TGS - Chapter 205
Chapter 205: Extra 2
Time, like the Yilu River, flows ever forward without pause.
Its speed is constant, its steps never falter.
The passage of time itself is meaningless, but humans like to divide it into segments, calling them eras.
At the same time, people always delight in talking about the most outstanding individuals—those who were invincible in their time, who reached the pinnacle of their age; those who were the brightest stars in the sky of history; those who were both made by and led their era.
And in the transitional period between the ancient Kingdom of Solancia and the Empire, that representative was undoubtedly Alyuin.
Alyuin-Solan-Lotuslaela.
This was the official royal name carved on the temple's king list and written in every historical scroll.
Every ruler of Solancia had a royal title, distinct from the name given at birth. The royal title was usually bestowed at the coronation, named after the god they worshipped.
Just like Lotuslaela, which meant "protected by the Goddess Lotus."
Furthermore, only a monarch who had achieved extraordinary feats was qualified to add the title "Solan" between their given name and their royal title, forming a complete royal name that proclaimed their glory and nobility.
Her achievements before even ascending the throne were enough to earn Alyuin the title of Solan. But in the historical tapestry that belonged to her, in the records beneath the king list, the accomplishments of the first empress were far more numerous.
In the first year of the Lotuslaela Era, Queen Alyuin was crowned and entered into a divine marriage.
In the third year of the Lotuslaela Era, Alyuin personally led an expedition against the Kasnie Kingdom. The sails of her fleet blotted out the sky. In just half a year, her grand army swept across the entire peninsula. In the same year, Kasnie was destroyed, and its royal line was extinguished.
In the fourth year of the Lotuslaela Era, the many small nations that had provided supplies and armaments to Kasnie during the great war were dealt with one by one and annexed into Solancia's territory. The small nations that had chosen to side with Solancia were spared and, whether willingly or forced by circumstances, acknowledged Alyuin as their queen, reducing themselves to vassal states.
In the same year, Queen Alyuin summoned outstanding youths from the collateral branches of the Solancian royal family and the royal families of the vassal states to Akhet. Within a specific age range, regardless of gender, they were to study long-term in the royal city.
In the tenth year of the Lotuslaela Era, excluding regions with harsh environments unsuitable for human habitation, the army led by Queen Alyuin had set foot on every corner of the continent.
At this point, Solancia's territory had expanded to an unprecedented extent, becoming the sole master of this land.
In the eleventh year of the Lotuslaela Era, the kingdom entered the period of a unified empire.
It was not just in Solancia; throughout the history of the world's rising and falling nations, there was no shortage of monarchs who revered martial prowess and waged wars in all directions, nor was there a lack of war fanatics who fought for as long as they lived.
They were conquerors, leaving behind unimaginably vast territories for their successors and making a heavy mark on world history.
But such rule was often difficult to maintain. Due to relentless military campaigns, the foundations were unstable. Also, because they themselves were the guarantee of the regime's stability, once the hegemon was gone, the great edifice would collapse.
Alyuin, renowned for her military prowess, could have walked such a path, expanding her domain like a fierce beast occupying its territory until her death. While she lived, the world would bask in glorious prosperity; upon her departure, the empire would crumble and fragment, with no successor able to match her.
However, the empire's trajectory ultimately did not develop in this direction.
With the twelfth year of the Lotuslaela Era as a turning point, Solancia shifted its focus to stable development. The liberation of slaves was implemented step by step, military defense and water conservancy projects were initiated, corruption and collusion were suppressed, and regional power was gradually reclaimed from the hands of the various city lords...
Reform was bound to meet resistance, especially decrees like the liberation of slaves and the centralization of power, which touched upon the interests of many. Royal relatives and local nobles unwilling to relinquish their power and authority attempted to unite in opposition to the series of decrees. Naturally, their resistance was futile.
As the founding empress who had expanded the empire's borders, Alyuin's control over Solancia was unparalleled.
In the same year, Alyuin conducted a selection among all the youths from collateral royal branches studying in the royal city. After a rigorous and comprehensive elimination process, she chose a young girl as the imperial heir.
In the seventeenth year of the Lotuslaela Era, the reforms had already shown results and were progressing steadily. The positions of the city lords, whose power had been curtailed, slowly transformed into sinecures. Alyuin dispatched city administrators and provincial governors to serve in the localities, with these officials, who could only be appointed and dismissed by the emperor, truly holding the real power.
In the early autumn of that year, the Temple of the War Goddess, located within the temple complex of Akhet, was completed. Empress Alyuin served as her own priestess, the only monarch in the empire's history to concurrently hold the position of priestess to the War God.
After her, every High Priest of the War God would be a member of the royal family, but never the emperor themself.
In the twentieth year of the Lotuslaela Era, the empress abdicated due to illness, crowning the twenty-three-year-old heir. The imperial era name was changed.
Alyuin.
This name was engraved in the temples and the royal court as a queen, an empress, and a deity, etched upon the golden throne that had once been inexplicably damaged and then recast by an unknown master craftsman.
