【Vyn】《圣道》典籍

[ZzNoah]

LXXV
The country's capital was steadily growing. The vassals furnished their homes and began to raise families. Even Selna became aware of a child in her womb, the fruit of her love with her late spouse, Ketaron. Humbly she kneeled in the Sun Temple in front of the great statue of Malphas and prayed to him. “Which path shall my offspring tread, Malphas? You spoke to us and led us to this land, but how shall our descendants, who are born here, find their path?”

LXXVI
Then Malphas spoke to Selna: “Hear my words and proclaim them to all vassals: Each of your children shall receive their Path Consecration at the age of eight. Those who devote their life to becoming a priest of mine shall conduct the ceremony and through them I shall speak and assign to each child their path. He will be told if he is going to be a Sublime, an Erudite, or a Manufacturer, and he will receive a task which he shall fulfill path-abidingly, for he will not want to become a pathless one, who treads banished from the divine order and godly protection.”

LXXVII
“But your son, whom you still carry within you, Selna, will receive his path from me right now. He shall become the first grandmaster of the Holy Order, who will fill this temple with life from now on. And you, Selna, will instruct him in this task from the day of his birth, as his mother and servant, the first Truchessa of the order.”

LXXVIII
Humbly, Selna heard the voice of the Light-Born, and she declared his words on the great forecourt of the temple, after representatives of all the vassals' families had gathered there.

LXXIX
And she declared even more of Malphas' will: The temple shall host those who wield a sword in the name of Malphas, to guard the Path-Abiding ones in Enderal, as well as those who record and proclaim his teachings, against their foes.

LXXX
There shall be a Sanctum in the Sun Temple, to pray to Malphas and to indulge in his wisdom. There shall be a Chronicum, to lay down all the teachings and events of the coming ages in order to educate and illuminate the people. There shall be a Curarium, to provide healing to the ill and wounded of the Holy Order. There shall be an Emporium, to provide the grandmaster and his loyalists a refuge in their mutual pursuit of guiding the order and serving Malphas' will.

LXXXI
Not only were children born, but the vassals' dead were also mourned. When the first of the elderly had died, Selna, the Truchessa, brought him to the Sanctum and laid him on a bier in front of the Light-Born's statue.

LXXXII
And yet again Malphas spoke to Selna: “Do not bring your dead here. If they were path-abiding, carry them to a place which had been important to them in life and burn their body in the fading light of a setting sun. If they have unfailingly followed their destined path, I will accept them in the eternal paths above the firmament before dawn's first light. They will dwell in a place where no mortal will ever enter, and fortune, peace, and unity reign.”

LXXXIII
“Those who have not followed their path loyally, I shall send back to begin a new life with new tasks and trials, until they tread their path faithfully to the end; then they too will be allowed to ascend to the eternal paths.”

[ZzNoah]

LXXXIV
And this was also reported to the first Truchessa of the order by Malphas: “Know, Selna, that there will be those who stray completely off their given path and lead a life of malice and infidelity. They shall be judged by the path-abiding ones with the sword or live their pitiful lives as lost, like the 24 pathless ones on their ship, until they shall be redeemed from their deserved torments by the blade.”

LXXXV
“Listen, Selna: There is one among you right now who has given his path up completely and has forfeited my divine clemency. It is your duty to find and prosecute him. This will lead to sorrow and will require a death toll, yet even this is a part of the trials I will impose upon you and whose accomplishment will strengthen and fortify your society of path-abiding ones.”

LXXXVI
At that time Selna heard a racket and screams from the city beneath the temple. Weapons clashed and voices drew near. The Truchessa summoned the Keepers of the Order and declared to them that their first true ordeal was imminent. “Pathless ones cause harm and death to those who were left under our protection. Let us step in front of the temple's gates and confront them. We must not tarry, so that the traitors may not do any more mischief.”

LXXXVII
That is when the pathless ones, who left a trail of blood behind them, came upwards to the temple. Kilra, one of the doubters from the time of the temple's construction and head of the greatest farm in front of the city, rallied twenty followers to overpower the unsuspecting people of the order and to seize power with swords and bows. The attack was quick and merciless, and the Keepers of the Order had little to set against the brutality of the pathless ones, despite their magnificent armor and the premonition of the Truchessa.

LXXXVIII
Most of the order's warriors fell in the first moments of the assault, and the temple would have become a cradle for pathlessness , if not for the remaining citizens and countrymen who united to strike into the back of Kilra's band. With dreadful casualties the path-abiding vassals managed to defeat the renegades on the steps of the temple.

