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Translator: adomman
Editor: Snorri
Amon looked up at the clouds in the dusk and said: “It starts from a very long legend, related to the origin of the Duc miner clan, and the battle of the gods in Anunnaki……” He told a long story to Moses, and finally mentioned the bet between Mourrin and Enlil. If Mourrin did not win the bet, the miners of Duc, even if they could pass through Marduc City, would still be blocked or even hunted down by the divine emissaries sent by Enlil.
The gods also have to keep their oaths, if Mourrin wins, the Duc miners will henceforth get rid of the identity of being sinners. However, this was only secondary, the most important thing was that Enlil will no longer make things difficult for them. Amon himself was not afraid of Enlil, but he had encountered Enlil’s divine emissaries, such as Bright Moon Night. If Enlil really sent divine emissaries to attack Moses and others, it would indeed be impossible to guard against them all the time.
Now that Moses had made a choice, and Mourrin had won the bet, the miners of Duc will no longer be harassed and punished by the Anunnaki divine clan, only needed to face the trials and tribulations of the mortal realm. Although the bet was not proposed by Amon, he was also very resentful of Enlil and hoped that Mourrin would win, but this would require Moses to make sacrifices.
Moses’ sacrifice was not without reward, and Amon concluded: “Now you have an opportunity to receive guidance from the Anunnaki divine clan, to learn the secrets of becoming a god, and become a divine emissary beyond mortality.”
Moses froze before replying: “My lord, will You not continue to guide me?”
Amon laughed: “Of course I am willing, as long as your faith is unwavering.”
Moses: “You have made ten covenants with me, which I have carved in my soul. Of course I will not join the Anunnaki divine clan, so why are you telling me this?”
Amon stood up: “I’m just telling you the reason for all this, obviously you made another choice, then I will guide you to the power of origin. The time has come for you to leave your people, follow me.”
Moses also stood up and asked: “Where are you taking me?”
Amon: “First we will go to visit Mourrin in her palace, and then we will go to a place called Garden of Eden to make the place of foothold an ideal home.”
Moses asked in disbelief: “Why do I have to meet Mourrin? I have already rejected her.”
Amon explained: “It is not a request to guide you to join the divine clan, it is a kindness and reward for the sacrifice you have made to help your people. You may not accept it, but you should also be grateful. Whether you like Mourrin or not, you should learn to look a god in the eye. Besides, you have a task, and that is to learn how to build a palace, our palace will be called Eden.”
As he spoke, Amon waved his hand, and a force wrapped around Moses. The space around them seemed to shift, and as they stood still, they rose to mid-air. Moses hurriedly said: “We are going now? I still have one last thing to do.”
Amon: “Of course, you need to give your greetings first. I’ll send you down the mountain.”
Moses bowed and said: “My lord, please send me first to the mountainside.”
Amon nodded, and without seeing any movement, the two figures soon moved halfway up the mountain to a location near the spring where the mountain stream originated. The shifting space suddenly merged with the surrounding light and shadows again, and Moses stood on the ground again. He exclaimed: “My lord, how did you know I wanted to come here?”
Amon smiled faintly. “Because I know you, do it.”
Moses waved his iron staff and struck heavily on the mountain rocks next to the spring. There was no scene of stone chips flying, instead, a low humming sound with a strange tremor impacted into the depths of the mountain. This was the technique of Duc being used with strong magical power. Several thin slits suddenly appeared in the rocks next to the spring at the same time, and a stream of water flushed the debris out, doubling the volume of water flowing out.
The wheat seedlings at the foot of the distant mountains were about to sprout, and it was the time when irrigation was most needed. The original mountain stream was too small to meet the needs of irrigating such a large field. Moses opened the spring to draw down more water to the field, and this was the last thing he did before leaving his people.