Regarding the empress's whereabouts after her abdication, imperial history has no clear record, and unofficial histories are full of conflicting accounts.
Some said she remained in the imperial capital of Akhet to recuperate and guide her successor in handling state affairs; some said she was gravely ill and passed away in secret not long after; still others claimed that abdicating due to illness was a lie, a facade created by the heir after a secret plot to usurp the throne.
The only thing that could be confirmed was that the empress was not buried in the Solancian imperial mausoleum. Standing alongside the many past kings and future successors was only a tall, square monument of white stone, and nothing else.
What truly became of Empress Alyuin after her abdication?
Those who knew the answer always remained tight-lipped. At most, they would exchange a knowing glance with an old friend who was also in on the secret, then offer the inquirer a mysterious and apologetic smile.
So, what was the truth?
A thousand miles from the prosperous and glorious imperial city of Akhet, far from the empire's center of attention, the city of Kadera—once on the kingdom's border, now at the junction of the habitable zone and the Sanur province—was holding a funeral.
The soul returning to the Kingdom of the Gods amidst the mourning of the crowd belonged to the most respected elder in the area, a woman named Muya.
She was the priestess of the Kadera temple and the mother of the High Priestess of the River Goddess in the imperial city. For decades, she had guarded this position until the last day of her life, passing away peacefully from old age, free from illness and disaster.
High Priestess Rhea personally performed the rites for her mother.
The moment the water from the Yilu River touched the deceased's forehead, the soul of the elderly priestess broke free from the confines of her body and floated gently into view.
The stern and solemn features of her face were even more pronounced than they had been in her youth.
The translucent soul first looked lovingly at her daughter, then gazed toward the back of the mourning crowd.
There, invisible to human eyes, a silver-haired goddess offered a faint smile.
Beside the goddess, a tall and upright woman stood extremely close to her. She wore a hood that obscured her face, with only a few strands of black hair flowing out from beneath it.
As if sensing the gaze of the priestess's soul, she performed a solemn farewell gesture.
The moment she turned to leave, a breeze rustled through the forest, slightly lifting the edge of her hood and briefly revealing a pair of brilliant golden eyes.
Lotus tilted her head slightly and raised a hand to adjust Alyuin's hood.
"Let's go home."
Her Majesty Alyuin, who had officially abdicated due to illness, was at this moment perfectly healthy. Radiant and full of life, she replied, "Alright. How about a walk before we go back? It's been a long time since we've strolled through the market together."
As she spoke, she very naturally squeezed the goddess's semi-corporeal fingers, her own intertwining with them until their hands were clasped. To an outsider, it might have looked like she was holding air—but no one was looking this way now.
So Lotus shifted from a spiritual form to a physical one. The image of a black-haired, blue-eyed lady-in-waiting appeared beside Alyuin, the sensation between their fingers quickly solidifying. Soft, slightly cool, and slender.
Contrary to the reason for her abdication, Alyuin was completely unaffected by any illness.
In terms of age, Alyuin was nearly fifty, yet her appearance was frozen at the time of her coronation. Her physical and mental strength also remained at their peak, never declining. It was as if time had uniquely favored her, ceasing its flow upon her person.
And indeed, that was the truth.
With her demigod body, Alyuin would not age. Her appearance had not changed in twenty years, which was excellent proof for the theory of divine reincarnation, but the empress had no intention of sitting on the throne forever.
Yes, the moment the wheels of the empire were on the right track and could run steadily without the empress, Alyuin decisively claimed illness and ran away.
Lotus: "..." Not a bad idea.
Just as they had promised one day in the past, the River Goddess and the retired empress came to Kadera and settled down in a secret meadow in the mountains outside the city, living a leisurely life undisturbed by numerous state affairs and entourages.
However, while Lotus was content, Alyuin was not the type to stay quietly at home in seclusion—though she very much wanted to live in seclusion with Lotus.
The River Goddess knew this; she understood Alyuin as well as she understood herself. So, after a year of seclusion, the two embarked on a journey across the continent.
They would visit an ordinary town in the empire, admiring the local scenery and savoring the specialty foods like common travelers, while also recording the local customs and traditions.
They would venture deep into the Sanur wilderness, exploring the true forbidden zones of the desert in more remote directions, unknown to anyone, with the Water Goddess by her side.
They would sail beyond the archipelagos of the southern seas, with only the silhouette of their single boat between the azure sea and sky. Schools of dolphins would follow their boat, leaping from the water, as joyful as the giant fish in Jadaar Lake.
When they were within the empire's borders, the two would occasionally contact old acquaintances in the imperial city through the golden eagle sisters, learning news of their old friends.
Once, in a small city in the eastern part of the empire, they happened upon Romuer, who looked like a wandering minstrel. He was surrounded by a circle of children listening to his stories. Across several small, upturned heads, their gazes met. They simply nodded to each other, and never crossed paths again.
