Mad God – Reborn

The world was filled with blue. It was peaceful, calm, and relaxing, and tiny specks of light filled the horizon wherever one looked. There were millions of them, if not trillions. All of them represented one soul waiting to be born into the world. They may be freshly formed souls or 'veterans,' ready to live once again; it did not matter. They were all amongst a vast sea, waiting. Amongst them, a fresh arrival was floating along, bobbing up and down like a leaf on the surface of a river. It was none other than Leinor's soul, wrapped up in Ren's ripped-out portion, like a little newborn. By now, he was asleep… dreaming. Thanks to Ren's blanket, his memories, which should have been gone by now, were still there, protected and reinforced as he lived through their childhood once again, making sure nothing would be forgotten. As he floated around, his soul was slowly regenerating under the effects of the peaceful reincarnation cycle, healing him and waiting for the moment when he was ready to be reborn. It may take thousands of years to recover fully, maybe less, but it would be done, no matter what. While he was living in a happy, carefree dream, his slumber was suddenly disturbed. His consciousness began to stir, alarmed by what he was feeling, awakening as an invisible hand reached for him, grabbed his soul, and dragged him out of the reincarnation cycle.

"Oh? How weird... Hey! Alfina!" The voice laughed, holding him.

"Mhm…? What?" Another answered with a moan, clearly just woken up by the boy's voice.

"Check this out! I found a weird soul. It seems as if it is fused with another... Can that be even possible?" He laughed, showing it to her.

"Mhm… yeah... I think it can be, I guess... And?" She groaned. "What of it? Throw it back."

"It reminds me of us... We are also sharing one, aren't we?" He giggled, holding Leinor up high. "I'm going to keep it. I can accelerate its growth and see what hatches from it... Maybe it will develop into something interesting."

What the twin Gods didn't realize was that, by then, Leinor was fully conscious; he heard their words and knew who they were.

"Heh, it should take a long time to gestate something weird like that." Alfina shrugged, shaking her head. "We don't really have time to work on only one soul. Well… whatever, throw it in! Our cycle still needs more soul... The damage it suffered when that jerk tore open the Sky has still not been repaired. But don't divert too much energy and souls to your pet project!"

"Worry not." Oynega laughed, placing Leinor's soul into their own reincarnation cycle. "We just need more wars and to grab the strong ones when those idiots die. Use them to fix the damage, and nurture this little... creature. Just incite Skoorn's followers to wage more wars, easy! When it's ready, we can start planning how to harvest his soul... Aw, I can't wait to see the baldy's face when it happens! I'm still pissed off that we couldn't collect the old fogey's back then… well… we can go back for him after all is finished…"

Leinor could hear no more of their words as he drifted away into a new place. It was still blue but much lighter, almost turning white in some places. He could sense many other souls surrounding him and, unlike before, not all of them were complete or intact. Some were damaged beyond repair, never to regain their true form. They were drifting along like rotten pieces of wood after a flood, a mere imitation of where he was before.

“This… this is not good…” He thought, anxious.

He was now fully conscious, and as his mind raced, thinking about Ren, he bumped into one of the broken-off pieces of a soul. As soon as it stuck to him, he felt absorbing the fragment, and he felt himself getting stronger. Livelier. He didn't hesitate, as he couldn't, and after he had completely absorbed it, he turned towards the millions of minuscule specks of light. He couldn't fall asleep here, and he couldn't recover naturally. This was… not a complete system... He could tell. Whatever this place was, this was not a true reincarnation cycle, and even if he waited, he wouldn't be able to be reborn, not until the twins decided to rebirth him.

And that was unacceptable. He had to do something... He had to.

…

….

…..

"How are you feeling?" Ariana asked, serving up a cup of coffee to her Master, who slept for more than a whole day after sending Leinor's soul into reincarnation.

"Good." She smiled at her as the morning sun's warm, yellow light bathed the room in a golden beauty. "But you can feel it, no?"

