Alien Knights

The capital of the Abbasid Empire, between the Holy Whites.

One of several nobles in rich clothes stopped the imam who was walking out of the holy white room and asked, "Is Harry still awake now?"

The imam, whose gray beard reached down to his chest, said: "He woke up for a while this morning, and now he has been falling asleep."

The noble lowered his voice: "Did the Caliph relent on his will?"

The imam shook his head.

The nobles looked at each other with disappointment on their faces.

"Harry is seriously ill and his consciousness has long been lost. This will is naturally invalid."

"As long as he is alive, he is the master of the empire, and his words and decisions are the will of the true God."

"Do you really think that the patient who can't even speak is carrying out God's decree?! He is already terminally ill and has no idea what he is doing!"

"What's the use of arguing about this now? Several princes of the caliphate have returned to their territories, and the governors have also returned to start building their own troops. The war will begin soon."

Facing the arguing nobles, the imam closed his eyes and quoted the scriptures: "All flesh will taste death. I will test you with good and bad fortunes, and you will only be called to me."

The nobles looked at each other and finally stopped arguing.

After saluting the imam, the nobles left here one after another.

A nobleman walking at the back quietly walked up to the imam and asked in a low voice: "Can the Caliph survive tonight?"

The Imam's eyes were closed, but his head shook slightly.

As the last stop of the Imperial Caliphate's mortal journey - the Holy White Room, there is no trace of life here.

Pure white curtains, pure white floor tiles, pure white walls.

Saladin, wearing a white cotton burial suit, lay in a huge sarcophagus. His face was haggard and skinny. Only the occasional rise and fall of his chest proved that he still had a breath of life in his body.

The imam walked into the room, came to the sarcophagus, and half-knelt beside Saladin.

Saladin slowly opened his eyes, and with difficulty, his cloudy eyes that could no longer see anything turned in the direction of the Imam.

The imam whispered: "They left."

Saladin opened his mouth slightly and tried his best to pronounce a syllable.

The imam nodded: "As per your holy will, when you return to the embrace of God, I will preside over Mustahab, and the funeral will be quick and simple, without entertaining guests or obeying filial piety."

Saladin nodded slightly and said nothing.

The Imam's voice was a little hoarse: "My Majesty, they are all gone, even your son..."

There was no expression on Saladin's face, as if he heard something ordinary.

The imam tried his best to suppress his sobs: "You are the agent of God, the ruler of the world, the most powerful person in the world, but they can't even see your last face..."

Saladin turned his face to the imam, stretched out his hand out of the sarcophagus with difficulty, and patted the latter's clothes, as if to comfort him that he did not need to be sad.

The imam wiped his eyes with his sleeve, stood up, saluted Saladin, turned and walked out of the room.

As the door was closed, the light was completely blocked from the room, and the entire Holy White Room fell into icy darkness.

After an unknown amount of time, the sleepy Saladin suddenly opened his eyes.

He turned his face into the endless darkness, as if something was coveting him there.

A black shadow came to the side of the sarcophagus.

The black figure leaned down slightly, looking down at Saladin in the coffin, and his body made a slight clicking sound of bones.

A smile appeared on Saladin's face.

A voice sounded in Saladin's mind: "You don't have to speak, I can hear everything you are thinking."

Saladin nodded slightly and said in his heart: "In these last days, I am glad that someone can talk to me."

The shadow lowered his head, revealing the skeletal face: "You are calmer than I thought."

Saladin: "Peace? No, I am very happy. Throatbone, listen to me, I am waiting for the end of the journey. There is nothing more exciting than that moment."

Throat Bone: "The end of the journey in your mouth will be endless darkness and cold death. Do you know?"

Saladin: "Throatbone, don't take me literally."

"Human life is very short. From birth to burial, it only lasts a few decades."

"There is a reason why God set human life to be so short at the beginning of creation..."

Throatbone interrupted Saladin's speech: "Do you still believe in the so-called Allah?"

Saladin responded: "I don't believe in the God of people's mouth, I believe in the God of my heart."

Throatbone was silent for a while, and then asked: "You just said that there is a reason why God set human life to be so short?"

Saladin: "Yes, God wants us to experience the richness and splendor of the entire world in the limited time of our lives, but also wants us not to be beaten to the point of losing our minds and consuming our will by the long time and continuous pain. "

Throat Bone: "What do you mean?"

Saladin: “When your life is limited to a certain time limit, you will urge yourself to explore the world, try all new things, and acquire more experiences and items. Every day will be fulfilling and exciting for you. of."

"However, if the time limit on your survival is removed, you can live like this forever, but is this really a good thing?"

"Whether you love power or wealth, in endless time, even if you gradually achieve all your goals, you will eventually end up with a painful end."

"Power, when your followers are everywhere, when your territory is boundless, when you can no longer find anyone to oppose and resist you, what is the meaning of your power at that time?"

“Wealth, what’s the point of your wealth when you’ve collected all the valuable things and turned everything other people’s possessions into your own?”

The cold voice in his throat kept amplifying: "You know what I am pursuing is not those boring things. I hope to replace God and become the head of all things."

There was a smile in Saladin's voice: "Throatbone, do you remember the story about the chicken and the egg we talked about?"

"Suppose you really succeed in killing the gods and become the new god of this world. Then the god who created this god will become your new goal."

"If you kill the God who created God again, then another God who created God will jump out and block your way."

"If the cycle continues like this, you will find that your destiny is full of black humor. You are like a puppet being led by strings, pursuing the elusive road to becoming a god in futile killings. "

"However, what you don't know is that maybe somewhere in a place you can never reach, there is a god who is watching your destiny journey and is clapping and laughing for every struggle you have."