There is a god in this world.
It is not the omnipotent, omniscient, and supreme and only true God preached by the white church scriptures, but the one who has existed in human society since ancient times.
The god named imagination.
Regardless of region, ethnicity or culture. Throughout the ages, the creation myths of various human races often include the saying that "God created man in his own image" - man is the primate of all things, a higher being with a sense of superiority over other creatures.
Even after contact with the other four major races later, many people still firmly believe in this statement.
God should have human form. Not elves or orcs, not dwarves and gnomes, but humans.
Because humans are the true children of God.
But this brings up the second question - there are many peoples of mankind, the Highlanders are different from the Lamanites, and the Lamanites are different from the Absera. So whose God is the true God?
Everyone naturally thinks that they are right. They first came to this conclusion and then began to write sacred scriptures and myths. Generation after generation, countless elites of human society have spent their entire lives embarking on a journey full of blood and death in order to prove all this.
The term missionary has been closely associated with conquest and war since its inception.
Even the White Church, which claims to be superior to primitive polytheism, has a history spanning thousands of years filled with all kinds of death and internal strife.
This approach seems absurd and meaningless to foreigners like elves who don't understand what faith is, but humans are convinced of it with their own imagination.
Polytheistic beliefs are barbaric - so declares the Holy Scriptures of the White Church.
It is a barbaric and cruel primitive belief that emphasizes human sacrifice and is full of blood and violence.
Many people believed this deeply and became more decisive when killing heretics.
They are all damned barbarians and should all die if they do not convert to the faith of the White Church.
Naturally this is not the case.
Perhaps some of the gods related to war do involve sacrifices, but if we trace our roots back to a time when everything was still simple.
The so-called gods are actually just creations of human beings using their own imagination.
Just someone to talk to.
The vast sky, land and ocean are difficult to communicate with. They appear too large and cruel, and human beings are extremely weak struggling to survive in them. Therefore, people long for a specific person, a character with whom they can communicate and pray.
A being that is similar to humans but controls the sky, the earth, and the ocean.
A god.
What the creation myth tells is probably the other way around from a factual perspective.
The reason why God has the image of a human is not because humans are created by God in his own image, but because humans use themselves as a model, coupled with imagination and desire, to create gods.
Because there was a need, they appeared.
First, there are gods in charge of good weather and good weather, because people need smooth agriculture; then there are gods in charge of wisdom and society, because people need to live and work in peace and contentment, and social development. Finally, when the gods in charge of war appeared, humans began to wage war in the name of their respective gods.
All of this was naturally banned after the rise of the White Church.
Gods cannot be separated, and all kinds of things that function like humans are false gods. The so-called true God must be the only one who is omniscient and omnipotent.
The strong appeal and unified believers have led to the rapid rise and expansion of monotheistic beliefs. In areas where they have absolute influence, the traditional beliefs of the past, such as stories about gods that embody people's various needs, are naturally completely banned.
But people still need them.
The only true God who is supreme, omniscient and omnipotent is high above, and the theory of atonement is preached in the church's holy scriptures. It is believed that all suffering is due to one's own sins and one needs to pray for forgiveness.
It is a shameful and ignorant heretical idea to pray directly and expect some kind of divine power to change everything as in the past - but prohibition cannot change the fact that people still need it, and atonement in the next life cannot save them from the predicament they are in in this life. save.
so.
A hero is born.
The heroic souls walking in the world are no longer the gods who control the world as in the past, but heroes and sages who are closer to humans.
Appeared.
They have extraordinary power and can do things that others cannot.
Save the country and the country from danger.
For the people.
Bring hope.
His story begins in this context.
This is a somewhat ordinary story.
Unlike many other stories that are full of prophecies and miracles at the beginning, there are also thrilling adventures along the way.
What is it about?
Well, I guess that sums it up.
This is just a story about a boy who is a bit clumsy, a bit confused, and a bit unique, similar to you and me, trying his best to find his own way of survival.
And like many such stories, it begins in a quiet and remote town:
A typical one.
The town of Raman.
There are endless plains here, and the summer sky above is clear and cloudless. Farmers wearing straw hats are working in the fields under the sun, carrying hoes and pulling cattle around, sweating.
