Episode 6: Hallowed Be Thy Name

  Shoyna, Russia Amidst the ink-black night and the howling blizzard, the freezing gale lashed against the old wooden house, looking as if it might collapse at any second. But more terrifying than the storm was what surrounded it... four massive Great Polar Bears, sitting majestically in each cardinal direction like living fortresses.

  Atop the bears and scattered around the perimeter stood dozens of "Little People." They were pale-skinned with delicate faces resembling elementary school children, yet their eyes were cold and filled with a mysterious, ancient authority.

  Inside the house... The tension was suffocating. Fifteen elders, men and women alike, trembled in terror. They huddled together behind the mysterious small boy who remained calm, their final pillar of hope.

  Standing at the front, Chris faced the visitors with a face full of confusion. He stared at the small man—fair-skinned, with eyes as deep blue as the ocean, wearing a white bodysuit so pristine it seemed surreal.

  The man known as "Nenets"... a legendary small being with immense power, now stood just a few paces away.

  Silence reigned, broken only by the whistling wind. Chris gathered his focus, his gaze locked onto Nenets, trying to discern if this tiny "God" had come to deliver wisdom or to bring death.

  “Pure... so incredibly pure. His soul alone could boost my power immensely,” Nenets spoke, his eyes sparkling as he stared at Chris.

  Chris’s eyes widened in shock. But before he could speak, the small boy behind him interjected, “Yes... and I am about to increase my power to match yours. Perhaps even surpass you!”

  Chris was flabbergasted. He forced a smile, trying to mask his panic with a joke. “What is this? Have I become a holy monk that everyone wants a piece of?”

  “He is the Liberator! Or would you rather spend eternity in this state?” the old "witch" shouted, summoning her courage against Nenets.

  “Shut your mouth, old hag,” Nenets retorted. His voice was calm, colder than the blizzard outside, yet the power behind it made everyone shiver.

  Nenets stepped toward Chris. He tilted his head back, staring deep into Chris’s eyes until the young man had to look away in discomfort. Suddenly, Nenets’s small frame levitated slowly until he was eye-level with Chris.

  “Move aside... Pure One,” Nenets commanded calmly.

  Chris tried to hold his ground. He had no confidence he could defeat this tiny deity, but he couldn't back down. Nenets simply flicked his hand. An impossibly soft yet massive surge of energy lifted Chris and tossed him aside effortlessly.

  The tiny sorcerer floated toward the waiting boy. The elders tried to rush forward to protect him, but Nenets raised a hand, creating an invisible barrier. No one could cross it.

  Chris and the elders could only watch in frustration. Nenets moved his face close to the boy’s. He smirked mischievously before whispering a greeting.

  “How’s it going, friend?”

  Suddenly, the boy broke into a wide grin! At the same moment, all fifteen elders burst into hearty laughter. The tiny soldiers at the door and the great bears outside laughed so hard the ground shook. Only Chris stood there, looking like a bewildered bird.

  “Alright, that’s enough, everyone. Look at him—the poor lad is shrinking with fright,” Nenets said, glancing at Chris with amusement.

  “Wait... me?” Chris pointed at himself, then at the boy he had just tried to protect with his life.

  “You idiot... you idiot! You really are purely oblivious. Tasty indeed,” the boy laughed, levitating into the air to level with Nenets.

  “Kurin, that’s enough. We don’t have much time,” Nenets’s tone shifted to serious. “Alright, children! Bring the items!”

  A Great Polar Bear backed its massive snout away from the door to let a tiny soldier run in, carrying a box. Nenets opened it and handed a small pouch to Chris. “Here... this is yours. Take it.”

  Chris took it, dazed. The atmosphere turned solemn as Nenets turned to the elders. “You fifteen... are you ready?”

  Without another word, Nenets extended his palm toward each elder. As his hand pointed at someone, their body collapsed, life extinguished instantly. Their soul marbles floated out and into Nenets’s hand to be stored in the box. He did this until everyone was gone, leaving only the boy, Kurin, watching with an understanding gaze.

  “I’m sorry I could only resurrect one of you. The others must be carried this way for now. Once we are safe, we will craft new shells for them,” Nenets told Kurin, who nodded silently.

  “As for the rest of you... return to the earth! Erase all traces!” Nenets ordered his soldiers. He then turned to Chris. “Put your marbles in the pouch I gave you. They’ll be safer there. Then put them back in your bag... you idiot! Hahaha!”

