The Limits of Man

"A land of promised Cedar pines is destined through a life of never resting."

_

Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh

]|[

From the conception to reality brought forth by godhood, it was his destiny to lead legions, to inspire men, to raise them up to face the Terror in the endless black.

Fight through the trials of war for something bigger.

For himself and thus everyone's else's own ambitions, dreams , needs and wants may come to fruition.

Despite this being the beginning, when particles of the primordial soup form the core of his being, his origin, to the form of his person,

in all this grandeur, all the glory, all the hope, there is only one certainty. There is only struggle.

And the laughter of those thirsting on suffering ...

...

He welcomed it and pushed onward.

]|[

Sight.

Such a thing.

From spotting galaxies millions of light years away to perceiving invisible colours, your eyes can do incredible things.

It is discovered that the entire rainbow of radiation observable to the human eye only makes up a tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum – estimated to be about 0.0035 percent. 

This range of wavelengths is known as visible light.

We can no more see radio waves emanating from our electronic devices than we can spot the wee bacteria right under our noses. 

This is such a limited view of the world without even bringing in the existence of mana.

Mankind has always known that there was more to the world than what they could see , hear or touch.

He sensed the disturbances in the mana area that signified the life of animals both mundane and phantasmal.

To see the flow of energy around the world , where it was and where it was going.

The near barren lands of Sumeria , scarred by the great flood unleashed long ago, before he had been born, before almost anyone knew had been born.

Thousands of years had been it been a near wasteland.

Standing atop a cliff overlooking a barren valley, he layed his ruby red eyes upon his home. Sparse grasses amongst a sea of sand , small ponds of water, and burrowed scorpions and their demonic elders , their tails peeking up over the mounds they'd buried themselves under, looking more like dead palms.

Indeed, they mimic'd the one few odd plant types to be found well. Set against the rocky, rouge terrain, a series of hills in the distance draped over by dark grey clouds, the entire scene made him feel... "Melancholic."

It was such a visual oxymoron.

The landscape is flat and marshy. Primarily made up of sand and silt, with no rock.

Dry, with little rainfall per year.

Sparse vegetation, only palm trees naturally growing.

The rivers overflow their banks in the spring, sometimes violently and destructively. During this process, they deposit a rich layer of silt on the surrounding floodplain.

Contrary to such obvious observations, which has seen the mountain wilderness as a dangerous and inimical chaos region, the mountain wilderness also ascribed to benign connotations and functions. It is a wild and dangerous region, but it is also naturally abundant, primeval, and harbors forms of agency and force.

It is up to him, and by extension mankind, to conquer.

Considering the harsh and forbidding natural environment, how did the first civilization arise in Sumer?

Surprisingly, the harshness is part of what made civilization possible.

The silt carried by the rivers down from the northern mountains provided rich fertilizer for growing crops when the rivers overflowed. The constant sunshine was also good for crops. But without water, they would have easily dried up and died.

Through the leadership of priest-kings appointed by the gods, Sumerians organized farmers in each city-state to build extensive irrigation systems of canals and dams. Before long, the desert was blooming with a surplus of barley, dates, and other crops.

This surplus allowed many people to pursue occupations other than farming, while still being able to meet their basic needs. These people became artisans, merchants, and craftspeople. They helped build the cities and increase the wealth of the city-states through trade with neighboring societies.

Trade also helped the Sumerians to secure vital items such as timber from Lebanon and luxury goods such as the semiprecious stone lapis lazuli from the Indus River Valley.

All this from a peak outcrop outside Uruk.

"About ten meters." He murmurs, voice soft, a melody on the wind, small smile playing across his features, "A rather dangerous drop for a man."

A mortal man.

From a distant view and different era.

Below were vicious crags, jagged rocks, and other such outcroppings that would likely see a man dead as he hit the ground from this height.

Or worse, he'd be left to die agonizing death by blood loss, men-scorpion, or Phantasmal Beast. He takes a breath in.

And the only way to test his ability... Was to jump.

He unified all his senses, focusing them to and sealing off those which were unnecessary.

His nerves, his blood vessels, and the invisible flow magical energy that ran throughout his body.

He felt a hot liquid like racing through those pathways and *commanded* the air , the ground, the mana in the air , the World around him.

He pumped your legs, crouched for but a moment before, with all his strength, he leaped into the air.

