The City of Marronligar

Do the priests themselves believe in the existence of gods?In the past, this was an issue that was not allowed to be discussed, and could be called an outrageous issue.God is God, and the piety of believers is the food of God and the prerequisite for His blessing on the world.

Cataclysm spawned piety and eventually changed the way people (including clergy) think about religion.So when the order fell apart, the clergy were quick to accept reality.Although some priests and church police gave up their past identities, they still voluntarily protected the knowledge and assets left by the church. On the contrary, the remaining believers lost their spiritual support and fell into long-term depression.

The power received from man in the name of God does not always flow back to man in a beautiful way.

——Miscellaneous Notes of Silver Bay Tower: The Rise and Fall of the Order

The snake of the world said that it has no consciousness and emotion, and it does not even have a body except for the snake bone that has turned into a solid body. The giant snake painted on the mural is just an image.

It exists for only one purpose: "to observe".

"People can't hear my voice, and I never speak, and I never show my body." Its voice has no emotion, and it just tells everything calmly. "I've been watching you long before you imagined what I look like - a group of complicated and self-righteous babies. However, only you have come this far."

Samuel looked up at the giant snake in the painting: "When you say 'you'...do you mean humans?"

"Yes. If human beings fail to learn to think in the process of evolution, but snakes, rats, birds and beasts gain intelligence, become animals that dominate the world, and discover my existence, and place my megaphone in such a temple, then I will It refers to the latter. Of course, in this world, you win."

Hagrid frowned: "You said your 'duty' was to observe."

"Yes. You also have such people who are responsible for recording everything they see, hear, and think, and then selectively leave this knowledge to future generations. But I am different-I only need to listen and see, and do not need to think , need not be chosen, and need not be passed on to anyone.”

"So, you don't understand us."

The World Snake replied slowly: "There is no need to understand."

Samuel clenched the serpentine coat of arms hanging on his chest: "Just like the church worships the gods, my ancestors once regarded you as a god, and they have been looking for the traces you left all their lives."

"A lot of people have done that. Belief or loathing is their choice, I have no idea about that."

Hagrid shook his head: "It's just that now it seems that you not only have nothing to do with 'God', but more like the source of disaster."

World Snake's response was still very flat: "In my eyes, there is no distinction between miracles and disasters. These are all concepts created by you humans. Everything will happen, and everything will happen when it should happen. Everything is part of the laws of nature. .The 'catastrophe' you call is just the movement of earth, water, wind, fire and creatures, not my punishment for human beings."

Samuel quickly exchanged glances with Hagrid, and emphasized again: "I hope you can answer our questions truthfully."

World Snake still spoke slowly, as if singing a poem: "Unlike humans, I don't lie."

Hagrid asked, "Did you cause the catastrophe we call the 'catastrophe'?"

"I never 'triggered' them, just adjusted the shape of the world according to the rules. However, in your understanding, such adjustments seem to be more drastic. In short, before the movement of elements, you are equal to other animals. You treat them differently. I don't understand why you guys are so resistant to these rules."

Hagrid sneered, "You think our idea of ​​ending the Cataclysm is arrogance?"

The World Snake replied honestly: "I don't know what 'arrogance' is. I have no feelings and cannot understand human feelings."

"The 'Lightless One' also appeared under your influence."

"I know what you coined the term for, and I know you hunt them. Yes, their birth is part of the 'rules'. I have no feelings, but from your point of view, it should be a Mercy—their bodies continue to live, but their souls do not suffer what you call suffering."

The answer made Hagrid fall silent.

Perhaps, they shouldn't try to understand the thoughts of the World Serpent—no, it has no "thoughts" at all, it's just a machine that operates according to established laws.

Not the sullenness of the gods against the world, not the devil's habit of tormenting the living, not the harbingers of the end.Hagrid and Samuel were mentally prepared to deal with any enemy, but in the end, what was waiting for them was an "Observer" that didn't even have an entity or self-awareness, and it didn't even think that it was responsible for the disasters that human beings suffered.

Just like a boulder falling into the mud, a sharp knife cuts cotton, and only the distant echo of the thunder is left.Even after knowing the truth, Hagrid and Samuel couldn't feel the slightest pleasure, leaving only an indescribable emptiness in their hearts.

In front of the snake of the world who knows everything and controls everything, people are so small that frustration and anger are superfluous. This is something more desperate than the collapse of faith.

