Chapter 646 The Value of Women's Friends
In the world where gods really exist, the underworld is often not an illusory concept, but a kingdom of death buried deep under the earth and built in darkness, where life has become extinct.
The Age of the Babylonians is no exception.
However, this world that used to only accommodate the dead has recently welcomed a rare living being.
A shepherd on earth, a special guest of the Queen of the Underworld.
Of course, although he was called a distinguished guest, he was actually abducted.
However, the person involved, Loen, not only did not yell and denounce his sister-in-law Ai Lei's tyranny, but he stayed there calmly and even took advantage of his free time to observe the customs and practices of the Babylonian underworld with great interest.
As usual.
Loen climbed to the top of an underground mountain, chose a good angle, and looked down.
The seven doors divide the entire underworld into seven areas, each with different functions.
Teams of Garula spirits, shrouded in mist and with an eerie and cold aura, act as the guards of the underworld, relying on their instincts to guard and patrol their respective areas.
The dim valley twists and turns, filled with gray fog transformed from death. The rugged rocks cast heavy shadows, making the environment look dark and mysterious.
The raging black river in the center swirled and swirled in the waterway, and the waves it created splashed out distorted human faces.
The miserable cries and screams of these transported souls added a sense of horror and eeriness to the journey.
The atmosphere in the valleys on both sides is the opposite. Gun-shaped cages are scattered around, like man-made small houses, exuding exquisiteness and warmth.
Balls of dark blue soul fire were contained within, appearing extremely peaceful. Their appearance vaguely showed that they were once human beings, and some even had bright clothes covering their bodies.
Generally speaking, death, withering and corruption are the underlying colors of the underworld.
After most lives die, their souls enter the underworld, and their memories, emotions, and rationality are often constantly eroded by the underworld, and finally transformed into pure magical factors and join a new cycle.
The evil spirits that gradually disappeared in the River Styx are an example.
But the gun cages on both sides of the valley seem to be able to slow down the soul's loss and collapse to a certain extent, and seem to have the function of soothing and maintaining its sanity.
Mercy?
As a god who brings death and nothingness, he sympathizes with the preciousness of life and intellect.
Loen shook his head and turned to look at the towering buildings among the mountains and valleys.
It is a spire-shaped temple called "Meslamthea", which means "the warm light that exists deep underground". It is the bedroom of the underworld goddess Ele and the embodiment of her power.
A faint red light emanated from the temple, piercing through the thick death fog, allowing this cold and silent world to have a normal cycle of day and night, as well as a hint of rare warmth.
But death and decay are the essence of Hades.
As time goes by, even with the protection of the gun cage, without the support of the flesh, the souls of these mortals will eventually have their memories and emotions eroded away, and eventually return to their essence of nothingness.
Everything is just in vain.
"It's desolate, barren, and boring, right? Everywhere is filled with the smell of death and decay, disgusting enough to make you want to vomit. This is the territory of Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld. It's all I own."
A cold and gloomy voice came from behind, and the goddess Ai Lei climbed to the top of the mountain with a lantern in hand.
She looked at the man in front of her and snorted coldly: "Laugh if you want to."
When Luo En heard this, a trace of confusion appeared on his face:
"Why do you think I want to laugh at you?"
"You hang around outside all day long, and you go to places with dangerous environments. You often write and draw on clay tablets. You must be writing things you dare not say on them, and you are mocking me in various ways! But it doesn't matter. I have always been very generous and I will forgive your rudeness here."
"So, you've been secretly following me these past few days?"
“…That’s not the point!”
The [generous] goddess of the underworld became angry and her gloomy cheeks turned slightly red.
She immediately took off her disguise and threatened:
"I have overstepped my bounds here. From now on, you are not allowed to run around or write nonsense!"
"I think you misunderstood."
Loen didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and simply handed over the clay tablets in his hand.
Ai Lei couldn't help but be curious and quickly looked it up.
The content on the clay tablet was not the slanderous words to vent her dissatisfaction as she had expected, but some records of the geographical environment of the underworld and some essays inspired by her feelings.
Even the content contains many words of praise for her as the manager of the underworld.
Realizing that she seemed to have made a big mistake, the blush on the face of the goddess of the underworld became more obvious, and steam could be vaguely seen coming out of her head.
Sensitive and suspicious;
I care a lot about what others think, but I am not very good at getting along with others;
It should be because he has lived alone for too long, lacks someone to talk to and communicate with, feels too lonely, and is more psychologically prone to anxiety.
Based on his own experience, Loen secretly summarized the character of the goddess of the underworld.
