«I... - Emeric stared at the face so familiar from his visions with complete incomprehension. - I don't understand.
Amiya tilted her head with a smile, looking at him even more closely. At another time he might have been embarrassed by such attention from one of the two strongest creatures in the world, but he didn't care about that now. The puzzle just wouldn't add up!
«What did you see in your gift? - She finally asked him a question.
Emeric bit his lip in thought:
«The first meeting: the ancient Indian kingdom where Solomon had come to.... - Emeric looked hesitantly into her eyes. - To take you away...?
«You're right," Amiya winked at him. - It's worth starting with the context. Emeric, have you ever heard that Solomon had many wives?
He nodded:
«Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines," he remembered one of Solomon's tales. Lucky ooble!.....
Ahem...
It was as if Amiyah had read his inner lamentations to the King of Israel and winked snidely.
«And did you hear that he had some problems with that?
It is not about polygamy as a fact. In those ancient times, the boundaries of belief clashed with the tendencies to flaunt one's power and prosperity as rulers of rich lands. Many kings, including Solomon, had multiple wives and the church, well, or the structure in charge in those bearded times, said nothing to them about it. It's more about...
«Solomon was accused of indulging his women too much.... - Emeric wanted to fold his arms across his chest, but he realized he had no other limb, so he had to scratch the back of his head awkwardly under Amia's mocking gaze. In general, Solomon's wife had been giving him some abnormal signs of attention since the beginning. The looks and smiles were as if directed at an old acquaintance. I don't understand. - Many of his wives were pagans, and Solomon allowed them to build shrines to their gods. It's a rather strange point," Emeric continued with encouraging nods from Amia. - Solomon, as a true adherent of the Bible, himself hated pagans. The visions and the King of Israel's own comments would not give a lie...
«Right-right-right!.... - Amiyah clapped him. - On some issues, such as paganism, he had a pretty firm stance. In fact, Solomon only had one wife!.....
«But where do all the legends about his many mistresses come from? - It would be inappropriate to ask about Solomon's only wife. He'd be a complete moron if he didn't realize his only wife was sitting across from him.
«How so? In fact, he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines! - She stared at him like a fool.
Emeric sighed irritably. Two boots to a pair, as they say! Both Solomon and Amia were eating his brains out with a kind of unbelievable pleasure. Why couldn't they just tell him everything?!
«Speak up!
All the past awkwardness of meeting the strongest creature and leader of the supernatural terrorists simply vanished from oblivion. Emeric didn't even notice how comfortable he felt being in the company of the Infinity God. Some kind of supernatural something!
Amiyah chuckled and continued:
«The thing is, all these women were building shrines in their homes, and then Solomon.... - Amiyah leaned slightly in his direction, as if telling a terrible secret. Though the cheerful smile blurred the impression. - Spying on the other gods through them!
«Elegant," Emeric had to admit with a smile.
Taking fake wives to build little temples in your neighborhood and then spying on other gods through them? Sounds like something a clever king would do! Hell, he'd be more than happy to do it himself!
«That's how Solomon found you... - Emeric stared at Amiya in amazement. - He had learned that Indra had locked up an unknown girl in his pocket king, forcing her to recite religious texts extolling the prowess and importance of Indra...
«Exactly... - Amiya continued to gaze at him melancholically, even embarrassed by the attention. - Preempting your next question about how the Dragon God of Infinity got captured by the then not so powerful Indian god.... It's actually quite a simple story," Amiya interrupted his just-begun question. - From long ago, when there was no sun or moon, I was just a powerful entity. No emotions, no aspirations, no- - She faltered for a moment and continued when she found a more appropriate epithet. - No personality, Emeric. Such an existence did not make me uncomfortable, but at one point the entity asked itself a question...
Amiya stood up and walked towards him with a slow gait.
«How does it feel?
She sat right beside him, leaning slightly against him. The young demon didn't know how to respond to such a sign of attention, so he just hugged her lightly with his only arm, hoping inwardly that he wouldn't be turned to dust. Judging by Amia's small smile, it served its purpose.
