Chapter 002: A Hard-to-Believe Prophecy

“An apocalypse?” Nest furrowed his brow.

He looked out the window. Wisp-like tufts of cotton lazily drifted across a blue sky. Occasionally, a bird or two flitted from his view. Today was another peaceful day.

The tiny angel, Niphilili, pursed her lips. “You don’t believe me?”

“Well…”

In truth, Nest still couldn’t quite shake off the feeling that he was going insane. After all, visions of miniature angels sounded like the sort of thing you’d hear in a psychiatric ward. What’s more, said angel was also spouting on about the end of the world. It couldn’t get any worse than that.

Right now, Nest felt like a textbook example of a crazy person. If he were to tell anyone about any of this, the question wouldn’t be whether or not they’d believe him, but rather, how fast would it take for them to lock him up in an insane asylum.

His obvious suspicion apparently angered the tiny angel. Nest tried his best to calm her down. “Little girl, first of all—”

“Niphilili! This great one’s name is Niphilili, you stupid human!”

“Right, Niphil-Niphilili… That’s a bit of a mouthful, can’t I just call you Neppy? Or maybe Lily? It sounds cuter, doesn’t it?”

“You stupid, dirty, nincompoop! How dare you blaspheme the name that my great master gave me! It’s Niphilili! You are not permitted to change it!”

“Okay, okay…” Nest let out a sigh. He raised his hands in defeat. Niphilili flew around the room in a fit of rage. Right now, she seriously resembled an annoying house fly. Of course, he wouldn’t say such a thing in front of her. It was enough for him to think it.

After a while, she eventually calmed down enough to stop. Although her face was still beet red and her tiny chest still heaved heavily, for the most part, she had returned to normal. At the very least, she stopped darting through the room. Niphilili floated a few feet in front of him. A stern expression was etched onto her child-like face.

Swept along by her mood, Nest quickly composed himself. He sat on his knees and stared up at the angel with what he hoped was an ‘eager’ expression.

“So, why did God send me a message?” He asked. He still wasn’t utterly convinced of this angel’s authenticity. Although he didn’t believe her, making her mad was a pain in the ass, so he decided to put on this façade of enthusiasm.

He bitterly smiled to himself. Right now, it felt as if he was humoring his own subconscious.

“Good question, human!” She excitedly answered. “My master is indeed quite a busy fellow, he doesn’t just send messages to any random passerby.”

“As expected, god is a busy guy, huh…”

“Of course! He is the God of Origin, after all. My master reigns supreme even amongst the other gods!” She proudly raised her nose up in the air. A smug smile stretched her lips. It was as if she was touting her own accomplishments, and not just her boss’s.

“Right…”

“Anyways, the message!” She clapped her hands in realization. Niphilili then reached below her tunic. The angel proudly pulled out an ancient looking scroll. The paper was of dirty yellow parchment, while the scroll itself was as thick as a regular man’s forearm. Normally, the space underneath her tunic would never be able to fit an object of that size.

She unfurled the scroll and began intently reading.

After a while, she nodded in satisfaction. She rolled the scroll back up. Niphilili looked at him and smiled. Without warning, she suddenly chucked the scroll towards him. Nest instinctively flinched, but before it could hit him, the scroll stopped in midair.

It unfurled itself. The paper slowly disintegrated into a splatter of golden dust. The dust, as if swept away by some invisible force, clumped together and formed two glowing words.

[Morelia’s Revenge]

“Morelia’s revenge…” Nest subconsciously read out loud.

Then, the words suddenly changed. They shimmered, before they transformed. Suddenly, a block of text appeared before his eyes.

It detailed the story of a girl named Morelia.

She lived in an era where monsters lurked and the gods walked amongst men. Morelia was a woman possessing divine beauty. Everywhere she went, men would throw themselves at her feet just so they could catch a glimpse of her smile. The number of suitors that fancied her exceeded that of an entire country. She was so beautiful that not even the Gods were immune to her charm.

