Love me Unique, Love me New
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Original Male Character x Original Male Yandere God
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Cedric agreed to attend one church service as a favor to a friend.
Seemed simple enough. Go in, sit through the Aethern service, be moral support while she confessed to her crush, and get bribed with pastries from his favorite bakery afterward.
Simple, easy peasy!
Unfortunately, Cedric somehow also managed to wake an ancient god from a three-thousand-year slumber.
And said god is absolutely convinced Cedric is the reincarnation of his long-dead lover.
Cedric would really like to go back to worrying about work deadlines instead of fighting for his life… and maybe something else… from an obsessive ancient god.
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Original posting here. All updates and new chapters will be posted here first!👇👇
https://archiveofourown.org/works/80900781
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Chapter 1: The Reluctant Promise
Buzz buzz buzz
…
Buzz bu—
Decline
…
Buzz buzz buzz
…
buzz buzz bu—
Click!
"Yes, Emily? What do you want, more money, my soul? My god girl!" Cedric lowered his voice, glancing across the mostly empty office. He didn't want anyone to hear him gossip or overhear stupid shit his friend was gonna say, or even bait him into accidentally saying something stupid.
"Well isn't that a warm greeting~?" Emily teased through the phone, her tone telling Cedric that she was having the time of her life annoying him.
"Can. I. Help. You?" He grit through clenched teeth, quickly tucking his phone between his head and shoulder so he could keep typing. He'd been trying to finish this report, and he won't let Emily's usual bullshittery stop him.
"You most certainly can, big guy!" She exclaimed. "You know how you said you'd make it up to me for missing my birthday party~?"
Cedric sighed, "You mean your birthday that's still six days away? The party you had two days ago with no warning? Also, I'm pretty sure I never—"
"ANYWAYS!" Emily interrupted Cedric. Her volume making the sound barrier break for a moment. Cedric winced, unable to move away from the phone as he continued finishing the report.
"I have an idea on what you can do to make up for it!" She continued, her voice coy as it purred through the phone.
"Mhmm…" Cedric hummed, rolling his eyes at Emily's behaviour. "And what would that be?"
"I want youuuu~…" Emily squealed, suddenly pausing and the sound of drumming on wood echoing through the phone. "To come with me to church! Just one time, one service! There's a guy I really really like, and I wanna ask him out, but I need support!"
Cedric paused from his typing, staring at the blinking cursor in his stupor. "And you're… asking me? The guy you tease for being forever single? Also! You know how I feel about church's, especially Aethern church's!—"
"I know I know!" Emily interrupted again, desperation coating her once teasing voice. "Pleaseeee Cedric! I'm begging you! You don't have to do anything, I just want you there so if I get rejected I can have immediate support! And it'll just be one service, I promise! If—if you need extra, I can take you to that Café again! You're fav one, with the small silk cakes and muffins and everything! I'll pay for anything you want! Please Cedric!" Emily begged, her voice hitching with whines and petulance.
Hitting enter, Cedric finally finished the report. Letting out a heavy sigh as he submitted it, he took his phone in hand to his opposite ear as he began to clean up his cubicle to leave.
"I don't know Emily… You know I've never been a big fan of church's, or religion for that matter…" he trailed off.
"I know! You're agnostic, I know! You don't have to—"
"Well it's not that that's making me hesitant, Emily. Being agnostic doesn't mean I'm afraid of church's! I've just not had… you know, this Emily. I didn't have a good time with church when I was younger and my parents would drag me to Sunday service." Cedric quietly murmured into the phone's speaker. He shucked on his shoulder bag, adjusting it to not dig into his shoulder as he began making his way home for the day.
"Now I'm just—just healthily hesitant! Anyone would be!" Cedric smacked the elevator button to go down, waiting for the thing to begin moving, because he was not running down 10 flights of stairs today. He listened to Emily prattle on, watching the elevator numbers go down as Emily kept trying to bargain him into this. When the elevator finally dinged it's arrival, Cedric stepped out into the large room, the ground reception floor. He nodded at the secretary working still at the main desk, giving her a thumbs up when she nodded her head towards the main doors with a kind smile on her face.
Stepping out into the dark night illuminated by streetlights and buildings, Cedric took a deep breath in and out of the crisp, cold air. "Emily…" He began, cutting off her frantic ramblings.
