A Hundred Years of Solitude
The first option was to stay. At that time, Bastet was in a pure soul state, sober as never before, but she could not stay in the world on her own. The all-powerful Osiris could use the Necromancy magic that only gods could master to keep her in the Underworld and use the power of the Underworld to repair her soul. Once again, she could attach herself to the statues everywhere. Perhaps she could reform her body and one day become a true god who transcends eternal life.
This seemed to be the best choice. She was still the goddess Bastet, the Underworld, and had the hope of transcending eternal life.
The second option was to forget. The imprint of the soul was the soul itself, and it could not be forgotten just because she said so. Osiris asked Bastet to unfold the imprint to him, just as Schrödinger did to Ah today, saying the "name" and the "real language". But Osiris did not do it just for the experience. He had the means to integrate these imprints into his soul, so Bastet would no longer exist.
This seemed to be the worst choice, which meant the end of everything. Three hundred years of cultivation would eventually disappear, and the imprint would be left to Osiris.
The third option was to refuse, because the first two options required Bastet's own consent, otherwise Osiris would not be able to stop her. Bastet could pretend that Osiris had never appeared at this moment, and still combine her soul with her new life, becoming a cat according to her wishes. This was the only thing she could do in the end after three hundred years of cultivation.
These three options sounded complicated, but there was no concept of time. It was just a moment when the soul became sober. Once Bastet made a decision, everything was over.
… …
Ah finally understood what "the test of fate, the judgment of the end of days" was. After leaving this part of Schrödinger's imprint, he did not open his eyes. Instead, he sat for a whole day before he barely recovered. Although he was not the one who experienced the final test, he was also there. Ah's soul was injured, and it was not something that could be repaired in a day or two.
The place where he was in was the village built by Moses and the others, like a shaped Duc town, with a shrine in the center of two neat rows of stone houses, and a square in front of the shrine. When Ah opened Schrödinger's soul imprint, he was sitting in front of the altar in the temple.
This temple was built by Moses and others for their god, "Allaha". Moses had never seen Allaha's face, and Allaha was the "only god", so Moses was not allowed to build a statue like other temples, so there was only one symbol on the altar — the cross of light.
The cross was divided into four parts: top, bottom, left, and right. The top, left, and right sides were equal in length, while the bottom side was twice the length of the other three sides. At the center of the cross, there was a sun-shaped ring emitting light. At the top, left, and right of the cross, there were three rings emitting light, looking like three crosses.
This image was widely spread across the continent. It symbolized "light", the light that illuminated the world and awakened all things. On many occasions, it also symbolized the sun, the source of life.
Apart from the light and sun, the cross itself was a mysterious totem that had been popular in the continent since ancient times. In Bablon and the Hittite Kingdom, the cross was an instrument of torture, hung on it for public display. Therefore, the cross-shaped totem also symbolized suffering, and the desire to be redeemed from suffering. In the Eygut, people used cross-shaped stakes on the riverbank, representing the height of the flood. This totem was later regarded as a symbol of life and reproduction.
Moses erected a cross of light in the temple, symbolizing his faith in Allaha. The meaning was very complicated.
Schrödinger stood guard in front of Ah, from sunrise to sunset, and then to sunrise again. Finally, Ah opened his eyes. Schrödinger asked with concern: "Are you alright? Are your injuries serious?"
Ah reached out and hugged the cat, gently stroking it in his arms: "I'm fine, I just lost my strength. I'm afraid it will take a while for me to recover."
Ah once again lost his strength. This time, it was different from the last test. He felt like he was imprisoned. He was injured in Schrödinger's spiritual imprint, and needed some time to recuperate. But his body was normal, and he was still a strong young man in his twenties.
Ah stood up with Schrödinger in his arms, and glanced at the cross on the altar, which symbolized the faith of the Ducians in him. However, Moses and his clansmen were on a difficult journey. He sighed and walked out with Schrodinger in his arms. He held the cat in the crook of his arm like he was holding a baby. As he walked, he said, "The weather is good, and the air is good. Let's go for a walk in the mountains and hunt some game. I can't use magic for now, so I won't catch fish in the river today. "
For the next month, the servants in the territory saw the Supreme General resume his leisurely and comfortable life. He did not ride a horse, nor did he bring any attendants with him. Every day, he would take good wine and food with him, and wander around with a cat, looking at the various sceneries of the world. The places they visited the most were the banks of the Nile River and the wilderness near Mount Horeb. No one could hear the intimate conversation between Ah and the cat.
Ah asked Schrödinger: "It's normal for you to refuse the second option, but why didn't you agree to the first option as well?"