«And the faceless Dragon God learned of the Circle of Sansara.....
«Circle of rebirth... - Emeric repeated the term with surprise. Now the picture was beginning to make sense.
The term "Sansara" comes from Indian philosophy and religion, especially Buddhism and Hinduism. It denotes the concept of an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth in the material world, which is considered to be a world of suffering and overcoming karmic limitations. It symbolizes the wheel of life and death, where beings undergo a constant cycle of rebirth until they achieve spiritual enlightenment and liberation from this circle.
The Infinity Dragon God had sent his soul to be reborn to feel emotions! Ignoring details such as the intrigues of other people's greed and self-interest, the mind simply didn't think that some Indian god who could sense such a thing because of the close concept could simply intercept her rebirth! She didn't care about such details, she just wanted an identity! And Indra, a born schemer, simply couldn't miss an event of this magnitude and not take advantage of it!
«But... - Emeric furrowed his brow in puzzlement. - Indra must have realized that there was a high probability of not being able to "hold" such a tool in his hands! You could have just erased him from existence.....
«In some cases, Gods are more susceptible to vices such as greed and stupidity than mortals... - Amiya stroked his cheek soothingly. - Indra simply could not resist his nature. The mere prospect of my might under his command in the war against the Trimurti drove him mad. But... - Amiya smiled sweetly at him. - What is not done is for the best.... I'm even grateful to him in a way, because without his involvement, Solomon might not have found me. Not giving me a personality, not introducing me to emotions.....
Amiyah began to slowly approach him before kissing him lightly on the lips.
«I could never fall in love with you.....
Emeric took his dazed eyes aside. He honestly didn't know what to do. Had the Goddess of Infinity gone crazy and mistaken him for her lover just because of a shared gift?
«Um, Mrs. Office... - Emeric scratched his cheek awkwardly. - I... As if Solomon...
«What? - The beautiful girl's eyes went wide. - You're not Solomon...?
«Oh, yeah?
«Well," Amiya sighed and created a snake in her hand. - In that case, I'll have to kill you for this shame.... It's nothing personal, Emeric Gremory, mine is not Solomon's....
«Stop, stop..... - Emeric preemptively raised his hand in front of her. - Why kill him?! I'm better than that stale old man!...!
«Wait, what old man? - Amiyah interrogated him, removing the snake from his hand.
«I don't know what you see in that rascal! - Emeric used all his eloquence. - He can't answer any question clearly, and his artifacts are questionable! It seems obvious that Solomon had some complexes that he compensated for with his mask and ring. I can just imagine him using the Mask to do some cruel things, and then the Ring to make others take the blame! There needs to be a full blown psychological investigation, that's how creepy he probably was! And he's just annoying to look at.....
«Huh... - Amiyah couldn't stand it and jumped into a fist. Truly, the laughter that followed only became stronger. - Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... - She wiped a tear from her eyelid. - Oh, only you could immediately dislike yourself, Emeric! Ha ha ha ha ha... - Amiyah soothingly, but without stopping laughing, put him back in his seat. - Though if you think about it, there's nothing surprising about it! When two of the most obnoxious people of their time meet each other, the result is natural! That is, you of the past and you of the present...!
«What?!" Emeric looked at the laughing girl with shock. - What do you mean by the same person!!!
Amiya smiled indulgently at him and stroked his cheek affectionately.
«It's simple, my dear Raja.....
The implied context somehow made his legs weaken on their own. It was a good thing he was sitting on the ground with Amiya supporting him. Now all the strange and unspoken things were starting to make sense.
«You are the direct rebirth of the King of Israel, the Wisest of the Wise, Solomon himself..... - Amiyah looked into his eyes with inexpressible love. - Don't you remember my promise? Through time and space, I will help you..... My luminous Solomon of the past and the full potential Emeric of the present....
So that's why he annoyed him so much...
***
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