Pivot of the Sky – Chapter 170, Temporary peace

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Translator: adomman

Editor: Snorri

 

Manjushri turned her head and smiled, her charm indescribable, and said: “If magic can create realistic illusions, can the reality be nonexistent, as the perceived can be illusory? Now that you have crossed the sea of suffering, you should seek the way to build every happening and every thing from the non-lasting. Why not follow me?”

 

Ugallu put down the wine cup and ran down the sand dune with great strides. Those people seemed to be walking casually, but Ugallu could not catch up. With an angry roar, he transformed into a lion and ran forward, quickly disappearing into the horizon. The Scorpion King put down the Ice Scorpion and Fire Scorpion, turned around and shouted: “Lion King, you just got out from the Ennead, where are you going with these people? We’re not done talking about our plans!”

 

Girtablullu’s voice echoed across the desert, but Ugallu had already run away. Girtablullu cursed in the direction he had disappeared: “This lion hasn’t changed at all, still so impulsive and stubborn. He only just got away from the Ennead and now he has already been abducted by some unknown gods.”

 

Then he turned around and sat down, this fierce Scorpion King actually looked a little depressed. He looked at the wine on the table, and as if he was talking to himself, he said: “Where did these gods come from? And what are they preaching? It seems that there are still unknown divine clans in this world! It’s too hard to find the correct path alone without the guidance of the gods, but I don’t want to turn back.”

 

With Ugallu gone, the Scorpion King took a few large gulps of wine and said to Amon: “Mourrin has taken a liking to you, and the gods are saying that she is willing to abandon her ex-husband Dumuzid for you, even sending him to the Underworld in exchange for you. You will surely be accepted into the Anunnaki divine clan in the future.

 

This is a great thing for you. But it is so difficult to pass the final test and obtain an eternal life, I hope that you can achieve that one day. Since you weren’t interested in the words of those gods just now, I’m afraid you’re even less interested in my advice. Anyway, you are already one foot in the Anunnaki divine clan, so there’s really no need for your faith to waver because of that.”

 

Amon laughed bitterly. “Don’t you know what kind of relationship I have with Enlil? It was he who caused the flood that destroyed my home, and no matter what sins my people may have committed to deserve that, I have already bid him farewell.”

 

Girtablullu said “Oh, so you want to join Marduc’s faction instead? I heard that Mourrin won her wager with Enlil and is able to access Anunnaki’s divine realm freely, so it would not be difficult to invite you into Marduc’s side.”

 

Amon shook his head. “The path that I’m taking may be different, I have the insights of my predecessors as well as my own quests. I’ve always wondered, what does it mean to have an eternal life, and what exactly is the so-called divinity? I’m just a seeker of truth, and I have no interest in joining any divine clan.”

 

These words were from the bottom of his heart, Amon was an outlier in the world of deities. He had never received any guidance from any divine clan, and in his difficult quest to find the answers to the mysteries that Crazy’Ole and Bair failed to solve, he had finally comprehended and mastered the true power, and managed to achieve the eighth level. After experiencing Schrodinger’s spiritual imprint, Amon had even learned what the ‘judgement of fate’ was about in advance. Even though he had not yet become a real god, he no longer required the guidance of any divine clan, and only needed to seek confirmation on his own, something the Scorpion King was unaware of.

 

Girtablullu smiled: “You may be overthinking this, but no matter who you are, regardless of whether you worship them, the gods are there. I was once an emissary of the gods and received guidance from an oracle, and know how the power of the origin is different from what you practice, so I only think about how to become a true god that transcends eternal life. I may seem powerful in this world, strong enough to fight the gods, but the meaning of existence as a living being is not the same. I’ll tell you one last thing, Tiamat’s Wrath is unable to kill a true god that transcends eternal life.”

 

Not surprisingly, Amon replied: “Thank you for reminding me, I’ve read the records regarding Tiamat’s Wrath, and it only says that it can severely damage gods, it doesn’t say that it’s power is necessarily capable of destroying them. Is that the last thing you want to tell me?”

