Pivot of the Sky

In order to turn a piece of land into a realm, Mourrin had to do everything by herself . It was like that the Pharaoh had granted Amon a piece of territory, but Amon still had to work hard to make it productive .

Mourrin requested having the sinners, believers of the losing gods, as her subjects . They became the miners of Duc . They had to live in the barren land and extract parangons in harsh conditions . Only the strongest struggled to survive .

Then Mourrin showed up and taught them the skills later known as the technique of Duc . By performing such a miracle she became their patron goddess, their protector . Her words became the first oracles . According to the Anunnaki, the sinners could not leave Marduc’s land . These oracles passed from generations to generations . Some of them became laws, while some were forgotten . After several centuries, few knew how these rules originated . Pragmatic explanations replaced the divine creed . Greed defeated the awe of the gods .

The rest of the story was known . The Ducians violated the ancient oracles and thus forfeit the protection from Mourrin . Enlil unleashed a huge flood, destroying the town, while turning the barren land to a piece of fertile land . The prophecy said that the god of the gods would be born here . Perhaps Enlil believed that his time finally came .

Did Mourrin have the realm that provides power? It was hard to say . A realm was a source of power . The power came from the believers, who pretended to be god’s servants . It came from their prayers, their offerings, their faith in the god they worship . It was not the same as the physical or magic power . The Ejyptians called it the neteru, the divide energy . .

Schrodinger had never possessed her own divine realm, so her understanding of the neteru was incomplete . Nevertheless, she knew that neteru served two main purposes . First, it helped make one’s soul more powerful, so powerful that one can grow more than one self . The multiple selves, combining together, allowed one to possibly understand the ultimate meaning of life . Besides that, it was helpful when one, even a god, dealt with the final judgement of fate .

When Schrodinger mentioned that last one, Amon couldn’t help but ask: “Do gods also have to face the final judgement of fate?”

Schrodinger slightly trembled as she replied: “Whether it be body arts or magic arts, when a mortal reaches the ninth level, he will have the strength to even fight the gods in this world . They are usually called the demigods . Gilgamesh and Enkidu are examples of that . But in the earliest use of this term, a demigod was someone who had received the guidance of a divine clan and had the possibility to become a real god . The powerful ones among them were even taken to be gods by mortals . For example, I was often referred to as the goddess of cats .

If you achieve the ninth level of the power of two sides, you would be a demigod in its original meaning, and your strength would be on par with many gods mentioned in the legends . You could even possess your own divine realm . However, in order to achieve true transcendence, one must face the judgement of fate and pass that final test . Do you know what the name Ennead stands for?”

Amon blinked, “What does it mean?”

Schrodinger: “It means “the nine ones” . Before Horus, only nine persons had indeed become gods . Horus was the tenth, and also the last one . The other so-called gods, including me, were only demigods . I was once only one step away from succeeding, but I didn’t make it . ”

……

When Amon went to participate in the Hapsidis, he had stayed in Memphis for about eight days . On his second day in Memphis, he had sent Metatro back to tell Moses to leave with his people . For such a long journey, even though they had already prepared for it in advance, they still needed time to finish packing everything . So when Amon returned to his territory, Moses had only set off not long ago .

There were more than a hundred of them, and they got twenty carriages with various supplies, including farming tools, clothing, food, seeds, tents and so on . This time, they were going to rebuild their homeland from scratch, and this was going to be the last major journey at the end of their suffering, so naturally they brought as much as they could .

Once they leave the Ejyptian border, they would still have to cross hundreds of miles of desert as well as hundreds of miles of swamp and forests, so food, water and weapons for self protection were necessary . Such a large group of people could not possibly advance that quickly, and when the new Pharaoh’s edict arrived, they had only just reached Heliopolite, one of the cities on the eastern banks of the Nile River nearest to Memphis, and the distance from the borders was still very far .

Moses was stopped at the city’s checkpoint, and when the guards at the gates saw the warrant from the Supreme General, they told him: “Now that the new Pharaoh has succeeded the throne, according to the latest orders, you cannot proceed any further . Fortunately, this place is not far from Herak, so please return to your territory immediately . If you disobey the orders and continue to advance, you will be arrested and forcibly repatriated . ”

Moses had no choice but to order the carriages to go back southwards, and his people were utterly disappointed . They had waited for six long years and experienced countless suffering . Just when they had a glimmer of hope, it was suddenly extinguished . Why did that damn Ramses II have to die now?

When the people who had been persevering solely on faith fell into despair, that painful feeling was indescribable, and some of them even lost the strength to continue walking . Moses consoled his people: “We have already waited patiently for so long, why don’t we continue to persevere? As long as God has not forsaken us, there is no need to be disappointed!”