The sound of the waterwheel mill can be heard from afar.
Children as young as four or five ran around in the alleys between the houses, happily playing the game of guards catching thieves.
As for the slightly older children, if they do not follow their parents to the fields or go hunting in the mountains, they will not be able to go hunting with their parents. A little further away, they will imitate the training of knights stationed nearby and play fighting games with swords and shields made of wood.
At that time, he was one of these teenagers.
Not the loudest one, or even the biggest one physically. Standing among a group of people, he looked inconspicuous.
He didn't know that one day he might hold a real sword and fight on a tense battlefield.
The beginning of all this was far from what those later admirers described, full of all kinds of golden miracles and oracles.
The reason why he held the sword was the same as that of many young men of his age.
Just out of admiration for the knights.
"Stop him! Stop him!" Chaotic shouts sounded from one side. The teenagers holding small wooden shields and one-handed wooden swords divided into two camps and chased each other in the alley. One of the parties was obviously at a disadvantage. The captain, who had a small flag tied with a hemp rope, was being besieged by everyone, and he was trying hard to find an opportunity to break away from this messy formation.
"Hurry up, help me! You guys, hurry up and help me!" The captain, who was holding his head and at a loss, yelled in panic and threw away the shield and wooden sword in his hand to protect the flag, but there were not many of his own people left outside.
The teenagers were equally at a loss. They looked left and right, but in the end they all turned their attention to the silent person in the back.
"Haimerning, do you have any ideas?" one of them asked.
"I..." But he seemed a little hesitant and did not speak immediately. "If you have any ideas, please tell us quickly. If you continue to hesitate, we will lose again!" The team leader who was caught in the crowd glanced at this side and shouted loudly.
"Their shields all face the front. Leave a few people in front to attract attention, and let the others go around the alley and get behind them." The boy with gray-blue eyes said this, while the other boys thought about it. After a while, they all nodded.
"Hey! Hey! Come on!" The few people who stayed on the spot slapped their shields loudly to attract attention, while several others, including Haimirning, quickly went around to the rear.
"Wow, why are they here!" The people who were holding up their shields and squeezing toward the enemy captain were attacked from behind. They struck the swords made of balsa wood against the opponent to represent a hit.
"You're down! You're down! No cheating!" There are no strict rules for the teenagers' play. Many of them stood there in shock and refused to leave even though they had been hit. It is common for the person who is thick-skinned to be the winner compared to the person who abides by the rules. But this time they only rushed to save their captain - the rules are very simple. If all the team members are knocked down or the captain is captured, it means failure. Therefore, if you want to cheat, you can keep a few team members with the captain and run away until the situation is bad. Until the opponent cannot catch up, a draw will be forced.
But such an approach is naturally unfamiliar to the dominant side, so many of them were shamelessly beaten several times and continued to be "undead warriors" who refused to fall. And the numerical advantage was finally brought into play. They turned their heads and rushed towards this side with shields in hand.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," the teenagers who had the advantage in numbers but refused to fall down, trying to surround them from behind, were finally beaten to the point where they were completely disgraced.
With fewer people standing in their way, the dominant side also rushed forward and snatched the small flag from their captain.
"Yeah! We won again!" The small flag raised high symbolized their side's victory, as always, just like yesterday.
"...They are obviously cheating!" "Stop playing, I won't play anymore!" Many of the angry teenagers threw their wooden swords and went home. Only Haimir Ning and Several others, the squad leader and his followers were still left.
"..." The ash-faced team leader clenched his fists and strode towards Heimerning with a group of teenagers who had been hit and left the field. The latter took a step back in a panic—— He knew that this was another time to raise an army to hold him accountable.
"What are you doing, Haimirning!" Sure enough, the squad leader who had the advantage in height came over and grabbed his collar.
"I-I didn't-"
"You know it's all your fault if you lose."
"But you asked me to come up with the idea."
"You talked back!" As a well-nourished kid from a landlord's family, Captain Pangdun raised his hand and pushed, and Haimirning sat down on the ground.
"Hey, Keluo, if you hadn't rushed to be the team leader, if Haimirning had been the team leader, we wouldn't have been beaten so badly in the beginning, okay!" Other friends stood on the side of the boy with gray-blue eyes. Open your mouth to support him.