Then, he took the initiative to speak and helped the other party resolve the current embarrassment:
"Lord Ailei, you've come at the right time. I'm very curious about the operating mechanism and customs of the underworld. If it's convenient for you, why don't you explain it to me?"
Upon hearing this, the goddess felt as if she had been pardoned. She quickly cleared her throat and introduced her underground kingdom to the living person in front of her.
The various nations of the Babylonian Age of Gods had many names for the underworld: Elkala, Kurnuki, Kutu, etc. Of course, it can also be directly called "the land of no return" or - "hell".
It is very easy for mortals to go down to the underworld. Anyone can go there easily, but it is difficult to go back and escape to the human world. Only a few gods can do this, and they have to pay a great price.
Generally, on the journey to the underworld, each soul must pass through seven closed gates. Each gate is guarded to prevent them from going in the wrong direction - that would mean a terrible end such as being eaten by monsters or ravaged by demons. Only after paying the toll to the guards can the ghosts continue on. Therefore, the dead need to be buried in gorgeous clothes and decorated with as much jewelry as possible. Even the poor will bring some coins with them to pay the fees when the time comes.
But no matter whether the deceased is poor or rich, after passing through the seven gates, they will lose all their wealth, status and identity in life and enter the kingdom of death with an equal attitude.
And when the ghosts with nothing pass the trial and reach the end, there is no good luck waiting for them here.
Hell is a dark world. There is no other light source except the fever temple built by Ailei. After ghosts have been wandering outside for a long time, their eyes will gradually lose their perception of the outside world. What's more terrifying is that the underworld is built on the remains of the ancestor god Apsu.
The power of death and decay permeates the entire underworld, almost cutting off all life.
The living environment of ghosts in the underworld is extremely difficult, and the best it can achieve is only slightly close to their original life in the world.
The Sumerians believed that ghosts spent most of their time struggling in darkness. Because there was no food, ghosts could only feed on mud and crawl in the dust; they were always thirsty because there was no clean water to drink.
There would also be dead gods among the inhabitants of the Babylonian underworld, because immortality is difficult to achieve and even gods can be killed.
Thus, the Babylonians and Assyrians who followed the Sumerians also had to worry about ghosts being attacked by demigods, monsters, and demons, who sometimes escaped to the surface world and brought suffering and death to humans.
In short, the Babylonian underworld is not a beautiful world.
Looking at this dark kingdom that belongs to her, Ai Lei's face gradually became gloomy and depressed:
"To be honest, not only you, but I also hate this place. I hate myself for having to be with death alone."
Raising her white hands before her eyes, she seemed to be able to see the dirty blood and smell the stench of a rotting corpse.
However, a resounding murmur interrupted the goddess of the underworld's self-pity:
"On the contrary, I think [death] is not dirty or shameful. It is not a curse, but a gift."
"Why do you say that? It's clearly taking away lives!"
"That's right! But although it's cruel, it's also a kind of mercy. The biggest obstacle to the survival of all things is not fear and weakness, but arrogance. Scars can make people humble and make them grow. In the end, the bones of death will pave a path to life for the entire tribe."
"But even if you say so, isn't death a very sad thing for an individual?"
“It’s sad, but also worth singing about!”
Luo En looked at the underworld below him, his eyes were as deep as the abyss, and his voice was as loud as thunder.
“The reason why the journey is great and the epic is magnificent is that everything will eventually die. And only with the existence of [death], life becomes precious and magnificent!”
After a pause, he turned to look at the goddess of the underworld behind him and said earnestly:
"So, don't hate your power, and don't hate death. You can use it to do something better."
Ai Lei was shocked by these remarks that overturned her cognition and could not calm down for a long time.
But the inertia of her thinking still made it difficult for her to break away from her inherent pessimistic mentality:
"Something better? In this world of darkness and death, what else can I do when I can't even grow a flower?"
"That's because you didn't choose the right seeds."
Lorne answered casually and gave an example.
"I have seen a plant called 'Golden Spike'. It is not afraid of the erosion of death and can bloom all over the valley full of death."
"Is there really such a thing?" Ai Lei was skeptical.
"Yes, I have some seeds on hand."
As Lorne spoke, he took out a small packet of golden spike seeds from the magic circle diagram. These were the narcissus flowers that bloomed in the Garden of Truth during the Greek Age of the Gods.
Seeing the real thing, Ailei grabbed the seed and held it to her chest excitedly:
"Now, I can see flowers and life in my underworld. It's great..."