"I will do this for you. One service, one time. As long as you promise you don't ever try to recruit me into Aethern faith or into going there again, I will go. But I expect you to take me to my favorite bakery afterwards, as a reward for dealing with you and being such a good friend." He teased halfheartedly, leisurely walking towards the employee parking lot.
Falling into his car with a huff, he listened quietly as Emily sung his praises. Turning his car on he bid his goodbye's to her, assuring her over and over he'd be waiting tomorrow for her. When Cedric hung up, he let his head fall back onto his head rest as he threw his phone onto the passenger seat. Grunting at the pain, he reached back and undid his hair from it's bun. His long red hair fell down like silk, his restrained curls finally unfurling after a full day of work in that hairstyle. Ruffling a hand through his hair, he winced at the soreness radiating from his follicles.
"What the fuck did I just agree to…" Cedric murmured. As he turned on his car, his headlights light up the advertisement that was currently being shown. A new advertisement, put up just that morning, about booking a trip to Greece to see old Aethern Pantheon's, orchards, and singular god temples.
“Well…” Cedric muttered as he backed out of his parking space, still staring at the sunlit Greek hills and orchard vines swirling on the billboard. “Ain’t that just a lovely sign.”
He groaned, pulling out and away to drive home. "I swear to god, Emily…"
Cedric let out a long breath through his nose, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove. The city at night was quieter than usual. Not silent, but just a content type of stillness. Cars hummed down distant streets, tires whispering against asphalt. Neon signs flickered in windows. Somewhere a siren wailed faintly before fading into the distance.
Cedric drove with one hand on the wheel, the other loosely propping up his head.
“What the fuck did I agree to… Me? Going to church?” he muttered again under his breath. His fingers tapped faster against the steering wheel.
His office building vanished behind him as he drove away. Soon it was replaced by rows of dark storefronts and glowing apartment windows.
He snorted quietly. “Church. Any-fuckin'-type of religion and me. What a great idea, Cedric.”
Cedric had spent most of his life politely dodging religious invitations. Family gatherings, coworkers asking about Sunday services, neighbors handing him pamphlets. He always declined with the same gentle smile and vague excuse. He didn't hate religion. He just preferred some… distance between him and that type of stuff. Too many childhood memories of stiff pews and long sermons while his legs dangled above the floor. Too many adults telling him what he should believe instead of letting him figure things out himself.
There had been the Sunday school teacher who asked the class why God allowed bad things to happen. Cedric, nine years old and thinking he was being clever and smart, had suggested maybe people were supposed to solve their own problems sometimes instead of always relying on God. The teacher had smiled politely, that strained smile that said everything they couldn't say out loud.
“That’s not quite right, Cedric…”
The other kids had snickered. Then there were the prayer circles when he was older. One by one the kids would speak easily, thanking God for their families or asking for blessings. When it reached Cedric, he’d always freeze, heart pounding, mumbling something awkward about being grateful for dinner or something else random and weak while everyone waited.
And the questions. Cedric always had questions, even when he was younger.
Once, on the drive home when he was thirteen, he’d asked his parents how people could have free will if God already knew everything that was going to happen. His mother had glanced at his father.
His father had simply said, “Some things you accept on faith, Cedric.”
That answer had never sat right with him. By the time Cedric turned sixteen, the arguments about Sunday service had become routine. Eventually his parents stopped forcing him to go, deciding that dragging a stubborn teenager to church every week probably wasn’t doing anyone any favors. Cedric hadn’t hated religion.
He’d just never felt like it was meant for him. Agnostic was easier. Safe. Satisfied his hunger for questions and answers.
But, Emily had sounded so desperate after she dropped the sweet and sugary facade.
Cedric sighed. “You owe me like… three bakery trips for this, girl…” he murmured, tapping the steering wheel with no particular rhythm.
Traffic thinned the farther he drove from downtown. Within twenty minutes the tall buildings gave way to quieter neighborhoods, tree-lined streets stretching under warm yellow streetlights. Cedric pulled into the driveway of his home and shut the car off with a tired grunt, letting his head fall to rest on the steering wheel.
For a moment he just sat there. The silence felt nice. Then his stomach rumbled.
“Fantastic…” he muttered.
Grabbing his bag and phone, Cedric stepped out of the car and locked it with a soft beep before trudging toward his front door.
