Vivian’s appearance caused a sensation in the quiet tribal community.
Raising his holy blade, Gezer spread the news to the entire tribe. Seven warriors who dressed up like him gathered. They were men and women, but all had something in common—painted face and a special short knife worn around the waist. They gathered around Vivian and Hessiana, and when their short blades sensed the magic resonance and glowed in red, the warriors who were the ‘sacred carriers’ loudly pronounced the appearance of the goddess.
When the hoo-ha subsided, they held a grand celebration once again. Men, women, and children brought drinks, which were only reserved for festivals, out of their yurts. Meanwhile, strong men slaughtered animals under the leadership of the elderly in preparation for the feast at night. Women with strange headwear took out pottery jars painted with old patterns from a unique yurt. They distributed the spices stored in the pots to everyone so that they could spread the seasoning on the meat when the feast began. This spice was a luxury that one could only enjoy at religious events. The cheerful singings and the slightly noisy but inspiring music rose from every corner of the settlement. Even if one did not understand the customs of these indigenous peoples, one could still feel the joy that filled the people’s hearts. Lily looked at the exotic festival on the riverbank. She could not help but nudge Vivian. “Battie. Are they doing this to welcome you?” she asked.
Vivian was not as nervous as they thought. She was just not used to the reverend and adoring stares, other than that she looked calm. She whispered to Lily, “I didn’t expect it to come to this.”
Noticing Vivian’s reaction, Hao Ren became a little curious. “You look pretty calm, eh?”
“It’s not that people have not worshiped me before,” Vivian said, appearing a little helpless and sounded self-deprecating. “Did I not tell you before that people in the ancient times occasionally mistook me as a deity? Some even enshrined me in the temple.”
Lily became curious. “Wow! That must be cool!”
“Oh, it was annoying.” Vivian sighed. “You couldn’t communicate with them. Even a sneeze of mine could inspire them to write a book about it. If I weren’t starving, I wouldn’t have sat in the temple like an idiot for a few years.”
Hao Ren did not say a word; he just listened quietly to the conversation. Then, Gezer and a few warriors brought them before a special-looking yurt.
This particular yurt was gorgeous, but it was larger than the others. Other than that, it looked like an ordinary dwelling. An old man with dark skin was standing in front of the yurt. This old man seemed to have been waiting there for a long time. When he saw Vivian, he immediately bowed on his knees. Hao Ren could do nothing to stop him.
“This is the elder, the wise Gotarug.” Gezer respectfully introduced the old man. “He is the tribal head in the West Wind.”
Hao Ren stepped forward to hold the old man up, preventing him from carrying out the unnecessary etiquette. “Well, your goddess knows how pious you are now, but she also wants quiet time. Shall we go inside the yurt now? I have a lot of questions to ask.”
Gotarug looked at Hao Ren in surprise. He had no idea who Hao Ren was and what Hao Ren had to do with the goddess. Vivian noticed his reaction and told Gotarug, “You shall do what he says.”
Vivian had gotten used to letting Hao Ren deal with such people. After all, he was better at doing this than she was.
The interior of the yurt was large enough to accommodate all of them, but the warriors who came with Gezer stayed put at the doorway respectfully. Only Gezer got the chance to talk to the goddess, as he was the first warrior to have met the goddess. Though no one had asked them to do so, the warriors and the tribal elders had their code of conduct. So Hao Ren felt he was in no position to stop them.
The interior of the yurt was simple. Most of the furniture was wooden or woven rattan. Some things looked like containers, but some had no known uses. There was a thick, patterned carpet in the c the yurt. Sitting on the rug was a finely crafted wooden table, which seemed to be the most exquisite piece of furniture in the yurt. On the ground next to the carpet was a metal object that looked like a mini obelisk engraved with some rough patterns. An orange glow radiated from its surface. It felt warm.
It was a piece of magic-driven heating equipment.
They all sat on the carpet with legs crossed just like Gotarug. Gotarug and Gezer did not dare to sit in front of the goddess initially, but Vivian glared at them to have them sit just as others did. Soon, the heat-emitting metal vessel had caught Lily’s eyeballs. She curiously poked the shell of the equipment with her claws. “What is this?” she asked.
Gotarug did not expect someone would have asked such an obvious question. But he still replied respectfully, “It’s a phlogistic lamp, an item made using the ancient knowledge.”
“Ancient?” Hao Ren nodded slightly. “How much do you remember things of the ancient times?”
Hao Ren started by asking questions about calendar, legends, beliefs, and customs. He had prepared all these questions while on the way here. Having many experiences in dealing with different civilizations, Hao Ren naturally knew the right questions to ask. Before long, he had gathered the information he wanted.
There were only two periods in their entire history, namely the Sun Dynasty of the ancient times, and the Year of Jade that had continued to this day. The Sun Dynasty was the era when ancient civilizations flourished, and the goddess was with everyone, while the Year of Jade was the period during which mortals declined from a highly developed civilization into a primitive tribe. The megalithic city of Dorasil on the prairie was a symbol of the Sun Dynasty. The remnants of technology that were left behind made people wonder about the brilliant magic of humankind in that period. But now, their technology had declined so much so that they could only make a phlogistic lamp.
Hao Ren carefully studied their dating system and did some conversion. He found that a year in this underground world was slightly more than two years on Earth. He then asked Gotarug about the specific date the Sun Dynasty ended.
Gotarug took out a meticulously preserved manuscript of parchment from an old rattan box. Perhaps, this manuscript was a hand-written record by generations of people because it was heavy and had a strong scent of spice. People in this world believed that different spices had different sacred uses, just as the spice that Gezer burned in the city ruins that allowed him to talk to his ancestors, the spices on the manuscript could comfort and protect knowledge.
Gotarug found the record of the Sun Dynasty. He pointed to the hieroglyphs and said, “The last ray of sunshine shone on the earth 5,600 years ago. Because the sun’s time was over, the goddess would close the heavens. She commanded the underground giants to reach into the sky; the giants’ arms became the Pillars of Eternity, which supported the sky and the earth.”
Hao Ren then asked, “What about the stone city? Was Dorasil built before the heavens closed?”
He did not believe that a human-made stone city could withstand the earthquake that ensued when the First Born used its tentacles to create a new layer of crust. The quake would have destroyed any remains of human achievement.
Sure enough, Gotarug shook his head. “The Sun Dynasty signified the end of the old world. When the heavens closed, the earth swallowed up everything in the old dynasty. The goddess directed the chosen remnants to the highlands, waiting for the world to complete the remodeling process. The process lasted for a hundred years. Then the world and the remnants of the Sun Dynasty built the last city on the earth, that was, the city of Dorasil. The city was not inhabited but abandoned under the command of the goddess. It is evidence that shows the Sun Dynasty once existed. The old days thus ended, and we ushered in the Year of Jade in the land of abundance.”
“That is to say; the Sun Dynasty only officially ended 100 years after the heavens closed. The city became the only relic of civilization on the planet, but it was never inhabited.” Hao Ren’s brows knit together. “You built it only to abandon it. So, the massive architecture was just a souvenir… What’s the point?”
Gotarug put his hand on the chest. “The goddess commanded us to do this. And that’s what matters.”