One day, the God of the Sun caught sight of her bathing in a lake. He instantly fell in love. In order to win her heart, the God gifted her with the power of prophecy.

Unfortunately, Morelia already loved someone else. When she rejected his courting, the God grew furious. He wanted to take back his gift, but as a god, doing so was no easy task. So, instead, he cursed her. No matter what truth she spoke, nobody would ever believe her.

It was said that shortly after this incident, Morelia prophesized her country’s own demise. Unfortunately, when she attempted to inform her fellow citizens, no one believed her. She died with regret in her heart.

“…”

Nest somewhat pitied the woman. In a sense, her own beauty was what led to her calamity. Still, who was this Morelia woman? How was she related to this whole message from God? Also, the god in the story was not the God of Origin, but rather the God of the Sun. The angel briefly mentioned it too, but were there really different gods out there?

Seeing the confusion on his face, Niphilili explained. “Morelia is your ancestor.”

“My ancestor?” Nest widened his eyes in surprise.

She nodded. “Morelia was a pitiful woman who lived during the era of the Gods. You just so happen to carry with you her lineage. Although, I do find it a bit weird… She was purported to be a woman of unmatched beauty. Why are you so ugly?”

Annoyed, Nest threw a pillow her way. Niphilili easily dodged. She fluttered towards the other side of the room before continuing, “Either way, after her country’s destruction, she directed her anger out on the Sun God. In order to get revenge, she sought assistance from my master. In the end, in exchange for a price that I am not at the liberty to disclose, she made a deal.

“The deal was simple! During the next great calamity, my master was required to help out Morelia’s descendant. As for you,” Niphilili pointed a finger at Nest. “She implores her descendant to do one thing: get revenge for her.”

Revenge? Nest’s brows furrowed. Revenge on who? The Sun God? Was that auntie of his right in the head? How the hell was he supposed to get revenge on a god?

“Ai, you are so simple minded!” As if she could read his mind, Niphilili sighed and exaggeratedly shook her head. “Morelia knows that no matter how great her future descendants might be, they still stand no chance against a full-fledged god. She only hopes for you to impede on the Sun God’s advances, maybe kill his champions every now and then… Although, I’m afraid that before the calamity officially starts, you will be hard pressed to find any of a God’s chosen warriors roaming the streets…

“Well, don’t sweat it too much! I’m sure if she were to see you now, she would equally lose hope!”

The angel patted him on the back. She was trying to console him, but why did it feel as if he had just been insulted?

After he brushed her aside, he thought for a moment, before asking, “So, since you’re here, that means a great calamity is about to befall Earth?”

She nodded. “That’s right. The land will be torn asunder and the era of the gods will return. A scant few of you will survive, but don’t feel too bad. My master is here to offer his assistance.”

“Right… and what sort of help did your god plan to give me?”

“This,” She spread her arms out wide.

Nest expected something to happen, but even after waiting for a full minute, nothing ever did. He tilted his head in confusion. “What is it?”

“I have already given it.”

“What?”

“My master’s gift is an early warning.” She smugly explained. “Three months from now, the calamity will officially start.”

“… That’s it?” Even if he wasn’t expecting much, he still couldn’t help but be disappointed.

In response to his dismay, Niphilili simply shrugged her shoulders. “Morelia may have been borne a princess, but she did not hail from a powerful lineage. There was very little that she could offer to my master. Thus, there is very little that we can offer you.

“Still, do not worry. In addition to the warning, I am also here!”

“You?” He looked at her with unmasked skepticism in his eyes.

“That’s right, this great me has personally come down to assist you!” Without warning, she suddenly pulled out a bottle from underneath her tunic. The bottle in question looked exactly like one of those old glass soda bottles that you’d be hard pressed to find today. Even its insides were filled with a black material reminiscent of Cola.

“I, along with what’s inside this bottle are here to correct your fate!”

“Correct my fate?”

