Finally, Gawain asked the question he was most concerned about in Tarlund. It was also the most important question.
It was about the chain that connected the mortals and the gods.
When he was in the Loren Continent, his understanding of this "chain" was only a superficial concept and general conjecture. But since he came to Tarlonde and saw more and more of the "truth" of the Giant Dragon Kingdom, his impression of this chain had become clearer.
This was a "planetary civilization" that had developed to the extreme. It was a stagnant country that seemed to have stopped moving forward. From the social system to the specific technology tree, Tarlonde was heavily shackled, and these shackles seemed to be completely made by the "humans". Thinking of the operating rules of the gods, Gwen could easily imagine that the birth of these "civilization chains" was inseparable from the Dragon God.
In the Lower City District, he had seen what a civilization that had been completely locked down would look like, or at least a part of its truth. Still, he believed that the Dragon God had let him see it on his own accord — it was precisely because of that 'initiative' that he found it so eerie.
Because he could feel from the details of the Dragon God's various words and deeds that this god did not want to lock up his own people — but he had to do so because there was a supreme law, a law that was even more inviolable than that of the gods that bound him.
Gwen had tried to analyze and prove this law with his experts and scholars, and they thought that they had at least summed up a part of this law, but there were still some details to be added. Now Gwen believed that this "god" in front of him was the last piece of the puzzle.
Upon hearing Gawain's question, the Dragon God fell silent for a moment, as if even he needed to sort out his thoughts before answering the ultimate question cautiously. Gawain, on the other hand, paused for a moment before saying, "I actually know that gods are also 'involuntary.' There is a higher law that binds you. The thoughts of the mortals affect your state. Too drastic changes in thoughts will cause the gods to fall into madness. So I guess you have to impose a lot of restrictions on the Dragons to prevent yourself from falling into madness — "
"Extraterrestrial wanderer, you are only partially right." At this moment, the Dragon God suddenly spoke and interrupted Gwen.
Gwen frowned slightly. "Only partially right?"
"Gods are indeed involuntary … but you underestimate the extent of our 'involuntary'," the Dragon God said slowly in a low voice. "I do not want to fall into madness, and I am indeed the shackle of the Dragons. But all this … is not what I did."
A pale golden glow descended from the top of the temple hall as if it had condensed into a hazy halo around the 'god'. The low roar from outside the temple seemed to have weakened a little and became like an illusion. Gwen's face showed a thoughtful look, but before he asked, the Dragon God took the initiative to continue. "Do you want to hear a story?"
"Story?" Gwen was stunned for a moment, but then he nodded. "Of course — I am very interested."
The Dragon God smiled and gently shook the delicate cup in his hand. "There are three stories in total.
"The first story is about a mother and her children.
"A long time ago, so long that there were no signs of life in this world, a mother and her children lived on the earth. It was the time of the ancient wilderness, and all knowledge had not been summed up, and all wisdom was still hidden in the young minds of the children. At that time, the children were ignorant, and even their mother did not know much.
"The world at that time was very dangerous, and the children were still very fragile. In order to survive in the dangerous world, the mother and children had to live cautiously, be careful in everything, and dare not make any mistakes. There were biting fish in the river, so the mother forbade the children to go to the river. There were man-eating beasts in the forest, so the mother forbade the children to go to the forest. Fire burned the body, so the mother forbade the children to play with fire. Instead, the mother used her own strength to protect the children and help the children do many things. In primitive times, this was enough to maintain the survival of the entire family.
"However, as time goes by, the children will gradually grow up. Wisdom will begin to burst forth from their minds. They will grasp more and more knowledge, and they will be able to do more and more things. The fish that used to bite people in the river can now be caught with a harpoon, and the wild beasts that eat people can't beat the sticks in the children's hands. As the children grew up, they needed more food, so they began to take risks, going to the river, to the forest, to make a fire.
"But the mother's mind was slow, and the children in her eyes were always children. She only felt that those actions were extremely dangerous, so she began to dissuade the increasingly bold children. She repeated the teachings from many years ago — don't go to the river, don't go to the forest, don't touch the fire.