"The environment here is rather special, and there may be some problems with the local climate. So if you want to cultivate these golden spike flowers, you need to put in more effort. It would be best if a plant god who knows about flower cultivation could help you."
Hearing the reminder, Ailei looked around and her eyes finally fell on Lorne.
Plant god?
Isn't he?
Ai Lei immediately stuffed the seeds back into the other person's hand and said, "I leave it to you. You must help me grow these flowers!"
Does this count as finding something to do for yourself?
Loen didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and felt a little regretful for taking out the seeds to show off.
Ai Lei seemed to sense the reluctance, bit her lip and said:
"Actually, I don't really need to see these flowers. I just hope there's more life here so that the dead souls can see a different view from death and not be so miserable."
Human beings had a very low status in the Babylonian Age of Gods. They were born with original sin and were only fit to serve as livestock and slaves of the gods. They did not have a harmonious relationship with the gods.
Even in the underworld, they are at the bottom of the food chain.
But fortunately, in the lowest level of hell, they were not further despised after their death.
"They are very lucky to be favored by you after death."
Loen's gaze swept across the tens of thousands of gun cages in the valleys on both sides, and a hint of emotion flashed in his eyes.
Although this goddess of the underworld appears to be gloomy and cold, and bears the death that ordinary people would rather avoid, her nature has a warm undertone.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have to consume her own magic power to build a gun cage-like hut to provide these ghosts with a place to live, so that her rationality and self could be maintained longer.
There is no need to maintain the operation of the temple all day long to allow a little light and warmth underground.
After a moment of silence, Luo En held the flower seeds in his hand and exclaimed sincerely:
"In fact, in my opinion, this barren land has already blossomed."
"?"
"It is you, a beautiful and warm flower from the underworld."
Hearing the praise and sincerity contained in those words, Ai Lei's pretty face suddenly flushed:
"I just think that there have been too many misfortunes and injustices in this world. At least in this afterlife, they can be treated fairly."
Then, she told the audience how she practiced "equality".
In the Babylonian Age of Gods, the Sumerians believed that each person's fate after death depended on some more accidental factors, usually whether the corpse was handled in a standard manner, whether the funeral ceremony was detailed and thoughtful, whether the living relatives made offerings to the gods on their behalf, and whether they prepared enough burial objects for them.
But as the queen of the underworld, Elle rarely commented on the behavior of new ghosts in their lifetime, and only ordered her clerk to register the names of ghosts. After the trial of the seven gates, all souls will be stripped of their identities, property, status and other characteristics. Bad people will not be punished, and good people will not get any rewards. Although there are all kinds of injustices in the world of the living, death seems to be particularly equal. The ghosts of the king and ordinary people are treated equally. Dead is dead.
All beings are equal under death!
After listening to this impassioned speech, Luo En had a strange look on his face:
“Is this the equality you seek?”
"yes!"
"Well, maybe this should be called [tanking]."
Luo En gave his evaluation, and then asked seriously:
"Don't you think it's unfair that the wicked break the law on earth, the powerful and wealthy abuse their power during their lifetime, and the hypocrites enjoy status and wealth that they don't deserve. But once they die, all their crimes can be written off and they will receive the same treatment as those who have worked hard to live. Isn't this unfair?"
Ai Lei was shocked and speechless.
Indeed, seemingly fair treatment has become indulgence of injustice.
But how to do it?
Elle was bewildered.
As the queen of the underworld, she ruled this desolate and dead world alone, and usually appeared majestic and cold. The dead avoided her as much as possible, resulting in her having no one to communicate with, and naturally she had never seriously thought about this more profound issue.
However, in this regard, Loen is an expert and directly stated the successful management experience of the Greek underworld:
"I think you can set up a review, judgment and punishment mechanism in the underworld to judge the words, thoughts and actions of the dead during their lifetime."
“Good idea!”
Ai Lei's eyes lit up and she was very excited, and she felt that this plan was feasible.
However, the goddess was confused again about how to implement it.
She is used to living alone and is not very good at getting along with others, so naturally she is not very good at dealing with matters related to interpersonal relationships.
Therefore, it is a bit too much for her to manage all the dead souls in an orderly manner and to establish and improve a huge underworld trial and error correction mechanism.
Just when Ai Lei was having a headache, her eyes immediately fell on someone.
A barely perceptible burning sensation emerged deep in her eyes.
Just as Ailei's eyes flickered, three fully armed Garula spirits floated over and reported some news to her through their thoughts.
Siduri is here?
Ai Lei was slightly stunned and her brows unconsciously frowned.
(End of this chapter)
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