After tapping the newborn's forehead, the father slowly tilted to the ceiling with symbols engraved all over and continued.
"Despite what I have said, your mother and I shall raise you right and feed you well, recognize you as the highest of our priorities..."
He whispered to the baby as he slowly fondled their soft and tiny arms.
"... and make you as strong and reliable as you want to be, my sapling."
As the sun slowly lifted itself from the clouds, the mother turned to the father and whispered to him, the newborn staring curiously at their faces.
"So, honey. What should we call our new baby boy?" She asked her husband as they slowly stepped out of the shallow pool toward the entrance of the cathedral-like area.
From their steps, a kingdom could be seen down below, hovering above the thick white clouds. All divine buildings shone imperiously above the world under the rising amber sun, teeming with activity and life.
As they both stared into the glowing amber horizon, the father answered the mother's question as if fate had chosen his words.
"Asahi." He said firmly as he carried the baby gently. "Our child… the new God of The Adtraic…"
With a loud tone, when the winds from high above blew across his hair, the father uttered these words with a powerful tone, echoing across every wall in the massive floating city below. "...will be named Asahi."
For most humans, it was almost impossible to remember what happened during their first breaths as a newborn. However, in this case, Asahi recollected the moments of his tiny self as if they had happened yesterday.
. . .
After the mother and father turned their heads and cast their gazes deep into the warm horizon, another vision overlapped the beautiful panorama.
The platinum streets teemed with people and chatter.
From one corner of the block to the other, rumors swirled about an announcement from the rulers of Cleira, the Adtraic.
The sky-borne, beautiful rays of golden sunshine and thick white clouds cast their smiling gaze down on the buildings, composed of iridescent, snow-white stone bricks.
Roads from all around were paved with silver and black outlines, their paths crawling all the way toward staircases leading down to the other stories of the city.
Walking up the staircases were lines of people in various attire. Though they may be perceived as mortals, these individuals were not ordinary people. But ones with abilities.
Here in the world of Gincad, the residents of Cleira were recognized as Lesser Rulers—people who possessed powers that surpassed the abilities of an ordinary mortal, but were just barely weaker than the Adtraic. And among that massive sprawling group of Lesser Rulers was a familiar face bearing long, messy dark hair, purple-azure eyes, and fair skin.
"Akwan!" One screamed as they reached out with a sleeve-covered hand among the tens of thousands of people. "Over here!"
From beyond the wall of figures, a young man with slender proportions and light hair. His face was narrowly complex, at the expense of a few unique features being covered up by the veiling cloth that had rested around his shoulders.
Though the wind may have been strong and whimsical, the boy's long, dark hair had remained still, like a statue.
"What is it, my comrade?" He asked the young man as the chatter grew fuzzy.
"An announcement! After many weeks of dormancy, the partners of The Adtraic have once again emerged to bless us with news!"
Upon finishing his sentence, Akwan carried a curious look on his face. The book that had remained sashed at his waist, the purple monocle stuck on his eye, and the general straightness of his pose had clearly identified that this boy was still in school.
Just as questions arose from the young man, a metaphorical wind abruptly brushed aside all of them as two pale figures in dark attire approached from the brilliant white bridge extending from a gate across the clouds toward a colossal mountain that dwarfed everyone beneath it.
Their hair was as radiant as the clouds, their skin pale like the distant stars.
From close and afar, people began to chant their names as their superiors' shadows cast over all.
Akwan and the young man watched as more people continued to gather beneath the staircase leading toward the gate and bridge, awaiting the announcement.
If it wasn't for Akwan's unique features, the brown-haired man would have lost him to the stampede that was the mob of lesser gods.
"The reaction the lesser Rulers are making is surprising in and of itself, Kleio,"
Akwan mumbled to the young man, revealing his name in the process. After that, he took a pause; the dark-haired boy tilted his head up to the gate, hearing the cheers increase with each step the two divine partners take.
"This announcement must be extraordinary if it serves as an excuse to delay academic activities. No teacher would allow any excuse." He finished as he wandered into the crowd.
Although the man with brown hair, Kleio, could keep up with the crowd's pace, Akwan could not keep up with the situation. He had almost felt as if he was weakly floating in a sea of individuals, mindlessly scavenging for any openings to gaze at.
"Acheros, Achlys, The Adtraic!" He heard with his rigging ears. "Our rulers! Our Sovereigns! For what they shall bring after weeks of dormancy!"
As Akwan finally found an opening in the crowd, he swiftly tilted his head up and saw a beautiful, tall, white-haired woman approaching the gate with an occupied bassinet in her arms. Kleio and most of the people's eyes bulged with shock as they gazed at her long, silky white hair, flowing in the wind, and the cloth above the cradle.
