Chapter 46 – The Puppeteers of Faith
POV: Daren
The candlelight in Daren's study trembled, flickering across the weathered pages of an ancient tome. The room was heavy with the smell of ink and old paper. Aric sat quietly, the faint hum of mana drifting from his fingertips as his father's voice broke the silence.
> "Tell me, Aric," Daren began, his tone calm but cutting, "what do you think the gods truly want from mortals?"
Aric hesitated. "Faith… devotion. Isn't that what gives them strength?"
Daren nodded slightly, closing the book before him. "Yes… and no."
He stood and crossed the room, placing a hand on the wall where intricate runes were etched. They pulsed faintly in response to his mana.
> "The gods demand worship not for reverence, but for control. They dress it in divinity — temples, rituals, blessings — but the truth is simpler. Faith is a leash."
Aric frowned. "A leash?"
Daren turned, the flickering light hardening the sharp lines of his face. "The System rewards belief, but not freely. When mortals pray, the mana they release doesn't flow to their gods directly. It's filtered — refined — through the System's core. The gods only receive a fraction. The rest… is consumed."
A chill ran through Aric. "Consumed? By what?"
> "By the machine that governs everything — the same unseen will that binds the gods themselves. The System is not their creation, but their cage."
He paced slowly, eyes lost in memory. "The gods believe themselves rulers, yet every ounce of faith they harvest, every spell cast in their name, strengthens their prison. They don't realize they are feeding the very construct that drains them."
Aric clenched his fists. "Then why keep mortals loyal? Why play the part of gods at all?"
Daren's lips curved into a grim smile. "Because belief sustains illusion. Mortals' worship keeps the image of divinity alive — and as long as the gods believe in their own power, they will not question their chains."
He turned back to his son, voice softening. "Remember this lesson, Aric. When someone asks for your faith, they are asking for your strength. Never give it freely."
Silence stretched between them, thick as stone. Aric could almost hear the hum of the System in the air — faint, mechanical, indifferent.
Daren closed his eyes, whispering almost to himself.
> "They think they control the mortals… but the System controls them all. Even the gods are pawns on a board they cannot see."