"Back home," William let go of Mo Huai's hand, "It's good to be back, though it feels weird without my aura."
Xavier nodded, "perhaps but this is the new norm, in this world at least." He turned to the full group, "Just walk in, I'm sure Hou will be there to explain."
Mo Huai nodded, "Thank you, really. You said you had to go, right? Goodbye." He waved lightly.
Xavier smiled and fell through the ground, falling out of this world to explore others. He had his own duties, he was gone.
Yan squeezed her fist, "No cultivation, he was right."
Jin looked inside herself for mana, it was like there was a barrier. It wasn't all gone, but she was sure it wouldn't be able to do anything, "No magic either."
Qi Lan, the final one of the group, "So this is the Solar Lands now? A world other than our own...you really did luck out with your disciples."
Mo Huai smiled, "I did..." He shook his head, "Enough talk though, let's enter."
He was outside Hou's house in the city, William recognised it easily. Mo Huai touched the door handle and Hou felt it. He sent Causality to it...
The world rearranged and when Mo Huai opened his door he didn't see the entrance, instead it moved directly to the office Hou sat in.
"Welcome back everyone," Hou stood up and made the sword in his hand disappear, his eyes were a little red.
He greeted them all, hugs and handshakes of course ensued. Once they were settled and sat, Hou moved to the back of the room and rested himself sitting partially on the desk there.
He slightly bit his lips and held the table's edge, "Before anything, I'll inform you all that we did win. The Worlds, all of them, are safe for now..."
He scanned the room, "I'll leave all of you to your respective jobs. I'll always be here though, I can help where I can."
Mo Huai shuffled in his chair, "Hou...tell us." He could sense that something was not quite right.
Tears started to well in Hou's eyes but he looked up and blinked a few times, "Hamar has died."
Everyone there stayed quiet. They were all used to death. Even still, it hurt them.
"I see." Mo Huai walked over to Hou and placed his hand on his disciple's shoulder, "I'm sure it was honourable, he did it to save us all, didn't he? He would've wanted us not to sulk too much."
Hou sighed, "As I've been told..." He stayed quiet for a moment I til he lowered his head, "And that's why, I won't. His funeral will be straight away. Then!"
He waited for everyone to pay attention, "We will all say goodbye to him, and move to sorting out this while messaging, won't we?"
Resounded sad but hopefully words of agreement were said by all there. Hou walked to the door, past everyone, "Then follow!"
He opened the door, using Causality to make it move straight to outdoors. The others, stripped of their abilities, followed as Hou walked through the city.
People had already started to move, the news spread quick. He made the decision not to fly, but to walk with the people.
The first to move were those who know Hamar well. Those older generation of Swordsmen. The guards. Then, following, the younger generation of guards.
Following them, the people and eventually it was everyone. Even those few cultivators sent by Mo Huai saw their Elder and followed along swept by the emotion.
The crowd was uncharacteristically quiet, they simply matched. Hou quickly got to the front, he brought them outside the city. Into the wilderness of the Solar Lands.
He brought them to a field not too far out, to keep them from tiring he kept a supply of Causality glowing through the populace.
He stopped. Raised his arm, "Here."
Hou walked a bit more forward, as the crowd dispersed so all could see him. He did not need to direct them, they could sense what he needed. They felt a kinship.
Whether it was intentional or not, Hou was using his Causality. Not to control, not to change, but for understanding. This was the true start of the new world for those there; he needed understanding.
"God..." They whispered.
"God has returned." They said.
"The Saviour! Our God!" They roared. That name being brought up back from the collective consciousness.
William found his fellow swordsmen quickly, he found his youngest boy, "Lil rascal, " the boy that was there the moment he awakened his sword soul, he turned, "What is it?"
"My master is no longer with us, let us see what Ho–" he stopped, listening to the crowd, "–what the Saviour has to say." He ruffled the boys shaggy hair.
Arm, he was in the crowd watching along with everyone. He was Hou's father figure, he knew Hamar too. His son's greatest companion, a valiant warrior. They were disciple and master to eachother, an inseparable couple.
"Saviour huh," he chuckled, the name that Hou was once known by. A name that was long before the boy broke out of the Solar Lands. Long before he was the great cultivator, the great God he is now.
Back when he was just a boy in a desolate land. A big who was born to lead, to be the saviour of this people's...
"You always hated that name..." He murmured.
Hou held out his hand, "quiet." He did not shout. He spoke quietly but was heard by all.
"Your God...abandoned you all, they died. But I have replaced them all, and I swear to do by best for this world."
Jin was a friend of Hou's, she worked to grow stronger with him. Yet...in that moment she looked at him in a different light, no longer a mere man. She closed her eyes, in a way Hamar was not the only one to die. The Hou she knew has moved on.
The crowd also felt emotions, many emotions at once, "But I did not do it alone. I could only be your God because of someone many of you know. Hamar."
He caused Hamar's sword to appear within his outstretched hand, while it was a distance away all could see once again.
"Hamar is a dead God now. But I don't wish for his name to be forgotten. This world, from henceforth, will not be named the Solar Lands after the Old Gods, it will be Hamartia! By the New Gods!"
It was poetic name, Hou thought. This World was, in a way, Hamar's Hamartia; his tragic fatal flaw.
He raised his voice, "And with the dying God's last breath he gave his will to you, the people."
Hou was bending the truth a little, to create a mythology. Hamar did not pass his will to the people, he was too weak to do even such. He did, though, give it to William in his sword.
"He has decreed that he lives on! Lives on within the first and final disciple, William!" He gestured for him to walk up.
And so he did. William walked through the crowd, parting for him. He stood on the ground looking up.
"Down."
He knelt, knee to dust. And for some unexplainable reason he lifted his hands, "Yes God?"
"Hamar, to Hamartia, has gifted you, William, a sacred relic. His sword and his will. The world has changed much, the abilities you once relied on have passed. Work well, for him."
Hou dropped the sword in view of all Hamartians, the people of Hamartia, it fell into Williams open hands. He held the sword and stood up, the first religious leader of Hamartia.
William the first.