Seeing this scene, Nasus’s withered soul seemed to have encountered manna from heaven, and finally regained its vitality.
Three thousand years!
The Shurima Empire has been destroyed for three thousand years, and he has been waiting for three thousand years!
Three thousand years ago, the Sun Disc collapsed after being drained of its power by Xerath's sorcery.
The holy waters that flowed from the city's oasis dried up, and Shurima fell into death and famine.
In the time that followed, other Ascendants attempted to hold the shattered empire together, but their numerous enemies led to infighting among themselves.
All the surviving god-warriors felt that their immortal hearts were missing the illumination of the sun disk.
Without the restraint of the Empire and the guidance of the Sun Disc, the Ascendants whose minds were influenced by the Void became Darkin who were abandoned by the world.
A world war of the Darkin began, not only did Shurima fall apart, but the entire Runeterra ushered in a dark age.
Nasus was powerless to stop or reverse all of this.
As an Imperial Grand Maester who had lost his empire, he became disheartened and lived alone in a high tower on a hidden cliff after the fall of Shurima.
He lived in seclusion on the cliff for countless years, using ancient astrology to ask the stars about the future fate of Shurima.
The stars gave him a prophecy:
“In the distant future, Shurima will rise again from the desert. Its true rulers will fight to reclaim what was lost.”
“And Charikar is part of Shurima’s rebirth. It will become a symbol of Shurima, a call for the people to gather.”
The Ascended are warriors of the gods, and Nasus believes in the prophecies given to him by the stars.
But the content of this prophecy is only two sentences.
How far is the distant future? When will Shurima rise again?
Who will be the "real ruler" who will give Shurima a new life?
Nasus did not know. Even as powerful as a god, he could not foresee the full future.
So he put Charikar, the weapon of the greatest Ascended One Setaka, and the "key link to the revival of the Shurima Empire" in the prophecy, into the tomb without any care and buried it underground.
He believed that as long as the prophecy was accurate, one day Charikar would reappear on earth under the guidance of fate.
And now...
"Charikar has returned to the world." Nasus looked at Sivir with burning eyes.
Moreover, the person who holds it is the heir of the Blood of Ascension and the direct descendant of Emperor Azir!
She took up the weapons of her ancestors!
Charikar chose her. Shurima chose her!
“It can’t be wrong.” Nasus’ heart surged: “You are the descendant of Eagle King Azir—”
"Heir to the Shurima Empire!"
He growled excitedly, and then...
“……” There was a strange silence.
Sivir stared at him for a few seconds.
Then, she couldn't help but comment: "Hey. Are you going to say..."
"Actually, Azir is not dead. He hid 100 tons of gold in the desert. Now he needs 2,000 silver wheels to open the ancient tomb and revive the Shurima Empire?"
Nasus: “?”
"Forget it." Xiweier said sarcastically, "I don't believe those nonsense you said!"
"What does Eagle King Azir and the Shurima Empire have to do with me?"
Azir will be resurrected and Shurima will be reborn. This has actually long been a prophecy legend known to everyone in the Shurima Desert.
In the beginning, people used this legend to recall past glory and express good wishes.
Later, as the story spread more and more widely and became more and more true, a group of smart people began to use it to deceive fools.
To this day, Shurima is almost full of charlatans who use the name of Eagle King Azir and the guise of reviving the Shurima Empire to cheat people out of money.
Even in Beljung, there is a Singing Eagle Temple dedicated to Azir.
The priests of the temple all claim to be descendants of the great Eagle King.
But when Sivir followed the Wind Leader to take over Beljum, she only saw a bunch of vampires and parasites. Let alone making Shurima great again, it would be good if they didn't join hands with the Noxian colonists to pit their compatriots.
“What exactly do you want to do?” Sivir looked at Nasus warily.
Although Nasus was powerful and not like an ordinary liar, she knew from experience that people who started talking about "Azir" and "Shurima Empire" were probably bad guys with ulterior motives.
“No, Sivir.” Nasus wanted to explain: “You are indeed a descendant of Azir…”
"Of course." Sivir smiled brightly.
Azir has been dead for nearly 3,000 years. God knows how many descendants he has in Shurima today.
Who could go back 3,000 years in their family tree and not find a single prince or noble?
If this is the case, then Levi is still a legitimate descendant of Emperor Yan and the heir to the noble Yanhuang tribe.
“No, no, no.” Nasus sensed Sivir's resistance and vigilance towards this statement.
