Only God
Chapter 343 - 300: What is a Human?

Chapter 343: Chapter 300: What is a Human?

It was a moonless, windy night, and the residents of the Royal City had all retired to bed, a curfew in place. The patrolling guards traversed the streets and alleys, their lives summed up by five simple words: rise, patrol, eat, patrol, return home—a routine unchanging day after day.

"When darkness fell, the Priests would light the lamps, and when the oil in the lamps ran out, it was refilled, burning on until it extinguished in the morning."

In the dim of night, the Great Elder caressed the lampstand, sharing with Catherine:

"In this way, people are much like lampstands, repeating day after day, year after year."

Catherine had planned to return to the Music Academy before the curfew; she should have lain back in her bed after a song. Yet, she gradually lost track of time during her interactions with the True Believers until the sight of guards carrying torches on patrol startled her into realization.

With no choice, Catherine could only temporarily rest within the Sects.

Similarly, the Great Elder welcomed this friend, and during the night, he explained Scriptures to Catherine.

"Great Elder, are you saying that we are God’s lampstands?" Catherine asked softly.

"This is spoken of in the Creed." The Great Elder continued to stroke the lampstand he held,

"Each person is born, just as God tops up the lampstand with oil, and with oil, the lampstand burns, and life continues."

"The oil will burn out, just as people will weaken, and some lamps will extinguish before their oil runs out, just as some die in the prime of their years."

"Regardless, everything repeats day after day, year after year." The Great Elder’s voice was gentle and kind; he was a Three-eyed Ape Person, his third eye barely open.

Catherine found deep sense in his words; they were very philosophical.

Then, a gust of wind arose.

The lampstand in the Great Elder’s hand went out.

The blast swept through the streets with a noisy uproar, making it hard for both the Great Elder and Catherine to remain seated.

After a moment, the wind finally ceased, and looking at the extinguished lampstand, the Great Elder sighed heavily.

From his sigh, Catherine heard an underlying sadness.

He placed the lampstand on the table, his aged eyes lingering on it for a long time as dust gathered at its base.

"Aren’t you going to add oil?" Catherine asked after a long pause.

Unexpectedly, these words seemed to strike the Great Elder; his pupils contracted, and his third eye trembled slightly.

After a long while, the Great Elder smiled wryly and shook his head, saying,

"How many are extinguished by great winds in this world, and for how many does God add life?

Since it is so, why should I bother adding oil?"

"Catherine, I am a Stone Slave, and though I have a third eye, I cannot use it to make prophecies.

I once envied those purebred Three-eyed Ape People, envied their ability to see the future, which became my reason to convert—back then, I turned to the Lord because the True Believers knew the Ancient Language of ’Prophecy.’"

"I’ve long been loyally devoted to God, and I have served devoutly; madly studying the Scriptures, which is precisely why I became the great elder of this Sect. Yet when I turned fifty, I suddenly realized that seeing too much, knowing too much is not necessarily good."

In the stillness after the storm, the Great Elder sat in the shadows, the world around him a dull gray as he poured out long-hidden emotions, his voice tender yet marred by scars.

"Sunsets and rest, sunrises and toil, people labor under the sun, planting wheat, reaping the ears, sowing seeds once more... It all repeats day after day.

Do you know, Catherine, in this endless repetition, I can’t see what’s waiting for me.

Apart from emptiness, I see nothing."

The Great Elder’s words fell like dense raindrops, falling just as the rain does.

Catherine, a bit dazed, after a while, anxiously said,

"Isn’t there supposed to be Heaven after death?"

The Great Elder heard this and was not relieved; he smiled bitterly again,

"People praise the coming realm, the Heavenly City, but God’s kingdom is forever in Prophecy, apart from the Prophets in the Scriptures, who has ever seen it?!"

From these bitter words, Catherine sensed the Great Elder’s doubts about God, and those doubts slowly fermented into a renunciation of faith.

She eagerly wanted to argue but suddenly recalled that the old man in front of her had worshipped the Lord for decades, surpassing her in knowledge, faith, and understanding of the Scripture.

She couldn’t argue against him at all.

This aged man, familiar with the vicissitudes of life, looked at Catherine, his kind and wise eyes quickly discerning the thoughts in the heart of this music fanatic.

"Catherine, there’s no need to say anything, my doubts weren’t formed overnight.

Aside from a true Miracle, no one can answer my questions.

Yet, I have waited a lifetime without witnessing a Miracle; I’ve observed almost my whole life without being summoned!"

As the Great Elder spoke, his heartbeat grew more intense.

This aging man had prayed countless times, and hidden within those daily and yearly prayers was an endless confusion.

"I pray, and God does not listen; I repent, but who is there to forgive; I am wise, aware of many truths of this world, but who can tell me why the Lord never appears, why Miracles only occur in the Scriptures and not in reality, why when we die, we only see the Death God, where is the Lord we seek?!"

These string of words echoed, and though the old man’s voice wasn’t loud, it resonated in Catherine’s ears like an echo, behind which lay a heart long shattered by confusion.

The Great Elder was deeply perplexed by what was called grace.

Faced with this barrage of statements, Catherine felt overwhelmed; she was never used to thinking too deeply, and for this reason, she often just stayed in the Music Academy, playing her fifteen-stringed instrument.

The room fell into silence, neither of them spoke, the Great Elder’s hand stroking the lampstand, still trembling slightly.

A long, long time passed, so long that even they didn’t know how much time had elapsed.

The Great Elder slowly spoke:

"Perhaps... people are not like lampstands, there is no miraculous light in humans, they can’t shine like lamps, the only resemblance they have is their repetitiveness day after day."

"I am old. I have seen many disasters arise for personal gain, I have heard too many people manipulate God’s name to harm each other without any concern."

Upon hearing this, Catherine softly asked,

"Then... what are people?"

The Great Elder pushed the lampstand, pointing to its dust-laden base,

"Dust, people are accumulated dust, we are the dust of the earth.

As dust accumulates, aside from making people filthy, causing people to fall ill, it has always been insignificant to the earth."

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