“Here’s your order, my dears. Please enjoy.” The granny came back to the table bringing the wraith dish they’d ordered. The food wasn’t appealing to the eyes but it was her recommendation as having the closest “Earthling” taste.

“Have you tried any Agarthan cuisine before?” Kino whispered to Henrietta. The girl shook her head. It was a steaming hot purple soup of floating chicken toes and chopped vegetables unknown to man, adding to an already unpleasant and foreign smell.

“How’s the taste?” They didn’t know the granny was still standing at the end of their table. The two awkwardly smiled. It seemed the old lady wouldn’t be leaving any time soon, so Kino raised a spoonful to taste the soup while closing his eyes.

It was surprisingly good.

“You should try the goblin’s toes, son.”

Henrietta almost puked her first scoop of the meat. Kino turned blue but tried his best to keep his smile. He cut a part of the greenish meat and chewed without breathing.

“Isn’t it good?” The two nodded despite the strong urge to throw up. The granny sighed out of nowhere. “It just breaks my heart when hunters kill the goblins coming out from the Gate. My supply of goblin meat has been scarce thanks to the hunters of this generation. When I was still living in Agartha, goblin meat was the number one meat used in every dish. Even the Everhart Emperor loved that very dish I made for you.”

“You see, we’re always c-curious about the Everhart Royals, granny. My parents were citizens of the empire but I never got to ask them about it before they passed away. Can you tell us what you know?” Asked Kino.

“I don’t remember much about the imperial family, unlike my older sister. She was a former servant in the palace. Hunters tried to get a piece of information from her but she denied her knowledge with her dear life, following an important rule of the royal family. I watched her die in their hands that day.” Fear and sadness were evident in the granny’s eyes as she reminisced a traumatic event from her younger days. Kino had heard a similar story before. If his memory served him correctly, Mr. Johannes mentioned his father asking a servant about wraith royalties before, but this servant denied knowing anything.

“Do you remember her saying something to you?”

The granny touched her chin. “I was a young girl when I jumped from the Gate, but I heard of the Empress giving birth to their firstborn. Every villager we met during our trip was crying with joy. They kept calling the young prince the god that will save us all.”

“W-Why do they call him that?” Asked Henrietta.

“My older sister used to say this child was prophesized to be the most powerful of our kind. That he is the fated savior of our world. Years later, she heard the news that this child was declared the crown prince at such a young age. He became very powerful which made his followers convinced that he was the real god from the prophecy. I can still remember the happiness on my sister’s face when she was sharing that.”

Before they could even react, the door chime tuned. Another customer came in and the granny went to get a new table for the newcomer. “Oh, one more thing. I finally remembered what his name was. He was the Crown Prince, Magnus Everhart. Our god.”

After ordering ordinary human food to appease their hungry stomachs for the early afternoon, Kino and Henrietta bid farewell to the old lady. She was kind enough to give them free cookies she baked extra in the oven. It made them feel bad as they didn’t eat even half of the wraith dish she made but finished the human dish.

“So he’s not just simple royalty. But a god? Rosen, what’s inside you was a god?!” Henrietta couldn’t help but pull him into the corner of the dark alley to tell him her reaction to the news.

“T-They just called him that because of his powers, Rie.”

“What kind of power? You awakened using his abilities, didn’t you? What did you do with it?”

“My memories are still vague. But it was only the basic wraith skills, but more powerful than ordinary, I guess?”

Henrietta rolled her eyes and smirked sarcastically. “They called him a god from that? Every wraith can be extra powerful if they keep training their power. If I did that, does that make me a god?”

“Maybe there’s something more we’re yet to find out. I don’t believe it was the only reason he was called a god.”

Should I tell Mr. Johannes about this? Maybe I should if he asked. It’s only for the sake of knowledge about wraith royalties. It’s not like I’ll reveal who gave me the information, anyway. Not all wraiths deserve to die, like that granny and her sister.

Henrietta and Kino separated at the station. Watching her back disappear returned the usual longing feeling. He sat on the LRT and got consumed by his thoughts.

Not every wraith jumping to this world is planning to take it from us. Some are coming here to have a better chance at life. Just like ordinary humans, they are victims of a cruel world they want to escape from. Humans don’t understand that, maybe they do, but the wraiths’ original objective of taking this world from us 400 years ago has been planted in our minds. They won’t let them exist alongside us, knowing that at any time, these stronger beings could eradicate us from our home completely. Even aliens and ghosts aren’t allowed to be here, so why would they allow these monsters who openly threaten our very existence?

He looked at his hands and his reflection from the window across his seat, thinking as if Magnus would suddenly appear from it.

They call Magnus their god. But what did he have to get that title? Now that he’s dead, who’s the god that will save them?

His eyes went to the window and saw silhouettes of hunters running at the rooftops, chasing a man with claws and red eyes glowing in the darkness. Below the buildings he watched a wraith in awakened form attack an old man coming out from a grocery store, and people running away in fear. He looked down at his hands again. They were trembling from anxiety. Kino couldn’t describe how he hates being alone with his thoughts.

Hell, that’ll never be me. I’m the vessel who will never submit to his vow. Their god gave me his power knowing I belong to the enemy. That very choice just allowed me to use that same power against his people, to save myself and everyone important to me. That’s the only thing I care about in this world.

Kino crumpled on the seat and tugged his hair. Good thing that he was alone on the train, no one has to see how crazy he’s become.

He’ll be the new puppet of the hunters that will have to kill the monsters who worship the devil inside him. They will die not knowing the power of their god is what’s going to end them. The peaceful future of the world that they were thriving in for hundreds of years will never come as it is already being destroyed in the present. In the very hands of the enemy.

Their god’s mistake was to use him as his vessel. The last thing he’ll do is to become the god that he wanted.