Aztec Eternals

"Uhum, Uuhum, is your grandfather's grave in this old forest?"

"Yes! Not only my grandfather, but my father also lives here. And many of our tribe's dead also live in this old forest on the back mountain!…"

"Uhum, is this the burial ground for your entire tribe? Then where are their graves? Why don't I see them?"

"? What are you looking at down there? Look up!"

"Look up?"

"Yes! The graves of the dead are, of course, on the trees, on the tall and large 'Solun Pillars'! The higher they are buried, the more 'Sain' it is, and the more auspicious they are after death!… You don't even know this? Are you really a shaman of the tribe?…"

"! !…"

The forest is vast, and green leaves cover the sky, blocking out the sunlight when you look up. Tall fir trees, thirty meters high, stand silently like stone pillars in the dim forest world. The thick, old branches crisscross, like natural barriers, shrouding all who look up and gaze upon them. And the air here is filled with a damp, earthy smell, the scent of rotten leaves, and an indescribable sweet and musty odor.

The few who came here were all used to death, and they knew at once that this was the smell of corpses rotting into bones. Yes, corpses that have been rotting for a long time will not have any stench, only a gloomy, musty smell that people can clearly feel but find difficult to describe.

This gloomy and damp aura, blended with the moisture of the forest floor, is like the Maya's cold sacrificial well, also known by the Central American tribes as 'the breath of the dead.' However, the Maya's sacrificial well is deep underground, while the burial ground of the Jurchen tribes is high up in the trees. The only thing they have in common is the mythical worship of the tree spirit, and the lingering sense of coldness.

"Look! This fir tree, a full twenty people tall, is the 'Solun Pillar' chosen by my father! He hung my grandfather at the very top. Then I hung him at the very top here. Father and grandfather can see each other and talk and chat… Huh? Where's my father? He should be opposite grandfather!…"

Uduhun looked up, gazing at the tall tree, thirty or forty meters high. He searched carefully for a long while, then suddenly patted the tree trunk and pointed to the high canopy, shouting happily.

"Oh! Father is there! Do you see it? That white thing, the white bones?… It turns out that moss has grown on him, and vines have wrapped around him, turning him all green!…"

"Great! The tree spirit's Solun Pillar has given him green life, and he lives even better… This is truly Sain Uju, truly the most auspicious omen!…"

"…!"

Following the direction Uduhun pointed, Zuwaro looked up, searching among the towering fir trees. After a few breaths, he finally saw, from the green curtain of leaves and moss, two patches of white, wrapped in animal skins and tied to the large tree branches, vaguely facing each other. He identified them for a while before confirming that this patch of deathly white was indeed the white human bones leaking from the decaying animal skins. And from the posture in which the corpses were tied, it could be seen that they were also head up and feet down.

"Oh, God! This posture?… Could it represent climbing to the heavenly kingdom?"

"Yes, and no! Zu, this is our northern tribe's tree burial, 'wind returns to wind, wood returns to wood, people die and merge into the trees'… Legend has it that the ancestors' first life came from the tree of life, the 'Solun Pillar,' blown down by the wind. Therefore, the best destination for people after death is to find the thickest and tallest spirit tree and bury the bones in the tree!…"

"In this way, his soul can live in the tree, merge with the tree spirit, and not be disturbed by underground demons and evils. If the deceased is an unborn child, then the bark must be peeled open, a large tree hole dug out, and the child's body wrapped inside, then covered with bark. In this way, his un-grown soul can continue to grow slowly with the help of the tree of life, the 'Solun Pillar,' and grow together with the tree…"

"God bless! If a large tree is tall enough, spiritual enough, and on a high enough mountain… then it is the incomparably sacred 'Great Solun Pillar,' the true sacred tree! Only the souls buried on such a sacred tree can follow the trajectory of the tree to the spirit world of the ancestors in the sky!…"

As he spoke, Maha Aguda skillfully rolled his eyes, looked at the height of the tree with a mysterious gaze. Then, he trembled all over, muttering to himself, estimating the height of this back mountain, and shook his head regretfully.

"No! I don't think this mountain is high enough, and the tree isn't tall enough… I'm afraid the buried soul won't be able to go to the spirit world and can only stay in the tree!"

