Thief's Theme: A Love Story
Chapter Fifteen

His body hunched over Sharia’s, Ji lifts his head somewhat in order to look around and get a sense of his surroundings. It appears that he’s in an area of pure divine energy, where the ground itself is made of the clouds while the surrounding walls are made of a gold substance. He continues to look and notices that he is front of an audience, made of the gods themselves. The gods by nature are in a form that is not perceivable by the mortal eye. If glanced upon by a normal man or woman, said man or woman would instantly fall into insanity and never recover for they have seen something their mind cannot comprehend. Ji however is anything but a normal mortal man and has stolen such limitations from his eyes and his mind long ago. Instead of going crazy, Ji sees their forms, very humanoid in nature with dark skin and divine energy as robes, and is merely intrigued by the situation— or he would be if Sharia wasn’t hurt at the moment. ‘They’re gods. They can help. They can fix her.’ He thinks as he goes to open his mouth. He’s cut off by the one of the gods beating him to it.

“Ohiji Olezuo, you have been judged by the gods and we have found your actions…displeasing.” Comes the booming divine voice that is heard on all levels of existence, whether it’s physical, mental, spiritual, metaphysical, and so on.

“You have dared to violate the laws of what should be and shed your limitations. You have stolen that which shouldn’t be stolen and now you shall be punished!” States the voice of a different god, albeit with the same properties.

“You—“

“I don’t care.” Interrupts Ji, as he looks back down at Sharia’s prone body. “Just…fix it. Fix her. She has nothing to do with this.” He demands.

“You DARE!” Yells, the god that he cut off, enraged at his show of disrespect. Ji stays where he is, unwavering and unafraid, only determined and worried for Sharia’s health.

“I do. Now please, just fix her.” He pleads this time, his voice betraying his desperation.

“We shall not.” Answers a different god. “She is simply collateral damage in your punishment. A symptom of your transgressions, of your crimes.” Ji starts shaking as he tries to keep himself from crying, from showing weakness.

“Fine.” He starts, softly. “I’ll give up stealing, put everything back to the way it’s supposed to be, and do whatever you want. Just please, fix her!” He yells, tears streaming down his face as he can no longer hold in his feelings. The gods are unimpressed and unmoving in their thoughts.

“No.” Comes yet another divine voice. “Consider this part of your punishment.” Speaks the voice with conviction.

“Besides,” Begins another of the gods. “This is the work of the God of Destruction. So even if we wanted to, it’d be…difficult so say the least to undo the destruction from destruction incarnate.” The divine being explains. Ji tries unsuccessfully to stop crying as he croaks out his next words.

“She’s dying.” His voice cracking with emotion.

“And?” Asks one of the divine beings, not caring much for a mere mortal, even if they are a Keeper Elite. Ji takes the time to dry his tears and whisper the statement one more time, more to himself than anyone else.

“She’s dying.” His eyes then steel over. “No more.” He states in a serious voice. “Until I can heal her…until she says when…I…I have to make sure she survives.” He says out loud to himself. He then looks towards the gods with a determined look. “This is on you.” He states matter-of-factly.

“Mortal, what are you—“ The divine voice stops as Ji has suddenly disappeared.

“What did he mean?” Asks one of the other gods.

“He’s taken it. Time.” Speaks a third god, confusing the other divine beings until they realize what that meant. Ji has stolen all of time, leaving everything frozen besides himself and the gods (due to them being abstract concepts and beings).

Ji find the Destruction God in an instance by using the information he stole from the other gods. Without fear, Ji steps forward, ready to confront the god about fixing what he’d done to Sharia.

“Destruction god.” Ji addresses him in a serious tone. “You will fix what you’ve done and heal Sharia.” He commands the divine being. The Destruction God, dressed in divine energy shaped as a red karate gi, with an afro for his hair, laughs at Ji’s audacity, even taunting him in the process.

“Hahahahahaha! Are you serious mortal? You wish to command me? The God of Destruction? And for what? To heal your mortal whore?” Ji’s eyes turn downright malevolent at the slight towards Sharia and his face contorts.

“I don’t kill, or even like to harm others usually.” He says simply as he breathes in and out deeply. “But I no longer have my morals, my humanity. Not for—not right now. So I would tread carefully.” He warns the divine being. Again the Destruction God taunts him.

“Am I supposed to be scared? I am a god of the highest order, and you are nothing but a mortal!” States the god with a spiteful tone. In that moment, Ji immediately steals the Destruction God’s heart, holding it in his hand. The god of destruction’s eyes widen in surprise right Ji crushes it, bringing the divine being to one knee, seriously hurt. Ji doesn’t stop his assault however and takes his right eye next, crushing that in his hand as well, forcing the god to try to cover his empty socket with his own hand and flinch from the pain. Next Ji steals the gods’ balls, as he’s taken on the form of a man, and holds them in his hand as he grins menacingly.

