Pivot of the Sky Volume 2 Chapter 37

         [Next  Chapter] Volume II : The First Sin Chapter 37 – You Are My Only God [3209 words]

It was Lynk’s habit to widen his mouth when he was shocked. But at this moment he even forgot to open his mouth. His face turned red and his hair stood up. Noise kept coming from his nose, but he failed to say a word.

It was when Amon stepped forward and put the staff on to his hands that he began to take in. Falling to the ground with nose meeting the soil, he greeted, “My god Amon! Please tell me I’m not dreaming!”

Lynk’s mouth had been watering when he saw Amon giving Metatro one parangon, and the staff in his hand had seven on it! Being a third-level mage himself, he could understand the staff itself was even more precious than the parangons on it.

He didn’t have much of concept of money since everyone bartered in the tribe. But a real staff wasn’t something a caveman like him could ever dream to have.

He still couldn’t believe his eyes. Saluting to Amon, he was also busy rubbing his eyes, stroking and smelling the staff. Amon said smilingly, “I promised to give you a real staff. In fact, I should have given it to you two months ago.”

Lynk stared at the staff as if he was watching his baby. He swallowed hard and asked, “It's so precious! How do I dare to use such a treasure? Please keep it to yourself!”

Amon smiled and shook his hand, “Staffs are to be used. A miner can’t wield two hammers at the same time. You need a real staff and I have others……I’ve been staying here for about two years. You and your men have been treating me and my cat with good food, regarding me as your god. I should give you more to thank you for your kindness.”

Lynk shook his head, “Please don’t say that! My whole tribe isn’t worth even half of this staff!…Since you have other staffs, I’m going to keep this one. Thank you my god Amon, for your kind favor!”

“Get up, please. The staff is yours now. Keep it well…The merit of this staff is that it doesn’t lean to a specific attribute. It amplifies the effect of all kinds of magics equally, and it’s fast. It’s much better than your bone. But beware that you shouldn’t rely too much on it when practicing magic. Only use it to understand how a magic works.”

“I’ll keep it in mind!” nodded Lynk excitingly, “You’ve told me before, not to use the bone staff when trying to master the skills. In fact I didn’t feel much difference. But with a real staff, it’ll be different! I’ll certainly be careful with that…Metatro hasn’t come for a good while now. He must be practicing magic at home. He’ll die in envy when he see this!”

Amon coughed and said, “Lynk, I give you this staff to better practice magic, not to show it off in front of others. You’ve been envying Metatro when I give him the parangon, and now you want him to envy you. If that’s what you care about the most, I prefer to give you nothing.”
Lynk was startled and answered seriously, “I’ll definitely not do this again. I’ll only treasure it, never take it out as something to show off.” He put it deep into his embrace with great care.

Amon stretched out one hand and a battle axe with a crescent blade appeared in his hand from nowhere, glittering with silver lustre in the firelight. He handed it to Lynk, “I now give you a weapon. Axes should be the most useful in the mountains. You are a mage as well as a warrior. You should have a nice weapon too.”

Deeply moved, Lynk could hardly control his tear. He took the axe, mumbling. Amon didn’t want to say more about the gifts either. He waved his hand and said, “Let’s sit down. Tonight I’m going to teach you some new knowledge. I won’t repeat myself, so you must remember it well.”

Amon taught Lynk every advanced magic he knew, as he was taught from the message in the Terroculus, without the least bit of reservation. He even told him the way to make magic artifacts and scrolls. Lynk had been learning writing throughout the past year. Amon had taught him the hieroglyphs along with the common writings so there was no difficulty when teaching him the skills to make scrolls.

Amon also taught him the advanced body arts. But since Amon wasn’t good at body arts himself, he only taught Lynk the basics, a way to exercise one’s body so as to improve physical strength and the power in the bloodline. At last, he told Lynk seriously, “I’ve helped you awaken the power of two sides. It was a unique path, different from any other practice. You are a sorcerer as well as a warrior. I think you know clearly what it means to be a sorcerer now, don’t you?”

Lynk smiled, “Of course. But we are in my tribe, and we don’t care about that. You are our god, Amon!”

“You can say this here in the deep mountains,” Amon tried to be serious, “nobody is going to punish you for being a sorcerer. But if one day you leave the mountains and go outside, you should remember not to show your magic power to the others. That’s why I remind you not to show off with that staff. You learn magic to understand and use the magic power, not to make others envy you.”

Lynk had been shaking and nodding his head a lot tonight. He continued to nod and replied, “I’ll keep it in mind. What else can I do for you, my god?”

Amon finally became really serious and said solemnly, “The most important thing is: you can only practice in the way I’ve taught you!”

Amon had his own reasons. Bair had found the path to becoming a deity, which combined the practice of magic and body arts in a unique way, and needed the practitioner to overcome a battery of tests. Amon taught it to Lynk and he hoped that Lynk could go on the exact same way, without any deviations or errors. As Crazy’Ole had said, once one took the wrong path, the further he went down it, the smaller the possibility he could amend it.