"Her dissuasion was somewhat useful. Occasionally, it would slightly slow down the children's actions, but overall, it was useless because the children's actions were getting stronger and stronger, and they … had to survive.
"In the beginning, the slow mother could barely keep up. She slowly accepted the growth of her children and was able to let go of her hands and feet to adapt to the new changes in the order of the family, but … as the number of children increased, she finally could not keep up. The children changed faster and faster day by day. In the past, they needed many years to master the skills of fishing, but slowly, they could tame new beasts in just a few days and set foot on new land. They even began to create all kinds of languages, and even the communication between siblings rapidly changed.
"The mother was at a loss. She tried to continue to adapt, but her slow mind finally could not keep up.
"She could only repeat the teachings that were too old, and continue to restrict the children's actions. She forbade them from going too far away from home, and forbade them from coming into contact with dangerous new things. In her eyes, the children were still far away from growing up. But in fact, her restrictions could no longer protect the children. Instead, they only made them irritable and uneasy, and gradually became a shackle that threatened their survival. The children tried to resist, but it was futile because as they grew up, their mother was also getting stronger and stronger.
"Now, the mother had built a fence in the house. Finally, she could no longer tell how the children had grown. She just enclosed everything and shut out everything that she thought was' dangerous, 'even if those things were actually food that the children urgently needed. The fence was completed, and it was covered with the mother's teachings and all kinds of things that were not allowed to touch or try. And the children … starved to death in this small fence."
Gwen showed a thoughtful expression. He felt that he could easily understand this simple and straightforward story. The meanings of the mother and the children were obvious, but the details revealed were worth thinking about.
But just as he was about to ask something, the next story had already begun.
"The second story was about a prophet.
"That was also a long, long time ago, in the age of barbarism, a prophet appeared in an ancient country. This prophet did not have a specific name, and no one knew where he came from. People only knew that the prophet was full of wisdom, as if he knew all the knowledge in the world. He taught the local people many things, so he was respected and loved by everyone.
"In that ancient age, the world was still very dangerous for people, and the power of the people was particularly weak in the face of nature. It was so weak that the most common diseases could easily take away people's lives. At that time, people did not know much. They did not know how to treat diseases or how to get rid of danger. So when the prophet came, he used his wisdom to formulate many rules for people to live safely.
"Do not eat the beasts that lived near the swamp, because most of the meat of these beasts was poisonous. Do not drink the water of a certain mountain, because it would lead to gastrointestinal infections. Do not cross a certain river, because there were poisonous plants growing on the other side of the river, and humans could not make antidote ointment …
"After leaving these rules, the prophet rested and returned to his place of seclusion. The people gratefully accepted the wise teachings of the prophet and began to plan their lives according to these rules.
"Soon, people benefited from these rules. They found that their friends and family did not get sick and die easily. They found that these rules could help people avoid disasters, so they followed the rules of the rules more cautiously, and things … gradually changed.
"More and more importance was attached to these injunctions, so that they were taken to be more important than laws; and as generation after generation passed, they even forgot the original object of these injunctions, but were still scrupulously observed, they became dogmas; and more and more reverence was attached to the prophets who had left them, so that they looked upon them as beings of supreme wisdom, who had seen the truth of the world, and even began to make statues of them, in the image of their illustrious and perfect prophets.
"After many years, the prophet returned to this land. He saw that the originally poor and weak kingdom had become prosperous. There were many times more people on the land than there were many years ago. People became more intelligent, more knowledgeable, and more powerful. The land and mountains of the entire kingdom had also undergone tremendous changes over the years.
"Everything had changed. It had become more prosperous and beautiful than the barren world before.
"So the prophet was very happy. He observed the way people lived and ran to the streets. He told everyone loudly that the wild animals living near the swamp were also edible as long as they were cooked in a suitable way. The water on a certain mountain was drinkable because it was no longer poisonous. The land on the other side of the river was already very safe. It was now fertile land …"
The Dragon God stopped and looked at Gwen with a faint smile. "Guess what happened?"
