An aurora settled over the sky of the polar region.
The lights held hands and fluttered in dance. The corps de ballet of fairies ground yellow and blue light into powder and scattered it across the sky.
People named it after the god of dawn, admiring the divine light that covered the sky like a curtain. Scientifically speaking, it was a luminescent phenomenon caused by solar wind from afar penetrating the atmosphere at an angle.
But how was that different from a god?
The curtain of light that had been dancing in the distant sky slowly descended. The aurora, which had come close enough to make one worry it might brush the ground, gently enveloped the Floating Castle. As if cradling the Floating Castle in the hem of a skirt.
They said the Celestial God was a parent, but our parent wears skirts too. I suppose I should respect Father's tastes... Wait a moment.
Can a normal aurora cover the Floating Castle? Could an aurora appear that close to the ground?
Of course not.
I ran breathlessly to the top of the Floating Castle. As expected, the layered aurora seemed to have isolated the Floating Castle from the world. Shay had succeeded in summoning the Celestial God.
"Celestial God? You summoned a real Celestial God? If you were going to succeed, you could have at least given me a heads-up..."
As I was speaking to Shay, I stopped mid-sentence and flinched.
Shay was looking at me with a serene smile, like a saint.
I hastily read her with telepathy. There was no particular change in Shay. She still possessed the memories of her 13 regressions, and was currently a hero trying to prevent the apocalypse. Her telepathy was the same as before.
But something was different?
"Look, Hughes! I summoned the Celestial God! It's my first time actually succeeding!"
"You've never succeeded before, so how were you confident you could summon one?"
"Confidence? I didn't have any. But I'm a saintess too, so I figured it would work, well."
"That's way too half-hearted..."
Looking at the excited Shay, I felt a sense of incongruity. Shay's consciousness and intellect were clearly the same, but something was different.
It felt similar to when the Celestial Mirror reacted. To be precise, the Celestial Mirror was blocking my body from constantly trying to jump out. Since my telepathy reads minds, not bodies, I couldn't grasp what kind of change it was.
"Here's the stairway to heaven! Come this way... Ah!"
Shay, who was about to guide me, suddenly tripped and fell.
I have no idea how such an absurd situation could occur—a qi master who has mastered even the Cold Qi Art, possessing the peerless qi art called the Celestial Mirror, merely tripping over her own 'foot'.
But it happened. Shay tripped and fell toward me. Unable to read her mind, I inadvertently caught her body. I ended up hugging her.
"Eh?"
Startled, Shay pulled her upper body away. Strange. In the past, she would have pushed me away even though she was the one who bumped into me. Now she was acting shy like a proper lady.
"Are you okay?"
Shay, with her eyes wide open, averted her gaze and muttered.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine? I guess I got dizzy from using the Seven-colored Eyes for too long."
"Rest for a bit. I'll go in and come back."
"No. You need me to climb the stairway to heaven... Originally, you could only access it from the peak of Sacred Mountain Yulrim, but the Divine Eye of the Golden Wheel, the last legacy of the Church of Radiance, always illuminates that place... First of all, know that what I summoned is not the Celestial God itself, but the Celestial God's temple that doesn't exist in this land..."
Watching Shay ramble as if trying to hide her awkwardness, I felt a sense of incongruity.
What on earth is it?
Even when I read her memories, there was no information about 'how' she summoned the Celestial God. In Shay's memories, all she did was activate the Seven-colored Eyes and blankly stare at the sky. But at some point, the Celestial God had descended.
Probably, Shay intentionally hid the memory. The abnormality currently appearing in Shay's body must be a side effect of hiding that memory. Right. I understand that a side effect occurred.
But what I understood even less was Shay's emotions. Even though I was looking at her with openly suspicious eyes, Shay hesitated and watched my reaction.
"H-hmm... Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
"I didn't expect you to have this level of ability. I thought you were the most incompetent among the saintesses."
"Shut up. I didn't know the King of Humans would be such a weak and incompetent existence like you either!"
Her speaking reaction was the usual Shay. I wondered if it was just my imagination, but.
"You're the one who would have died dozens of times without me. You can't even be grateful! I summoned the Celestial God for you this time too... And you don't even say thank you..."
She said that while glancing at me and fidgeting. She clearly wanted to hear something. I could see right through it, but for some reason I didn't want to say it. I turned away from Shay's gaze and spoke.
