Banished Divinity: Learning to be Human

The world stopped.

Not metaphorically. Not in the "time stood still" way that people used when they were being dramatic. Literally. Time stopped. The moon froze in the sky. The crickets went silent. The wind held its breath.

Human Sera looked at me, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open in shock.

I looked at her, my own shock mirroring hers.

We both looked at Minjae, who was frozen mid-step, his arm still reaching toward the creature.

Then we both looked at each other again.

"He can see me," Human Sera whispered, her voice barely audible.

"He can see you," I agreed, my own voice flat with disbelief.

Human Sera's eyes widened further, if that was even possible. Her mouth fell open. Her entire translucent form flickered with the force of her realization. And then she smiled—a smile so bright it seemed to rival the moon itself.

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY AFTERLIFE EVER!!!" she shrieked, her voice echoing across the frozen landscape.

"You are currently being held captive by an ancient hag who wants to devour your soul!" I shouted back.

"WORTH IT. THIS IS WORTH IT!" Human Sera shrieked, her joy completely undiminished by her predicament.

The old hag—who had been frozen mid-lunge, its tentacle still wrapped around Human Sera, its yellow eyes still gleaming with malice—seemed to vibrate with impatience. Its form flickered, as if it was struggling against the frozen time.

"CAN YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME DO THE KILLING?" it screamed, its double-voice cracking with frustration.

"Excuse me?" Human Sera turned to face the hag, her ghostly hands planted firmly on her ghostly hips. "I am having a REVELATION here. A therapy breakthrough. A once-in-a-lifetime discovery about my existence and the fact that the fat boy you just called can see me. You shriveled piece of kah kah do not get to interrupt this moment."

"I AM TRYING TO DEVOUR YOU!" the hag screamed, its tentacles thrashing.

"And I am trying to process my emotions!" Human Sera screamed back, her voice rising to match the hag's. "WE ALL HAVE GOALS!"

The old hag's eye twitched.

Fascinating, I thought. Even ancient evil gets annoyed by Human Sera. I should add this to my observation log. Human Ghost Observation #400++: Universal Constants can get annoyed by Human Sera.

But I didn't have time to write it down. Because in that frozen moment, as the old hag vibrated with rage and Human Sera continued her rant, I heard something.

A whisper.

In the wind.

"Seraphyne..."

I turned my head.

"Child of the high heavens... made of divine weapon..."

The moon seemed to pulse. Once. Twice. Three times.

"Look at your veins... use the blood in your veins to help you... the Moon of Light has heard and accepted your prayer and song... the blessing has been granted... protection is yours..."

I looked down at my arm. At the veins beneath my skin. At the blood that flowed through them—once split between two worlds, now something new entirely.

The mortal blood had changed.

It shimmered now, no longer deep red but something else—something that caught the moonlight and held it, transforming into a soft, radiant silver. Threads of gold wove through it like rivers of starlight, pulsing with a warmth that was not quite heat, not quite light, but something in between. It was beautiful. The way a living star burning bright is beautiful. The way the first dawn after a long night is beautiful.

This was the blood of a celestial being. The blood of a weapon forged by forces I did not fully understand.

And now, it was mine.

Use it, the whisper said. Use it now.

I did not hesitate.

I reached down and grabbed a shard of glass from the ground—broken, sharp, perfect. I moved past Minjae before he could stop me, before he could throw himself in front of me again, before he could do something stupid like sacrifice himself for a cause he didn't fully understand.

I ran toward the old hag.

I slashed my arm.

A long, deep cut. The kind that hurt. The kind that bled. The kind that would leave a scar and make Mina say, "What the hell, Sera? Now you match the potatoes' eyes. Great."

The radiant light poured from the wound, thick and silver and glowing faintly, shimmering with the light of a moon that had decided to bless me.

I slammed my arm into the hag's face.

She screamed.

It was not a human scream. It was the scream of something ancient, something evil, something that had not felt pain in a very long time and did not appreciate the experience.

My new blood burned her. It sizzled on her skin, smoking and sparking, eating through her like acid through paper. She thrashed. She writhed. Her tentacles flailed, releasing Human Sera, who shot into the air like a very confused rocket.

"MY ARM!" the hag shrieked. "MY BEAUTIFUL—actually, no, it's always been ugly—BUT MY FACE!"

I held her down.

Minjae was beside me in an instant, his hands on the hag's shoulders, his weight pinning her to the ground. He didn't flinch. He didn't hesitate. He just... helped.

Like he had been waiting for this moment. Like he had always known.

I pressed my bleeding arm against the hag's mouth, forcing my new blood into her, forcing the moonlight's blessing into every crack and crevice of her ancient, evil body.

She gagged as she drank.

She convulsed, then turned to stone. The stone began to crack, then crumbled, and finally turned to dust that scattered in the wind like the memory of a nightmare you couldn't quite remember when you woke up.

And then... nothing.

The old hag was gone.

Minjae and I fell to the ground, exhausted.

Then I heard the whisper again.

"It is done…"

I lay on my back, staring at the sky. Minjae lay beside me, staring at the same sky.

We were both breathing hard. And both covered in hag dust and my blood and probably some of Yuna's too, though Yuna herself had collapsed a few feet away, unconscious but alive, her body slowly returning to its normal age now that the creature had been expelled.

Human Sera floated above us, her translucent hands on her translucent hips, her translucent face arranged in an expression of absolute, undiluted triumph.

"Well," she said, her voice dripping with satisfaction, "you have a LOT of explaining to do, young man."

She pointed at Minjae.