The woman wasn't the only one who had carried the bassinet; the white-haired man had brought it as well, which was so unbelievable to the lesser Rulers that some had gone mad with curiosity.
"No. It… this can't be reality. Our rulers have birthed a Ruler?!" One said with a loud, piercing tone.
Confused mumblings bounced back and forth through the crowd as the rising golden sun shone brightly above the sovereigns.
"I never considered that The Adtraic could have ever delivered a god!?" A green-haired, golden-eyed man shouted from behind..
"Unbelievable."
"This can't be true."
"Is it a male heir?" A deep, masculine voice spoke from the center, belonging to an unbelievably tall and bulky figure.
"Could it be a female sovereign?" Whispered the maidens, mothers, and women as they desperately tried to push through the crowd.
Struck by this discovery, everyone in the crowd began conjuring predictions about who and what the child would be.
Some had rumored the child to be a reckless monster, while others had inquired whether it could be a being far surpassing the power of their parents, and a few had theorized that the child could have been just an ordinary, powerless person.
Akwan took a few steps back to process what this could have meant.
"Hmm?" He said, raising his eyebrows as he saw groups scramble toward the gate. "I never expected that. After all these decades of my sovereigns' reign, I never would expect they would actually put forth the initiative to engage in reproduction."
After minutes of theorizing on what the child would be, Kleio and others took the initiative to squint closer at the approaching couple. To their surprise, another bassinet was held in the King's right hand, quickly urging the group to burst in curiosity and shock once more.
"Another child!" Kleio shouted, interrupting everyone's conversations. Immediately, all the heads tilted up to the young man, eyes wide with curiosity. All conversations were muted to a standstill, leaving only Kleio's loud voice echoing across the entire kingdom. "There is another child held in the King's hands!"
Upon his screams, everyone gasped and looked forward at the approaching rulers. Instead of one shadow, four shadows were casting along the surface of the stone bridge. This quickly urged the group to fall into a rampage of concern and predictions.
"Another child?!" Many people said, stammering in shock.
"How could there be?" Mumbled a blue-eyed, gray-haired woman.
"How. What is their motivation behind this?"
"What if the children are both a male heir and a female heir?!"
As voices of speculation continued to bounce across the group, eventually both the king and the queen, Acheros and Achlys, arrived at the front of the gate.
. . .
Two dominant figures stood boldly atop the platform near the last stair.
A gentle, warm, hopeful wind blew from the sky through the thick, soft bristles of their long, white hair, the clouds flowing like the waves of a sea. Despite starting at the very back of the large crowd, Akwan managed to reach the 'front-row-seats' of the audience.
From there, his eyes were blessed with a beautiful sight: one amazing panorama that looked like a wide, clean painting hanging above the churches of the kingdom.
The gorgeous golden sun sprinkled its heavenly rays on the two figures like a spotlight.
Silence enveloped the crowd as all caught the silent but directive gestures from the tall, muscular, and honorable King, Acheros.
With his demanding gestures, everyone in the audience bowed their heads in appreciation and honor to the two.
Despite the dark attire the King and Queen had worn, their faces were enough to balance and offset it.
The Queen's glistening, pearl-like dark gray eyes observed the sea of heads below. Her floating, crest of a beautiful, sharpened halo dwarfed the world beneath her, like a grand mountain in the distance. She kept the first newborn cradled safely in the cushion of her arms, while the King cradled the second one in his.
While seconds of silence had passed, the King and Queen remembered their choice.
Their eyes learned over to the two large, thin blankets covering the cradles.
It was at this moment that they had decided that they would let the wind unveil and reveal both their newborns to the universe.
. . .
It had been nearly an hour since the Queen had delivered the second one.
Though the everlasting pain of the aftermath of such may latch on to her, the comfort of her love for both of them had eclipsed all of it.
After the King gave his command, lesser gods slowly lifted themselves from their bows and cast their curious gazes at the two veiled wooden bassinets held safely in the hands of the King and the Queen. All were silent with anticipation, waiting for any word to be uttered from either of their rulers' mouths. Yet, even though minutes had passed, not one of them had said a word.
As the quiet, soft winds whistled through the silent crowd, the flow of warm air eventually reached the bassinet to the right.
With one gentle huff, the wind pushed the cloth away to the clouds and unveiled an infant.
Silence was interrupted with chirps of admiration.
A fragile newborn boy witnessed his world unfold before his gaze.
Nearly countless eyes gazed at the baby, grinning.
