Humans may be special in His Majesty the God-King's heart, but perhaps only a tiny bit special.
Prometheus decided decisively: No! This won't do at all. Relying only on His Majesty's ambiguous stance cannot protect humankind!
We must make humans unusual in the hearts of the gods!
Make most gods willing to shelter humankind!
As long as most gods are willing to protect humans, the few will not dare, for fear of offending the many, to casually bring ruin and death upon them.
Most important of all is His Majesty the God-King's attitude!
Only if His Majesty speaks will no god dare to annihilate humankind!
But how can one make His Majesty formally proclaim his willingness to shelter humankind?
In the end, how must humans treat the gods to win the gods' special regard?
Prometheus fell into contemplation over this.
But he was not allowed to remain in that thought for long.
A few days later, with a cloud-splitting, stone-cracking, razor-sharp eagle's cry, a great eagle wreathed in lightning cleaved the heavy air and swept in from the horizon.
It was the messenger of thunder, the queen of all birds—Kelaunia Ornia—arriving.
The lightning upon her body had been specially bestowed by her maker; whenever she traveled bearing that lightning, it meant she was carrying the God-King's will to some destination.
As she alighted she took divine form, still as coolly proud and striking as ever, her bearing keen.
Her face bore an awe-inspiring solemnity, unmixed with the least personal feeling.
As soon as she touched down, she proclaimed in a voice entirely impersonal and official: "Prometheus, son of Iapetus, the supreme God-King, the God above gods, the great Eternal Sovereign commands!"
Prometheus quickly gathered his mind, bowed in salute, and said gravely, "Homage to the great His Majesty. Pray proclaim, honored messenger of thunder."
Kelaunia Ornia lifted her head and squared her shoulders, posture all the more upright and solemn, her voice clear and strong: "Prometheus, much time has passed. The matter of 'how humans should treat and revere the gods' ought already to have a definite answer."
Prometheus's mood grew heavier.
He replied in a muffled tone, "Please inform the great His Majesty, honored messenger of thunder, that Prometheus understands. Before long I will return to Olympus and report to His Majesty in person."
Kelaunia Ornia nodded lightly; her expression was not quite so chilly and stern, but she said nothing more and turned to leave.
"Kelaunia, please wait a moment." Prometheus called out in time to stop her.
Kelaunia Ornia's blade-like brows knit by a scarcely visible fraction.
She turned back, nodded, and asked, "Honored Prometheus, is there something else?"
A wry smile touched Prometheus's face; his tone held a helpless closeness. "Kelaunia, we are old friends—why so distant?"
Privately Kelaunia Ornia muttered to herself: 'You've got some nerve asking that. It's because we're old friends that I know you all the better! Since you began creating humans, you've grown ever more lacking in reverence.'
Outwardly she kept her composure; her expression softened a little as she answered softly, "My old friend, it's not that I wish to be cold to you. His Majesty sent me to hasten you; since you have replied, I must return quickly to make my report."
Her keen eyes looked at Prometheus with meaning: "His Majesty's will is supreme and must be obeyed absolutely."
Prometheus nodded. "Naturally. His Majesty's will is everything."
Kelaunia Ornia also nodded. "Since there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."
She paused a moment, and in the end could not help, as a friend, offering a reminder:
"Prometheus, as your friend I give you a small piece of advice. Please take His Majesty's command in earnest, and please weigh carefully His Majesty's true intent."
Prometheus nodded. "Kelaunia, thank you for the counsel. I will."
Then he asked again, "You are His Majesty's messenger, often at his side. May I ask, what do you think His Majesty wishes in how to treat humankind? And how does he wish humankind to revere the gods?"
Kelaunia Ornia's face chilled at once again.
Plainly, Prometheus had not taken her advice to heart—at least, not seriously.
She said sternly, "Prometheus! This is not a question I should be thinking about, still less one I may presume to ponder and guess!"
"Indeed, it is not a question you should be thinking about either! His Majesty has entrusted you with only one task: to teach humankind how to revere the gods."
At this, her tone softened a little.
She paused a moment and continued, "Prometheus, you are the god of foresight and foreknowledge; your acumen and quickness are known to all gods."
"Your wisdom far surpasses mine. You are, without question, a clever god. But precisely because of that, perhaps you sometimes think too much."
"Rather than thinking too much on what you should not, or need not, think about, you should truly still your heart and consider what actions truly accord with His Majesty's sacred and righteous order."
"You have personally taught humans that the core of His Majesty the God-King's sacred and righteous order is to harbor hearts of compassion, mercy, kindness, love, tolerance, respect, courage, and discernment."
"You are entirely right; you understand His Majesty's sacred and righteous order, and his great heart."
