Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1002 Will He in Heaven See It?
The voice of Themis from the celestial world echoed in the silent ocean, stirring up an empty echo.

Return...to the sea of ​​stars?
Metien blinked, and didn't react for a moment. She knew what returning to the sea of ​​stars meant. The goddess' teachings clearly mentioned that at the beginning of creation, He spread His spirituality to the earth, giving birth to life with souls and wisdom. These lives multiplied, lived, and developed civilization in the new world. Then, spirituality shone because of their own will, and was reflected in the night sky, becoming a glittering sea of ​​stars.

Therefore, there is a legend that every star in the sky symbolizes a soul on earth. When the stars first shine, the soul awakens and is reborn; when the stars dim and go out, the soul sleeps and rests; as for the meteors that flash across the night sky, they symbolize those sages and heroes who only had the shortest life but lived the most wonderful life. In front of their brilliance, even the sun, the moon and the sea of ​​stars will be eclipsed.

It is precisely because of this magical correspondence that the astrologers in the tower firmly believe that by depicting the trajectory of the stars, they can predict what will happen in the next thousand years; the great witch of the Moruya people also regards astrology as a secret among the tribe. Only those who swear to keep this secret for life are qualified to be baptized in blood and trace back this ancient skill in the memory of their ancestors.

Only those who believe in the goddess, although they also believe in the correspondence between the stars in the sky and the people on the earth, never think that they can master the forbidden knowledge of human birth, aging, illness and death, the rise and fall of countries, and even the prosperity and decline of civilization by observing the sea of ​​stars, because the goddess's believers regard all of this as a kind of rule left by Him at the beginning of creation, which operates eternally and does not change due to human power or external factors. That rule is called destiny.

The brilliance of the stars is only an appearance. The destiny hidden behind the sea of ​​stars is the source of all life and reincarnation. However, humans cannot see it. They can only see the sea of ​​stars in the appearance world. That is why they are so keen on observing celestial phenomena and recording stars. In order to show the difference between them, the goddess believers call the other ocean hidden behind the appearance of the sea of ​​stars the Sea of ​​No Light, meaning that even the light of the stars cannot reach the ocean, so how can humans spy on it?
That’s why there is that saying – May your soul return to the lightless sea in the sky and gain eternal peace and silence.

That is actually a euphemism for death. Many religions and ethnic groups have similar traditions. For example, the Moryas call death the enlightenment and inheritance of wisdom, and the custom of baptism with blood is eternal; the Chattotos believe that eagles will only close their eyes on the high mountains closest to the sky, and their feathers will turn into the next snowstorm to come to the world; in the ancient land of Grangenia, in areas where the knight culture has not completely disappeared, some people call the dead in the tombs "returnees" and sing sad hometown tunes for them at their funerals.

Death seems to be a very important thing, even more so than when people are still alive. Metien vaguely realized this at his father's funeral. The pastor who presided over the funeral was from the Congregation for the Dead. When he wanted to use the words from the canon "The Letter to the Dead" to bid farewell to his father as usual, Lingge, who had been silent at the funeral, shook his head to stop him, and then walked to his adoptive father's tombstone in person, stroked the cold epitaph, and said the words just now.

If he hadn't said this at the time, would his father's soul be unable to return to the lightless sea in the sky and the kingdom of the goddess? When Metien thought about it, he felt that this was a very scary thing, so people's fear of death was far greater than when they were still alive.

At the same time, she remembered very clearly that the night after the funeral, the sky of Linville City had indeed lost all light, as if it had sunk into a long, deep ocean. Although the City of Heartbreak was originally an industrial city, the huge chimneys of the factories on the outskirts of the city continuously spewed out gloomy coal clouds and thick smog day and night, covering the sky above the city and making it impossible for people to see any starlight. But the girl always insisted that the night of that day was indeed darker and quieter than usual.

Looking back, Metien still had a deep impression of the death she witnessed for the first time, not to mention that she had spent almost three years forcing herself to focus on studying and helping her brother maintain the church, barely coming out of the grief after the death of her loved one. It was precisely because this memory still remained in her mind, like a scar left after a wound heals, that she was not panicked or at a loss when faced with the answer from Themis in heaven.

It seems that even death itself is something that practice makes perfect. If you have experienced it before, you will not be so panicked the second time. But for people, is this a kind of growth? Or is it a kind of sadness?
"You're lying to me."

Metien looked up and looked directly into the eyes of Themis. Her tone was surprisingly calm because she did not believe her words from the bottom of her heart: "It is impossible for the goddess to return to the Sea of ​​No Light."

The great and benevolent goddess who created all things in the universe is the origin of all myths and legends, admired by thousands of intelligent creatures, and the symbol of eternity in the flow of time and fate. It is repeatedly mentioned in the "Canon" of the Holy Goddess that she can see through the past and the future, determine people's fate, see through people's hearts, and see through every hidden thought; she is the rotation of the sun and the moon, the changes of darkness and light, the boundary between time and space, and the prophecy of eternity and the end.

Her Majesty, the omnipotent goddess, Themis from heaven actually said that She would return to the sea of ​​stars, just like the stars in the night sky for mortals, with a lifespan of no more than a season. Isn't this ridiculous?
"Conclusion: Wrong."

Themis looked down at Metien expressionlessly. Each of them reflected the other's face in their eyes. Their eyes revealed a similar spirituality, but one was calmly questioning, while the other was complex and profound: "This machine was entrusted by the goddess to perform the functions of observation and supervision. Based on the requirements of a neutral, fair and objective position, it has abandoned unstable instructions such as deception, concealment or evasion, so there is no possibility of lying."

"I can testify." Across the screen, Tiantis's voice came faintly: "Themis in the celestial world has not learned to lie, and there is no need to lie. Mother is indeed no longer in this world. In your human terms, that is..."

