This is just the first part of Jigran (15.0). For all the lore lovers out there, I’ve included the conversations between Hirkalla and Alice. I’ll be posting the link to the second part (15.1) soon!
First Part:
Alice: The choice of fate for a god is not the same as the choice of
fate for a mortal. It weighs on us more heavily than the vault of
heaven on our shoulders, binds us tighter than the chains of a
prisoner. Our existence is defined by our talent, and we are incapable
of becoming different. Sister, do you remember the fiery
font to which our mother led us, the maidens weaving the threads, and
the stern gaze of necessity that determined our destiny?
Hirkalla: You confuse dreams and reality, sister.
Alice: Sometimes a dream is more real. You forgot what you were
originally, but I managed to regain what was lost.
Hirkalla: Being a mortal made you lose all sense of reason. You were
mad before, and now even more so.
Alice: You are the last one to talk about madness. You revealed in your
role as a destroyer of foundations - everything our mother built.
Together with Nihaz, you became a nightmare for mortals, the
harbingers of the end times. Do you deny it?
Hirkalla: No…
Hirkalla: You mentioned the burden of the gods, and therefore this is
my burden. I am death, I am the guardian and ruler of the kingdom
from which there is no return. But am not an executioner who serves
those unwilling to get their hands dirty. Yes, mortals died, but that is
the price of change. The old order had to be overthrown so that a
new, more just order could arise.
Alice: But you did not understand the truth that our adoptive father
understood. Being a god, you are unable to deviate from your
essence. You remain darkness and death, and are unable to become
anything else.
Hirkalla: Are you saying you were able to change? Reject this very
destiny that I don't believe in?
Alice: If you want, I can tell you what happened. I assume Nihaz kept
this a secret from you?
Hirkalla: Do you think I was so interested in your fate that I asked
about it? No, sister. After you left my kingdom, giving a life for a life,
I stopped being concerned about you. But if so, tell me…
Alice: Well, my story will be long, but we have time…
Alice: It was an era when the world shifted. What seemed unshakable
crumbled. Mortals turned away from us gods and found strength in faith.
Faith allowed them to become gods themselves, to challenge the
minions of our mother. It was a timeof great unrest and strife.
Hirkalla: Our mother and Father Time have always underestimated
mortals. They only love those who crawl in front of them on their
bellies. And Nihaz believed that mortals can amount to something
good.
Alice: And he was right about that,but woe to those mortals who
thought they were important to Nihaz in their own right and not as
fuel for his own plans. However, I'm talking about those years because l
want to explain my actions.
Hirkalla: Your betrayal, you mean.
Alice: So be it. But Nihaz deceived me too. It seemed to me that
existence was about to change. That the circle would be broken and
I… wanted to find my place in this world.
Hirkalla: That is, MY place, if you are trying to be truthful
Alice: But I didn't understand then that you and I are tied to our
essence. Goddess of Life and Goddess of Death. Do you
remember how, at the dawn of the world given to us, you tried to
create, sister? How death, obedient to you, tried to turn into its
opposite? What happened then?
Hirkalla: I often remember that moment. The night decided to
become day, and the executioner and grave digger became a sculptor
and painter. But I was able to create something… even when I went
against my nature.
Alice: Yes, the monster you created terrified mortals, and they called
upon me. I stopped this creature and returned it to oblivion. It was a
lesson you had to learn. My lesson began when I entered the Gate of
the "Kingdom from which there is no return." The life that was my
essence dried up like a spring in a season of drought. None of the
gods would agree to die voluntarily without gaining anything. Because
the gods are immortal, and that's what differs them from mortals.
Hirkalla: Even gods die. It happens. Nihaz and 1 - we destroyed a great
number of them.
Alice: Tell me, sister, what drew you to the God of Darkness? Why did
you join him?
Hirkalla: When you first brought him to Eidos, I could tell he was
hiding something. You laughed at his stories, but understood in my
heart that he was bringing with him something bad for all of you. But no
one ever listens to predictions.
Alice: This had never happened before, so no one could have
predicted it.
Hirkalla: Nihaz revealed the truth to me: there are no absolute rules in
the universe, and we obey someone else's laws because we could not
imagine that they were flawed and untrue.
