Do you like this eternal cradle?
Gawain suddenly thought of the young dragon that had just woken up from the hatching sac, and of the joyous cry that the dragon made at him; In the confusion of addiction, I have completely become an "inferior citizen" nourished by the gods; I think of that confusing and crazy arena, those dragons fighting in the arena... It was a dozen cold steel machines fighting, machines It is bound with brains and ganglia immersed in the hallucinations of potentiators.
The dragons are indeed alive - but Tallond is dead.
"It's terrible," he suddenly whispered, "life and death are worthless."
Then he paused and asked: "Can the cradle of eternity be broken? "
"That will cost you a lot," the Dragon God said quietly. "The chance of success is very slim - in the final analysis, the cradle itself is the price of failure, and the laws of nature always treat losers. Without tolerance, any race, even a powerful dragon, would hardly be qualified to fail twice." At this point, he suddenly raised his eyes and his gaze fell on Gawain's face: "So, you want to help Tallond break this 'eternal cradle'?"
"Me?" Gawain pointed at himself and couldn't help laughing, "How can I do this?"
"You can even destroy it with a single command," Dragon God smiled faintly, "Why not assume that you also have the ability to break the 'cradle' on this continent?"
This seems to be the case. He was joking, but Gawain couldn't help but think about it seriously. After a few seconds of thinking, he still shook his head: "No, at least I can't now."
"Why?" Dragon God Revealing a hint of curiosity, "Don't you think this cradle is scary?"
"I am not the savior of the dragon clan - there has never been any savior," Gawain said seriously, "And just like you said Yes, there is a big price to pay for breaking the cradle of eternity - I can imagine what these prices are, and I can also imagine who pays these prices. No one is qualified to sacrifice other people's things to satisfy their own 'salvation' drama. , so I am not qualified to make decisions for the Dragon Clan, nor to choose for them whether to sacrifice or live.
"So, whether it is to sink to death in the cradle of eternity, or to rise up and fight for the entire race. Looking for the future is all the Dragon Clan's own business. They should make their own decisions and choose whether to pay the price.
"Cecil does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries - this is my rule."
After Gawain finished speaking his thoughts, the god in front of him looked up and down with strange eyes. He stared at him for several seconds, and then he said with a half-smile: "It's incredible that these words come from the mouth of a recognized 'hero' in the human world. I thought you had positioned yourself as the 'savior' of the human world. But now it seems that is not the case."
Gawain spread his hands: "I didn't save anyone.Who, we are all trying to save ourselves. "
"...You seem to have completely regarded yourself as a member of the human race, as a member of this world, an outsider," the Dragon God looked at Gawain with some curiosity. "I was suddenly curious - in your hometown, do people face the same problems as this world? For example... when you encounter huge social changes, when your social groups also encounter huge ideological changes, when your beliefs are tested, when you have to abandon traditions and dogmas and face the environment. How did you deal with all these changes?
"Ah, or I should confirm first - do you also have race, society, belief and country?"
"Of course we also have concepts such as society and country," Gawain laughed, but soon there were some complicated emotions in his smile, "Of course we will also face those...'challenges' you mentioned. To be honest, when the people in my hometown face the challenges from tradition and reality, When people, beliefs and thoughts change, they will also experience turbulence and unrest. The whole transformation process is often painful and dangerous, but it is different from this world - those traditions are just traditions, and people's thinking concepts are just thinking. Concepts, they do have huge constraints, but... they will not become any 'entity' with actual deterrence, nor will they produce 'power' that transcends reality."
Speaking of this, Gawain suddenly discovered that these things that people on earth take for granted may be unbelievable in this world. Even gods like Enya find it difficult to understand. He had to think about the words while explaining. : "To give a simple example - when a race that has lived in the mountains for generations and regards the mountains as gods decides to move out of the mountains, they only need to face the opposition of the elders of the tribe, and do not have to worry about being actually deceived by the mountain gods. "Punishment."
The Dragon God listened with some surprise. Finally, he understood what kind of world rules Gawain was describing. There was a dazed expression on the god's face until a few seconds later. Finally, he said softly: "It's so beautiful."