Said leap elevates him a good dozen meters into the air.

Then....

Falling....

As the Keystone of the Gods, he will physically be fine but that doesn't seem to slow his ascent, the momentum of his bound into the air starting to slow before you start to tumble to the earth.

Anu , the god of the sky made him , he will not fall like Icarus.

"I will fly!" He hissed, the air whipping through your short, blonde hair letting out a cry as he descend past the cliff face he leapt from, and with your childish roar, you felt a surge of power overcome you.

Heading face first towards the ground, he less moved himself to a more upwards facing angle than willing himself to it. The ground flattens before you, a mere foot from your face. The scenery you'd seen while standing atop the rocks behind you now a lot closer.

"Hahahah!" You laugh, the natural beating of his once more sounding in his ears, feeling his power displace the dust below you.

Lost in your mirth, he nearly find himself running headlong into a massive Scorpion tail.

He almost come face to jaw with it's owner, the blood red man - scorpion's black tail lashing out as a wall of sand seeks to envelop you along with the huge creature as it leaps from it's perch. Easily bigger than a average man, you had no desire to fight one of the evil bastards yet.

"By the gods!" He hissed, doing an odd twist to the left and up, as he flies as fast as a bullet past the Scorpion and to higher height.

When he feels the lose momentum, heading back to the earth, he arms once more, gliding across the sands before gently elevating himself feet first and steadily floating upright before slowly dropping.

This ... excursion tested his hypotheses that for all his access and ease of use in the power of the Authorities of the gods that made him , he was a master in its use yet.

He glanced backwards to the presence of where the Scorpion phantasmal beast nearly skewered him.

And that the presence of such beasts where more prevalent than he thought.

Still there was more value to be found his these lands than mere flight practice.

He could feel it in his Soul.

It was how he was made.

To rule one must see the truth, the value in all things and make a decision.

His judgment.

A directional impulse born like lighting. A directive with the meaning of " follow..." begins to flow.

As with all things, a person does not leap out of the Root. It is not even the soul that leaps out of the Root. It was the Origin that exits the Root.

The Origin then gathers particles that share its alignment, thus forming the soul and the body.

Like a magnet only attracting ferrous metals on a metaphysical level, but nothing else.

Even the exchange of particles on the physical level.

The fundamental makeup of his very existence, to find , evaluate and adjutant all things in the world.

The constant movement to gold like a metal detector was annoying tho.

There are no metal-bearing deposits in the region !

Most gold came by trade, and naturally occurring areas were far outside Uruk.

These actions are more along the lines of an inherent compulsion that could be called instinct rather than a conscious decision.

It was only my will and.... unique formation didn't make an impulsive behavior one would follow as though it were an absolute order.

In exchange for the rare occurrence of the precious metals , the other metals for industrial purposes and beautiful jewels / stones such as agate, onyx, jasper and labis lazuli are more abundant as were ""interesting"" such as secret pools in deep caverns and desert oases filled with mystic waters filled to brim with pure ether.

The possibilities....

Eventually when he had enough pleasure in his conquest of the sky, he flew back then he floated above his city.

Though the sun slowly crawled across the sky, it did little to brighten the shadow on the king's face as he ""sat"" in quiet contemplation. His eyes drifted onto a simple tavern.

Siduri.

He watched as ever more caravans traveled out from Uruk along the various roads, delivering supplies and labor to the cities that were building across the land.

He knew each merchant by name ... because of her.

He had thought little of her then, just another woman of the fickle Goddess who claimed to be Uruk's patron deity.

Many such women had come and gone, hoping to either get him to convert to her whims or hoping to become a future queen, and yet she had never attempted either, simply focusing on improving the lives of his people.

She became integral to his arranged staff, someone capable of calming any land dispute, mediating any trade, and even admonishing Lugabanda (and him!) , while still remaining perfectly respectful of the man as her king(s).

Despite her duties as a priestess, she never influence his decisions .... and it had granted her his trust.

The woman herself appears as if summoned by his thought, slowly going out of the tavern. As goes around the corners to wherever she was going, its when she glanced up at the sky to check for the time perhaps that she noticed me there.

"Lord Gilgamesh !" Comes the call, washing over him. Guessing the distance, about a hundred meters if one had to make an educated answer. Quickly, moving to a lower elevation.

