Kaizen finally dropped his hands from his eyes as the light receded. He looked outwards as Archamed began to speak.

“Before there was everything…there was nothing. And before there was nothing…there was the most high.”

Kaizen heard a loud sound that shook the entire void before them. He could only describe it as tearing. He watched as a bubble of atmosphere formed within the void, containing water inside. The waves of the water receded at various places revealing dry land.

“Wait, is this…”

The two zipped closer to the phenomenon as the process continued. They watched as the dry land sprouted forth all manner of trees, plants and flowers.

BOOM!

Kaizen turned around to see the morning sun floating bright behind him, hanging on the nothingness around it. 

POP!

He turned again to see the night’s moon, reflecting the sun’s rays.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, the void was lit up with an assortment of stars, planets and galaxies. The entire cosmos was decorated with creation. Kaizen was overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all. He acknowledged it as a truly beautiful, perfect creation. He turned to his friend.

“Arch, don’t tell me…”

“That’s correct Kaizen. This existence, this universe we experience… it was not brought about by mere chance. The Most High created it all.”

Kaizen fell to his knees as he began to pant. He clutched his chest as he began to hyperventilate.

“You’re lying…It’s not possible. It’s…It’s too much! How can any being…”

Kaizen began to cough and feel dizzy.

Archamed knelt next to him in the void and placed his hand on his back. Kaizen suddenly felt his strength return and his dizziness receded.

“It is possible, Kaizen. It’s possible for the simple fact that it is true.”

The two boys got back onto their feet. Kaizen looked at Arch whose eyes had seemed to soften a bit.

“In this life logic and understanding are shaped around what is true. If you don’t understand what you see, then you’re missing the truth. It’s that simple.”

Archamed pointed towards the earth before them, still being brought into existence.

“We’re not done here.”

In an instant the boys were transported to the solid ground on the earth. Kaizen followed Arch as they walked along the surface. Fish and other sea creatures leapt out of the water and swam furiously as the birds overhead zipped around. The two walked past several trees and foliage as they entered a forest of some kind. As they proceeded, animals of all kinds greeted them. Monkeys hung overhead, some deer bustled through shrubbery and an elephant tooted in the distance. Eventually they came upon a clearing where they saw a mound of dirt in the center. As they approached the dirt began to contort and compress itself until it formed something humanoid in shape.

“Is that…”

“Yes. The Most High even created the first man.” 

The dirt finally settled into a perfect human male shape with all the features perfectly crafted. Suddenly, a strong breeze flew past Kaizen and Arch and the chest of the body on the ground expanded. Several seconds passed and the man’s eyes shot open. He arose from the ground and walked past the two, disappearing into the forest.

Archamed followed behind him and Kaizen did the same. After several minutes they eventually found him and he stood with someone. The two came upon the man embracing a woman in his arms. She was beautiful, even more so than the girl with the sapphire hair.

“It’s perfect…” Kaizen said softly as a smile stretched across his face.

“It was.” Archamed said bluntly.

“What do you mean?”

The boys were again transitioned to another area.

Kaizen watched the woman from earlier as she stood before a tree. The tree was massive and bore much fruit. Suddenly, an enormous snake twisted itself among the branches of the tree and hung down towards the woman. Kaizen felt his eyes become irritated as he watched the serpent. The woman talked with the snake for a while but Kaizen could not hear them. After some time, the woman reached up and plucked a fruit from the end of the tree. As she brought it to her mouth Kaizen felt a sense of danger .

“No…don’t!”  He tried to run towards her but found himself frozen in place. The woman took a bite out of the fruit and the snake slithered back into the tree. The man arrived in the area shortly after and the woman turned to him. She handed him the fruit and he took it from her. Kaizen felt his entire body heat up and he began to sweat profusely. 

The man raised the fruit to his mouth and took a huge bite from it.

Kaizen dropped his knees and grabbed his throat with both hands as he felt like he was choking. He could feel every cell in his body screaming out to him in pain. He turned to Archamed for help but noticed that he was also on the ground clutching his throat as well. Archamed struggled to raise his hand in the air and snapped his fingers.

The boys were transported back to the field with the cherry blossom tree. They panted for several seconds before Archamed eventually sat up.

“Humanity betrayed the Most High. As a result, every generation has been cursed to die in separation from him.”

Kaizen sat up and he rubbed his throat. He was silent for several seconds, pondering on the events he just witnessed. Finally, he came to a conclusion.

“For a great being to create such a beautiful universe and share it with us, is incredible. For us to betray that being…well I guess the only just answer is our destruction.”

“Indeed. But the Most High loves us, his most valuable creation.” Archamed responded. Kaizen turned to him and paid close attention.

“The Most High sent a savior for Earth. His one and only son.”

Kaizen’s eyes brightened at the thought of hope.

“Incredible. So what happened after that?”

Archamed waved his hand and the two boys found themselves on top of a barren hill. Several people wearing garbs that were too old to be familiar to Kaizen were chanting something. He turned around to face a man hung up on a T shaped wooden structure by nails in his hands and feet. He was bleeding from a stab wound in his side and a ring of thorns was pressed into the flesh on his head. It was a horrific sight.

Archamed arrived next to Kaizen who watched on in utter shock.

“We killed him.”

Kaizen turned to face Archamed, his face pale and tears streaming from his face. Archamed stared at him intensely.

“We killed him, Kaizen Lonestar. We killed our savior.”

The boys shift back to the blossom tree. Kaizen falls backward onto the grass. Archamed heard a voice booming loudly in his head.

“Boss, we’ve received word from Nico. They need you in New Eos immediately,” The Bro informed them.

“Understood, bring us back up.”

He walked over to Kaizen who clutched his hair in his hands, still trying to process all that had been revealed to him.

“It’s over…It’s all over.”

Archamed stood over him and removed his hand from his hoodie pocket to stretch forth to him.

“No my friend, it’s not. The savior from above came here to die. His sacrifice was the only way for us to have an escape.”

The young Lonestar looked at him as if his sanity was holding on by a thread. He reached out his hand to take his. As he touched him, he felt himself become dizzy once again. Their time was up in this world.

“Tell me Arch…what can we do? What can I do?” He asked him, barely holding on. As his vision became blurry, he saw three images of his friend hazily dancing before him. He wasn’t sure, but he could swear that for the first time ever, he saw him smiling. All three images of Arch…smiling towards him.

“Believe Kaizen…Just believe.”