Night fell.
The great temple.
Athena, bent over her desk handling documents, heard familiar footsteps outside the door and casually traced forward with the iron stylus in her hand.
The restriction on the door dissolved at the sound as a figure crept stealthily inside.
"Why are you here?"
"Cannot sleep. So I came to drink with you."
Lorne smiled and placed the two jars of divine nectar wine he brought along on the table, took out cups and filled them both as a rich wine fragrance and clean, sweet fruit aroma spread through the temple.
"My new brew. Give it a try?"
Athena picked up the cup, took a light sip of the agate-coloured liquid, and after savouring it carefully, a look of surprise spread across her face.
"Not grape wine?"
"Mm. I used pomegranate."
Lorne explained while picking up the jar and refilling the empty cup in front of Athena.
This time Athena's observation and tasting were far more careful.
This novel pomegranate wine had a pure body with a bright and transparent colour, tart and refreshing on the palate, and while preserving the natural flavours of pomegranate's sourness, sweetness, astringency and freshness, it seemed to also carry certain unusual effects.
Very quickly the Goddess of Wisdom opened her eyes in quiet contemplation and looked at Lorne across from her.
"Does this thing have other effects?"
"That is correct!"
Lorne gave Athena a thumbs-up for her perceptiveness, then told this Goddess of Wisdom the true function of the [Forbidden Fruit] in full and at the end stated his own intentions.
"Since it can enlighten the mind and break down the barriers between classes, why not start from Athens and use this miracle to benefit all people, gradually bringing change to the world."
Athena's interest sparked immediately upon hearing this. "Specifically? Tell me more."
Lorne gave a nod and voiced the draft he thought out in a measured tone.
"I plan to create a fixed assembly for worshipping Gods, tentatively once every seven days.
At the time there will be God-blood guards to maintain order, and ordinary clergy will listen to the confessions of visitors in private spaces, appropriately answering their questions and providing help.
Priests will preside over the ritual and distribute wine and food representing God's grace to the faithful who come to attend, easing the fatigue of their journey."
Then he paused, a gleam of cunning showing in his eyes.
"I named this ritual the [Mass]."
This ritual came from the Last Supper in the Bible.
On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus took up wheat bread and grape wine in turn, gave thanks and blessed them, then transformed the bread and wine into his own body and blood and gave them to his disciples to eat, instructing them to do the same in memory of him.
This was the very first Mass in the world.
And the original meaning of "Mass" in Latin was "Go, you are dismissed," which equally foretold that after Jesus's crucifixion, those disciples who received his grace would scatter and spread God's grace and God's love to every corner of the world.
Athena's violet eyes swept over the wine jar on the table as her gaze flickered in quiet contemplation.
"You want to change them gradually without them noticing?"
Lorne gave a nod, his eyes deep and thoughtful.
Athena only got half of it right.
This change was not only meant to relieve their suffering and ailments and activate their divinity.
It also aimed to cultivate psychological identification.
There were too many gods in Greece.
Faith was too scattered, and the manner of worship was too casual.
Even in Athens, Athena, as the main object of worship, could not exactly be said to receive an especially pure or vast amount of faith power.
Although the people coming to the great temple to pay respect to the Gods were a steady stream, they were scattered and disorderly, and most only went through the motions.
And from Lorne's understanding, the best approach was to use specific times, in specific settings, through systematic rituals, to make the act of worship consistent and fixed and condense one scattered individual after another into a group bearing a unified label.
In this way, under the direction of unified consciousness, the group would produce powerful and pure faith power to sustain the gods.
Successful religions in the future almost always carried some tricks of thought control.
For example, Buddhism's five precepts and ten virtues, Christianity's Ten Commandments of Moses, Islam's ten commandments and eight prohibitions...
All of these could be considered regulation of the faithful.
And religions with stricter requirements and more frequent rituals generally produced more extreme faith.
Take worship services, for example.
Christianity required gathering once every seven days, meaning Sunday was set aside for communal reverence and prayer.
Islamic law, on the other hand, besides the weekly Friday noon congregational prayer known as 'Jumu'ah', also required five daily prayers consisting of Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha.
Failure to observe these prayers without a valid reason was considered a serious offence deserving punishment.
So speaking purely from the perspective of psychological control, Islam, which shares Abrahamic roots with Christianity, had rules more extreme than Christianity and more easily cultivated followers prone to going to extremes.
Because human energy was limited.
Once most of each day was occupied by religious rituals and prayers, the faithful would lose room for independent thought and gradually be brainwashed and assimilated into puppets carrying out doctrine.
And what Lorne listed were only some orthodox denominations.
Their psychological control over the faithful existed but was relatively restrained, still followed certain rules of the game, and could be tolerated by universal values.
