Divinity: Against the Godly System

"Are you saying that because the God of this element is dead, their element is unstable?" Ryder asked Janus, surprised. 

"That's right. Because of your body being a mortal body, you aren't really allowed to use the Bracelet of Immortality. It was made for a God after all," Janus answered. 

"It was made keeping an immoral godly body in mind. You don't have that. It's only because of your soul that you can even use a little bit of it. But that also isn't enough. Each element comes with a limited ability. Because of your body, you can't use their full potential," he continued. 

"You can only use each element's ability to a higher extent for a few weeks after you get that fragment. After that, it adjusts to your body and becomes limited," he added.

"Yeah. You told me last time. That was also why I was able to heal from death with the use of your Nature of Healing without having to be forced back in time at the start. But now, death forces me back in time. The Nature of Healing only works now to heal me from a near-death situation if the damage is something which won't cause my death right away," Ryder answered, realizing what he meant. 

"That's why you need to get all your fragments. That will make the bracelet completely unrestrained by the mortal bounds," Janus said. 

"But you just said that the death of the God of Time made his element unstable? How can I use that element to its previous capacity that I was able to do at the start. Doesn't that mean if other gods are dead, the outcome will be the same?" Ryder asked, curious. 

"That's right. If you kill the God who presides over Nature, Nature of Healing will also return to normal," Janus answered. 

"Sigh, but is that even possible? I still don't understand how the God of Time died. He is a literal god from what I understand that rule over time. He can't die of old age, at least according to the lores I read," Ryder wondered, curious. 

"That's right. He can't die of old age. But that doesn't mean he can't be killed," Janus answered, finding it a bit funny. The one who had killed the Lord of Time was asking such questions. 

But he couldn't blame Ryder either. He didn't remember anything at all. It wasn't his fault. That was how it was supposed to be. 

His memories needed to return slowly. Otherwise, his body was going to be overburdened by all that power and destroyed within days.

"Someone killed the Lord of Time? Who could have such Strength? Another god?" Ryder asked. "Wait a minute. You're a god too. Did you kill him?"

"I didn't. Someone even stronger than me killed him," Janus answered, laughing. 

"Who? Which element was he a god of? There should be many gods," Ryder assumed. 

"His element?" Janus asked, amused. "That's an interesting question. His element is something that no one knows. Actually, not even I know what his element is," Janus answered. 

"Huh? Do all gods have a Heavenly City or something? Do you gossip about other gods like oldies here? It's tough to believe that you don't know about a god," Ryder replied. 

"I know about the element of all gods except one. He is the one who killed the Lord of Time. He is the anomaly of the God Realm. Do you want to hear about him? It's actually a pretty well-known and amazing story in Heaven," Janus asked Ryder. 

"Sure. It's not like I have to do anything in a hurry. I'm free for a good story. Let me know more about the Heaven. I also want to know if all those books were right or not," Ryder nodded his head as he laid on the bed comfortably, waiting for the story. 

"He is the one who was named... Chaos."

Janus said the name which no one had spoken in a long time. It was the name of his brother—the true name of Ryder at his Origin. 

"Chaos? What an intimidating name," Ryder muttered. Just hearing the name itself gave him a strange feeling. 

"He was born in a time of peace. There were no wars. Everywhere was peace. All gods had an Element that they inherited from their parents. They were the ones who were going to inherit the element and the position of their parents after growing up."

"In that time of peace was born a boy who was named Chaos..." Janus said. 

"You want to know why he was named that?" he asked. 

"Why?" Ryder asked. 

"It was because the peace was destroyed with his arrival. On the day he was born, before he could even be named, his mother died of sickness. It was the first time a goddess had died of sickness. That same day, another prominent god declared war on the boy's father."

"The whole Heaven was thrown into the pit of war after an eternity of peace. All before the boy could even be named..."

"Don't tell me his father placed the blame of everything on the bad luck of his son and called him Chaos?" Ryder asked, feeling somewhat bad for the boy. He didn't know why but his heart ached as he heard that story more than it should have. 

"That's right. His father blamed him. After two months of being born, he finally got his name— Chaos, the God of Nothing."

"The God of Nothing?" Ryder asked, surprised. 

"Yeah. It was a time when all kids inherited the abilities of their parents, including their Divinity. But Chaos was different. He was born without any abilities. He was the first child that was born without Divinity..." Janus answered. 

"That was why others made fun of him by calling him the God of Nothing."

"What happened after? How did a boy without any abilities become strong enough to be able to kill the Lord of Time who should have been the strongest, I assume?" Ryder asked. 

...

Far away from earth, Janus was still sitting near the pond where two fishes swam. 

He was gazing towards the light sky that was shining in Mystical lights. 

"So beautiful..." he muttered softly. 

....

"Beautiful?" Ryder asked, hearing Janus's words. 

"Yeah. The boy didn't have any Divinity, but he was a really great painter. His paintings were so beautiful. I wish I could see them once again. Unfortunately, he destroyed them all with his own hands," Janus answered. 

"Tell me what happened to him. Not about his paintings," Ryder said, smiling wryly. 

"Fine. What happened was that he wasn't actually as useless as everyone assumed. It was when the boy was ten years old when everyone realized that," Janus said. 

"Why? What happened then?" Ryder asked, curious. 

"When the boy was eight years old was when his father married again. His father married another goddess. He also had a son who was one year old when Chaos was ten years old."

" As you may guess, Chaos received no importance. Everyone detested him for being weak, including his own father. But he never hated his father. He only had love, not only for his father but for his new step brother as well."

"His brother was only one year old. Chaos was sitting near him. Their parents were outside; it was a meeting of the gods. Only the two kids were home," Janus explained. 

"Don't tell me something bad happened?" Ryder asked, having a bad feeling. 

Janus softly answered, "That's right. Something bad did happen. The one year old boy accidentally used his ability that he had received from his father to open a portal, unaware of anything. And from the portal, came they..."

"They who?" Ryder asked, frowning. 

"The Dark Crawlers..." Janus said after a deep pause. 

"Dark Crawlers? What are they?" Ryder asked, confused. 

"They are the frightening creatures that aren't born. They just came into existence in random corners of the space because of the increasing darkness in the world. Normally they can't enter the Heaven, but because of that portal, they were able to," Janus answered. 

"This is getting bad. Don't tell me someone died," Ryder told Janus. 

"That's right. Someone died..." Janus answered. 

"But it wasn't who you're thinking," Janus answered. "It was the Dark Crawlers that died. All of them. Not a single scratch or harm came to the one year old boy."

"And Chaos?" Ryder asked. 

"Sigh, Chaos was punished by their parents," Janus answered. 

"Wait a minute! You skipped the most important part. Who killed the Crawlers? Chaos was useless. Was it the one year old boy? Did the parents come home and kill the crawlers?" 

"And even then, why did the parents punish Chaos? You said the boy wasn't harmed. Did they blame the portal incident in Chaos?" he asked. 

There were already tens of questions in his mind and not enough answers. Just what actually happened? Why was the boy published when he wasn't at fault? Who saved them?