An elderly man, apparently the young man's father, grabbed his arm. "No one has ever reached Mount Sirius's peak alive. It takes days, and we don't have time. While we still can, let's go to the Dili District for shelter. I heard there's still some food there..."
Before the old man could finish, the young man interrupted. "Father, the gods will protect us. Please, you must believe me."
Doubt filled the old man's eyes, but he chose to trust his son.
The elderly father, kind wife, and two small children—the young man ignored the crowd's skeptical stares and led his believing family members on the journey to find the holy site and seek the Messiah.
Thea, Ganthet, and Sayd silently watched this family from the sky. They were completely ordinary, no different from any common person on this planet—helpless, panicked, but through the young man's devout faith, they struggled to begin their trek.
Even knowing the journey wouldn't be smooth, the young man still received fate's heavy blow on the second day.
His elderly father, who'd supported him throughout, fell behind due to his advanced age and frailty. Just as the entire family had crossed a suspension bridge, the rope snapped. The old man helplessly reached out one hand toward his son and fell into the ravine.
Thea naturally witnessed this. While the two Guardians remained unmoved, she wasn't so cold-blooded.
She wasn't a bleeding heart, but when someone's misfortune unfolded before her eyes and she could help, she would. She acted decisively, swapping the elder to her side the instant before he would have hit the ground.
"O God! Save us! Save our planet!" The old man could raise such a devout young man because he himself was extremely faithful and loving. He only felt that one second he'd been awaiting death, the next he'd arrived in the clouds. The goddess beside him was stunningly beautiful even by their aesthetic standards.
He'd been saved by a deity! He could think of no other explanation. He wanted to kneel in worship, but floating in the clouds, he feared moving might make him fall, so he could only plead verbally.
Her Godhood allowed her to understand all intelligent beings' languages. She heard the old man's words perfectly clearly and waved her hand to heal him. "I am divine, but not your deity. Your son's trial continues. Be calm. Everything will be revealed within two days."
As if confirming the goddess's words, the young man's trial came again. His wife, while crossing a narrow passage, slipped from the thousand-meter-deep valley. The young man wailed at the spot where his wife had vanished, finally wiped away his tears, and struggled to carry his two children forward.
Saving one meant saving two as well. You come too! Thea pulled back another. She handed the young man's wife to the old father for comfort while continuing her role as observer.
The young man's journey neared its destination when cruel fate toyed with him once more.
While crossing a shallow river, the water level suddenly rose. The two children, small and weak, were directly swept away by the rushing current.
The young man could no longer suppress his grief. He pounded the ground furiously, as if trying to vent all life's injustices.
Thea swept her hand and retrieved the two children as well. She glanced sideways at old Ganthet. Silence spoke volumes. This was your Book of Oa's prophesied Hope light? You abandoned companions you'd worked with for countless ages—was it really worth it? I feel like that young man below is about to turn dark!
Ganthet's expression was terrible. Neither they nor Thea had interfered, which meant the young man's encounters were destiny's arrangement. But this destiny was rather cruel.
Had destiny foreseen that Thea would come to this planet at this time and save the young man's family where he couldn't see?
Ganthet didn't think he'd save anyone. He was marginally better than his colleagues, but only marginally. Forget a few ordinary people—even if an entire planet exploded into dust before his eyes, he wouldn't bat an eye.
Ganthet quickly glanced at Thea before returning to his expressionless observation.
Unaware of the crowd of observers above his head, the young man finally finished venting. Under Ganthet's excited gaze, he climbed alone toward the nearby holy mountain.
"Are you certain some miracle will descend? I haven't sensed any divine power fluctuations." Thea watched the young man laboriously climb. As he neared the peak, she couldn't help asking.
How could Ganthet answer? He hadn't sensed any anomalies either. By rights, there should have been some sign by now.
The three of them carefully sensed their surroundings. The young man's family secretly cheered on their son, husband, and father. After the young man fell three times and climbed back up three times, he finally reached the summit.
The barren peak held only a large stone monument. Nothing else. No Messiah, no divine artifact for salvation, naturally no deity...
"Ahhh!—Ahhh!" The young man couldn't bear this crushing disappointment. Furious beyond measure, he punched the boulder with both fists. Within two blows, blood stained the stone. But the young man had long forgotten pain. Physical pain was nothing compared to his inner torment. His stubbornness had caused his entire family's death. He hated!
Thea watched with pursed lips. Black energy now faintly emanated from the young man's body—the aura of despair. Facing this so-called sacred stone, give him a sword and he could star in an alien version of Bram Stoker's Dracula...
"Impossible. The Book of Oa can't be wrong. Hope light should descend here!" Ganthet completely lost his composure.
"Can we create a Blue Lantern for him?" Sayd asked urgently. If the prophecy failed, their defection from their race would be a joke.
Ganthet observed carefully for a long time before answering with some sadness. "He has no Hope within him. The ring won't choose him."
Sayd refused to give up and created one on the spot—this universe's very first Blue Lantern.
Unfortunately, the ring completely ignored the young man. Without Sayd's control, it probably would have flown away already.
The two blue people were completely out of options. Thea looked around, feeling it was time for her to clean up the mess.
She muttered to herself, "In another parallel space-time, that world's universal will gave me something. I don't know if this is what your book prophesied, or if it's coincidence."
Without waiting for the two blue people's reaction, she gathered a small ball of Hope emotion at her fingertip and projected it like a beam of light into the young man's body.
"Hope emotion! Hope emotion that doesn't require a ring!" The two Guardians were knowledgeable. They watched this pure emotional energy enter the young man's heart.
"Seems like something's still missing." Thea, quite experienced by now, spoke while teleporting the young man's family members over.
The Hope emotion eliminated the pessimism and despair in the young man's heart. The family he'd thought dead reappearing before him caused his emotions to completely explode.