……
That night, the sleeping Ducians once again heard the voice ringing in their souls. This time, it was not Bakri but their leader, Moses-
“People, God has summoned me on Mount Sinai and I will depart with God. Joshua will be your new leader, and the twelve Judges will continue to protect the people as they go forward. There are many dangers ahead, do not give up hope that you will return to your home, build it and guard it, do not renege on your covenants with God, and above all understand the true meaning of home.”
……
Moses departed and never returned, ordering Joshua, the oldest of his people, to be the new leader. Taking one last look at the camp from the clouds, Moses asked: “My lord, will I never see them again?”
Although near, Amon’s voice rang out in his soul: “That is not a certainty, if in the future some of them can receive my guidance, you can meet them in Eden, you will be the emissary responsible for receiving them. As for the Plains of Duc, if one day you no longer worry that Enlil will harm your people, then naturally you can go since you do not have any agreement with Enlil.”
Moses asked with some confusion: “No longer worried that Enlil will harm my people?”
Amon smiled and said: “The gods who transcend eternal life can also fall, you don’t have to think too much, for now, just focus on building Eden.”
……
Three days later, Amon appeared with Moses on top of the majestic chain of mountains on the Syah Plateau, which was so treacherous that it was almost impossible to climb. Although it was summer, the wind was bitterly cold at the high altitude, and huge glaciers could be seen on the snow line from time to time. The high rocks have been eroded by snow and glaciers for years, and many places are now very brittle, and simply a stamp of a foot would cause a large piece of rubble to collapse. Even animal tracks were very rare, not to mention humans.
Between the two huge peaks, there was a vast open area, where the cold wind blew all year round. Thick crystal-like snow had accumulated on the scattered debris, making the place look unusually desolate, and only moss-like plants grew in the shady corners, while sparse strange shrubs could occasionally be seen in the low-lying spots sheltered from the wind.
Amon stopped here, and Moses asked in surprise: “Are we in the right place? It’s in the middle of nowhere!”
Amon explained: “The gods do not have to live on earth, but they do build palaces on earth, which can be used by emissaries who receive guidance to live and train, and to recuperate when they are injured. The palace of a deity is invisible to ordinary humans unless the portal is opened for them to enter. Your current achievement is still insufficient so it is difficult for you to discover its existence. Mourrin should know that we are coming, and you will be able to see this miracle immediately. In the future, this will be the kind of miracle that you will be creating.”
As Amon finished speaking, a portal suddenly appeared in the wilderness. It was an arch intertwined with green ivy, and through this arch, one could see another strange world. Green grass spread out like a shade, dotted with all kinds of flowers, while crystal clear streams flowed through undulating hillsides. A beautiful mountain loomed in the distance, and a lovely garden was located at the foot of the mountain.
Amon pulled a dumbfounded Moses through the portal, and when Moses turned around in amazement, the ivy-wrapped portal had disappeared, and he was now standing in a vast wilderness with perpetual spring. Amon explained again: “This is a space that uses the elemental energy of the highland mountains to operate a magic formation, and it resembles a separate world. But we are still in the same place, still standing in the Syah Plateau, the only difference is that this place is separated from the outside world by magic.”
Amon was also visiting a divinity’s palace for the first time, but he had experience in Schrodinger’s spiritual imprint entering Aeru, the Ennead’s palace, so he was not as surprised as Moses. Mourrin was a goddess who loved beauty, and her palace was filled with beautiful and delicate exotic flowers and plants from all over the continent all year round. The so-called palace was not a real palace, but a hidden space.
Mourrin was standing by a small stream, holding her ivy scepter, wearing a golden star-like tight dress and a crown of flowers on her head. She looked at Amon and Moses walking in the distance with a smile on her face while her elf maid Shubra stood beside her.
Moses also grew up in the town of Duc, having entered the shrine of Mourrin a countless number of times, but today he finally saw the living goddess for the first time, and she turned out to be such a charming and beautiful young woman, a drastic difference from the cold and solemn statue on the altar.
