Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis felt like time stopped. Heaven had created his mother? What did this mean? Why? "You're a Heavenborn?" Gravis asked in shock.

His mother tapped her chin. "You could call me that," she said nonchalantly like it wasn't a big deal. "Heaven created me to be as compatible with your father as possible. In the beginning, your father wasn't very thrilled with me. He just thought that this was another one of Heaven's schemes."

Gravis couldn't wrap his head around this fact. So many moral conflicts and implications appeared with that fact. "Were you also created to love him?" he asked, fearing the answer.

His mother nodded. "Of course. We were perfectly compatible with each other. So, I quickly fell in love with your father."

This was the answer that Gravis feared. The fact that his parents didn't meet or fall in love naturally made a lump appear inside his chest. This didn't feel like love. It felt more artificial than that. "And you never questioned these feelings, fearing that they have been instilled by someone else?"

"Oh, I did, trust me on that," his mother said. "I was unhappy, angry, and hated my life. It didn't feel like I was my own person. It felt more like I was a tool that had been created just to please someone else. I hated that feeling," she said.

"I stayed like that for a long time and mostly spent my time with the mortals. I have built a lot of relationships with them, but I always felt sad when they died of old age. In the beginning, our times together felt like an eternity, but as more time passed, their lives just seemed to become shorter and shorter."

"Back then, your father and I talked a lot. He was the only constant in my life. On top of that, I just didn't feel any love for any other man or woman. They all felt so fragile and distant. It was like we were living in different worlds."

"After a long time of talking, we became closer. Just like today, he always seemed to be busy with something and just sat inside his room, frowning all the time. His demeanor might not seem different from today, but I felt the difference. It felt like your father was lost," she said.

Gravis gulped again. "And even though Heaven created you to fall in love with each other, you just went along with it?" Gravis asked.

His mother sighed. "I guess we both felt lost. I felt isolated from the mortals, and your father felt isolated from everything. Except for Heaven, we were the only two constants. We always were there and stayed the same. I fell into thought for a long time, just thinking about my life, emotions, and life in general."

of thinking, I

"Which is?" Gravis asked.

might believe that you are above such emotions, but your

if that want disappears, you need a backup to fall back on. I think feeling happy is the goal of everyone. Whatever emotion or circumstance creates this happiness is different for everyone,

a different one to give your life meaning. The desire to reach supreme power won't ever be fulfilled for nearly everyone, so, with their goal in mind, they could strive for happiness for their entire lives, but that's

entire life, but that's because, without more food, your entire life won't be very

shot of becoming supremely powerful. Yet, if you bank everything on this one desire, achieving your goal will only leave emptiness behind. In my opinion, betting all their happiness onto supreme power means that they have already committed to never achieving it. After all, if you do reach

listened intently, reflecting on his own

loved your father, and even though these desires might appear artificial, I'll follow them. I don't want to die or live an empty life. It felt like

like he wouldn't be able to do that. Something inside of him just didn't want to give Heaven

also returned. "But didn't Heaven create emotions like love to push people to

tapped her chin again. "Honestly, I'm not so sure

"What do

but if one of your friends made

world with love and closeness? Maybe it felt empty and wanted to see what people would make of these emotions? Maybe it wanted to grant the people a chance to decide their own

survival and die at some point, but with enough intelligence and wisdom, we would realize how senseless this life was. What's the point of

possible that Heaven hadn't created emotions just to force people to get stronger? What if Heaven really had been different back then? Gravis noticed that his mother had said that Heaven might have been

acknowledging Heaven's

Gravis realized that the most pressing question still hadn't been answered. "You said that father might not love us," Gravis said, bringing the original topic