[Edanian Journey] Elion

Chapter 8: Mortal Justice As I approached Elion upon the pedestal, the prayers and screams around me grew louder. Elion asked whether, after witnessing all of history, I still dared to defend humanity. I spoke of the goodness that still remained in mortals. Even amid endless suffering, hope could endure. I would not abandon humanity because of its past. But Elion coldly declared that this world had already passed through countless cycles of rebirth, and that this cycle had reached its end. In the next age, no one would even remember the suffering of this one. Still, I would not give up on the possibilities of those who were alive now. The promise of another world could not change my answer. And so I faced the goddess's trial, fighting Elion with the salvation of humanity at stake. Having finally proven humanity's worth, I was met with one more question: would I truly refuse to change my mind? I spoke of the care Elion had shown humanity. The goddess replied that she had never simply hated mortals. Yet they had betrayed the faith she placed in them, and she had come to resent those she still loved. Her desire to break the cycle of suffering and sin through judgment brought us to the end of the history Sophia and I had traced. Elion warned me that the world I saved might grow uglier still, and that those I protected might one day betray me. I did not deny their sins. I simply spoke of the value of life. In the end, the goddess heard me out and gave me the brazier, saying she would watch the new age our kind would usher in. Leaving Elion behind as she returned to her former state and sank into meditation, I told Illezra that I had obtained the brazier. Illezra called it a successful outcome. It would have been inconvenient, she remarked, if sacred power had been withdrawn from the world entirely. With the vessel needed for Ynix now in hand, I prepared for the next journey to carry humanity's future forward.