The distant sun emerges solemnly from the horizon, illuminating the dark sky with soft, cosy colours and warming the humans. Yang Lian is distracted by the celestial art as he waits for his master to train, sitting on the balcony railing. Perhaps waiting isn't the right definition, because he doesn't look forward to the future, nothing else occupies his mind but this very hour. And, still drowsy, he defends himself against an attack from a sword that comes from who knows where.

— I'm not ready yet — he tries to tie up his hair, but fails, because fighting is a priority.

— The enemies would never wait for you — Yang Lian draws his sword, still with his hair loose — Fight as if your life depended on it.

— Then I won't hold back — a rare smile appears on his face as he strikes his first blow.

— But first, don't forget the basics, keep your wits about you.

— I'm concentrating… — he interrupts himself when he realizes that his master's sword is just a few centimetres from his neck.

— What great concentration, you're not even capable of noticing an approaching sword — winks one of his eyes, smiling — Don't talk during battles, it's not a good idea to divide your attention more than necessary.

— All right, let's go again.

Over and over again, Yang Lian loses to his master, despite his concentration.

The chill of the morning still permeates the air, but sweat drips from Yang Lian's face, and he sits down, leaning on his master's shoulder, his breathing a little wheezy. The young man rests in silence while the gentle breeze meets his strands of hair and birdsong echoes in the air. 

A tiny blue insect makes him focus his gaze on it. It's a strange little bug, one of this species with this colour hadn't been found by him before. Now Yang Lian can commit to memory yet another strange insect found in his clan's district, which is full of great flora, allowing these little ones to live with the Yang.

— How's your work going? — inquire Yang Wen.

— Normal — this is extremely vague, because even unusual adventures at work are considered normal by him.

— Have you found the White Tiger again?

— No, they haven't.

— Ah what a shame, but one day you'll get your revenge, this time it's him who will be defeated — a mischievous smile appears on his face.

— Again?

— I don't get many opportunities to make fun of you for losing, so I'm taking advantage.

— I see.

— How late are you working today?

— I don't know. When I've finished what I need to do.

— I found my older brother's lost physics book, he gave it to me, we can study it in our spare time.

— Is it about optics?

— I saw in the table of contents that there's a bit about optics, but I don't know if it's the subject of the book.

— I'll try to leave early if it doesn't jeopardize my work.

— I'll try too.

— When one of us is free, we'll let the other know.

— Of course.

To create his strategies that will guarantee the clan's safety, Yang Lian goes to a place in the heart of nature where humans rarely venture, except for him, who always visits. It's a small clearing surrounded by a dense forest, home to ferocious animals. He lies down on the edge of the lake, wetting his back and right arm a little, and being comfortable to think, he begins to reflect for hours.

A noise emerges from the depths of the forest. Yang Lian climbs a tree, observing his surroundings. Occasionally, he comes across an animal and hides to avoid a fight that would hurt the animal, but even in this wild place, he finds a person. Another young man dares to accompany him into this inhospitable place.

Recognizing who has just arrived, Yang Lian climbs down from the tree, is his friend. These two have a habit of wandering through the dense forests of Jinqu that are not the territory of any clan, which results in chance encounters. However, it wasn't an accidental meeting in the forest that brought them together, it was during the war. The young man is a Zhu, and they have fought before, but being far removed from the affairs of their clans, they maintain a friendship.

Zhu Yin is wearing a hanfu as black as the depths of the ocean untouched by the sun, the traditional colour of his clan's clothing, which was apparently previously ordered. His long white hair is completely loose⁵ and with a crooked silver accessory. And bandages cover his arms and right eye, which is usually only obscuring part of his vision. It looks like he ran away from home, which may be true.

This time they didn't meet by accident, Yang Lian is on the White Tiger's trail and if he insists, he'll be considered an enemy.

— Hi, Yang Lian — he smiles, and his irises gleam like an amethyst bathed in moonlight.

— Hi, Zhu Yin, are you going to let crazy Zhu Huang look for you again?

— He won't even realize, I'll go back to my clan soon. Did you fall into the lake to get wet like that?

— No, I got wet myself, the water temperature is perfect.

— Isn't it cold?

— Yes, I like cold water.

— But cold water is… cold.

— That's why I like it — Zhu Yin laughs.

— It's comfortable here, the rumours of a haunted place are completely wrong.

— But Jiang Shi is here.

— What's that?

- It's nothing.

— Still, it's safer here than the less remote parts of the clans.

— It's interesting that you should think that, why do you come to that conclusion?

— Due to the war between our clans, the neighbouring regions are vulnerable and could become battlefields — a melancholy tone is noticeable in his voice.

— I agree, humanity has not been satisfied with the blessing of not having a natural predator and has decided to be the hunter of its own species — he starts to get excited about having the opportunity to talk philosophy.

