Year 1106.
In this era, it was not merely a man who ruled.
No… perhaps even the word rule was far too small.
This was the age of someone whom humanity had slowly begun to place beyond humanity itself.
A name whispered in prayers.
A face that made people believe the future could still be beautiful.
Navraya.
Yes, that same Navraya.
The Symbol of Hope.
The man who saw no separation between nature and humanity.
To him, forests and cities, animals and humans, soil and blood — all belonged to the same eternal cycle.
And perhaps you remember…
Eryldor had spoken of this era long ago.
He once said:
"One day, a man will rise… A man who will not merely build a nation, but give birth to an empire so enduring that it will forget the meaning of collapse."
Progress would become its religion.
And people…
People would begin to call his land Heaven itself.
One man.
…Or perhaps, a god.
But that is humanity's nature, is it not?
When someone leads them out of darkness, they no longer see the torch in his hands…
They begin to see a halo behind his head.
Eryldor had left behind one more sentence.
A final warning, spoken almost like his last breath.
"Beware of Velkora."
That was all.
No explanation.
No details.
And strangely enough…
The future never reveals its truths all at once.
It lifts its veils slowly…
As if time itself wishes to know whether humanity can still accept the truth after seeing it.
So then…
Let today's tale begin.
That day, the winds were unusually calm.
Cool… gentle… alive.
Sometimes nature itself reminds us that the world has not yet become completely cruel.
And perhaps, on that very day, it wished to remind humanity of something.
Following the breeze, we arrive at a small village.
The very village where Navraya lived.
No towering palace.
No walls guarded by soldiers.
No golden gates.
He was a strange man.
Half the world worshipped him as a god, yet he preferred living among flowers.
As usual, Navraya sat quietly within his garden.
Aged stone beneath him.
Flowers surrounding him.
His eyes were closed.
Perhaps meditating…
Or perhaps merely enjoying the warmth of the sun.
The sunlight rested softly upon his face, giving him an almost ethereal glow.
His long white hair was partially tied, while the rest moved gently with the wind.
Between his eyebrows rested a red, four-edged crystal.
At first glance, it resembled nothing more than a jewel.
But the longer one stared at it…
The more it felt as though it was staring back.
He wore a white robe embroidered with delicate golden and teal patterns.
Simple.
Peaceful.
And yet… undeniably regal.
Then suddenly, voices echoed behind him.
"Navraya!"
The smile upon his lips deepened slightly.
He slowly opened his eyes and turned around.
"Ah… so you've all arrived."
His voice carried the same softness as the winds before rainfall.
"You are all welcome here."
And yes…
If you are wondering why people had begun calling him a god…
Part of the answer was simply his face.
Some faces are beautiful.
Some are charming.
But Navraya's face was something else entirely.
Looking at him brought an unnatural sense of calm.
As though the noise within one's soul had suddenly grown quieter.
The children gathered around him.
Some sat upon the grass.
Others near the bench.
One of them hesitantly asked:
"Yesterday, I saw people hunting outside the village… Can you tell me why they do that?"
A small question.
But not every small question carries a simple answer.
Navraya remained silent for a moment.
He looked at the children.
Then at the garden surrounding them.
As though he was not choosing words…
But weighing the burden behind them.
"They still do not understand violence…"
Perhaps that was what he thought to himself.
Now the question was:
Should he tell them his own perspective…
Or the harsher truth of the world?
A faint, thoughtful smile appeared upon his face.
"Well…" he said softly,
"Nature never created us to be completely gentle creatures."
"Long ago… survival demanded that living beings kill other living beings."
The children listened quietly.
"But humanity's purpose is not merely to survive."
"Its purpose… is to move forward."
"When we depended only on hunting, we were helpless."
"Alone."
"There were very few paths available to us beyond killing one another."
He gently touched a nearby flower with his fingers.
"But slowly, humanity began creating new paths."
"Agriculture… was one of them."
"Because hunger does not ask only for flesh."
"It asks for life."
"And so we chose the soil."
"We chose seeds."
"And perhaps…"
"A better path as well."
Then he looked toward the children once more.
"Nature made us animals."
"But the desire to understand one another…"
"Perhaps that was what made us human."
That was what Navraya believed.
And honestly…
He was not entirely wrong.
But you must understand something.
Humanity has never accepted a single answer as absolute truth.
Every individual possesses their own perspective.
And most people mistake their perspective for truth itself.
Perhaps that is what civilization truly is.
An endless search for infinite answers to the same question.
Speaking of perspectives…
When humanity discovered another path, it began calling hunting violence.
And perhaps that was not wrong either.
But then another question emerges.
If an animal abandons killing in order to survive…
Only to become prey itself…
Would nature call that kindness?
No.
Nature is not kind.
It is merely balanced.
Humans often claim they have risen above animals.
Yet sometimes I wonder…
Perhaps we did not rise above survival at all.
Perhaps we simply transformed survival into sin.
Because now humanity possessed things beyond hunger.
Morality.
Compassion.
Faith.
And the desire to feel righteous.
Navraya saw possibilities within humanity.
And I…
I saw the contradictions hidden inside those possibilities.
Yet strangely enough—
Sometimes even opposing perspectives arrive at the same truth.
Only their paths differ.
And perhaps…
One day, both of us were destined to do exactly that.
Anyway…
Within that quiet village, beneath that gentle sunlight…
The future had already begun breathing silently.