1 Game of War : Part 1

"Okay, time to go."

Azazel bit his pale lips nervously. He would turn seventeen tomorrow and he knew that he had to live through this. He always had to live through everything.

The boy glanced at the door and quickly made his way out of his apartment. He tightened his white leather jacket on his way out and stumbled as he wore his white sneakers. His fluffy white hair draped over his eyes a little, it cascaded back when he started to sprint on the busy street.

The sun that had befallen the world followed the teen along his run. With his unwavering midnight purple eyes that shined under the brightness of the sky's only light, Azazel was looking forward to arriving at God of Everything's temple.

This world that he lived in was a world where humans had to choose a god to pray to until they went asleep on their death bed forever. A world where gods lent their power to their followers, and the said followers would offer sacrifices and deeds based on the god's title.

Though, to pray and follow a God, you had to turn seventeen first. The age where you would be stuck in between young and adult.

Young people did not have to pray, for God of Everything had already loved them.

God of Everything let the young choose to either stay being his follower or go to another path for another god. He was kind enough to create the universe, and his kindness did not stop there, for he let his creatures choose their own path after raising them.

Those who stayed being God of Everything's followers right when they turned seventeen would turn to be 'normal' people.

Those who changed their path and went to offer their prayers to another god would be called the 'acolytes'.

Azazel wanted to be an acolyte of Goddess of Faith.

The boy that would turn seventeen soon completely believed in faith. All his life, he had been clinging to faith, believing that everything would be okay sooner or later, trusting that he would get a happy ending in the story of his life.

He believed that Goddess of Faith would believe in him too.

"Happy birthday to all the teenagers that had become acolytes of their chosen gods. For those who hadn't passed the test on becoming an acolyte, don't be too discouraged for God of Everything would still love you for who you are. He is the One Above All, he will always be by your side."

Azazel glanced at the news on the billboard above him. He squinted his eyes to get a full sight of the lady in the news. People went past him as he alone stood in the middle of the busy street.

"Tomorrow will be the seventeenth birthday for those who were born on February 22nd, 2002. Today, they will try to choose their god and prove that they are worthy to be chosen." The lady continued, staring right at the camera as Azazel observed the billboard's screen.

"It'll be eight more days until the announcements of our new acolytes in this month. There is a rumor that God of Fame has yet chosen another-" The lady's voice started to fade away as the white-haired boy began his walk again.

He did not run this time, choosing to enjoy his walk a little before arriving at God of Everything's temple. The closer he was to the temple, the fancier the street became.

He watched as a boy around his age, probably having the same birthday as him, walked by him with his parents. A bunch of thoughts overflowed Azazel's brain as he kept staring at the happy family. It was nice how that boy's parents accompanied him to the temple.

His midnight purple eyes caught the sight of a familiar brown hair girl. Her rich tan skin stood out under the warm sun. She walked with the wind blowing her wavy hair, making her become the most beautiful sight to see of all the people around.

Azazel ignored the heavy feeling in his chest and quickly diverted his gaze to anywhere but her.

Everyone lived alongside each other with peace draping over the society. There was no war happening in this age that Azazel had to live through. God of Peace's reputation skyrocketed among humans, letting God of War swallowed by history.

Some said that God of War died just like how God of Fate did. Some said he was hiding. Some said he did not have the gut to appear after losing in his own war five hundred years ago.

Azazel took a deep breath as he stared at the golden gate of God of Everything's temple. He fiddled with his fingers, letting both of his bare hands form a fist to calm him down.

"Time to go." He whispered to himself quietly, puffing out his chest as he made his way inside the temple.

There was a moment of blinding light as he went inside the gate. The blatant glow washed over his body, sending a moment of warm jolt all over. Azazel instinctively closed his eyes and opened them when he had teleported into the temple of God of Everything.

Every god only had one temple in the world. One temple with many doors and gates that were connected everywhere. No matter which door you chose, you would always get teleported and end in the same temple. You just had to carefully select which door was the right door for the god you intended to visit.

Though, it was usually obvious to know what door or gate it was. For instance, the golden gate that Azazel just went through. There were many signs saying that it was the way to God of Everything's temple on his previous walk.

The white-haired boy scanned the area with his soft midnight purple eyes. The temple was so huge that he believed it was more like a town instead of a temple. Almost everything was draped in gold.

"Ah, sorry." Azazel hastily staggered back after bumping into someone. "I wasn't look-"

The said person that he bumped into did not even stop and went past him coldly, leaving Azazel standing alone in the middle of the grand hall. He quickly turned around to see that he had crashed into the familiar brown-haired girl.

"Oh." He hummed, knowing the reason why she did not even pause from her walk.

That was his supposed-to-be best friend, Adaila Ernaline.