“It’s rather fitting.” Ji says in a sadistic voice. “You didn’t have the balls to fight me man to man after all. You instead chose to sneak attack me, the very action that got her hurt in the first place!” He exclaims as he crushes said balls in his hand, causing immense amounts of pain and agony to the divine being who thought himself invincible. The god shivers in pain and is introduced to it once more as his right arm is ripped from his body, Ji taking it and throwing it away, and then his brain is taken as Ji stomps on it with malice.

“You deserve this you weak god! You did this to her! You killed her! And I will do the same to you.” Yells Ji angrily. The destruction god sneers at the insult and gathers his divine powers, ready to do battle.

“You presume too much human. I am a god, and thus I do not die from wounds like these. My very essence is immortal in all ways!” He shouts as he stands once more. The Destruction God doesn’t wait for a reply and instead shoots out a destructive fire, the very fire that will consume the universe at the end of its life, towards his opponent. Ji doesn’t move an inch and instead steals both the heat and the destructive aspect of the fire, suffering no damage whatsoever.

“As I said, weak. I easily stole the heat and destruction from your attack and stand here unharmed.” This angers the Destruction God who attacks once more, this time with powerful divine wind. Again, the attack does nothing as Ji merely steals the speed from the winds as well as the destructive force once again. “And this time, I stole the very speed from your winds. Do you have anything better?” He taunts with a sneer.

The god of destruction is now livid and tries to hit Ji with pure destructive force, impact incarnate, but this time the thief steals his own ability to be harmed. The force washes over Ji and he remains stable, unmoving from the attack. The Destruction God gets desperate and tries pure destructive energy this time, literal destruction incarnate, able to destroy anything in its path. Ji stares down the attack and steals its ability to do harm. He then quickly does the same to the god, rendering him unable to attack any further.

“How pathetic, a Destruction God who can destroy nothing.” Taunts Ji with malice as he finishes the job, taking the god of destruction’s powers away. As he does this, the Destruction God looks down at his hands in disbelief, feeling his lack of power, something that is unfamiliar to him.

“Please, give them back! Give me back my powers! I beg of you!” Pleads the former Destruction God, no longer having his divine aura.

“Bring her back. And then we can talk.” Counters Ji without emotion, without care. The former god looks lost at that answer. His mouth opens and closes several times like a fish, before he finally answers in a timid voice.

“I…I can’t. I can only destroy on that level, not heal. I…I can’t help her.” He admits quietly. Ji is silent as he contemplates his next move. Unfortunately for the former god, Ji is without his humanity so his next decision is ruthless. Without a care, Ji takes his immortality and the former dies, succumbing to his wounds.

Ji returns his own humanity and immediately returns to the gods, startling them. The gods jump in surprise and a little bit of fear as they can sense the death of their fellow immortal, the god of destruction. They all stare at him, waiting for him to speak, and he obliges them.

“How do I save her?” He asks bluntly. The gods are stumped, unable to answer with any kind of certainty. One of the gods does take a stab at the answer however.

“You mean without stealing from her. Stealing something like her—“

“Which we’ve established that I won’t.” The god is cut off by Ji who interrupts him in an irritated tone. The god continues, ignoring the slight for the time being.

“Then you’d need to somehow heal destruction wrought by destruction incarnate.” Answers the god. Ji gives said god a pointed look, asking the divine being to continue. Instead the other gods answer for him.

“That is impossible.”

“No one can do that.”

“Only the Creator can do such a thing.”

“The Creator himself would have to bless her.” Come the responses rapidly. Ji nods in understanding.

“So the Creator can do it? Then I will speak to him.” States Ji as he readies himself to leave. “Where is he?” Asks Ji, realizing he doesn’t know the first thing about reaching said Creator. The gods all hesitate to answer, caught between their fear of Ji and their fear of the Creator. Ji loses his patience with them as they continue to be silent. “WHERE!” He yells in agitation and anger. The gods cower slightly before one, a woman stands up and speaks.

“The Creator is not to be bothered. His wrath is great and his power infinite.” She states matter-of-factly.

“I didn’t ask that.” Voices Ji coldly. “Where. Is. He!?” Asks Ji once more, accentuating each word as his agitation grows. The gods grow silent once more, contemplating their next move. Again the same goddess from before steps forward to speak, wary of giving Ji any information, in fear of the Creator’s wrath.

“I—“ She begins, but is cut off before she can utter more than a single syllable.

“In his realm. Got it.” Says Ji, stealing the knowledge from her and the heads of the other gods. “So he has heralds…” Ji trails off, processing said information. The gods look at each other, worried of what the Creator’s response might be. And so the gods step forward in an attempt to stop Ji from leaving, from disturbing the Creator.

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