Chapter 68: Dilemmas
They both drank quietly without saying a word. Each had their own thoughts and considerations.
But the silence would not last forever.
"The movement of the city can be associated with the good economy and stability that the king can provide to the population and its merchants, but do you think there would be movement if everyone knew about those dangerous beasts that stalked the night before?" Martin asked suddenly.
"No, because there would be no trust," Ryan replied. "The stability we have is only trust in our leaders. Everyone knows that the leaders will fix things for them. When that trust is broken, that’s when chaos begins to reign. Because why believe in a leader who tells you he will protect you if he can’t even deliver on that promise?"
"In short, it’s all about the confidence you inspire. That’s why charismatic people always reign supreme, because they are a source of self-confidence. But once that confidence is destroyed, instability increases and chaos takes over the streets. That’s what we call a failed state," said Martin, and Ryan smiled at him.
They agreed on that.
"That being the case," Martin continued, "Do you think Blue Eden will one day become a city like that?" he asked suddenly.
Ryan took a sip of his wine calmly and thought about it carefully.
"The world is heading toward chaos, where tranquility will disappear. The Kazaks are gaining ground on us, the Damned Walkers are lurking, waiting for their chance to attack. But what will destroy us sooner rather than later will be betrayal and corruption," Ryan declared.
"A powerful nation is built on the destruction of internal corruption. When corruption and betrayal are the order of the day, humanity is headed for a failed civilization. That’s the state of the world right now," he said with certainty.
"So?" asked Martin.
Ryan smiled. "Blue Eden will fall sooner or later. It has already begun to do so."
"Then what are we fighting for?" Martin asked. "Do we want to save our land?"
Every struggle has a motive, and the motive for organizations to fight for the king is to delay the arrival of that destruction. Is it because they refuse to accept that destruction will come?
"We, the Walkers, continually encounter dilemmas of our existence. No manual tells us how we should be, beyond the one they want to impose on us.
We are told that we must be heroes. But won’t being a hero in a corrupt world corrupt you in the end? There’s no way you can be a lotus flower; real life doesn’t work that way.
Even heroes end up betraying or being betrayed.
But then, what are we or what should we be? We are simply seekers of the selfish. We are a group that claims to be heroes, when we are only seeking our own benefit. Our own satisfaction, our own strength.
We don’t fight to save our land, even though that is what is created indirectly. We simply want to be gods."
Martin nodded. "And is it wrong to be that way?" he asked.
Ryan smiled. "No, because the path to divinity is too tempting. We talk big about fighting evil, but really, we just want to achieve divinity. And no one can blame us for that; the world was designed to be that way. The Walkers were designed to walk the path toward obtaining ever greater powers. It’s an imperfect world, but is there such a thing as a perfect world?"
"I guess not," Martin replied, smiling.
The temptation of every Walker is to achieve divinity, but how does one obtain divinity?
A demigod has divinity, but is that enough?
’It’s never enough,’ Ryan thought. ’The divinity of a demigod is so scarce that it’s laughable that they call us that. We are just a speck of dust before true divinity, but our abilities are inherited from the Path to it. They can still fight against it, even if you cannot with your own strength,’ he thought.
It is one of the Dilemmas of Spirituality.
If you are weak, you can fight someone strong as long as the necessary moment is fulfilled. A serious opening, a different item...
You are weak, but you belong to a path that, at the end of it, is divinity, so you belong to that same divinity. Therefore, the abilities that that path can grant can fight against what you cannot.
That’s why Ryan can absorb spirituality from people who are more powerful than himself. However, if the level exceeds a certain threshold, he’ll need to find a perfect opening to do so, which is less likely to happen the stronger it is.
And even if it could happen, are you capable of seeing through the opening of a demigod?
No.
But an item could do it.
That’s why it’s never enough. No matter how strong you are, in the face of the Path of Divinity, you are just another speck of dust, so you need more.
That’s why the Path of Divinity is selfish.
Martin sipped his drink until there was no drop left in the glass.
During that time, he was thinking about Ryan’s answers.
Life had taught him that knowledge is not found in old age, but in an understanding mind. There are old fools and young wise men. There are old wise men and young fools.
Among those who were found to be traitors and did not say a word during the morning was a man whom he had come to respect.
A philosopher of life, a first-rate strategist, who accompanied the previous king until his death, when he announced his retirement.
But even he... was not astute. His strategy fell before the strategy of a young man.
That is just one more irrefutable proof that wisdom is not in age. It also shows that the longer you live, the more mistakes you are prone to make.
Perhaps then...
’Magnus’ philosophy of life isn’t so far-fetched.’ Martin smiled and poured himself another glass of the most potent alcohol.
He drank it in one gulp and immediately passed out.
Ryan could only raise an eyebrow in surprise and did not react in any other way. He stared out the window, lost in deep thoughts, memories of the past, and prophecies of the future.
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