"It's actually not easy," Gawain couldn't help but want to explain a few more words, "Even if the trend of thought does not form a tangible force, resisting tradition is not easy. It will bring direct divine punishment, and it is still very difficult for people there to change a traditional concept. The ideological resistance created by the old forces is sometimes no more than..."
He was only half-sentence. , then hesitantly stopped.
The Dragon God sat opposite him, with countless black chains wrapped around his body. The "Dragon of Chaos" on the other end of the chain floated over Tallond, like a giant dragon that could destroy the entire world at any time. A time bomb of civilization, the entire country is locked in this fatal balance and has been cautiously surviving for millions of years.
"Yes, it's so beautiful," he sighed, "compared to here."
Then he suddenly remembered something and his eyes fell on the Dragon God: "By the way , you just told a total of storiesThere are three, but you only mentioned two - what about another story? "
The Dragon God looked at Gawain and suddenly showed a hint of a sly smile - Gawain didn't know if he had seen it wrongly: "The third story has not happened yet. "
Gao Wen: "? ”
“It would be boring to tell all the stories. Just think I am trying to whet your appetite. Let us leave suspense on the third story,” said the “god” unhurriedly. He said, "I'm also very curious about how the third story will develop - if I have the opportunity in the future, I will tell you again. ”
The faint roaring and whistling sounds outside the temple became weaker and weaker, as if a swift but short-lived storm was gradually extinguishing. Gawain glanced towards the terrace in the distance. But I only saw the starlight and night sky that were not much different from before.
“Is there anything else you want to ask? "The Dragon God's voice came from the other side, "It's still early, we can talk more. "
Gawain thought for a while, sorted out a few questions that he had thought about before coming to Tallond, and asked: "About the 'rebellion against the tide' in ancient times, and Tallond. Can you tell me about that tall tower northwest of Lund? "
"It depends on what specific aspect you want to hear," Dragon God nodded, "I will try my best to answer. ”
“As far as I know, the Counter Tide Empire went astray because of mistaken contact with the knowledge left by the Voyager. According to the clues we have found so far, the main problem at that time was 'Relegating Knowledge to Miracles'. Did Against the Tide Empire deify the legacy of Set Sail? Is this why the war broke out between the Dragon Clan and the Against the Tide Empire? "
"It's generally true," Dragon God nodded, "The legacy of the Sailor...that is too advanced for a race that is still trapped on the earth, especially in the hundreds of Thousands of years ago, a time when a large amount of 'heritage' still had great power. That mortal civilization suddenly gained knowledge and power far beyond their understanding, and their rulers could not explain the principles behind those things to the people, and their scholars could not reproduce the logic behind those legacies, so deifying them became It's inevitable.
“People will attribute things far beyond their understanding to miracles. This is a trap that many mortal civilizations can easily fall into.
“A war breaks out between the Dragon Clan and the Counter-Tide Empire... ...It is because their 'deification' behavior is creating new and uncontrollable ideological products, and the war itself... is actually disgraceful to both sides. ”
“Is it disgraceful to both parties? Gawain instantly smelled the scent of Bagua, and subconsciously leaned forward, "What does this mean?" "
The Dragon God glanced at Gawain and said unhurriedly: "It's very simple, because the one who originally cultivated the Counter Tide Empire and guided it to come into contact with the Legacy of the Voyager... was the Dragon Clan itself. "
Gawain: "...the dragon clan itself? ! ”
“That was an unsuccessful attempt, a reckless and bold ‘breakthrough plan’,” Long Shendan said.Dan said, "It happened many, many years ago - at that time, the 'Eternal Cradle' had not been completely stabilized, Tallond had not been chained for a long time, and many dragons still maintained a strong sense of free will. And expectations for the future, and driven by this impulse, the Dragon Clan began to seek ways to break the situation from the outside."
Gawain frowned: "Build a mortal force independent of Tallond. Let them absorb the power left by the sailor, quickly become stronger, and then break Tallond's...'cradle'?"