"Um." Ariana nodded with a happy expression because, just as Ren said, she felt her feelings becoming balanced, calm, and free of dark thoughts. "But…" She added, sitting down next to her. "I don't really understand what happened."

"It is in the name, Ariana." Ren started to explain in a kind voice, lecturing her disciple. "Harmony. I told you about what happened when I reached the 2nd stage. After talking with Kai, I now have an even deeper understanding of it. The lightning came down because I was forceful... It was not a tribulation but a punishment. When one wants to control Nature, he will receive its wrath. No wonder nobody who went that route ever reached the 3rd stage of Harmony. In the end, Nature obliterated them."

"But Heaven's Gate Sect Master… and now you… you did!"

"By finding the correct way once again." She nodded. "For me, it was coming to terms with the fact that I needed to let him go. I had to find my Harmony once again, and now I did. It not only propelled me to the 3rd stage, but it set me back on the right path. The same happened to Zelig, I guess. But we can't know what his decision was or how he made it. What did he come to terms with, whatever troubled him? It's his own story, and he won't tell; I am sure of it. It had to be humiliating in a way... maybe accepting that he was less than Aerthus..."

"I see." Ariana nodded in the end, thinking it through for a long time. "Well! I am glad that you are fine, Master!" She smiled happily, her face almost sparkling in the light of the morning sun.

"Do you have a plan on how to heal your soul?" Kai walked in suddenly with a question, almost making Ariana jump from the scare that his deeper voice gave her.

"Master?" Ariana asked, with a bit of a tremble in her voice.

"No idea." Ren grinned. "It will come to me eventually anyway."

"Is it a serious injury?" Ariana asked as she raised her voice, her head swiveling from side to side between the two.

"That really depends," Kai said as he crossed his arms. "Not really. Not right now. It would only be bad in the Demigod realm, but she has time to fix it until then. It would hinder her only at that stage, slowing down her advancement to a crawl. However, it is not an irreparable injury."

"I will worry about it when I arrive at that hurdle!" Ren chuckled, waving it away. "Not my first time doing something stupid and letting my future self worry about it. My immediate focus is on my dear great-great-grandfather and finding him," She said, sticking out her tongue as if she was just planning a prank and not her revenge.

"I will help with whatever I can, Master." Ariana nodded in a cold voice, hearing her Master's words.

"Ahaha, you are cute when you are angry!" Ren laughed, grabbing her arm, pulling Ariana into her lap, and gently stroking her hair, turning Ariana's face a deep shade of red, yet she was really enjoying the attention.

"It is going to be interesting to watch." Kai smiled as he poured coffee for himself, enjoying the new taste that he had never even known about before.

"You won't help my Master?" Ariana blinked her eyes, surprised.

"I could, but why should I?" Kai asked back, tilting his head to the right.

"But my Master helped you!"

"Yes, and I help her with my knowledge and experience. Just ask her yourself." He said calmly, not bothered by Ariana's angry look.

"He is right, Ariana," Ren said, soothing her like a child. "Why should he fight my battles? Just as I wouldn't step in your fights, even if I worry about you. It does not mean I wouldn't help you, of course... If you were at death's door, you can bet that I'd swoop in and save you!" She laughed, hugging her from behind even more strongly. "It is the same with him. He would not fight my enemies, because then how would I improve? Plus, he is an old God with another old God's body. Using his powers would alert the living Gods... Twice that. Best if he stays out of things!"

"Ahaha, that is also true!" Kai laughed, too, flexing his new fingers. "I'm already excited to go back to that Sect of yours, and that is enough for me. Immortal Wonders… such an ambitious name! I'd be happy to teach some younger generations or curate your library. My best role now would be acting as a scholar and an advisor to you all. Or a historian. Those are soothing jobs; I like the sound of those..."

"I am completely on board with that notion." Ren nodded multiple times as someone knocked on their door, and it was Niji who came in.