LXXXIX
Only Kilra himself survived and for his treason, he was sentenced to death by the Truchessa. On the same evening the city's inhabitants gathered on the forecourt of the Sun Temple to witness the execution of the traitor. Repenting of his deeds, he faced his righteous punishment without hesitation and proclaimed some remaining insight with a firm voice: “Our sins, small and great, will not evade the watchful eyes of our lord. And his retribution will follow as certain as the next sunrise.” The Truchessa herself resided wounded in her rooms, cared for by the healers of the order. Her labor started prematurely, having been induced by the gruesome events of the day. At exactly this moment, as the sword swung towards the neck of the traitor Kilra under the window of her chambers, she gave birth to her son. From this day on, the sixth moon of a year would be known as “Kilra's Treason.”

[ZzNoah]

XC
Strengthened and full of trust in Malphas, the vassals, from whom the Endraleans originated, progressed from these trying times of construction and treason.

XCI
The city underneath the Sun Temple grew and became more magnificent day by day. Its inhabitants dubbed it Ark, the city that would exist eternally, guarded by Lord Malphas for all time.

XCII
And the land surrounding Ark, vitalized by the holy water of Larxes, endowed the people's crops with such yield as they had never seen before. Forgotten were the times of famine and deprivation, for bread and fruits covered the tables of all, from the temple to the simplest home at the edge of the city. From this time on, the seventh moon of a year would be called “First Harvest.”

XCIII
The vassals gave thanks to Malphas for his gifts and hosted a great feast in his honor at the foot of the Sun Temple. That is when the Light-Born spoke through Selna's voice for the last time: “Now you have subjugated this land. It has become your home and the thread, which spins the future of Enderal, lays in your hands. However, know that you will remain under my protection, if you continue to abide upon the path. And even if I may not be in front of your eyes, always live by my virtue.”

XCIV
After these words of the Light-Born, Selna spoke to the vassals with her own voice: “Return to this place in a moon and bring your families with you, so that we can all gather to the last person. We shall pray collectively to honor Malphas and reassure him of our faith.”

XCV
Selna began preparing the ceremony and assembled those who would build the holy order with her. She held her son in her arms and spoke to the Keepers: “Look, this is my son. He will become the first Grandmaster of the order according to Malphas' will and he shall, once the time is right, designate his successor. He is still but an infant and I will teach him everything a path-abiding Endralean should learn. The first stories he will hear will be those of our journey to this land. He shall write those down and give them to the Chronicum, once he has mastered writing, so that the holy opus may be duplicated for all Endraleans. The holy writing will be titled ‘The Path,’ and so I baptize my son, the first Grandmaster of the Holy Order, Dagis, the scribe.”

XCVI
Selna now assembled the Keepers every day and recited the words which would be recorded by her son and would become known as “The Path.” And so it came to pass that all the members of the order were able to recite the words in their entirety, and this would continue until the end of time. The scribes of the Chronicum began to create laws based on the wisdom in Malphas' words, and they set down parables which were to serve the Endraleans as examples of how to live a path-abiding life. These writings were distributed across the land, to spread the words of the Light-Born's wisdom even to those who lived far away from the temple and Ark. Yet not one of the scribes wrote down even a single word of The Path, for that was reserved for Dagis, the Grandmaster, once he had learned the written word.

XCVII
And Selna, the first Truchessa, anticipated that the number of those who wanted to join the Holy Order would be large, yet only a few of them would be chosen. She decreed that a long period of apprenticeship would be finalized with a strict and difficult test of spirit to pick only the best and most loyal from among all the novices who wanted to become keepers.

XCVIII
During the warmest part of the summer, the great ceremony to honor Malphas was finally held, during which the Endraleans swore their eternal faith. The temple was decorated with banners depicting the sun-eye, which symbolizes the light and wisdom that Malphas emits. And a snake could be seen that was formed into a circle, symbolizing the beginning and the end, for Malphas united both in himself.

XCIX
All of Enderal appeared and gathered in front of the temple. The firmament was lit with wild, red starfire, and so the eighth moon, which ended the year with this festivity, was called “Star Summer Night.” The society of path-abiding ones recited with a single, tremendous voice the holy words which Selna had spoken and which shall honor the Light-Born Malphas until the end of time:

C
“Thou art my light, my glimmer at the horizon. Thy name is my sacrament, and thy Path I will honor … in life as in death.”

CI
“May your Path guide me.”