"That's right, it is the magic that grants people extraordinary abilities, creating fire, water, or light," Alex added excitedly.
Elias understood what the boy meant, so he decided to explain clearly.
"Alex," he said, his voice steady like a teacher's: "That is not magic as you think."
"That is a ritual," Elias explained thoroughly: "It is a sacred ritual for believers to communicate with deities, receiving divine permission to mobilize the power of the gods."
This was an entirely new concept, an abstract idea that Alex had never heard in the simple lectures of the church.
Elias continued patiently, "I understand what you mean. Humans establish churches and build temples to collect pure faith power for the deities. To respond to that worship, the deities will extract a portion of their power to grant back to humans for use. Aside from the Supreme Goddess, we twelve Angels will also share our specific powers."
"And the invisible channel connecting deities and human believers is precisely the Ritual Magic that you see."
"Every mage has a distinct talent; answering their prayers is the Angel possessing the corresponding talent suitable for their soul, and answering the prayers of believers is also a mandatory duty of an Angel." Elias tried to avoid some complex technical terms that might cause discomfort or confusion for Alex, explaining the symbiotic relationship between deities and human believers to him as simply as possible.
But just this amount of basic knowledge was enough to make Alex dizzy, his mind reeling with theological concepts.
"I understand... sort of," Alex tried to open his eyes wide, nodding: "Putting it that way, the extraordinary ability to punish evildoers that the 'Arbiters' hold is the portion of power that the Angel of Judgment grants them, right?"
"You can understand it that way. They borrow the hand of the Judge to execute justice," Elias nodded, confirming the boy's intelligence.
"In that case, You are an Angel, so You must also have a vast number of believers holding Your power of war, right?" Alex deduced.
"No, Alex," Elias denied immediately, his voice lowering slightly.
"Huh?" Alex was confused, tilting his head: "Didn't You say this is the duty and honor of an Angel?"
"No one wants to hold my cruel power," Elias calmly spoke the harsh truth.
Alex was stunned, then gradually understood the meaning within Elias's words, which were tinged with loneliness.
In the doctrines of the Luminous Church, records praising this Angel of War were pitifully few, almost forgotten. Compared to other Angels representing healing, light, or justice, the one bearing the name "War," full of blood and tears like him, did not seem to be very welcomed or worshipped by people.
Just like Alex, an ostracized corpse collector.
"Then can I wish to become Your first believer?" Alex suddenly asked, his eyes lighting up: "Deities will always watch over and protect their believers, right?"
"Alex, believing in a god is a choice made by voluntarily following one's inner calling; it cannot be considered a wish for exchange," Elias gently refused: "I want a set of beautiful new clothes made of silk, I want a luxurious farm full of livestock, I want to become a powerful ruler of this country, or I want eternal youth. Only specific desires like that count as wishes."
Alex was a bit disappointed, his lips drooping: "But I don't want those frivolous things."
He lowered his eyes, his gaze accidentally falling upon the bag containing the corpse of the unfortunate boy in the solitary corner of the dark room.
Alex suddenly felt very sad, a sadness creeping into his heart. He had a rare opportunity granted by a deity to make a life-changing wish, yet he could not think of a suitable wish for himself.
But if he were to just wish for something trivial like a delicious buttered loaf of bread in a display cabinet, it seemed like a waste of this once-in-a-millennium opportunity.
The boy in the body bag died unhappily, unknown to anyone. Little Alex also had no grand aspirations for a bleak future.
They were both pitiful, lonely people forgotten by the world.
"Then this wish, You can definitely fulfill." Alex took a deep breath, made up his mind, moved his eyes away from the boy's corpse, and looked straight at Elias.
"Suppose one day in the future, I carelessly die in some desolate place unknown to anyone, could You appear beside me, find me a peaceful piece of land to rest, and hold a decent funeral? I don't want to be like that corpse, dying lonely and cold somewhere and then being eaten by wild beasts."
Alex had originally intended to wish for this god to stay and keep him company until that day, to make him less lonely, but using a tiny wish to bind the freedom of a supreme god would be too selfish and arrogant.
He had nothing, his status was lowly; how could he rely on a mere trifle of a wish to bind a powerful god to his side forever?
So Alex retracted his greed, only wishing that Elias would appear one more time on the day he died to see him off.
"Alex, such an opportunity to change destiny is not easy to come by. You can wish for wealth and nobility," Elias emphasized again, seemingly wanting to give him a chance to change his mind.
But this could not alter Alex's iron determination.
"I don't have that much ambition," Alex smiled with relief: "Just that is enough. A peaceful ending."
The skeleton remained silent for a moment, his dark eye sockets looking deep into the boy's soul: "Agreed."
The tattered wooden house fell into silence following Elias's low voice. The wind outside still howled, but inside the room, it was strangely warm.
Alex blinked, looking around. There was no brilliant formation of a contract, no thunder or blinding light as he had imagined. Everything just settled down following Elias's simple words, without any of the magnificent fanfare that should have accompanied a deity granting a human's important wish.
"Just like that? No need to sign a name or anything?" He really didn't dare believe his eyes.
When he was small, before being discarded by the Luminous Church because of his birthmark, Alex used to live in an orphanage directly under the church.
In the fairy tales the nuns told in his childhood to lull him to sleep, when deities blessed humans, corresponding miracles would occur, the sky would open, and angels would sing.
After all, the white skeleton before him was God's powerful Angel of War.