Chapter 143: Pantheon
Shune Lak Orazen, the younger brother of Vasen, the general of Black Scale, and older brother of Kyle, the king of Black Scale, suddenly opened his eyes and noticed something.
‘This isn’t Orazen.’
He saw a green grassland.
Although there was a vast delta at the mouth of Orazen’s river, it wasn’t so vast that it reached beyond the horizon. On this seemingly endless grassland, he saw Lizardmen sleeping here and there under the warm sunlight.
‘Endless green grass, warm sunlight, a gentle breeze… and even Lizardmen who are sound asleep as if they’re having happy dreams…’
Shune clapped.
“Oh my, this is the Prairie of Beginnings.”
The Prairie of Beginnings referred to the afterlife the religious order of Night Sky knew of.
Shune stared at the place that he had only ever pictured based on the descriptions of scriptures and the words of the priests, and then his mood turned gloomy.
“Oh no. Does this mean I’m dead?”
Then he dropped onto the ground.
“...Why…why did I die?”
His memories right before coming here were vague. He remembered hearing that the revelation priests had received news of Black Scale’s victory, and people were rushing about inside Black Scale’s palace to prepare for what would come after the war.
“Is…is it because of the wine? Was I the only one who died when everyone else was enjoying the festival?”
As a matter of fact, Shune had no reason to find that unfair because he had been drinking at the festival celebrating victory until a few moments ago.
Shune muttered to himself, “My goodness, I’ve gone through so many hardships as a priest in training even though I’m part of the royal family, and I was looking forward to becoming an official priest and live freely by traveling the country, meeting other local priests, and receiving meals from them. But here I am, dead.”
“Hey, you should be setting an example if you’re a priest.”
Shune turned to the source of the voice. At first, he wondered who the speaker was because the sun was coming from behind the Lizardman, and he had never actually met the Lizardman before. But he had seen that face, and he eventually put two and two together.
“...Apostle Lakrak?”
“Yes.”
Shune got down on his knees and was about to bow down to Lakrak, but Lakrak quickly put his hand on Shune’s forehead to tilt his head back up. Unable to bow down, Shune struggled to regain his balance and get to his feet.
“Forget about earthly etiquettes.”
“Pardon? But even if this is the Prairie of Beginnings, you are at a higher position than I am.”
“I’m telling you to forget about it because I’m bothered by it.”
“...Okay.”
Shune lowered his head for a moment. “By the way, I’m dead, ain’t I?”
“No, you aren’t.”
“But isn’t this the Prairie of Beginnings?”
“It was until recently. It still is in a way, but it can be considered not that.”
Lakrak had given a vague response, so Shune just stood there, expecting Lakrak to give an explanation. However, Lakrak simply waved Anakse over and got onto its back before reaching down to Shune.
“You have come here for a special duty.”
“A…special duty? But there are lots of priests at a higher rank than me. Why would I…?”
Lakrak seemed to find the question unexpected and thought for a moment. And then he shook his head,
“I don’t know either. But there must be a reason as Night Sky has chosen you personally. Anyway, you’ll return once your duty is done, so don’t worry.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Lakrak added, “As long as you follow the rules of this land.”
Shune wanted to ask what kind of rules Lakrak was talking about, but Lakrak was already pulling Shune up by the wrist, and Shune found himself suddenly riding on Anakse’s back as if he had been thrown there.
Shune then thought to himself, ‘Well, I’m already here…so I guess things will work out somehow.’
Shune was an optimistic person.
***
Lakrak and Shune rode on Anakse across the prairie.
Shune asked various questions, and Lakrak casually answered them as if there was nothing to hide.
‘Hm, if I really do get to go back, I should be able to boast about this experience and earn myself lots of free meat and wine.’
A rampart appeared in front of Shune, who was full of anticipation.
“Oh, is that rampart by any chance…?”
“Yes. It’s the Rampart of Origin.”
There weren’t only Lizardmen on the Prairie of Beginnings. It was a place all arrived at as long as they believed in Night Sky. Therefore, there were also some species who didn’t feel comfortable in a large area like the prairie; the Rampart of Origin was like a shelter for those species.
“Are we going to go inside?”
“Yes. Our destination is somewhere very far away, so we must go through this wall.”
“Go through?it?”
When the question left Shune’s mouth, he realized that there wasn’t anything that could be called an entrance along the wall.
Anakse then spread the wings that weren’t even half the size of its body and flapped them as it jumped over the rampart.
Quueeek!
Anakse stretched out its neck as if it was proudly showing off its flying.
“Well flown, Anakse.”
Lakrak lightly stroked Anakse’s neck.
Shune thought to himself, ‘Didn’t it just jump with the strength of its legs?’
Then Shune observed the inside of the walls.
“Oh my goodness.”
Inside, there were countless people bustling around and living their lives. A Lizardman with a pipe in his mouth strode along, and a Halfling rode on a donkey on the opposite side. Steam filled the streets as an Orc, who was the owner of a noodle shop, opened up a pot and served a generous portion to a Dwarf and a Troll. Past them, a Goblin and Elf chatted while walking, and at the pottery shop next door, a Nix was complaining about something to an Astacidea, who owned the shop. The whole block was filled with even more people going about their daily lives.
“I’ve heard stories, but I’ve never seen a more crowded city than Orazen.”
“It’ll continue to be that way.”
Lakrak rode Anakse over the wall, and of course there was no one there guarding it. The wall only existed to divide the daily living areas.