His people asked: “But where is God?”

The twelve disciples of Moses said: “God is watching us, as long as we do not lose the faith in our heart, we will eventually get home . ”

That night, they did not pass by any cities or towns . Instead, they took shelter at a spot beside the banks of the Nile River and spent the night in tents . The flowing of rapids was far away, while the hills and forest were nearby . Moses ordered his twelve disciples to take turns keeping watch over the camp, while he meditated inside a carriage and called for Allaha in his heart .

“My God, savior of hope! I call to you, please hear my voice . Do not let that spark of hope get extinguished once again and guide my people back to their homeland . I am willing to offer everything I have, my body, my heart and my life, as long as they are able to return to the land where Duc used to be . God, I am your servant, please help me . ”

At this moment, Moses heard a voice in his mind: “God is watching you and your people, please come to the forest and accept the guidance from the spark of hope . ”

Moses hurriedly opened his eyes and left the carriage stealthily . With his iron stick, he secretly entered the forest, and far away, there was indeed a looming spark . Passing through the trees, he entered a valley and saw some bushes burning in flames . Going nearer, he saw that the bushes were undamaged despite the flames, and there were two men standing upon an open space . He quickly kneeled down and bowed towards the men . “Messengers of God, Moses hears the summon and has come . ”

One of them said: “Moses, an unexpected situation has occurred . The new Pharaoh of Ejypt will not let you leave, and if you stay, you will never get another chance to return to your homeland . Do you choose to stay or continue moving forward?”

Moses answered: “If God is willing to guide the way, I will definitely choose to go forward and return to my homeland . ”

The other man asked: “The way home will be extremely arduous, and it is made even more difficult by having to bring so many people with you . You have one chance to leave by yourself, God has allowed you to make a choice . ”

Moses pursed his lips and said: “No, if I wanted to leave by myself, I would have done so long ago! God told me that I have to bring my people back home, and even if I fail to make it despite my best efforts, I will help my people fulfill their wishes . ”

That man nodded . “Very good, you have not disappointed God! Give me your stick, I will teach you what to do . ”

Moses handed over the iron stick to the messenger . Lynk took the stick and turned around before retrieving the Ventussalte embedded in it . Then he replaced it with the Ventussalte which had been crafted into a spatial artifact . Turning back around, he handed the stick back to Moses and said: “I will teach you how to use this, and with this stick you can continue moving forward . The messengers of God will guide your way forward and erase the traces of your passage from behind . ”

……

Moses remained in the forest for the whole night and finally hurried back stealthily when it was nearly dawn . At dawn, he gathered everyone and told them: “Last night, God summoned me . I was told that we cannot go back to Amon’s territory, or we will forever lose the chance to return to our homeland . From today onwards, we will be travelling through the mountains and wilderness so as to avoid all the checkpoints and prevent anyone from tracking us . We shall use our own feet to walk back to our homeland . God is watching us, and he shall guide our way . ”

The worried Ducians were either surprised or happy at his words, and they broke into excited chatter . To travel through the wilderness for such a long journey without the use of carriages, how were they going to make it through the desert and swamp? By doing so, they would become wanted fugitives on the run, and if they were caught in Ejypt they would be arrested immediately . Nobody knew what kind of dangers lay ahead, and completing the journey seemed like an impossible task .

Moses waited for everyone to stop talking, then he said: “God is testing our faith, whoever is willing to be slaves of the Pharaoh for the rest of their lives and build his shrine and mausoleum for him can go back now . My people, is there anyone who is willing to step on the path back to our homeland and follow me into the wilderness?”

His twelve disciples stepped out and answered: “We are willing to follow you on this path . God has given us strength and guided us towards the light . ”

Moses nodded in relief and said: “You have earned yourselves an honor . From today onwards, you will be known as the Judges . You will be given the power and you shall lead the offerings to God . ”

Someone stepped out and asked: “But God did not give us any power . Moses, can you guarantee that God will protect us until we return to our homeland?”

Moses stamped the ground with his stick and said: “Nobody can make a guarantee in the name of God! God will provide us with guidance and aid . Power belongs to yourself, faith makes you stronger, hope is in your heart, and the path is beneath your feet . ”

Finally, everyone followed Moses into the forest after abandoning the carriages . Although some of them were hesitant, seeing that the majority of them had chosen to follow Moses, they were afraid to go back by themselves . Moses passed by the valley where he had met the messengers of God last night, passed through the bushes that had been burning, and entered a small path within the mountains near the northern banks of the Nile River .