If taken one step further, that was the cult template.
Using large volumes of rituals and group activities every day to regulate individuals, leaving participants not a moment for thought, until they were shaped into puppets stripped of self.
If this technique were applied to the modern world, it would be what is known as a "pyramid scheme" organisation.
Repetitive daily meetings, pumping people up, chanting slogans, using collective consciousness to lure the target into blending in, making them comply with the "teacher's" arrangements and instructions to do anything, even if it meant losing their fortune, their body and their life.
The faithful produced by the latter two, while strong in cohesion and pure in faith, were also strong in destructiveness and very prone to getting out of control.
As a seasoned master of PUA, Lorne naturally had no interest in such drain-the-pond-to-catch-the-fish methods, so his approach to spreading faith basically used comparatively mild strategies.
But once this conception ahead of its age was put forward,
Athena still showed some hesitation.
"There are so many gods in this world. Are you certain the humans out there will obediently follow your arrangements step by step?"
"So thorough service work needs to be done."
Lorne shrugged and smiled with subtle meaning as he spoke with easy fluency.
"From what I know, infants among commoners have a relatively high mortality rate after birth because they cannot receive comprehensive care, combined with their own fragility.
My suggestion is for the divine healer. Asclepius to teach medical skills to female priestesses, having them learn certain techniques of midwifery and emergency care to regularly provide free medical consultations for pregnant women who come to worship."
"Once the child is born, or after the first month, send dedicated people to baptise them, bestow the blessing of God's grace, and protect them from illness and disaster so they grow up in good health."
Lorne raised the cup in his hand filled with pomegranate wine and gave it a gentle swirl in indication.
Athena narrowed her eyes in quiet contemplation.
"And when they grow up?"
"The temple helps them examine their health and test their aptitude. Those with potential can be sent to the Athens Academy to be carefully cultivated."
"If their studies bear fruit?"
Those with average results are channelled into society by profession. Healers, warriors, craftsmen, mages... Athens is still quite lacking in these high-skill talents.
Those with excellent results, selecting those with clean backgrounds and no entanglements behind them, are directly absorbed into the temple for further cultivation, becoming holy warriors who fight for Goddess Athena."
Lorne tapped the table with a bent finger and smiled with a blink.
"The eighty-eight star palaces and the sanctuary still have quite a few vacancies..."
"Who manages them?"
Teacher Horse, I think. I suggest giving him an additional title on top of the position of dean of the Athens Academy."
"What title?"
"How about [Pope]? Specifically responsible for managing and cultivating newly appointed Holy Warriors."
Lorne smiled and offered his amusingly anachronistic answer.
Unfortunately, Athena across from him did not understand where the amusement lay and, after a moment of thought, gave a nod of approval, looking long and deep at Lorne.
Although bestowing God's grace on ordinary people was too risky.
But Lorne had already made orderly arrangements from these little ones' birth all the way to their becoming capable adults, and if advanced systematically, it would greatly strengthen Athens and War God Mountain.
Only...
"Why don't you sit in the papal position yourself?"
"The risk is too high. Better forget it."
Lorne waved his hand and quickly declined.
In his memory, the Pope either went dark or suffered a stab in the back or died in battle.
Hardly any of them met good ends. Such a high-risk profession; it's better to let Teacher Centaur endure the hardship.
Hearing the refusal, Athena did not press and pushed aside the empty cup, bent down and brought out stack after stack of new documents from under the table, placed them on the desk and got back to work.
Seeing the sheer volume of documents that nearly threatened to swallow Athena whole, Lorne could not help clicking his tongue.
"Still this many?"
"It was manageable before, but Themis went down, and all the judicial matters she was responsible for all fell to me."
Athena responded with impatience and tossed a finished judicial document to one side.
Hearing the resentment in those words, Lorne let out a sigh and asked in a measured voice.
"How is she now?"
"Not well..." Athena shook her head with a somewhat resigned tone. "I built a temple for her in the sanctuary and sealed her within it.
I want to use the small world built by the eighty-eight star palaces and the faith within Athens to help stabilise her injuries and repair her divine nature.
But the small world built by the star palaces is incomplete, and the faith in justice is too weak, so the results are minimal for now."
Lorne rubbed his aching temples and murmured with a dull voice. "Had I known things would turn out this way,
I should not have pushed her so hard to handle Hera's divorce lawsuit."
"What? Having regrets?"
"A little."
Trading a fallen Titan god for an Olympian queen of heaven at her peak. Any way you look at it, the gain outweighs the loss. You did not come out short."
Athena played with the iron stylus in her hand and offered this casual comfort.
