1215 The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Guardian (2/2)

It jumped into the house, and its pupils quickly adjusted to the darkness. It walked to the edge of the marked wall and used her claws to remove the ash and dust covering the surface of the mark.

So this was it.

Fina immediately understood what was going on. Its initial displeasure for the owner changed to respect and admiration.

This was the mark of a temple guard.

Over the past 2,000 years, the family of the temple guards had been living here, silently guarding the temple of God and the temple of Amon. Even after the destruction of the shrine and temple, they were still doing so…

Judging from the details of the room, the temple guard may have lived here for several years, but for some reason they'd abandoned these responsibilities that had lasted for more than 2,000 years.

Fina did not blame them. Even if the pharaoh was around, they would not be qualified to blame them either.

Their persistence in guarding the temple for more than 2,000 years was beyond the typical moral obligation of mere mortals. Even if they'd decided to give up, they could not be blamed.

Besides, they may not have given up. If they'd wanted to give up, they could have given up long ago. It was more likely that they'd…run out of offspring to take on the work.

Fina looked at the rundown house again with respect.

Human beings were social animals, and their instinct was to live in a society and have communal lives. The amount of discipline and perseverance one needed to have to stay in a chamber, alone, for more than 2,000 years, was unfathomable.

Who would be willing to marry and have children with a guardian of the temple, only to live in such an environment?

In the past, they could rely on the power of religion. The faithful believed that the pharaohs would walk out of the pyramids once more to rule between good and evil. The guardians of the temple could capitalize on the faith that people had in good prevailing. These traits would be highly attractive to women who believed that the guardians had good moral standards. They would be willing to marry and carry the next generation of temple guardians.

However, in today's era, the faithful had all but disappeared, or at least those who believed in ancient Egyptian religions. No woman today would be willing to marry a temple guardian and stay here for the rest of her life. Therefore, when the last temple guardian died, the lack of an heir apparent to take over was to be expected.

The duty of the temple guardian was to guard the shrine and the temple of Amon, but now that the shrine and the temple of Amon were in ruins, they did not do their jobs.

Fina did not blame them. Secular power and the tides of history were not things that could be resisted by several temple guardians. When the local government bombed the temple more than a hundred years ago, they may have tried to stop it, but they'd apparently failed. They lived with the humiliation of not being able to do their jobs. That alone was worthy of admiration and a sign of their loyalty.

Few tourists came to visit, but there would always be people coming. Uncivilized tourists usually left behind their rubbish, yet not much could be found within the ruins of the shrine hall. These were signs of the temple guardians' diligence and work.

A family unit consisting of dozens and even hundreds of generations stayed at the foot of the hills, bearing a responsibility that would never have an end. The hardships they had to bear were unfathomable.

Fina felt pity for them. If they had come a few years earlier, perhaps it could've had the chance to thank an actual guardian for his work.

Fina had come in from the window but chose the door for its exit. Standing at the door and looking at the empty room, it whispered, ”Thank you to all of you! Your duty is done!”

A gust of wind blew from the open door and hovered in the room for a few moments. Then it exited from the window, bringing with it gusts of dust as it rose into the sky.