Amon didn’t want to explain the whole reason to Lynk. It was his own secret. But Lynk didn’t ask anything else. He solemnly raised his staff and swore, “To me there’s no god except Amon. You are my only god!”

It was a funny swear, but Amon held back his laughter when he saw the solemn expression on Lynk’s face. He nodded solemnly as well, “You can understand it in this way. It will give you more confidence when you get further in the practice. I’m leaving here tonight. I hope that you can do well in the practice and take good care of your men.”
Lynk was totally shocked. He stepped forward and asked with his eyes open wide, “Are you leaving us now?”

“Yes, it’s time.” Amon nodded with sorrow, “I’m going outside. I cannot stay in the mountains for ever. I have my own quest to fulfill.”
“Where are you going?”

“I will travel across the world. First I will go to Bablon City to see Metatro.” He had never travelled before. Though he was planning to see the whole world, all he could think of was Metatro’s home. So that would be his first port.

Lynk said wistfully, “I want to travel with you too, to have a look at the outside world. But as the headman, I have to take care of my clansmen. Maybe one day I will pick a good boy to be the next headman and then I can go travel outside…But where can I find you? ”

“We’ll see in the future.” said Amon, “Even I myself can’t know where I am going. You can stay here and wait for me to come back. If you really want to travel, you can go find Metatro in Bablon City. But you will have to be careful.”

“You should be careful too!” Lynk grabbed Amon’s sleeve. But then he thought himself stupid because Amon, as his god, was almighty and shouldn’t have anything to be worried about. He thought over and added, “My god, there are many bad men outside. You should be careful of them!”

Amon tapped his shoulder, “Thank you for reminding me. I have seen some of them. I know how to protect myself.” Amon had been growing fast in the past year. He was barely as tall as an adult Ducian. Though he didn’t look muscular, he had a strong and balanced body.

Before he noticed, he was half a head taller than Lynk. His old clothes were too short for him. He was now wearing leather robes tailored by the best women in the tribe. Underneath the robe was a linen shirt. On his feet were a pair of well-knitted straw sandals.

The two bags Crazy’Ole had given him weren’t exquisite, but quite solid. There was not even a scratch. Putting the bigger bag on his shoulder, the smaller one in his embrace, with his staff in hand, Amon left the tribe that night.

Schrodinger was snoring in the bag. Amon had picked it up from the hay and put it in the bag. The cat had been unhappy in the past year. Amon had never heard it make a sound or write anything since they came back from the cave where they had found Bair. He tried to communicate with the cat many times, talking to it gently and patiently. But Schrodinger just ignored him.

Lynk saw him off alone and decided to walk with him all the long way to the mountain, refusing to turn back. At last, Amon stood and said, “Go back, Lynk. It’s enough. You can’t go with me like this forever.”

Lynk’s eyes sored. He said pitifully, “Please don’t forget me, god Amon!… It’s all like a dream to me, an amazing dream!”

Amon was sad to leave the cavemen too. He had spent two years with them, who regarded him as deity and treated him with the best they could offer. They were already good friends of his. Before he could reply, some noise arose from the woods beside the path. It was the King Ironback. It came out from the shrubs with the four big ones, watching Amon, purring.

Amon turned to them and asked, “You come to see me off too? Please protect Lynk and his clansmen… You, as the head of the five, I’ll give you a name: El Mar… El Mar, I know you can learn magic. I’ll come back and see you.”

The King Ironback could already understand much of what Amon said. It nodded and purred, head lowered down to the ground. Schrodinger suddenly jumped out of the bag, watching the mountains far away in silence. Only Amon knew what it was watching. It was watching the cave they had found Bair in, even though the latter couldn’t been seen from here at all.

“Schrodinger, we have to go.” Amon tried to talk to it. But the cat kept staring at the same direction, ignoring his words. That was the constant reaction Amon had received in the past year.

Amon asked with resignation, "Do you want to stay here or come with me? To tell you the truth, I don’t want to go without you! But if you want to stay, then let’s part here."

There seemed to be a trace of hesitation that flashed in the cat’s eyes, then it made its decision: it jumped back into the bag on Amon’s back and slept, or at least pretended to.

It was very dangerous to cross the mountains at night. But for Amon who had mastered the Detection Eyes, everything was as clear as if it was at noon to his senses. To him there wasn’t a difference. As for the wild animals, he didn’t worry about them unless some of them were as amazing as Schrodinger.

Advanced mages were regarded with great reverence in every city on the continent. However, as a sorcerer who had just left a cave, Amon didn’t share any of their customs, good or bad. He went on a totally different path. For example, an esteemed mage wouldn’t take the risk to travel in the mountains at night, casting detection mage all the way without a staff, wasting his energy and magic power for nothing.

