Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 178 Star Dream
Florence, midsummer, 1578.

This was a relatively stable period, without much war, but undercurrents were swirling. Since Martin Luther's "Reformation" 60 years ago, there had been fierce disputes between Protestants and Catholics. And Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany who ascended the throne two years earlier, was extremely averse to Protestantism, pushing this already irreconcilable situation to an even higher level.

This 26-year-old Habsburg emperor stubbornly pursued his own religious policies, vehemently suppressing Protestantism. Conversely, England and France supported Protestantism, and this religious divide gradually escalated into a political one. From then on, an irreconcilable dividing line appeared between the Protestant and Catholic worlds. However, this antagonistic conflict is still brewing, and no one can predict what its ultimate outcome will be…

However, for Galileo the Younger in Florence, these things were still too far off.

"..."

Inside the main hall, Galileo's father was talking to a guest, while fourteen-year-old Galileo kept his head down, his face full of boredom and tedium. His father seemed to be arguing loudly with the guest, his face serious and cold, unlike anything Galileo had ever seen before.

"Copernicus? Hmph, that merchant's son. His heliocentric theory was nothing but the ravings of a madman, contrary to the teachings of the Bible..."

Rigid, stubborn, and possessing the pride and arrogance characteristic of old-fashioned aristocrats—this was Galileo's entire impression of his father. Yet, at this moment, the somewhat stubborn old-fashioned nobleman was arguing heatedly with his guest, a truly "undignified" act that piqued Galileo's curiosity about the man named "Copernicus."

"That's not the case. Sir Leonardo da Vinci, who passed away sixty years ago, made a similar argument. I don't think you would consider Sir Leonardo da Vinci's words to be mere ramblings..."

Before Galileo's father, the scholar with a mustache shook his head and said slowly that even the stubborn Galileo's father was speechless upon hearing the name Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci's reputation in Italy far exceeded the imagination of people in other regions. Italy was deeply influenced by Greek philosophy, and the development of printing technology led to the emergence of many scholars. Even someone as rigid as him could be considered a scholar. Da Vinci, known as a "polymath," held an almost divine status in the hearts of scholars.

"……snort."

He opened his mouth, trying to refute something, but in the end he just snorted angrily and changed the subject, continuing to argue about the man named "Copernicus".

Galileo, who was listening intently to their conversation, vaguely heard words such as "heliocentrism" and "death".

Heliocentrism?

He said in a low voice, somewhat bewildered. It was a word Galileo had never heard before, but he had a vague feeling about it and was very interested in what it represented.

……

The night was quiet, but Galileo, lying in bed, suddenly opened his eyes.

He lifted the covers, stepped lightly onto the floor, and like a cat, crouched low, cautiously approaching the door before gently opening it...

"squeak……"

The extremely faint sound went unnoticed by the servants, which was exactly what Galileo had expected. Exhausted from a busy day, the servants wouldn't be paying attention to him. He quietly slipped through the open door and closed it behind him…

Without any hesitation, young Galileo tiptoed towards his father's study, even in the dark so as not to disturb others.

Just as Galileo had predicted, his father's study was empty and pitch black. But relying on his memory, Galileo managed to find the candlestick. After lighting it, the bright light illuminated the study, revealing the numerous books on the shelves. Galileo searched carefully and finally found what he was looking for in a corner of the bookshelf.

"really."

Looking at the thick book "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres," Galileo smiled. Despite his rigid and aristocratic stubbornness, his father was, after all, a learned scholar, and even if he didn't agree with Copernicus's theories, he still managed to reserve a place for Copernicus in his study.

Of course, if Galileo went directly to his father to ask for it, it would only enrage the stubborn old gentleman, who would then berate Galileo. This was something Galileo could fully anticipate, so he could only avoid this conflict by going secretly.

Upon opening that title page, the first thing Galileo saw was this line of text.

"First, we should point out that the universe is spherical. This is either because the sphere is the most perfect of all shapes, requiring no interface and being a complete whole that cannot be added to or subtracted from; or because it is the largest in volume of all shapes, most suitable for encompassing everything; or even because individual parts of the universe (I am referring to the sun, moon, planets, and stars) appear to take this shape; and even because everything tends to be surrounded by such boundaries, just like individual drops of water and other liquids..."

In the flickering candlelight, Galileo gazed at the book, his bright pupils reflecting the lines of text. Accompanied by the rustling of pages turning and the detailed and powerful arguments, Galileo seemed to see a completely new world—a vast world he had never imagined, a world many times larger than described in the Bible…

Before he knew it, he heard the crowing of roosters, and that's when Galileo suddenly realized what was happening.

"Oh no! We're going to be discovered."

As was customary, the servants would soon be up to work. Without thinking twice, Galileo hurriedly tried to put the book back on the shelf, but accidentally kicked something that looked like iron, and his foot immediately hurt.

"hiss……"

Clutching his foot, Galileo endured the pain and glanced at what he had kicked... It was a magnificent female statue hidden in a bookshelf, dressed in armor, with a firm and fearless gaze.

Galileo had seen this object before. Three years earlier, when they had just moved to Florence, they had met a strange man who, on his deathbed, entrusted the statue to Galileo's father. After that, Galileo's father never mentioned it again, and Galileo never saw it again, only to discover that it was hidden in a secret spot between bookshelves.

Gazing into those bright eyes, Galileo had a strange, unsettling feeling, as if the statue were alive, and those eyes were coldly staring at him…

But when you try to look at it more closely, that feeling is gone; it's just an extremely exquisite sculpture.

Although he felt a little strange, Galileo had no time to think about such things at the moment. He had no choice but to put the book back on the shelf, extinguish the candle, open the study door and then quietly close it again, and lie back down on the bed before the servant woke up.

"Thankfully, nothing went wrong..."

With these thoughts in mind, the exhaustion from not sleeping all night washed over me like a tide. My relaxed mind could no longer resist the urge to sleep, and I drifted off to sleep. But in my daze, I seemed to see a pair of cold eyes...

In my dream, I felt as if I were lying on the earth, the boundless land making it impossible to discern directions. I stared blankly, with only the sun overhead remaining unchanged.

Suddenly, the earth trembled, as if it were alive. The "earth" carried him over the clouds, over the aurora, over the sky... until he arrived in an infinitely vast, dark void...

In that vast, dark void, everything was empty, so empty that it inexplicably aroused deep fear and despair, because mankind had never seen such a vast void, as if it were detached from the entire world.

The moon, seemingly "not far away," Mars and Venus, even Mercury, and... those enormous stars beyond imagination, spewing out countless blazing flames.

As far as the eye can see, countless stars revolve around that star, for millennia, tens of thousands of years, hundreds of millions of years, until the end of time, silent and eternal, unchanging through the ages…

(End of this chapter)