Up above the world, so high, like a diamond in the sky.
The God of beginnings and ends floated below the darkened, thundering clouds as rain mercilessly continued to fall. It was an unknown amount of time since he last saw civilization in flames from ruin since his remembrance of the Great Fire of Rome.
Disgruntled Schrodinger wrapped his own body around Janus neck, paying the price for not being able to fly at the cost of being everywhere and anywhere. In fact, the feline regretted putting himself on this embarrassing display, as he actually started to prefer any spot but this one.
While Janus continued to mindfully look down, his attention entirely focused on the burning village. How depressing it is to see this reminder of home he is no longer part of. "People there are dying, it seems," stating the obvious, "I was thinking of just not intervening anymore." This shocked Vesta in all places.
"You can't let them die!" She answered with a horrid tone, "Haven't you promised to get the information we wanted?!" Reminding him of the mission to get what they desired in exchange for their cooperation, "you've got to save them!"
Janus remained silent in the following seconds, the woman's words ringing true, as he had at first been going to save them, but then he had another thought. Truth be told, he doesn't like confrontation or getting into conflicts unless absolutely necessary.
And seeing the chance of finding another unharmed settlement without getting through the trouble is much more preferable compared to entering that chaos and risking the chance of exposing himself to unwanted attention he might get from this.
"Let's try another place instead; there is bound to be another community that might have the answer," he suggests to his other companions in departing from here, "not interested in risking our heads for people who aren't worth it. Our efforts are better spent on finding other possibilities." finding it better to avoid the catastrophe in front of them.
However, Schrodinger had a sudden change of heart when he noticed a dead kitten laying among the destruction unfolding below them. "Kill them." Vengeance is a dish best served cold. "Slaughter them all." It will not satisfy Schrodinger's desire for retribution against those responsible.
Looking at where he glanced, Janus took notice of a kitten that was recently killed by the invading forces. "That still doesn't—" Rudely interrupted by the reasonable and logical voice of Portunus, it made him frown for a second.
"Enough of this nonsense," Portunus said with visible frustration, "we better save them now or continue this pointless waiting that will get us nowhere." Being keen on getting this done in the most efficient way, he said, "You can take them; can't you host?"
Squinting his eyes at the chaos below them, Janus knew in his heart that perhaps it was better to just get this over with and save them. Wasting more time by looking for another unlikely settlement that has no useful information would be an utter waste of their precious time.
Shrugging off his doubts, he breathed heavily before finishing his final decision to make, "Well, I suppose we got no choice then." Removing his hand from the spear as it floats casually beside him, Janus clapped his hands together in a loud, echoing boom that stretched across miles away.
Slowly removing his palms away from each other, sigils then began forming in mid-air, warping and twisting into an abstract pattern of strange symbols and incoherent letters. Each mark pulsated in black, cyan, and violet as he conjured a more potent attack he has in his arsenal.
His breathing gradually intensified, seeing through the eyes of these cultists who are currently committing massacre after massacre with no stop of their madness while the people scream in pain and agony as they were mercilessly slain in brutal methods such as having their bodies split apart into pieces, torn from limb to limb, and so on.
Having each of the cultist's essence embodying the abstraction of being part of creation as a whole, connected to one singular singularity he made with his own godly powers, it became all too easy for him to use all of the stolen and borrowed information of these cultists for his own nefarious plan in ridding them off with one full swoop.
Concentrating all his energy to gather everything and nothing at one single point, the stormy sky rapidly dissipates before holding his palms together in one quick succession, creating a terrifying sound that vibrates the fabric of reality within a few dozen miles around him.
Every cultist connected to this singularity had their very own abstract existence completely erased from the face of the earth; each man and woman's numerical systems, which had allowed them to exist, were then meticulously vanished into minus zero, eradicating them instantly before they even realized what had happened.
From that moment on, all the frightened survivors stopped whatever they were doing when their eyes turned to where the supposed attackers were. Having only to be mysteriously vanished within an instant, resulting in mass confusion among them about what had transpired.
Schrodinger was satisfied with getting the revenge he needed after seeing this: "You know what? That felt pretty good for me," he admitted to his fellow companion. "Now shall we get ourselves out of here?" He finished this conversation, as he could feel himself slightly worn out from being in this position.
Nodding silently, he manifested a staircase made out of translucent white clouds leading downwards to the center of the ruined village, where gathering survivors began to converse with one another and glance at him with uncertain emotions playing on their faces.
As the feline cat teleported to the ground, Janus took his hovering spear and walked down. Each step he took would cause the cloud to fade away into thin air behind him, not something he cared too much about since he had other things to worry about.
