Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

Heliopolis, the holy city where the Egyptian gods lived on earth.

This is a city on earth and also the domain of God. It has had many names, including the City of the Sun, the Home of the Gods, the Capital of All Gods, and even the capital of the thirteen gnomes (city-states) of Lower Egypt.

It was here that Io, who accidentally fell to Hermeneus in the past, married Osiris, the god of the underworld, instead of Isis, and was then deposed as a sinner and died in front of the gods.

For thousands of years, there has almost never been a lack of traces of gods here, and the Egyptian gods enjoy the offerings of mortals here.

It is like a Mount Olympus closer to the human world, where gods and humans live together...until the incident a few years ago, when everything came to an end.

First, the supreme god Ra summoned Shu, the god in charge of the atmosphere and wind among the nine pillars of gods, to the Golden Palace of the Sun, and then not long after, the remaining gods left one after another.

At first, no one took it seriously, even the servants who guarded and served the gods thought it was just a gathering of gods. They waited in the city for the gods to return, but day after day, they were greeted by only silence.

No god ever came back, and from that day on, the home of the gods seemed to be abandoned. The traces of the gods gradually disappeared, and only the empty temples still stood on the ground.

Even not just gods, but also traces of humans. At the beginning of the incident, the priests tried to call back the attention of gods with grand sacrifices, and even the pharaoh came here to worship in person.

But as hope and disappointment intersect again and again, there are fewer and fewer people in the holy city.

After all, no one would respect the priests and temples abandoned by God, which was a complete proof of their dereliction of duty. Moreover, in the Egyptians' concept, the Pharaoh was the highest priest and a ruler with both secular and non-secular meanings.

Since the gods were gone, even the truly pious ones mostly went to Memphis to serve the Pharaoh, and this decaying holy city became increasingly deserted.

"So, Aibu, this is the truth. The truly pious ones have left. They have abandoned everything in the world and are still following the footsteps of God. In comparison, those who stayed are not very pious, like me."

"Over the years, I often thought I was a devout believer... But now I see that this was just an illusion. Many people think that I was born to understand the greatness of God, but in fact, the only reason I came to Heliopolis is because serving the gods is the best way out for ordinary people."

"I don't have noble blood or an extraordinary family background, so when I knew I had the opportunity to be a servant of God, I agreed without hesitation - and it turns out that my choice was quite right."

"In just a few decades, I became the most admired mortal by the god Ra, and the most prestigious priest besides the pharaoh. Even if it weren't for this incident, I would still be one of the most powerful mortals in Upper and Lower Egypt."

“You see, this is the importance of choice.”

In the empty hall, the statue of the Trinity Sun God is over a hundred meters tall, like a small mountain, making the mortals kneeling before it look so small.

However, at this moment, neither the kneeling priest nor the apprentice serving the teacher looked at the statue even once.

As Qasim himself just said, he was never a devout believer, and the same was true for his students.

"So, teacher, why do you still insist on staying here?"

"The gods have abandoned this city and no one knows when they will come back... What's the point of staying here with some stones? Pharaoh has invited you to Memphis more than once. Although he only wants to use your fame to stabilize people's hearts, you still have the honor to win..."

"and then?"

Interrupting his student, Qasim asked calmly.

"Then?"

The young man named Aibu was a little confused. He didn't understand what his teacher meant.

"Yes, then."

"You see, no one knows when God will change his mind, but I know that people will learn to get used to it. In the first ten years after God left, people still missed the days when God was there. In the second ten years, people still missed him. In the third and fourth ten years, in the eyes of many young people, God was just a symbol, because they had never seen the real God, and the right to interpret this symbol belonged only to Pharaoh."

“But Pharaoh is dying.”

Qasim spoke softly while bowing devoutly, just like he did every time in the past.

There were no spectators in the empty hall, but if anyone saw this scene, they would probably just think that he was a true believer.

"teacher……"

The rest of the words were hard to say and Aibu was a little afraid.

Although God had left, the majesty he left behind was not enough to dissipate in just a few years. He still lacked courage to discuss such things in the once sacred temple.

"It's okay, you're still young."

Without looking back, the priest seemed to be fully aware of the reactions of the students behind him.

"These are indeed not things you should consider yet, but you should write them down now until you can understand them."

"The Pharaoh is about to die, but I am actually quite old. If the gods can come back, then it is the best choice for me to stay here. But if they can't come back... I will not leave at this time and use the fame I have accumulated throughout my life to stabilize the situation for the Pharaoh."

"Only when he dies will I walk out of here. I will not leave alone. I will receive the 'oracle' and tell the people of Upper and Lower Egypt that God is dissatisfied with Pharaoh's arrogance, so what belongs to God should belong to the priests, and what belongs to the city-state should belong to Pharaoh."

"And at that time, the successor of His Majesty Ramses II will have to face a choice - the turmoil caused by the departure of the gods has not yet subsided, and the nobles who are dissatisfied with him may use this as an excuse to oppose him at any time. Do you think he will have the courage to declare that I have falsely transmitted the oracle and then send troops against me when that day comes?"

With a low chuckle, Kasim's worship movements remained standard.

"If it was Ramses, I think he would dare, but Merneptah, I don't think he has the ability."

The hall fell silent for a moment, and Abu didn't know what to say. He was shocked by his teacher's plan. Separating the royal power from the divine power would make the pharaoh no longer have religious significance... This was really shocking.

If Aibu didn't know his special identity, he would even think that the teacher wanted to kill him to silence him.

But he knew very well that in such matters, a teacher might kill a student to silence him, but a father would not kill his son to silence him.