"Hello, Siduri!" he exclaimed, the woman's eyes moving upward.

"What...? How?" She blurts, completely flabbergasted. 

"I'm flying."

"I can see that! This is not normal!" She she clenches her hands unsure what to do before they drop to the sides, "I just worry. You need to be careful!"

Frowning, he retorts "I'm stronger than any Phantasmal beast!"

"You say that because you want to be out in the field laying waste to any who wish to threaten Uruk." His .... associate scoffs, "You're better off making those wonderful plans." 

"I don't want to be a simple architect!" He huffs, walking alongside the woman, watching his feet kick up the dust before leveling a red-eyed gaze at his assistant, "I appreciate art. But I can't hold back my wishes!"

"Then focus onhweaponsmithing or any other craft ." The two of you enter palace perimeter, the gates swinging open as armed guards wave him in.

Continuing the conversation he replies, "I can do those things fine. But I want to fight! I it's my calling." You grimace, the fires of your ambition raging inside you, "It's my purpose. To fight for something bigger than myself." Siduri looks at him a bit oddly, some kind of mix of awe and reverance that's quickly replaced with concern as you pass into the Palace proper.

"You shouldn't. But you're right," A sigh, the two stopping before the base of the massive doors leading in, "I can't stop you."

He opened stretched out his arms in carefree manner, the woman sighing and stepping beside he walked with her towards his home.

"I'll unite man under the right direction, Siduri. One way or another." He smiled softly.

"Yes, well." She coughs, pushing herself out of the topic, "I will certainly help. And maybe one day you will."

Uruk was a marvel of human improvisation, adaptivity, and ingenuity. Water from the Tigris rivers down at the wall's base were it was filtered by being boiled by the copper lining, with the steam either filtered back in or used as kinetic power for farming combined with the abundance of fuels and mystics.

And that was just the utilities, the buildings themselves were made out of clay-stone mis-mash that helped to make them sturdy. Under the bright light of the sun people were allowed to go about their daily business from drinking, to working, to groups of children wandering for something to do.

It was his homeand while life was not easy, he would not trade anything for it.

It seems as if life stops for a moment as people all wave to greet you, people hanging out of the windows and calling his name in greeting and jubilance. Even the children had ceased their playfighting to offer their own greetings.

All around , he heard his name called, flashing everyone a smile and waving to as many as you could before continuing to walk on.

"Every day is a parade around you." Siduri muses, the two of them heading towards the palace.

"One should be happy when they can for the world is harsh." She doesn't respond, the two entering the abode unmolested, the evening meal hopefully starting soon as he'd begun to feel a little famished.

What more adventures would await ?

]|[

Hunting Phantasmal Beasts it seems.

In an age of magic and monsters, safety was never granted.

If that wasn't enough, Demonic Beasts roamed the land with impunity. Stealing and destroying everything in there path.

His own scouting had allowed him to identify all within the region.

The Scribes wrote down such beasts down as :

Bašmu

"Venomous Snake" or "Birth Goddess Snake".

Mušḫuššu.

"Furious Snake" or "Aweful Snake"

Ugallu.

"Big-Weather Beast" or "Big Day"

Uridimmu :

"Mad Lion"

Kusarikku :

"Bison" or "Bison(-bull)"

Girtablullû :

"Scorpion-Man"

Urmahlullû :

"Lion-Man"

Kulullû :

"Fish-Man"

Suhurmasu :

"Carp-Goat"

Mortal man has taken its duty to the earth and cultivated something without inborn Authority over everything.

As the Guardian of Mankind, He shall take care of these beasts as an example before moving higher.

Until they are able to do it themselves.

It'd been one month since he'd touched off the ground, taking to Uruk's pollution clear blue skies.

At his age, one of the masses would normally pick their trade or take up their family's, many spent their youth as guards, scavengers, or warriors for the tribe.

And after stalking the plains and cities, encountering and fighting off the various wildlife and mutants to be found, he'd proven himself more than a match for either of them.

He'd battered aside abomination and beast as if they were babes of their respective kind, his ... not comrades, ah , followers attesting that they've never seen someone move so fast, his actions nearly unperceived as enemies require two or three heartbeats after being struck to realize they were indeed dead.