Her somber voice echoed softly in his mind: "They were mind-controlled." Realizing the fact that these so-called cultists were innocent individuals who were under the control of their true enemy and were forced to commit this crime under duress, "we should've tried to spare them," I felt a bit of shame for not seeing the bigger picture.
But Culsans laughingly dismissed the idea: "Spare them, Vesta?" sounding to be amusing from what he heard, "Why should we bother to do that?!" seemingly couldn't understand what was funny to him: "It was simply foolish of you to say that. I mean, who cares about them anyway?" Not seeing the worth of risking their lives for meaningless lives that would be soon forgotten anyway.
Quirinus had a different opinion about that: "What's done is done; nothing to change that now," giving no further comment on this sudden change of events that occurred, "better hope we did the right thing in the name of justice," showing more concern for the idea of justice than lives that would be inevitably forgotten in a short time.
"At least we were alive!" Saturn sighed relieved at the notion, "Just look at us; we're still okay at least! Maybe a little bruised, but it'll heal in time. Let's try not to beat ourselves too much over this," reassuring everyone that they did the best they could, even though he only cared about their own survival more than anything else.
The cleared night sky gave its warm presence of twinkling stars, where its descending moon from the horizon was a sight for its fullness and splendor. Janus came to a halt at the bottom of the cloudy steps when he was half way to reaching the ground, staring with disinterested expression at the gathered crowd.
Their faces were completely mixed; some showed caution or outright fear; others were simply curious; and a few were thrilled to meet their would-be savior, who had just saved them from being killed left or right. And yet, he can't care what they think about him.
Despite how much people will either praise or hate him for, he just couldn't find any reason to place his energies on such foolish endeavors, deciding to ignore whatever opinions they had to say about him because there wasn't anything interesting to listen to in the first place.
Sighing loudly, he continued to walk down with no stopping other than his reason for saving them in the first place. It was definitely not because of his kindness but because of the benefit he was getting from doing the right thing. It was what he kept telling himself as he finally reached the hard ground.
Men, women, children, the elderly, and a few surviving pets had surrounded them with careful eyes of caution. Among the crowd, he could see their frightened and tired expressions from what they had endured until his arrival, which only brought the question to their minds about who exactly he is.
Awaiting in the now vanished stairway, Schrodinger felt happy to know that his companion didn't take so long. "Took you quite a while," he commented the moment Janus touched the ground. "Ready to get this show on the road?" Getting another subtle nod from the man of this silent response, he turned his attention onto the expectant audience waiting around them.
"Uh..." Blue drops of liquid from his forehead fell down to the dirt beneath, sweating nervously in what to say: "I'm sorry that your home was destroyed. I wish this hadn't happened. It's terrible, truly. But rest assured that I managed to defeat them with my godly powers," declaring that he had come to save the day with his sheer presence.
Everyone stood frozen, their eyes peering into the god's own anxiety-driven gaze, silence loomed over them like a heavy fog. Not a single word was uttered from their mouths, forcing him to stand awkwardly before the sea of survivors he had just been rescued from.
Gulping awkwardly, Janus felt really bad now about saving them. The situation was all wrong, and it seemed like he wasn't welcome here in the slightest. But that was to be expected, given the circumstances. Still, he wished they'd be—
A loud cry of cheers and claps suddenly filled the air, echoing throughout the landscape. With excitement, the people broke into a loud round of applause while crying tears of joy for their would-be savior. They could hardly believe what they were witnessing—a hero who came to save their lives; it was like a fairy tale to them.
"Thank you!"
"If it weren't for you, my sister would be dead!"
"This is wonderful news!"
"You saved us all!"
Janus tried to fight the urge to blush from the amount of praise he was getting, even though his reasons were not altruistic by any means. Regardless, it felt nice to be appreciated for once, and he liked the feeling. Even he knew deep down that he couldn't be too selfish when it came to doing good deeds for others, no matter how much he wanted to.
An old woman with a cane approached cautiously towards Janus. "You are a hero for saving us," she said happily, smiling sweetly at them. Her dress was stained with blood and dirt as the white hair was disheveled under her bonnet. But despite the hardship she had just faced, the joy radiating from her wrinkled face made everything seem better.
"If there is anything you need, please ask. We will gladly help."
Having not forgotten the purpose of saving them in the first place, Janus nodded and politely asked, "Is there a cave near this place?" He wondered if she knew what he meant by that, watching her wrinkled eyebrows narrow slightly from confusion before widening in realization.
It didn't take long before understanding flashed in those clear blue eyes as she smiled again, nodding in confirmation, "But why do you seek such a place?" Questioning his sudden interest in a place that is nearly abandoned.
"Let's just say that we're looking for someone very important to us."