Every three to five years, the two would also return to Akhet, even attending the dedication ceremony for Alyuin's own cenotaph.
For one who does not age, the passage of time is perhaps even harder to measure.
Motis, who served as the Captain of the Royal Guard for life; Naimaer, her only close blood relative; Lena, who achieved her dream of becoming a general guarding the border; Shalu, who joined the Tribunal to fight for the liberation of all slaves.
Luca, who cut his straw-like hair and took his father's place as the City Administrator of Yilulaila; Kopal, who resumed her female attire and went to the imperial city to hold an important post; Ashino, who lived a peaceful life far from the Sanur province.
Over the decades, these people returned to the netherworld one after another.
Even when the heir Alyuin had chosen passed away in office, passing the throne to the next successor, Alyuin's physical condition remained unchanged.
The human-born gods of Solancia would typically die in their human bodies. Over many years, their souls would instinctively find their way to the temples dedicated to them and awaken there.
However, Alyuin was the first to become a demigod as a human. She still showed no signs of aging or death, and with no precedent to follow, no one knew how she would become a god.
But one day, without any warning, Alyuin fell into a sleep from which she would not wake.
There was no ambiguity; she was truly asleep, her breathing steady and her body warm.
Calculating the years, she had probably reached the limit of a human lifespan. Lotus suddenly guessed that this must be the period of slumber before becoming a human-born god.
Carrying the sleeping Alyuin, Lotus returned to the Kingdom of the Gods, which she had bid farewell to not long ago—she and Alyuin had just attended a divine banquet there a few months prior.
"She's asleep!"
"She must be becoming a god."
"That's wonderful. I was worried Alyuin would remain a demigod forever. That would have been quite a headache, wouldn't it?"
"So a demigod's ascension involves a sudden slumber. This is a very representative case, though the entire process would be difficult to replicate..."
Her fellow major gods all joined the discussion.
In the end, it was the God of the Sky—who, having slept through one cycle after the war, had randomly awoken in an elderly form—who stroked his long beard and suggested, "Take Alyuin to the Temple of the War Goddess to rest. Don't worry, it shouldn't be too long. Your thousand-year slumber was a special case. In comparison, her soul is undamaged."
Lotus thought so as well.
However, after settling Alyuin down, Lotus lay down beside her.
Above them was the temple's dome, symbolizing the starry sky of the empire's faith. Lotus turned her head, looking at her lover's sleeping profile. She smiled very faintly, a hint of uncertainty about the future in her expression.
In the River Goddess's palm lay a pale gold crystal.
It was a memory crystal she had asked Nierde, the God of Wisdom, to create in order to prevent Alyuin from losing her memories after becoming a god. This fell within his divine domain.
The creation of this crystal had begun long ago, backing up every important event in Alyuin's memory, especially her memories with Lotus.
The memory storage had been last updated at the recent banquet.
When she wakes up this time, will Alyuin remember?
Will she remember everything from her time as a human, and remember Lotus?
Lotus couldn't be certain.
But no matter what, that would still be Alyuin, her beloved.
Her eyelashes lowered, and Lotus, too, fell into a deep sleep.
A century passed.
In the Kingdom of the Gods, within the Temple of the War Goddess, the atmosphere gradually began to change. The weapons hanging on the four walls started to vibrate, and the stars on the dome flickered erratically.
Affected by the fluctuations in the surrounding aura, the silver-haired River Goddess slowly opened her eyes.
The moment she awoke from her slumber, Lotus immediately realized that Alyuin was about to "awaken." The War Goddess was about to wake in her complete divine body.
Lotus tightened her grip on the memory crystal in her palm, while her other hand took Alyuin's, which rested by her side. She slipped her fingers through Alyuin's long, honey-colored ones, lacing them together.
She waited quietly.
Finally, Alyuin's breathing and heartbeat stopped at the same instant, which was precisely the sign of a complete divine body being formed, for gods did not need to breathe or have a heartbeat.
A moment later, on that familiar, beautiful face, dark lashes stirred. They lifted, revealing pupils as dazzling as molten gold.
Lotus called out softly, "Alyu."
The golden eyes, still hazy from just waking, turned to look at her.
A brief pause.
Lotus unconsciously held her breath, the edges of the memory crystal digging into her palm.
Would she need to use it?
It wasn't strange for a human-born god to have their memories sealed away; Lotus herself had experienced it. Even so, she felt a subtle sense of unwillingness.
The two goddesses stared at each other without blinking.
Suddenly, Alyuin's eyes curved slightly, and a happy, intimate arc graced her lips.
Her breath and heartbeat returned, a habit carried over from her time as a human. The War Goddess curled her knuckles, gripping Lotus's hand in return.
"Lotus."
Alyuin said, then turned to embrace her. The imitative breath of a god fell upon her neck, a warm, ticklish sensation.
In an instant, her heart settled.
Lotus closed her eyes and said softly, "Welcome back, Alyu."
From the past to the future, for the long life of a god that exists alongside civilization, they would spend it all with each other.
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