He'd taken any praise he received with such little fanfare that others confuse with grace, despite setting his sights on higher and higher positions.

A month in and he could already given the rank of veteran, having surpassed all of his teachers in the arts of war in an incredibly brief amount of time.

With his capacities for leadership recognized after some poor man was utterly annihilated by an acid spewing hellbeast that was supposed to be in charge and training him.

An early promotion, through unfortunate circumstances.

He'd outwitted the beast, allowing a dive bomb him from above and destroy the head with a prodigious amount of divine power.

He made his people proud, and as he surpassed your teachers in the art of war, he soon found himself being eased less from combat, having shown his obvious superiority, he ""now"" had to learn to fight using the most important tool of all, his mind.

Mastery of strategy was elementary to you, with advanced practical/theoretical information , soaking up any knowledge he didn't know and remembering in perfect clarity. Troop positioning, advantages of terrain, high ground, low ground, disposition of troops and their distinct ranges and advantages against known foes the tribes may face.

He learned anything and everything.

He craved it.

]|[

He'd been tasked to lead a few "squads" of some of the newer cadre of soldiers, having been given command of them as "present" for learning everything he could from his teachers by his Father.

Now it was time to put his brain to the test. Given a company strength amount of men, standing at one hundred and thirteen strong, he to the task to drive out a group of phantasmal beasts.

There were hundreds to thousands different phantasmal beasts out there.

To many, impossible great odds, to him, he found that with the scouting reports given it was not a matter of if you were to annihilate them, but when.

And he insured his people it could be done, the beasts of this area would plague his people no more.

He'd found that the Beasts had nestled themselves up against a sheer cliff.

A good defensive position, though they likely only instinctively knew that.

These beasts were twisted and cruel mockeries of such things.

Skin blistered red by the harsh landscape, their appearances were by no means standard however.

Extra limbs, feathers, fur, hair, bald, big, small, the mutants had no standard look, strength, or intelligence to them.

Indeed, it seems they were as random as the placement of the stars themselves.

Still, by majority, they were not particularly intelligent creatures. Prone to charging their foes and attempting to "gun them down" with current projectile weaponry or bludgeoning them to death with whatever melee implements they could fashion.

This does not mean they were simple to fight, for indeed, their hideout was well protected with basic emplaced weapons and a rudimentary understanding of how to operate them along with a few heavy weapons.

He elected to not give them much of an opportunity to do either.

Those sheer cliffs of theirs would be their downfall. Marching for two days to the nest's location, he had devised a plan that no normal human could have carried out. Indeed, those cliffs were indeed unable to be scaled by normal human means.

Thankfully, he had the pinions on his back to help to this end.

Two at a time, he spent the first hours of the day carrying his men up on the opposite side of the cliffs from the hive. When all was said and done, they were soon free to hook up climbing lines at the top of the cliffs.

The rest was elementary, lobbing primitive explosives onto the domed building they'd elected to roost in, blowing out the roof over there heads.

Then came the prototype for incendiary charges, pure mystic fire , which he delivered himself.

Flying over the massive hole blown in the roof, he dropped over two hundred fifty pound charges right inside.

The results?

Cooked monsters.

By the hundreds if not thousands, with those still alive pouring outside to wonder just what was going on.

Their answer was a barrage of arrows perforating their bodies. Limbs were severed, black gore splashed against the hard ground, and the cries and squeals of countless abominations who knew not of their attacker's location.

With a sword in hand, he had elected to take some liberty, gliding across the entrance of the mutant lair and swinging your sword in wide arcs. His arms are a blur as you hack and slash the heads, limbs, and torsos of any unfortunate mongrel that got in his way.

Gore, blood, and bodies piled up in front of the hideout as the fires inside began to grew. Like most animals , the beasts used natural materials to insulate and cool their dens.

Be it feces, scorpion hides, *human skin*, whatever worked.

It was all flammable, and that was to be their downfall.

Effectively given a choice between dying on their feet, burning to death, or dying of smoke inhalation, many of them chose the most former, hurling themselves out into the open ground in front of their hideout only to be shot to pieces.

His men's chorus of victory is heard over the valley as, after two hours of fighting, the last monster falls, and not a single casualty is sustained.

His return to Uruk was a triumphant one, celebrations to be had all around as the name of Gilgamesh was chanted throughout the entire city...