"Whoa."
"Beautiful."
"Stunning!"
Feeling his nearly weightless, petite body rise with two large arms, the newborn lifted his tiny legs, and his two gray, beady eyes glistened at the sight of the warm sun rays.
All gasped in shock as they noticed a birthmark plastered on the side of the baby's shining, clear face.
A symbol that matched both the marks attached to his mother's and father's.
The shape of an "S".
As murmurs and mumbles of both satisfaction and admiration filled the people, the father's deep, resonant voice echoed across every corner of existence.
"Behold," the father announced as the mother formed a beautiful, relieved smile and held her newborn child. "...to the eyes of Cleira, this world, and the cosmos, I present before you,"
Taking a breath, everyone, including the stars, waited in anticipation for the father's final words.
Akwan rooted his feet to the ground, as did the others, their hearts beating as one.
When the sun finally touched the newborn's feet, legs, chest, hands, arms, neck, and head, the infant's features were outlined by an extraordinarily bright, resilient glow.
And with a loud, world-shattering voice, the father announced with ALL his might.
" Asahi Adtraic: The God of Hope!"
Seconds slowed down.
Everything in the world appeared disturbed by the father's announcement.
Trees from beneath the floating heavenly kingdom trembled with anticipation.
The humans and animals from below looked up and saw a wave of bright rays extend out to every corner of the world.
Following this, a storm of applause and cheers ERUPTED from the crowd as the newborn baby shone and projected his gaze on everything in the world. Celebration and Ceremonies followed afterward the announcement, with people scrambling over to see the new god of The Adtraic in all his glory.
Shadows.
One cradle remained veiled and hidden from the world that day...
. . .
Interruption.
://: Elongated pairs of swerving, blinding tentacles overlapped the memory with flashing visions of stars and nebulae. ://:/
Forgotten.
: // : //
Monsters.
://://
Two sharp, fierce, glowing white eyes peered from behind the flat view of blue skies and clouds.
A reality-trembling roar followed screams and squeals of agony and despair.
:/// ://
A head filled with clusters of glowing tentacles captured the presence of floating rocks.
The stars were disturbed.
They were scared, frightened to their very core.
:// :// : //
"ROAR!"
Echoes.
Their screams sounded so inhumane and otherworldly that they could instill fear in anyone who had heard them.
Hunger.
Visions of a toddler's hand reaching for soft pastries on a plate filled Asahi's mind. It was incoherent that the only thing focused on was those tiny hands, bread, and the mouth alone.
Theft.
Robbery.
The pastries were taken by others, leaving the boy shocked and sad.
"That's mine! Give it back!"
Visions of monstrous white strings eating mountains, planets, and galaxies filled his mind.
Everything was blurry—a mess.
A storm of recollections that couldn't be recalled.
("What is this? What is going on?!") Asahi mumbled to himself.
Before his mind appeared, eight long, spindly legs floated above the cosmos.
A monster.
It was a monster.
Their head… inhumane, covered in the blankness of black. Their bodies surge with energy, spewing glittering essences from their long, sharp, and vicious jaws.
Behind "it" was a globe. A floating globe teeming with colors-- vibrant colors that matched hues of oceans, clouds, and land.
Lies.
The lips of a person invade the intrusive memories, their hair of an unrecognizable shade or color.
:// Lies. ://
The stars were angry.
They surrounded that globe, encircling it with untamable rage.
Floating in the cosmos…
Hideous abominations of abnormal proportions lurked around it, opening their jaws and swarming.
:// Lies.://
White light. So bright. It ate everything and consumed the night. The tentacles melted into strings as it followed the commands of the twenty-five arms of the… "things" floating in front of the globe.
://: Lies.://:
Hands of both masculine and feminine had slowly slid against the sheets and clenched onto each other, closing into their palms as thoughts of adoration flickered through.
Legs, both soft and hardened, had locked onto one another.
Bristles of hair of unrecognizable hues slid between the flashing pairs of intertwined bodies.
://LIES://
The last thing to stop this storm of chaotic thoughts and memories was a symbol—a curvy symbol in the shape of an S.
A white void accompanied the letter. But then, another symbol of that same shape came along with it.
As they spun and swirled, the two symbols danced in harmony to loud, irritating jingles, accompanied by wild, annoying violin screeches.
"Dancing in circles in circles in circles!"
One after another, the two letters danced in circles in the void until they had folded onto themselves.
As Asahi's mind started to flicker and flash to the past, as the visions of the dancing "S'" zoomed, eventually both of the symbols melded into the harmonic, balanced, prosperous shape of the number eight.
8.