Longing hearts part 9

Ch9: Creation of a God

‘’Stay close to me…’’, Tori spoke as he paced up front, Koro, Nadia, Issah and Mainda following close by, while five more followers they just met walked a few meters next to them. The tall trees hid the midday sun and kept the chilling moisture in the air around them. Only the sound of birds and the scrunching of leaves beneath their feat was audible. The three masters were nearby, keeping a distance from them on purpose, as well as master Yabu, the man who had to die for his crimes against humanity. Preparations had taken less than a week, but in order to locate him they had to search for three weeks, finally finding traces of him deep in Gangxiang Bomi forest. The thick tree trunks made the search harder, but they all hoped that his energy would be immediately located, at the very least by the apostles.

With every step he took, Koro felt his entire body throb aggressively. His master’s powers had been freshly poured into him, pushing him to the limits. There was no way for a follower to withstand this amount of power for more than a few hours, as it could burn him from inside out. Ikrov had poured the lion’s share of his powers into his apostle, since he was the one with the biggest capacity. His physical body wasn’t the only part of Koro that struggled though, since the mere sight of the people he had loved around him, as they walked to battle and possible death, strained his soul too.

His eyes scanned the openings between the thick, tall trees, hyperawareness being a constant faze for him. The sound of the earth being pushed by his heavy boots echoed in his ear drums like a war song. Suddenly, a shiver made him pause his movements and look around him even more aggressively. It seemed like every follower had experienced the same sensation, since they all stopped at once. A sharp screech echoed in the woods and Koro glued his eyes on the source, before panic ensued.

Yabu had appeared, seemingly out of thin air, managing to grab hold of one of Taika’s followers. The poor woman was unable to escape his grasp and merely exhaled one last scream before she was in a chock hold. The followers surrounding her charged against Yabu, but the bald master jumped high enough to get on a top branch, looking down on everyone, carrying the nearly unconscious woman as if she was weightless. Taika’s remaining four followers exchanged words in Mandarin and immediately coated themselves with the crimson armor. Koro glanced to his side for only one second, taking a last look at the most important people in his life before covering his own body.

Taika’s followers kept yelling at the master and two of them even began climbing the large tree. Koro was left in complete shock, his body numbing at the sight he witnessed. The woman’s body shriveled up in a matter of seconds, drying out from its fluids and her energy faded. She had turned into a mummified corpse in the span of ten seconds. Roars of anger sounded from two of Taika’s followers, while the rest of them were left speechless.

‘’How the fuck are we supposed to fight this?!’’, Tori growled beside him and Koro knew that his rage headed towards his own master for not giving them a heads up about their power extend.

‘’Take a breath and think!’’, Mainda yelled back at him, scolding him like he was a little child.

‘’Be careful!’’ It was the first time Koro heard Issah sound this way as he walked behind Mainda when she advanced forward. The female apostle turned back one last time, her blue eyes barely visible behind the thick crimson mask.

‘’I’ll bite, Yabu!’’, she yelled with all her might and the master cocked his head to the side, ignoring the followers who climbed up to get to him with great speed. ‘’Why are you doing all this?’’, she followed up and Koro’s eyes widened. Mainda was actually trying to understand this man’s way of thinking. Taika’s followers paused for a moment, their attention now on Mainda, and despite their faces being covered up, Koro could tell that they were angry at her for overlooking the death of one of their own.

‘’I could tell from the beginning that you are different, apostle. It is the reason I appeared in front of you that day.’’, Yabu’s voice sounded, heavy and deep, as if God himself spoke to them.

‘’What an honor to be recognized by so many masters…’’, The female commented ironically, Koro could feel the smirk behind the mask. ‘’But I would appreciate an answer!’’

‘’If your friends want to hear everything as well, I suggest they stand their ground.’’, The master yelled and Koro could feel his eyes landing on him for a split second as he looked at one person after another. His anxiety and worry went through the roof, considering the way Mainda casually discussed with the enemy. He couldn’t help but wonder where the three masters had been.

‘’Let’s hear him out first!’’, Mainda announced, focusing mostly on Taika’s followers who had been advancing against Yabu. They remained frozen, midair, hanging from the tree the master had been standing on. A smile was clearly shown on his face.

‘’What are you trying to do?’’, Tori whispered angrily at the female apostle and it was the first time he had seen him speak to her in such a way. She bluntly ignored him, her head lifted up to meet Yabu.

‘’Your masters keep sending you to your progressive exhaustion and ultimate death. You who are the special ones. You are not randomly chosen, no matter how hard they try to convince you that you are.’’, he began and Koro could already feel confusion in his mind. ‘’Followers are the demigods of human kind and the only ones able to judge its Gods, the masters. What is a master’s job you might wonder…’’, Yabu added and his smirk deepened. There was no sound heard around them, as even the birds had stopped singing.

‘’Masters have existed ever since the birth of mankind. We were created by the energy of human beings, called upon this rock you call earth from astral dust and pure will. It was human kind’s spiritual strength that created us. We are here to protect and obey you, and not the other way around. But it seemed that humanity lost its way. Back in time, the majority of the humans being born were followers, like you, by the time they were teenagers. Now we have to bring you close to death to awaken your spirituality. A shame how this world has ended up…’’

Koro took in the contents of his words with a grain of salt, despite the fact that they made absolute sense. Whispers sounded around him, but the follower was unable to focus on them. What he felt was uneasiness and it all sourced from Mainda. When he noticed Tori’s hand on her shoulder, pressed firmly over the crimson armor, he realized that he hadn’t been the only one who noticed it.

‘’And why are you stirring up the energy of this world?’’, Mainda’s voice sounded, but it was cracked up, barely stable enough to utter the words.

‘’Because we have failed this world.’’, was his answer, a heavy frown on his face was visible even from afar. ‘’This is the only solution I came up with. Destroying the balance of the world means destroying its Gods as well, giving room for new ones to be created. Humanity will suffer greatly, but in a short period of time, new hope will be born into this world.’’

A shiver run down Koro’s spine. The information this man was giving them was unheard of and dangerous to say the least. They proved the masters’ weakness and incapability of keeping the world safe, the only task they had been given when created by humankind. Of course that was if Yabu was actually trustworthy. Everything seemed so detailed, though, so passionately given that there was little room left to doubt.

‘’If our masters knew what you were telling us now, they would have appeared…’’

Yabu chuckled loudly at Mainda’s words, loud enough for the sound to echo through the woods.

‘’They cannot find you now, though. Unless I let them find you.’’, he said, forcing the black haired follower to glance around aggressively in hopes of locating even one of the three masters. There was nothing there. ‘’You must be wondering how, but that is unimportant. Not all masters have the same abilities, you see.’’

‘’If you hadn’t decided to speak to me, dear Mainda, all this would have remained unknown to you and your death would have already been a fact.’’, Yabu added with an ironic coloration in his voice. ‘’So make a choice now…’’

‘’We will not betray our masters!’’, one of Taika’s followers yelled and continued to climb up. Koro felt similarly, as if he had been conditioned to trust and fear Ikrov no matter what. Should Mainda not have placed her hand in front of him, he would have charged in to attack him. Yabu shook his head, glaring down at the desperate followers in mirth.

‘’Come to die!’’