A fanatic and a cult leader, a monster who deceives the masses, making them pluck out their own eyes and offer them as sacrifices. The Radiant Heavenly Lord Beel, who harms humans with heretical taboos.
To find her, 'Sister' and the warriors climbed the mountain, but the Lonely Mountain Yullim lived up to its name.
The warriors who set out to search returned shortly after.
"I report. Nothing can be seen."
There is nothing. Not a shade to hide from the light, nor bushes to block the wind. Because of this, the absence of anyone became all the more glaringly obvious.
Until now, the information conveyed by the Lore Keeper had not a single discrepancy, so what could be the matter? The King's warriors fell into confusion and looked at the Lore Keeper. The Lore Keeper silently replied.
"The main temple of the Radiant Cult is somewhere in Yullim. It is merely hidden, so you cannot find it."
"Wise Lore Keeper. But in this rocky mountain, not even a place to hide can be seen. If our eyes are not wrong, this mountain is completely empty."
"They cast a barrier with wicked techniques so that their base would not be revealed. If you do not use a dispelling method, you cannot find it."
"What is the dispelling method?"
"There is a barrier in one of those valleys. So, just have a group go to each valley and shine a mirror on the ground."
How could they find it if it's invisible? The people looked unconvinced, but it was none other than the Lore Keeper who said it. She led the autumn of humanity and found the three calamities. The wise Lore Keeper has never been wrong.
The warriors decided to move rather than waste time arguing.
"Now, now. Surely the Lore Keeper did not speak falsely? If they hid behind a barrier, they must be cowards. It doesn't look too dangerous, so let's quickly divide up and search."
"Grand Druid. Please weave the grass to create a communication network."
"My King. I will be back soon."
The King's warriors took mirrors and scattered in groups of twos and threes. They worked so well together that there was no need to give orders.
Once everyone scattered, 'Sister' naturally ended up waiting with the Lore Keeper. The Lore Keeper was with the five warriors who had escorted her from the Snow Mountain. They were warriors who, despite devoting themselves to training and possessing outstanding skills surpassing anyone else, were rumored to be more loyal to the Lore Keeper than to the King of Humans.
Whether because of the rumor or because it was actually true, a slightly heavy atmosphere lingered. There was a bit of subtle tension between the King's warriors and the Lore Keeper's five warriors.
However, the Lore Keeper and 'Sister' conversed warmly with each other.
"A dry wind blows on this mountain all year round. Not a single cloud rises, nor a single blade of grass grows. It is nicknamed the Lonely Mountain because it stands all alone with only the mountain itself."
"Lonely? It's wide open and refreshing."
"That is the pride of the Lonely Mountain. However, My King. If a signal comes from halfway up the mountain, it will be hard to notice. Please wait in a place with a clear view."
'Sister' answered the Lore Keeper's suggestion.
"Let's do that."
The Lonely Mountain Yullim had only a single peak. A peak so desolate that there were no trees, no grass, and not even perennial snow. The Lore Keeper El went to soothe Yullim's loneliness, attending to 'Sister'.
The day was exceptionally clear. The dry, cold northern light was pure white but not blinding. If the sunlight of the dense forest was a heavy downpour, the sunlight of Yullim was a soaking drizzle. Even the sunlight that burns the skin seemed to spread palely here.
It was such a peaceful and quiet expedition that it felt more like a stroll. There were no dramatic stories here like in the Snow Mountain, the dense forest, or the desert. But couldn't this blank space be filled with contemplation?
Along with deep, deep thoughts, the Lore Keeper arrived at the peak with the King of Humans. Only then did 'Sister' quietly call the Lore Keeper.
"El."
"Yes, My King."
"This is the place, isn't it? The reason you wanted to come fetch me."
El stopped walking.
Beneath the blue sky, a single peak stands lonely. Since nothing could be seen when looking up from below, it was naturally assumed that there was nothing here.
But if it wasn't on this lonely peak, where else could it be?
"Yes. That is right. This place, Yullim, the sacred mountain of the Radiant Cult, is where everything began."
El took out a bronze mirror from her sleeve. Then, carefully extending it forward, she tilted it slightly toward the sun. A soft, enveloping breeze passed by.
An aurora of ten million hues unfolded like a curtain.
Countless rays of light frolicked freely in the world. Sparkling, shattering, scattering in all directions and merging again. Swallowing. Giving birth and splitting. Meandering. The colors expressed every word created by humanity.
The mirror was the key, and the sky was the lock. As the mirror was inserted into the sky and turned, the curtain of the world lifted.
What was hidden within revealed itself.
