After listening to Skadi’s request, Nakbet looked at the continually working Hiris in the distance, then turned and leaped over to the God of Craftsn, calling him over.
Panting, the Mountain and God of Craftsn, Hiris, carried his Divine Hamr over from afar. Just monts ago, he had been assisting the Death God Nakbet in forging six Netherworld Rivers to divide the Netherworld into different regions.
"What’s the matter, Nakbet?"
At that question, the Death God pointed at Winter God Skadi and spoke up,
"Skadi needs our help before she’ll lend a hand."
Hiris took a breath and asked,
"Help with what?"
"A tiger-person called Kars; he wishes for Kars to trace his lineage back to him, to believe in him, and to obey his dispatch to establish a Kingdom in the far north."
After Nakbet explained, he brought Hiris up to speed with the current situation.
Hiris then asked,
"So what do we do now?"
Before Nakbet could speak, Asis stepped forward and said,
"It’s simple; perhaps we just need to help Baird get the gemstone."
Hiris, puzzled, asked,
"Why?"
"The Goddess Skadi said that the tiger-person Kars follows Baird only to help him fulfill the desire to seize the gemstone. If we help Baird get the gemstone... then Kars will no longer need to follow Baird."
Then, Asis recounted what he had observed of the mortal world from his vantage point in the Celestial Kingdom in recent days. Although the serpent Poisonous Consort held the gemstone in her grasp, her rule would decidedly not last long, for she knew nothing of ruling beyond being heartless and ruthless.
That’s why Asis estimated that her Ministers would launch a rebellion, and the Heavenly Descending Gem would naturally fall into others’ hands once more.
"All we need to do is to let them take this opportunity to obtain the gemstone, and everything will be resolved."
With Asis’s clear-headed analysis, both Hiris and Nakbet understood the current predicant.
Nakbet praised,
"Asis, you are observant and wise, adept at contemplation. I must have you serve as the Judge of the Netherworld, adjudicating the destination of every Netherworld soul."
Asis bowed in gratitude for Nakbet’s praise.
Then, sothing occurred to him, and his gaze fell towards the distance, to the mountaintop, the direction Hiris often gazed.
Speaking of which, do you think there’s a God who just is ’is’?
"Is ’is’?"
Nakbet was sowhat confused, not knowing what Asis was talking about,
"I have never heard of a God nad ’is’."
"That’s not a na, I an... could there be a God who feels that they simply are ’is’?"
Asis explained.
Hiris wasn’t quite clear on the concept, but upon sensing the direction of Asis’s gaze, he suddenly thought of sothing.
"Explain it more clearly,"
Hiris requested.
"Before I died, I was pondering the question ’Who am I?’
In that sentence, ’is’ signifies definition, implies existence, while ’who’ signifies the object being defined.
So I was wondering if any Divine have considered the question ’Who am I?’"
The ethereal Asis shared his pre-death contemplation.
"Your thoughts are intriguing,"
Nakbet said,
"If I were to answer that, I am the Death God, I am Nakbet."
Asis slowly nodded.
Off to the side, Hiris thought for a mont, his gaze pausing as if he had co upon so realization.
Asis continued,
"So, I wonder, is there a God whose answer to ’Who am I’ is: I am ’is’?"
His voice carried a hint of regret, for he had not found the answer before a brown bear bit through his neck.
"So do."
A solemn voice ca from not far from Asis.
Hiris enunciated each word:
"I know there is such a God."
Asis’s face was filled with astonishnt, followed by an almost overwhelming excitent.
He had not expected that a question which had troubled him in life and death would finally be t with an answer.
"Who is it, which God?"
Asis asked eagerly:
"I must visit Him, on which Star does He reside?!"
Hiris looked straight at Asis, his face calm as he said:
"He has no Star, He is not within the Celestial Kingdom."
The words fell on Asis’s ears, at first of no concern to him, then puzzling, and at last, greatly shocking.
"You... you’re not mistaken, are you?"
Although he was a mortal, in his days spent with the Death God Nakbet, Asis knew that Divine beings each had a Star, without exception.
A Star, like the authority and throne of the Divine, how could one be called God without authority and throne?
Yet Hiris said this God had no Star.
What kind of secretive Divine being was that?
Within the Celestial Kingdom, there was not a single corresponding Star to be found!
Where does His authority govern, and where is His throne?!
"No Star... this... this is impossible."
Asis spoke with a quivering voice.
Hiris’s words had upended his worldview.
"Asis, Nakbet is the Death God because He possesses the Death Star, so He says, ’I am the Death God.’
The Stars of the Divine are authority and also the limit of self-awareness."
Hiris looked at Asis solemnly, word by word describing the image of the father to this future Judge of the Netherworld,
"And precisely because that God has no Star,
because He existed from the void and darkness at the beginning, He could understand that: He ’is’.
He is the origin of all, He is definition, He is existence itself."
Hiris’s grave and majestic narrative
made Asis shudder with excitent.
"Then where is His authority, and where is His throne?!"
Asis asked with a tremulous voice, thirsting for knowledge.
"His authority lies in all the things of this world, His throne stands at the summit of the highest mountain."
Hiris’s tone rose slightly, as the Supre God He depicted made even the well-inford Asis tremble in awe,
"I have to tell you, He is our Father!"
If there were other believers standing on this Death Star, they would recognize the look in Hiris’s eyes, akin to a devout Preacher.
Or perhaps... a Preaching God.
Asis took a deep breath and asked:
"Are you saying our Father... surpasses all gods?"
The God of Stone and Craftsmanship pondered for a mont before responding:
"He surpasses all things,"
Hiris t Asis’s incredulous gaze,
"And does so with abundance."
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