  Nenets and Kurin laughed together. “You won't survive this journey alone. We’ll provide the escort... you idiot!”

  Though Chris was reeling from the shifting situation, he followed Nenets's instructions. He began to realize... from here on out, he wouldn't be traveling alone.

  Above Shoyna, Russia Outside the old wooden house, the army of tiny soldiers and the four great bears retreated into the darkness. Nenets and Kurin floated out of the house, with Chris following behind with a complex swirl of emotions.

  The three soared into the air above the village. They paused, looking down at the small cabin fading into the snow.

  “Everything that is born... must eventually fade,” Nenets said quietly.

  He extended his palm toward the house. Suddenly, a terrifying miracle occurred. The entire house, every piece of furniture, and the fifteen lifeless bodies began to disintegrate into fine dust. Particle by particle, they became a veil of dust blown away by the cold wind. Within seconds, only the bare sand and rocks remained. The new snowfall began to cover the area until no trace of life was left.

  “Now, it’s our turn. I’ll lead!” Nenets commanded, surging forward. Chris and Kurin accelerated to keep up.

  “What is going on? Someone explain this to me!” Chris shouted, frustrated.

  “Is this really the time for a chat... you idiot?!” Nenets and Kurin burst into laughter again, leaving Chris looking annoyed.

  “Fine... the truth is, this kid Kurin is the High Elder of the Nenets tribe,” Nenets revealed.

  “What? Then he’s thousands of years old!” Chris gasped. “Then... why is he still a child? And what about your name? Why is it the same as the tribe?”

  “Enough for now!” Nenets snapped. “Control your speed. Don’t fly too high or the radar will catch us. Don’t fly too low or people will see us. Stay at my speed—it’s the safest. Now, move!”

  Nenets accelerated through the air. Chris and Kurin cast their questions aside and followed the "Tiny Leader" toward a destination that remained a mystery.

  New York, Coffee Shop Incident Site The scene shifted back to the chaos after the horror at the coffee shop. Amidst sirens and the panicked crowd, a sharp, older man stepped out of the commotion with an unnaturally graceful gait. His beard was perfectly groomed, and his silver hair was styled with precision. He wore a bespoke suit and polished leather shoes that looked far too luxurious for the setting.

  He walked past the scene without a glance at the ruins. The camera zoomed in on his face... despite the wrinkles of age, his premium, cool demeanor shone through.

  The man touched a tiny communication device in his ear.

  “The Pure Butterfly... has spread its wings and flown, Master,” he said in a calm, imposing voice.

  “I saw the news...”

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  The mysterious voice that replied was deep, measured, and carried an eerie horror. The energy from the other end was so intense that even this seasoned old man felt a chill run down his spine.

  Somewhere else... In a land so occult and dark that almost nothing could be seen, amidst an oppressive silence, someone slowly opened their eyes.

  Flash!

  The eyes weren't human. They were "Eyes of Flame," glowing fiercely against the darkness like the fires of hell, ready to incinerate all things.

  The Pentagon Beep-beep-beep! The high-frequency detection alarms wailed through the secret lab. The phone on the General’s desk shrieked. He grabbed it instantly.

  “Report!”

  “We have a Sonic Boom signature, sir! Originating from Nevada,” the officer reported in a panic.

  “I’m on my way...” the General replied, half-running toward the monitor room.

  The screen showed a scanning coordinate indicating periodic shockwaves. “Where is it heading?” the General asked, his eyes locked on the trajectory.

  “At this speed and direction... the target appears to be Russia, sir!” the officer replied, wiping sweat from his brow. “More importantly... the origin point is identified as Area 51!”

  “Hmm...” the General grumbled, his mind racing. “Funk... he must be playing games again. Trying to test a new transcontinental weapon right under Putin’s nose... Or is he confident enough that this new tech is invisible to Russian sensors?”

  The General muttered to himself as the operators stood by in confusion.

  “Verify the data again!” the General ordered. “As for me... I’m going to go 'ask' the President what kind of fun he thinks he’s having!”

  Secret Underground Base, Russia Inside a command center filled with high-performance monitors and radar, the atmosphere was fraught with tension as red warning lights flashed.

  “Sonic Boom detected from Nevada, USA! Origin: Area 51. It’s heading straight for us!” the station officer reported.

  “Where is it now?” the commander asked sharply.

  “Crossing the polar region, sir. Constant speed, flying in a straight line!”

  “The target? Where is it heading on our soil?”

