He and It Chapter 168: The Serpent of Pharisee (34)

Chapter 168: The Serpent of Pharisee (34)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

“Clothos, Lachesis, Atropos!” Zeus cried out in despair, as he called the names of the Fates, “Why dost thou sit here, and let thy loom turn to ruin and thy threads break?” 

“The destinies of the Gods are taken over by others. Therefore we have released our hands and have no need to labor.” The old woman said.

“He has answered the question and we have satisfied our perplexity.” The plump woman said.

“Why hast thou come in hopes of finding our threads intact? Take thyself to the painting and seek your answer, for now that is how destiny is interpreted,” said the young maiden.

Zeus could do nothing but return to the heavens, which were crowded with terrified gods who poked their heads out of the clouds and stretched their necks to watch the human paint. The infinite canvas turned in his hands, and he painted the most Ancient Gods who were there before the heavens and the earth were parted with lightness and ease of touch.

Pallas Athena was speechless. She remembered a time not so long ago, before all this had happened, when Echidna and the boy were a pair of lovers who attracted the attention of all beings, as they lived comfortably and contentedly in the darkness of their underground palace, but then there was that day when the gods, fearing that love would cause that savage god of the ancient world to lose his mind, make him determined to fight against Olympus, intervened and locked him up, once and for all. In Tartarus.

At that time she already had a vague premonition that all the efforts and struggles that the people were making to avoid the most unfortunate end often lead to the most unfortunate end.

Therefore, she resolved to stand with her father, not interfere with the process of that matter, and to follow how the Gods made their decisions. However, watching was another kind of indulgence, and so she had allowed the family to run down the road to its doom without ever pulling the reins in hindrance.

I am still in the hands of Fate, she thought bitterly, we are all in the hands of Fate.

“We cannot let him draw in such a way!” Hera cried out in horror as she incited the Gods to action and urged them to fight for their future. “Are thou not outraged that he has usurped the authority of the Three Goddesses in such a way? How canst he, a mere human, decide the fate of gods far greater than he?” 

Listening to the words of the Mother of the Gods, the rest of the Gods all descended to the plains of Arima. Since the oath of Zeus bound all living beings and they could not hinder the process of Xie Ning’s painting, they took great pains and racked their brains, then began offering all kinds of enticing favors to compel him to stop the brush in his hand.

“Thou boy!” Hera called out. “If thee stop the brush in thy hand, and cease anything detrimental to the Gods, I will promise on the River Styx that I will make thee King of Kings, and thou shall rule over all the nations of the land and the sea, with thy crown drinking in the envy of the whole world, while thy words, thy looks, and even the slightest wink of an eye, shall be loved and sought after by millions of people. Thou shall ride in a golden chariot from one continent to the next continent, and all the lands that thine eyes can see shall be subject to thy judgment.” 

Xie Ning turned a deaf ear to them as he traced the edge of Chaos even as he splashed paint unmercifully on the god whose ramblings harassed him, causing him to storm away from the canvas.

“If thou would stop the brush in thy hand, I wouldst willingly share with thee all the wisdom of the world, along with the power of the King of Kings. Thou wouldst be an initiator, a guide, and until the end of mankind, the world would celebrate thy legend,” Athena whispered. “Consider it carefully, Dorus.” 

Xie Ning continued to act as if he hadn’t heard them, just burying his head in his painting and not bothering to respond to them.

“Even though thou art indifferent to all the rewards offered, thou wilt never refuse pleasure, wilt thee?” The God of Wine reached up to his spreading vines, “If thou will only lay down thy brush, besides being a king and a wise man, I shall make thee the happiest man in the world, for that is a joy that never tires and has no end, Dorus. A joy that will make thou forget all thy cares, and that will make thee walk on muddy paths as if thy were walking on a soft, ethereal cloud. Meditate on the inspirations that will inspire in you!” 

Xie Ning began to fill the bubbles with flowing colors, dipping the tip of his brush into the bull’s horn in turn, painting in the similarities and differences of each bubble.