 

Girtablullu sighed. “I once made an oath, although the god that guided me, Tiamat, has fallen, and I am no longer under the control of the Anunnaki divine clan, the secrets of the gods still cannot be revealed. Unless I become a true god and establish my own divine realm and clan, I will not be able to tell you what those secrets are.

 

It is a pact between the gods, and only when I become a true god will I be eligible to join that pact as well, that is why I am saying these things to you. But you have a shortcut ready for taking, and have no need to place your hope in my unseen future. Do you now understand why the Lion King chased after those gods and why I ignored them? We all have our own desired paths.”

 

Amon raised his cup and said: “The pacts of the gods are none of my business, but anyway, I want to thank you for telling me all this today! I can see that you are also looking for someone to tell your thoughts, and in doing so to clarify and strengthen your beliefs.”

 

Half a day had passed since they met here and started drinking together, and for the first time, the Scorpion King stretched out his arm to clink glasses with Amon and said: “You are wiser than I thought, and have truly understood many things. To thank you for listening to me today, I will give you one more promise, consider it a kind of hope.”

 

Girtablullu had unknowingly spoken with the tone of a god, and in the legends of the continent, a divine emissary who had passed the test of endless ceasing and arising cycle like him could already be called a god, just like Bastet back then. Of course, when they referred to the true gods, they used the term “the gods who truly transcend eternal life”, which was deliberately different.

 

Amon asked: “What kind of hope?”

 

Girtablullu said meaningfully: “You are a rare genius in this world! But don’t forget about the curse about that goddess, if one day you leave the Anunnaki divine clan wounded like Ugallu, and I have become a true god and established my own divine clan. You are welcome to join this divine clan. I wanted to talk to the Lion King regarding this matter, but unfortunately he ran away.”

 

Amon replied, “Thank you for saying that, but I am not Ugallu. You may have misunderstood my relationship with Mourrin, I’m just fulfilling a promise to Her, it has nothing to do with whether she loves me or not.”

 

The Scorpion King shook his head. “It will be hard to say whether the day of bad luck will ever arrive, so good luck!”

 

Amon bowed his head and smiled bitterly. “Even if Mourrin did have that kind of curse, I’ve already experienced enough suffering.”

 

Girtablullu stood up and patted Amon’s shoulder: “It’s not easy for one as young as you, just don’t forget what I said today… that little friend of yours has been here for half a day. Seems that something’s up, so take care of your problems first.”

 

The Lion King’s three roars were truly astonishing, and although Girtablullu cast a spell to protect the Ice Scorpion and Fire Scorpion from harm, the two demon scorpions were still unconscious. Girtablullu carried his two beloved consorts and left, the quicksand under his feet surging up before he strangely disappeared. Amon turned back toward the distant midair and asked: “How long have you been here, Metatro? Come down and rest for awhile.”

 

A white cloud casually floated down, and after putting away the crystal shuttle, Metatro stumbled a bit as he walked towards the sand dune. Upon reaching the top, he sat on the chair where Girtablullu had been sitting and panted heavily. Amon looked at him and smiled: “Why are you drunk before you even drank the wine in front of you?”

 

Metatro grimaced: “Oh God Amon! Fortunately I was late and had been far away, that Lion King’s roar was so powerful that I almost fell off. I barely managed to steady myself in the air.”

 

Amon pointed to the feast in front of him. “They’re all gone, don’t waste the wine and food, eat and drink first, I think you look tired.”

 

Metatro took a taste of the wine and exclaimed: “Great wine, wonderful taste! That Lion King really knows how to enjoy himself.”

 

They enjoyed the almost untouched feast and ate and drank to their hearts’ content before Amon asked: “When did you arrive, and what did you see and hear?”

 

Metatro replied: “I was flying from afar when the Lion King roared, and then those strange people passed by and I heard everything they said. Who are they? They spoke in a strange way and didn’t put on much airs, but somehow they seemed more arrogant than the gods!”

 

Amon said: “Don’t ask who they are, just stay true to your own beliefs and seek your own path. …You did not follow Moses and the rest to the Plains of Duc but came here to look for me instead. Did something happen again?”

