NoGift

Chapter 186: the trending video

THREE days after the Festival of Creation, a certain video on [Jiffy] had been trending.  It was posted by an anonymous account just the day before.  For some reason, the posted video was the first thing the people would see whenever they logged in into their [Jiffy] account.  Whenever the person's location was, whichever continent they might be from, it's certain that they would see the posted video.

And of course, because of human's curious nature, they couldn't help but just clicked and watched the said video.  And with a title like; [The Disappointment of Gaia], it would definitely catch anyone's attention.

What they saw when they clicked it open was something that most would consider very terrifying.  Especially to those who unflinchingly trusted the Temple of Gaia.  Because in that video was something that could truly challenge that trust.

The video was taken during the Festival of Creation being celebrated at Victoria City.  It all started with someone walking on the stage and sitting in front of a canvas, as if going to paint.  Then suddenly a pillar of light struck the Holy Temple.  After a few seconds, when the light disappeared, the Holy Temple that stood proudly where it hit also disappeared.  What was left were just a few rubbles.  Then they saw the crowd panicking.

When they thought that a stampede would happen, a young man with blue hair and ice blue eyes took charge and prevented that from happening.  They thought that was the end of it, but then another white light appeared.  This time it was too glaring that the people watching needed to close their eyes for a second.  When they opened their eyes again, they almost couldn't believe what they were seeing.

An image of a woman was floating on where the Holy Temple was built.  Her ash brown hair was long and flowing.  She had a pair of big blue eyes that looked like a piece of jewel.  She looked so beautiful, she didn't even seem to be real.

Then they heard someone shouting; "It's the goddess!"

The people who's watching the video was startled by that.  Due to that, when they looked at the image of the floating woman, they couldn't help but think that she might really be the goddess - Gaia.  After all, not only did she looked otherworldly, she also bore an extreme resemblance to the statue of the goddess that could be seen in every church of the Temple of Gaia.

What happened next only strengthened that belief.

The goddess cried and said, "My children, how could you disappoint me so?"

Even her voice seemed to be not of this world.  How could it not belong to the goddess?

Then the sky darkened and streaks of lightning flashed.  The beautiful goddess scattered in a million particles of light.  It was then followed by the frantic voices of the people in the plaza.

"It's the goddess!  The goddess is angry at the Temple that's why she destroyed the Holy Temple and appeared before us!" shouted by a woman's voice.

"It's a sign!  The Temple is probably doing something bad behind all our backs that's why the goddess was forced to descend to give us all a warning!" followed by a man's.

"We should not believe the Temple!"

"It's all the Temple's fault!"

"Ahhh!!!  The goddess is angry!  We're doomed!"

"No!  How could this be?  How could we appease the goddess anger?

"It's all the Temple's fault!  You have to do something before the goddess punish us all!"

Could the appearance of the goddess truly be a warning to the Temple of Gaia?  With what they're seeing and hearing, they could only believe so.

As the rain fell and the people seemed like they're ready to besiege the priests on the stage, almost all the people who was watching the video that it would end up in tragedy.  But who would have thought that the same young man who stopped the stampede earlier spoke up again.

"The goddess won't punish us.  Haven't you seen clearly?  Only the Holy Temple was destroyed and none of the people were hurt by that white light.  It means that the goddess' anger was not directed at us.  The goddess is a benevolent and compassionate being.  She would not hurt her children who love her.  She would only punish those who committed a terrible sin.  Are we sinners?"

And with just that, he stopped a tragedy before it could even begin.  The video ended with him leading the people to pray to the goddess.

After watching that video, it evoked a lot of different opinions and reactions from people.  Some cried and some were angered, but ultimately, most were just disappointed and disillusioned.  This was the Holy Temple the one standing at the very core of many people's religious beliefs.  And yet, the goddess herself appeared and said that she was disappointed in them.  How could they believe in what they're saying from now on?

If there were people who believed the content of the video or at least was now confused and shaken by it, there would, of course, be people who wouldn't believe it.  Those types of people were the one who would refuse anything and everything that would challenge their religious beliefs. 

Due to this, a debate had been going on under the comment section of the posted the video;

[I knew it!  There's no way a big organization like the Holy Temple has no dirty secrets.  And it must be something really disgusting for the goddess herself to appear and punish them.]

[I heard from someone that their using their orphanages to brainwash young kids.  Giving them countless mental torture so they could be the 'perfect' followers of the Temple.]

[Upstairs, is that true?  How horrible!]

[That's so disgusting!  No wonder Gaia cried like that.] 

[But that's not all, a lot of the priests, mostly those that are high in rank, are abusing their powers.  Extorting money from the poor, raping under aged children, they just continue to take and take.  Because they think that they're more superior than the rest of us.] 

[I have a personal experience in this.  When I was a kid and visiting a relative from a small village, one family there offended a Bishop.  They were a family of three the parents and their five-year-old daughter.  The next day, the whole family disappeared.  And the day after that, the body of the girl was found floating on the river.  Blood was still flowing in between her legs.  It was a very traumatic memory for me.  I didn't think it was related to the Temple back then.  But watching that video and reading the comments here, I couldn't help but connect them.]

[Upstairs, it's definitely that Bishop!  Poor girl.  I bet her parents were killed.  Just how low could the Temple get?]

[Will all of you just stop your slander?!  There's no evidence to prove that what you're saying is true!  For we all know, even this video was fake!]

[I agree!  The Temple has been nothing but good to us.  How could all of you say these things?]

[Don't be fooled!  This video is definitely fake!]

[To the people upstairs, are you sure you're not drunk?  Just how could you fake something like these?  If you know how, then please, feel free to tell us.]

[I could attest that this video is not fake.  I was there.  The goddess truly appeared.  She truly made the Holy Temple disappear.]

[I was also there.  I was standing near where the goddess appeared.  It almost felt like I was standing near some kind of holy energy.  That kind of presence, it could only belong to our goddess, Gaia!]   

[Do you people forget about our Pope?  Do you think someone so kind as him would allow the things you've been blaming the Temple of?]

[Yes, I'm sure there's an explanation for all of these.]

[Wait- would no one ask about the blue-haired young man who stopped the panicking people?]

[Oh, I know him.  He's the second prince of our kingdom Albion!  Winter Percival di Albion.]

[A prince!  No wonder he has such a noble atmosphere around him.]

[He's so handsome and kind.  This is how a prince should be.]

[Is this a sign that I should just migrate to Albion?]

And so, the debate and opinions continued.  Not only that, but the effect of the video also continued to spread across the five continents.