On his way out, the gun sills lit up, illuminating the path ahead for him, even if Ananu didn't need it.
He took back the remaining four pieces of his life force from the gatekeeper and stood where he first came.
The hole that disappeared before has reappeared. As long as Ananu jumps out, he can leave the underworld.
but......
There are other things that have not been resolved.
Ananu turned around and looked behind him.
It was a hound, a Garula hound.
The principle of existence of the hounds in the underworld is to hunt people who escape from the underworld. There are usually sixty-six of them moving together, but there seemed to be only one following him, and no other hounds were seen.
This should be a manifestation of the will of Ereshkigal, the owner of the underworld. She hated Ishtar, so when Ishtar left the underworld, all sixty-six hounds arrived, eager to kill Ishtar immediately.
Ereshkigal bit him and dragged him back to the underworld, but now, Ereshkigal sincerely thanked Ananu, so there was only one hound following Ananu.
But it still exists. This is the rule of the underworld - people who leave the underworld must find other lives to take their place in the underworld. No one can be an exception, even if Ereshkigal thanks Ananu.
This rule cannot be broken.
Ananu looked at the hound sitting quietly and obediently on the ground, smiled, controlled the magic power in his body to fly up, and flew towards the hole glowing with white light, with the hound following closely behind him.
After a trance, Ananu opened his eyes again.
What came into view was a gray sky that was not much brighter than the blue-gray rocks of the underworld, but——
He came back by himself.
I have returned from the underworld.
He landed on the ground. The rock was still cold, as if it was no different from the underworld, but the rich water vapor around him made Ananu feel that he was back.
The old woman Antrat Bebis was still lying on the chair over there, still looking like a trace of life.
Ananu could feel that she was still alive this time, and her eyes showed a little light from under their deep sockets, looking at Ananu.
"The little guy...is back from the underworld..."
Different from the time when Ananu entered the underworld, Antratbebis was in better spirits. She slowly raised a hand and said hello to Ananu.
"I'm back. Being able to see that you are still well makes me feel the power of life."
Ananu responded to her softly, nodded politely, bowed slightly, and left, taking the hound of the underworld with him.
Antratbebisi waved to Ananu and sent the polite child away.
He walked through the thick fog and returned to the seaside where he came from. Utnapishtim was still standing here, but he was a little more awake.
"You actually... came back from the underworld?"
He leaned on his crutch, looked at Ananu, and said in surprise.
Ananu smiled and nodded, but did not approach Utnapishtim.
The twilight aura exuding from his body still makes Ananu fearful.
"Over the years, the only ones who have successfully returned from the underworld, after the birth of the new human race, are you and that bastard god named Ishtar..." He didn't care about Ananu's reaction.
, chattering to himself, and as he talked, he seemed to notice something.
He pointed behind Ananu, with excitement in his voice: "Is that the hound of the underworld?"
Ananu nodded.
"Quickly, take me away quickly! Take me to the underworld quickly!"
He moved towards the hound of the underworld, his tone extremely eager.
But the hound of the underworld was indifferent to Utnapishtim. According to its sense of smell, this was not a suitable scapegoat.
Ananu glanced at the hound and shook his head helplessly. He turned around and said to Utnapishtim: "I hope that one day, your dream will come true."
After saying these words, Ananu flew up, leaving the devastated Utnapishtim standing on the coast, sighing.
...
Uruk.
Enkidu sat quietly next to Gilgamesh, who was drowsily handling government affairs on the clay tablet and was about to fall asleep.
Suddenly, as if Enkidu sensed something, he stood up suddenly and sighed softly: "Ah."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." The sleepy Gilgamesh was frightened by Enkidu's sudden movement and turned over. After reacting, he lay on the ground and watched.
Enkidu stood there in confusion.
Looking at Gilgamesh's blank face, Enki couldn't help but laugh out loud, then stretched out one of his hands to pull Gilgamesh up.
Looking at Enkidu's smiling face, Gilgamesh immediately reacted: "Ananu?"
"Well, he should have come out of the underworld and is flying towards Uruk. I can feel it." Enkidu had an expression of relief on his face and a very reassuring smile.
"That's good, that's great." Gilgamesh also breathed a sigh of relief.
This bastard, he went away almost a year ago... It should have been four or five months ago, during the winter, that he entered the underworld. At that time, Enkidu was getting weaker and weaker, and he even fainted and almost killed him.
He was scared to death, but Enkidu quickly recovered, making him feel a little calmer.
Now, listening to Enkidu's words, Gilgamesh was finally relieved.
Now, all I need to do is wait quietly in the palace, waiting for the day when Ananu returns.
...
Ananu's return home was extremely urgent. He did not climb over the mountains like when he came, but flew directly towards Uruk at high speed.
After spending nearly a day and night, Ananu finally flew near Uruk. He could even see the city wall of Uruk from a distance.
At that moment, he burst into tears.
He has never missed this city, this city, and everything in this city so much as he does now.
After falling to the ground, Ananu stood in front of the city gate of Uruk with the setting sun on the horizon.
Ah, there is one more thing that needs to be dealt with.
He suddenly remembered that there was a hound from the underworld following behind him, waiting to find Ananu's replacement and bring him back to Ereshkigal.
Of course, Ananu cannot let anyone else die on his behalf. No one in this city can die on his behalf.