The carriage wheels slowed, crunching over polished white stone, each turn a quiet drumbeat against the earth. I leaned closer to the window, heart pounding, and looked out.
And I forgot how to breathe.
Golden spires carved with light rose into the heavens, catching the sun like gilded swords piercing a sapphire sky. Bridges of crystal arched gracefully over canals of silver-blue water.
Fountains bloomed from marble, sculpted into lilies and saints, casting glimmering arcs into the air. The scent of strange flowers floated on the breeze, warm and clean and impossibly vibrant. It felt like the air itself had been purified.
We had arrived.
The knight closest to the carriage window turned slightly. He was young, but his armor gleamed like starlight, his expression proud and reverent.
"Your Holiness," he said with a deep bow, "welcome to the Holy Empire of Lux."
Holy Empire... of Lux.
He said it like it was the center of the universe.
The gates loomed ahead—more like monuments than doors. Massive slabs of silversteel, etched with scripture and runes that shimmered with faint, holy energy.
As they opened, they revealed a wide road inlaid with luminous stone, each tile veined with glowing silver, guiding us deeper into the sanctum of a civilization built on reverence and radiance.
But it wasn't the architecture that truly stole my breath.
It was the people.
Thousands lined the streets—men, women, children—clad in white robes, elegant silks, and ceremonial garb. Petals rained from the balconies above.
Children held woven wreaths, and old priests muttered prayers under their breath. Every building bore the same emblem: a sun held in open, upturned hands. And as the carriage passed...
Cheers erupted like thunder.
"Glory to the Saint!"
"He walks among us again!"
"Praise be to the Light!"
I shrank back instinctively. The sound was too much—overwhelming, not in hatred but adoration. Women sobbed openly.
Children threw flowers into the path of the wheels. Some elderly men collapsed to their knees, hands trembling with joy or disbelief or something between the two.
It wasn't celebration.
It was worship.
Palms pressed together. Eyes closed. Lips moved in whispers. No one reached for me. They didn't dare. They only sought to be near. To witness.
'What... what is this?'
The knight beside the carriage continued walking alongside, his back straight, his voice calm.
"They have awaited your return for twelve long years, Your Holiness. Since the last Saint vanished, they have not ceased their prayers."
Vanished. So the last Saint disappeared. And now they thought I was his... what? Reincarnation?
Or worse.
What if I was?
'I'm just Jake. I saved someone in a car crash. I died. I woke up. That doesn't make me...'
A commotion stirred in the crowd. A small boy, no older than six, darted between the guards, his tiny feet padding on the shining road. His face was streaked with tears, but his eyes locked onto mine with heartbreaking clarity.
"S-Saint...?"
The guards moved, but I was faster. My hand found the carriage door. It swung open, and I stepped down with unsteady legs.
"Wait," I said, raising a trembling hand. "It's okay. I'm not... I mean... I am. Kind of."
The boy stopped a foot away.
Then he dropped to his knees and bowed so low his forehead touched the ground.
And the world stilled.
One by one, as if bound by a single invisible thread, they followed. Hundreds. Then thousands. Kneeling. Praying.
The city bent in reverence.
Above, the sun blazed like a crown of fire.
I stood frozen, staring at the sea of bowed heads, the petals falling like snow. My chest tightened. My fingers clenched. I didn't know what I was supposed to feel.
And then time stopped.
Literally.
The sound vanished. The color faded. Everything locked in place. The petals froze midair, the wind held its breath.
And I felt it.
A pulse.
Not from outside.
From within.
A flicker of gold shimmered before my eyes, suspended in space.
A screen.
༺═════════════════༻
Name: Yesha (Jake)
Age: 12
Title: Saint
Attribute: Divine Energy
──────────────
Strength: F
Agility: F
Holy Power: F - (SSS) Locked
Aether: F - (SSS) Locked
──────────────
Skills:
\[Heal] – Restores physical and spiritual injuries, cleanses all ailments, poisons, and curses. No casting delay. No material cost.
\[Bless] – Temporarily boosts all target stats significantly. Enhances all forms of energy regeneration. Duration: 1 hour. Range: Wide. Can affect multiple targets.
༺═════════════════༻
I blinked.
The skills were clearer now. More detailed. New sections had appeared.
"Divine Energy". And those locked stats... Holy Power and Aether, both marked (SSS).
I reread them again.
And a shiver passed down my spine.
'Bless isn't a spell. It's divine intervention.'
And Heal? To remove all curses, injuries, ailments? That wasn't magic. That was salvation.
Now I understood why the knights had bowed. Why the Empire watched with bated breath.
Even sealed, I carried miracles in my veins.
But they were locked.
Waiting.
And then the screen vanished. Time returned. Color poured back into the world like sunlight through stained glass.
The petals resumed falling. The breeze caressed my skin.
But everything had changed.
Because now, I understood the weight of their eyes.
They didn't worship me.
They worshipped what I could become.
I was afraid.
But also... something stirred.
Not fear. Not confusion.
A call. Like an instinct deeper than memory.
'I should do something.'
My eyes swept the street—over the bowed heads, the kneeling soldiers, the tearful priests. They had waited. They had believed. Not in me. In the Light.
So I reached inward.
I didn't know how magic worked here. I didn't know the laws or systems. But I didn't need to.
I just needed to believe.
"\[Bless]," I whispered.
The moment I said it, something *snapped.*
༺═════════════════༻
\[Warning: Forced Overcast Detected.]
༺═════════════════༻
༺═════════════════༻
\[Target Quantity Exceeds Current Power Capacity.]
༺═════════════════༻
༺═════════════════༻
\[Holy Power: F → SSS (UNLOCKED)]
\[Aether: F → SSS (UNLOCKED)]
༺═════════════════༻
༺═════════════════༻
\[Emergency System Override Complete.]
༺═════════════════༻
I gasped.
A dam had broken.
Light surged through me, burning and pure and impossibly vast. My body lifted into the air, hair flaring like a halo. White wings of radiant energy unfurled from my back, spanning wide, brilliant and terrible.
And then—
I raised my hand.
"\[Bless]."
The word became truth.
A storm of golden light burst outward in waves, engulfing the city. The kneeling crowd glowed. Sickness faded. Old wounds knit shut. Dull eyes lit with fire. Children laughed, and aged men stood taller.
The world changed.
And I hung above it, cloaked in light.
Miracle.
"The Saint!"
"He blessed the whole city!"
"A miracle!"
Far beneath the marble streets, deep in ancient halls buried by time, a forgotten temple stirred.
A sealed chamber cracked.
A voice whispered in a tongue lost to all but the divine:
"He has returned."
But I never heard it.
Because just as the last wave of golden light faded...
Everything went dark.