"Then you, as the god of foresight, as a counselor at the great His Majesty's side—shouldn't you likewise harbor these hearts?"
"Whatever you wish to do, and whatever you teach humans to do—if you do it with these hearts—you will not go wrong."
"I believe the answer to 'how humans should treat the gods' lies therein as well."
Kelaunia's gaze was full of an old friend's helplessness and counsel:
"Prometheus, please set down that 'creator's' flippancy and self-regard, and think carefully and earnestly."
"Farewell."
Before the word "farewell" finished, Kelaunia Ornia had turned again into a bolt of lightning and swept away out of sight.
Leaving only Prometheus standing alone on the mountaintop, musing long in the mountain wind.
This time, Prometheus truly took his old friend's words to heart.
He stayed where he was, thought for a long time, and finally "figured it out."
He felt that Kelaunia was indeed right!
His Majesty's will explicitly harbors hearts of "compassion, mercy, kindness, love, tolerance, respect, courage, and discernment."
Kelaunia was reminding him not to let the advent of "death" make him forget His Majesty the God-King's fundamentally "benevolent" heart!
For His Majesty is a god of compassion and forbearance, generous and loving!
Therefore, making the conditions of human survival better is precisely what the merciful His Majesty most wishes to see!
Self-deceiving, he had made up his mind!
Months later, human society at last, barely, recovered order from the great disorder and panic brought by "death" and the departure of many goddesses.
Humans, finally, learned to face death and continue to live on with greater seriousness.
To survive by their own strength.
For life has its own resilience.
Life without that resilience has no claim to survive in a cruel cosmos.
Prometheus was heartened by this; it was a rare sight in that time to gladden him.
Then Prometheus set out for Olympus.
He dared not delay further—also to put a new grand plan into effect as soon as possible!
Full of fresh "awakenings" and concerns, Prometheus did not notice that among those humans who still lived, something not yet obvious had also quietly begun to change with the advent of "death."
It was an inevitable change brought by "death."
Fear of death and reluctance to part can indeed make the living cherish each day more.
Make them live more diligently and earnestly within limited life.
To live "better" and "more meaningfully."
But this "better living" also stirred, in the depths of human souls, deeper, greater, and vaster desires.
Before death truly came close to them, humans were united and affectionate.
At that time there was no uncontrollable jealousy, no unbridled greed.
Because in human eyes, there was not much difference among anyone.
Because in their "immortal" time, they had always been "receiving," not "losing."
And now…
The situation was different.
Eat the wrong wild fruit while gathering—death; go out to hunt and be struck by a powerful beast—death; go into the water to fish, and even a mere slip, a few mouthfuls of water—death by drowning.
Too much toil—death; too much hunger—death; too much fatigue—death all the same.
Wounds kill, illness kills, and age, too, kills.
What once seemed "trivial" now became terrors to be shunned.
Time once thought meaningless had become the most fearsome thing madly hounding one from behind.
When life becomes so fragile, the world becomes too dangerous for humans.
On a night seemingly at peace, amid sleep that should be sweet, perhaps only a tiny venomous insect's gentle bite is needed—
and a person will never see the next day's sun.
When "eternity" is replaced by "limits," "composure" is devoured by "anxiety."
From then on, every living day was magnified into a treasure worth striving for with all one's might.
And the inflated value of life gave birth to competition and calculation.
Life is so fragile, and so brief.
Naturally it becomes worth cherishing everything, and naturally one must strive harder to get what one wants.
The boundary between "mine" and "yours" became important for the first time.
The serpent of "jealousy" first poked its head out of the fear of "lack."
The seed of "greed," urged on by "insecurity," was finally buried in the soil.
For what one cherishes, values, and wants, it is worth throwing in everything!
Even at all costs.
Even by any means.
To "want" or "not want" are both desires.
Some lead to light; some conceal darkness.
From the beginning, humans bore in their breasts the "good" and "evil," the "fair" and "foul," the "pure" and "turbid," the "true" and "false," the "right" and the "wrong" of many creatures.
They possessed many creatures' virtues, and naturally many of their flaws.
With the gods' day-and-night companionship, there was no soil for what is bad; but when urgency appears, when gods depart and are no longer at one's side morning and night, the other face of the two-faced whole must awaken.
For now, true "sin" had not yet had time to appear.
But the seed of "desire" had been planted deep.
And since the seed was planted, how far off could the day of blossoming and fruiting be?
Different seeds will bloom different flowers and bear different fruit.
Some fragrant, some foul; some sweet, some poisonous.
But it is precisely because of this that the cosmos becomes rich in variety.
A more complex age was already advancing with unstoppable steps, quietly coming on.
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