The First Civilization Wonder

Boer tapped his walking stick against the stone path at the foot of the mountain.

Strictly speaking, at his age, he had no real need for a walking stick at all.

Yet for some reason, he was obsessed with imitating his father, walking with a cane propped under his hand.

Whether on muddy mountain trails or solid, level ground, he loved striking the earth with that heavy, resounding thud.

As if doing so would grant him a sliver of the same patriarchal authority his father commanded.

The mountain where the Wonder stood was not far from where Ned lived.

Every day, Ned watched guards haul timber up its slopes.

Even after the sea monster incident, the craftsmen had halted shipbuilding along the coast, but they never stopped construction on this Wonder.

Just as people's reverence for the gods never ceased.

However, Richie strictly forbade any other tribesmen from ascending the mountain before its completion, lest they damage the great Wonder still under construction.

Of course, their father's orders couldn't actually stop Ned.

If he wanted to go, he would surely climb that mountain.

But Ned didn't do that.

Ned, too, wanted to wait for the Wonder to be fully finished.

Like anticipating a beautiful flower slowly blooming.

"Twenty years."

"This Wonder has been under construction for a full twenty years, and now it's finally complete."

Boer gazed at the towering mountain before him and sighed:

"Before we were even born, this temple had already begun to rise. They say the idea for building it was our mother's."

Ned followed behind his younger brother in silence.

Seeing his brother say nothing, Boer took the initiative to find some topics.

"How have you and Yami been lately? I heard you have a son—that's a good thing. Children are the hope of the tribe. When your child is a little older, if you want him to learn, I can assign an elder to teach him..."

Boer stopped mid-sentence.

He turned his head.

Because he suddenly noticed that Ned was laughing.

Ned couldn't hold it in anymore; he turned aside and laughed out loud.

Boer fell silent.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He just stared at his brother with a puzzled look.

He didn't understand what his brother was laughing at.

"My god, it's exactly the same. You sound even more old-fashioned than Father did back then. You haven't even officially become the chieftain yet, and you're already like this?"

Ned simply couldn't stop chuckling.

Maybe others wouldn't notice, but in his eyes, his little brother was so ridiculous and comical.

Like a naive child, trying his best, in a clumsy, aged tone, to play at the games of adults.

Boer was taken aback to hear that this was what made his brother laugh.

After all, he hadn't noticed any difference in his own words or actions from before.

But in the end, he just smiled along with his brother.

He could tell his brother wasn't mocking him.

And it had been a long time since he'd seen that kind of smile on his brother's face.

After the laughter faded, the two brothers started chatting about amusing stories from the past.

"I remember when we were kids, you hid in that tree hollow in the forest, and Father was so frantic he was pacing right in front of you. You couldn't help laughing that loud back then too, and that's how we found you."

"I remember you were only six back then, always running off into the woods alone."

"Time really does fly. In the blink of an eye, we've grown up and become fathers ourselves."

Boer couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Ned was taken aback at first, then gave a faint smile.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago."

As they talked, the distance that had grown between them over the years seemed to narrow slightly.

The two brothers chatted about all sorts of childhood memories.

But

whenever Boer brought up matters concerning the tribe, Ned would once again show that listless expression.

Boer noticed this too.

His elder brother always seemed indifferent to certain things.

Sensing his brother's lack of interest, he promptly dropped the subject and turned to other topics.

As they drew closer to the mountaintop, Boer and Ned began to encounter other tribesmen climbing alongside them.

Their faces were filled with solemn reverence.

Ned quickly wiped the smile off his own face.

In all his life, there were only certain moments when he would become serious.

People are always filled with awe toward the gods.

Ned was no exception.

But within that awe, he differed from others.

Ned had clearly experienced everything the gods had bestowed.

The magical wood crackling with lightning, the sweet giant fruits, the extraordinary, mysterious, and beautiful power of the Rot Spirit Flower—all of it had once filled him with endless fascination and delight.

And these sights that captivated him were all born from the hands of the great gods.

"Without the gods, it would be like without light—everything would be plunged into darkness."

Ned had once thought this.

If all that the gods had given were lost, then people's lives would become dull and joyless.

He did not fear the gods.

He was simply grateful to them.

Grateful that the gods had bestowed radiance upon the people, illuminating the darkness.

Boer and Ned finally reached the mountaintop.

As they stepped onto the last stone stair, all the believers who had ascended the mountain saw it clearly.

A white temple, larger than any shrine, stood in the radiance at the edge of the cliff.

Beneath the vast sky, several enormous carved stone pillars held up the white dome, as if also supporting the azure heavens above.

The midday sun shone upon the flat summit.

That magnificent temple lay in the backlight.

It was cast by the contre-jour into a massive black stone platform.

The sprawling shadow swallowed all light, leaving only the dazzling brilliance of the sun held aloft above the platform.

The sun seemed to be embedded in the temple, like a gem offered to the gods.

At the summit, an eternal, unchanging light spread out.

These tribesmen, climbing this mountain range for the first time, let out gasps of amazement at the sight.

"So this is the wonder."

"No wonder it took over twenty years to build—such a massive structure is simply unprecedented."

The awe in their hearts mirrored that of Richie and Naen when they had first stood atop the mountain and gazed into the distance.

Just then, a cold wind howled across the heights.

An ethereal sound drifted from the temple to the people's ears.

"The sound of a bone flute?"

Ned's expression shifted with emotion.

The sound seemed to drift down from the ethereal clouds, like the melody of a flute.

"No, it's the sound of the wind."

Boer shook his head with a smile.

He pointed to the deliberately carved hollows above the temple's stone pillars.

"Teacher Blair designed this structure based on the principles of flutes and whistles. When the mountain wind blows through, the holes in the temple's stone pillars produce this sound, and the wind chimes made of seashells ring along with it."

In this wondrous symphony composed by the wind, people felt as if their souls were cleansed, and they entered this hall of the gods with devout hearts.

The bright sun pierced through the dome, shining down upon the enormous Faceless Statue at the center.

Richie named this temple the Temple of Eternity, meaning that the gods are eternal beings, unchanging through the ages.

"Truly a Wonder."

Ned sighed in admiration.

Human ingenuity was truly remarkable.

But, perhaps that wasn't quite accurate.

Such an awe-inspiring Wonder could not be created by intelligence alone.

Without the gods, there would be no Faith.

And without Faith, even if people could build such a magnificent structure, the Wonder would lose the sacred and awe-inspiring essence that symbolized the great deities, and thus cease to be a true Wonder.