DRIP... DRIP... DRIP.
The heavy drops hit the dusty ground right beside his head. "Ow... ow, damn it...!" Ayato groaned out loud, his voice muffled and strained as he rolled slightly in agony.
He squeezed his eyes shut, his entire face twisting in pure pain as he whimpered. "It hurts... it hurts a lot... You Crazy Old Bastard, that hurt so much!"
"Ayato! Oh my god, look at me!" Yuna panicked, quickly sliding closer. She gently lifted his upper body, resting his aching head directly on her lap.
Her tear-stained face was positioned right above his, looking down in pure agony while his blood-stained face looked up at her from below.
The raw terror of the situation completely broke her defenses, and hot tears pooled heavily in her eyes, spilling over and dropping directly onto Ayato's pale cheeks.
"Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!" Yuna examined his swollen jaw and bleeding nose, her hands trembling violently as she wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead.
"Does it hurt anywhere else? Did he break your jaw?! Oh god, there's so much blood..."
She looked up toward the basement stairs, her voice turning frantic as she tried to pull him up. "Don't worry, okay? Just hold on to me. I'm going to take you to a doctor right now. We are leaving this place—"
But mid-sentence, the words completely died in her throat.
A sudden, suffocating chill swept over her skin, causing her entire body to freeze solid. Slowly, Yuna tilted her head up, her gaze locking onto the old priest standing just a few inches away from them.
The holy man had stopped his chanting for a split second, tilting his head downward to look at the couple on the floor. His face was swallowed in a terrifying, dark shadow, his hair falling messily over his features, but a single, dangerous eye gleamed like a red spark through the dark.
A sickening, evil, and completely twisted grin stretched across his lips, exactly like a demon enjoying the absolute misery of its prey.
Seeing that horrific facial expression, Yuna stopped everything, her breath completely trapped in her chest as the basement went into a terrifying silence.
The terrifying, demonic grin slowly faded from the priest's face as his posture relaxed, his breathing settling down as he suddenly returned to his calm, normal senses. He shifted his body, bending down toward the couple on the floor with his hollow eyes blank once more.
Seeing him approach, Yuna immediately threw her body over Ayato, shielding his bleeding face with her own arms as she glared up at the holy robes. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she shouted fiercely, her teeth bared like a protective lioness. "GET OUT OF OUR HOUSE! JUST LEAVE RIGHT NOW!"
"I cannot leave." the priest replied smoothly, his voice dropping back into that calm, mournful cello tone. He looked down at them without a shred of anger left in his features.
"If I walk away now, the price your bloodline will pay shall be too great for mortal hearts to endure."
He slowly closed his eyes.
"Do not mistake mercy for cruelty, children of the Abyss."
"If this rite remains unfinished, you will not merely lose the child…"
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"You will invite a sorrow from which there is no return."
That was the absolute limit for Ayato. Grunting in pure pain, he forcefully pushed himself up from Yuna's lap, wiping a fresh stain of dark crimson blood from his lip as he stood up to face the old man. His eyes burned with an intense fury.
"Punished?!" Ayato shouted angrily, his voice echoing sharply off the stone walls as he stepped into the priest's space. "Who exactly is going to punish us, huh?! Tell me! Is it going to be you?! Or is it going to be the Law?! Who has the authority to touch my family?!"
The priest didn't flinch. He simply looked up at Ayato, a tiny, chilling grin creeping back onto the corners of his lips as he whisperedingle, ancient name.
"ASTRAEOS."
The heavy word seemed to instantly drop theI
He slowly turned his head, locking eyes with Yuna in absolute, silent confusion. Yuna looked back at him, her own face turning pale before she sharply turned her gaze back to the holy man.
"Who is that?!" Yuna demanded, her voice shaking slightly as she tried to regain her legal confidence back. "Who is Astraeos?!"
The priest merely exhaled through his nose and waved his hand dismissively.
"It is a name wasted upon the people of the Abyss..." the priest answered softly, his voice carrying that same mournful resonance. "There is no meaning in teaching stars to those who have never looked beyond the mud beneath their feet."
He looked down upon them with profound pity.
"Only the voices of the pure may ever reach His ears. Not the prayers of those born to the darkness below. Only the pure are ever answered."
Before they could argue, the priest sharply turned his head, pointing his long finger toward the center of the glowing circle. "Observe the boy."
Yuna and Ayato's eyes instantly rushed to Kento. The little five-year-old was trembling violently, his small body practically vibrating from the intense pressure of the air around him.
His breathing was shallow, his tiny eyes wide with an exhausting, overwhelming fatigue. He was completely at his absolute physical limit.
"Look upon him..." the priest murmured softly, his gaze drifting back to Ayato. "If your late mother stood within this world, she would have done exactly as I do now."
There was no anger in his eyes.
Only sorrow.
"She understood what it meant to carry this bloodline. She understood that some tears must be endured."