"Oh? Good morning!" Ren called out to him with a happy smile.

"It is good to see you are okay!" He sighed, wiping his forehead. "That was… a show you gave us that night! A lot of demons started to call you the Thunder God already."

"Stop. Make sure I won't be called that!" She raised her hands immediately.

"You could use the power of faith to heal yourself. It is not a bad idea." Kai said, surprising everybody in the room.

"The power of faith?" Ren asked, furrowing her brows.

"Yes. Oh... I guess you don't know about it? Well... Hm." He fell silent for a moment. "It is a type of cultivation that is independent of anything else, and it is universal. There are different kinds of faith, but their use and accumulation are the same. Beings who worship others generate a special kind of energy. It is a power that a cultivator, the one who is being worshiped, can use if they can tap into it. It is a form of mental or spiritual energy associated with the soul. It is present in every cultivation world I know of, and usually it is not truly focused on; it is only a supplement, a tool to be used. There are very few who solely rely on it to get stronger, and they are never really fighters but sages. Faith is not a weapon, but a tool." He said, with all of them sitting at the table by then, listening to his speech. "Most sects and cultivators use it to coordinate, regulate, and govern big masses of mortals. It is a great instrument for governance and for raising future disciples who were brought up from the masses and made completely loyal to the sect. A tried and true formula."

"Is it brainwashing?" Ren asked seriously.

"Mmm… yes and no." Kai answered in a weird way, "Forcing faith on people won't produce results. It won't generate true faith. Only if individuals start to believe in it themselves does it work. Only then can it be harvested. Forcing it is futile. Of course, if a strong faith gets established, it is really, really hard to abolish or change it. Consecutive generations are born into it and would believe in it. Is it still brainwashing or not? It is a very hard question to answer."

"Did you ever believe in someone?" Niji asked suddenly.

"No, I did not," Kai answered honestly. "The land of my old Starlight Sect based its strength on the night sky. On the stars' light and movement and their strengths. Not on individual worship. Some of our high elders had some shrines amongst the mortals, but we never paid too much attention to it." He sighed softly, remembering old faces, friends, and places that no longer existed.

"Yet you called yourself a God?" Ariana raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Yes," Kai answered with a soft smile. "Do you know how old this realm is?" He suddenly asked a question that Ariana answered with a shake of her head. "Only around 50 million years old. In the great scheme of things, it is nothing. Do you know how long it takes for a realm to form naturally? Billions of years. Mine was like that. The powers before us established many things, and our cultivation levels were named after them. My time there was only a percent of my entire Realm's history. It became customary before I was even born, and everyone knew everyone had the potential to one day call themselves a God."

"So in the big picture, our home is still considered young…" Ren whispered, leaning backward on her chair.

"Very much so." Kai nodded. "It is barely a toddler. But a quickly growing one. You already have people who have created a cultivation method based on the Cosmos' powers. Those Immortals you told me about are great prodigies and pioneers who will be remembered by future generations. They are not bound to this Realm anymore, not if they ascended on their own. One day, when they are ready, they can leave and explore the Cosmos and other Realms."

"Well… at least they don't use faith, unlike your old disciples." Ren sighed as she shook her head.

"Don't be so sure about that," Kai said, looking into Ren's eyes. "If they believe strongly in their master, called the Mad God, they may also produce faith towards him. Look… Faith depends on people's inherent nature, and it is not intrinsically wrong. So, saying it is a bad thing is not true. If you hold a bucket of water, you could not only quench someone's thirst with it or nourish the land below your feet, but you could also drown someone in it and kill them."

"What kind of usage does it have?" Ren asked after thinking through his words.

"Manifesting one's thoughts into reality." He said almost immediately.

"Wait… what?!" Ren sat up, blinking, thinking about mishearing him.

"It is the power of the mind and the soul," Kai said as he tapped on his head, then at his heart. "You need to believe it, and your belief will manifest itself."