"You promised to show me the Celestial God if I helped you. If anything, it feels like you fulfilled it too late. I worked myself to death waiting."
"...Tch."
This is strange. Sure, I've grown fond of her while traveling together, but this reaction is clearly strange!
She's hiding a memory. In a way even she doesn't know. Should I press her? That's also ambiguous. Shay's response is clearly conscious of my telepathy. If she only shows me the side she wants to show, I have no choice but to be deceived.
"For now, I'll go see the Celestial God... The Celestial God won't strike me with divine punishment, right?"
"Hmph. That depends on you."
"Are you coming with me?"
"I want to, but I have to maintain the observation of the Celestial God. I need to stay here."
Then I'll have to go alone. That might be better anyway.
In front of Shay, there is a staircase leading to the aurora of the distant sky. The stairway to heaven. Without any pillars or walls, a staircase forged from light stretches long as if to reach the sky.
The saying that you must live righteously to go to heaven was wrong. Was I not the first to set foot on it, having committed every petty crime in the world? Amidst the thrill of immorality, I climbed the staircase leading to the distant sky.
I pass through the curtain of aurora. With each curtain I pierce, the world grows brighter as if soaked in light. Before long, clouds appear beneath my feet, and majestic stone pillars support the world. After endlessly climbing the stairs, I reached the end of the staircase.
Before my eyes was a massive gate shining with golden light. I slowly reached out my hand. Before my hand could touch it, the gate opened with a heavy sound.
And heaven revealed its expensive face before me.
A vast space that couldn't be taken in at a single glance. Pillars embodying the golden ratio supported a roof as expansive as the sky, and unknown characters were carved into the distant walls like a landscape painting. A soft light emanated from the entire building, dyeing the world in golden radiance.
To think such a structure could be built in midair? It was truly like magic—no, like a miracle. It was a sight that could make faith spring forth even where none existed.
But this is sorcery.
In other words, a trick.
The walls and floor are clouds. Similar in structure to the staircase clouds Shay created with Cheonaeng. They maintained the components and characteristics of clouds while only changing their properties. Cloud-bricks, so to speak.
The sparkling golden light is the light of lightning. They stretched out the bright moment of lightning and used it as illumination. The clouds used as bricks are both the light source and the lighting. That must be why heaven itself glows softly.
Such a grand and beautiful trick. What could they want to hide with this deception?
"Is anyone there? Is heaven an empty house?"
It was so silent that not even an echo returned. As I walked endlessly, a hymn faintly echoed from afar.
[Parent Celestial God, Parent Celestial God who art in heaven. Grant us our daily bread this day, and forgive our sins. Thy name shineth holy.]
It sounded like tens of thousands singing in unison. A hymn filled only with holiness and faithfulness endlessly filled the world.
Countless vibrations shook my body and spirit simultaneously. Humans are influenced even by a single person standing beside them. If so, when tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of hymns are heard at once. My very existence grew diluted and buried. I felt like I should immediately join them and sing the hymn together.
However.
I stood still and focused on my telepathy. The sound shaking the world gradually quieted, and only minds remained in the world.
Those voices have no minds. Probably because they've already left their minds somewhere else. Having entrusted their souls to heaven and found rest and peace, they don't need me.
Then I have no reason to listen to their wishes.
I walked through the voices. A single dissonance within a harmonious chord. My existence seemed like it should disappear at any moment, but I brazenly walked through heaven alone.
Then, a single strand. The clearest voice split off.
[King of Humans.]
The moment I heard the voice, I instinctively realized.
It was a Demon God.
The clouds boiled and bubbled. The clouds and wind resonated with the Demon God's single word. Slowly, clouds gathered in the air, and those clouds formed a human shape.
Probably the very first Demon God who cooperated with the Seonghwangcheong, which became the foundation of this heaven.
[We laid our bodies in this heaven to escape barbarism. Why do you insist on finding us?]
The clouds transformed into the shape of an old man with a long beard. The giant old man who seemed like he could fill all of heaven turned his dark and deep eyes toward me.
"Because I need to use you for my purpose."
[Even knowing that is barbarism?]
"I don't know what this barbarism you speak of is, but if my using your power is barbarism. Yes. I will do it."
[Do not do so. Humans must not try to control the weather by going against celestial law.]
"Why not, Chiwoo?"
When I called his name, the old man made of clouds swirled silently.
