chsdbacks Chapter 18 Born with Original Sin
Chapter 18 Born with Original Sin
"My lord, everything is ready!"
Before long, Frye and Vernon, two barbarians, came forward quickly, carrying bulging bundles on their backs, their faces full of barely suppressed joy.
You see, the Children of the Forest are a treasure trove, even their blood is a rare and extraordinary material. According to Lord Hawke's usual practice, the spoils of war are always shared among his subordinates—the hard work of checking for excrement and tracking tracks in the forest is finally going to pay off.
Snow glanced at the knights and entourage, all ready for battle, before his gaze finally settled on Leah. The baroness kept her head down, her fingers twisting the hem of her skirt, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated to speak. He frowned slightly and finally asked, "Is there anything else?"
"I...can I wait a moment?" Leah looked up at the sound of her voice, her eyes filled with trepidation, her voice soft, "It will only be a little while."
"Since it's your request, it doesn't matter how long it takes, just don't drag it out until dark."
In front of everyone, Snow gave the Baroness ample face. He gestured for the others to wait a moment, and raised his hand to indicate that Leah should do as she pleased, but he was also a little curious—what did this lady, who rarely left the castle, want to do at this moment?
Leah glanced at him gratefully, then turned and strode quickly toward the mangled remains of the Child of the Forest not far away. She bent down, whispered a few words to the remains, then opened the Bible she was holding, her fingertips tracing the yellowed pages as she began to pray softly for the forgiveness and blessing of the fallen God.
Her expression was solemn and holy, especially her act of praying to the fallen God, which seemed to have a strange and infectious power.
"Is this the weight of three hundred years of orthodox faith... no, a thousand years of orthodoxy?"
Snow nodded thoughtfully and raised his hand to make an inverted cross in front of his chest.
After all, it was the Fourth Age, and the Fallen God was still the supreme orthodox god in the Northern Continent, not the terrifying evil god that everyone would avoid in later generations.
In this era, the Hanged Man pathway, the listener of Sequence 8, does not seem to be affected by the strong ramblings from the fallen God, and there is no such thing as not living beyond five years without being promoted.
"Bury it."
After praying, Leah straightened up, her eyes clearing considerably, the previous confusion gone. "The Lord will bear this sin for us."
Three attendants stepped forward and carefully buried the remains of the Child of the Forest.
When the group reached the edge of the forest, the knights who had stayed behind were already waiting with their horses. They mounted their horses and the group galloped off towards Hawke's Castle, their hooves shattering the tranquility of the forest and raising clouds of dust.
On the journey, Xalatas's whisper echoed in Snow's mind again, tinged with amusement and amazement: "This is truly a unique faith."
"They admit the sins they committed because of their desires, sincerely pray and repent to the gods, yet when they receive no response, they comfortably shift the blame for their sins onto a deity?"
Her tone was full of curiosity, and a hint of barely concealed excitement, as if she had discovered a new continent. In Azeroth, she had never seen such a complex and "advanced" mode of faith—even though she had seen related fragments in Baron Hawke's memories before, witnessing this scene in person still severely impacted her understanding.
"This kind of faith, at least, doesn't require people to deceive themselves." Snowle pulled on the reins, communicating with Saratas through a spiritual connection as the wind blew against him. "They are aware of their desires, their evil and sins, they will sincerely repent, and they do have a real sense of guilt."
He paused, his tone somewhat objective: "Whether sins can truly be transferred to the gods, I don't know, but this sense of guilt is real and quite unique."
Snow also found it difficult to evaluate universal beliefs related to the "fallen God" in this world.
If one can obtain immunity through faith for committing wrongdoings, then that is naturally the part he is most familiar with—indulgences and the like, which are all very familiar to him; it's simply a matter of exchanging faith for immunity.
But they were able to realize what they had just done, to sincerely repent to the gods, and to feel a real, intense sense of guilt, while also moving on from what they had done. This made Snow feel that this was something new.
There are still differences. There really is a God in this world, and the doctrines also have real moral constraints.
"Killing a gorilla is a sin?" Xalatas's doubts deepened. "Your men also repented? Is their guilt genuine, or because that woman confessed the killing to their gods?"
At that moment, she desperately wanted to devour Leah's soul, to see what the souls of these fallen God's followers truly were. But she knew Snow would never allow it.
"We don't need to understand, nor can we understand."
Snow's gaze swept across the winding valley in the distance. The wind blowing in his face carried the coolness of the mountains and forests, which invigorated him. "Their Bible states at the beginning that humans are born with sin, and it is the fallen God who bears this original sin for mankind."
"The point is not that killing a child of the forest requires repentance, but that they even consider 'living' itself a sin."
"Even living is a sin..." Xalatas's tone was full of shock, and he couldn't help but sigh, "This fallen God is more like a symbol of 'fallen' than the demon king in the abyss - He can actually make so many people believe that existence itself is a sin."
"What you're saying is rather laughable," Snow chuckled. "The existence of a fallen God has overshadowed the demons of the abyss, making it difficult to distinguish who is truly corrupt."
He gazed at the dazzling sun overhead, his thoughts drifting: "In the mythology of this world, everything originates from the original Creator. But humans, in their lives, always seek meaning—each church wants to explain why the Creator created the world, why the gods were born, and why the gods favor humanity."
"The doctrine of original sin of a fallen God is a very easy and universal explanation. When people believe that they are born with original sin, they are less likely to persistently pursue meaning."
"Atonement is the meaning; living itself is a sin—this is a near-omnipotent explanation."
Snow Serin set aside the omniscience of a time traveler and objectively evaluated the belief system of the Fourth Era, something that could not be seen in the Fifth Era. By the time the Aurora Society's madmen arrived in the Fifth Era, their minds were not capable of comprehending anything too profound.
To simplify it to... as long as one can still hear the delirious ramblings of the fallen God (the true creator)... then nothing else matters, the world is worthwhile, and one further abandons thinking.
"Isn't the real original sin the weakness of mortals?" Xalatas scoffed, his tone carrying the pragmatism unique to Void spirits. "Existence is not a sin; weakness is."
Snow did not refute, but simply said softly:
"Born weak, born with original sin."
"Yearning for protection, devout faith."
"They don't need mortals to be powerful, they only need mortals to be in awe of them."
The sound of horses' hooves echoed as they receded into the distance towards the castle. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground, much like the beliefs of this era—a mixture of the sacred and the absurd, yet undeniably dominating the souls of countless people.