stjorthotic Chapter 16 The Dawn Era
Chapter 16 The Dawn Era
"Grey Walter." Felix uttered the name, a slight smile unconsciously appearing on his lips.
"He's probably still in the study room of the Unyielding Order's elementary school, biting his pen while doing his Horn language homework."
Lucius initially thought he had misheard. "Elementary school?" he repeated, his tone revealing undisguised surprise.
In the education system of the Kingdom of Horn, primary schools are for children who are no older than sixteen.
"He's still a child?"
"Grey is eight years old." Felix sat back down in his chair and began to patiently explain the background of this special case:
"His parents were devout believers in the Unending Church, and he was born during a very special 'divine revelation' ceremony. In our terms, he was a natural-born successor, born with divine blessings."
He paused, then continued to explain:
"Because of the existence of the 'Complementary Agreement for Members of the Anti-Suppression Bureaus of Major Churches,' he became a member of our third squad."
However, he is too young and unable to control his scattered desires, which could easily cause unintentional harm to ordinary people.
Therefore, we could only place him in the Unyielding Order's church school, where there is a specially designed environment for maintaining stability and trained instructors who can control this out-of-control desire.
Desire… Felix mentioned the word again.
Lucius then brought up the question he had asked earlier that morning:
"Captain Felix, what you mentioned in the research lab earlier about the sequence pathway having its own desires, what exactly does that mean?"
Upon hearing Lucius's question, Felix's smile faded, and he then asked a question that Lucius considered completely irrelevant:
"Lucius, can you recount the history of the Dawn Era?"
The Dawn Era? Lucius paused for a moment.
This is another name for the First Age, and children in Sunday schools in any parish of the Kingdom of Horn are required to memorize this history.
In university courses, it is discussed as the intersection of mythology and early civilization, and professors dissect it using rationalism as a personification of natural phenomena by primitive humans.
He didn't understand why Felix was asking this at this time, but relying on his three years of professional training in history, he slowly began to speak:
"At the dawn of the world, a god known as the Reverse Hatchery Egg gave birth to light for the first time."
Then came the rotation of the gods, who made the world whole and were also its guardians.
The divine waves made the ocean prosperous, and the earliest life forms appeared in the tides and ocean currents. The first algae and plankton spread across every part of the sea under His impetus.
The seven gods evolved into terrestrial creatures, from the smallest reptiles to the earliest beasts, and for the first time, lungs capable of breathing outside of water appeared on the earth.
The gods brought tools from flint, and people learned to use fire and make things. The first stone axe and the first campfire marked the beginning of civilization.
The divine double-horned axe became the last god to be born, and its birth marked the end of the Dawn Age and the beginning of the Second Age.
He finished recounting the contents of the Dawn Age in one breath, arranging the names and functions of each god in the order of the standard textbook.
After listening, Felix nodded slightly, his voice filled with admiration:
"As expected of a history student from East York University, your recitation was flawless. In most people's eyes, this is the history of the First Age, but..."
His tone suddenly became more forceful, as if he were emphasizing what he was about to say:
"In the eyes of the Church, and of us Sequencers, all history began with a single stone."
"He gave birth to the desire to be born."
Felix began this narrative with this sentence, speaking in a very low voice:
"All history and gods descend upon His desires."
The reason why the reverse-hatched egg gives birth to light is because the stone first gave birth to the desire to have light.
The cycle makes the world whole because the desire for wholeness existed before it.
He is the beginning of everything. All things, from the seaweed in the ocean to the beasts on the land, have been tainted by His desires since birth. No one is an exception.
The same applies to the sequence pathway; it constantly catalyzes your impulses, tempting you to do things you wouldn't normally do.
At this stage, we reach what we call a runaway sequence.
"What are the symptoms of a sequence going out of control?" Lucius asked curiously.
Felix didn't elaborate much on this part, only briefly introducing it as follows:
"At first, I was manic, and all sorts of voices that contradicted my usual self surfaced in my mind."
Then comes curiosity, and you start uncontrollably using the sequence pathway to try out various ideas.
Then comes excitement. You find yourself experiencing an unusual sense of exhilaration when using power, and you'll abandon your normal lifestyle for it. At this stage, you've become a puppet of the sequence pathway.
Finally, there is distortion, a complete loss of humanity, a collapse of cognitive structures, leaving only troublesome aberrations for us to deal with.
After listening, Lucius silently went through these stages in his mind: mania, curiosity, excitement, and distortion.
He smiled and offered his opinion: "It feels like the Sequencers don't actually gain power, but rather allow that power to parasitize their bodies."
"You absolutely mustn't tell anyone that," Felix said, his smile fading slightly.
He earnestly corrected Lucius's view: "Whether it is the Church or Tantric Buddhism, we prefer to regard the Sequence path as divine grace and trial."
"Divine grace and trials?"
Felix picked up the black tea on the table, took a sip, and continued:
"Divine grace, the complete sequence of paths, has been a portion of the power that God has divided from His own authority and bestowed upon believers since the Dawn Age."
For example, my Blazing Order is the embodiment of the power of destruction and reconstruction in the Daylight Forge.
"Trials are about using unwavering humanity to control the desires inherent in the sequence pathways themselves. Only by succeeding in this process can we continue to advance."
Lucius was somewhat disappointed after hearing this. The so-called sequence ability was just a gift from the gods, and it came with the risk of the sequence going out of control.
He shook his head. These things were still too far removed from him. Marcus was watching him from the shadows. Becoming a Sequencer and saving his life was the most important thing.
"Captain Felix, I don't know how I can become a Sequencer."
Felix was surprised that Lucius could adjust his mindset so quickly. He finished the last of his tea in one gulp and smiled:
"Well, according to our employment contract, the Anti-Corruption Bureau is obligated to train its members for their first promotion. However, before that, you need to test your talent and then choose a suitable sequence path."
Talent test... Lucius remembered that Felix had said he had great talent, but it seemed to be thanks to the diary.
Won't this give us away?
He asked in a tone that remained as calm as possible, "Captain Felix, didn't you say I have great talent? Do I still need to be tested?"
Felix smiled and said, "There are several types of talents in the mysticism field. What I mentioned before is sequence affinity."
It's important to understand that part of the desires in the Sequential Path comes from esoteric teachings. Your successful acceptance of these esoteric desires indicates a high acceptance threshold for the Sequential Path, meaning you'll encounter relatively less resistance during future advancement.
He held up one finger, then the second:
"And this time, we're testing sexual characteristics."