Cedric trudged up the short path to his front door, keys jingling in his hand. The porch light blinked on automatically, washing the quiet suburban street in warm amber. His house sat comfortably among the others. Two stories, dark siding, a small porch and tidy yard. Nothing extravagant, just a place that felt solid and lived in. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
“Home sweet home…” he muttered, gently closing the door with a bump from his hip.
The familiar scent of books and old wood greeted him as he dropped his bag onto a chair near the entryway. His coat followed, almost falling off the chair before Cedric lightly tugged it back.
Kitchen first, he decided, lest his stomach start eating itself. The fridge hummed when he opened it, light spilling over a sizable collection of leftovers and half-used ingredients he swore he would cook. Cedric grabbed a container of Chinese food.
“Dinner of champions!” Cedric joked to himself.
A minute later he leaned against the counter while the microwave rotated lazily. The quiet house felt good after the noise of the office. Unfortunately, his brain hadn’t quieted down nearly as much. Church.
Cedric sighed. “Why do I let that woman talk me into things… I swear, after today, I refuse to do any more favors for her…”
The microwave beeped. He grabbed the container and wandered into the living room, dropping onto the couch with his phone in hand. Halfway through the meal, he paused.
“…I should at least know what I’m walking into.” he murmured around a bite of food.
A few taps pulled up the browser.
Aethern Faith church near me
Emily’s church appeared near the top of the results. Cedric opened the site. The building looked older than he expected. Gray stone walls, tall arched windows, a wide central hall that had clearly been renovated over the years but still carried the weight of its age.
“Huh,” Cedric muttered. He scrolled.
The page described the congregation as a modern temple of the Aethern Faith, honoring the wider pantheon of ancient Aethern. Most Aethern church's, it explained, centered around one primary deity tied to the temple’s founding. The page also mentioned theories linking the Aethern gods to artifacts as old as the Mesopotamian period, though the faith truly flourished during ancient Greece when written records of the pantheon began appearing more frequently.
Cedric kept reading while twirling noodles on his fork, humming in intrigue as he ate and read.
The church had been founded by Greek immigrants in the early 1900s. Several relics had been transported from older sanctuaries overseas. One section mentioned the church's courtyard. Apparently the church’s garden contained a preserved stone ritual circle brought from an early Aethern sanctuary in Greece. Theorized to once be a part of a bigger hand-carved, decorated flooring for a temple. The surrounding courtyard held grapevines grown from cuttings taken from ancient orchards sacred to the faith, and they praised their home grown and carefully cared for flowers of Narcissus, hyacinth, roses, poppies, iris, lilies, and laurel flowers. All flowers that were supposedly used in many artistic depictions and associated of a god called Zaryth.
“Hmph…” Cedric huffed quietly. “That’s pretty cool.” Cedric loved going to museums to see stuff like that, so he'd have to make a mental note to make a visit to that courtyard when he went there tomorrow.
He kept scrolling, eyes quickly reading as he flicked by. Then a header caught his eye.
Primary Patron Deity: Zaryth
Cedric tapped it. The page shifted to a short description.
Zaryth — ancient god of war, anguish, devotion, and the consuming bonds of love.
Cedric raised an eyebrow. “Damn, ain't that a hodgepodge of a combo.”
Below the text sat a photograph of an old marble statue. The figure stood tall and broad-shouldered, long hair falling past his shoulders. Vines and leaves curled along the pedestal, grapes and flowers carved in clusters near his feet. Even in worn stone, the expression looked intense. The stone carved in such a way it genuinely looked like a moment frozen in time.
Cedric tilted his head slightly. “…That's gotta be from the Hellenistic Period.”
The page mentioned that older texts described Zaryth as a brutal war god, but later legends focused more on the tragic story of the god and the mortal he loved. Modern worship mostly honored that side of him now.
Cedric snorted softly. “Of course that’s the popular part! God forbid a man be complicated and want war and blood with a side kisses!” Cedric chortled, his words making himself laugh.
He swiped out of safari and tossed his phone onto the cushion next to him.
“Welp,” Cedric muttered, leaning back into the couch cushions, “at least now I know it’s not some weird apocalypse basement cult shit.”
Just a church. A normal, decently ancient one. One service. Support Emily. Then bakery.
Simple!
Cedric closed his eyes for a moment, trying to exhale out all of his worries. Nothing to do about it now, he'd already agreed to go. So now all Cedric could do was go to bed, and wait for tomorrow to come.