"Aguda, how come you're more like a shaman than me?"

"Haha! Watching Kuihuo perform sacrifices every day, I've learned a little… It's quite useful, the warriors listen to me more and are more afraid of me…"

Hearing this, Zuwaro took a deep look at Aguda, then looked around at the fir trees, especially the tops. This time, he truly saw the burial ground of the Duoer tribe, and the white bones of those who had died countless years ago!

Ropes of animal skin were wrapped around the trunks and thick branches, either hanging or tying up those who had returned to the earth. The bodies of the deceased were wrapped in sewn animal skins, but decades of weathering had made the leather stiff and cracked, revealing the dry skeletons inside. When the wailing wind blew through the tall branches, the hanging bones swayed slightly, making a rustling sound like a lament.

"Woo… Sha ~ ~"

Zuwaro silently watched for a long time, as if to deeply engrave this scene of tree burial and death in his mind, and integrate it into future possible sacrificial rituals, to be in harmony with the hearts of these forest tribes. At this moment, a low wind chime sounded in the old forest, like the realm where the dead dwell, telling of the solidified twilight after death. But soon, Uduhun's happy shouts suddenly rang out, calling out to the souls of his relatives.

"Look! My grandfather's grave… that skeleton wearing rags!… Do you see it! There's a reflection on his chest, shining brightly… Look from here! Do you see it? It's just under that tattered animal skin!… Huh! It doesn't seem to be one place, but two reflections? How could there be two?…"

Uduhun scratched his head in confusion. But soon, a simple smile appeared on his face, and he said to the three people under the tree.

"Wait for me! I'll climb up the tree and bring my grandfather down!…"

"Uhum! This tree is so high, can you climb it directly?"

"Yes! More than ten years ago, when I was not yet ten years old. It was me who carried my father on my back and climbed up to tie him to the tree! He was so heavy at the time, and I was able to carry him up, and now he has become light bones… It will definitely be easier to bring grandfather's bones down!…"

As he spoke, Uduhun hugged the tree, like a nimble bear, climbing upwards with all his might. But after climbing only five or six meters, his body stiffened in a daze, hanging on the tree.

"That's not right! This feeling isn't right! How did I become so heavy? How come I'm climbing and falling down? It wasn't like this more than ten years ago! Could it be that it wasn't me who climbed the tree back then? But how could it not be me? I clearly remember that I did it…"

“Grandpa! This clumsy bear is too tall and heavy; there's no way he could climb to the top of that tree… And I'm too burly to climb up there myself. Can you do it?”

“…”

Zuwaro was silent for a moment, looked at the "tree grave" that was over twenty meters high, and then looked at his own still-sturdy arms and legs, shaking his head with a good sense of self-awareness.

“I probably can't either… Ali? Ali, can you do it?…”

Chieftain Ali of the Haar tribe narrowed his eyes, staring at the bones wearing rags on the treetop, examining the faint dark red of the rags, and the reflection leaking from the animal hide wrapping the corpse. He was silent for a while, then said in a low voice.

“May the chief god protect me, give me a rope! I have no problem going up, but I have to bring the bones down intact… They must be tied securely to my back!”

“Okay! Be careful, don't push yourself… If it really doesn't work, we'll find someone thinner and more agile!…”

“Mm… Don't worry!…”

Ali was obviously a little absent-minded, just staring fixedly at the weathered bones. Soon, he replaced the bear-like Uduwen, climbing upwards like a lean ape. He climbed to ten meters high, twenty meters high, and finally reached the location where the corpse was buried, climbing over to look.

Then, as if possessed by some ghost, his whole body suddenly shook, swayed twice, and hung motionless on the tree.

“Ali!!”

The shouts from under the tree kept floating up, entering Ali's ears, finally awakening this infatuated, staring, Jurchen chieftain, Haar Guard Command Assistant Commissioner, from his lost soul.

“May the chief god protect me! I… I'm fine! I'll come down now!…”

“Forgive me! This old sir… I'll take you down first, to meet your descendants, and then I'll bury you back in the original place… Perhaps, you would prefer to follow the customs of the Han people, erecting a tombstone for burial?…”

Ali on the tree barely replied, then turned his head and muttered something to the bones on the tree. Afterwards, he carefully untied the tattered, moldy rope, tying the bones wearing rags and completely weathered, along with the animal hide wrapping the corpse, all onto his back.

