"I understand."
Before Lyanna, Iapetus bowed slightly.
"I will certainly convey the Lord of the Spirit World's meaning. However, I hope you can give a more detailed description so that I can report it to the God King."
Lyanna nodded and calmly stated the decision Ryan had made beforehand.
"The Lord can grant thought to mortal things, but the gods must create life themselves and decide the innate nature of their creations, granting them the corresponding powers."
"Whether it is their appearance or their abilities, those are matters for the gods themselves. The Lord will only grant them souls at the very end, according to the requirements set in advance. After they die, the souls of mortal things must also return to my Lord's embrace."
"Death?" Iapetus asked in surprise.
It was a word he had never heard before. The language of the divine race born naturally from Khaos had no concept of "death."
"Yes, 'death.' It is a word in the language of the Spirit World that describes extinction and the end."
Lyanna nodded and explained.
Ryan had evolved the spirit language using the most ancient linguistic source on the Divine Decree Stone Tablet, so it naturally had its own pronunciation. Many terms absent from Khaos's divine language could find corresponding descriptions in the language of the Spirit World.
"Death" was one of them. Even the "wine" that had become indispensable at the gods' banquets had originated this way.
"I'm very sorry, but esteemed Shadow Moon Goddess, I don't quite understand. Why would life 'die' after gaining thought?"
After hearing Lyanna's explanation, Iapetus still looked puzzled. The Lord of the Spirit World had no interest in fabricating bodies, and the God of Speech was not surprised by that. Even though he had never done it before, he could imagine that creating life was certainly no easy task.
But when it came to "death," Iapetus could not understand it. Throughout all the years past, he had never seen an intelligent thing die—or rather, he simply could not understand why death existed.
In the gods' understanding, all conscious existences were eternal. Being imprisoned in the Abyss was already a terrifying punishment, while eternal slumber was the most unacceptable ending.
As for the end and extinction, people could not imagine or understand things beyond their comprehension, and the gods were no different.
Facing Iapetus's confusion, Lyanna said flatly:
"Before my Lord took control of the Divinity of Life, life possessing consciousness had not been entirely absent. Plants are an example. Your inability to sense their vague thoughts does not mean they do not exist. Their feeble thoughts simply have yet to form souls."
"Just as plants can be destroyed, living beings with thoughts can also die. In this world, only the gods are immortal. Unless the gods sever a portion of their own divinity, all mortal things must eventually die. That, too, is an ending ordained by Fate."
"Then what about the souls?" After a moment of silence, the God of Speech keenly noticed the problem. "If the bodies of living beings can 'die,' does that mean their souls cannot?"
"Of course they can, but it happens more slowly."
Lyanna had long anticipated the outside gods' ignorance, so she continued explaining:
"In the present world, matter is more easily manifested than spirituality, so bodies also decay more easily than souls. When a mortal body dies, its spirit is still far from reaching its end. Life belongs to the gods, but souls belong to my Lord. Once they lose their anchor in the present world, they should naturally return to the Spirit World and the embrace of the ruler of spirituality."
"I understand."
Iapetus nodded, indicating that he understood. He could accept such an outcome, but the gods might not be without objections. That, however, had nothing to do with him. Ultimately, he was only a messenger.
"Life and 'death'—what wondrous phenomena. Yet they make perfect sense as well. How could the creations of the gods be compared with their creators? 'Death' is indeed a fine concept. After gaining thought, it will allow them to recognize the difference between themselves and the gods."
With some emotion, Iapetus said at last:
"I will truthfully convey His Highness Ryan's meaning, but the specific decision must be left to the God King for his final judgment."
"Then go," Lyanna said calmly. "The gods' decision is their own affair. My Lord's meaning has already been conveyed."
"If anyone still has objections, let him try coming to the Spirit World. If he can enter, my Lord will make time to meet him."
"You may leave now."
After calmly speaking her final sentence, the wings behind Lyanna fluttered lightly. In the blink of an eye, she silently vanished before Iapetus's eyes.
Watching Lyanna disappear just as she had arrived, the God of Speech waited there for a while longer before turning and leaving as well.
He did not know whether the gods would accept the idea that "souls return to the Underworld Soil after death." After all, "death" was a new concept to every god in existence.
But since he had received the answer, Iapetus simply handed the decision back to the gods. Whatever the final outcome, his assignment was over.
······
Three days later, with the help of wind and space, Iapetus returned to Divine Mountain.
As six days earlier, the gods' banquet was still ongoing. They were all waiting for the God of Speech to return.
Before the gods, he recounted everything he had experienced on the journey, placing particular emphasis on how difficult it had been and how skillfully he had used his divine power to persuade that mysterious Ancient God.
"I exhausted my eloquence. In the end, His Highness Ryan told me that only when body and soul came together could life possess thought. He agreed to grant souls to mortal things after the gods created them. I am deeply grateful for his mercy."
After hearing the God of Speech's account, the gods were all moved by his words. They truly sensed Iapetus's hardships, and even many gods with weaker divine power began to respect him.
"But in the end, His Highness Ryan told me that life that is not divine will 'die.' All mortal things must eventually die, and since matter decays much faster than the soul, the souls of living beings should also return to the Spirit World after death."
"Death? Forgive me for speaking frankly, but is that some newly invented word?"
Beside Rhea, the three White Oak Goddesses born from Uranus's divine blood spoke up.
Just like Iapetus before them, the gods present all expressed their confusion. Seeing this, the God of Speech carefully repeated the information he had received from Lyanna.
The gods reacted in different ways. When True Gods focused their attention, they could sense the vague thoughts of plants. But just as humans did not concern themselves with ants, the gods of the past had never cared about this.
In the end, they all accepted the existence of "death." Using life and death to define the difference between mortal things and gods was a perfectly reasonable approach.
It would merely be somewhat troublesome afterward. Every few thousand years, they would have to create another batch of life.
With the final problem of creating life resolved as well, the God of Speech prepared to return to his seat, satisfied that the journey had ended successfully. But just then, the Firstborn of the Ancient Sea God Pontus suddenly stood up.
That was Friendliness of the Sea, a sea god who had good relations with many deities. Even among the Ocean God Faction, many gods held him in high regard.
"I am grateful that His Highness Ryan is willing to grant souls to life."
Speaking in his customary pleasant tone, Nereus looked at Iapetus and slowly said, "But is the ownership of those souls truly beyond discussion?"
"I think I'm not the only one who feels this way."
Before you continue