She enthusiastically nodded. “In fact, that is my primary mission. Fate correction. If I can’t accomplish this task, my master won’t let me back into heaven, so you better get your fate properly corrected, got it?”

Nest blankly stared at the bottle in her hands. A Coca-Cola bottle. No matter how he looked at it, it was just a Coca-Cola bottle. The insides looked exactly like Coke. It even fizzled. Was fate carbonated? When she pops open the cap, will he hear a sizzling sound?

Unaware of the thoughts that filled his head, Niphilili happily continued. “Hehe, don’t look so surprised now. This thing isn’t actually something from my master, but rather, it is a precious treasure that your ancestor procured after making another deal with a Goddess in charge of Providence. With this bottle, you can change fate for a total of three times. As to what sort of fate you chose to alter, well, that is up to you. Aside from that, my loveable self is also here to personally help. Do not worry. No matter how ugly or how stupid you may be, I will do my utmost within these next three months to help you prepare for the Great Calamity!”

“Right…” Nest subconsciously touched his cheeks. He wasn’t really that ugly right? At most, he was average. On good days, some might even say above average.

“Then, shall we get started?” Niphilili moved towards him. She stopped a mere inch away from his face. She smiled at him with an overly-eager smile. Dimples formed on her cheeks.

“…”

Nest wordlessly got up and walked over towards his closet.

The angel buzzed around him. She curiously tugged on a tuff of his hair. “Where are you going, human? Is this the first step in your preparation?”

“I’m going to change clothes.” He nonchalantly answered.

“Oh… and then are we going to prepare?”

“No, after that, I’m going to eat breakfast.” He opened his closet and shifted through the many articles of clothing that he owned. For a person as lazy and disorganized as him, his closet was surprisingly tidy. Of course, that was all in part to the people who cleaned his room every day.

“Then after that, we prepare?”

“Nah… I’ll probably just spend the rest of the day playing videogames or something. There’s a new game out today. They’ve been hyping it up pretty extensively for the past couple of months. I bought an early copy, so I kind of want to see if it lives up to any of the hype.”

The angel titled her head in confusion. “When are we going to prepare?” she asked. “We need to do it soon. The Great Calamity is truly dreadful! If you die somewhere during the first month, that’ll mean I did a bad job. If I do a bad job, my master will surely punish me!”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll prepare.” He mumbled under his breath as he rummaged around looking for something to cover his bare behind. Right now, he was conflicted between a pair of gym shorts and a pair of sweatpants.

“What!?” she shouted. “Why not?!”

Nest slowly turned towards her. He stared at her tiny child-like face. Her eyes widened like almonds. “Because I don’t believe you.”

“W-w-w-what!?”

Of course Nest didn’t believe her.

Right now, he was still wondering whether or not he truly had gone insane. Wasn’t this angel in front of him just a hallucination? A figment of his imagination? Was he coming down with schizophrenia? Nest was pretty sure schizophrenia wasn’t something that you just come down with, not like a cold or the flu, but then again, he was no expert in psychology.

Come to think of it, his grandfather’s brother had schizophrenia. Was he prone to it? Did it run in the family?

Either way, why the hell would he believe her? Delusions were best kept in the back of the mind.

“Ah, you don’t believe? You really don’t believe me?” Compared to Nest’s relaxed attitude, the angel was seriously freaking out. “Why don’t you believe me!? You stupid human, even after the great me went out of my way to explain the situation to you, why don’t you believe me?! Ah, ah, you’re going to bring death onto yourself! Master’s going to punish me, master’s going to punish me for real!”

Nest let out a sigh. Having voices in your head was already bad enough, but his voice also came equipped with a face and body. Was this advanced schizophrenia?

“Human, you must believe me!” She stared at him with pleading eyes. Niphilili’s back broke out in a cold sweat. If she can’t convince this human, then it wouldn’t be proper for her to say she completed her job. If she can’t complete her job, then she can’t return to heaven!

“Ahh, enough about that.” He waved her away. “We can talk about all that complicated stuff later. Right now, I’m hungry.”