Novel Full Chapter 1761: The Gods 4
Chapter 1761: The Gods 4
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“Makes me wonder how much we can extend our lifespan with cultivation…” Aquarina wondered.
“It’s not quite clear. There’s no concise formula that tells you exactly how much your lifespan extends,” Shade explained. “Only elves can be sure they’ll live for a long time. The oldest living humans we’ve known about were around four hundred years old, though.”
“Yeah, and they looked pretty alright. They might be able to get to five hundred tops,” said Nepheline.
“And who were those?” Aquarina wondered.
“Ah, old human heroes we once met,” said Nepheline. “Maybe one day we’ll tell you about them. They were a couple.”
“When we least expected it, they would sometimes appear and give us a hand,” Shade said with a smile. “I wonder where they might be now?”
“Huh…” Aquarina tilted her head, thinking about lifespan and all of that. “Sylphy will surely live for thousands of years as a half-elf but… but me? I guess I’ll pass away before she does… Yeah, I mean that’s something I’ve already accepted anyway. Though I wonder if Divinity could extend lifespan some more. Wait, will Sylphy even allow me to die as an old granny? She’ll probably do anything she can to extend my lifespan, hahah…”
Although she was very young to think about such things, Aquarina couldn’t help but wonder what the future held for her with Sylphy. She already planned to live the rest of her life with her. She even fantasized about living until they became old ladies and grannies, but the truth was, Sylphy might remain youthful even when Aquarina became covered in wrinkles herself.
This was one of the reasons that relationships between elves and other short-lived races, such as humans, were often not seen as good. It wasn’t due to discrimination, but because of how sad it made elves to see their beloved ones pass away so soon when they still had so much to live.
Elves, once in love, created a very deep bond with their beloved ones, to the point that if their partners were to die, it has been said that they would be heartbroken for the rest of their lives, not falling in love with anybody else, waiting for their slow deaths to reunite with their beloved ones.
This is why it wasn’t encouraged, and it was often ostracized by more conservative groups of noble elves in the Elven Kingdom, who saw elves that fell in love with humans or other short-lived races as “The Eternally Heartbroken.”
“Sylphy’s mother is also the same…” Aquarina thought. “Her mom has lived for quite a few hundred years too, but she really loves her husband. I hope my mother-in-law will be strong in the future… Father-in-law is strong, though, so I bet he’ll have a long life anyway!”
Realizing that their daughter was thinking about age and such, Aquarina’s parents decided to continue the original conversation to distract her from these thoughts, which were only bad for the mind.
“Let’s continue. Two more gods to go,” Nepheline smiled. “The fifth is Iapetus, the Chief God of Death and Lifespan, a mysterious one. He is said to have power over Death, Ghosts, Undead, Shadows, and Darkness. And he’s the Chief God that blessed your father, Aquarina.”
The stone slab trembled lightly, manifesting a colored carving of this chief god. Iapetus seemed to be calmly sitting on his throne made of bones and darkness. He appeared unmoving and without any expression. He held a large scythe in his left hand and was mostly covered by darkness. However, he didn’t seem “alive,” as he had no skin but skeletal hands and a skull instead of a normal face, of black color, with glowing red eyes made of fire.
“He’s scary…” Silvia cried.
“I-I didn’t know that could be a god?” Justicio wondered.
“Is he dead?” Agua asked.
“No, he’s simply a God of Death. It is said that he’s the one that represents death and gives power to necromancers. Every necromancer you’ll meet will probably be a member of a cult for this god or one of his many other gods that serve him. He also is the one that is said to calculate the lifespan of every living being. Nobody can escape him! Scary, right? Heheh…” Nepheline tried to scare the children, and it kind of worked.
“Uwaah?!” Silvia cried. “So he knows when I’ll die?!”
“No way, that’s scary…” Justicio muttered.
“I wonder if he knew that my tribe…” Quetz muttered, feeling slightly sad.
“Despite his intimidating appearance or his authority, Iapetus is a rather kind god. He often gets forced to do things, but he dislikes interfering with mortal affairs, even less forcing things to happen or influencing and manipulating others…” Shade sighed. “He has a bad reputation compared to the other chief gods, but he’s truly a kind god. I talked with him many times. He seemed to be the only one that understood my pains sometimes, and he comforted me when nobody could. He’s like an uncle to me.”
“I-I didn’t know…” Aquarina muttered. “Have you talked with him again, dad?”
“Not yet… It has been a few decades since his last divine message. The only thing he told me was ’Rest and only focus on your own life and your own family, Shade,’ that’s all… I suppose he really was worried about my mental state after the war…” Shade sighed.
“It’s kind of weird that someone like him is actually kind…” Silvia said.
“Well, how we view the undead and necromancers is usually not an absolute truth,” Nepheline explained. “Although the majority of Undead are monsters that aim to kill us, there are many that are also just innocent souls, trapped in dead bodies, aiming to pass away or to get back to their families. Iapetus guides them to the afterlife for the most part. And for those that want to remain, he lets his necromancers take care of them. His Undead are considered Divine and Sacred and are also much more powerful than the Monster Undead… Your father, Aquarina, is a necromancer, if you didn’t know already.”
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