Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

In the world, snow is everywhere.

It is February, and the ground is still covered with frost.

The rotation of the twelve zodiac star fields has just reached the center of the twelfth zodiac plane. If it is in the distant future, perhaps it will have another better name-Pisces.

Of course, whether it will get the same name in this life is hard to guess. At least now, it is just an ordinary star field.

The cold wind is still howling. It is said that "things will turn around when they reach the extreme". This is a well-known truth, but only the real wise can see through the fog and peek into the so-called "extreme point".

There is no such existence in the world at this moment. They cannot see through the struggle between the gods reflected behind the natural changes, so the bloodshed and disputes have a tendency to intensify. Many hatreds are formed at this time, and many cities are destroyed.

The losers lose their lives or die quietly in hunger and cold. The winners are not happy either, because as long as this natural disaster has not ended, they will continue to "win".

So resentment began to accumulate, and curses on disasters began to spread... When facing a crisis, people always need a way to vent, and coincidentally, they just have an object to vent.

That is certainly not the goddess of agriculture. After all, in the eyes of humans, Demeter is the only god who is willing to help them personally. In human history, there was originally an existence that was very important. She brought disaster to the world and destroyed an era of mankind.

She is Pandora, an ominous woman. The meaning of this name is "a woman with all talents", but now it is more understood as "the source of all disasters."

...

In the north of the continent, on a path outside an unnamed valley.

A few jackdaws circled in the sky, making dry calls. The dead trees that had long been without branches and leaves swayed in the wind, as if they would collapse in the next moment.

Wearing a soft hat on his head, holding a wooden stick stained with three parts of blood in his hand. A young man walked in front under the flying snow, and behind him, an extremely beautiful woman followed closely.

The cold wind blew into the valley, forming a unique echo, accompanied by the two people's gentle footsteps. They seemed to have walked a long way, but they did not seem tired at all.

"Are you still thinking about the people you met before?"

The wooden stick poked the ground. For Epimetheus, although he did not need to use it to determine whether the road under the snow was smooth, he still used it as needed.

Along the way, he had become accustomed to pretending to be an ordinary mortal, which saved him a lot of trouble.

"I just don't understand... why they look at me with that kind of eyes."

Following behind, Pandora's pale face was as beautiful as ever. It's a pity that in the north land full of cold wind, no one can appreciate her moving style.

"I didn't do anything, this natural disaster has nothing to do with me, but why..."

The voice became smaller and smaller, gradually becoming undetectable, and Pandora seemed to remember that day again.

After seeing his men being easily killed one by one by Epimetheus, the young captain of the guard had no fear at all. He still charged at the existence in front of him, and was nailed to the ground by the wooden stick of the man in front of him.

But until the last moment of his life, he still looked at Pandora with hatred.

They called her a 'witch', meaning a woman who had extraordinary power like a monster and would bring disaster to mankind. But Pandora knew very well that apart from the blessings of the gods that she could not even actively induce, she was just an ordinary human being, and she could not even beat the young man with extraordinary martial arts.

If she could also cause this snowstorm that affected the world, it would really sound like a joke.

"Why deceive yourself... You know why this is."

"Although you are deliberately given a strong curiosity, it does not mean that you are really that stupid - you are different from the gods."

With a faint smile, Epimetheus did not know who he was talking about.

"After all, if a god is stupid now, then he will probably be consistent in the past and the future. Few of them can learn from experience, and even if more time passes, it seems that nothing has changed."

"But you are a human, you don't have an innate divine position, so you will not be affected by it. You are not like other mortals who only have a few decades of life. So you don't have to put on such an attitude - I have seen all the changes you have made along the way."

There was no response, but Pandora's face calmed down as she followed the man.

Yes, just as he said just now. Maybe when she opened the magic jar just now, she did feel sad and desperate about the resentment and misunderstanding of humans, but now she won't.

It's a simple truth that a long time can smooth everything out. The short time for gods is long enough for her. Compared with the misunderstanding of humans, what really makes her unforgettable is the captain's bravery without fear of death.

He has the courage that most gods and humans don't have... and then he died so easily in front of her.

"In fact, I really want to know - why did you reveal your name?"

Not knowing what the woman behind him was thinking, Epimetheus asked casually:

"You should know that when your deeds spread and when the bodies of those humans are found, your reputation as a natural disaster will be confirmed."

"Then... the beliefs that linger around you but cannot be absorbed by you will increase, making you restless day and night."

"It's not intentional," Pandora corrected without answering: "I just forgot my reputation among humans for a moment."

"Okay, I forgot for a moment."

Nodding, Epimetheus did not comment.

The two continued to move forward.

They walked for a long time in the narrow valley entrance until the front gradually became much wider. There was no wind and snow here, and the white frost falling from the sky seemed to have encountered an invisible barrier, and the place only one step away still looked vibrant.

Epimetheus stopped here, he looked around, and then waved gently.

"You stay here for now."

"...Okay."

Nodding, Epimetheus continued to walk inside.

Behind him, Pandora held the magic jar that had accompanied her for many years and watched his back go away.

…

After crossing a stream that was only a few steps wide and passing a small area that looked like farmland, an exquisite wooden house soon appeared at the end of the sight.

In front of the wooden house, there was a stone table, a few chairs, and a small flowerbed surrounded by a wooden fence.

Everything seemed very pastoral, even the middle-aged man who was the only one sitting there.

Compared with the memory, the figure looked much older, but his demeanor seemed very leisurely.

