Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 599



A Story of the Past. Old Testament – 6

A fanatic and a cult leader, a monster who deceives people, making them gouge out their own eyes and offer them as sacrifices. The Radiant Celestial Bael, who harms humans with the taboo of heresy.

To find him, ‘Nuna’ and the warriors climbed the mountain, but the lonely mountain of Yullim lived up to its name.

The warrior who went out to search returned shortly.

“I report. I see nothing.”

There was nothing. No shade to hide from the light, no thicket to block the wind. Therefore, the fact that there was no one became even more evident.

So far, the information provided by the storytellers had never been wrong, so what could it be? The king’s warriors looked at the storytellers in confusion. The storytellers answered silently.

“The main altar of the Gwangmyeong Church is somewhere in Yullim. It’s just hidden, so it can’t be found.”

“Wise Keeper of the Legacy. But there doesn’t seem to be any place to hide in this rocky mountain. Unless my eyes deceive me, this mountain is empty.”

“They have set up a barrier with cunning methods, so their stronghold is not revealed. You can’t find it without using the breaking method.”

“What is the breaking method?”

“There is a barrier in one of those valleys. So, you just need to go to each valley with a group and shine a mirror on the ground.”

From noble mtl dot com

How can you find something that is invisible? People were skeptical, but it was none other than the Keeper of the Legacy who spoke. She had led humanity through autumn and found the three calamities. The wise Keeper of the Legacy had never been wrong.

The warriors decided to move instead of wasting time arguing.

“Come on. Surely the Keeper of the Legacy wouldn’t be wrong? If they are hiding in the barrier, they must be cowards. It doesn’t seem too dangerous, so let’s split up and search quickly.”

“Great Druid. Please weave the grass to create a communication network.”

“My lord. I’ll be back soon.”

The king’s warriors scattered in small groups, holding mirrors. They were so well-coordinated that there was no need for specific instructions.

As everyone dispersed, naturally, ‘Nuna’ was left waiting with the Keeper of the Legacy. The Keeper was accompanied by five warriors who had been guarding her since the snowy mountains. They were known for their exceptional skills, having devoted themselves to training, but rumors said they were more loyal to the Keeper than to the human king.

Whether it was because of the rumors or the reality, a slightly heavy atmosphere lingered. There was a bit of tension between the king’s warriors and the Keeper’s five warriors.

However, the Keeper and ‘Nuna’ conversed warmly with each other.

“This mountain has dry winds blowing all year round. Not a single cloud forms, and not a single blade of grass grows. It’s called the Lonely Mountain because it’s just a solitary mountain.”

“Lonely? It feels refreshing with the open view.”

“That’s the pride of the Lonely Mountain. However, my lord, it’s hard to notice any signals from the middle of the mountain. Please wait in a place with a clear view.”

‘Nuna’ responded to the Keeper’s suggestion.

“Let’s do that.”

In the Lonely Mountain Yullim, there was only one peak. It was a desolate peak with no trees, grass, or even perennial snow. The Keeper of the Legacy, El, accompanied ‘Nuna’ to soothe the loneliness of Yullim.

The day was perfectly clear. The dry, cold northern light was bright white but not dazzling. If the sunlight in the jungle was like a torrential downpour, the sunlight in Yulim was like a soaking drizzle. Even the sunlight that burns the skin seemed to spread white here.

It was a peaceful and quiet expedition, so much so that it felt like a sightseeing trip. There were no dramatic stories like snowy mountains, jungles, or deserts here. Perhaps this emptiness could be filled with contemplation.

With deep and profound thoughts, the Guardian of Legends arrived at the peak with the human king. Only then did ‘Nuna’ quietly call the Guardian of Legends.

“El.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“This is it, isn’t it? The place you wanted to bring me.”

El stopped walking.

Under the blue sky, a solitary peak stood alone. From below, nothing could be seen, so it was naturally assumed that there was nothing there.

But if it wasn’t on the lonely peak, where else could it be?

“Yes, that’s right. This place, the sacred mountain Yulim of the Gwangmyeong Church, is where everything began.”

El took out a bronze mirror from his sleeve. Carefully extending it forward, he tilted it slightly towards the direction of the sun. A gentle wind passed by as if embracing.

A curtain of ten million colors of aurora unfolded.

Countless rays of light played freely in the world. Sparkling, shattering, scattering into pieces and coming together again. Swallowing. Giving birth and splitting. Surging. The colors described every word humanity had ever created.

The mirror was the key, and the sky was the lock. When the mirror was inserted into the sky and turned, the curtain of the world was lifted.