— It's an intriguing behaviour, our species is the only one that breaks with the laws of nature.

— Yes! — his breathing is frantic, and his once indifferent gaze is full of vivacity — It's a fascinating subject. After reflecting on it for a while, I've come to the conclusion that we are free. We're the only species capable of denying our instincts and having great ambitions. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it depends on each person's choices. What characterizes humanity is our endless search for something greater than everything, we're always evolving, we're thinkers who endlessly pursue the truth, it's incredible… a pity that, if misused, it can cause great damage — he interrupts his frantic speech — Sorry, I got carried away… Let's debate philosophy!

— Could we start with the meaning of justice?

— Cool! I want to — his memory flashes back to the fact that several doubts still permeate his mind — You can be the first.

— Where do I start? — he turns his gaze towards the sky — I believe that justice lives in actions, good intentions lose their value if not demonstrated.

— I agree, the problem is knowing how to act. One day, about ten years ago, I was standing at the window of my house and noticed two very suspicious men. They were walking down the street and stopped next to a broken-down stall with some goods still in it. They assessed it and agreed that it was still worth something. Realizing their intentions to take it, I thought a theft was about to take place and tried to stop it by throwing water on them… It was their stall, I got confused — Zhu Yin fixes his attention on Yang Lian, without reacting, and then laughs — It's serious, it really happened. My master's wife fixed the situation by apologizing to them and reprimanding me later.

— Impressive, this history reminds me that in the face of all this vast universe we are still children, capable of making mistakes because we don't have all the information. However, being submissive to circumstances is cowardice.

— Yes, it seems that this world wants to drive me to madness! — he says, waving his hands.

— When are you sure you're right?

— I've tried to pursue the truth on my own and failed. However, by teaming up with other people, I'm given a greater vision.

— What if the people around you are wrong?

— You just don't have many options and you test ideas with evidence, but you're still aware of your capabilities as a human — he sighs — I've reached conclusions, the biggest of which is that I'm very, very ignorant. It's frustrating, the more I know, the more I realize I don't know, and so I try to know more, but I realize even more that I don't know, so I try to know more… Knowledge can never be a goal, the more I achieve, the more I realize I lack, and even if I lived countless lives, it wouldn't be enough to achieve it.

— I understand, I've been trying for years to end the war in my clan, but that path is always dark. I've tried many times, in many ways, and even when everything seemed right, the future proved me wrong in the worst possible way — he says the last words with pauses.

— I'm sorry — his voice is low.

— Don't feel bad, I'm no longer as powerless as before — he smiles. And Yang Lian, fearing the meaning of these words, keeps it in his memory.

— Why?

— The results always prove the truth.

— What is your method for discovering the truth?

— Only through consequences. And what is yours?

— Questioning, always asking questions about everything. I try to gather as much information as possible, bringing together several views and testing everything in various possibilities with the greatest caution. However, I don't always remember this, and sometimes I'm slow. At least, I don't consider myself the bearer of the truth.

— I appreciate your candour, it's rare to find someone who admits uncomfortable facts, but you do it with normality.

— Thank you. Moving on, as we are cautious about believing, why not talk about some of our beliefs?

— If the subject is belief, let's talk about religion.

— I follow one — he pauses, and his face is covered in a slight blush — But I've forgotten what it's called. 

— How did you manage to forget? — he started cracking.

— It's a foreign name.

— How did you come into contact with her?

— When I travelled around eight years ago. It was the religion of my fellow travellers.  

— You seem to be quite sceptical, one wouldn't expect you to follow any religion.

— Believing in the existence of the divine and believing in the non-existence of the divine are ideas that also need to be evaluated. It's precisely because I'm very sceptical that I couldn't easily accept either of these ideas. And after some reflection, I came to the conclusion that we can only have ideas about the divine if it comes to us and presents himself, because something so great cannot be tested by us humans, not on our own, we need it to use its own power to teach us about it, and if a “deity” isn't that great, I don't consider it a deity, it would just be a superior species and no animal worships us because we are a superior species to them. So I looked for a religion that made sense, and to my surprise, I found one.

— Do you want to talk about your religion? At least describing it should be possible.

— Of course! — he pauses, and his eyes start to glaze over — I've remembered the name! It's called Christianity.

— I don't know it.

— It's quite new, it used to be part of another religion that split in two due to the conflicting interpretation of a prophecy.

— What prophecy is that?

— The prophecy that a saviour would come from God to save humanity. In the Holy Scriptures, it has a date for fulfilment. The divergence is that Christians believe that it was fulfilled on the correct date and others, who I've forgotten what they're called, believe that it will be fulfilled later.

— I remember a similar prophecy.

— It was very popular, even more so around 200 years ago⁶.

— And what are the principles of your religion?

— The most important thing is love, it revolves around that.

— Love… it's a beautiful concept.

