Arcane: Thicker Than Blood

Death was supposed to be painful, wasn't it? Or at the very least...final.

"What is this?"

Cipher stared in shock as a white aura suddenly appeared on his body.

It was a thin layer, barely noticeable, feeling like a harmless breeze against his skin, yet it protected him completely from the impact of the Glory Grenade.

The explosion, flames, and intense heat failed to harm him in the slightest.

Above, a beautiful sky-blue bird flapped its wings, diving straight into the pillar of fire as if the flames meant nothing.

The bird landed on his shoulder, lazily stretching its wings and letting out an odd, indecipherable sound before preening its slightly ruffled feathers.

Then, tilting its head, it spoke.

"Hello!"

Cipher's mouth fell open. "What. How? The bird is talking. The bird is talking, and I'm not dead," he mumbled to himself, trying to make sense of it.

Maybe this was the afterlife?

No.

"Let's get properly introduced. I am Janna!"

"Sorry, I should have come earlier, but I slept too long and decided to take a look around first." The bird ruffled its feathers. "A long slumber leaves one quite disoriented. I wanted to see how things had changed before making my entrance."

A slightly apologetic expression appeared on the bird's face. He wasn't sure how he could see such an expression on a bird, but somehow, he just did.

After a moment of thought, he carefully asked, "Are you Janna, the guardian spirit of Zaun's legends?"

"Yes, that's me. But don't call me a guardian spirit. That sounds so formal and distant," she replied with a hint of displeasure.

"What would you prefer? Divine protector?" Cipher asked, still processing the surreal encounter, and not realizing that his suggestion was formal and distant as well.

"In your terms, it's what you wrote in your book on revolution," she said. "You described the bonds between those who fight together for change as something deeper than alliance."

Her voice softened. "Remember that passage? 'When we stand together not just as comrades but as something more, watching over each other, protecting each other through storms both literal and figurative...'"

Cipher nodded slowly.

"That's what I am to Zaun, and what I hope to be to you. Not a distant deity to be worshipped, but someone who walks beside you. Family."

"So, drop the formalities. We're family, we're equals. Janna is fine."

She blinked her eyes, openly acknowledging her identity, but seemed displeased with his choice of words. Her face puffed up indignantly.

Cipher found it absurd, how could a wind spirit, who had taken the form of a bird, still manage to show so many expressions?

"Since the day you appeared to save Zaun's workers during the opening of the Sun Gate Canal, it's been over two hundred years since you last showed yourself, hasn't it?"

Testing the waters, Cipher observed her reaction. Janna was nothing like the high and mighty deity he had imagined. Her words were filled with revolutionary ideals, eerily similar to those he had written in his letters to Viktor, so much so that even the term family had made its way in.

Part of him wanted to ask: If we're all family, then where does your loyalty lie?

But he didn't dare voice it. If she withdrew the protective shield around him, he'd be roasted alive.

He knew the story well. He had always been aware of Janna's existence, but he had never considered relying on her. To him, gods and humans were fundamentally different.

How could a deity, standing above all, possibly understand the suffering of mortals?

Even if Janna could offer significant help in the rise of the Undercity, he had never counted on her. Never even considered it.

Because the wind of change never placed its hope in gods.

Human destiny must be in human hands. The fruits of revolution must be harvested by those who fought for it.

Only when people raised the winds of change with their own hands, through steel, sweat, and blood, only then could the seeds of resistance scattered across the world forge the hammer and sickle that would truly spread and embody the ideals of revolution.

Only then would the enslaved minds be freed, thoughts unshackled, and progress embraced.

If salvation came from above, what value was there in their suffering below?

If gods did the work while humans merely worshipped and begged, then none of it would hold any meaning.

Gods rendered the struggle meaningless.

He had always believed that treating gods as divine beings worthy of reverence was a mistake. In essence, gods were merely powerful entities, unworthy of worship.

To kneel, to pray for divine mercy, to hope for salvation from deities sitting high above, was that not just another form of spiritual enslavement?

No god should stand above mortals.