Schrödinger replied calmly: "Only when I reached the end of the road did I understand what 'the judgment of fate' is. The gods guided me to that path, and my actions on that path will eventually lead to my own end. Do I still want to be Bastet again? Besides, being a lonely soul in the underworld has actually become the source of Osiris' power. "
In a sense, Bastet has always been a tool of the gods. She has slain too many powerful demons, so much so that when the final test came, even her powerful demon body that had been practicing for 300 years could not bear it. Those were all tasks that she had accepted from the gods to complete. On the other hand, the gods also allowed her to enjoy the sacrifices in the temple. The prayers and faith of countless people offset most of the impact of the resentment of the judgment of the end, so that she could retain her soul.
Ah asked again: "When you came back to your senses, you were no longer willing to become a tool of Osiris and the Ennead. Did you ever resent them?"
Schrödinger shook his head and said: "No, I don't resent them. I'm just a cat who was lucky enough to gain wisdom. Without the guidance of Isis, I don't know what kind of fate I would have. It's too difficult to find the right path among the thousands of wrong paths, and it's more likely that I would end up like those demons I killed. I was taken into the Ennead, gained great power, and became a goddess on the altar. With 300 years, I'm already a lucky cat, and I shouldn't complain about anything. What I did was what I was willing to do, and I've borne the consequences, that's all. "
Ah, the gods told you everything, but did not tell you about the final test, do you know why? "
Schrödinger: "When I finally understood, I did not resent Osiris. He never told me, of course, there was a reason. If I had known what the final end of this path was a long time ago, I was likely to shrink back, and I would not have been able to pass all the previous tests, and I would not have been able to reach that step at all. Although the test was terrible, one must also be qualified to face it, and the arrival of the test is a symbol of achievement.
But I also did not resent Osiris. If I had guessed from the heart, I would not have achieved that kind of achievement, and I would have been of no use to him. The gods need powerful and courageous emissaries to complete all kinds of difficult and dangerous tasks. No god will tell this secret to the recipient in advance, and will only make all kinds of arrangements and agreements. "
Ah suddenly thought of something, looked down at Schrödinger and said: "Zeni once reminded me of three things, it seems to be related to the final test, did you tell Bair?"
Schrödinger looked down at the soil at his feet: "I was the one who reminded Bair, but it may not be all good intentions. I once said that knowing this secret is not good or bad for you, what will you do? "
Ah smiled: "Nothing much, there's no difference between knowing and not knowing. In fact, I have also reminded my disciple, but some things are like fate, and you have to face it. "
A group of ants crawled past Schrödinger's feet, and the cat seemed to be talking to himself: "It's easy to say, but it's also the hope of reaching the end of human achievement, can you really do it?"
Ah sighed softly: "I don't know, but since I said so, let's verify it."
… …
A month later, Ah once again opened Schrödinger's spiritual imprint, this was the last time.
It felt like reincarnation, and Schrödinger became a newborn cat again. It finally opened its light blue and pink eyelids, looking at the strange and unknown world. At this moment, the cat was still at a loss, and could not even struggle to stand, and did not know who it was, but its eyes were extraordinarily clear.
As it slowly grew up, it gradually showed a different kind of magic. It could recognize many things around it, although it had never seen them before, it naturally knew what they were and what they were used for, which made it instinctively avoid a lot of harm. The survival rate of kittens in the wild was very low, and at least half of the kittens born in the year would freeze to death in the first cold wave of winter. This was the law of nature.
The few lucky ones that survived had to face predation from wild beasts, the difficulty of finding food, and all kinds of unpredictable injuries. Schrödinger knew how to make its own nest from the time it was a toddler. It brought all kinds of things that could keep it warm, and looked for a safe place to shelter from the rain. After the first winter, it felt more and more familiar with many things in the world.
Finally, one day, it followed a cat from a secluded street corner to the square in front of the Temple of Isis, and suddenly realized that it had been to this place before.
This was Bastet's achievement. She could bring her memories back to life, but at the beginning, this memory was very vague, and needed to be awakened bit by bit. The reason was very simple. The body and mind were one, and the soul was limited by life. A kitten's brain did not have the ability to think or recall so much complex information. It could only understand what it could understand at that time.
In fact, Bastet did not die, but continued in such a situation, and had another chance to start over. But this did not mean that it could restore its past achievements. Cats were weak, and a big dog could kill it before it had time to cultivate its strength. A stray cat that could grow to two years old was already considered lucky among its kind.
Its memories gradually became clearer as it grew up, and it found its way back from the shadow of deja vu. It once again opened its spiritual wisdom, and if it was lucky enough, it might eventually embark on the path to the gods again. But if it lost the protection and support of the divine clan, the difficulty would be unimaginable. Shortly after it opened its spiritual wisdom, Osiris appeared again.
One day, it was dozing off under the wall outside the temple, and the surrounding cats suddenly woke up and fled. Schrödinger opened its eyes and looked up to see a god in the shadow, and suddenly recognized it. Osiris said: "Bastet, welcome back."