"Bullshit…" Ren clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "Then wouldn't I be omnipotent? Change reality with a whim?"

"It is not that easy!" Kai laughed loudly, seeing where her thoughts were going. "For that, you would need an immense amount of faith, never before seen anywhere! Trillions, if not sextillions, of souls who believe in the same thing. And they must have an unshakable faith. Do you think it is possible to achieve that? That is why I said it is a supplement only for almost all sects. It is the same as believing in yourself. With enough faith in your own powers and chance of success, you will succeed. Now, if a cultivator has worshippers who believe in him, this has a positive effect on him."

"I'm so lost…" Ariana moaned as she grabbed her hair, eyes rolling in circles, drawing a laugh from both Kai and Ren. The latter even hugged her close again, massaging her temples.

"Let me demonstrate it with an easy example." Kai continued. "A cultivator stands before his tribulation. To survive it, he has everything ready. He reached his maximum potential, took pills before attempting it, and had an artifact ready to help him. Even his friends are there to protect him from outside forces and from his enemies. Nobody can interfere with his tribulation. Now, the chances of him succeeding are still only 70%. There is a 30% chance he dies in the process. Let's say he is famous. He has a million mortals behind him, worshiping him. Not actively, but they believe him to be their protector, savior, or whatever you wish to paint him as. They produce faith in him even if he does not realize it or actively pursue it. Now, as he goes through his tribulation, he strongly believes he can do it; his followers believe he can do it; and his chance of success is no longer 70%. It is 80%. Do you see it now? Faith is not a power used for fighting. It is a tool used for bringing things into reality."

"It is... Still… So weird…!" Ariana groaned, not really getting it at all.

"I start to see what you mean, bringing things into reality…" Ren whispered as she closed her eyes. "Do you have any idea why your disciples started to collect faith?"

"My guess is to fix the Tear in the Sky," Kai said after a minute of deep silence. "They want to boost their own powers and completely reseal the Realm. I don't know if it would work, but they are still far from it. That kind of thing would require a level of faith I don't know is possible to collect at all. Of course, they have plenty of time, and as I said, faith can't be forced."

"If Master starts to collect faith… or let the demons worship her, what would happen?" Ariana asked after thinking about it a little.

"Nothing noticeable. Look at it like this: her luck would be better. If a lot of demons believe Ren will win every coin toss she does, she would guess the correct sides more times than not. The problem starts if you establish a feedback loop with them. Starting to answer prayers and lending them power." Kai added, turning serious, "Those who are strong in their belief can receive blessings. A kind of… power sharing. Only if it gets damaged and the individual's faith cracks does all that extra power evaporate, really, really quickly. And if it was too strong, it could trigger a backlash, killing the cultivator as all their power disappears. That is why it is so insidious for cultivators to fall into the trap of faith!" Kai sighed loudly, shaking his head. "They see their power grow after they start worshiping a stronger being. They may have been stuck for who knows how long, but finally, they can advance once again. But it is not their own power; it is just a borrowed, manifested strength from the one they worship."

"And you want me to let them worship me… after telling me all this?" Ren grimaced as she shook her head, hearing him.

"My advice is to let them do it, but don't reciprocate it. My home did the same. People under us were free to believe in whatever they wished. We did not step in as long as it remained peaceful and did not cause trouble. Let them believe in you if they want! As long as you do not start building on their faith, always looking for ways to power yourself up with it, it is going to be harmless and even beneficial for both you and for them." Kai smiled and sent over a voice transmission only Ren could hear. "If you wish to reopen the Sky, you would need it either way. My four disciples will use it to stop you... You will need people who believe in what you are doing and in your goals. It is that simple."

Ren could not say anything back to him; she only closed her eyes, finally nodding a little, going over and over what they had just talked about. She was sitting silently at the table, even long after Niji and Kai left, and only Ariana kept her company, nestling up to her in her lap, snuggling up against her Master's chest.