If any did, then they should be dragged down from their lofty thrones, brought to the dust of the earth, and made to witness the power of humanity.

Even knowing that Janna was a benevolent deity, he had never entertained religious faith, and he remained highly wary of her.

The Christian God was known to be benevolent as well, but what about Noah's Flood that drowned the world save for a chosen few?

Or the plagues of Egypt that punished innocent children for a Pharaoh's stubbornness?

What of God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his own son as a test of faith, bringing the knife down before the last-minute reprieve?

Or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, entire cities razed for their sins?

History was littered with divinities who claimed benevolence while wielding catastrophic power at their whim. He would not easily bow to another one, no matter how gentle her current demeanor seemed.

"Cipher, I once fell into slumber due to a lack of faith, but the winds of revolution you stirred have awakened me. I am now part of the revolution."

"I am your family. I would never harm you. Of course, I can swear loyalty to the revolution!"

"But I have to say, your ideological consciousness is too low. How could you doubt your own family without solid evidence?"

"And one more time, I am not a god. I am your family."

The bird flapped its wings forcefully, slapping Cipher's face as if genuinely upset.

"How do you know what I was thinking?"

Blocking the flurry of wing attacks, Cipher was bewildered. He hadn't said a word, how did Janna know everything?

This wasn't fair. Was she cheating? Reading his mind?

"I'm not cheating," she huffed. "I don't know why, but when I get close to you, I can sense your thoughts. Your thoughts are like... whispers on the wind."

The bird abruptly stopped her attack, hovering mid-air in direct defiance of physics. Tilting her head, she seemed deep in thought.

Maybe… because I was awakened by his revolutionary wind? Muttering to herself, she suddenly seemed to think that flapping her wings wasn't enough to vent her frustration, so she started pecking at Cipher instead.

"Can you turn it off? Even if we're family, I still deserve some privacy!"

"This mind-reading nonsense is ridiculous, how is this any different from standing naked in front of you?"

Janna looked genuinely confused. "But we're family. Why hide yourself from family?"

"Even family respects closed doors," Cipher retorted.

"Humans and their obsession with barriers," Janna sighed.

Cipher batted away her attacks. Then, narrowing his eyes, he decided to test Janna, to see if she truly regarded herself as human.

If she truly saw herself as part of humanity, as "family," then she would respond like one of them, not as some detached deity.

And if gods wanted humanity's respect, let them earn it by showing their own humanity first.

It was risky. If she withdrew her wind barrier, he'd be roasted alive.

But he still wanted to try. Maybe, deep down, he actually hoped that Janna would truly join Zaun, to side with humanity.

And what better way to provoke a goddess than blasphemy? Nothing.

He deliberately recalled an image in his mind, Janna's body in all its perfection.

Seated on something indistinct, one leg crossed over the other, wrapped in thigh-high boots. A radiant staff in hand, head tilted slightly, her face holding an air of haughty indifference, looking down with an expression that screamed: You are nothing but an unworthy speck of dust.

His fists clenched.

And in his mind, he silently thought, Janna, I'm sorry.

A brief silence followed. Then, the bird's face suddenly turned as red as a tomato.

Which was strange, how could a bird even blush?

"Cipher!" she shrieked.

"What? I apologized," Cipher replied with false innocence.

"Your ideological consciousness is too low! You need to be reforged! Reeducated in revolutionary thought!"

"Sounds almost... human," Cipher mussed, watching her reaction carefully.

"I told you, I'm family, not some distant god!" Janna's feathers were literally bristling now.

Her voice was beautiful, like a gentle spring breeze. Even as she yelled in anger, even when her voice cracked slightly, there was still something pleasant about it.

"Would another apology make you feel better?"

"I may have studied revolutionary ideals, but I'm still human. A perfectly normal, healthy man."

"Carrying a dark and heavy destiny for so long, it's only natural to occasionally have lighter, more frivolous thoughts."

He spread his hands in a theatrical gesture, delivering his apology with exaggerated formality and complete lack of sincerity.