Neither power, nor wisdom, nor eternal bliss could move his human heart. Finally, Apollo stood out from the throng of Gods. He had to beg in a low voice, counting on the young man to make amends for his sins.

“Dorus, I beg thou listen to me,” the Sun God’s gesture was humbling. “Put our contest aside! One does not have to be so resolute. I will gladly escort thee to Tartarus, no matter how much effort or time it takes, so that thee and Echidna might meet in the land of bliss. As for myself, I can give thou what is most precious, what thy need the most, and that is talent. No genius of the world, no matter how illustrious, shall compare to thee, thou shall be the greatest of artists.” 

Apollo spoke such obsequious words, that when Xie Ning heard them, he finally stopped drawing and turned his head to stare at the Sun God.

His eyes were as black as the earth, as dark as the bottomless abyss, and with the help of Gaia’s vision, also tinted with the Original Power. Even as a god, Apollo’s heart trembled as he gazed into them.

“Tell me,” he said somberly, “How does one who lives forever end his life?” 

Apollo froze, and he felt a chill of weakness climb through his immortal body.

Xie Ning looked around at the gods who had landed on the earth, surrounded by their golden light, and asked, “You really think I don’t know, don’t you? You despicable liars. First you poisoned me, then you cajoled Echidna, telling him that you would cure me, in exchange for him voluntarily going to Tartarus to serve a prison sentence, then my soul would be reunited with him after death. Foolishly he agreed, and immediately you fed me the Wine of the Gods, and made me his eternal yoke. Now you have the audacity to stand here and try to seduce me with these flowery words…” 

He laughed, and said softly, “Go to hell. When you’re all dead, I’ll stop painting.” 

Zeus was furious. He snapped from far above, “Do not think that because thou has usurped the power of Fate that thou are somehow above the Gods! Have thy not seen the torture of Tantalus, the torture of Sisyphus? It is far too easy for a man to end up in such a state, and not only are thou not strong enough, thou are more cowardly than either!” 

Xie Ning shot back at the sky, “The boulder made it to the top of the mountain, that was Sisyphus’ happiness, but in the midst of everyone else’s submission, I am still in control of my own destiny!” 

He lifted the brush, and made a long mark upon the canvas, and even though he refused to utter another word, the gods still understood him plainly. I will paint; paint your end.

Thunder and wind roared together and the gods scattered. No one wanted to be caught between the two angry parties. The sky erupted in fire, the earth in lava, and the terrible heat scorched the plains of Arima, even as the land itself melted under white-hot thunderbolts. The King of the Gods tried to terrify the human being below, as if to force him to abandon that terrible vision and submit to the roar of thousands of thunderbolts.

Apollo also rose to the firmament, and the nine Muses accompanied him, dancing around his golden chariot. He was both the shining Sun God and the great God of Art, as he almost mocked Xie Ning’s qualifications and caliber, mocked his mediocrity as an ordinary man.

“Dorus, have thee forgotten thy tears and frustrations of yesterday?” Along with the roar of thunder, Apollo’s words were clearly heard, “Have thou forgotten how thou fell back in shame before my own paintings, pale of cheek, then shed many tears? I see thy pain, as thou envied the wonder and immortality of genius. Why dost thou not yield to me, who should be the God over thee?” 

Xie Ning knew in his heart that he couldn’t yield, that yielding would mean admitting to the mediocrity of the common man. Confessing to the nature of cowardice and impotence, and would mean that the winds of the ego would crush the waves of the ego downwards, and that the sea of the ego would capsize the ship of the ego. 

However, being a genius or not being a genius was no longer important to him.

Amidst the thunder and lightning and the blaze of fire, he squeezed his brush and suddenly remembered the old days – the darkness of the dungeon, Echidna holding him in his arms, gazing up at the brilliant man-made river of stars in the heavens, the silence all around him, and the cozy sway of the tip of his serpent’s tail.

I don’t want to be a genius anymore, Xie Ning said silently, I just want to live an ordinary life with the one I love, and that’s enough.

