#tsofph ereshkigal

[sakuraswordly]

Koryuu: Hey, Ereshkigal. Why not? It'll be fine.

Ereshkigal: Fine? No, it's not fine.

She turned sharply toward Punch.

Ereshkigal: Punch, if you truly care about King Gilgamesh, you must stop him. His condition is getting worse. Every time he walks this path, the curse eats away at him. The King's Path is killing him.

Koryuu: You're exaggerating.

Ereshkigal: Am I? Enkidu won't listen. Shamash won't listen. They all see his determination and call it courage. I see a man running toward death.

Punch: I can't stop him.

Ereshkigal: Why not?

Punch: Because I'd have to abandon this path, too. His path is my path. We chose it together. There is no turning back now.

Ereshkigal stared at her in disbelief.

Ereshkigal: Then tell me, Punch Whalen.

The Goddess of the Underworld stepped closer.

Ereshkigal: Is your selfishness or your ego, or your heart talking?

Punch: We don't have much time, including Mr Gilgamesh's life. We've made our decision.

Ereshkigal: Even you'll die?

Punch: Yes.

Ereshkigal: Even if you die beside him?

Punch: Yes.

For a moment, the Queen of Kur looked genuinely angry.

Ereshkigal: You foolish child.

Punch: Maybe.

Ereshkigal: Do you think death is romantic?

Punch: No.

Ereshkigal: Do you think sacrifice makes everything noble?

Punch: No.

Ereshkigal: Then why?

Punch: Because I don't want his last road to be lonely. If this curse is the shadow at the end of his story…Then I'll walk beside him until the very end.

Ereshkigal: ……..

She covered her face with one hand.

Ereshkigal: Unbelievable.

Koryuu: Huh?

Ereshkigal: You're both impossible. A stubborn king. And an even more stubborn girl.

Punch: Heh. Sorry.

Ereshkigal: Don't apologize.

Another silence passed.

Ereshkigal: So even you won't listen to me.

Punch: No.

Ereshkigal: What a stubborn and childish person you are, Punch.

Punch: I've been told that before.

Ereshkigal: Hmph.

Slowly, a faint smile appeared on the goddess's face.

Ereshkigal: Fine.

Koryuu: Wait… fine?

Ereshkigal: Fine. I'm in.

Punch: …What?

Ereshkigal: I won't stop you two from being reckless anymore.

Koryuu: That's the opposite of what you've been saying!

Ereshkigal: Because neither of them will listen.

She looked away, embarrassed.

Ereshkigal: Besides…

Punch: Besides?

Ereshkigal: Someone has to make sure you idiots don't die before you're supposed to.

Punch: Thank you, Ereshkigal.

Ereshkigal: Don't thank me yet.

The Queen of the Underworld turned toward the darkness ahead.

Ereshkigal: The Shadow Path won't care about your feelings.

Punch: I know.

Ereshkigal: Then walk carefully. I won't stop you two from being reckless. It's up to you, Punch.

Punch: I'll try.

[sakuraswordly]

Ereshkigal: That’s weird.

Peter: Why is that?

Ereshkigal: Every creation like me will bow to the master who created us… but King Gilgamesh never bows to anyone. Not even to his father. It’s unusual to see him bow to Punch. Gilgamesh isn’t the kind of king to bow. He's arrogant from the beginning. For him to kneel to Punch means Punch is more than what he appears to be. Don’t you feel it? Punch carries an aura…one that doesn’t belong to mortals alone. He walks like a human, laughs like one, but his presence bends the world around him.

Peter: For me, it’s weirder to see Punch bow and respect Gil. Especially since he’s exactly the type Punch hates the most.

Ereshkigal: Punch hated leaders that much?

Peter: Yes. A leader who uses power and hurts their own people… that’s the kind Punch despises.

Ereshkigal: True… Punch’s nature for hating the type leaders' rebellion and resistance. But that’s not the whole truth. There’s something Gilgamesh is hiding from us.

Peter: Hiding? What do you mean?

Ereshkigal: Punch is not just a wanderer. Not just some passing traveller like you or Enkidu. There’s more to why the King bows…and why Punch bows back.

A heavy silence follows, both of them aware that the bond between Gilgamesh and Punch is deeper than respect, deeper than rebellion, maybe even deeper than fate itself. A bond born of something they have yet to uncover.

[sakuraswordly]

Gilgamesh: Your role is just to watch and be free from your cruel destiny that god gave to you a very long time ago.

Ereshkigal: Punch did tell me all about it. But....about super-nature we must face....

Gilgamesh: Ereshkigal, Queen of Dust, you weigh the spirits day and night. Tell me, what do you see in the souls that descend to your halls?

Ereshkigal: I see their truth stripped bare. In life, they cloak themselves with titles, gold, or weapons. But here… only the shadow remains. Their deeds cling to them like smoke. Some glow faintly with kindness; others reek of cruelty.

Gilgamesh: So it is not crowns or victories that matter here. Only the weight of the heart.

Ereshkigal: Yes. A beggar who shared his bread walks lighter than a king who hoarded his throne. Ghosts remind us: the measure of a soul is not its power, but its compassion.

Gilgamesh: I once sought to conquer death, to outlast all men. But perhaps it is better to leave behind goodness than a monument of stone.

Ereshkigal: Stone crumbles. Even the mighty walls of Uruk will someday return to dust. But a gentle act echoes in eternity, carried by the whispers of the dead.

Gilgamesh: And the restless ghosts, those who wander without peace?

Ereshkigal: They are the unbalanced ones—those whose greed chained them, or whose love bound them too tightly to the living. They haunt until the living release them, or until they accept their truth.

Gilgamesh: Yes. Then judgment is not punishment, but revelation. You hold up a mirror to the soul, and it must face itself.

Ereshkigal: That is the burden of my throne. I do not condemn; I uncover. The soul judges itself in my silence.

Gilgamesh: And perhaps the living, if wise, can learn from the dead.

Ereshkigal: Few do. I see. So you want me to continue this role.

Gilgamesh: Yes.

Ereshkigal: But you, King Gilgamesh, have walked far enough into shadow to understand. Go carry this wisdom just like always you did, while you still draw breath.