In Ricas' memory, the earth often begins to wake up when the sand is white, but it became restless early this morning, which seemed to indicate that this was an unusual day.
"You must remember that His teachings are the most beautiful notes, and His steps are the most exciting drums."
Ricas clasped his hands together, lowered his head and stood behind the chanter. There was soft yellow sand under his feet. In front of and behind him, on his left and right sides, there was an endless sea of sand. The air was scalding hot from the scorching sun, and the scorching heat tried every means to penetrate it. The defense line of his light yellow robe invaded his pores.
He couldn't concentrate. It was too hot here, and there was gravel under his feet that could burn his skin. Apart from the sound of the wind, the only thing left in his ears was his mentor and his steady chanting voice.
Wearing a white robe and a white turban, the chanter spread a piece of white cloth on the gravel, then knelt down, facing the direction of the rising sun, chanting and bending down. Behind him, except for the "little chanter" Outside Licas, there were more than a hundred people from the entire caravan, but they had no mats. The only thing that could isolate them from the hot gravel was their robes.
No one knows the chanter's real name, not even the servant who cleans his tent, nor his disciples, because once he becomes a servant of the Sun Emperor, people can only call that person "the chanter", and in the end Those who have prestige and live up to 80 years will be called great chanters.
Ricas studied with the chanter when he was 6 years old. Now he is 15 years old. He is not too young. He has short gray hair, hands with protruding veins, a relatively strong body compared to his peers, and can chant smoothly. Voice.
Although he has read the passage he recited countless times, Ricas still does not really understand it because the meaning is really obscure and the language recited is far different from the language of his tribe. As a 15-year-old As a young man, he could only understand the most superficial meaning - He is the master of all people, and the master of the stars and the sky. He is the eternally burning two-headed eagle. Only by being completely loyal to Him can we avoid the devil in the dark night. Only by invading your own soul can you ascend to a paradise full of sweet milk and oases after death.
Of course, Likas is not without any problems. Sometimes he also wonders, what will be above the stars? Besides heaven? Is the bloody battle between angels and demons described in the Solar Sutra true?
The instructor never cleared up his doubts and even told him not to think about it.
"Just carry it."
One of the most important criteria for becoming a chanter is to be able to recite the entire thick "Sun Sutra". This is not only the only scripture of the sect, but also more than just faith. It also contains laws that people must abide by. and lifestyle, it can be said that the "Sun Sutra" is the foundation of Atta's civilized world.
Soon, the morning classes were over, and the caravans were busy again. They had to reach the next hiding place before the sun hung directly above their heads, otherwise the wrath of the Sun Emperor would turn them all into mummies in the sea of sand.
This is the world that Likas lives in. Everyone must accept the harsh test of the sun from the day they are born.
He was never a gracious host, as the lexicon teaches.
His people call their world Atta, which translates to a somewhat vulgar word - Ship of Sand.
Even before Ricas started to become a little chanter, he didn't know what "rain" was. His mentor explained that it was the greatest mercy of the Sun Emperor, that is, the precious water would rain down from the sky, and the last time it happened Ganlin is said to have happened two thousand years ago.
At least as far as Likas knew and saw, their world only had deserts, deserts, and mountains with no vegetation. The temperature during the day was enough to kill people, and the cold at night was extremely deadly. In this case, there should be no life.
However, people are always tenacious. How the earliest ancestors survived has long been a distant history. However, those caves dug in the rolling mountains are the oldest civilization relics in the world. In this world burned by the scorching sun, they are still alive. The ancestors dug deep into the small world with enough life to inhabit it, and finally found an underground river that was said to be born in the far north. They called it the Creeping River because in ancient mythology, this dark river was The river was carved out by a giant underground worm.
In fact, from Likas's point of view, the incredibly smooth underground passages did not look like they could be carved by worms. He even noticed the spiral carvings that had been almost erased by time.
But no matter what, this underground river gave birth to the life of this dry world, and also built the rare civilization in this world.
Due to the complexity and darkness of the underground world, as well as the huge gap caused by the terrain of the underground river, this world has not formed a unified country in the general sense. Most civilizations exist in the form of tribes and small city-states, and their residences are often built In the temperate zones of the northern and southern hemispheres far away from the equator and the poles, most of them are built around the huge underground caves in the desert, and even complex semi-underground cities are built directly along the huge mouth-like caves, so that they can enjoy the sun and plant what they need most. The staple crop is bread tree, and it is convenient to obtain water from the deep underground.
Although the terrain and climate have caused most settlements to be isolated, the success of people domesticating a large drought-tolerant beast of burden called Shahan more than a thousand years ago made long-distance trade possible, and thus the birth of Caravans of all sizes.
With the rise of the caravans, the Order of the Sun also emerged, and the Shahan Beast was one of the gifts brought by these messengers who were said to come from the stars. They brought not only the Sun Sutra, but also the civilization of this world, which also made The golden double-headed eagle symbol was quickly erected in most tribes and city-states in the world of Atta.
Well, of course, "Coming from the Stars" is just a legend. The earliest batch of missionaries of the Order have long been turned into withered bones in the tombs. Where they came from will always be a mystery.
Anyway, Ricas didn't know, and he didn't intend to get into trouble with his mentor. After all, he was not a chanter at his age. If it weren't for the sake of his dead father, his mentor might have told him that he was not. He is talented in this area. This time he followed the caravan to Saka City. On the one hand, the mentor wanted to attend a religious sect meeting, and on the other hand, he was asked to take one last sutra chanting assessment - the Sun Cult has no upper and lower classes, and chanting sutras Teachers are all equal in principle, and the title of "Grand Reciter" is just an honorary title. Their only power is to "bind the head" and "pass the message" to a reciter, which is to grant the qualification of a formal reciter.
But Ricas himself doesn’t have much confidence. If it doesn’t work this time, then when he is about to turn 16, he will have to take off his chanting robe and go back to his hometown to make a living and marry a wife. However, an idle man like him who has no father or mother will probably It's also a bit difficult.
Or he can also become a city-state guard or a ranch bodyguard. Although he is not good at endorsements, he is still good at dancing with guns.
Soon, the entire temporary camp was boiling. The coolies were trying to lift a man taller than two people, with scales and coarse hair on his body, thick limbs, his neck raised high, and a flat, hard beak on his furry head. The Shahan beast was dragged out of the burrow.