Yes, they were not only master and apprentice, but also father and son. So although Aibu was a little nervous, he was nervous for his father.

The communication was temporarily terminated, but Cassim was not in a hurry to instill these things into his successor immediately. After all, there was still plenty of time, so he just continued his worship.

So time passed minute by minute, the sunlight shone into the hall, and the direction of the shadow slowly shifted.

The sacrifice to Ra was so complicated that according to later time records, it was probably between 11:00 and 1:00 p.m. However, Qasim did not feel bored at all, he just continued it bit by bit.

However, just as the ceremony was nearing its end, Aibu's exclamation broke the silence in the hall.

"Teacher, look, what is that?"

With a frown on his face, Qasim ignored it and completed his last prostration. He then looked up to find out the reason why the student exclaimed.

He planned to take this opportunity to teach the other party a lesson again, telling him to stay calm no matter what he saw and think about the problem in the calmest way possible...

"--This is!"

His pupils shrank, and power seemed to burst out from his old body.

In front of Cassim, the statue that had been silent for years began to glow.

The god seemed to communicate with his statue again, and the next moment, the entire hall became bright.

"Oracle, this is a true oracle!"

He raised his hands high, and a stream of light fell into his palms. At this moment, all his previous plans were thrown out of Qasim's mind.

No matter what the oracle said, he is now the only priest who has received the oracle since the gods left, and is also the most devout believer of the gods!

"Aibu, join me in offering sacrifice to Ra!"

With a low shout, Cassim looked pious.

Having served the gods for so long, he understood them. He was sure that before casting his will, God Ra probably didn't know what he was saying, but he might be able to see what he was doing.

Therefore, as the most devout believer of the gods, he felt extremely proud at this moment.

······

Rumbling--

The sky is higher than the sky, and the earth is lower than the earth.

It is difficult to say where exactly this is, or to explain it from another perspective, this is probably a place similar to Chaos' 'Source Sea'.

This is the most critical place in the world, just like the human heart and brain, or the medulla that produces blood.

For any world, this place is the most heavily protected. Even the powerful local gods can only perceive changes by will. Every wave here represents the rise and fall of the world's laws.

However, at this moment, if someone could compare the before with the present, he would see that this most precious place has changed greatly, and the entire "sea" seems to be divided into two.

Black and gold interweave, ocean currents collide, they intersect and yet are distinct from each other. It is like the most magnificent spectacle, but also the most terrifying thing in the world.

Because this means that the world has been completely invaded, and the most solid shell has been shattered. Regardless of whether he can successfully repel the outsiders, he is destined to be seriously injured.

"God Ra, you just..."

Standing on the surging waves, surrounded by golden waves, a sense of intimacy continued to come from it, but Hermeneus's Hades and agricultural god Osiris did not feel safe at all.

In the original mythology, he married Isis and once ruled the world and the gods for the god Ra. He was then killed out of jealousy by his younger brother Set, the god of deserts and storms. After his resurrection from the dead, he went underground and became the main god of the underworld of Hermeneus.

However, in this world line, he was simply angered by Ra because of the "God of Sin Isis" and was directly thrown into the underworld, so that he had a good relationship with his brother Set, but was dissatisfied with Ra.

However, no matter how dissatisfied he was, when the great changes in the world suddenly happened a few years ago, the gods were forced to leave the human world and follow the connection of power to come to the source sea, which symbolizes the core of the world, in their true form. All dissatisfaction was put aside, and only fear remained in his heart.

Even though this golden liquid is the 'blood' of the world and it seems to bring him a feeling of closeness and desire, Osiris knows that for any god, there is only one outcome for direct contact with the source of power.

Assimilated by the source force, losing personality and consciousness.

"Osiris, I just tried to communicate with the outside world. It was difficult, but I managed to succeed."

"The source of evil has come to Memphis, and the offensive of the foreign land has become more radical, but this has also caused him to suffer greater losses. I found a flaw - the person who caused all these changes must die. Only when he dies can we have a chance to breathe!"

With his fists clenched, the sun god with an eagle's head and a human body gazed at the end of the "sea" above the rolling golden ocean.

La didn't know what was so special about that mortal, but he was sure that the crazy and reckless erosion of the alien world was caused by him.

Killing 800 enemies and losing 3,000 of your own is something that a world with only instincts should not do. Although as long as a world wins in the end, the gains of a world are enough to make up for the losses, but if the price of gaining more is just a little time, then why should a world refuse?

The other world refused, and the power of the interface targeted that mortal and continuously entered this world. La didn't know what would happen if the two came into contact, but he would stop the enemy from doing what he wanted.

"Not only that mortal, Your Majesty, but also Him..."

Shu's voice came from his ears, and the sun god Ra knew what the other party was saying.

On the other side of the interweaving of black and gold was the darkness that was like the abyss. Just as the offensive of the alien world was surging, and La was taking the opportunity to convey the oracle to the human world, in that boundless darkness, it seemed that something had made some moves.

As for the consequences of this action...

His sharp eagle eyes scanned the surroundings, and for some reason, La suddenly felt that the surrounding environment seemed to have changed.

The intersection of the black and gold oceans began to interweave with each other. The two were no longer on the left and right of a "wave line", but became one in you and me in you.

The expansion of the contact surface brought about greater losses to each other, but this was not what really concerned La. Instead, as the power of the alien world and this world changed, the rules of the source sea seemed to be slowly shifting.

Before his eyes, a 'chessboard' seemed to appear from nothing, gradually stretching across the place.

Everything in the universe is connected because of this, and he, the sun god Ra, is a chess player, but also a chess piece... The fate of this world and himself lies in the black and white space before him.