"Then I'm off."
Standing at Uruk's northeastern gate, Annanu hugged the smiling Enkidu, then waved to Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh said nothing. He merely watched Annanu with a solemn gaze and nodded lightly.
"Don't worry. I'll wait for you to return," Enkidu called after the departing Annanu. Annanu turned back and waved once more.
Annanu did not choose to fly there. Instead, he chose to travel on his own two feet, one step at a time.
The entrance to the Netherworld lay far out at sea, guarded by Utnapishtim. It was a huge island shrouded in mist amid a vast expanse of ocean. Other than Utnapishtim and his wife, there was not a single living creature on the island.
Annanu needed to head northeast, cross the Euphrates River, climb the towering Zagros Mountains, then make a wide detour southeast into the even broader waters beyond the Persian Gulf before he could find the island that held the gate to the Netherworld.
This was the path Ishtar had once obtained at the cost of her life. Only by following it would one's journey be acknowledged by the Netherworld, allowing that mist-shrouded island to appear before them.
But Annanu's journey...
"Let's go back." Gilgamesh forcibly suppressed the urge to call Annanu back and turned to return to Uruk. "All that remains is to trust Annanu."
This was a journey to declare his resolve to the gods and strike fear into them.
Could Annanu really go alone?
Annanu looked at Nanshe, who stood awkwardly smiling before him, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"What are you doing here?"
He had not even been traveling for a full day. It was only afternoon, and beside a small stream, he found this goddess looking as though she had been waiting for him for a long time.