 

Metatro sighed. “Oh God Amon, those people of yours are simply whirlpools and magnets of trouble, and wherever they go, it’s surprising if something doesn’t happen!”

 

……

 

After the Ducians left the borders of Ejypt, crossed the Syrian Desert and followed the eastern shore of the inland lake into the Plains of Duc, this should be the most secure route. As the west bank of the lake was the trade route between Ejypt and Hittite, there were now towns, farms and garrisoned checkpoints. The place where Amon was going to fight Celia was also in this area, and further ahead would be the Plains of Duc, but there were still large swathes of swampland in between, and they were very difficult to traverse.

 

Moses and the others had passed from the eastern shore of the inland lake, a position close to the Euphrates Valley, and although there was a portion of the path which was extremely rocky terrain, after getting through this terrain, they would be able to directly enter the plains. At this time, the Plains of Duc had already attracted explorers from surrounding countries, but it was hard to see populated areas in such a large wilderness, at least that was the case a year ago.

 

But when Moses led his people over the mountains onto the shore of the lake and appeared at the valley entrance to the plains, there was a newly built fortress, or rather, a settlement that was halfway built, in front of him. There was a marketplace here where explorers and brave warriors who hunted monsters rested and traded, and Moses and the rest could have rested here and bought supplies before setting off again, but they were unexpectedly stopped by the “army” sent by this “city”.

 

There were only sixty of the Ducians, but the other side had eight hundred warriors armed with various weapons, including the highland giants who were adept at fighting battles. Moses was surprised and asked: “We only wish to go deeper into the wilderness to develop the land, not your enemies. Like the other explorers, we will exchange goods in your marketplace and pay taxes, so why have you gathered so many warriors to stop us?”.

 

The settlement under construction was actually named the Marduc City, and the city was run by a short highland giant named Ussir. He sent a messenger to Moses and said: “You are the clan of miners from the town of Duc who have fled from Ejypt, and you have two choices if you wish to enter the Plains of Duc. Either stay in my town, declare your faith to Marduc and swear an oath in the shrine; or if you wish to pass through and return to your homes, you must promise the gods that you will build a shrine for Marduc in the city where you are based and perform a summoning ritual. As an assurance, your leader will stay behind until the promise is fulfilled.”

 

Metatro knew Ussir, who had been the leader of the alliance of tribes of the highlanders who had kidnapped Princess Sissila. In fact, Ussir had been sent by her to travel to the Plains of Duc to establish a city, and at the time they had even extorted a large amount of supplies from the town of Arcade. Now the location of this city was stuck at the throat of the lake’s eastern shore leading into the Plains of Duc.

 

Moses and the rest could not break through by force, so Metatro disguised himself as a wandering hunter, entered the Marduc City and found Governor Ussir to “catch up” with him. He woke Ussir up in the middle of the night in his bedroom and forced him to let the Ducians go with a blade on his neck.

 

Ussir cried: “Oh fearless warrior, that is not only the command of Princess Sissila, but also the oracle of the great god Marduc! Even if you kill me, it’s useless, and besides, if you kill me, you won’t be able to escape yourself.”

 

Metatro asked in surprise: “What’s this about the oracle of Marduc?”

 

Ussir explained: “I don’t know what happened either, but after I built the city, I served as the governor and oracle with the support of Princess Sissila and the Kingdom of Bablon. After the completion of the shrine, I led several priests through the summoning ritual. That night, the Great Marduc spoke to me through my soul. The god told me that a clan of miners from the town of Duc would be passing through, and I had to make them promise not to build statues for any other gods except Marduc, or they could not be let through.”

 

The situation was beyond Metatro’s control and he immediately rushed back to discuss it with Lynk. They came up with two plans. The first was for Hardedef to lead the Duc Town army to the battle and open up a path to let the Ducians through, while the second was for the Ducians to turn back and detour around the western shore of the inland lake to avoid the territory controlled by the Marduc City.