Alice: Explain what it means.
Hirkalla: It's simple - we were told that the All-Mother and Father-Time
were always right, and those who went against them were not. But
what if it's the other way around? The All-Mother herself taught us
that darkness is as much a part of existence as light. But why then
does darkness always give way to light? Who said we always have to
lose?
Alice: So it all comes down towhether you win or lose?
Hirkalla: No, sister.
Hirkalla: There's more to it. The All-Mother always says she cares
about her children. But what kind of care is this? They do not live long,
their lives are joyless and full of hard work. And most importantly,
they are forbidden to use anything more complex than a plow and a
hammer. They are deprived of the gifts of magic. They are devoured
by Sharks monsters, and they cannot defend themselves!
Alice: I know that humans, and not just humans, are indebted to Nihaz.
But don't try to tell me he did it for them. Rather, he used them for his
own purposes.
Hirkalla: Is there a difference? Nihaz gave them the opportunity,
and how they use it is up to them. They do not need the gaze of strict
parents; they are now responsible for themselves.
Alice: You know that Nihaz gave the inhabitants of this world fragments
of divine Seals? And by using them, they broke their own world into
pieces?
Hirkalla: This mistake was theirs alone. They have become wiser, and
under my leadership, they will restore this world as it was. It might
even be better than before.
Alice: And I would like this, sister, but you don't know this world… You
don't know what I know.
Hirkalla: Tell me, what don't I know?
Alice: It's a long story, sister, but I'll tell you. I arrived in your kingdom
and died. But even before that, I knew that danger awaited me in
Ganzir. I had foreseen that I would not return. After I didn't come back,
they started looking for me…
Hirkalla: Yes, I remember. And then suggested that you leave the
kingdom, bringing someone else in your stead.
Alice: "Only a life can pay for a life," you said then. And I had to
find a replacement for myself, someone who would go to Ganzir
instead of me. But something changed in me after death - I was
alive, but I was no longer a goddess. I visited my temples, I
spoke to the priests and kings, but no one recognized their beloved
goddess, even though they knew I was missing and they no longer had
a patron.
Hirkalla: I don't understand why you needed these pathetic fanatics…
Alice: And then I came to my last chosen one who owed everything
to me - the king of Shar Urg who rose from a simple shepherd to the
ruler of a great kingdom thanks to me. Shrunken. I expected him to be
in mourning, expected him to grieve, but I found him celebrating
and having fun.
Hirkalla: (laughs).
Hirkalla: I'm not at all surprised by this, all your followers were vile
slugs.
Alice: I was overcome with anger. He owed everything to me and was
my chosen one. I ordered the demons who came with me to seize
him, and Shrunken paid dearly for his disregard. He took my place in
Ganzir and was forever erased from the list of the living. Later, I bitterly
regretted this decision, but what lies had done could not be undone.
Hirkalla: Well, someone had to take your place.
Alice: But what was I to do next? The goddess Inanna that I was also
died - now I was mortal, just like other people. I had to live in my
own city which Shiruken had built in my honor. I was remembered as a
goddess, but no one knew me as a mortal. And, like all people, I had to
earn my own food and shelter, because without divine powers list
could not work miracles, and I needed the same things as ordinary
mortals. All I could do was live, exist without purpose or meaning.
Hirkalla: A well-deserved fate for the vile traitor.
Alice: The deceased king Shahrukh was replaced by one of his
confidants, and the priests got used to the fact that their beloved
goddess stopped answering them. It was difficult for me, but I was able
to find my place in the world of Urgency which I once helped create. Now I
looked at it with the eyes of a mere mortal. Days flew by, draining my
spirit, and then one day I found myself in one of the city taverns
which I had never been to before. And I met its owner.
Hirkalla: Nihaz?
Alice: Yes, it was him. A crafty wanderer who took the form of a
man. I recognized him regardless. We talked for a long time, and labor
complained about my lot. After all, I greatly regretted what had
happened then, I felt sorry for myself and the deceased Shrunken. I
stopped being a goddess and now everything was meaningless. And
Has offered me a deal - an opportunity to change my fate. The
price for this was my memory.
Hirkalla: He didn't tell me about this. However, your fate was of little
interest to me, sister.
