Chapter 16 The Scales
"So, what do you want to tell me?" Lucifer set Yahweh down under a tree in the mortal realm, his azure eyes looking at him curiously.
God briefly recounted Allen's story, mentioning the existence of the golden pen.
"So what you destroyed was that pen that brought reality to life?"
Lucifer was surprised by Yahweh's decisive nod. Such a divine object, destroyed without a second thought.
"That was a gift from God to Allen!"
So he let him destroy it. God was inwardly annoyed; he had learned his lesson. Without comparable power, bestowing too many gifts upon creation was a disaster.
God's face remained expressionless, but Lucifer felt he was even more extraordinary. Looking into Yahweh's golden eyes, a thought gradually formed in his mind.
"You're not an angel, are you?"
Lucifer asked, looking at him. Besides being certain that no angel would dare treat a divine object like this, the fact that the other party hadn't extended his wings throughout was also strange.
Rather than his initial assumption that the other party refused to spread its wings due to laziness, it was more plausible that the other party simply didn't have wings at all.
If it wasn't an angel, then things needed further investigation.
God remained unmoved, and Lucifer, seeing his lack of reaction, wasn't annoyed, continuing to mentally assess the other party's identity.
First, he ruled out demons, but it didn't seem like an elf either.
The aura emanating from Yahweh didn't belong to any of the five elements of nature; instead, it seemed more like that of a god… Thinking of this, he frowned.
Lucifer was naturally familiar with gods. The great creator god, though favoring light and usually enveloped in holy light,
didn't possess a physical form like the angels he favored, which were composed of pure light. Yahweh was tangible, seemingly eternally existing—something more sacred.
Yahweh had a physical form. Though his expression remained unchanged, Lucifer's heart was in turmoil.
Could it be a god…?
"No," God denied, with a hint of offended coldness.
"..."
"You can read minds too?"
Having received no answer, and seeing the other party seemed a little angry, Lucifer had no choice but to skip the topic, though he was more inclined to believe that Yahweh might be a son of God.
Even if not, he was still a new race created by God, and he wouldn't rush into conflict.
So Lucifer softened his tone, trying to communicate with Yahweh in a friendly manner.
"Why did God give that elf the golden pen? As far as I know, he's not outstanding."
Because before that, Lucifer had never heard of the name Allen.
"Allen isn't a single elemental spirit," Yahweh didn't hide anything, frankly stating Allen's fate.
Fate is something more mysterious than the ending. God can see the predetermined ending of all things, but cannot constantly monitor their ever-changing destinies. They are like naughty children, focused on playing right under his nose.
That poor elf could have grown into an existence comparable to the Elf King. He possessed the power of the five elements within him; if he had truly grown, his future would have been unpredictable.
"The Elf King? That impure elemental spirit?" Lucifer questioned Yahweh's statement.
How could Allen compare to Atreides? Although the Elf King was injured this time… that was only because the golden pen was too overpowered.
"Nothing is immutable." God felt Lucifer was being too absolute. Although Allen was weak, the infinite possibilities he possessed, distinct from the Elf King, greatly surprised God; otherwise, He wouldn't have so readily given him the divine pen.
"You mean the Elf King can be replaced?"
"I never said that," God instinctively retorted, then realized that, following this assumption, the Elf King being replaced wasn't impossible.
He was speechless.
This exceeded his initial expectation of at most burning down a tree.
God couldn't help but begin calculating the future based on this assumption.
Lucifer, however, couldn't tolerate his silence. He coldly stared at Yahweh, who had spoken so arrogantly.
"That's impossible. The Elf King was created by God himself—" He wanted to say that God would never pretend to ignore it. But seeing Yahweh's gaze, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
Yahweh's eyes seemed to say, "This is the truth."
"How dare you! How dare you!"
He was furious, but Yahweh looked back at him, a rare hint of surprise in his eyes. Looking into his pure, clear gaze, Lucifer suddenly felt his breath catch in his throat.
"How dare you speak so presumptuously of God..." Lucifer murmured.
"If that's the case, aren't the Elves even less than the demons that God despises?"
"Why do I feel that God abhors demons?" It was a strange phenomenon; in fact, he had never shown any aversion to any of his creations.
He was simply not quite used to the habits of these beings suited to living in Hell, but he had never entertained the thought of taking them away from existence.
In terms of fairness, he had always considered himself a qualified creator god.
"How could my God possibly like such filthy, depraved creatures?"
God abhors demons—wasn't that an obvious reality? Lucifer gazed at the sky, his mind not on Yahweh's question, but lost in thought about a certain possibility.
"If this is truly the case, if the Elves knew this so-called destiny... how many Elves would abandon their faith, choosing... to fall?"