His gaze lingered on the boy inside the circle. "She would not allow fear to rob him of his destiny."
"And she would never let the child break."
The heavy mention of his mother hung in the air, completely paralyzing Ayato's defenses.
The priest slowly got up from his knees, his midnight robes flowing around him as he securely tucked the ancient book back into his arm.
He looked at the frozen, bleeding parents with a final, heavy calm.
The priest looked upon the frozen, bleeding parents with a final, unbearable calm.
"Do not struggle against the heavens," he whispered softly, his voice carrying the sorrow of a thousand prayers. "I beg you... let me finish."
His eyes lingered on the boy inside the circle. "When the light fades, he will open his eyes again. But if you shatter this prayer now..."
He closed his own eyes. "...then neither your love, nor your tears, nor your screams shall be enough to protect him from what follows."
A deep sadness crossed his face. "You believe I am stealing your child."
"No." His voice trembled.
"I am trying to return him to you."
He slowly lowered his head. "Allow me to bear your hatred."
"Curse me."
"Spit upon my grave."
"Call me a monster if it comforts your hearts."
"But do not ask me to abandon the child."
"Not after waiting so long."
"Not after carrying this prayer for generations."
"Not when the heavens themselves have finally remembered his name."
His gaze softened. "And if suffering is the price..."
"Then let this old man bear it."
"Not him."
"Not you."
"Me."
"So please..."
"Allow this prayer to reach its end."
Ayato and Yuna stood completely frozen, their knuckles white, their hearts hammering in pure agony as they realized they had completely lost all control of the situation.
Without waiting for another word, the priest closed his hollow eyes, raised his hand over the glowing crimson lines, and continued his majestic, unstoppable chanting, the ancient words booming through the basement like thunder.
"Vae Astraeos..."[1]
"Selareth en Aeterna..."[2]
"Thae cor auriel..."
"Sael en septa..."[3]
"Thae puer nox Abyssae..."[4]
"Thae anima Aeterna..."[5]
"Vaelis en lumenth..."[6]
"Sael."[7]
Standing in the heavy, terrifying silence of the basement, both parents slowly turned their heads to look at each other.
Their eyes were wide with a deep, hopeless terror, and together, they heavily gulped, completely powerless as the crimson light began to engulf their son.
Suddenly, Kento looked straight down at his feet, and his green eyes widened in absolute, raw terror. The seven circles carved into the rock beneath his shoes were no longer dark.
Driven by the loud, echoing chant, the stone lines began to pulse violently, bursting into a fierce, glowing silver light that quickly turned into a deep, burning crimson flame.
"Dad! Mom!" Kento screamed, his voice completely breaking into a frantic, breathless sob as the silver heat began to swirl around his ankles, trapping him inside the glowing spiral.
"The floor is burning! It hurts! Help me! Dad, please... take me out of here!!!"
The priest only chanted louder, his voice rising into a wild, echoing crescendo that completely swallowed the child's desperate screams. "Vaeni... Aelyr... Astrael...[8]
THAE AURORAE AETHARIS VENARIS!!!"[9]
"KENTO!!!"
---
🖋️ AUTHOR'S NOTE 🌙
Chapter 50.
Fifty chapters.
Honestly... reaching this number feels a little surreal.
When I first began writing The Divine Whorl, these characters were only ideas living quietly in my imagination. Now they've laughed together, argued together, cried together... and somehow, they've found a place in all of our hearts.
So...
Thank you.
Whether you've been here since Chapter 1 or joined somewhere along the journey, thank you for walking beside this story.
As for today's chapter...
For the first time, the priest finally stopped sounding like a monster...
...and started sounding like an old man carrying a burden no one else wanted.
Whether he's right or horribly wrong...
I'll let you decide.
Thank you for reading.
Here's to fifty chapters...
And to everything the Spiral still has waiting for us.
(╥﹏╥)🌙
----
✦ 🔮 A GLIMPSE INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER 🔮 ✦
"What awaits beyond this page...?" 🌙
(灬･◡･灬)♡
'Ayato, my boy... your uncle died young...'
"Alright, he's gone..."
----
🎬 BEHIND THE SCENES! 🌸
This chapter committed the greatest betrayal imaginable.
It made me rewrite the priest's dialogue...
...because he suddenly started making sense.
I wasn't emotionally prepared for that.
(〒﹏〒;)
----
🌙 The stars may fade, and memories may sleep...
But the Spiral continues to turn.
Until we meet again beneath the same forgotten sky.
(╥﹏╥)
— SakuraShinomiya
[1] O Astraeos...
[2] Strengthen the golden heart.
[3] Bless him through the Seven.
[4] Though his body belongs to the Abyss...
[5] His soul belongs to Aeterna.
[6] Let the light carry him.
[7] Peace.
[8] Come forth, O Light of Astraeos...
[9] THE ETERNAL DAWN HAS ARRIVED.!!!