"What did you say!" But the little chubby Keluo is the king of children after all. He has a powerful family and is strong himself, and he is surrounded by most people. In comparison, most of the people who would stand with Hemelning were as inconspicuous as him, and their numbers were few and far between.
"I have decided that you, a guy without parents, are not allowed to play with us in the future." "Ah -" Ke Luo's words seemed a bit cruel to the young man, but it was more than that, this child king He also issued an order to the only people who could be called companions of Haimirning: "If you still want to play together, then you are not allowed to play with him anymore!"
"An alien race is an alien race!" Spitting on the ground, Koro took all his anger for losing on Haimirning and walked towards his home with pride.
"Don't be afraid, if he doesn't play with us, we will play by ourselves!" The boy next to him who had spoken earlier comforted him, but Haimirning saw the hesitant look in his eyes as he kept looking back at Ke Luo and the others. But it can be seen.
Even this person, if he could join Ke Luo's team, would probably not stay with him.
Not to mention them, even he himself very much hopes to truly join that group.
"I...go alone!" He stood up holding on to the wall, then turned around and ran away without looking back.
But they are always hostile to themselves.
He didn't understand what he had done wrong. If he did, he wouldn't be just an ordinary boy.
Again and again, he just wanted to find a group that he could fit into.
But no matter how hard we try, there seems to be a transparent wall between us and others, and we can never really get close.
What should you do and how should you do it? Only then will people accept you.
He couldn't find an answer to this question.
And no one can guide him on this path.
The sun began to set, and the aroma of various foods began to waft from the surrounding houses. This made Haimirning feel hungry after running all day.
But what he envied even more than that was the warm fire around those people.
He passed by the monastery, a towering building with a statue of the Archangel Michael. The chimney there is also emitting white smoke at this moment - that is the place where Haimir should go back, but he does not want to go back at this moment.
The monastery in the name of charity has adopted many children, but the nun in charge will only show her performative kind smile when a big shot comes to visit.
That's not his place.
There are many orphans like him. This town is located in the northeast corner of the imperial capital. From the arrogant drunkards and the words discussed by the adults, Hemelning knew that there were basically orphans here.
They are all illegitimate children abandoned by nobles in shame.
He himself may be one of them. The kind old nun once told him when she was still alive that the carriage that sent him was made of ebony and hung with silk. Although it had no noble markings, it was not affordable for ordinary people.
But since they were thrown into this place, it proved that they would no longer care about it.
Maybe one day when a great noble happens to have all his legitimate children die and no one inherits the family property, he will suddenly realize that he wants to find his children again, and the orphans can fly on the branches and become phoenixes in an instant. But such instances are rare, which is why nuns today have the audacity to be so mean to them.
If you make the slightest mistake in your movements, you will be whipped.
I tried to help the nun with some housework such as washing dishes, but I was beaten and yelled at, "Don't touch my tableware with your dirty hands."
In addition to being malicious, indifferent and mean, the only way out for them in that monastery seemed to be death.
The orphans lived in the basement, and the upper floors were for guests and the nuns themselves. In the northern part of the empire, which is cold and humid during the rainy season, living in such a place where mold is common, it is a matter of course to get sick and die.
In the first three to five years, the nuns would take children with tuberculosis out, saying that they would take them to consult a doctor.
But none of these people ever came back.
Later, she didn't hide anything. If anyone started coughing, she would chase them out with a broom.
Even if someone started to cough, the children would hold it in for fear of losing their last home if they were discovered.
Heimirning is lucky. Even though he is not tall due to lack of nutrition, he is still healthy and energetic.
No one would want to be in that place if they could move their legs and feet.
There were so many orphans and the nuns actually didn't care who lived and died. They didn't even notice if one or two were missing.
He runs very fast. In the confrontation game just now, Heimielning actually did not use his full strength, because the last time he did this, Kolo also got angry and felt that he had stolen his limelight.
Regardless of whether he works hard or not, he will be targeted.