Even so, there was something Samuel wanted to know.Pointing to the bone of the river, he asked almost hoarsely: "Since you are just a selfless observer, why do you allow the blood of our Torresso family to have such abilities? Why are you willing to talk to us?"

"I am complete only if I am discovered by the awakened observed." The world snake replied. "You create gods, use gods, and finally see the essence of gods clearly. It is not that I allow you to exist, but you must exist. Of course, not all grave guards can hear my voice, most of them Most of them just imagined me to the murals until their death."

"So, our special reaction to the sacred artifacts, the blood that is different from ordinary people, and the legends left by our ancestors are all..."

"It's all clues left to you, and it's what I need to 'be complete'."

——The Torreso family is nothing more than a tool of the world snake.

——This long journey, the expedition from Marunliga to the ancient temple of Logma, all the price paid for coming here, those sacrifices that were too tragic to look back on, actually fulfilled this journey of bringing everything in the world into memory giant snake.

Samuel's face suddenly turned pale.He lowered his head, and he lost his strength when he spoke: "We already know the most important thing. I will only ask you one last question."

"No matter how many questions it is, I will answer it. After all, I have unlimited time and knowledge, which you can't imagine or match anyway."

"Thousands of years ago, when my ancestor Solti discovered the sacred artifact, this piece of snake bone was very clean and had no cracks, but now it has become like this. Leaving aside the blood of the gravekeeper, these cracks obviously appeared later .Why?"

As soon as the World Snake changed its previous way of speaking without preparation and answering questions, it was silent for a while, which made Samuel almost think that it would also be questioned one day.

The World Snake still "opened" to speak: "Because even if I don't intervene any more, you already have the power to destroy yourself."

"...What?" Hagrid suddenly had an ominous premonition.

"From mountains, rivers, seas and lands to wind, snow, thunder and lightning, I can make them change according to the predetermined principles, and I can also make human beings who would rather lose their souls change their living posture, but I have no motivation, no ability, and no need to dominate your hearts. And the catastrophe that humans have brought to each other is gradually overtaking me."

Samuel was startled: "You mean war."

"There are wars that kill people, and there are wars that don't kill people." World Snake said. "It's not just war—I know that your fear of human beings has surpassed your fear of me and the 'catastrophe'. This is the victory of human beings. Therefore, I began to age and my connection with the world gradually weakened."

The cracks in the snake's bone testify to this.

"When my ancestors settled here, they once suppressed the catastrophe and sealed up your secrets, maintaining the peace of this land for nearly 300 years. But you destroyed everything again." Samuel died Staring at the snake pupils on the painting.

"I didn't 'destroy' anything, just let everything return to normal." The old voice of the World Snake echoed in the cold temple, like an unselfish judge handing down the final judgment in court. "It was the renewed flames of war in the Logmar region that woke me up. There are many bones in this land, partly because of what you call 'catastrophe', and partly because of human killing each other."

This is the truth of the Logmar cataclysm 700 years ago.

"If you insist, it is the war of your ancestors that led to this consequence."

Hagrid held down Samuel's hand that was about to draw the knife, and said to the World Snake, "You always answer your questions, right?"

"Yes."

"Can we end the catastrophe?"

For the first time, the World Serpent asked the question of small and humble humans: "Why do you want to do this?"

"That's something you can't understand." Hagrid refused to answer. "We just need one answer -- yes, or no."

There was another suffocating silence.

The World Snake replied slowly: "Yes, but nothing will change. Through your eyes, I see a more severe future. I have never used the word 'severe', but today can be an exception."

Samuel laughed bitterly: "You look at us condescendingly, probably the same as we look at ants."

"No, I don't feel it."

The expected answer.

Samuel asked again, "Are you letting us make a decision?"

The world snake let out a dull laugh: "The choice is in your hands. Destroy the bone of the great river and cut off my connection with the world; or keep it, keep the possibility of your ethnic group talking to me, and at the same time keep a high-level The observer of all things. Of course, you can also let me continue to sleep. I have no future, and I don’t need a future; and your future has nothing to do with me.”

"What will happen to those murders that endanger lives?"

"They will still happen when they should happen, but they will not come in one place in a concentrated series, because my set of 'rules' will disappear; but as you wish, there will be no 'Lightless Ones' in the world .”

Facing the choice, Samuel fell into deep thought.Hagrid stared at him fixedly, waiting for Patriarch Torreso to make a key decision.

He had already promised that he would respect Samuel's choice on the issue of the Hallows.