It was Osiris who awakened its soul in advance, and used magic to tell it all its past experiences.
When it was finally able to cultivate again, Osiris found it again and asked: "Bastet, you did not die, but you were reborn in another way. I have been looking forward to your recovery, and your experiences have allowed you to start over again. Compared to the countless strong people in history who have fallen in the test, you are so lucky. As long as you unfold your spiritual imprint to me, you will still be a member of the Ennead. "
However, Schrödinger replied: "Great God of the Underworld, I want to make a new choice, and I don't want to have anything to do with the Ennead anymore."
Osiris said: "This is not a choice you can make, the guidance of the Ennead has made you a magical cat, and you cannot violate the oath you made back then. If you give up your mission, it is tantamount to giving up your own power and path. "
At first, Schrödinger did not quite understand what Osiris meant by this, but later, Schrödinger began to cultivate, and it took many years to break through the many tests, but its power never recovered. But this did not prevent Schrödinger from continuing to cultivate. The realm it was trying to verify was not hindered, it just did not need to use that power, and it passed the test of endless arising and ceasing cycle. It became a cat with its soul imprisoned, and it had always been a cat.
Did Osiris imprison its power? So that it would always have the body of a cat. This kind of imprisonment had been loosened once, and Schrödinger was a cat with the ninth level of the power of origin, and it could occasionally gather its power to do something, but it was very taxing on its body.
Later, Bale came to the Temple of Isis and found a cat peeping at the ancient books in the archives, and Schrödinger also tried to find a way to lift the imprisonment of its soul from various records. Bale was surprised to find that the cat could not be detected by detection magic, which was almost a stealth skill that only gods had, so he conveniently stole the cat, wanting to know its secret.
But Schrödinger only gave Bale three reminders. The genius Bale guessed that Schrödinger might be a sealed god, and once said: "If I can find a way to unlock your seal, you will tell me your secret. The sealing magic in the human world is nothing more than the transformation of brilliant message magic, and I am the most brilliant message magic master today. "
Ah already knew what happened next. Bale fled to the deep mountains of the Euphrate Valley, and at the last moment, he used the magic bone to throw Schrödinger from the air. Schrödinger landed safely, but when the bone was put away, it fell into a pool of water. Schrödinger went to the town of Duc with Bale's last message to find Crazy 'Ole, and waited until Ah showed up.
From beginning to end, a long experience of four hundred years, Ah returned as a bystander to the town of Duc where he grew up. He saw himself as a baby, and also saw his mother who had died when he was a child.
In the spiritual imprint, Ah experienced everything as Schrödinger, but he saw himself in this memory, which was an indescribable feeling. He finally moved, and as soon as the thought occurred, it could no longer stay in the spiritual imprint of Schrödinger. Everything was over.
When he opened his eyes, it was not yet dawn. In the darkness, the cat's eyes shone like jewels. Schrödinger looked at him expectantly, but asked in a worried tone: "What's wrong with you? You didn't finish the experience?"
Ah said in a low voice: "Yes, how did you know? When I unfolded the spiritual imprint, weren't you in a state of ignorance? "
Schrödinger jumped on his back, buried his head in his arms and said: "Because your eyes are full of tears."
Ah reached out and hugged Schrödinger in front of his chest: "I'm so sorry. I was moved, because I saw my mother. It was the first time I saw her face clearly. I was too young when she passed away. Thank you so much."
Schrödinger's voice was somewhat distant, murmuring in front of Ah: "Why are you saying sorry? The one who should be saying thank you is me. It's already a miracle that you could go through it until now. Even during the Judgement Day, you didn't have any thoughts. You didn't hesitate to endure 400 years of loneliness, just to help me.
It's normal that you didn't persist to the end, because the final imprint was mostly a bystander looking at your own experience. You experienced the endless cycle of life and death in my spiritual imprint, but it was not your own test. You still don't have that kind of realm. Only when you break through to the ninth level in the future will you be able to verify it. "
Ah held Schrödinger in his arms and said softly: "You have something to ask me, why don't you speak?"
Schrödinger buried his head in the crook of his arm: "You know my experience for the past 400 years better than I do. Did you find the seal that imprisoned my soul?"
Ah said apologetically: "I might have found some traces, but it's not very clear. Can you give me a few more days? I'm going to meditate in seclusion. I can't see anyone for the time being, including you. "
Schrödinger raised his head: "I understand. You want to verify it in your cultivation. Thank you for your painstaking efforts. I'll wait for you."
The Supreme General closed his door and ordered that no one should disturb him. He meditated in silence, experiencing and reflecting on everything. Half a month had passed while the Nile River flowed. Ah, who did not speak or move, had been meditating in solitude for a hundred years. He ordered his servants not to disturb him, but a messenger came from the distant Hittite Kingdom. Ah had no choice but to come out of his room to personally receive the messenger.
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