"You cannot calculate it that way." Lorne shot a sidelong glance at the smile-that-was-not-quite-a-smile across from him and gave an impatient hum.
"What I paid was a partner I could mutually rely on. What I got back was a bitter woman who wants to use me to get back at Zeus.
Even if she treats me well, I cannot expect to just wash myself clean every day and lie in bed waiting for her favour."
"I think you rather enjoyed yourself?"
"You think I wanted that? I was forced into it!"
Lorne put on an aggrieved face and recounted the strange circumstances of how he and Hera came to meet each other.
After hearing this bizarre experience, Athena immediately covered her lips with a light hand and burst out laughing.
"Ha ha. Are you not the one who is best at deceiving people?
How did things end up like this for you?"
"Who knows what goes on in her head. The more I said no, the more excited she got, and she even insisted on dragging me to find Hestia to claim me. There was no stopping her."
Lorne grew more speechless with each word, and in the end his face was nothing but helplessness.
"So, left with no other option, I thought about borrowing Themis's strength, using the marriage law to divert Hera..."
Athena waved her hand and spoke with composure.
"Enough. You do not need to dwell too much on the matter of Themis.
She has always been stubborn, and her thinking tends to get stuck in dead ends. Once she makes her own decision, no one can stop her."
Then Athena paused as her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Besides, when she received your request for help and came to the War God Mountain from the Ocean of Oceanos, her physical condition already seemed somewhat off.
She kept wanting to sink into slumber for no reason. And precisely because of this, she pulled me in to listen in case she could not hold on herself."
"Slumber. Could it be because of Elysium?"
Lorne's expression shifted slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately told Athena everything he saw and heard on his trip to the Underworld in full.
This included his private relationship with the Queen of the Underworld, as well as the covert dealings he had with the Underworld King Hades.
"The [Dream of Truth]? So that is what this is about. The disappearance of the old gods and the problems appearing on Themis are indeed not a coincidence."
Athena gave a thoughtful nod, then looked at Lorne with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"You told me all these secrets. Are you not afraid I will use them against you?"
"If you wanted to do that, you would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"
Lorne countered without concern, then glanced at the mountain of legal documents piling up on the desk and gave a helpless wry smile.
"Besides. Some things I should have said long ago."
Athena set down the iron stylus and looked at the Lorne before her with playful curiosity.
"So you figured it out?"
"Mm..."
"Good that you figured it out."
Athena gave a nod as her deep violet eyes examined this nominal younger brother of hers, and she voiced an opinion she had kept suppressed for a long while.
"Your problem is that you never fully trusted a single person around you.
No matter how close or sincere a family member or friend, there is always a layer of guardedness deep in your bones towards all of them.
You never willingly show your true purpose and your true face before others."
"To put it precisely, you are on guard against everyone deep in your heart. Against all people. Against even this entire world."
Lorne gave a helpless nod upon hearing this.
That was right.
Because his soul came from another world, he carried a natural estrangement from this one.
On top of nearly dying at Zeus's hands the moment he was born and then being taken back and trained by that woman Hecate, every person he met afterwards carried a layer of wariness from him.
Whether the unconditionally believing Medusa and Hestia, the like-minded Athena and Themis, or the Thetis and Astraea who fought alongside him many times...
He never trusted any of these people without reservation and never once opened himself up completely.
He always liked to use scheming methods to achieve his expected results.
He rarely thought about laying many things on the table openly, speaking about his difficulties, and seeking the help of those around him in a straightforward manner.
"Although I do not know what you experienced or what you are afraid of. Sometimes there is no need to be so cautious and careful.
This is your home. We are your friends. Your family. No one needs you to carry everything alone."
Athena's eyes shed that layer of pride as a clear and sincere smile showed on her face.
"As long as you speak up, we are all willing to extend our hand."
Looking at the hand extended before him, Lorne felt a great deal stir in his heart.
The King Minos of long ago willingly went to his death with a single word of counsel from him.
The Themis just before this, with a single letter of invitation from him, faced the mightiest divine mandate in existence head-on.
And Hestia, Medusa, Athena... every one of them deserved his complete and unreserved trust, not endless scheming to achieve his goals... well, aside from Artemis... that woman was an exception.
If he placed too much trust in her, he was afraid he'd be locked in a dungeon only to be devoured every day.
Well, Yanderes aren't normal.
It's not that she didn't like him, but she liked him a bit too much.
Cough...so overall, scheming had its limits.
For those close to him, sincerity was the greatest trump card.
Because they were worth it.
As his thoughts cleared, a lightness spread through Lorne's heart.
He raised his hand and gripped Athena's arm, then with his other hand pulled open his collar, activated the Wheel of Hecate, and spoke with gravity.
"I think my time may be running short."
(End of Chapter)