Conquest of the Underworld
"…He said that?"
And so, contrary to what had been requested of her, she relayed to her mistress everything Sunya had told her — word for word. It was not that she had any particular design in doing so. She simply felt the situation needed to be reported.
"He's more endearing than I expected."
Even a few kind words were enough to lift her spirits considerably. Ereshkigal had always been susceptible to praise.
"My Queen, I believe it would be dangerous to leave that man alone any longer."
Namtar, for her part, was taking a far more pessimistic view of the present circumstances. Things had grown far larger than she had anticipated.
"Look at this."
Namtar brought a mirror before Ereshkigal. The glass shimmered for a moment, then the Queen's own reflection gave way to a vast plaza at the heart of the city. Countless dead had gathered there in a throng, and at their center stood Sunya.
"Wow… there really are a lot of them," Geshtinanna murmured in wonder.
In the scene reflected in the mirror, one of the dead sought an answer from Sunya.
"O Sage, in life I showed kindness to others, yet that kindness only brought the worst of outcomes, and in the end hatred returned to claim my life. I can no longer believe in the goodwill and justice people speak of. Please — tell us of absolute truth."
It was a vague, difficult question, yet for the dead — whose reproductive faculties had long since ceased, and who clung to spiritual and largely fruitless concerns — it was a matter of genuine importance. If only to preserve their own sense of self and mind.
"Truth is not something that can be explained in words," Sunya said. "Do not rely on oral tradition or inheritance, on the words of your kin, or on the authority of scripture. At times you need not even depend on logic or inference. What I say is merely opinion — you need not take it as gospel. Simply come to understand it for yourself, and when you do, accept it then."
"Does that mean we must find the answers ourselves?"
"I am not saying you should discard law and order, rank, or human relationships entirely. Only that it does no harm to stop, now and then, and ask yourself whether something is truly right or not."
"I feel I am lacking compared to others. How can I become better?"
"Do not measure yourself against other people. Just as the sun and the moon cannot be compared, each person carries a light of their own. Simply advancing with steadiness and sincerity has value enough."
"I regret so much of what I did in life. How can I make amends?"
"If a person keeps regretting what has already passed, or frets endlessly over a future that has not yet arrived, they cannot live in health."
After a long pause, Sunya spoke again.
"Everyone — all I can offer you are platitudes. I cannot resolve every torment and worry you carry. You call me a sage, but the title is more than I deserve. There is nothing wrong with leaning on others, yet if all you do is lean, you cannot go further. You yourselves must become people others can rely upon."
"Do not cling or believe blindly. Learn to look back and ask whether what you are doing is truly right. I know how hard that is. But if you give up, in the end you will be able to do nothing at all."
"It is all right to fail. Life itself is struggle. I do not mean only battles against other beings. While you lived, you fought constantly against hunger, pain, cold and heat, disease. So long as you do not abandon the fight, you are still alive."
As Sunya himself had said, the words were, in a sense, nothing particularly special. And yet, strangely, there was something in them that stirred the heart.
"I do not know what purpose that man has in saying such things," Namtar said. "But the number of those who follow him among the wraiths and spirits is growing at a geometric rate, and that is not good. Above all, the greatest problem is the ideology he is spreading. You would do well to prepare against it even now…"
As she spoke, Namtar drew a finger across her throat. That was how threatening she judged the values and worldview Sunya was disseminating to be.
"What do you think is the greatest problem in the Underworld?"
Ereshkigal asked Namtar. Despite the abruptness of the question, Namtar deliberately gave the wrong answer.
"…The monsters of the Underworld that come from beyond the walls, perhaps?"
Ereshkigal shook her head.
"The monsters are a nuisance, certainly, but they are not so great a problem as one might think."
"Then…"
"The greatest problem in the Underworld is the emptiness of the dead."
The dead could not reproduce. Ereshkigal's power at least allowed them to feel pain, but beyond that they could take no pleasure from fine food or from love shared with another. And since they would not die unless their very existence was extinguished, they had scarcely any reason to muster even a scrap of will. Stagnant water is bound to rot. A great many of the dead did nothing at all, and faded away into meaninglessness. Though free of physical suffering, they were so full of spiritual anguish it overflowed. Watching the dead wither and die buried in emptiness, even Ereshkigal felt her chest ache. From time to time the thought would come to her that perhaps the future of the gods themselves was to be forgotten like that — to vanish at last into nothing.
"But if the dead and spirits, bewitched by whatever careless words that man spouts, were to rise in rebellion…"
"Then that would be fine in its own way. At least it would mean they had chosen their own end. Even if I were to die, that would become the seed of an endless cycle continuing on."
"My Queen!!"
Namtar could not contain her emotion and raised her voice. She realized her error at once and dropped to her knees, but Ereshkigal did not rebuke her. The words were not entirely wrong, and she knew Namtar spoke them for her sake.
"I know you worry for me, Namtar. And since the subject has come up — should the worst come to pass, I would rather you put my wishes before my safety."
"…"
Namtar could not answer. She knew what her mistress wished for.
"Well. With any luck, it will never come to that."
Ereshkigal brushed the matter aside lightly and stretched.
"I've rested long enough talking. Time to get back to work, I suppose."
The Queen of the Underworld turned at once to her clay tablets. Namtar looked at her with a face full of things left unsaid, but in the end she could not utter another word.
Thirteen days had passed since Sunya first arrived in the Underworld. There was still no shortage of work to be done, yet labor and life had found a far clearer balance than before.
"Perhaps I'll take a walk. It's been a while."
Ereshkigal left the palace and walked alone through the woods. Though their form and nature differed somewhat, the Underworld too had forests, and rivers ran through them. The Fruit of Knowledge itself had grown here, after all — it was fair to say the Underworld possessed an ecology of its own.
"It's been a long time since I came to this river."
She was walking along the current without much thought when her eyes suddenly met another's.
"…"
"…"
It was Sunya, just emerging from washing himself in the river. He usually went about bare-chested, so a wet torso was nothing remarkable — but that was not the issue. The issue was lower down.
Good heavens…
It was truly large and imposing. At first she had thought he had a thick tail attached.
"Ah… if you stare so openly, I find myself rather at a loss."
Sunya, in a manner quite at odds with his frame, curled in on himself and covered his groin.
"H-huh? What are you talking about? You're the one who was washing there — that's your fault!"
"Lady Namtar told me that if I wished to bathe, I should do so on this side…"
"…"
Ereshkigal had nothing to say. She had momentarily forgotten — this was where the dead and the lesser spirits washed themselves.
What an idiotic blunder!!
Depending on one's perspective, it could easily be misconstrued that she had come here specifically to steal a look at Sunya. Ninazu had a separate place for bathing, and the others either lacked genitals or were goddesses.
Whether or not he sensed her mortification, Sunya wrapped around himself the leather kilt he had left on a nearby rock.
"…Come to think of it, you always wear only that. Is there some special reason?"
Ereshkigal changed the subject. Fortunately, Sunya obliged her.
"No, nothing of the sort. I simply have nothing else to wear."
"Inanna never even gave you a single set of clothes?"
"I never asked, so she likely does not know. And I have never particularly felt the need for other garments."
"…Even so, you've received gifts from me. If a great sage such as yourself goes about looking like that, it rather reflects poorly on my dignity. Come along. I can at least give you a scrap of cloth to throw over yourself."
"If you are offering, I shall not refuse."
Sunya followed after Ereshkigal.