In the darkness of Tartarus, surrounded by the River of Fire, Echidna slowly opened his eyes. His golden eyes glowed brightly.

Dorus…Dorus, he murmured the name. How lucky I am! How lucky I am to know your scent and voice once again.

As a cage for the Titans, Tartarus was the body of the God of the Abyss. The gods imprisoned there didn’t need to work, nor did they need to undergo any cruel punishment, for when they fell there, they gradually lost their forms and souls, and became one with the original Abyss.

Since his arrival there, Echidna had fought off that process with long periods of sleep. He had to hold on until the Gods fulfilled their vow to send Dorus’ soul down to the underworld to be reunited with him after he had left the world.

During his long sleeps, Echidna carefully sculpted his dreams. Tartarus was the home of the Devourer, where any light would be absorbed by the Abyss, including warm memories and earthly thoughts. But he missed Dorus so much that no matter how carefully he hid it, he couldn’t help but dream of his beloved a few times.

Was Dorus sad when he woke up, did he shed tears? Because of his concern for himself, he won’t be thinking about going home, but he is still just a small person on the earth. How lonely, how helpless!

In his dreams, the serpent-tailed demon pondered these things.

Would the Gods in the Heavens heal him well, or would they insult him? Where would Dorus be without his care, without Arima? Iolcus was a land of vengeance, and Cilicia wasn’t fit for a painter, and, ah, would he wander in the mountains and forests, and live in the company of wild beasts? 

Echidna’s heart ached so much when he dreamed of that, that he could not maintain his divine powers in peace.

Luckily, things had a way of turning around, and not long ago, Echidna once again sensed a familiar touch in his soul.

Only Dorus’s brush could bring him that feeling! Immersed in the ecstasy of the past, he realized that his human was sad and in pain, but he still spoke to him of love and longing, and hoped that Echidna would receive a heartfelt message from him.

Ah! Then Echidna was so full of joy, that he almost circled wildly in Tartarus. His Dorus was healed! The Gods of Olympus, in spite of all their vileness, had fulfilled their promise for once. The mere fact that Dorus was safe and sound was enough to sustain him for another hundred or thousand years in that dark, bitter prison.

The next time, however, the sensation seemed to be sadder, shorter, and more powerful than the previous one. 

When he was on the plains of Arima, Xie Ning quickly pulled together his attention, and didn’t bother with the intimidation of the many gods and goddesses, just focusing on his plan.

He added the last flakes of color to the edge of Chaos, and then set about blocking in the face of Gaia. He drew the Earth Mother Goddess Earth, beneath which lay the deep abyss, Tartarus. Above her arched the arms of the night, Nyx, which brushed over the robes of darkness, Erebus. He drew the ancient tyrant of the sky, Uranus, then the bright upper sky, Aether, and the day, Hemera. The Primordial Gods, all born in the embrace of Chaos. ¹

The hustle and bustle of the world was left behind, the sudden fall of night couldn’t stop him from seeing, and the crackle of thunder and fire couldn’t slow down the speed of his painting for a second.

Ironically, Xie Ning continued to draft without expression, since the oath of “not to be disturbed” had been sworn by himself, what was the change of sound and light to him? When he was tired, he lay down on the soil of Gaia and slept for a while. When he woke up, he started to paint again, without eating or drinking, and without arguing with the talkative gods.

It wasn’t until Xie Ning drew the fifty daughters of the Sea God, Pontos, and their leader, the sea nymph Thetis, that the gods finally admitted in fear and frustration that enticements were ineffective, and intimidation couldn’t shake the young man’s hatred and determination.

“We are willing to break our oath if thou wilt stop the brush in thy hand,” Zeus bowed his head in despair and pleaded with Xie Ning. “I promise thee, as the price of breaking this oath is that the Gods shall never see the light of Olympus again, and shall suffer more than they any have in the Abyss…I shall also release Echidna from the prison of the Abyss.” 

Xie Ning stopped painting, and glanced at him mockingly.

“All that talk is nonsense…you let him out first.”