So he patiently explained: "The blood of ascension is more precious and scarce than you think."
Almost every generation of Shurima emperors is a powerful ascender who has been baptized by the energy of the sun disc.
Therefore, the direct descendants of the Shurima royal family are the sons of gods who have integrated the blood of many generations of ascenders and are truly the "descendants of the sun."
And 3,000 years ago, Xerath's sorcery interrupted the ascension ceremony and detonated the sun disk out of control.
The vast energy erupting from the solar disk is even more powerful than a real nuclear bomb.
This "Tsar Bomb" not only killed the Desert Emperor Azir on the spot, but also razed the capital of Shurima to the ground and took away the royal descendants who lived in the heart of the kingdom.
"I thought that Azir's direct bloodline had been cut off at that time."
"But I didn't expect..." Nasus looked at Sivir deeply, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.
Sivir couldn't see his face clearly, but she felt danger from his burning gaze.
"Enough!" She was a stubborn person.
Even though the weirdo in front of her was stronger than herself, Sivir was not afraid to question: "Even if I am really a descendant of Azir, so what?"
"When my parents and family were trampled to death like ants by desert bandits, and I was begging for food on the roadside like a dog, did my so-called 'noble blood' do anything for me?"
"Although I don't know why you came to me, if my bloodline is really that important, why didn't you show up earlier and save my parents and family?"
Nasus was speechless.
He unconsciously drooped his ears and looked downcast.
“These… are all the destinies written in the prophecy.” After a long pause, Nasus said, “It is fate that has led us here.”
"Sivir, you have a more important mission. I believe that Shurima will rise again because of you..."
"So what should we do?" Sivir went straight to the point.
"What do you want? What do you want me to do for you so that Shurima can rise again?"
“Uh…” Nasus really couldn’t answer.
He came here simply to chat with someone. Who would have thought that he would see the prophecy confirmed as soon as he arrived?
But this prophecy was only half fulfilled.
Charikar has seen the light of day again, and the "real ruler" seems to have been fulfilled in Shiver.
What about Shurima? What about the promise that “Shurima will rise again from the sands” and “Shurimans will unite again”?
What exactly should Sivir do next to make Shurima rise again and unite the Shurimans who are falling apart and killing each other?
"I don't know either." Not knowing what to do, Nether frankly admitted his confusion.
"But fate has brought you to Charikar." He is full of hope for the future.
So the answer to the question of what to do next does not lie with him, but with the protagonist Sivir.
Nasus then asked: “What are you going to do next, Sivir?”
"Ask for help from companions and drive you away." Sivir was very frank.
“No, I’m asking about the longer-term plan,” Nasus asked. “What do you plan to do after you leave here?”
"What?" Xiweier frowned.
Then she answered truthfully: "Continue to take commissions and make money."
"No, you misunderstood." The Grand Secretary patiently persuaded: "I mean the ultimate goal of your life. What do you want to achieve in your life? Have you ever thought about it?"
Xiweier: "Take the commission and make money."
Nasus: “…”
This seems a little different from the "real ruler" he imagined.
Sivir has no feelings for the Shurima Empire 3,000 years ago, and doesn't care much about Shurima today.
Can such an unambitious person really become the hero who saves Shurima?
"Perhaps this is why I am here." Nasus came to this conclusion after thinking about it.
Why did fate make him and Sivir meet here?
Perhaps, this was a revelation from the stars to him that Sivir's growth still needed his assistance, and Shurima's rise still needed his strength.
Shurima, your Grand Maester is returning.
"Come with me, Sivir."
"What are you going to do?" Xiweier immediately picked up Charikar and put on an attitude of preferring to die in glory rather than live in disgrace.
"You are not yet capable of shouldering this responsibility. Fate has chosen me to be your teacher, and I need to train you to become a true ruler."
As the most knowledgeable Imperial Grand Secretary in Shurima, Nasus was originally the teacher of successive emperors of Shurima.
Now that fate has arranged for him to meet Sivir, it must be because fate wants him to raise this child well.
Nasus thought so.
"What if I don't want to go with you?" Xiweier was extremely alert.
"You will understand my intentions later." Nasus simply replied.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense , and the air was filled with a faint smell of gunpowder.
Sivir seemed to be trying to fight to the death.
Nasus looked at her quietly, like a parent looking at a noisy and ignorant child.
"Wait." Taliyah, who had been observing silently, finally spoke cautiously.
She looked at Nasus's massive figure, which was completely covered by robes and bandages, and asked, "Sir, who are you?"