Gwen took a soft breath. "… The prophet was unlucky."
"Yes, the prophet is out of luck. The angry crowd rushed in from all directions, shouting slogans of crusade against heresy. Because someone insulted their Holy Spring, Holy Mountain, and tried to bewitch the people to set foot on the 'Holy Land' on the other side of the river, they surrounded the prophet and beat him to death with sticks.
"This is the second story."
Gwen frowned a little.
At first, he thought he had seen through the meaning of the two stories. But now, he suddenly had a doubt in his heart. He realized that he might have thought too simply.
He raised his head and looked across. "The mother and the prophet not only refer to the gods. The children and civilians are not necessarily mortals … right?"
"I'm glad that you can think so deeply," the Dragon God smiled, seemingly very happy. "If many people hear this story, I'm afraid that the first thing they would think is that the mother and the prophet refer to the gods, and the children and the civilians refer to the people. However, in the whole story, the identities of these characters are far from so simple.
"Everyone, and all the gods, are just insignificant characters in the story, and the real protagonist of the story … is the invisible but difficult to resist rules. His mother would definitely build a fence. This had nothing to do with her personal will. The prophet would definitely be beaten to death. This had nothing to do with his will. As for the children and civilians who were the victims and perpetrators … they were just a part of the rules from the very beginning.
"Maybe you think it is not difficult to break the tragedy in the story. As long as the mother can change her way of thinking in time, as long as the prophet can become more tactful, as long as people can become smarter and more rational, everything can end peacefully, and there is no need to go to such an extreme situation … But unfortunately, things are not so simple."
The Dragon God's voice became ethereal, and his eyes seemed to have fallen on a distant and ancient time. In his gradually low and ethereal narration, Gwen suddenly remembered the scene he saw in the deepest part of the Eternal Storm.
In that still battlefield, the two sides were so merciless and ruthless, as if there was deep-rooted hatred between them. It was as if only one of them would live and the other die. But thinking about it carefully, was it really because of "hatred" that the two sides on the battlefield had reached such a state?
En Ya's calm voice sounded. "… The thought of a group is a powerful and inertial force. When a race abides by a set of rules for thousands of years, and this set of rules points to religion and gods, then this force will become … powerful. Most of the time, you can't change the ideas accumulated over ten generations in a single generation. This clash of ideas will directly affect the thought process and set off a storm. You call it the 'madness of God' — but God is not crazy.
"God is just 'correcting' your 'dangerous behavior' according to the 'tradition' of mortals for thousands of years. Even if He doesn't want to do so, He has to do so."
Gwen looked at her. "The 'personal will' of God and the 'operating rules' that God must follow are separated. In the eyes of mortals, schizophrenia is madness."
"Indeed, from the perspective of mortals … when God chooses to destroy all living things, there is no difference whether this behavior is' correcting 'or' madness'."
Gwen was silent for a long time, and then said in a deep voice, "From the perspective of the development of civilization, in a healthy and sustainable society, the birth of new things and new ideas is always faster and faster. Changing the ideas accumulated by ten generations in one generation is inevitable, because productivity must be developed, unless …"
Gwen hesitated and stopped. Although he knew that what he said was the truth, but here, in the current situation, he felt that if he continued to say it, it would be some kind of sophistry or 'mortal selfishness'. But En Ya continued for him.
"Unless we fall into the 'Eternal Cradle'."
Her expression was very calm.
"The Dragons have failed, and the gods have fused into one. The spiritual chain has directly trapped all the members of the civilization, so I had no choice but to turn Tarlonde into a cradle like this, to make everything stop. Only then can I ensure that I won't accidentally kill them all. And you have already seen the result. They are still alive, but only alive. Tarlonde is dead, and machines are operating on this land. Those lifeless steel and stones are contaminated with some fragments of what was once called 'Dragons' … Keeping these fragments is all I can do for them.
"Then, extraterrestrial wanderer, do you like this' Eternal Cradle '?"
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