The Tribe began paying close attention to these rotting creatures.
These rotting creatures looked most different from how they had in life in one particular way: they glowed.
They gave off a faint light.
The pale blue mycelium clinging to their bodies made them glow with a hazy luminescence.
At night, the light was especially noticeable.
At night, this pale blue forest seemed to glow, giving off dreamlike colors and becoming a scene unlike any other in the darkness.
The people were deeply shaken by this mysterious spectacle, and felt even more reverence for the God-Given Flower and the Rot Spirits.
"They're really beautiful."
Ned looked at the pale blue forest and exclaimed.
He simply thought it was all incredibly beautiful.
Nothing more.
Soon,
these pale blue, rotting creatures began to move, slowly and limping.
They started doing things that left the people baffled.
The rotting Brown Rats used their noses.
They sniffed here and there, pawing at all kinds of plants.
Even when they found berries or insects, they didn't eat them. They merely sniffed them, then moved on.
Sometimes,
a few foul-smelling, rotting birds would stand on branches, motionless as statues.
They did nothing else.
They simply watched the people working with their hollow eyes.
Like curious children learning something new.
But this frightened the tribespeople badly.
"Don't be afraid. They're all under the God-Given Flower's control. There must be some deeper meaning behind it."
Richie reassured everyone.
Soon, the God-Given Flower was given a name: the Rot Spirit Flower.
It meant a flower that controlled rotting living creatures.
Richie forbade anyone from catching or disturbing these Rot Spirit creatures.
He only told the people to observe them as much as possible.
The power of the Rot Spirit Flower bestowed by the gods this time was unlike anything they had received before.
It could control dead creatures.
This power was almost entirely beyond reason.
The Tribe had to treat it with even greater caution, lest they misunderstand the gods' true intent in bestowing this gift.
The people needed more time to observe and understand it all.
Just as the people were engrossed in observing this wonder and speculating about the gods' true purpose in bestowing the flower,
something suddenly broke the peace.
"Let me in."
An old man with a head of white hair dropped to his knees with a thud and kowtowed to the guards.
On his back,
he carried a child dressed in hempen clothes.
Everyone could see that the child slumped over the old man's hunched back had been dead for some time.
His bluish face and swollen skin made that clear.
The guards hurried to help the old man up.
"Elder Kex, please don't do this."
"Please don't make things difficult for us. If the chief finds out, we'll be punished."
The guards spoke with worried expressions.
But they hardly dared stop this highly respected elder.
Elder Kex was the oldest wise man in the Tribe.
Even during the era when that sinner held power, he had secretly helped many tribespeople, and was deeply beloved by them.
It was also Elder Kex who had once guided the people to find Green Fruit in the Mangrove Forest.
In the end, faced with Elder Kex, whose forehead was nearly bleeding from his kowtows, the guards could only reluctantly step aside and let him pass.
He walked into the pale blue grove, carrying the dead child, and slowly laid him on the ground.
Kex looked at the Rot Spirit Flower.
His face showed reverence and longing.
A day passed.
The child showed no sign of that miraculous blue glow.
In fact,
as soon as the Rot Spirit Flower had first descended,
someone had quietly placed the blue mycelium floating in the air against the chests of dead tribespeople,
hoping it would "awaken" them.
But without exception, those attempts had failed.
The blue mycelium of the Rot Spirit Flower would not parasitize people, either.
Even so,
Kex continued to kneel there.
His eyes were filled with anguish.
Word of the matter eventually reached the cave.
Richie came over, leaning on his cane.
The sound of his thick wooden cane striking the ground remained clear and firm, falling slowly but steadily on the ears of the guards, all of whom had their heads bowed.
From the sunken eye sockets of the aged chief, a hawk-like gaze swept over the guards below, who dared not meet his eyes.
Richie's voice was old, yet filled with authority.
"Didn't I say that no one was to approach?"
The guards stood in fearful silence, not daring to raise their heads.
Richie told everyone to wait outside.
Then he walked toward the grove alone.
The wind howled through the trees.
The pale blue glow swayed in the grove as if stirred by the wind.
Richie immediately saw the child lying on the pale blue grass.
He bent down and ran his withered fingers through the child's hair.
A piece of shriveled skin came away, hanging limply.
Insects had eaten away almost all of the skin on the child's face.
Richie sighed and stood up.
"Kex, take your child home and lay him to rest properly."
The old man remained kneeling there, dazed.
It was as if he hadn't heard Richie.
"Kex, you're the most respected elder and wise man in the Tribe. You should know better than this, and you shouldn't have acted so recklessly."
Richie leaned on his cane.
He looked at the kneeling old man, his voice betraying no emotion.
"Or are you trying to make the gods pity you, hoping to beg and plead for something you can never have?"
At these words, the old man began to tremble all over.
Richie's heavy voice drowned out the wind in the grove.
"Answer me now."
"Will you let Vina rest in peace,"
"or will you leave him lying here, hoping that before the insects devour him completely, he might still become one of those moving husks?"
The old man finally broke.
It was as though his last shred of hope had been torn away, and he collapsed where he knelt.
He fell to the ground like a man dying of thirst in the desert, his lips moving as he murmured:
"Why?"
"He could have grown up just fine."
"Vina told me that Guard Captain Barlow had praised him. He said Vina would surely become a mighty Warrior one day, take his place, and become one of the guards protecting you. It had always been his dream."
Richie heard the old man's words.
His expression shifted slightly.
He stood there for a long time, leaning on his cane.
Only after a long while did he speak in a heavy voice:
"Have you forgotten the rule I first laid down in the temple?"
Richie did not look at Kex again.
He only gazed out beyond the grove.
His eyes seemed to pierce through the trees,
to somewhere very, very far away.
Many years ago,
he, too, had felt that same desire.
He could understand.
But that was all. He could only understand.
"The hands of the faithful should be raised in Faith, not held out to beg and take."
Richie spoke as if addressing the old man, or perhaps himself.
"The gods' blessings are never without end. No one should pray for endless bounty and eternal years."
If there was anything in this world that was eternal,
then the eternal one
was the one and only supreme god.
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