Chiwoo. An ancient god who was said to have controlled rain and wind. A divine immortal who read celestial law and foresaw the future. There are theories that he was a fictional existence merely based on someone as a motif, but that is not true.
[Look.]
Revered like a god, and actually a god, he voluntarily abandoned that position and was embraced in the Celestial God's bosom.
[If the power to control the weather is given to a single human, what tragedy occurs.]
He gathered the clouds and scattered them on the ground. Crops grew abundantly, and people swam in joy. In autumn, fair weather continued. Under the grace of the sun, the grain ripened beautifully.
All of this was from a single person. Chiwoo's power.
Chiwoo was the head of the Cheongiryeong. Throughout his life, he read the traces of clouds and wind and divined celestial law. At that time, the Seonghwangcheong had not yet gained its power. The Cheongiryeong, which read celestial law and foretold the climate, was a place where even kings of various nations paid their respects.
Among them, Chiwoo mastered celestial law and reached the will of heaven, receiving the name Chiwoo (治雨, Governing Rain), meaning one who controls the rain and wind. Chiwoo was never wrong even once.
To be precise, he made it so he wouldn't be wrong.
He read celestial law. He grasped the mind of clouds panting as they climbed over the ridgeline, and watched two winds mix to produce rain and lightning.
To him, wind was like a river. The swirling winds each had different colors, and as they collided and mixed, they created all sorts of phenomena.
Floods, droughts, lightning, rain—all that was considered the will of heaven. Who would have known that all of it was the harmony of mixing winds?
The Cheongiryeong became a Demon God, and rewrote celestial law. He was truly a god. Since he controlled the climate that was considered celestial law, what else could he be but a god?
Where there was drought, he scattered rain; where there was flood, he brought out the sun. Chiwoo received the reverence of all people.
Now neither kings nor feudal lords were needed. Under heaven, they too were human. Chiwoo became a being above all people and dominated the world....
-Please take back the rain, Lord of Celestial Weather.
But what about the truth hidden behind that?
-The celestial law twisted by the Lord of Celestial Weather returns as even greater karmic retribution.
Celestial law became increasingly distorted, and the changes grew larger. The southeast wind that should have come disappeared, and instead, heavy rain poured down for seven days and nights. This was twisted and sent to another region, but the three regions nearby suffered extreme drought.
-The raindrops the Lord of Celestial Weather dropped on the Silver Branch Forest should have flowed into Haeri Lake. When the lake's water level fell below average, the Beaver King hastily raised the dam. Higher, and more prone to collapse. Now, if even a single stream of water seeps in, the dam will break and three kingdoms will be swept away.
He was powerful, but he was alone. He couldn't read all the celestial law flowing across the entire continent, nor could he control it all simultaneously. The moisture he had drawn in years ago melted the perennial snow and caused it to flow, and forests and fields that couldn't adapt to the rapid climate change withered. When he drew water from the sea, half a year later a massive typhoon struck the continent.
If the Lord of Celestial Weather made even a small mistake, thousands starved to death without knowing why.
Chiwoo was a Demon God, but not a god. With just a single mistake, thousands died and the land dried up. To restore that, a greater price had to be paid, and even that returned as a backlash later.
When you go against celestial law, it returns as an even greater disaster.
What came to the suffering Lord of Celestial Weather was the Butterfly Saintess. She, who controlled the climate in a different way from the Lord of Celestial Weather, showed him a path.
-The sin of twisting celestial law is not something you can bear. Because it is far too vast and enormous.
And the Butterfly Saintess made a small flutter.
Her actions were very trivial. She removed a couple of branches from the beaver's dam, transplanted ash tree seeds, and left a forest fire alone for three days before splashing water on the last day to extinguish it.
Then the blocked celestial law circulated and the world returned to its original state. The dam collapsed a few days early, the grown trees twisted the waterways, and the clouds raised by the forest fire soaked the world.
It was as if a small flutter of a butterfly grew larger and overturned the world. The Butterfly Saintess returned all the celestial law that the Lord of Celestial Weather had disrupted to its original place.
What is the Cheongiryeong, and what is Chiwoo? He was a sinner who almost destroyed the world, and with the saintess's help, he prevented it. The Butterfly Saintess reached out her fair hand before him as he knelt.
-Sinner who disrupted celestial law, entrust your Demon God to the Celestial God. Within the Celestial God, your sins will be forgiven.
There was no choice. The Lord of Celestial Weather was embraced in the Celestial God's bosom.