He had mixed feelings when he saw the goddess, who had been the patron of the miners of Duc, but Duc had disappeared in the flood along with two thousand people. Now the surviving clan no longer believed in this goddess, yet Amon had brought him here, while the shrine of Amon and Mourrin had reappeared in the city of Salem.
Amon had told Moses before coming – whether you like her or not, you must learn to look a god in the eye. Moses followed Amon to the Mourrin and bowed to her in the end.
Amon smiled and said: “Inanna, I brought Moses. You have won the bet with Enlil.”
Moses, with his head bowed, froze, not expecting Amon to address Mourrin in this way. Then he heard the voice of the goddess: “The lamb that was lost that year has finally found its grassland and in the same piece of land. Moses, I want to thank you, and I will guide you to join the Anunnaki divine clan, to become an emissary of the gods and obtain the secret of eternal life.”
Moses replied: “Thank you, Your Majesty! But I have my lord, and the guidance of faith is already within me.”
The goddess looked at Amon. She walked over, put her arm around Amon, and said: “This is just a promise and not a request, if you change your mind in the future, you can always join the Anunnaki divine clan. Since you have no intention of accepting this invitation, then why did you come here today?”
Moses replied, “One, to thank you in person for making such a promise, although I did not ask for it. Secondly, I came to visit your palace. My lord wants to build his palace and has appointed me to take charge of things there.”
Mourrin said toward the elf maid Shubra: “Take Moses around and show him the techniques used in constructing a divine palace. But with his achievements, there are still some things he can’t do.”
Amon explained: “I want to build a place called Garden of Eden, and the most important work I will complete with my own hands. After opening up a separate space, the gardens and palaces inside will need to be built by the disciples themselves, which will be their place of residence and training on earth. In the process of doing so, they will also be searching for the home in their hearts.”
As Shubhra led Moses towards the distance, the goddess pressed her cheek against Amon’s shoulder and said delicately: “It’s your first time in my Rosery, how about taking a tour first?”
……
Seven days later, Amon took Moses away from Inanna’s Rosery and flew through the stretching clouds over the Syah Plateau. Amon asked: “How did you feel during the past few days in the Rosery?”
Moses exclaimed: “What a miracle on earth, I never even dreamed that such a place would exist. Shubra is both beautiful and gentle, I have never seen such a nice girl, no matter what I asked, she answered very patiently, and sometimes showed me with her own hands.”
Amon couldn’t help but laugh: “I didn’t ask you about that, but about what you have learned?”
Moses sighed again. “I did not expect that Shubra has mastered the ninth level of achievement of the power of original, and is equivalent to a god on earth. We also had a contest of magic power, but it feels strange. Her achievement is much higher than mine, and she has mastered many means that I can not yet use, but if purely looking at the strength of one’s power she does not exceed me by much, and she is also not good at fighting.”
Amon laughed again. “The training of the power of the origin, the pursuit of the endless arising and ceasing cycle on earth, is all for the sake of ultimately becoming a god that transcends eternal life, not for the sake of fighting. Power grows with the soul, and what kind of talent one has varies from person to person. Shubra tends the Rosery for Inanna, and she is not a fighter. And your experience is different, this path I guided you upon has made you encounter so many trials and tribulations, so your magical power is naturally much more abundant.”
Moses asked again: “Then in the divine clan, are there any divine emissaries who are particularly good at fighting?”
Amon replied: “Of course there are, in the Ennead’s divine clan back then there was a cat goddess named Bastet who was very good at fighting, while Enlil has an emissary named Bright Moon Night who is not only good at assassination, but has also mastered a transformation technique that allows him to become incredibly strong. Be careful when you encounter such an opponent, don’t think that all are as gentle and lovely as Shubra.”
Moses: “Shubra is the first divine emissary I have seen with my own eyes, and she specializes in awakening the power of living beings with a spring-like feeling.”
Amon suddenly frowned: “There’s a tail!”
Moses said in dismay: “Shubra does not have a tail, she just has slightly sharper ears and different eye colors.”
