Chapter 55: I Will Bear This Curse
Rowe knew Gilgamesh was acting for his sake.
Even if the King's mouth was still as filthy as ever, his eyes were not. With that kind of perception, it was impossible for him to miss what the descending black mire really was. A curse left behind by dying gods. Touch it, and the consequences would be beyond imagining.
Gilgamesh was saving him the only way he knew how. By force. By pride. By the will of a king who believed he owned all beneath heaven and earth.
If he could not even protect his own people, then what right did he have to call himself a king?
Rowe understood all of that.
And still, he cursed out loud.
Because this kind of "good" was not good for him.
The reason he had provoked the gods, defied them, pushed them all the way to extinction… yes, part of it was hatred of their tyranny.
But more than that, it was for this moment.
For a curse so heavy it could leave him with no grave, no afterlife, no return.
A death that went beyond the Underworld.
Now that it was finally here, and Gilgamesh was sprinting to steal it, Rowe felt like a starving man watching someone else grab the last meal on earth.
He had just fought a war that shook the world. After drawing Ea, his internal reserves were almost dry. There was no way he could catch up to Gilgamesh on the Star Boat, moving faster than lightning.
He could only watch helplessly as the King surged toward the slowly falling black mire.
Watch him go to touch it.
"As if."
Before the royal palace, Rowe raised both hands, spreading them wide as his robe snapped in the wind.
Gilgamesh, smug and triumphant as he rose to meet the curse, slammed headfirst into a curtain of golden ripples.
He passed straight through.
Opened, swallowed, gone.
Rowe burst out laughing.
"Go into your Gate of Babylon, you thief."
He could not fight. But he still had enough to open a gate.
The Gate of Babylon could only open around its user. Coincidentally, its owner was also its user. So Rowe opened a gate right beside the King and locked him inside his own treasury.
For one second, peace.
Then another golden ripple flared somewhere else.
Gilgamesh exploded out of it with a voice full of humiliation and rage.
"You arrogant wild dog, how dare you use this King's own treasures against this King!"
The King of Uruk rode the dark green Vimana back into the sky, face blazing.
He did not even get a chance to finish looking offended.
Another golden ripple opened in front of him.
A fist shot out.
Two brutal punches landed square on his face.
"Damn you."
Gilgamesh flipped backward, completely disoriented. Even the Vimana, normally steady as a throne, wobbled in midair, sketching drunken spirals across the blue sky.
Rowe withdrew his hand from the gate at his side and chuckled.
He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"That is it? You want to learn how to curse like me?"
"I think you do not understand the preciousness of life, mongrel."
Gilgamesh shook his head hard, trying to fling off the spinning stars in his vision. His crimson eyes burned with furious light.
Then he abruptly turned the Vimana and shot upward again.
"You arrogant wild dog. What this King does not want to do, this King will do anyway just to spite you. AHAHAHAHA!"
This time he sealed the Gate of Babylon around himself. When Rowe tried to open a gate beside him again, nothing answered.
The space was locked.
Gilgamesh laughed louder, savoring the moment.
"Now let this King enjoy the sight of your gnashing teeth and helpless face…"
Bang.
He crashed straight into an invisible, tightly shut door.
He went up.
Then came straight back down.
Dust exploded across the courtyard as he hit the ground like a meteor, completely dazed.
Rowe unclasped his hands and smiled.
"You forgot your Gate of Babylon has potions that restore energy instantly, did you not?"
Gilgamesh stared.
Enkidu, who had just arrived in front of the palace, froze mid step.
Ishtar, landing right after her, blinked.
Everyone went silent.
Something terrifying was about to fall from heaven… but why did it feel like they were watching a slapstick play?
If the black mire could speak, it probably would have screamed in outrage.
It was the curse of the gods. Do you really have to be this disrespectful?
But Gilgamesh could not stop Rowe anymore.
The curse had already flowed down.
It was a breath away from Rowe's skin.
"Rowe…" Enkidu opened her mouth, worry filling her emerald eyes.
Rowe only glanced at her and smiled.
"It is all right. No matter what, nothing can harm me."
Yes. When a dragon is already sitting on the enemy's face, how can it lose? A death flag had to be planted properly.
"You… are you crazy?" Ishtar hovered above the palace roof, staring as if he had grown a second head.
She could not understand why anyone would chase something that could kill a god.
Could not understand why they never feared anything.
Could not understand why they were so eager to step into death when victory was already theirs.
"No madness, no life."
Rowe shook his head, no longer looking at them.
"Gil, thanks for the concern, but what I have done, I should bear myself."
Gilgamesh sat up, his expression finally serious.
Even aside from Rowe's own purpose, that curse really did need a bearer. Someone to suppress it. If it spread unchecked, the world ending crisis they had just ended could rise again instantly.
But should he just watch his friend die?
Gilgamesh could not accept that.
"Rowe."
Enkidu called him again.
Rowe turned.
And froze.
The divine clay doll who had been a few steps away was suddenly right in front of him.
A faint fragrance brushed his face.
Snow white arms slipped from beneath her plain robe and wrapped around him.
Her body pressed close, warm and fragile and impossibly alive for something molded by gods.
Enkidu hugged Rowe.
"You must live," she whispered.
Her face lifted, emerald eyes trembling with light.
Her vermilion lips brushed his cheek, gentle as a vow.
A touch, then a retreat.
She smiled, stepping back.
The girl who had stood beside Rowe since his birth chose to believe him.
To believe in her only Rowe.
Rowe came back to himself and looked at her.
The light in his eyes was not the same as before.
It made him think of Ereshkigal, and some strange, crooked road his life was quietly turning onto.
But now was not the time to chase that thought.
So he only nodded to Enkidu.
Then he looked up at the falling black mire.
At this moment…
The sage refused the king's command.
He desired to bear the sins and evils of the world with his own strength.
But the tide rose and fell.
And the beast of the chaotic salt sea, too, would crawl forth in the near future.
And in that same instant, far beyond the world's void, unseen by any eye…
A pair of eyes slowly opened.
They shone with clear, chaotic sound.
"Arrrr…"
There was joy in it.
Joy like a female beast catching the scent of kin.
The being exiled beyond the world had awakened, delighted by the smell of a fellow traveler in ruin.
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