  “Ural! The target is the Ural Mountains, sir!”

  “Is it an ICBM or a new stealth drone?”

  “Unconfirmed, sir. Satellites are trying to capture an image... I have it! But... it’s strange. It’s too small to be a missile or a fighter jet.”

  “Small? Hmm... switch to thermal!”

  “Copy!” The officer complied. A small heat signature appeared on the screen, tearing through the atmosphere. “There it is... but still unidentifiable. The shape is too small for our database, sir.”

  The commander stood still, his eyes considering the most unbelievable possibility. “Could the rumors about the Superman boy be true?” he cursed under his breath. “Chris... the boy Chris...”

  Amidst the darkness and the wind that sliced like blades, the three figures soared through the freezing sky. Finally, Nenets signaled to slow down.

  “We need to rest here... find a quiet place to absorb energy,” Nenets told his companions.

  The three descended onto the stark white snow. Chris felt the exhaustion gnawing at his body. “Chris... your energy is too low, and you’ve been traveling for too long. Your physical shell won't hold if you push it. Let's find cover and recharge,” Nenets insisted.

  Kurin scanned the area, his breath coming out in white puffs. “This place is still the white hell it’s always been... I once had to grit my teeth and trek through this on foot.”

  He glanced at Nenets. “You had it easy, floating all the way... But then again, you’ve always watched over us.”

  Chris, trying to regulate his breathing in the thin air, asked, “What about the city where the Nenets tribe used to live? The city guarded by the 'Nenets' deity you mentioned? Where is it now?”

  Silence fell for a moment, save for the wind. Kurin went quiet before answering in a voice filled with the weight of the past.

  “That was a long time ago... so long it has nearly turned to dust in the flow of time... but I remember it. I never forget.”

  Flashback... The Promised Land of the Nenets The images of the past flared into focus. The era when the Nenets villages thrived under High Elder Kurin and the protection of the Nenets deity. Whether it was bandits, natural disasters, or terrifying spirits, Nenets always appeared to protect them.

  Until the "Day of Calamity" arrived... when the wheel of expansion brought the Giants to their final sanctuary.

  The 3-meter-tall Giants began encroaching on the villages. Nenets decided to deploy his 10-meter "Guardian Giant."The immense pressure forced the smaller Giants to retreat at first. But they didn't give up. They sent waves of reinforcements. The lone Guardian Giant held them off with superior strength. But before the wounds of war could heal, the enemy returned—more horrifying than before.

  This time, the 3-meter Giants didn't come alone. They brought three 10-meter Giants of their own! And most dangerously... they were joined by "Sorcerers" who could fly just like Nenets.

  The sorcerers hovered before Nenets, their voices heavy with pressure. "Return to the High City from whence you came... we claim this land, for we too have been driven out by the humans of the South."

  They revealed a shocking truth: "The humans of the South grow stronger every day. They have learned how to fight Giants. We need this space to rebuild... as for these Nenets humans, we shall take over their care!”

  “From the look of it, Nenets stood no chance... yet he declared he would fight to the death,” Kurin said, his voice trembling. “The secret we learned later was that Nenets had nowhere else to go. He was a 'Renegade Deity' who defied his own kind to help humanity. He chose to stay and fight.”

  Seeing their protector's sacrifice, the Nenets people fought to the last man. The war of Giant against Giant was a frenzy! At first, our side held the advantage with a massive human force. However... the enemy’s Giant army had endless reinforcements.

  Finally, seeing that if they continued, his people would all become corpses, Nenets had to swallow the bitter taste of defeat.

  “I surrender! Stop the slaughter of the innocent!” Nenets roared across the battlefield. “I shall leave... Let my people live under the care of the new gods.”

  Nenets had to abandon the land he built, fleeing North into the cold. I and a group of loyalists chose to leave everything to follow him. Nenets protected us through every hardship until we reached the end of the earth at Shoyna.

  As for the conquerors, once they saw we had surrendered and fled, they didn't hunt us. They took over the land and established a new city... a great city that was the origin of the four Giant kingdoms I know by only one name... "Eridu."

  “The cold there... it was beyond imagination,” Kurin murmured. “We fell one by one during the journey. But once we reached the edge of the land and settled, building small towns and raising new generations... our bodies began to change. Our skin turned pale because the nights were longer than the days. It was a white hell, but we learned to live with it.”

