Chapter 6: Species and King |
In the warm, watery nests, the Trilobite Man eggs began to hatch.
At first, they did not possess human forms. Rather than humans, they more closely resembled insects.
But as they slowly grew in the ocean, their originally transparent carapaces gradually gained color, becoming opaque and more rigid.
They survived by preying on insects and ancient creatures in the coastal waters. They had no natural predators.
After several years, they began to take on humanoid shapes.
At this point, they heard a voice resounding in their minds—the voice from which their intelligence and consciousness originated, the progenitor of their bloodline.
“Come!”
“Come to my side.”
“Return!”
They gathered at the foot of the stone pyramid, curiously observing their surroundings and gazing up at the temple of the God.
A figure, identical to them in appearance, stood on the steps of the pyramid, facing the ocean.
Redlichia awaited them at the base of the stairs. It was he who had sent out the signal summoning these lives. He extended his hand, a smile gracing his features. He was genuinely happy.
Among the crowd, there was a unique female Trilobite Man. Her armor was white, setting her apart from the others.
This made her particularly conspicuous, catching Redlichia’s attention.
Redlichia was initially stunned, then felt a stirring in his heart. He didn’t understand what it was, much less knew of an emotion called affection.
Before the majestic and imposing palace, Yin Shen also observed the first batch of Trilobite Men coming ashore.
“Trilobite Men?”
“Trilobites!”
“Calling them ‘Men’, yet they ultimately can’t escape the habits of insects.”
“Although they have gained human forms and can survive on both land and sea, they still can’t break free from the shackles of the ocean.”
“They need to reproduce in the sea, still lay eggs, and can only exist in coastal waters.”
He glanced behind him at the barren terrain, resembling the surface of Mars.
The entire island was like this, not to mention the rest of the land.
In this ancient era, only the ocean could sustain life.
Life could hardly reshape nature; it could only adapt to it.
The Fusion Monster, Shelly, stood beside a pillar of the temple, looking down at the newly born, feeble insects. Even though her gaze held no malice, all the Trilobite Men felt a bone-chilling horror emanating from the depths of their bloodline.
It was more fearsome than the cold, sunless abyss of the deep sea.
The Trilobite Men couldn’t see Yin Shen; they could only look at the mythical creature, the Fusion Monster, with dread.
Even though she maintained a human form, petite and exquisite, they could sense the terrifying monster lurking beneath her outer skin.
Under Shelly’s gaze, they trembled uncontrollably, instinctively falling to their knees.
Eventually, they collapsed limply at the foot of the pyramid, whimpering and muttering unintelligible words.
“Whimper, whimper!”
“Whimper, whimper, whimper!”
“Eee-yaa!”
Redlichia stood at the base of the pyramid, his gaze also rising to the heights along with the numerous Trilobite Men.
“That is the temple.”
“And Shelly, the messenger of the God.”
These newborn lives didn’t understand what anything was, nor did they comprehend the concept of a divine messenger.
But they could understand that residing above was the supreme existence.
Redlichia turned around, raising his hand towards all the Trilobite Men.
The tides surged, eroding the shore. An irresistible force, overriding their will, lifted them directly from the ground, making them stand upright once more.
“Rise!”
“There is no need to fear.”
“For you are the God’s people, the God’s believers, the chosen firstborn of the God.”
“In this world, apart from the God, there is nothing worthy of your fear or reverence.”
Redlichia looked down on the Fusion Monster, Shelly. Or rather, he had never considered the Fusion Monster worthy of his attention. This could be seen from the very beginning when he casually had the Fusion Monster construct the pyramid.
He believed himself to be the God’s firstborn.
While the Fusion Monster was merely the God’s servant, he was the God’s representative.
Redlichia’s communication with the Trilobite Men was not so much through sound, but more akin to directly imprinting what he wanted to say into their minds through his will.
Yin Shen noticed this scene.
As he had anticipated, Redlichia’s power was not limited to possessing intelligence.
With the emergence of his species, the true strength of this power was fully manifested.
He could summon all Trilobite Men, control all Trilobite Men, and transmit his thoughts into the body of every Trilobite Man.
No one could disobey his will.
In other words, he could control all intelligent life in the world at present.
This was Redlichia’s power, the power of wisdom and consciousness.
The ancestral power originating from their bloodline made these Trilobite Men gaze at Redlichia with worship, their eyes filled with infinite fervor.
That gaze…
It was just like how Redlichia looked at Yin Shen.
Redlichia raised his hand and proclaimed, “From this day forth, we shall be the masters of land and sea, the God-chosen race to rule the world on behalf of the God.”
“And I am your king—Redlichia.”
All the Trilobite Men roared with frenzied passion, their discordant, hoarse, and hollow syllables shaking the air.
“King!”
“King!”
Yin Shen was Redlichia’s creator, the God who bestowed him with wisdom.
While Redlichia was their creator, the supreme king who granted them life.
——————
Redlichia led them to a valley behind the pyramid. He excavated numerous caves in the cliff face, and using the extracted stones, he established a city.
Just as Yin Shen had said, he founded his own city-state and nation amidst the wilderness.
These caves connected to the seabed. In addition to a city in the valley, there was also a city deep beneath the sea, accessed through the caves.
They resided on the island, worshipping the God.
They hunted in the sea and reproduced their offspring in the water.
This place seemed to have become the origin point akin to Nüwa creating humans in myths and legends, or God’s Garden of Eden.
This island, insignificant to the Earth, had become the beginning of intelligent life, a utopia not belonging to humans.
Finally, Redlichia had a family of his own.
He made the female Trilobite Man with the white bone helmet and exoskeleton his queen, and they naturally gave birth to their first child.
Having become a father, Redlichia was overjoyed and couldn’t wait to lead his child up the pyramid the moment he crawled out of the sea.
The pair, one large and one small, climbed step by step to the heights, finally arriving before the temple and kneeling down.
He whispered to his child, “Look!”
“The God is watching you from there!”
However, his child looked at the interior of the temple with a blank expression. Apart from the massive statue of the God and the stone pedestal, he saw nothing.
“There’s nothing there. Just some rocks.”
Redlichia felt a chill throughout his body. He gazed at his child, his eyes revealing disbelief and endless disappointment.
In his pupils, there was sadness, a sense of loss.
And helplessness.
He understood that his child couldn’t see the God.
His child didn’t witness the glory of the God that he had seen, nor did he possess the gift bestowed upon him by the God.
Comments 6