It was an altar. Stone, sand, and bricks were mixed together, making it impossible to even recognize what style it was. Someone seemed to have piled various things up just for the sake of height, but they became so entangled that they lost even the chance to fix it.
However, there was only one thing. The desire to reach that high sky was intensely felt.
Did they want to build a tower, or did they intend to build stairs? Or perhaps they didn't even have the luxury to think of such things?
Whatever the form, they simply wanted to be just a little higher. To touch the sky just a little.
The person who longed to reach the sky lay dead on the altar, completely dried up. Reaching a hand out toward the sky.
"Ugh..."
Someone let out a groan.
There was more than one corpse. Centered around the altar erected in the middle of the peak, hundreds of people lay dead, dried up like mummies. Every single one of them reaching their hands toward the altar was exactly like a compass. Or petals extending from a stamen.
"There were those who wanted to reach the sky. Those who called themselves the Radiant Cult. Those who were far more interested in the light falling from the sky than their own bodies."
El walked along the path through the middle of the corpses as if familiar with it. 'Sister' followed behind her.
Round things rolled about as if welcoming the visitors after a long time. White and round, holding various colors, they looked like toy marbles.
However, looking more closely, hideous capillaries appeared. Red muscles holding the pupil were also visible. The dried and cracked tissue was grotesquely twisted.
"They longed for the unreachable sky and the light shining from it. I don't know the reason. I don't know why they did it. Was it fascinating? Were they curious? Or, was there something wrong?"
Their true identity was someone's eyeballs. Probably extracted with effort so as not to damage them as much as possible.
Human eyeballs rolled around like trash. The moment they realized their identity, the King's warriors looked around at the corpses in horror.
Around the eyes of those they had assumed were ordinary corpses until now, instead of normal eyes, were marbles crafted from glass.
"So they explored light. They dug into these two eyes and the world they could perceive through them. What does it mean to see? Who determines color? Is the sight I am seeing the same for everyone? Even if it is, how can we distinguish it?"
El walked through the corpses with glass eyes up to the altar and approached the woman's corpse at the very top. On her pure white robes, a tetrahedron with a pupil drawn inside it was depicted.
"There is an invisible existence, and it is leading us to knowledge and wisdom. The purpose of life is to find it. There was a person who believed that to do so, one must even sacrifice their life."
The hand the corpse reached out toward the sky. El picked up something from it. It was a transparent prism. So clear that one wouldn't know if it existed or not.
"Her name was El. Who would later hold the title of Radiant Heavenly Lord."
But the moment El held it.
Let there be light in the world.
"It is a Demon God."
'Sister's' memory was completely submerged in light.
The world changes completely. The light turns into countless letters, scatters, and repeats gathering again.
This is the realm of knowledge. A space where the body, power, and everything else are meaningless. The clusters of light surround us with hundreds of waves, and half-digested knowledge flabbily floats in the air.
In a space where only knowledge and truth exist, El faced 'me'.
"I am the child born from their design. Embracing their desires and hopes, I explored without a single doubt. Delved. Gathered people. Accumulated knowledge. Betrayed. Deceived the masses. Enchanted. Lied. Tested. Drove to death. Even plucking out my own eyes. Blind at the end of pursuing light. Having reached the light of truth. I am a Demon God."
El stroked the corner of her eyes. In the transparent pupils that did not reflect the present, a future not yet reached was being seen.
She is a prophet in the true sense. The first saint.
The starting point of all saints. If there was light in the beginning, it was only after she was born that light was finally seen.
"However. At the end of truth, I realized. No matter how majestic the giant cycle engraved in the stars of the distant night sky. No matter how delicate the structure contained in a single grain of sand. If there is no one to see it... it is completely meaningless."
What did she see at the end of the future? I have no way of knowing. But it was clear that some massive change had come to her.
"Having ascended to the seat of the Demon God, I pierced through the light and passed enlightenment to my young self who looked up at the sky. The Radiant Cult gathered believers and performed a ritual to pursue truth from the light. After carving glass to gather the light. They locked people in a cluster of light bright enough to burn their eyes."
Glass eyeballs and transparent prisms. And the clean glass bubbles hanging all over the altar. And bizarrely, an altar built up while placing lenses and prisms in specific positions.
This altar was a space to trap light and peek into its secrets.
"While enduring the pain in the searing light... I received the truth passed down by my future self. If I did not act, I would face the end that would eventually come."
The first saint, who touched forbidden knowledge in the light, turned her gaze with transparent eyes. At the end of that direction, I was there.
Huh, me? Not Sister?
"Yes. You who have come from afar, My King of the future where I succeeded."
The first saint looked precisely at me and prophesied.