“I…” Nasus hesitated.
His name is familiar to every Shuriman.
To this day, the Shurimans still regard him as the great hero of their civilization and tell him stories to their children.
His jackal statue still stands in temples all over the country for future generations to visit and admire.
But the more this happened, the more Nasus instinctively became unwilling to reveal his identity to future generations.
He was afraid that these suffering children would ask him why he, the great hero of Shurima, was still alive, but Shurima had become like this.
“I…” Nasus was struggling over whether to reveal his identity right now.
Fortunately, Taliyah did not continue to ask.
She just said carefully: "It's okay if you don't want to say it. Sir, I can see that you don't mean any harm."
Given the strength Nasus has shown, if he really had ill intentions, he wouldn't have to patiently say so much to Sivir.
So Taliyah boldly believed what Nasus said: "You just said, 'This is the fate written in the prophecy.' In other words, you believe in a prophecy?"
“Yes.” Nasus nodded. “The prophecy tells me that Shurima will rise again from the desert. The true ruler will fight tirelessly to regain all that has been lost.”
He spoke his prophecy, then looked expectantly at Sivir and her Charikar.
Obviously, Sivir is the "real ruler" in his eyes.
"I believe in your prediction." Taliyah was the first to express her support.
And she really believed it.
After all, Nasus is not only powerful, but also has just revealed many secrets of the Shurima Empire.
He could even smell the scent of "Ascension Blood", revealing the true origins of Charikar, which even Sivir herself did not know.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that Nasus is not an ordinary person.
"But your prophecy did not mention how Shurima would rise again, did it?"
“Yes.” Nasus looked at Sivir. “But the prophecy spoke of Charikar being the key to Shurima’s rise. And it has already appeared.”
Now half of the prophecy has been fulfilled on Sivir, and the next half will definitely come true as well.
As for how it would be fulfilled, he couldn't explain it clearly.
From what he now understood, it was fate that arranged for him to be Sivir's teacher and train her to become a great hero who would rule Shurima.
but……
"Tell me, is there a possibility?" Taliyah tried to say, "Fate made you meet us here, not to let you take away Sivir who has Charikar——"
"But fate is guiding you to join us?"
“This…” Nasus fell into deep thought.
It is indeed possible.
But he asked in return: "We... who are 'we'?"
"Leader." Taliyah introduced her family name: "A follower of the goddess Janna."
“Janna, huh…” Nasus smiled without saying anything.
The ascended ones themselves are gods.
How could fate allow a noble ascender to follow the goddess Janna?
The order to destroy the Temple of Janna and ban heretical beliefs was signed by him, the Grand Secretary.
“Janna is nothing compared to the great achievements of the Shuriman Empire,” Nasus said proudly.
But Taliyah rudely shattered his pride: "But the Shurima Empire has been gone for 3,000 years."
"And the goddess Janna not only still exists, but also brings an unprecedented, brand new path to this world."
"Our beliefs and ideals are something that even you yearn for, aren't they?"
Taliyah had not forgotten that when Nasus first appeared, he said, "Come here to seek knowledge." Later, when he met Charikar, he suddenly turned his attention to the prophecy.
It is not difficult to imagine that he must have heard his discussion with Sivir and became interested in the harmonious society in Janna's theory.
He is powerful, gentle, can communicate normally, and is also interested in Janna's theory...
Isn’t this the best development target?
Although she didn't know Nasus's identity yet, Taliyah felt that she could give it a try.
So she said, "Sir, since you regard Sivir as the child of prophecy, you should at least listen to how she intends to bring new life to Shurima."
“But I asked,” Nasus replied glumly, “She only wants money now.”
"Really? In your eyes, is Sivir really so shallow?" Taliyah looked at Sivir and asked back.
Xiweier stared at her with big eyes, innocently.
Isn’t it?
She wanted to ask that herself.
“Of course not,” Taliyah said to Nasus. “Sir, I believe you should have heard my earlier discussion with Sivir about the Great Harmony Society.”
"Do you really think that this is something a shallow, ignorant, and self-centered person would think about?"
“This…” Nasus’ pupils trembled slightly.
Indeed, everyone has the ability to think, but the reality is that only a very small number of people love to think.
The intelligence of most people is limited by heavy life and low-level entertainment.
Few people look up at the stars and envision the future - especially in today's devastated Shurima.
But what is Sivir doing?