“But why do they continue to act like living people even after they die? What’s the meaning of eating or arguing like that?”
Lizardmen who faithfully believed in Night Sky didn’t picture the afterlife as this. While there were personal beliefs, it was common for them to dream of running through the prairies after death.
Lakrak replied, “Shune, what do you think people are made of?”
“Huh? That’s sudden for a profound religious question.”
“Oh, I guess it can be embarrassing. I didn’t mean it like that.”
The two of them seemed to have forgotten that they were an apostle and priest of the same religion.
“I’ll still try to answer. Simply put, people are made of a body and a soul.”
Lakrak frowned as if he was trying to think of something to say.
“That’s right. People are made up of blood, flesh, and bones, but they are also made up of a soul. What do you think a soul is?”
“...I’m not sure. Umm, don’t I exist here as a soul?” asked Shune.
“Hm, simply speaking, just as the body can be divided into blood, flesh, and bones, a soul can also be divided. Memories of myself are part of my soul, so are relationships with other people and the habits I had developed throughout my lifetime.”
Shune understood what Lakrak was saying. He had seen people lose their families in war and in turn their sanity, as well as people who had to give up their lifelong pursuit as a blacksmith after losing their hand in the war.
Lakrak then said, “Lizardmen aren’t alone in imagining what would happen to them after they die. However, there are some who do not. And some continue to live the same way as if they were still alive.”
“Is it because they don’t want to lose themselves?”
“Maybe. Or it might be because they don’t know how to lose themselves.”
“Do they…have to?”
“That’s not what I said. But if they don’t, then they live forever.”
Shune was going to ask more questions, but refrained from doing so.
The afterlife didn’t appear too different from what Shune already knew of. If Shune remembered correctly, he had heard that those who live inside the Rampart of Origin sometimes passed through the walls that no one guarded and went out into the prairie. On the other hand, he had also heard that those who ran through the prairies as well as those who continued to sleep on the prairie sometimes entered the rampart.
In the temple of Night Sky, there had been occasional chit-chat about the afterlife of those who weren’t historically significant or noteworthy.
After running across the top of the rampart for a while, Anakse jumped off the wall and continued to run through the prairie. And the horizon began to change.
“...This seems different from the Prairie of Beginnings that I know of.”
“How so?”
Shune pointed at the horizon. The right side of the horizon was obstructed by dense forests, which differed from the clusters of trees on the Prairie of the Beginnings that could be considered as forests, but weren’t abundant enough or dense enough to cover the horizon. And beyond the left side of the horizon, rugged mountain terrain soared high into the air. Even the thought of going up the path from the prairie to the gray cliffs was dizzying because of the steep slope.
“Ah, the right side is the land where those who believe in Bountiful Harvest God go after they die, and the left side is where those who believe in the Limitless God go. The forest I understand, but I’m not sure why some would like that kind of desolate land either.”
“What?” Shune was surprised. “All the lands of the afterlife are connected?”
“No, not necessarily. Night Sky decided to make it so not long before I met you.”
“What do you mean? Even Night Sky shouldn’t have that kind of authority over all the gods…”
Lakrak replied, “It became possible.”
“What?”
“I mean that Night Sky has risen above all the other gods on the continent.”
Shune’s eyes widened.
“Night Sky…has become the king of the gods?”
***
‘King of the gods?’
Sung-Woon was indeed sitting on a throne-like chair. It was a beautiful chair decorated with gold, and the parts that touched his waist and hips were covered in red velvet. The table in front of him was a long rectangular one rather than a round one, and Sung-Woon’s seat was at the head of the table. From his seat, he could see five other players sitting at the table. On the left were Crampus, Wisdom, and Jang-Wan, and on the right were Lunda and Eldar.
The ceiling of where their meeting was taking place was so high that it was barely visible, and from it hung a few complex and bizarre looking chandeliers. The walls and floor were covered in white marble, which reflected the light from the chandeliers and resulted in glares whenever one moved their head. It was a dazzling space.
Lunda said, “No, I told you. I didn’t do it because I wanted to. I was threatened by Nebula.”
Jang-Wan said, “Don’t be ridiculous. You were going to betray Crampus from the start, weren’t you?”
Eldar then said, “Hey, everyone…I’m sorry, but why don’t we forget about it since it’s all in the past…”
Wisdom said, “I think it’s an interesting assumption. Jang-Wan, go on.”
This was the recently improvised Pantheon.
‘More like…the leader of the gods.’
The pantheon was one of the religious systems supported by The Lost World, where multiple players participated together. However, such a pantheon was always accompanied by difficulties. The interests of multiple players were intertwined together, and in the case where there were differences in their faith systems, explanations had to be given to each god’s followers.
The players could come together for the sake of winning the game, but they couldn’t simply explain that to those who believed in them. They had to teach them why alliances were formed, what relationships they had, what role they each played, and how the followers should hold their belief from now on. And before deciding on those teachings, the players would have to first narrow down the interests they shared, which was why they had to have gatherings like this.
‘But I forgot that I had to do it myself.’
As Sung-Woon checked on Lakrak and Shune, uninterested in the argument taking place, Crampus turned to Sung-Woon and spoke up.
“Why are you not paying attention and instead are doing something else when it’s getting chaotic already?”
Sung-Woon was going to make excuses, but in the end, he opted to quietly close his system window.
“...Good. So where were we?”
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