The light flowing from Abrisius illuminated not just his entire body but the entire underground prison brightly. The body of the small deer wrapped in brilliant light began to gradually transform into a different form within it.
“Ah…”
The sight was so unbelievable that he was dumbfounded.
There had been too many incidents throughout the day, but this situation unfolding before his eyes was more surprising than any of them.
Finally, the light completely disappeared, and within it, Abrisius revealed his true form.
With his jet-black ebony hair fluttering, he smiled awkwardly toward Cairens.
“Surprised? But this is me.”
“Ha…”
It was so surprising. He was so surprised that he was left speechless.
“What are you?”
If you could transform into a person in the first place, are you a deer? Or are you a person? Or were you really a divine beast?
There were so many things he wanted to ask, but there were so many that his thoughts couldn’t organize themselves all at once. With a dazed expression, Cairens faced Abrisius. Since this was Abrisius’s original form, it could perhaps be considered their true first meeting.
“Are you really a spiritual creature?”
“No, it’s a bit long to explain, but I’m a young god. A god in name only, who doesn’t even have proper divine powers yet.”
Cairens’s mouth fell open in surprise. It was rather stranger not to be surprised that the deer he had been keeping with him all this time was actually a god.
“And I’m going to get you out of here from now on.”
Abrisius handed Cairens the scrap of cloth he had been holding. It was the clothes of a young servant he had taken from the laundry basket before coming here.
“There’s no time. Hurry and change into these clothes. Your hair… you can cover it by putting a cloth over it. Then leave this place, run to the entrance before anyone sees you. And I’ll put on your clothes and stay here pretending to be you.”
“What?”
Only then did Cairens’s dazed expression return to normal. As if remembering the purpose of why Abrisius had come here, his expression hardened coldly.
“You really…”
“I told you I came to save you.”
Abrisius wasn’t unaware of what feelings Cairens had in trying to sacrifice himself in his place. However, Abrisius was determined to maintain a firm attitude until the end and didn’t back down.
“It’s not like I’m not scared of this situation either.”
It would be a lie if he said this situation wasn’t scary at all. Although he was a god, even Abrisius didn’t know what would happen at the moment his head was truly severed on the platform.
Perhaps it was closer to death? Abrisius himself wasn’t even a worshipped god. In the original work, he died after being struck by Cairens’s sword while dueling with him. Even that sword was one made by a human blacksmith.
So Abrisius was also prepared to die and was doing this crazy thing right now.
“Listen carefully, Cairens. You will become a hero. You’re not someone who should die easily in this place. You have to save everyone.”
Solely for Seianes’s sake, for him, Cairens had to live.
“Right. I have to become a sacrifice for everyone’s sake.”
“No, that’s not it.”
In the original work, Cairens didn’t have such a trial. Even if the recent disasters were the work of the gods, there was no way they would issue an oracle to sacrifice Cairens as an offering.
For Henelion, before being a hero to humans, Cairens was a hero for the gods of the Surface.
‘An oracle came down saying to sacrifice such a Cairens as a sacrificial victim? That’s ridiculous.’
The most precious life that the son of a god possessed.
If it didn’t mean his own lifeline, then it was Abrisius.
People simply didn’t place the somewhat unique, divine beast-like deer on the same level as Cairens. But the reality was different.
“Unlike you, who’s a demigod, I’m a real god.”
So the most noble life that Cairens possessed might have meant Abrisius.
“That doesn’t even sound like…”
Cairens, finding it absurd, glared at Abrisius.
“Haven’t you thought that the temple priests might have misinterpreted the revelation?”
“So you’re saying it means you, that they misinterpreted it? What kind of stupid talk is that? There’s no way humans could easily kill a god like you.”
Cairens’s words had merit too.
Abrisius was a god. At the very least, he wasn’t someone who would die easily at the hands of humans.
“Even if you get stabbed with a sword and don’t die, wouldn’t that actually be good? We’d both be able to live.”
“…Do you think this is a joke right now?”
“No, I’m serious. They said to offer as a sacrifice, not to kill.”
But unfortunately, that only applied to adult gods. Just as all beings are weak as children, gods were the same.
Being still young, he was on a different level from the gods who had near-immortal, robust bodies. Since he didn’t have proper divine powers, he was similar to ordinary humans, and even though he could really die if stabbed with a sword.
And prepared for that, Abrisius was trying to save Cairens.
“Of course, my words might not be the right answer.”
Honestly, he didn’t even know if this was correct.
He thought the priests might be lying for the sake of their own safety. But if they were going to lie, there was no reason to specifically single out Cairens.
Even if only out of fear of Henelion’s retaliation. At the same time, it was strange for Abrisius himself to sacrifice himself. Because he was an important figure who became Cairens’s rival in the original work.
However, if he had become a deer and fate had twisted from there, this might be one of his changed destinies.
And in that changed destiny, all events except for his own existence had to return to the original work.
“But what’s certain is that you’re not someone who should die here. I know that well.”
Abrisius reached his hand toward Cairens beyond the iron bars. Cairens silently gazed at the small white hand reaching toward him and the coal-black eyes that extended that hand.
“The most noble life that the son of a god possesses. This doesn’t mean you. Look at me. I was the companion deer you kept with you, and unlike you who’s a demigod, I’m a real god.”
Finishing his words, Abrisius smiled while looking at Cairens. With a face that was warm but closer to resignation, rather looking sad, he whispered beyond the prison.
“So it means me. Only if you live can all humans become happy. The one sacrificing in this incident is me. So hurry and come out. You can sacrifice yourself for everyone later.”
Looking at the hand extended beyond the iron bars, Cairens hesitated. But he couldn’t bring himself to take that hand.
“But what about you?”
The deer trying to choose death in his place, the child before his eyes weighed on his mind.
“If I run away and you die instead… what about you? Are you okay?”
At Cairens’s question, Abrisius couldn’t say anything. For a moment, silence enveloped the inside of the prison. Honestly, it would be a lie if he said he wasn’t scared of death.
Lily had called him a fool, and if he followed his heart, he wanted to immediately sit down and call for Seianes.
“Yeah.”
But Abrisius’s choice remained unchanged.
Because he loved Seianes enough to be prepared to die. As much as he had saved his life and raised him with love, he wanted to repay that too.
By saving Cairens, with his future safety and happiness.
“I’m okay. This is my fate.”
“…Ah.”
Having confirmed Abrisius’s firm will, Cairens could no longer say anything more.
‘Really, just as that child says, this prophecy might not mean to offer me.’
Thinking that way gave him a strange sense of relief. A small hope that he didn’t have to die. But that meant the child before his eyes had to die.
His closest friend.
‘I don’t know. What I should do, not at all…’
Cairens was conflicted. Whether he should not believe the child’s words and become the sacrifice himself, or take that child’s hand, change clothes, and escape.
His mind became complicated. He couldn’t tell what the right answer was even when he thought about it himself.
A not insignificant amount of time passed.
Around when his extended arm started to hurt. Finally, Cairens opened his mouth.
“…Thank you.”
With a thoroughly soaked and messy face. In an ugly form wrapped up in guilt and rationalization he himself didn’t even recognize, he carefully took Abrisius’s hand.