Perhaps in their eyes, what Amon was doing was bizarre, just as the same way Schrodinger was in Amon’s eyes.

Amon was trying to cross the mountains and get to the lower reaches of the Euphrate River, where lay the border between Hittite and Bablon, and the valleys met the desert. The river became broad and quiet and if he could find a ferry, cross over it and go to Bablon City. It was a long journey. Amon had walked half a month before he could see the first signs of human habitation. They were not cavemen, but villagers of the Bablon Kingdom.

His shoes were already worn. On his feet were another pair that Lynk had prepared for him. In the tribe, he was the only person who could wear shoes all the time besides Lynk. The shoes were well-made, but still couldn’t stand such a long walk without rest.

He had brought enough food with him, including a good amount of tasty jerky made of different kinds of meat, as well as dried vegetable and beans. They were all stored in the rib. Every day at nightfall, Amon stopped and made a small pot of nice soup for Schrodinger, since he knew that the cat was used to have meals in the dusk. Schrodinger would wake up in low spirits, and finished the soup to the last drop.
After two weeks’ trudge, Amon was near the edge of the mountains. He suddenly realized that he might have made a mistake. He had been always trying so hard to avoid the wild animals and other caveman’s tribes the whole way, that he even subconsciously kept himself away from every livable place. That was why he hadn’t encountered anyone until this moment.

He wasn’t a fugitive. He was a traveller about to explore the entire continent. Metatro’s home wouldn’t be the end terminal of his journey. He wanted to make contact with the outside, to learn more of this world, especially the people. Thinking of it, Amon changed the direction and left the moor, going towards the bank of the Euphrate River which should be more populated.

Amon had just skipped several villages before he changed his mind, but now when he was looking for traces of human habitations, he failed to find any of them after a whole night’s walk. At sunrise, he heard the river. Climbing over a hill, he was met abruptly with the sight of the grand Euphrate River. Beside it were small rolling hills, covered in grass. Grazing sheeps could be seen from afar, like clouds floating in a green sky.

Saying goodbye to the mountains in his heart, Amon stretched his arms and took a deep breath. The beautiful scene gave him a great mood. Suddenly, a woman’s voice came to his ears, which piqued his curiosity. It was nice to hear a human voice after the lone journey, but the woman was sobbing sadly.

Schrodinger stretched out its head from the bag, turning its ears, and frowned like a perplexed person. Then it shrinked back and closed the bag with its paws. Who knew if it was trying to hide itself from the weeping noise or something else.

Going past a grassy hill, Amon saw a young woman. She wore a flax robe, and a pair of straw sandals. She was sitting at the foot of the hill, covering her face with hands and crying, so sadly that her shoulders couldn’t cease trembling.

“Why are you crying so sadly? What happened to you? Can I do something for you?” asked Amon.

The young woman was scared by the sudden voice. She stood up in a hurry, stepped back and asked confusedly, “Who are you? I don’t know you. How do you come to this place?”

Amon did look weird. The weather was hot, but he still wore a leather robe, with a rod in hand that looked like an old man’s walking stick.

Amon was startled inwardly as well. He swore that he didn’t know this young lady, but somehow she looked familiar to him. But he was quite sure that he had never met her before. Seeing her panic, he immediately introduced himself, “I’m a hunter. I was tracing a goat in the mountain, but somehow lost my way and got here. Can you tell me where the nearest town is? In return, if you are in any trouble, I will help you as much as I can, with pleasure.”

The young woman took another step back, holding her arms before her chest, grasping her robe, lowering her head and replied shyly, “You…you… why are you staring at me like that?”

Finding her familiar but failing to recognize her, Amon was looking at her from top to bottom out of curiosity. As a young man, his gaze caused a misunderstanding.

Since the young woman uncovered her face when she stood up, Amon began to realize how beautiful she was. An unnameable lovely coyness was exuded from her face as well as her body. Her forearms and her legs was showing under the loose worn robe. The delicate skin was glittering attractively with lustre. The impeccable gentle curve gave a slight hint of maturity of her young energetic body.

She held her arms before her chest, tightening her robe, highlighting the shape of her firm breasts and revealed alluring cleavage, making her questioning gesture more like flirtation. Unfortunately, Amon had no experience with flirting. He didn’t even have much of a concept of it. What he realized was only that it was not very polite to stare at a strange woman.

So he tried to make an explanation for his previous rudeness, “Please pardon my abruptness. You are the first person I’ve met since half a month. And somehow I find you familiar. I was curious while hearing you crying, so I came by and asked if you need any help. This place is quite out of the way. Why are you here alone? What happened?”

The young woman seemed to be curious as well. She raised her bright eyes and threw a luscious glance to the young man in front of her, “My name is Inanna. I herd sheep beside the river. But a lamb of my herd was gone and I couldn’t find it. My master would punish me if I went back without it. I was crying, for I am going to suffer from the lash… My kind young hunter, how should I call you? Could you help me find my lost lamb?”

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