  Kurin paused. “Nenets didn't abandon us. He taught us many sciences: knowledge, powerful weapons, and advanced combat arts... but eventually, we asked ourselves, who would we fight? No one was crazy enough to come find us here.”

  “That knowledge was kept as a means of self-defense. We decided never to go back down. Peace was sweeter than war. But time is cruel. Our new generations began to have shorter lifespans. Some couldn't take the loneliness and moved to live with other tribes. Finally... the greatness of the past remained with only a few elders still breathing—elders ready to pass down the 'fables that were once true' to the next generation, just as I am telling you.”

  Chris was stunned by the history paid for in the blood and sweat of the Nenets people.

  “And why did the deity Nenets disappear? After settling in Shoyna, you didn't mention him in the later parts,” Chris asked.

  Nenets smiled and answered for himself. “I went underground. There’s a secret city there called Sihirtya. It’s inhabited by small people about my size. I chose to live with them, to be a god in a quiet, dark world. As for the Nenets on the surface... they visited me regularly. But the entrance? Only we know it, and you have to know the right way to open it. Otherwise, even if you’re standing right at the door, you’ll never find the way in.”

  Kurin nodded sadly. “Lately, we’ve barely lived on the surface. We only pop up once in a while for news. The more we know of the world, the more we want to stay in our holes. Because now... we are freaks. Who would believe people thousands of years old still exist?”

  “I don't know where the living gods have gone...” Kurin whispered. “Only vicious demonic spirits remain, infesting the world. Nenets chose the underground for safety because now the demons are stronger and more powerful than the gods!”

  “They incite humans to hate each other, to kill in endless wars...” Kurin continued with disgust. “These demons wait at the edge of the battlefield to feast on the souls of the fallen, fighting over them like hungry beasts. It’s tragic that humans are still foolish enough to believe their lies and kill each other era after era.”

  “I’m just a washed-up god,” Nenets chuckled dryly. “No one knows me, no one prays to me like the 'New Gods' who are trending worldwide. Those ones... besides faith, they get to feast on the souls of the warmongers until they’ve grown too powerful to stop.”

  Chris listened with a heavy heart before asking, “Why do you call me the 'Liberator'? I’m just a stupid kid who made a huge mistake and had to run back to my Master for help.”

  Nenets stared at Chris. “Humans these days... are more terrifying than gods, you idiot.”

  He continued grimly, “The humans of the South I told you about... they are brilliant. They’ve developed and spread to every corner of the world. The weapons they’ve invented now have a destructive power far beyond the reach of a god’s power. If humans find out where a god or someone with power is hiding... they’d drag us to a lab and experiment on us until there’s nothing left.”

  “That is why those with power are taught to stay silent, to hide in the shadows. In a world where science outpaces miracles, revealing yourself is signing your own death warrant.”

  “But now... it seems those demons are successfully consuming and seizing power from human hands. Their power alone is far beyond an obsolete god like me,” Nenets said with concern. “They were waiting for the time to reclaim the world completely, but then they hit the 'Jackpot'!”

  Nenets stared at Chris as if looking through his soul. “The rumors of a being with a pure power soul... they’ve been told for hundreds of years. And finally, the 'Liberator' has actually appeared. If they consume your soul... no one on this Earth will be able to stop them!”

  BOOM!!!

  A thunderous explosion shook the atmosphere overhead.

  “That was a Sonic Boom! Russian weapons?” Kurin blurted out in fear.

  “That speed is immense!” Nenets exclaimed.

  BOOM!!!

  Another explosion followed, louder and lower this time. The air pressure slammed into the ground, scattering the snow.

  “No... that’s not a weapon!” Nenets shouted through the whistling of the torn air. “No human weapon can pull a 360-degree turn like that!”

  He looked up at the sky, his face tense with absolute focus. “We aren't getting any rest. I miscalculated. They are here faster than I thought!”

  A mysterious man in a sleek black tactical suit landed firmly before the three of them. The suit was futuristic, designed to protect against both high-speed pressure and extreme sub-zero temperatures. It was skin-tight but covered every inch, making it impossible to identify the person beneath the mask. The black figure, contrasting sharply with the white snow, radiated an intense aura of menace.

  “How did you find us!” Nenets barked in disbelief, staring at the Super Sonic intruder.

  The man in black said nothing. Only the hum of his suit, venting heat from the friction of Mach 3 flight, could be heard. His eyes, hidden behind a black visor, locked onto Chris like a tiger eyeing its prey.

  ———————————————————————————— Ruth VT-Hin ——————