Meanwhile, in his mind, he deliberately conjured even more provocative imagery of Janna's divine form, just to make it absolutely clear that his offense was intentional.

He wanted to provoke her. To test how much humanity remained in her.

If she possessed emotions, anger, desires, and personal preferences, if she could be called "human," then it meant that under the influence of the revolutionary wind, she was no longer some high and mighty divine entity.

A Janna like that, one who could truly feel, was exactly the guardian the revolution needed.

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Below is my comment to a reader. Maybe some of you share their view:

I understand your theological concerns, but I think you're misreading Cipher's character and the story's direction. Let me address your points directly:

Cipher's wariness toward Janna isn't generic atheism, it's the rational response of someone who has experienced suffering in Zaun while supposedly benevolent divine forces remained silent. His transmigration itself creates a legitimate theological crisis:

If this is hell: Cipher's presence in Zaun's hellish conditions suggests he's already been judged and found wanting. Why would he trust in divine mercy when that same divine justice has apparently condemned him to witness systematic oppression of the innocent? If God's justice placed him here, then appealing to that same God's mercy becomes philosophically absurd.

If this is a real world: Then divine benevolence becomes even more questionable. Cipher has witnessed children starving in the Grey, workers dying from toxic exposure, and systematic oppression, all while Piltover prospers above. If an all-powerful, benevolent God exists and chooses not to intervene in such clear-cut suffering, then either God is not truly benevolent, or operates by standards so alien to human morality that worship becomes meaningless.

The chapter reveals Cipher's core belief: "Human destiny must be in human hands." This isn't mere pride, it's an understanding that salvation granted from above creates dependency rather than true liberation. When people rely on divine intervention instead of their own agency, they become spiritually enslaved to their savior, lose the strength that comes from overcoming adversity, and render their suffering meaningless if it can be bypassed by prayer.

Cipher's examples (Noah's Flood, Egyptian plagues, Abraham's test) aren't attacks on God's character, they're honest grappling with the tension between claimed benevolence and recorded actions.

Many powerful biblical narratives begin exactly where Cipher starts, with doubt, critical thinking, and even resistance to divine authority. Consider Thomas, who demanded physical proof before believing in Christ's resurrection. Or Jacob, who literally wrestled with God and was blessed for his struggle. Paul began as Christianity's greatest persecutor before becoming its most devoted apostle. Moses questioned God's choice of him as leader. They were necessary stages in developing authentic faith rather than blind compliance.

Your argument about God's dual nature (merciful yet just) actually supports Cipher's wariness. If divine justice demands death for sin, and divine mercy offers salvation, then the criteria for who receives which treatment becomes crucial. Cipher, witnessing Zaun's suffering while Piltover prospers, reasonably questions those criteria. Are the Zaunites more sinful than the Piltovans? Or does divine favor operate by incomprehensible standards?

And Cipher doesn't deny the existence of higher powers, he acknowledges Janna's reality. His position resembles Deism: accepting that powerful beings exist while refusing to worship them or depend on their intervention. This is actually more intellectually honest than blind faith, especially given his circumstances.

His provocative test isn't blasphemy, it's pragmatism in my opinion. He needs to know: Does she truly feel as humans do? Can she be angry, embarrassed, frustrated? Because only a being who shares human emotions can truly understand human suffering. A detached, perfect deity cannot comprehend the visceral reality of watching children die from preventable diseases while the wealthy live in luxury above.

When Janna responds with very human embarrassment and anger, she validates what Cipher hoped, that she's chosen to join humanity rather than rule over it.

If this chapter conflicts with your beliefs, please understand, this is the only instance of Cipher's critical thinking about divine beings. The story isn't about theological rebellion; it's about Zaun's struggle and, most importantly, about family.

Cipher will come to accept Janna wholly.

The story ultimately affirms that the strongest bonds, whether with divine beings like Janna or redeemed enemies, are those built on genuine care, shared struggle, and chosen family ties that prove Thicker than Blood.

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40 advance chapters!

[email protected]/Malphegor