She is discussing a harmonious society with others, studying distribution according to needs, and thinking about the distant future form of human society.
She also asked Talia many sharp questions after deep thinking.
Does this sound like something a shallow, ignorant, and unambitious person would do?
"In fact, Miss Sivir has already awakened." Taliyah looked at Sivir solemnly and said, "I believe that she has already chosen us, the Leader, in her heart."
"Is it right?"
"I..." Sivir instinctively wanted to refute.
She was only here to make money, that's all.
But... thinking about what I had seen and heard while doing social research in Bergen, thinking about the theories I had carefully read, and my previous discussion on the Great Harmony Society...
She thought about it and answered frankly: "Indeed. I now believe in the leader's theory a little bit."
“Especially…” Sivir looked at Nasus warily: “Compared to some nonsense prophecy.”
"I would rather believe in these leaders and believe that they can bring new life to Shurima!"
“This…” Nasus couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.
The holder of Charikar, the last descendant of Shurima, chose to follow the goddess Janna?
Could it be that fate is really leading Shurima...to Janna?
More than 3,000 years ago, Shurima expelled Janna.
More than 3,000 years later, the expelled heretic became the true god of Shurima?
"You can learn more about us." Taliyah seized the opportunity and handed him a copy of "A Brief Account of Jana's Thoughts".
“Hmm…” Nasus hesitated.
He finally stretched out his broad hand and took the booklet.
He was already interested in the knowledge theories of the leader, so he simply sat up straight, held the booklet in his hand, and flipped through it with a focused expression.
But when he opened the book, the title page read: "...There is no immortal emperor..."
“How come there is no immortal emperor?” Nasus was puzzled. “Isn’t your Janna a god?”
"That's what it means," Taliyah said. "When we say there are no gods or emperors, we don't mean there are no gods or emperors in the world. What we mean is that no one, whether gods or emperors, can be the master of mankind and enslave all living beings from a high position."
“So…” Nasus hesitated: “You want to overthrow all gods and emperors who enslave people?”
“You could say that.” Taliyah nodded.
"What about the Shurima Empire?"
"Of course it is included." Taliyah said bluntly: "If this backward slave empire still exists now, it will definitely be the enemy of the Leader."
Nasus: “…”
"So you don't want to restore the Shurima Empire?"
"Nonsense." Sivir would always answer this question: "The Shurima Empire has been gone for 3,000 years. Why would they revive it?"
“This…” Nasus was confused.
The return of Shurima that he was looking forward to was not a new Shurima that believed in Janna.
What about the Empire? What about the Ascendants? What about the Sun Disc?
Without these, can it still be called Shurima?
"But the prophecy doesn't seem to say that it is the Shurima Empire that will rise again in the future, right?" Taliyah said at the right time.
"Uh..." Indeed.
The prophecy says that "Shurima will rise again from the desert", but it does not say that it will definitely be an empire that rises.
“So who is the real ruler?” Nasus wondered.
The empire is gone, so how come there is still a ruler in the prophecy?
"A ruler is only the controller of the regime, which does not necessarily mean he has to be the emperor." Taliyah analyzed: "Shurima is indeed about to welcome its true ruler-"
"Those are the people of Shurima!"
With this said, the prophecies seem to come true.
“But the prophecy also speaks of Charikar. It will become a symbol of Shurima, a call to arms for the people.”
Charikar is the weapon of Queen Setaka. Charikar is mentioned in the prophecy, and Charikar appears in the hands of the "last princess". Doesn't this imply that the blood of ascension should reign over Shurima again?
"The charikar is only a weapon, sir."
“Weapons alone cannot unite the people. What can unite the people is the owner of the weapons and his path.”
"Charikar's former owner was the emperor, but its new owner is—"
As she spoke, Taliyah looked at Sivir:
“She will definitely be a trendsetter.”
Sivir's lips slightly opened, but in the end she did not refute.
"The Emperor of Shurima did not save the country. The resurgent Shurima no longer needs an emperor."
“This…” Nasus no longer questioned.
He looked at the booklet in his hand with confusion, and at Sivir who was looking at him warily.
He didn't fully understand the Wind Leader's theory, nor did he believe in the goddess Janna, but fate had indeed led him here.
Since Sivir is the child of prophecy, her choice is worth his patience.
"I respect your choice, the last descendant of the emperor, the master of Charikar—"
"I will follow you for a while and observe your performance in the future."
Having said that, Nasus finally opened the book "A Brief Account of Janna's Thought" again and continued reading.