Only God
Chapter 52 - 48: The Words of God Must Be Verified

Chapter 52: Chapter 48: The Words of God Must Be Verified

Al looked sadly at the Sapo King as he lay sprawled on the ground.

The Logos Elders and wise people panicked, surrounding the Sapo King with terror streaming from their eyes. They watched the Sapo King, now insane with fear, at a loss for what to do. The Elders and wise people themselves became flustered.

The Prophet, formerly thought to be dead, had now returned, very much alive.

Those guards loyal to the Sapo King, after the initial chaos, quickly pushed aside the Elders and wise people, seizing the Sapo King. Then, under the lead of the Guard Commander, they slowly ascended the palace stairs, intending to surround Al and Yarlessto.

The Sapo King’s eldest son followed the guards, helplessly carrying his own father, and was swept along with the guards without a choice.

Throughout the kingdom, there were panicked crowds everywhere, their faces etched with confusion, incomprehension, and fear. A cacophony erupted from all directions, a storm of emotion churning in people’s hearts.

"The Prophet has returned?"

"It’s the Prophet... it’s the Prophet and his son!"

"He, he had forsaken God, hadn’t he? How can he be unscathed?"

...

The sudden return of the Prophet, the Sapo King falling from the palace and going mad... the situation’s development had exceeded the comprehension of many Logos people.

Even the guards, poised to surround the palace, began to waver.

"The King said the Prophet is dead, that he was a false prophet!"

The Guard Commander issued his orders loudly, temporarily calming the minds of the guards.

Al and Yarlessto stood resolutely atop the palace, with the strong guards advancing step by step, waiting only for the Guard Commander’s order to apprehend the two men.

"What do you intend to do?"

"God chose my father on the high mountain, at the very summit where God stands."

Yarlessto stepped forward and loudly rebuked the encircling guards.

"The King is here, do you really intend to listen to the words of a man of unknown origin?"

The Guard Commander spoke up immediately upon hearing this.

Though the steps of the guards were hesitant, they moved forward at the Guard Commander’s command.

The guards drew closer, yet Al and Yarlessto showed no signs of retreating.

On the contrary, Al took a step forward.

In his hand, he clenched the Unicorn horn tightly.

Al’s face remained calm, with waters whipped up by the Unihorn whales surrounding the palace. The Prophet lifted the Unicorn horn as if raising a supreme Scepter, pointing it towards the waters.

At that moment, the Logos people were astounded. Sensing something, the hornless Unihorn whale began to sing the Song of the Whale excitedly. The whales seemed to receive some signal, the horn shone brilliantly, and the walls of water controlled by the Unihorn whales slowly surged toward the palace, the torrential waves advancing toward the grand stairway of the palace.

The miracle-like power struck awe into everyone’s hearts, and the guards were terrified, hastily dropping their swords. The Guard Commander and the Sapo King’s eldest son turned pale in an instant.

Al and Yarlessto slowly descended the palace stairs as they took each step forward, the Guard Commander and the Sapo King’s eldest son retreating step by step.

"The Prophet..."

"That really is the God-chosen Prophet Al!"

"The Prophet, the Prophet has truly returned!"

Seeing the Unihorn whales, which previously disregarded the orders of the Sapo King, now obediently heeding Al’s command, the Logos people in front of the palace ceased their doubts. Before the immense authority that dwarfed the King’s, they knelt, loudly hailing God’s Prophet.

As the Prophet and his son descended from the palace, eventually, the Guard Commander and the Sapo King’s eldest son also retreated down to the base of the long stairs, their legs trembling, unable to hide their fear.

The fear was directed at not only the God that the father and son represented, but also his own eventual demise.

The Sapo King had momentarily regained clarity from his madness. He looked up, seeing a brilliance flickering behind them.

This radiance pained his eyes, pained his heart.

The Sapo King frantically struggled free from his eldest son’s support, pushing away both the Guard Commander and his own eldest. He extended his hand, pointing at Al and Yarlessto atop the grand steps, staring intently at them.

He could not forget that dream.

The dream where the Primordial Will had manifested itself to him.

In the struggle between the King and the Prophet, the chosen Prophet had emerged victorious.

And his eldest son Yarlessto was to sit upon the throne that rightfully belonged to him.

"I curse you, my brother!"

And so, the Sapo King shouted his curse with all his might:

"I call upon my God with my voice, your two children, Yarlessto and Dertulian, shall fight each other, striving for the throne, seeing shameful rivalry as their honor, confronting with swords, spilling blood, one ascending the throne while the other lives in vain rebellion, and in each other’s eyes, no mercy shall be found!"

"I curse you, I invoke my God, and my God shall answer my curse!"

Al’s lips quivered.

The Sapo King’s venomous curse echoed in his ears.

Yarlessto descended the steps, his eyes filled only with fury towards the Sapo King.

He was not his father; unlike the Priest of the Pattern Garden, he shared brotherly affection with the Sapo King, and he did not, like Dertulian, hold boundless admiration for the splendor of the monarch before him.

Yarlessto drew the Bone Knife from his bosom, lunging forward in a swift stride, stabbing towards the Sapo King’s throat from which the curse had come.

The Sapo King’s eyes bulged, air whistled out from the gaping wound in his neck, blood rushed up into his throat, stifling his words of curse, he fell backwards gasping, unable to utter a sound.

The King gazed at Yarlessto, the one who had killed him, the one who would snatch away his King’s Throne, he wanted to curse, curse that his Kingdom would never prosper under the descendants of the Prophet, that it would suffer agony until its eventual demise in the river of history.

However, not a single sound could he muster, and thus, he died.

Al turned his back.

He ascended the grand steps slowly, letting the Elders circle around Yarlessto and the slain Sapo King, trying his best to empty his mind of all thoughts.

The Prophet lost his God, and lost his brother as well.

Al’s heart was hollow, many things slowly slipped away, the hurricanes of his soul swept away the last leaves, leaving nothing behind for him.

The Prophet did not remember how he entered the palace, but when he came to his senses, the ancient King’s Throne was already before his eyes.

He did not approach, he just stood before the King’s Throne.

Yarlessto wrestled free from the flustered Elders, he hastily climbed the grand steps, appearing before the palace gates.

Al incredulously turned his head back slowly.

He caught sight of Yarlessto at the perfect moment.

Following him, the Elders of high prestige within the Kingdom, few concerned themselves with the deceased Sapo King, their power hunger trailing behind Yarlessto incessantly like a swarm of flies.

Al stared blankly at his eldest son.

Everything about to affirm the words of God.

Not his brother Sapo...

But his descendants, Dertulian and Yarlessto, would someday build a great nation.