When he said this, his eyes were a little weird, because he and the Dragon God Everyone knew what "breaking the cradle" meant, but the expression on Dragon God's face was even more indifferent than Gawain, so this weird topic continued.
“Now it seems that this is not a mature plan, but they still implemented it with full hope,” Dragon God said, shaking his head, “At that time, the counter-tide empire was still very powerful. Weak, so weak that any adult dragon can easily guide its development, so the dragons lose caution... They think everything can be controlled, at least for a long time, everything can be controlled in the hands of the dragons .
"And you can easily imagine what happened next - arrogance is the biggest original sin. The dragons thought that 'everything was under control' and the empire was not willing to become another race from the beginning. As a tool, the Dragon Clan's intervention and guidance only intensified their resistance and rebellious spirit, and caused the situation to deteriorate much faster than expected. Against the tide, they were out of control. They were secretly developing many technologies and many sects. They cracked the secret arsenal left by the sailors on the earth and became stronger by leaps and bounds.
"Before Tallond could react, the 'against the tide' completed their transformation. They quickly became an extremely xenophobic, dragon-hating, powerful empire, and most importantly, they were A 'theocratic empire'
"The over-reliance on the legacy of the Voyager and the deification directly led to the uncontrollable theocracy of the entire counter-tide empire, even if a few knowledgeable people among them realized the dangers involved. , and cannot stop this process. The Counter Tide Empire regards itself as a believer of the Voyager, and regards Tallond's dragon clan as a 'heretic' who betrayed and stole the heritage of the Voyager. All of this... is completely opposite to Tallond's original plan.
"So, the war against the tide broke out."
Gawain opened his mouth, and it took him a few seconds to organize his words: "...all of this is You acquiesced?"
"You can say that."
"Why?" Gawain couldn't help but ask, "Don't you see the risk?"
The Dragon God had a low voice: "The dragons of Tallond didn't notice it, so I didn't notice it either - and even if I discovered the risk, as long as the dragons' behavior of cultivating a counter-tide empire did not offend Tallond, I can't stop this without triggering the 'traditional trend of thought'."
Gao Wen thought about it.The "two stories" the Dragon God had just told himself - at this moment, he had a deeper understanding of the metaphorical rules behind those two stories.
“That war destroyed the entire Counter-Tide Empire, ended a season of civilization before the coming of the demonic tide, and also dealt a serious blow to Tallond,” the Dragon God continued, “The war brought The loss itself is not terrible, but what is terrible is the blow to confidence and belief - the entire Tallond society was greatly shocked, and this shock was almost immediately reflected in the 'group thought' of the dragons..."
Gawain reacted quickly and widened his eyes: "This also forms a new 'lock'?!"
"In normal civilization, this kind of short-term, The lack of accumulated group emotions is actually nothing. However, the gods of the dragon have become one, and the mutual influence between gods and humans has been strengthened unprecedentedly, so that any strong, group mental fluctuations among them will quickly occur in the ideological trend. There was a large-scale echo, and then the echo turned into a new lock.
"The dragon has never interfered outside of Tallond for more than a million years. The world, even the number of dragons leaving Tallond every year is strictly limited.
“They cannot reveal too much information about the counter-tide war to other civilizations, and cannot divulge the secrets of the Sailors at will. When other civilizations come into contact with the heritage of the Sailors, they must find ways to recover those dangerous objects as soon as possible. '...These are the 'reflective echoes' produced by the dragon clan after the rebellion that year. These echoes have become mandatory 'locks', and any dragon clan must unconditionally abide by the constraints they bring, even if they exceed Ten thousand years, one hundred thousand years, one million years... Even if all the legacy of the Sailors is wiped out by time, and even if no one remembers what the 'Counter Tide Empire' specifically refers to, the Dragon Clan must always abide by it."
Gawain listened in astonishment, and suddenly couldn't help but said: "But when Melita mentioned to me that she wanted to recycle certain dangerous objects or block certain information, she just said that it was an order from her superiors, an 'enterprise Regulations'..."
"This will at least sound better."