And they made it seem that something was truly wrong with the gods. Not just the ones forsaken by heaven, but all of them. Which meant things were wrong with everything. Sanzo worked for the gods. This entire journey was ordered by the gods. All for what? To save the world? Yes, fine. Who else? Heaven? Perhaps. And gods who couldn't give a damn what happened down here as long as Gyuumao wasn't alive to threaten that world up there.

"Maybe..." Sanzo started, startling Hakkai who expected the man not to go any further with the subject. "It was just too boring."

He smiled. "Good reasoning. Definitely your reasoning."

"Hakkai."

"Yes, Sanzo?" Hakkai replied...or thought he replied.

"Go to sleep. You're forgetting your company."

"It's only you."

"But you just called me Konzen."

Chapter 3: A Better Man

The gods save no one. I can believe it now. They don't see the blood we shed. They don't see the tears we cry. They are incapable; as are we. Doomed to live in anarchy we shake our fists to the skies and damn them down and damn them down. Share the hell and destroy the world. Make the new resurface and pray for a better reality.

I believe that I hate their heaven. And as such, I have always felt...even as a child...that heaven hated me. But what can they do to punish me? Kill my love? Murder by the thousands? Take away my humanity? They are incapable. Those were my own doings.

And so I ask nothing of them.