The god looked at him in surprise, for Lucifer had unexpectedly uttered a word, so he temporarily set aside the matter of demons.
Yes, fall.
This word, "fall," did not exist in an era of absolute faith, yet it would appear someday in the future.
In the future, some races would no longer believe in the Creator God; this was an unavoidable fact.
The emotions of the Creator, like the Creator himself, could not remain unchanged; time was destined to erode even the most fervent emotions.
The rationality that would develop at the same time would teach them to question, to rebel, and to choose no longer to believe in Him.
It was impossible not to be moved; at the moment He granted the Creator the freedom of will, He gave them the opportunity to choose.
And at the same time, the God could only choose to protect the good and reject the evil.
Of course, he wished he had more choices in faith; only faith could be eternal. He was pessimistic about his predetermined fate, but never forced it.
"Faith or depravity, both are matters of choice."
God uttered those words with a smile.
"Shut up!" Lucifer covered his mouth, unusually flustered. He nervously looked towards the highest heavens, fearing Yahweh would be blasted to ashes by lightning at any moment.
"What are you afraid of?" God looked at him, puzzled, and followed his gaze towards the distant heavens.
"If it's God, there's no need, because nothing can be hidden from Him," He comforted Lucifer, trying to persuade him to open his heart.
However, to Lucifer, these words sounded like self-abandonment.
Concealment was futile, so there was no need to conceal it at all.
Yahweh's straightforward and outspoken nature terrified him, yet at the same time subtly stirred his protective instincts.
"Then you mustn't be so presumptuous," he warned in a low voice.
"You must not speak these words before my God, nor even think them."
"God will not like to hear them."
God wondered what Lucifer was thinking of him, but suspecting he might be able to read minds, he stopped speaking in his mind; clearly, he was adept at it.
Just like in the Grand Cathedral, the Seraphim was always the most silent presence in his heart.
This thing that had initially pleased God suddenly no longer pleased him; the Seraphim's concealment began to displease him.
"He won't see me," Yahweh said calmly, looking in the direction of the Grand Cathedral. There is only one God; what does it mean to see oneself?
"How will I know if I don't try?"
Lucifer hadn't originally intended to take Yahweh to see God, but now the more he thought about it, the more urgent it felt.
He had discovered that Yahweh had no reverence for God.
Yahweh appeared gentle and harmless on the surface, but his heart was pure to the point of being cold. Perhaps something special had happened between Yahweh and God, causing his dissatisfaction with God.
As the Archangel, he should have punished such a disrespectful being, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to hate Yahweh, and even tried to salvage Yahweh's terrible relationship with God.
However, when he came to his senses and prepared to take Yahweh to Heaven to see God, Yahweh had vanished.
Seeing that Lucifer seemed to have no further questions, God disappeared from his sight and returned to the Great Cathedral.
Everything in the Cathedral remained as usual, as it had been for millennia.
God's golden eyes opened from his throne, the slight emotional fluctuation brought by Yahweh vanishing in an instant within his vast divine consciousness.
The Book of Creation opened on his lap; its duty was to record all events in the world, including God's conversation with Lucifer.
"God won't like to hear this."
His gaze was fixed on Lucifer's words, his thoughts seemingly seeing through the words the golden-haired angel's resolute expression.
The Book of Creation sensed the change in God's emotions and automatically turned a page, displaying a sentence in the blank space. "They all claim to know you, yet they don't truly know you."
God didn't reply. He turned the pages of the book, reviewing his journey as if reading a travelogue.
But Talin.
God's gaze lingered on this name, the demon Adan's real name.
God still remembered the demon who worried about his baldness. His slender fingers twitched slightly, and he did as he was told, allowing Adan to grow a thick, long ponytail, its hair as strong as silk, never to break.
Instantly, Talin's grayish-black name turned deep black, emanating a profound, dark aura in the demon register.
This meant he possessed the qualities of a demon god.
God looked at the list of demons, falling into a brief but frequent deep thought.
Suddenly, the Book of Creation reminded him.
'Seraphim, Archangel, requests an audience.'
The God seemed interrupted, his face, bathed in holy light, showing a rare moment of stunned surprise. He instinctively looked towards the outside of the cathedral. The Archangel, whom he had seen not long ago, stood outside the Grand Cathedral, wearing the robes reserved for entering the temple. Though his bearing was familiar, the God felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity.
"Granted."
The Grand Cathedral's tightly closed doors slowly opened. The God watched the radiant morning star approach him, watching the archangel walk towards him with light yet firm steps.
"My God," Lucifer bowed.