Amon glared at him: “I’m not talking about Shubra, I’m saying that we have a tail behind us and are being followed!”
Moses subconsciously looked back and said: “Who could be following us? Why can’t I see?”
Amon: “Do not turn around, of course you can not see, if not for the wind blowing through a cloud and causing it to unfold in a weird manner, even I would not have noticed. We might have been followed as soon as we left the Rosery. Do not panic, let’s see who it is, then we’ll take him down and find out his intentions.”
Amon continued flying forward without changing his speed but quietly took out the Shadow-soul Chasing Lamp. He had once given this magical artifact to Lynk, but when his clansmen entered the Plains of Duc, he took it back. This object came from the collection of the Shrine of Isis, originally kept by the high priest Urhiya. When Urhiya sent people to hunt Amon, he had passed it to his men, but it ended up in Amon’s hands.
Lynk had inherited Crazy’Ole’s crafting skills, and when he received this artifact he refined it once again, so its tracking effect became even more powerful. But this artifact was used for tracking after all, and Amon was now the one being tracked. After quietly taking out the lamp, he flew downwards before making a sharp turn in the air and disappearing behind a huge mountain peak.
A gust of wind whirled and blew away, and the invisible tracker went around the peak. After an unknown amount of time, Amon flew back with Moses from the other side of the mountain peak. He had actually traveled a large circle around the mountain peak, back to the place where the tracker had passed. The lamp emitted a glow, and the light showed a person.
This person was a young man with fair skin and looked very young. His features resembled a perfect marble carving, but his eyes were filled with resentment. He wore a robe as light as a cloud, and he held an emerald green bamboo staff in his hand with a lifelike snake carving wrapped around the top of the staff.
Amon did not know this man, but suddenly remembered seeing this snake staff on a mural inside a certain shrine in the Kingdom of Bablon. In his heart, Amon instantly understood who the man was. He was the ex-husband of Mourrin, Dumuzid, but wasn’t he sent to the Underworld by Mourrin’s emissaries? Dumuzid’s sister Geshtinanna also once came to Amon for him and tried to capture Amon to replace Dumizid in the Underworld, but was stopped by the Mourrin.
Seems that Dumuzid had already escaped from the Underworld, but why did he appear here and followed Amon? Amon could not help but frown, thinking that things were a bit troublesome. He handed a shuttle and a Terroculus to Moses and said: “Leave this place as fast as possible, Lynk and Metatro are still waiting for you in the deep mountains of the Euphrates Valley. This Terroculus records the place you need to go, and there are blueprints of Eden inside as well. I will come after I resolve some matters.”
Moses asked, a little uneasily: “Who is following you, do you need my help?”
Amon shook his head: “No need for your help, he is the ex-husband of Mourrin, Dumuzid, I’m afraid there are some personal issues to be resolved with me in private.”
When Moses heard those words there wasn’t much more he could say about it, so he immediately sped away on the shuttle. Since it was Mourrin’s ex-husband who came to find Amon, it was better Moses not interfered. At this moment a whirlwind blew out of the mountain peak again, and Dumuzid had also quietly circled around, but then he saw one of them suddenly speeding away on a shuttle, while the other stood with his hands behind his back in the air.
Dumuzid did not know whether to chase after the person who left immediately, and at that moment, he heard Amon’s voice: “Dumuzid, why did you chase me so far all the way, are you looking for me for something?”
Seeing that his whereabouts had been exposed, Dumuzid simply stopped hiding and revealed himself in mid-air, saying: “Amon, you actually recognize me!”
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First. I wish I knew more about the legends that Mourrin is from… does anyone know where I can go to research?
Thanks for the chapter!
Mourrin seems to be based primarily on Ishtar, also known as Inanna (who in IRL was a name of the goddess, not just a disguise). Being married to Dumuzid, descending to the underworld and having to remove her garments as she descended, and defeating the Bull are all parts of Ishtar’s legend. I’m not sure where the name “Mourrin” comes from, though.