 

The former option was too costly, as the city built under Aesop’s supervision was just beginning to take shape. The warriors led by Hardedef were not afraid to fight the Marduc City, but both sides wouldn’t be able to avoid great losses. The latter option was a difficult one, as Moses and his men had to pass through the territory controlled by the city of Syah, and after passing the inland lake they still had to go through the Charcoal Marsh, which was extremely difficult to traverse. The two men decided to make preparations for both plans, with Metatro scouting the area first and Lynk going to Duc to prepare Hardedef for receiving the Ducians.

 

Lynk returned to Duc, only to learn that an accident had occurred there as well. At the foothills of the Syah Plateau north of Duc Town, a large group of highland giants had suddenly appeared. Unlike the inhabitants of a mountain tribe, they were clearly trained in an organized manner, and they carried all sorts of implements and supplies with them, setting up camps and stronghold defenses at a rapid pace, forming the beginnings of a city at an alarming rate.

 

This was obviously not a scattered and spontaneous act. They were strong in troops and horses, their supplies were ample, and their deployment of personnel was extremely orderly, just like soldiers and logistics personnel who had gone through long periods of training.

 

The settlement they had built was less than a hundred miles away from the city that Lynk had built, and once they occupied the fertile lands, they started cultivating the land and also occupied the mines where the Ducians had previously mined the parangon cores and iron ore. Then they had organized their manpower to mine the parangon cores and iron ore, and smelted refined iron on the spot, clearly preparing for a large-scale migration and eventual occupation of the entire Plains of Duc.

 

The city built by Lynk occupied the largest piece of fertile land in the Plains of Duc, and naturally there a conflict broke out after the outsiders occupied the mine. Fortunately, Lynk and his men had already built strong fortifications and had gained a foothold with a population of several thousand under the administration of Aesop, otherwise they would not have been able to compete with the other side.

 

In the absence of both Lynk and Metatro, Aesop at first avoided the conflict. Then Hardedef arrived with his thirty-six personal guards, and he gathered the warriors that Metatro had trained into a battle formation and demanded that the other side evacuate the occupied mines. Two battles occurred, but neither side were able to take a decisive advantage in either battle.

 

So they began to negotiate, with the other side arguing that the mine was originally unclaimed land, Hardedef produced the deed to the town of Duc, proving that it was not unclaimed, that it had been mined since time immemorial, and that roads had been built and veins had been dug. The other side then said that the Duc miners had long since disappeared due to the punishment from the gods, and they refused to give up the most precious mine in the continent. In fact, both sides understood that the mine was the most important strategic location if one wanted to establish a foothold in the Plains of Duc and take over the adjacent fertile land which stretched for hundreds of miles.

 

Hardedef gathered his warriors and fought them again, and found that he had no problem defending his city, but it was quite impossible to repel them from the Plains of Duc, so they started a negotiation for the second time. Hardedef had no reinforcements coming, but his opponent’s numbers were growing, coming from across the Syah Plateau, and they were building stronger and stronger walls around the settlement. The first permanent structure they had built was the shrine of Enlil.

 

It was evident that Hardedef would be at a disadvantage if he continued his attack under these circumstances, so Aesop made another suggestion at the appropriate time.

 

Aesop lacked a strong workforce to mine the ores and cores, as now the inhabitants were not the miners of Duc, but mainly cavemen, along with absorbing the various scattered tribes in the area and wandering explorers from various countries. They had to cultivate the land to feed themselves and build up the city from scratch, so they simply couldn’t spare enough strong labor to mine such a large mine.

 

So Aesop suggested that the two sides cooperate, as long as they acknowledged that this mine belonged to the Ducians, the other side could organize teams of strong and powerful highland giants to do the heavy mining work. In return, they could keep 60% of the ores. And either they smelt the iron ore and extract the parangons themselves, or let Aesop buy the unprocessed ores at a fair price.

 

It was a good idea which benefited both sides, as the other side was still in the process of gathering strength and did not want to have a full-scale conflict with the cavemen who already had a foothold. So they agreed to the terms, and a temporary peace was restored on the Plains of Duc.

 

But Aesop was also aware that this apparent peace could not last too long, and judging from the other party’s posture, it was clear that they had been planning for a long time to use the settlement at the foot of the Assyrian Plateau as a base to advance across the Plains of Duc.

 

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