— Yes — a joy greater than the distance between two galaxies overwhelms Yang Lian — And it's not just about feelings, it's something much greater! For us, love lives in our actions, in what we do for others, in our sacrifices, in our work — he sighs, almost out of breath.

— You really love your religion — he smiles.

— I haven't even mentioned the best part, the most significant part, God!

— And what are they like?

— Not them, him.

— Just one?

— Yes, our creator.

— That's interesting.

— Firstly, I'll make it clear that although I know my God, I don't really understand his actions, only those that are explained.

— It makes sense, if you understood on your own, he wouldn't be a superior being.

— I agree. — he stops for a second, but continues waving his arms — Where do I start? We have so many histories about him.

— It could be with something more introductory.

— The gospels? The Book of Job? Genesis? They're all good beginnings.

— It could be any of them — he laughs.

— The gospels! So we'll start with when God became incarnate as a human more or less two hundred years ago to save humanity.

— What?

— Better start with the reason for that, then I'll have to talk about Genesis and the book of Job. — Many, many, many years ago, at an undetermined time, God created humanity and brought life to our planet. Everything was a perfect paradise, without evil, and everything could stay that way if humans obeyed a single rule that has obviously been broken – he sighs – It's amazing how incompetent our species is — his sincerity makes Zhu Yin laugh — This was the initial act that unleashed an ever greater domination of evil over humanity and, with it, an epic battle! — it's impossible for Zhu Yin not to start cracking at Yang Lian's excitement and his way of expressing himself — It's the battle of good against evil that's described in the book of Job. I really love that book, it's my favourite. Are you ready for a long history?

— Yes.

— Would you prefer a summary or the whole story?

— The entire story.

— Really? That's one of the greatest declarations of love I've ever received — he says, surprising Zhu Yin, who laughs even more.

— The book was written a long time ago, I forget when, and it's set in the Ancient East. It is told in a legal and theatrical style, but it is a historical narrative. This is the context, now the story: Job was a good man, with a good life, who lived well and was faithful to God, but difficulties came. Everyone blamed Job for being unjust with the argument that these events were a punishment, even his friends who came to console him didn't dare to help him because they thought it would be “intervening in divine punishment”. They were all wrong, Job hadn't done anything bad and he knew it. There was also a young man who took issue with those who condemned Job for no good reason and with Job himself, who was presumptuous before God. Some time passed and Job continued to be faithful, even though he complained; however, he impatiently demanded an explanation from God as to why he was suffering so much without having done anything to deserve it. Firstly, God explained to Job that there are an infinite number of things that a human does not know, and then he answered his reasons for having allowed all these difficulties. There was a huge story unfolding outside the human gaze, part of which was already told at the beginning of the book, but I've left it all to be told now. But first I need to explain a few things.

— Do you? I want the story.

— Unfortunately, yes. There's another species, and they're called angels; we don't know much about them. And one of the angels led a rebellion against God. He was also the one who called humanity to break the only rule established for us and so, at that time, he represented the Earth for having given him this right.

— I get it, now tell me.

— Something like a conference had taken place in the heaven, involving representatives from various worlds. I can't say what these “worlds” were or explain this type of “meeting”, after all this isn't the focus, but I do know that the angel I mentioned represented the humans and of course he got into trouble. He was inciting the other creatures against God with lying and presumptuous questions, which would be bad for everyone and extremely catastrophic if he succeeded. However, God takes care of his little creatures as a loving father, and even though he doesn't need to prove himself to them, it's what he does to prevent them from being deceived. How he does it is a huge subject, and to summarize, it involved Job, then God rewarded Job abundantly and that's the end of it. However, he also leaves a prophecy, warning that he will be incarnated as a human to pay for all of humanity's mistakes and offer forgiveness.

— And what was his whole plan? Are there any more revelations about the battle of good versus evil?

— It's an extremely complex subject, in fact, this is still the simple part that God has explained to us and, I believe, he hasn't even used much of his abilities to make it possible for us humans to see a bit of what happens — he laughs — But the summary is: God's beings have free will, we've made a mess of things, and then it's up to God to fix our chaos. He will erase everything that shouldn't exist, not from a certain moment, but from the beginning. Evil will never have existed and those who insist on it will go with it — sigh — Unfortunately, the greatest weight of sin has fallen on the only innocent.

And an extensive conversation makes them lose any sense of time; philosophical and profound topics are discussed for hours by the two young people of great intellect, who have finally found someone they can share their genius with. Yang Lian's naively affable demeanour brings comfort to the interaction, both forgetting their goals and just enjoying their time together.

Footnotes:

⁵In Ancient China, men's hair had to be tied up in a bun or knot, otherwise it was considered a lack of refinement.

⁶Around the first century before and after Christ, there were indeed prophecies like this popular in several nations besides Israel. Some sources I've used: Tacitus and Suetonius.