He was not aware that the valley had been the place where Amon was once pursued by assassins . The path that God was guiding them onto was the path that Amon had once taken as he headed for Memphis while running for his life . Now, Amon guided his clansmen along this path to leave Ejypt . Other than a few specific areas where they needed to take a detour around cities and towns, the majority of the path had been walked upon personally by Amon, where he was able to avoid the populated areas and the patrol of the city guards .

Although the carriages were abandoned, the people took the horses, cattle and donkeys with them . These livestock could feed on grass along the way, and when needed, they could be slaughtered for food . The majority of the Ducians were strong young men, and they either loaded the livestock with the supplies or carried them on their backs . Just like that, they made their way through the wilderness on the small path with much difficulty .

Travelling in such a manner affected their speed greatly, but Moses did not stop his people from bringing the livestock along and carrying the supplies on their back . Although God had given him an incredible stick, he was also instructed not to use it if possible .

The twelve Judges were the firmest supporters of returning to their homeland, and their names were: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson . Moses’s servant Joshua asked: “Once we leave, we would become fugitive slaves . We cannot buy things from towns and cities and can only rely on the supplies which we brought with us . Furthermore, we will need to cross the desert . Is there a need to make an inventory of what we have?”

Moses nodded . “Then you shall be in charge of registration, management and distribution of all our supplies . If we consume our supplies sparingly and there are no delays in our journey, our supplies should be sufficient to last us for the whole journey . We just need to make sure to bring sufficient drinking water before we enter the desert . ”

Joshua carried out his orders and noted down all the supplies that they currently had . He also calculated the amount that they consumed everyday and distributed the supplies accordingly . There weren’t many high mountains in the region of Heliopolis, but there was uneven terrain and plenty of wild forests the further they got away from the Nile River . As long as they avoided the populated areas, it was nearly impossible to discover the Ducians .

Metatro was using the crystal shuttle to scout ahead for any dangers while Lynk was using the Spying Mirror and the Shadow-soul Chasing Lamp to follow from behind as well as to remove any tracks that the Ducians left behind . As the chief of the cavemen, Lynk was an expert at traversing the wilderness and tracking his prey, so he was obviously the best choice for this task .

……

Hardedef returned to Amon and reported to him that Moses and his people had abandoned the carriages and were now travelling on the small path . Amon nodded and thanked him for his hard work, then told him to resume his usual duties of patrolling the land .

Actually, there was no longer a need for Amon to stay in Ejypt . He could leave anytime he wanted, but he continued to stay in his territory, acting as a law-abiding and honest Supreme General of the Empire . Schrodinger was the one who lost her patience first and came to Amon on her own accord . She asked: “Why haven’t you left this place? Whether it be returning to the Duc Plains or escorting Moses secretly, it is far better than staying here! Are you hoping to climb the ranks and get rich in Ejypt?”

Amon smiled bitterly . “You obviously know why I am not leaving, why bother teasing me on purpose?”

Schrodinger said: “Could it be because of her? You are worried about her, but you should think of yourself . It’s not as if you are completely safe in this place . ”

Amon nodded . “Yes, of course it is because of her . According to what you say, Isis is long gone . After the recent events, Horus has lost the throne of the Ennead . In that case, wouldn’t the status of the Shrine of Isis be in peril as well?”

Schrodinger smiled . “You are already the Supreme General of the Empire, you can’t possibly be thinking that things are so simple, can you? The Adoratrice is just a symbol, even if the new Pharaoh wants to turn to another god, he also needs to consider the people . Even though the position of the Shrine of Isis will be weakened, is there a need for you to worry about Maria? Do you think that Maria has nothing else except her identity of Adoratrice?”

Schrodinger’s words made sense . The title of Adoratrice was merely symbolic . What counted was the people . Memphis has been a theocratic center for centuries . The nobles and the mages in the Shrines of Isis would not simple hand over their power . The believers of Isis will not easily change their faith . The empire had just ended a war and lost a Pharaoh . The new Pharaoh wouldn’t like to see confusion and chaos take place .

Even if the new Pharaoh worshipped a different god, he would still need to consolidate his rule over Lower Ejypt . Amon even thought that Maria had the talent to govern the entire Empire, and if she was not the Adoratrice, she would definitely be qualified and fully capable of becoming the new Pharaoh .

But Amon was still worried, and what was he worried about exactly? As he thought about it, he said to Schrodinger: “It is because of her, but not only because of her . I choose to stay . This will be beneficial to Moses . At least I can receive the latest news and make use of my status to provide protection . Another reason, of course, is because of you . ”

Schrodinger tilted her head and asked: “Because of me?”