He turned his head to look at her. "I know," he said, his voice weary. "I do."

Then he turned his head to look at me.

"But first," he said, his eyes dropping to my arm—my bleeding, aching, definitely-going-to-need-stitches arm, "we need to treat that wound."

"You have a LOT of explaining to do," I said, my voice flat.

"I know." Minjae sighed, a long, tired exhale.

"About the rooftop. About the ritual. About how you knew what that creature was."

"I know." Minjae sighed again, louder this time, his shoulders slumping.

"About how you can see Human Sera and never said anything."

"SERA." Minjae's voice cut through the night, sharp and determined. His eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that made me pause.

"Ooh... The assertiveness he gave... Fancy," Human Sera said, her ghostly face breaking into a wide, approving grin.

Minjae ignored her completely.

"WHAT?!" I said, startled by his tone.

"YOUR ARM. IS BLEEDING. LET ME. HELP." Minjae pointed at my arm, his jaw tight.

I looked down at my arm. It was, indeed, bleeding quite a lot. And it had returned to a mortal's shade of red.

"Huh," I said. "I didn't notice."

"You slashed your arm open with a shard of glass that is probably full of bacteria that could really kill you, and you DIDN'T notice? Wow!"

"I was busy. There was a hag. I was saving the day. These things take focus."

Minjae stared at me, his expression a mixture of disbelief and exasperation.

I stared back, unblinking.

"Wow! The sexual tension is THICK," Human Sera announced, floating between us and looking back and forth like she was watching a tennis match. "I could cut it with a knife. A ghost knife. Which I don't have. But if I did, I would."

"SHUT UP, will you?" Minjae snapped, finally breaking his gaze from me to glare at the ghost.

"Ah… rude…" Human Sera rolled her eyes and floated back up, crossing her arms in mock indignation.

Minjae pulled off his jacket—his very expensive, very nice, very ruined jacket—and pressed it against my arm. The pressure hurt. But it also helped.

"You're an idiot," he said, his voice softer now.

"I am a celestial being. I believe I surpass your mortal standards of intelligence."

"You fought an ancient hag with your own blood and a piece of glass." Minjae spoke softly, like he was trying to contain himself. From what? I had no idea.

"That was... effective," I added, feeling rather proud of myself.

"It was insane." Minjae said as he looked me straight in the eye, his grey eyes boring into mine.

"It was victorious." It was my turn to speak softly. What the hell had happened to me? I had turned into a softy. Like those cushy soft toys I couldn't win from the claw machine.

Minjae shook his head. But he was smiling.

Human Sera was still floating above us, still watching, still glowing with the satisfaction of someone who had just witnessed the most dramatic thing she had ever seen.

"So," she said, drawing out the word, "rooftop? Ritual? Ten years ago? I have questions. MANY questions. And I will NOT be ignored."

"I know," Minjae said, his voice resigned.

"GOOD. Because I am DEAD and I have TIME and I will HAUNT you until you ANSWER. Since you can see me and hear me! Ha!"

"I know." Minjae said, his voice flat.

"AND I WANT DETAILS. EVERY DETAIL. I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING."

"I know." Minjae said, but I could see him frowning, his brow furrowed.

"AND—"

"HUMAN SERA." Minjae said, louder this time, his voice cutting through her tirade.

"WHAT?! And WOW! Did he just call me Human Sera? Nooooo. This means! OMG! Sera, this means he knew I existed way before everything... this is incredible!" Human Sera was beaming, her ghostly form practically vibrating with excitement.

"I will tell you everything. Tomorrow. After we get Sera's arm bandaged and Yuna to a hospital and ourselves back to the campsite before anyone notices we're gone."

Human Sera considered this, tapping her chin with a translucent finger.

"...Fine," she said reluctantly. "But I am holding you to that. I have a list. I have a GHOST LIST. With bullet points. And subheadings. And—"

"Goodnight, Human Sera." Minjae replied flatly, his voice dropping back to its usual monotone. It seemed he used this voice when he needed a person to just be quiet. But with Human Sera, it obviously didn't work—because, well, she is a ghost with no functioning brain to understand.

"FINE. BUT I AM WATCHING YOU. BOTH OF YOU. FROM THE TENT FLAP. WITH MY GHOST EYES."

"I would expect nothing less." Minjae smiled as he tended to my arm, his fingers gentle against my skin.

Human Sera huffed and floated toward the path, muttering about respect and honesty and the importance of communication in any relationship.

I lay in the grass, watching the stars, feeling the pressure of Minjae's jacket on my arm and the warmth of his hand on my shoulder.

"Ten years ago," I said quietly.

"Ten years ago," he agreed.

"You were the little boy."

"I was the little boy."

"The one I saved."

"The one you saved." He agreed again.

"You grew."

"I did." Minjae chuckled.

"You have grown upwards instead of sideways."

"Puberty. It happens." Minjae chuckled again.

I turned my head to look at him. He turned his head to look at me. We were very close. Close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in his eyes. Close enough that I could count his eyelashes. Close enough that—

"We should go," he said as he cleared his throat, his voice slightly hoarse.

"We should."

Neither of us moved.

"Sera."

"What."

"Your arm." Minjae pointed at it.

"Right."

He helped me to my feet. The world spun for a moment—blood loss, probably, or adrenaline, or the sheer absurdity of the last hour—but his hand was steady on my elbow, and his shoulder was solid under my hand, and somehow, that was enough.

We walked back to the campsite together.

Human Sera floated ahead of us, still muttering about her ghost list.

And the moon shone down on all of us, bright and silver and full of secrets.