victory.
Kiril was an extremely proud man who did not accept failure, and that also applied to friendly verbal wars as such.
Anastasia's face turned red for a bit before turning her back to him.
Kiril screamed victory before the older man gave him a look of authority, immediately calming him down.
"So, Ivan, still no customers today either?" Anastasia turned her head towards Ivan, she could sense his expression even with her eyes closed, she had always had a talent for reading people.
Ivan sighed, before resting his body on one of the shop's numerous tables.
"That's right, the only thing keeping this shop in business is our other business. We should almost think about renaming our shop." Ivan laughed at his own joke
That was right, most of the print shop's earnings came from Ivan's other "business", the shop wasn't in any real danger though, as a single order could keep the shop alive for another few months.
Ever since she had started coming to Ivan's print shop, she had, at best, seen 10 orders come through. The reason for the shop's existence was mostly because of Ivan's wife, who forced him to create a print shop.
Most of the people who worked there were a class above the typical commoner. Anastasia was herself a noble, the highest class in the Praussurian Empire.
"Is Vlad not coming today?" Rodion asked to Ivan.
Ivan sighed once again.
"He's probably playing around with women as usual, that bastard only believes in two things : Money and women."
Hmm, how bizarre. I know that Vlad is indeed the type to fool around with women instead of working, this isn't the first time he would've done this.
But why do I feel like there's something else happening.
Anastasia nodded and kept her thoughts to herself, it was better to keep them secret than to accidently cause panic in the print shop.
I guess I'll have to investigate the matter…
"…"
For the rest of the day, the four people continued to talk about various topic.
But the moon came out and the streets were now empty.
"I guess I should go, my father will start worrying about his little princess if I don't come back." Anastasia made a small grin to her coworkers.
Ivan thanked her before sending her on her way, making sure that no one was waiting for a surprise.
"…"
By the time she left, dusk had settled over Sredizmiye.
The road back to the mansion was tranquil, as no one was left on the streets of Sredizmiye.
Why do I get this strange feelings whenever I think about Vlad…
I'm used to having supernatural senses, but never to this extent, what is happening?
Anastasia noticed something in the corner of her eyes, she immediately looked to her right.
On her right stood a tall church, it looked empty and alive at the same time.
God…
I've never believed in God, my grandfather wasn't much of a believer either apparently. Not that this is weird or anything, Praussuria isn't a theocracy after all.
But I've never actually asked myself about the existence of God, I was always too preoccupied by more societal problem.
She looked both sides before entering the church.
Nobody stood in the grand hall, not even a member of the church.
She didn't know why, but she went all the way to the front of the hall, standing a few meters in front of a throne.
However, she did not bow.
"…"
Solatin looked at the girl standing in front of him.
"'Tis my prophet 'tis time around."
He relaxed on His armrest before continuing.
"A woman… 'Tis shall be my first time having such a person as my representative."
Solatin waited for a moment.
Suddenly, memories of the last game surfaced once again.
"…"
A man with long dark hair and purple eyes turned to the Sun God and spoke, but no words came out of his mouth.
"…"
Solatin then made a decision.
He used more than half of His current powers on this single action.
"For the light shall cast my shadow…"
"…"
In front of Anastasia suddenly appeared a figure that wasn't present before. As if it appeared out of thin air.
No… It was always there in the first place.
Anastasia observed the man for a while, taking in each detail of the mysterious being. His attire was dignified beyond belief, it was quite holy, but very flamboyant at the same time.
He had long blonde hair, a color that wasn't unfamiliar to her since the war in the west side of the continent.
She looked further down the man's confident face.
Her eyes widened in shock!
Golden eyes!
"Thou art right my dearest mortal. Our eyes are indeed of the same color." The man spoke, keeping an air of superiority towards her.
In her eyes, the man clearly thought himself superior to her.
"Thou art most likely wondering about the truth of my being, 'tis only natural for a mortal" The man slowly started standing up from his throne of gold.
"I am a God."
God…
This young woman was in the presence of a divine being, someone beyond human comprehension.
But why would He want to appear before me. I am but a count's daughter, I am no priest or king…
Could it be about my eyes?
And what did He say?
A God, notjust God?
"Ha! Thou shall not worry my dear prophet, my benevolent self shall answer all of your questions. We are fated to be together until the end of time after all, 'tis only natural." He now stood face to face with Anastasia, almost causing her to faint, even she did not know how she managed to stay conscious in front of Him.
"I am the Sun God. It is beyond me if I exist in this universe or if my existence hasn't been known as of now."
The door of the church closed with a flick of His fingers, it seemed like the door would not open so soon.
Anastasia looked at the Sun God, trying to make sense of all the information that was given to her.
Too many questions roamed in her mind.
He does not appear to be a hostile entity, should I ask Him questions, He asked me Himself to do so… I should probably just go with it.
"What do you mean by prophet?"