They had stopped talking with each other for a while now. Azazel tried to apologize for whatever he had done wrong to her, but she did not even want to look him in the eyes. He tried to say sorry over and over again, and she would always give him the cold shoulder.

Then he stopped apologizing. He felt like it was pointless to try to know why she acted that way. Now, it proximately had been six months of giving each other a silent treatment.

"Hello, fellow future acolytes. I assume that you coming here today is to solely choose your god and bid farewell to God of Everything. We respect your choice, and so does God of Everything. He is the One Above All, he will always be by your side."

The priest of the temple spoke. His voice rang through the whole temple, making all of the people who would turn seventeen soon move their heads toward him.

"If the worst happens and your chosen god did not choose you back, do believe that God of Everything will always welcome you back to his arms. He is the One Above All, he will always be by your side." The priest continued his words of encouragement, talking to all the teenagers below him.

People wanted to become acolytes of their chosen God because they wanted an upper hand in society by not only becoming the 'normal'. They wanted the power of their chosen gods. They wanted to be more than normal. They wanted to be special.

Though, only forty percent of the society managed to become acolytes. The tricky thing was that people could choose the god that they wanted to follow, but god had to choose them back too. It had to be mutual for both of them.

If a person were not chosen back by their god, the said person would be welcomed by the God of Everything and be 'normal' again. They would have no choice but to pray to him again.

Everyone that had the same birthday as Azazel, including Adaila, started to make their way to the gigantic statue of God of Everything. They bowed to the statue at the same time, closing their eyes as each of them fell into their last prayers.

Azazel intertwined his fingers and lowered his head, causing some of his fluffy white locks to drape over his closed eyes.

'Thank you for protecting me for the seventeen years of my life.' He silently prayed with God of Everything filling his mind. 'But I need faith. I believe in Faith.'

Azazel looked up to face the statue, opening his eyes as he stared at God of Everything's quiet eyes. The statue embodied the god very well with a tight robe and flying scarf over his neck that swirled around him. The golden touch of his statue showed how high of a being he was.

'I know you're neutral toward us. Maybe that's the reason why you ignored my cries.' Azazel continued, feeling as if the eyes of the statue stared back right at him.

'I don't want to make it the reason why I left you, God of Everything. I really don't.'

He took a shaky breath and kept staring at the statue's golden eyes, unblinking. 'I just want faith. It's the only thing that has been keeping me going these years.'

'Once again, thank you.' He bowed his head again and tightened his praying hands. 'My last prayer to you is to give the faith that I want. That's all.'

"You are the One Above All, after all." He finished his prayer by saying the words out loud. He then went to see the priest who was observing all of them quietly.

"If you have already finished with your prayer, you can bid your last goodbye and leave through the gate. It will lead you back to where you came from." The priest instructed, leading all the teenagers that were on their last day of being sixteen years old.

"Do remember that he is the One Above All, he will always be by your side." With that, everyone started to leave at the same time.

Azazel could not help but steal some glances toward Adaila. His 'best friend' was as stone-faced as she usually was. Her beautifully long jeans dress covered her elegantly. She walked with no care about her surrounding, completely absorbed in her own world.

He let out a sigh and diverted his gaze to the big gate. It was pointless to apologize at this point.

Everyone started to go one by one, disappearing into the light as they had their own destination in their minds. It was Azazel's turn to cross the gate. After this, he would go to the Goddess of Faith and offer himself to the Goddess.

Though, when he opened his eyes after having lights blinding his very own being, he did not see the familiar city where he lived. Instead, he saw an abandoned arcade before him with various games filling every corner of the place.

Azazel pulled his brows together into a frown, scrunching his head into his shoulders.

The arcade looked abandoned, yet all of them were still turned on. There was a weird roller coaster looming in the background. He wrinkled his eyebrows when he started to pay attention to the surroundings. The more he stared, the weirder it became.

There was a dark forest surrounding the arcade, and Azazel couldn't be more confused than he had ever been. He looked back toward the gate to find that it had vanished, leaving him standing with bewildered people around him.

He did his best to get a grasp on the situation. He kept swallowing down his own saliva as he ventured around, ignoring how his breath had slowly become ragged from how fast his heart was beating.

He could see Adaila among the crowd and realized that everyone was the same person that tried to cross the gate. Though, not everyone that crossed the gate was in here, it was as if this place randomly took the people from before.

Everyone had confusion written all over their faces, trying to find out what just happened and where they had teleported into. All their eyes went to look around without daring to move even an inch in this cryptic place.

The boy that would turn seventeen soon completely believed in faith. All his life, he had been clinging to faith, believing that everything would be okay sooner or later, trusting that he would get a happy ending in the story of his life.

However, nothing ever went well in his life.