The Alchemist of the Heavens

The Moon

When Desmond opened his eyes again, it was around nine in the morning, the sun had not yet reached its zenith, and the horse-drawn carriage was moving.

Apparently, the hunting party had decided to set off without informing him; after all, they had a long journey ahead of them.

He remembered what had happened yesterday; the throbbing pain still enveloped his right index finger, but there was no longer any serious pain.

When Desmond looked at his finger and saw that the colour of the ring had changed, especially that the moon symbol was covered in a bright red colour, he immediately said:

“Selene's System, is that it?”

He had only voiced this question aloud to think about what was happening; he had no other purpose, but the moment he uttered these words, the interior of the carriage was filled with an incredibly bright light, which faded away after about fifteen seconds.

The carriage stopped abruptly, the doors opened, and the question, “Sir, are you alright?”' reached Desmond's ears.

This was the leader of the hunter party, a rather rough-looking but, contrary to his appearance, quite gentle man with a black beard and bald head. His name was George. In Moon City, they called him Black Beard George for obvious reasons.”

“I'm fine, I was trying to do something, please continue on your way,” said Desmond, looking at something right in front of him. Although this intrigued George, it wasn't his place to question what was going on.

“As you wish, sir,” said George and closed the carriage doors.

Desmond realised that George couldn't see what he was looking at.

What he saw was a jet-black window. The four corners of the window were covered with star symbols. At the top of this window was simply the word 'System' and immediately below it, as if it were a subheading, was the word 'Profile'.

“What on earth is this?” Desmond wondered, having never heard of or seen anything like it before.

When he asked this question, he unexpectedly received a response, this time seemingly real... almost physical.

He began to hear voices forming instantly in his mind:

[What you see before you is a 'System Window,' my lord. Pleased to meet you. You may refer to me simply as the system. I have been sent here by Nyx, Mother of the Night.]

As this voice echoed in Desmond's mind, his thoughts were overwhelmed by a flood of questions.

“Nyx?” he murmured, but it was not a question; Desmond was, in fact, astonished.

There were many different churches in the world. They belonged to the children of the Creator and the Titans. Regardless of race, many different races worshipped many different gods and goddesses.

Nyx, however, was different from all of them.

Known as the Mother of Night, this goddess was one of the two children of the creator Chaos. She was not only the most powerful goddess in existence but also the very person who bestowed magic upon the entire world.

In short, it made sense to see her as the sole empress of the gods and goddesses.

Nyx was the only sacred being worshipped by every race on Earth since their very existence.

“I don't understand... What business could the Great Goddess possibly have with me?” Desmond wondered, his mind understandably consumed by incredible curiosity.

[It is not Lady Nyx who has business with you, but the one descended from the bloodline of Lord Moon. A forgotten goddess, the woman who is the moon itself. Now I ask you, despite her being forgotten, do you not know which goddess your family has worshipped for generations?]

After this voice echoed in his mind once more, Desmond immediately questioned, “Lady of the Moon, Selene. Of course, that's why it's called Selene's System... But why is the name of the Great Goddess Nyx mentioned here?”

[Lady Selene is quite close to the Chaos-Born, as you can imagine, especially to Lady Nyx herself. And of course, this made Lady Selene grateful to the family that never forgot her, the Moon family, who accepted her existence as their surname. They practically saved her from being forgotten.]

“I see... So she tried to repay her debt to us, is that it?” Desmond questioned, having never heard of such a thing before.

[In a way. Lady Nyx had set a condition, meaning that the help was to repay the debt.] said the voice inside his mind.

“What kind of condition?” Desmond questioned.

[Just as Moon Family had worshipped the Great Goddess Selene when she was at her weakest, close to disappearing, Lady Nyx had set a condition that a person of the Moon lineage would be saved if they ever found themselves in the same situation.]

Desmond smiled when this voice echoed in his mind, perhaps for the first time in a pure way since his sister and brother had left home to pursue their careers, leaving him alone, maybe a year or two ago.

“My grandmother must know about this... After all, she was a woman devoted to Lady Selene with her entire being,” Desmond said.

Desmond knew, of course, that his grandmother valued him; even inheriting a ring made him feel valued. Only... this was different.

His grandmother had perhaps made a move that would save his life.

[Yes. Unfortunately, before she passed away, your grandmother was busy praying not only for Lady Selene but also for Lady Nyx. Your grandmother was praying that you would at least be able to use magic, so that no one would bully you, so that your mother and father would value you, but that... was impossible, at least until now.]

After all these words echoed in his mind, Desmond tilted his head. With great curiosity and, frankly, incredible astonishment, he questioned, “Until now?”

After these words, the voice in his mind did not appear for a while. As seconds turned into minutes, Desmond just kept waiting. He needed answers.

After nearly three minutes had passed, the voice finally returned:

[Carefully read the system window you see before you, sir. Perhaps you have not understood the true power of this system window. This is a power bestowed upon you by the creator's own daughter, a power that even the highest gods and goddesses cannot obtain. Using magic will be child's play."

These words echoed in Desmond's mind not just once, but dozens of times in the form of thoughts. Even before he looked at the system window, his nerves were on edge, but not in a bad way.

He was excited, tremendously so. He now had the opportunity to accomplish something he had wanted to do his entire life. Perhaps he was dreaming, but if so, he could wish never to wake up from this dream.

When he finally pulled himself together, he managed to look once more at the system window, which was still open in front of him: