Chapter Twenty-One: Fragments of History (Part Two)
In the mid-era of the Divine Arrival, humans once caused a massive collapse of a mining area due to excessive exploitation. Within the area that sank, a small tribe of ogres was completely buried, meeting their end underground.
And this was the initial trigger for the war.
Before this, the non-human races, including the ogres, had been eager to negotiate with humans. They had sent envoys to the Holy City several times, but negotiations always ended in vain. The greed of humans was beyond imagination, with no respect for the rules of nature; their desires knew no bounds. After realizing this, the enraged ogres took the lead to launch an attack on human cities.
Strong and robust, the ogres wielded sticks, stone tools, and thorn-covered clubs, devastating one city after another in the early stages of the war. At that time, the Church Knights Order wasn’t well-established yet; their ranks were filled with timid farmers skilled in tilling the land or wild hunters who only knew how to survive. With such disorganization and a lack of tactical response, they were utterly unable to resist the ogres’ attacks. The army crumbled at the first strike, facing only the fate of slaughter on the battlefield.
The ogres’ continuous victories sent a clear signal to those non-human races that were still on the sidelines: humans had not grown to the extent they had imagined.
That race remained as weak as ever.
Thus, the war escalated to a fever pitch. Led by fairies, the non-human races chose to ally with the ogres to eliminate humans, the number-one enemy of nature. The fierce army marched toward the Holy City, nearly causing the birthplace of humanity to fall completely. Once again, humans faced a critical moment of life and d*ath.
Just then, the Clan of Jideers, revered by humans as the Mother God of Abundance, intervened to halt the war.
[We may never comprehend how the deities were persuaded by their followers, but they indeed deviated from their original intent as world managers, making unfair judgments and actions. They began to ignore the laws of nature and stood behind the public harm of order.
Perhaps I shouldn’t say this about my fellow beings, but the truth is what it is.
As great deities within the Clan of Jideers, their few existing members ignored the various harmful actions humans posed to the natural order, the essence of the conflict in this war, and the interests of all races except humans. They became blind partisans, trying to end the war with brutish means.
The first invasion by the non-human army was defeated by angels dispatched by the Mother God of Abundance.
I don’t understand how such an unreasonable situation could arise, but I think I’ve found one of the most important reasons. I am a historian and a rational theological enthusiast; I have studied some content regarding the Clan of Jideers, and I have a bold speculation—perhaps I shouldn’t voice it, but according to ancient texts, those great deities seem not to be very smart.
Despite having a strikingly similar appearance to us, compared to human beings as intelligent species, those from the Clan of Jideers resemble creatures imbued with great energy yet possessing only linear thinking, akin to some primitive beast.
In other words, they are not much different from wild lions and tigers. Despite their power, they are easily deceived by wise humans. With just a tempting “trap,” they can be caged like animals.]
That’s what the book said.
The author’s deeper speculation suggests that the Mother God once contemplated making a pact with humans to limit their actions, preventing the deterioration and escalation of conflict. However, given their simplistic thinking, the imagined pact was riddled with loopholes that would benefit the followers, rendering it ineffective as a restraint.
In the end, the deities’ actions were swayed by those followers.
Thus, humans—originally a weak race that struggled to survive—found protection under the powers of the Clan of Jideers, gaining food security and expanding their territory year after year due to population growth, continuously squeezing the living space of other non-human races.
Such contradictions missed the best opportunity for reconciliation, and afterward, the breeding of hatred made the battlefield increasingly brutal, leaving no room for luck.
The gift of the Goddess of Sin gave humans the actual strength to resist the non-human races. Our kin became even more reckless and finally began to invade and conquer the lands and homes of others. The war swept from the Western Continent to the Eastern Continent, reaching the habitat of the Immortal Race, the Amigil Mountain Range.
From then on, the peace-loving Immortal Race was also forced to join the war.
Faced with the mighty powers that could move mountains and fill seas, humanity fell back into a situation of retreat and defeat. Their army was pushed back repeatedly, leading to a joint counterattack by the non-human races. At the call of the Immortal Race, dragons appeared, darkening the skies; each one capable of destroying a human city.
At this moment, a few members of the Jideers finally realized the severity of the situation.
These were Jideers who had not been swayed or assimilated by human words; their existence was not recorded in the revelations of the Church for posterity. The clergymen did not acknowledge them as gods and named them anew: demons.
As the war entered its later stages, it became a true world-shaking battle, no longer a conflict between races but a struggle of “deities” against “demons,” a conflict among the Clan of Jideers. Led by the Mother God of Abundance, the God of Healing, the Goddess of Sin, the God of Wisdom, and other global figures, a fierce slaughter ensued against their own kin.
It was a true war of the gods, where the side that survived would become the true gods, rewriting all the rules of this world. Their victory or defeat determined whether humans or the non-human races would perish, and the powerful might of the Clan of Jideers soon brought disaster to the entire world.
Later on, humans awakened the oldest deities.
After that point, the content of ancient books became incomplete due to the ravages of time. Some yellowed pages even bore signs of having been torn, and I could only vaguely deduce the war’s final outcome through the unclear handwriting. Undoubtedly, it was a victory for the Mother God of Abundance or, in other words, for humanity.
As for the fate of the opposing Jideers, it seemed they had been almost completely eradicated.
By this time, the fate of the other races was already obvious. The Immortal Race lost their power to move mountains and fill seas, the dragons were driven into dark and unlit lands, the fairies’ ears lost their sharpness, and the Flying Ones’ feathers began to shed, unable to soar in the heavens again.
They had all lost the ability to survive.
According to the speculations in the book, that was because the Jideers who had granted these non-human races power had all perished in that war.
Afterward, humanity ruled over the fertile lands of two continents, and the Holy Church was officially established.
This is part of the history I gathered from this fragmented ancient text… I’m sure this is what they call a part of the truth.
As for more information, I found it in another book that is even more tattered, seemingly bitten by insects.
It’s a book about the Clan of Jideers.
From the content, it seems like a research report, but one thing shocked me: even though this book is missing most of its content, its cover remains relatively intact, allowing me to see the title.
It’s called “The Book of Poems.”
And below is a note in smaller print: “The faith of rebirth is the premise of all service.”
The moment I got this book, I suddenly remembered I had seen the same book before.
In the Royal City, in the illusion crafted for me by Iliush, in the office draped with a black thorny cloak, I had seen it there.
I recall that I had flipped through the same-titled book in that illusion, only to find it completely blank. At that time, I didn’t realize the illusion formed by the power of “Oblivion,” was entirely dictated by personal imagination; what appeared depended on the understanding and memory of the one casting the illusion.
Now I understand.
Clearly, the illusion that Iliush created was trying to recreate “the clinic” we once stayed in together in Silgaya. She did her best to restore everything, including this book titled “The Book of Poems,” definitely something she had once seen and deeply remembered.
But she hadn’t actually read its contents, unaware of what it was about. Therefore, when I opened the book in the illusion, all I saw were blank pages, as she couldn’t imagine those words.
And now, in Ailna’s cellar, I have found a real “Book of Poems.”
Although it is ancient and has lost much content.
The book is almost reduced to just its beginning; the remaining pages are worm-eaten, the writing appears to have been soaked in water, making it a blur that is impossible to read, with only the front part being barely legible. It contains some recognition from humans, or rather the Church, regarding the Clan of Jideers.
I roughly summarize these contents into three points.
First, the so-called Jideers, or deities, exist in the form of “Fire Seeds,” or spiritual essences. Each individual has different forms of existence, which means they possess different abilities; the fire seed propels their deity bodies, similar to giants, to act and serves as a medium for their divine power, coexisting with it.
In other words, the fire seed is the brain of the Jideers, the center of their power. This aligns with my previous guess, and their powerful divine energy needs to be carried and released through their physical bodies.
Second, unlike common beings, their brains cannot survive independently after losing their bodies. Even if the physical form of a Jideer is destroyed, as long as the fire seed remains intact, they do not d*e and possess the ability to reconstruct their physical form.
Third, Jideers have the power to bestow their “divine power” upon “bodies.” They are the custodians of the world’s rules, yet their wisdom is not particularly high. Compared to humans, they possess only the most basic abilities for communication and judgment, displaying simple emotions and desires, but more so, they exhibit traces of primal instincts.
These entities are still not fully evolved and should be either discarded by humanity or utilized.
