Chen Yi stood atop the mountain summit, gazing down at the vast land below.
Beneath the snow-capped peaks, the Kingdom of the Logos people lay at a distance that was neither a thousand miles nor within arm's reach.
The Logos people were rapidly expanding and growing; their kingdom was built of earthen huts piled one after another or carved tree holes. After sharing the spoils, they took the bones of countless large wild beasts like the mammoths to decorate their kingdom, constructing palaces from massive, hard rocks.
The Logos people felt proud because of this.
Yet, when looking down from the summit of the high mountain, one would find that the achievements of the Logos people over many decades—the Kingdom of the Logos—were but specks of sand in the world, everything was still so petty.
But this did not mean that He was not pleased.
The Logos people worshipped fire as their own image, and in their hearts, they had yet to find a name to properly describe Him.
However, God did not care about these things.
"The Logos people live long, so long that they have to wait a long time before they can die a natural death."
From the peak of the high mountain, looking at the Logos people who were smaller than ants, Chen Yi mused to himself:
"If any of them dies, then it would mean that, for the first time, a rational being in this world would come face to face with death."
By then, the Logos people who had acquired reason would have to begin facing a millennium-old problem.
Death.
God slowly paced atop the summit of the high mountain.
The mountaintop was covered in snow, and in that snow, there were no traces of His footsteps.
As for Himself, death did not exist.
Upon arriving in this world, Chen Yi knew that He would exist eternally until the end of the world.
The loss of memories evaporated the emotions purveying the flesh, leaving only the deepest level of divine compassion to transcend life.
Chen Yi looked at these Logos people.
Sapo King and his tribe's offspring believed that nothing could shatter the indomitable glory of their summer's prime.
And so they heedlessly hunted wild animals, offered up substantial sacrifices, and reveled to their heart's content.
God pondered, how to enlighten them when they realized death.
For among all creatures in this world, only they possessed reason and could be called "worldly beings."
His pondering did not last long.
Suddenly, the Ancient Chaos began to churn and surge.
The Primordial Will rejected the descending God.
Abruptly lifting His head, God gazed toward the Ancient Chaos above the ocean, invisible forces converged towards the summit from all directions.
Chen Yi slightly bowed His head.
His own reflection had changed compared to before.
It had dimmed.
Although almost imperceptible.
But His reflection truly had dimmed.
Chen Yi looked at the Ancient Chaos, which seemed to bare its fangs as it roiled and tumbled.
Undoubtedly, the world's Primordial Will threatened His own existence.
God gently closed His eyes, falling into a moment's contemplation.
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The Logos people realized that their lifespans were astonishingly long, and their physical abilities were far from ordinary.
After several centuries had passed, the robust individuals led by Sapo King had only stepped into middle age; up to now, no one had ever died a natural death.
This was unimaginable in the era of the Ape-men.
The Kingdom, which started with a population of thousands, grew to tens of thousands. The original hunting grounds for gathering and hunting could no longer satisfy the demand, so the Kingdom expanded even more. They could no longer hunt wild animals as they wished, and Sapo King had to impose some restraint on the entire tribe.
Nevertheless, Sapo King still firmly believed that his Kingdom was still flourishing, that the kingdom's summer had not yet met its end.
King's brother Al, however, had his worries.
"Brother King, those who were in their prime during the days of the Ape-men are now growing more white-haired. Our tribe is aging."
"Al, there's no need for concern; we are blessed by the fire."
Sapo King sat upon the stone King's Throne,
"We age, then we age; the fire will always favor us, and we and our Kingdom will never decay."
"Is anything in the world truly immortal?"
Al questioned, and only he in the Kingdom could question Sapo King like this,
"Perhaps, I mean perhaps, we might all die! We are not eternal!"
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"What are you talking about?!"
The Sapo King rose from his seat with a look of rage, slapping the throne,
"The flame is eternal; we are naturally eternal. You, as the Main Priest of the fire, surely you know this flame has been passed down from the hands of our ape-man ancestors? Until now, it has never been extinguished!"
Al, in the face of the angry Sapo King, involuntarily began to tremble, hands and feet alike, revealing his fear.
"Go back, Al. Tend well to the fire."
The Sapo King spoke with enunciated words.
Al walked out, trembling, from the Sapo King's stone palace, descended the long flight of steps extending from the palace and gradually, his figure disappeared from the Sapo King's sight.
The Sapo King felt a twinge of guilt as his brother departed in dejection.
His brother Al was neither brave nor resolute, but Al's sensitivity and intelligence were always praiseworthy. Otherwise, the Sapo King would not have allowed him to make offerings to that existence.
The King loved his brother.
In many Logos families, once a child is born, the love for the child supersedes the love for siblings.
However, Sapo was different.
Compared with his children, Sapo cared more for his brother.
It was not that he was without progeny. On the contrary, his wives had borne him many children, some of whom were already established, while others remained in swaddling clothes.
Of course, Sapo loved his offspring, who were born as people of Logos, but only Al had been by his side since the time of the ape-men and had been his right-hand man in establishing the kingdom.
Staring at the long staircase extending from the palace, Sapo raised his hand and summoned a servant.
"Did you say a winged tiger was caught last time? Send its pelt to Al."
"My King, but… that is your most cherished…"
The servant attempted to protest but met the Sapo King's unequivocal gaze.
The servant fell silent at once and bowed to follow the King's command.
That very evening, the Sapo King's most cherished pelt was delivered to Al's dwelling.
...
Everything unfolded not as the Sapo King on the King's Throne had stated.
The course of history
rather perfectly validated Al's words.
Those among the Logos people who first grayed with age all met their demise within a given period.
Hundreds died, and no one knew how it happened, nor knew who first met death, but they all knew there was no last one to die.
Blessed with language, the Kingdom expanded, life was prosperous, and in the long lifespans, the Logos people gradually forgot the visage of death.
Now, the Logos people took pride in their rationality and regarded beastly behavior with shame.
While in the era of the ape-men, death was a common thing, omnipresent throughout their lives.
Death meant simply death; mourning lasted a few days, but never profoundly, for the perilous hunts continued, and their precarious days went on.
But the Logos people, no longer living day by day, were astonished to find that
the sorrow brought by death was far deeper than they could have imagined, millions of times deeper than in their beastly past.
Hearing of someone's death, the Logos people could not help shedding tears.
Death, like thorns, tore the heart of the Kingdom to shreds.
The earth saw downpours, Logos was weeping.
Nearly one-tenth of the population died, awakening an ancient fear among the Logos people.
The Logos people, evolved from ape-men, discovered the root of their fear — even the blessed people of Logos would die.
They would succumb to the natural cycles of birth, aging, sickness, and death…
Even the only rational beings on earth would die!
Although they knew that in the hazardous hunt, one may arrive at life's end,
being killed and dying naturally were not the same notion.
The former was tangible; the latter, intangible.
The Logos civilization faced an unprecedented crisis.
A crisis not of the material but rooted in the soul, born of rationality.
The Logos people posed,
the grandest question of the whole civilization:
"Why must we die?!"
After the Logos people learned to record history,
they described this as…
The First Rational Crisis.
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