The God looked at the elegant and perfectly poised Archangel beneath his throne, as if he had finally rediscovered the Lucifer he knew. And so, he naturally reverted to his usual divine self.
"Lucifer," he replied.
"What brings you here?"
As always, beneath the throne, a single rank separates them—the most familiar and intimate distance between them.
_____
Although Yahweh had vanished without a trace, Lucifer still decided to see God. He had too many questions and too many unanswered questions, and he believed only the divine being residing in the Great Cathedral could provide the answers.
So he flew away from the mortal realm and went directly to Heaven to pay his respects.
Fortunately, God granted his request this time—for some time now, God rarely summoned angels, and Lucifer's requests for an audience were rejected eight out of ten times.
But facing the high and mighty God, he suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
The atmosphere became tense. God was never one to break the silence, and such prolonged silence was rather unbecoming. Looking at the holy light above him, he hesitated for a long time before deciding to speak frankly.
"My God, an unprecedented war is raging on Earth."
"I am aware of this. You have handled it well." God nodded, affirming the Seraphim's decisiveness, and then asked him directly, having given up on trying to glean any message from the Seraphim's carefully crafted words.
"What troubles you?"
"Do you know Yahweh?"
"Yes."
Upon receiving the affirmative answer, Lucifer inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.
"Is he a new race you created?"
"My relationship with Yahweh is beyond speculation," God said coldly. Yahweh was him, and yet not him. He didn't want Lucifer to press further on this matter. The perceptive Archangel sensed God's resistance and didn't continue the conversation.
"He said you gave the elf Allen a pen, bestowing upon him the glory of a future Elf King."
"Moreover, he might even replace the Elf King!" His eyes gleamed as he gazed towards the throne. Although he verbally warned Yahweh against speaking nonsense, Lucifer himself dared to speak frankly before God.
"Why, Elf King...did I do something wrong?"
This was different from when facing Yahweh. Although, after suspecting Yahweh's mind-reading ability, the Archangel had shielded himself from all thoughts to prevent his mind from being read—a mind without thoughts cannot be read—Lucifer was used to this. Even before God, he was always quiet unless absolutely necessary.
Yahweh was angry that he had only discovered this now, but God wondered why he hadn't noticed it sooner.
Because Lucifer didn't hide anything from God; he expressed his confusion and bewilderment. Therefore, God had never seen his Archangel so clearly before.
He was confused, he was subtly angry, expressing his dissatisfaction, but not out of arrogance. His eyes clearly showed that he might lose the Creator's favor because of this, yet he still did not remain silent.
God looked upon his most beloved angel, Lucifer, whose appearance had remained unchanged since birth, still youthful. Because of God's favor, he was eternally blessed by light, possessing perfect virtue, immense power, and ever-present vitality and extraordinary courage.
Therefore, he spoke to him for the sake of his friendship with the Elf King and for the justice in his heart.
He was perfect.
But a creation is ultimately a creation, not as eternal and unshakeable as God.
Someday in the future, the unknown would still find him.
"I do not despise Atledis, but every change is a reaction to previous changes," God's gentle voice echoed in the Great Cathedral, and the World Tree quietly swayed its branches.
"Fate is not easily controlled, Lucifer. Even without this [event], war would still have occurred." Although he had tried many times to control it, this mischievous child was truly cunning.
There would be failure, there would be change, so he chose to integrate everything, letting them create the unknown, seeking new outcomes in constant change.
That could be failure, or it could be a miracle.
It wasn't a predictable, unchanging process.
This was the world God desired, the destiny God envisioned.
"Then this war…"
"I will not interfere." God didn't respond to the expectation in Lucifer's eyes, directly stating His position.
"Even if it's demons…" Lucifer said with difficulty.
"Lucifer, I have never denied the existence of demons. They, like you, were created by me."
Lucifer was silent for a moment. He raised his head, looking at the god, a rare vulnerability in his eyes.
"But then, what is the meaning of this war?"
If the demons have a just cause, then why did the elves suffer this calamity? Why did the angels join the war? What does all this mean?
God couldn't bear to see the Archangel waver, but He still wouldn't deceive him.
"Injustice will cause conflict. My favoritism towards angels is destined to ignite war."
God frankly admitted His favoritism. Lucifer should have stopped there, but he felt inexplicably uneasy.
"So Eren is just…"
A sacrifice? The Archangel couldn't help but think of that word. God sensed the pity in his heart and remained silent for a few moments before speaking.
"Eren, he has his own place to belong."
It was both an answer and a promise, yet Lucifer felt only a wave of sorrow, though he didn't know why he felt this way.
The atmosphere in the Grand Cathedral fell silent again, but this time, Lucifer…