A blind girl knelt within a sacred shrine, flickering candles trembling around her. Before her stood the statue of a mysterious being with arms spread wide. A heavy robe draped over the entire body, concealing any trace of gender. The statue’s face was shattered, as if veiled beneath an arcane black shroud. Cracks spread from the ruined face across the entire figure.

  The statue seemed like an empty shell. Had something inside it already escaped?

  The frail girl pressed her hands together in the shape of the infinity symbol, murmuring reverent prayers. Her body was gaunt to the bone, yet strangely she remained alive and well. Within her ruined flesh burned a fierce faith, a belief that transcended ordinary notions. That unshakable devotion had perhaps kept her alive, whether directly or indirectly.

  “All I see is darkness. But I know You are always there. Protecting me.”

  “I cannot see You, but I can feel Your presence.”

  “Please grant me a sign. Please answer me.”

  …

  A long time had passed since she last heard the horrifying sounds outside the shrine. Now an unnatural silence enveloped her. Perhaps everything had ended, perhaps not. The monsters were surely lurking somewhere beyond, waiting for her to step out of this sacred place.

  The girl was clever. She would not fall for their trick. Her family was dead. Everyone was dead. They had been gnawed upon and devoured. The terrible screams still haunted her mind. She only remembered running, running until the sounds behind her suddenly ceased, running until her legs could no longer move. And then she had stopped here, before this holy shrine.

  “Divi, come out to Mommy and Daddy. It is very safe outside.”

  “Divi, do not stay in there anymore. Come out.”

  “Divi, our beloved daughter, be good.”

  The gentle voices of her loved ones echoed once more. Divi clenched her hands tighter in prayer, tears streaming down her youthful face. She knew those were not her parents’ voices. They were the voices of demons.

  Suddenly the calls twisted into something dreadful.

  “Divi, you little whore, come out. Do not be afraid. I will be gentle with you.”

  “Divi, come out so we can eat you, twist your bones…”

  “Divi… your parents are waiting for you. Down below.”

  The ground trembled violently. The candles swayed as if caught in a storm. The cracks upon the statue spread faster and faster, multiplying without end. Darkness poured from the shattered face, swallowing the surrounding space.

  Divi felt as though she were floating within a strange liquid, yet she was not afraid. On the contrary, she believed this to be the sign her guardian god had created. The screams had vanished. Before her, a gentle radiance emanated from a stone.

  “Do not be afraid, My child. I am here to protect you.”

  A sacred voice flowed from the stone, tender and warm.

  “Oh revered God. I have awaited this day for so long. All Your servants know You would never abandon us. You are the Holy Light.”

  “The Light soothes the hearts of the wretched. The Light will dispel the darkness. The Light will burn away the demons that ravage this place.”

  Divi suddenly screamed like a madwoman. After all, she was nothing but a fanatic. The blind girl had “seen” that miraculous light shining before her. In her entire life, this was the most beautiful and happiest moment she had ever felt. Standing before utter despair, her fervent faith had allowed her to behold what she had always longed for.

  “Light?”

  The voice within the stone hesitated in confusion. In an instant, it seemed to understand everything. Loud laughter burst forth from the stone, echoing through the shrine.

  “I am Light? Yes. I am Light.”

  “I can dispel all darkness, and I can also restore your sight.”

  The stone’s voice warped briefly before returning to normal. It was intensely curious how her emotions would change once she could see again. A gentle sphere of light slowly drifted toward her. It did not act directly. It wanted her to choose.

  “Take this orb and you will see again. But do you truly wish to do so?”

  “Is your faith strong enough to endure the truth hidden within the darkness? Are you truly ready to see the truth?”

  Divi shook her head. She would never abandon her faith. Light was what she had always yearned for. She had not been born blind. An accident had damaged her sight. Once she had been a lively girl filled with ambition. Now she could only cling to blurred fragments of memory.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  When she was small, Divi loved planting flowers most of all. In front of her house there had been a garden fragrant and overflowing with vibrant colors. She and her mother would gather beside the scented fields, playing together and watching the dawn. When the warm morning sunlight kissed her youthful face, Divi’s eyes shone like the last stars still glimmering in the sky.

  “What a magnificent beauty.”

  The sun gradually rose higher, and Divi continued staring without looking away. The stars had long since hidden within the darkness, but Divi’s eyes had not. A mischievous, curious, and foolish little girl.

  The brilliant light in her eyes was swiftly scorched by the blazing glare of the colossal orb of fire. The price of admiration was too great. Its outcome was no different from the stars. Wounded, terrified, and forever sinking into endless darkness.

  Yet all pain fades with time. Time takes away suffering and inadvertently erases memory. She soon forgot the beauty of blooming flowers, the splendor of the radiant dawn sky, and the smiling faces of her loved ones. All that remained in her mind was an undying faith in the divine. The god would save her and grant her light once more.

  Her wish had finally come true.

  It was right before her. She needed only to reach out to touch it. A miracle. A gift bestowed by her guardian god.

  Her small, emaciated hands grasped the orb of light, and then … the darkness was dispelled. Her mind returned to reality. Her eyes were no longer vacant, but radiant once more like shimmering stars.