“Father, it seems that you have been doing well recently under the protection of the power of the Earth Mother.”

Stepping forward, Epimetheus called out the identity of the person in front of him.

Iapetus, one of the Titan gods with the lowest presence. The deepest impression he left on the world was probably that he gave birth to Prometheus and his brothers.

Of course, all his children now can be regarded as enemies of the Olympian God Court.

"It's nothing good or bad, just find a place to live quietly, but I want very little, so it's easy to satisfy."

Iapetus closed his eyes and rested on the simple recliner. He didn't seem to be very enthusiastic about his long-lost son.

"That's good. Since my mother left here, I always thought you would feel lonely."

Epimetheus smiled and found a chair to sit down.

"Near this valley, I saw a few special human tribes. They used the flesh and blood of wild beasts to sacrifice to the gods - some gods I had never heard of, and claimed that 'all things have spirits'."

"They seem to think that the object of their worship is a tree, a stone, or some powerful beast. I didn't care much about these until I found that those things actually have consciousness and can absorb faith."

"Do you know what this is?"

Epimetheus asked casually, not expecting to get any answer.

Although this happened not far from here, he was sure that his old father would not be interested in it.

Or more precisely, like him, they keep their distance from this phenomenon that they don't know why it happened, especially when humans can't exert much power.

"I don't know," Iapetus responded as expected: "If you are interested in them, you can stay around for a while."

So the topic ended, and Epimetheus obviously didn't want to cause himself any extra trouble.

But the conversation began, and the father and son who hadn't seen each other for a long time began to talk about some useful or useless things. They talked about the past, Atlas who was holding up the sky, and Prometheus who was taken to the East China Sea.

Most of the time, Epimetheus was talking, and Iapetus only gave a little response occasionally.

It wasn't until the sun set that the latecomer asked a question inadvertently.

"I remember... you once made a prophecy and saw the sun falling into the East China Sea?"

"That was not a prophecy I made," Iapetus said lightly, shaking his head: "It was fate that took the initiative to find me."

"Whatever it is, father, I'm just curious..."

"In your understanding, how does fate work, or can the person who controls fate really control it freely?"

Iapetus raised his head slightly and looked at his son.

As in the past, the late awakener did not seem to have the confidence and intelligence of his brother at all. Even now, he still thinks so.

"Probably not, this is my answer."

After looking for a while without giving a reason, Iapetus said calmly.

"...I understand."

Epimetheus continued to chat with his father for a while with a smile. He didn't say goodbye until the sun completely set.

The silver moon had not yet risen, and he walked back to the valley entrance step by step, where Pandora was still waiting for him.

Crossing the boundary between warmth and cold wind, the late awakener looked at the direction of the sunset. The person sitting on the golden chariot now is not Helios, but Apollo who needs to use all his strength to drive the chariot.

Compared with the voyeur who inherited Hyperion's title of "the one looking down from the sky", the temporary Apollo should not have the time to look around.

"Let's go."

After saying hello, Epimetheus walked back the way he came.

"Let's go to the human world and then build a church."

"Is it for you? We seem to be considered guilty by Olympus, right?"

"Of course it's not an aboveboard establishment, use your brain."

Shaking his head, Epimetheus said

"And this isn't for my church, this is for you...and your jar, of course."

······

brush--

Hades, the entrance to the abyss.

The space stirred for a while, and then golden light flashed. The next moment, Helios' somewhat embarrassed figure appeared there.

However, there were no injuries on his body. Obviously, although he had just encountered a little trouble, it was not enough to really hurt him.

"Phew - it seems my suspicion has come true."

"Dozens, even hundreds - why do I feel that if this continues, there will be more gods in this abyss than outside. Is this really reasonable?"

Taking a long breath, Helios met a life that had also just been born from the body of the Death Demon near the exit.

It's just that unlike the [Earth-Shaking Worm] he encountered before, he was not able to see the specific process of this one's birth, so he was not able to understand its title that was similar to the true name of a god.

Helios only saw a huge figure appearing silently behind the interface barrier that he marked as the 003-layer abyss. The spherical body is suspended in the air. Located in the center of the head and front of the body is a huge one-eye. Below it is a bloody mouth full of bayonet-like teeth, but the most eye-catching thing is the 10 twisted strips of flesh on the sphere. There is a small eye at the end of each stem, and each eye is staring at him.

Then he experienced the feeling of 'killing you with his eyes'. A beam of dissociation shined from the pupil of the eye, directly hitting him, an outsider who was incompatible with the abyss.

"In the future... there will be no future. I will never come to this ghost place again."

Returning to the present world, Helios finally felt a lot safer. He couldn't help but relax, but then he felt a little worried.

"So wherever the Earth Mother is, she won't be sleeping again."

If this is really the case, then there is nothing the Sun God can do.

The sleeping primitive god is difficult to be awakened by external objects, at least he does not have this ability.

"Then what do you want from me?"

"Of course I-"

He turned around suddenly, but Helios saw nothing. He didn't think it was his imagination, someone was actually talking to him just now.

"Dear Earth Mother, may I ask..."

"it's me."

The next moment the voice came again, a reddish-brown light spot appeared in front of Helios. Then the light spot expanded and turned into a vortex.

"No matter what you want to do with me, come here first. I also want to know what you encountered in the abyss."

Helios should have been happy hearing that unmistakable voice. He didn't find Gaia, but Gaia took the initiative to find the door. But for some reason, he felt a little inexplicably nervous now.

Looking at the slowly rotating vortex... he seemed to be seeing another abyss.