There were fewer and fewer people on the road, after passing the hunter’s cabin with its wooden door closed at the foot of the mountain. Haymelin set foot on the path up the mountain.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." Haimirning, who only had porridge for lunch and didn't eat dinner but came to climb the mountain, climbed the mountain purely with perseverance.
His eyes were glaring with stars due to hypoglycemia, and his survival instinct told him that even if he would be ignored, at least he would still have food to eat when he returned to the monastery.
But he stubbornly resisted this idea.
This place, overlooking the entire town, is the only haven. But it’s not just the scenery that heals, it’s the people here.
The winding slope up the mountain finally ends on the left. The back mountain facing west is an excellent location to watch the sun gradually sinking into the horizon on the other side. At this moment, the orange light fell, illuminating the white dress of the person sitting on the grass leaning against the tree, making the outline of her face somewhat blurry.
Haymelin quietly approached.
"You're here."
"Kloe put the blame on you again?" She immediately noticed Haimirning's dirty clothes. Although the orphan's clothes were never white, the other party could always notice these from the details.
"Yes." Haimirning sat next to her. His mood was a little depressed. Although he was happy to see her, she had not gone back at this time, and he also realized something.
"Are you leaving?" he asked.
He was able to point out the weaknesses of the opponent's formation before, and his calm mind and tactical thinking were not what an orphan should have. He even knew how to read, which was all thanks to the girl in front of him.
Their encounter is closely related to this beautiful scenery. The day three years ago was also a day similar to today.
She always came here during the day to read while listening to the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers, while Heimernin always came to watch the sunset at dusk.
The two people's time was perfectly staggered, and they never knew each other's existence, thinking that this beautiful scenery was exclusive to them. But one day, Haymelin arrived earlier, and she came home later because she was obsessed with reading, and the two met.
After that, we hit it off immediately, transcending identities and establishing a pure friendship in a unique way for children.
But it was obviously easy for a young lady from a noble family in the town to mix with a poor orphan to cause trouble, so the only place where the two could talk was on this inaccessible mountain top.
She taught him how to read and shared many interesting books with him. Even the suffix "Ning" in his name, Haimirning, means someone's son, which she told him.
His father's name was Haimir. He secretly remembered this and hoped to find his biological father one day.
Judging from the rumors in the monastery, even if I could find it, I'm afraid the other party wouldn't admit it. But he still refused to give up this hope.
The short time I had with her was wonderful. That moment of reading time was the only thing he could look forward to in the past three years in this small town, who was confused and didn't know where to go.
Even in this kind of life, it is available.
It can be called a beautiful thing.
But this has also come to an end.
Her kindness is not exclusive to Haimirning. The girl has great wishes and hopes to impart knowledge to many people and make the world a better and kinder place.
"I've passed the priesthood exam, and I'm going to go to further studies." The girl, who was obviously the same age but looked very mature and generous, said this, turning her head and looking directly at Haimirning with her beautiful eyes.
"Yes." The young man seemed absent-minded. He desperately wished that time at this moment could stop forever, but in his heart he felt that he was too selfish like this.
"Haimernin."
"Haimuelning." She said, and Haymelin turned around.
"Come with me?" The girl, half of her face illuminated by the sunset, said with a smile that was more dazzling than the sunset.
"Go with me?"
"Embark on an unparalleled adventure to spread your message and make the world a better place."
"But I... am not as knowledgeable and talented as you." Haimirning felt a little inferior.
And she smiled again.
The sound is clear, like running water in the mountains, making people feel like a spring breeze.
"Then you will become my guardian knight."
this is a.
Some childish agreement.
She might have been thinking deeply that day, or she might have spoken out of some kind of yearning because of the playfulness in her heart.
But no matter what the intention was, these simple words lit up a beacon for the young man.
"Can you make an agreement with me?" She held out her little finger. Haimirning was stunned for a long time before hesitantly and timidly, he finally hooked her hand.
There is magic in words.
For people whose minds are on the verge of collapse, an unintentional curse may lead to serious consequences.
And for those who are confused and don’t know where to go, a childish promise.
Make it legendary.
Be born from this moment.
"Okay." Haimelning's originally downcast face regained its radiance, and he smiled.
"We made an agreement." Under the sunset, the young man hooked the girl's hand.
"Sanya."