“Sizzle…”

“Creak…”

For a skilled veteran, climbing down a tree is more dangerous than climbing up, but it's also faster. The corpse on his back was light and飘飘, creaking under the animal hide and rags, as if saying something. Soon, Ali climbed down the tree, found a clean place, and carefully untied the bones from his back, respectfully placing them down.

“Forgive me!…”

“Grandpa! You're down, Grandpa! Let me see, what's that shiny good stuff in your arms!…”

Uduwen happily pounced forward, about to untie Grandpa's animal hide wrapping. But Ali's eyes turned fierce, turning his head to glare at him. This glare was so fierce that even the brave Uduwen was stunned, a little at a loss.

“? ? You dare to glare at me? You dare to glare at me? Watch me smash you to death… No, that's not right! You don't have that kind of guts! Could it be Grandpa? Grandpa is still possessing him? Is that you, Grandpa?…”

“You clumsy fool! These bones are your great-grandpa! Why don't you kneel down and kowtow to your grandfather?… You must know that he is not only your grandpa, but also… also a former Command Assistant Commissioner, a proper third-rank military officer conferred by the imperial court!”

“? ? …Kneel? Why kneel? What is ritual? Official? What is an official?… What are you talking about, I don't understand a word?… Tell me! Are you Grandpa or not?…”

Uduwen widened his clear eyes, his face full of incomprehensible confusion. And Ali looked at the other party's simple and honest expression, looking at this fully barbaric Jurchen chieftain, the descendant of the former Command Assistant Commissioner… At this moment, an unspeakable desolation suddenly rose in his heart, making him feel sympathy for his own kind, grief for the fate of others!

“Oh, Emperor Taizong!… The Jurchen tribes you conferred upon back then, the civilized Jurchen Guards who submitted to the empire… have all disappeared!… Even the memories have not been left behind, even the inheritance has vanished! If the Ancestral Priest hadn't saved me two years ago, then the ending of my Haar Guard would probably be the same, right?…”

“Alas! The spirit of nature has brought down a terrible cold wave, and the imperial court has abandoned us, letting us struggle for survival on our own… Chief god of the East Sea! Who can the Jurchen tribes of the North rely on? In this desperate situation, what will be the sad and tragic future of the Jurchen tribes struggling to survive?…”

At this moment, Ali's heart was full of thoughts, all turning into two long sighs. After a long while, he respectfully lowered himself and untied the animal hide wrapping the corpse. Thus, the bones with empty eyes, along with the tattered clothes that looked like rags, finally revealed their full appearance.

It could be seen that the bones, even after being dead for who knows how many decades, still maintained the posture of embracing their chest. The arm bones of his hands were crossed, tightly embracing two shiny copper seals! And under the decayed clothes beneath the copper seals, the tiger insignia faintly appeared, actually being the official uniform of a third-rank military officer, a Command Assistant Commissioner of the Ming Dynasty!

“?! This attire? The copper seals pressed on this attire?… Two copper seals?!…”

Zuwaro exclaimed, suddenly widening his eyes. He stepped forward, carefully took down the two copper seals from the corpse's arms, and they were indeed the garrison seals left by the Ming Dynasty! And he flipped them over to observe carefully, but saw two different official titles, not knowing which one was the original owner?

“Tolutingshan Guard Command Assistant Commissioner… Made by the Ministry of Rites… Yongle Four years…”

“Duerbi River Guard Command Assistant Commissioner… Made by the Ministry of Rites… Yongle Five years…”

“? ? Duerbi River Guard?! How come there's also the garrison copper seal of the Duerbi River Guard?…”

“Ancestral Priest! Think, think about the name of Uduwen's tribe!”

Ali's expression was dim, reminding him in a low voice. And Zuwaro was stunned, surprised.

“Chief god! The Duer tribe… Duerbi River Guard? Could it be that the origin of this clumsy bear's Duer tribe is not the local Tolutingshan Guard, but the westward-migrated Duerbi River Guard?!”