"This is impossible!"

Before she could utter the two words that everyone avoided, Metien interrupted her abruptly, then raised her head and stared at Tiantis with a stubborn and obstinate look, her fists clenched tightly and trembling violently, and one could even hear the sound of her teeth colliding and chattering in her mouth. It seemed that she was so excited for the first time since everyone knew her: "You, you are all lying, Themis in the celestial world is lying, and so are you. You are colluding with each other, just because you don't want us to see the goddess! Because the things you did, whether it was slaughtering aliens or cutting off magic power, all violated the expectations of the goddess! You know that you can't get the goddess's forgiveness, so, so you tried every means to prevent us from seeing Her! If, if you say that the goddess has returned to the lightless sea in the sky, then, then-"

The more she spoke, the louder and more excited she became. Her cheeks flushed with anger. It seemed that her small body was filled with enough power to destroy the control center and even the entire universe. In the end, she could no longer control her anger and shouted out, "Then show me the evidence!!" Her voice, which contained a hint of tears, echoed in the silent sea of ​​stars. After hitting the distant border, it came back again, overlapping each other. Countless echoes were as mighty as the tide, long and hoarse. Themis and Tiantis from the heavens were silent, staring at Metien without saying anything. The pink-haired girl thought she had exposed their lies and left them speechless. She turned around to seek the support of her brother and companions, but found that everyone was looking at her with a strange and pitying look.

"What's wrong, everyone?" She asked blankly, her voice so weak that it sounded like an unconscious murmur: "Why are you looking at me like this?"

No one knew how to answer, except the girl's brother, who sighed softly, feeling sad for his sister's experience and guilty for not fulfilling his responsibilities as a brother. He walked in front of the girl, half squatted, reached out to wipe the crystal from the corners of her eyes, and said in a low voice: "Metien."

"do not Cry."

Don’t... cry anymore?
I didn't cry.

Metien was about to say this, but suddenly she felt a twisted pain in her heart, as if a large piece of her body had been dug out. This empty pain made her almost unable to breathe. She wanted to cover her heart and cry out in pain, seeking comfort from her brothers and sisters. But she couldn't even make a sound, because her throat was blocked by hoarse sobs, and her eye sockets felt bitter and stinging. Wet water traces slowly flowed down her cheeks, and when they flowed through her thin lips, there was a salty taste. The girl opened and closed her mouth, and then she realized belatedly that she had indeed cried, and cried very sadly, with tears streaming down her face.

But why was I crying? And why was I crying unconsciously?
The girl thought back to the past again. She remembered that night after her father's funeral, she sat alone in the courtyard, staring at the white city sycamore tree he had planted. Through the withered branches and leaves, she looked at the dark night sky, thinking about the legend of the lightless sea in the scriptures. This night was so dark, was it because the goddess was leading her father's soul to the distant and peaceful lightless sea? If so, could her father see himself in the human world in that ocean? Would he bless the two children he left behind in the mortal world? Or would he entrust the goddess to take care of them? The goddess was so kind, she would not refuse the small request of this devout believer, right?
She looked at him for a long time, thinking about things that she would not have thought about or dared to think about in the past. She didn't know how long it had been before her worried brother came to her, worried that his sister would do something stupid because of too much grief. It was not until he saw her sitting quietly under the sycamore tree that he breathed a sigh of relief. But when Metien turned around and wanted to greet her brother, he was stunned, as if he had seen something unimaginable. Metien asked him why he looked at her like that, and after looking at his sister silently for a while, the brother sighed as he did before, walked up to her, gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said softly: "Metien, don't cry."

"Mr. Yanke will see it."

……

That's right, don't cry! My father will see it, and the goddess will see it too!
The girl broke away from her memories and reached out to wipe the tears from her eyes and face, but it was no use. Her tears seemed to never stop flowing. The more she wiped, the more they flowed. No matter how hard she wiped, they could not be wiped away. This might be because the girl felt a great fear in her heart, because she suddenly realized that if her past self shed tears because she realized that her father had indeed left her and left this world forever, then why was she crying now? Could it be that she was just doubting on the surface, but in fact she had already believed in what Themis said in her heart?

Just now, just now, she had raised doubts so calmly, stubbornly believing that both of them were lying. Why did she inexplicably believe such strange words? The goddess returned to the sea of ​​stars, which was too ridiculous!

Metien may not know that sometimes when people face great grief, they will enter a state of absolute calm because they are at a loss. It is not because they are really calm, but because their souls leave their bodies at that time and put themselves in the position of bystanders, so they can temporarily maintain their rationality and protect their emotions. When they realize that this is not a lie, this false calmness will turn into a deep self-doubt, panic, and helplessness. They desperately want to deny something to prove that they are not cold-blooded and heartless, and do not know what sadness is, but have never believed it.

Lingge looked at his sobbing sister, as if he had returned to that moonless and starless night again. He thought that he had known the fickleness of human nature and the impermanence of the world after years of wandering, but he was still so unfamiliar with death that he didn't know what words to use to comfort his sister. As time passed, the feeling of confusion and loneliness never left, and it came back like a tide.

Will everything be settled? Or is it just a cycle of time and memory?

Ling Ge raised his head. Saint Shallia had walked to his side without him knowing. The young man looked into those calm and mournful lake green eyes for a while. The two seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding. Ling Ge gently pushed his still crying sister to her, and watched the blue-haired girl gently embrace him in her arms and whispered comforting words. He then stood up and looked up at the sky.

"One side's words cannot be trusted."

His tone was so calm that it seemed as if he was just stating the facts: "If you want us to believe this, then show us the evidence, Miss Themis of the Celestial Realm."

Give me some meow