What was hidden within was revealed.

It was an altar. Stones, sand, and bricks were mixed together in such a way that it was impossible to discern any particular style. It seemed that someone had just piled things up with the sole purpose of height, losing the opportunity to fix it due to too much entanglement.

But only one thing. The intense desire to reach the high sky was strongly felt.

Did they want to build a tower, or did they want to create stairs? Or perhaps they didn’t even have the luxury of such thoughts.

Regardless of its form, they just wanted to get a little higher. To touch the sky, even just a little.

The person who longed to reach the sky was dried up on the altar. Reaching out towards the sky, they had died.

“Ugh….”

Someone let out a groan.

There wasn’t just one corpse. Centered around the altar erected in the middle of the peak, hundreds of people lay dead, dried up like mummies. Each one stretched their hands towards the altar, resembling a compass. Or perhaps petals extending from a stamen.

“There were those who wished to reach the sky. They called themselves the Cult of Light. They were more interested in the light descending from the sky than their own bodies.”

El walked along the path through the middle of the corpses as if familiar with it. ‘Sister’ followed behind.

Round objects rolled around as if welcoming long-awaited visitors. White and round, imbued with various colors, they looked like toy marbles.

But upon closer inspection, hideous blood vessels appeared. Red muscles clung to the pupils. The dried, cracked tissue twisted grotesquely.

“They longed for the sky and the light shining from it, which they could never reach. I don’t know why. I can’t tell why they did it. Were they curious? Were they fascinated? Or was there some problem?”

The objects were someone’s eyeballs, probably plucked out with care to avoid damage.

Human eyeballs rolled around like trash. As soon as the warriors of the king realized what they were, they looked at the corpses in horror.

The corpses, which they had thought were ordinary until now, had glass marbles instead of intact eyes.

“So they explored the light. They delved into the world perceived through these two eyes. What does it mean to see? Who defines color? Is the scene I am seeing the same for everyone? Even if it is, how can we distinguish it?”

El walked through the corpses with glass eyes and approached the woman’s corpse at the top of the altar. On her pure white robe was drawn a tetrahedron with an eye inside.

“There were those who believed in an invisible being that led them to knowledge and wisdom. They believed that the purpose of life was to find it. For that, they were willing to sacrifice their lives.”

The corpse’s hand stretched towards the sky. El picked up something from there. It was a transparent prism, so clear that it was almost invisible.

“Her name was El. She would later be known as the Supreme Light.”

But the moment El held it.

There would be light in the world.

“She is a demon.”

‘Sister’s’ memory was filled with light.

The world changes. Light transforms into countless letters, scatters, and gathers again repeatedly.

This is the realm of knowledge. A space where the body, strength, and anything else are meaningless. The light waves surround us in hundreds of forms, and half-digested knowledge floats in the air, wavering.

In this space where only knowledge and truth exist, El faced ‘me’.

“I am a child born of their arrangement. Embracing their desires and wishes, I explore without a shred of doubt. Digging. Gathering people. Accumulating knowledge. Betraying. Deceiving. Bewitching. Misleading. Testing. Driving to death. Even gouging out my own eyes. Blinded in the pursuit of light. Reaching the light of truth. I am a demon.”

El fiddled with her eyes. In her transparent eyes that did not reflect the present, the future that had not yet arrived was visible.

She was a true prophet. The first saint.

The starting point of all saints. If there was light in the beginning, it was only after she was born that the light was seen.

“One. At the end of truth, I realized. No matter how magnificent the great yoke engraved in the distant night sky is. No matter how delicate the structure contained in a grain of sand is. If there is no one to see it… it is meaningless.”

What did she see at the end of the future? I have no way of knowing. But it was clear that some great change had come to her.

“Seated at the throne of the demon, I pierced through the light and handed enlightenment to my younger self who looked up at the sky. The Church of Light gathered believers and performed rituals to seek truth in the light. After carving glass to gather light, they trapped people in the blinding light.”

Glass eyes and transparent prisms. And the clean glass bubbles hanging all over the altar. And the bizarre but meticulously arranged altar to place lenses and prisms in specific positions.

This altar was a space to trap light and peek into its secrets.

“While enduring the pain in the blazing light… I received the truth from my future self. If I do not move, I will face the end that will come someday.”

The first saint, who encountered forbidden knowledge in the light, turned her transparent eyes. At the end of that direction, there was me.

Huh, me? Not my sister?

“Yes. You, who came from afar, are my successful future self.”

The first saint prophesied, looking directly at me.