At that moment, Samuel thought of the sunset at Heshan Manor.

When the bloody sunset shone on Heshan, he heard the news of the death of his father and other clansmen.They died on the way to find the sacred artifact, not because of the catastrophe, but because they were involved in the war in the north.

He thought again of when Sophia was a baby and his father would tell them stories about Logmar and the World Serpent.

"Logmar is the homeland we have never met. One day, we will return to that land and meet our god again."

"Will the Serpent of the World bless us?" asked young Samuel.

His father smiled mildly and did not speak.

Little Samuel curiously grabbed the snake-shaped pendant hanging around his father's neck, and carefully looked at the candlelight reflected on it.

Finally, Samuel raised his head again, and his deep green eyes met the snake pupils painted on the stone wall: "I choose to destroy the holy artifact, and this is my answer."

The World Snake asked flatly: "In order to completely eliminate the Lightless?"

"No." Samuel pulled out the saber at his waist with a "swish", and the mural reflected on the knife glowed with a strange gloomy light. "We don't need God anymore. Even if human beings will eventually go to destruction, it can only be caused by ourselves. The doomsday judgment of this world does not need you to do it for us."

The World Snake said quietly: "You and your ancestors said the same thing."

"What they failed to do, we can only do." Samuel raised the knife, pointing the blade at the giant snake in the painting.

The World Snake did not forget the other person present: "The child who is loyal to the religious order next to you, your choice is also the same."

Hagrid's answer was firm and succinct: "Exactly."

"Ha, ha ha ha ha ha..."

As if the rule of "no consciousness and emotion" was broken by some funny scene, the World Snake suddenly burst into a strange laugh, and the echo under the tiankeng shook the ice hanger to shatter and dust was raised.

In addition to the voices heard before, this burst of wild laughter is mixed with more voices: from the sharpness of a child, the clarity of a young girl to the maturity and calmness of a middle-aged man, the weakness and hoarseness of an old man, as well as the long and low growls of birds of prey, and even The sound of the waves and the wind.

Hagrid and Samuel heard sneers from all over the world.

"This is your choice, it has nothing to do with me."

The sound of the world snake gradually faded away, and the huge mural returned to its dull appearance.

Samuel raised his knife and slashed at the broken "Bone of the River".The blood-stained holy vessel shattered, and the broken bones splashed, turning into ashes before it hit the ground.

The moment the sacred artifact was destroyed, it was like ripples on the surface of the water due to a falling rock. Whether it was a temporary camp outside the rift, the Heshan Manor in the southern part of the mainland, or Maren Liga in the southeastern peninsula, Torresso flowed in everyone's body. Those of the blood felt the same force.This force is wedged into their hearts like this, and quickly gouges out some things that are deeply rooted in their hearts, almost instinctive.

Outside the rift, Chloe, who was sitting on the collapsed stone pillar and frowning, stood up abruptly, staring straight at the direction of the sinkhole, completely ignoring the first officer calling her name nervously.

"World snake..." she muttered to herself.

Huta and the first officer looked at each other, feeling that something was wrong: "Did something happen down there?"

And in the distant Marenliga, Adrian, who was walking across the courtyard towards the study, suddenly stopped and looked to the northwest blankly.But there was nothing in front of him except the high wall of the Feishi mansion courtyard.

The bones of the river were wiped out with the knife cut by Samuel.And at the moment when the sacred artifact was destroyed, the unused energy in its body also burst out all of a sudden.

The ancient temple of Rogmar began to shake.The weathered and eroded World Snake mural and the four stone walls are cracking, and ominous loud noises are heard from the depths of the earth.The ancient ice hanging over the edge of the tiankeng fell down piece by piece.

This temple that has survived for thousands of years may collapse at any time.

And Samuel looked up at the sinkhole with empty eyes.The saber slowly slipped from his hand, and fell to the ground together with gravel, ice and the sudden snowstorm.

— This is the end of the road.

—nothing but the cold truth.

He fulfilled the last wish of his father and ancestors, and walked to the end for them.

But in the cold remains of this ancient temple, the obsession that supported Samuel to this day, as well as his strong desire for power, survival, and competitiveness, also disappeared with the departure of the world snake.He couldn't see his future, and he didn't even want to care about life or death, leaving only an empty shell with temperature.

"Samuel, we have to get out of here."

The Inquisitor grabbed his hand, but Samuel didn't seem to hear anything.

"Samuel!"

Author has something to say: The Cleansing - Marvin Kopp