  “Waaaaa.”

  A shrill scream tore through the air. Divi trembled, her eyes wide as she clearly beheld everything around her. The first emotion to greet her was not joy, but doubt and overwhelming horror.

  Around her now lay a graveyard filled with rotting corpses. The earth was dry and cracked. A violent wind snapped the brittle, decaying branches of dead trees. Divi was even more horrified when she looked down at her own legs. They were a mass of festering flesh crawling with maggots.

  “No… Impossible. It cannot all be real.”

  No wonder she had felt nothing. No wonder the pain had gradually vanished in such a miraculous way. The shrine, the divine statue, the flickering candles, all of it had merely been Divi’s imagination. She was outside. Outside with the bloodthirsty monsters.

  “Now you have seen everything.”

  The warm voice of her guardian god echoed beside her once more. Overjoyed, Divi fumbled about, searching for the source of the sound. Her gaze finally fell upon a shriveled corpse nearby. The corpse moved. Its mouth opened wide, spilling forth countless revolting flies. It burst into laughter, the sound twisted and distorted, identical to the monsters that had haunted her mind.

  “Divi! Mommy and Daddy miss you so much. Divi!”

  “Come here to Mommy and Daddy, Divi. Come here…”

  “Come here, you little whore. Come here. I told you to come here!”

  Divi trembled as the corpse slowly crawled toward her. The stench emanating from its body was identical to the stench of her father. Terror seized her. This was not what she wanted to see. All of it was illusion. All of it was falsehood.

  “No! No! No! No! Do not come closer! Stay away from me. Stay away!”

  Divi squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hands together once more in prayer. The darkness returned. The illusory shrine enveloped her again. The sacred statue cracked further and further. The candle flames flickered, nearly extinguished.

  “All I see is darkness. But I know You are always there. Protecting me.”

  “I cannot see You, but I can feel Your presence.”

  “Those things outside are false. Only the Light within my mind is the truth.”

  Divi gently wiped away her tears. That simple motion caused her to open her eyes once more. Only for an instant, when light returned again. Before her stood the grotesque corpse of her father, right at her face. It lunged forward and embraced her. The fetid stench surged straight into her mind, shattering the image of the shrine.

  “Is this not what you wanted? Is this not what you longed for?”

  “No! No! No!”

  Divi screamed. She watched in terror as the shrine dissolved within her mind. Reality was pulling her back. Her eyes were like a gate connecting two realms. Countless hands from the other side of the gate clawed at her body, trying to drag her back.

  “No! This is not the Light I desire.”

  “This is falsehood.”

  A fierce resolve settled within Divi. She clawed at her newly restored eyes. Blood gushed from the wounds. The agony was like her soul being torn apart, yet Divi smiled wildly. The moment her eyeballs left her body, the gate connecting to reality shattered. Once more Divi sat silently within the sacred shrine, the divine statue still spreading its arms, the candlelight still flickering.

  “Like stars hiding from the scorching sun, the girl hid from the truth. Now the faith within her mind became the absolute truth. The fusion had begun, and a new god was born.” Unknow Writter.

  The candles abruptly went out. The divine statue trembled violently. The cracks upon its body spread wider and wider until reaching their limit.

  Boom.

  The statue shattered into fragments. The darkness within it burst forth like a raging flood. It engulfed the frail girl’s body, pouring into her as though inflating an empty vessel.

  Within the pitch black void, Divi once again saw the warm light of her guardian god. Within that radiance stood the beloved figure of her mother. So this was what she had truly longed for from the very beginning. The woman smiled gently and extended her arms toward Divi.

  “Welcome back, Divi. Come to Mother. We will be as we once were. Together. Forever.”

  “Mother will protect you. From the naked, disgusting truth. Close your eyes. We will become one.”

  “You are the faint Light within the endless darkness. Sleep, and never awaken.”

  …

  Outside in reality, the corpse gradually dissolved into a stream of arcane black mist. From within its mouth fell a dark stone. The stone seemed to seal something inside, and then it cracked apart. Energy burst forth and fused into the girl’s ruined body.

  Divi trembled. A brilliant halo radiated from her small form. She floated into the air. From her back sprouted a pair of pure white wings. A strip of pitch black silk, like the endless night, draped across her hollow eye sockets. The wounds upon her body were swiftly healed. Divi slowly descended to the ground.

  The moment her feet touched the earth, everything around her was cleansed by an immense force. The cracked land sprouted fresh green grass once more. An endless field appeared instantly, filled with the fragrant scent of countless beautiful flowers.

  She was no longer the pitiful girl named Divi, but a mighty divine entity. An entity without a name. After endless years imprisoned within the stone, it had long forgotten its own name. It suddenly recalled the first meeting with the girl within the space of consciousness. Divi had called it “Light.”

  “Light?”

  “No. I am not Light. But if you believe so, then I shall be Light. Your Light alone.”

  “My name is Divilight.”

  A new god was born upon the ruins of catastrophe. Its Light shone everywhere, healing every wound of soul and flesh alike. The fortunate survivors gradually gathered toward the warm radiance. They walked like moths to a flame, awaiting salvation and protection within that false light.