EP.218 Traces of disaster (5)
An old throne placed at the end of a road made of corpses.
A shadow sits where human resentment is directed. Sitting on the throne with his chin resting and his legs crossed, the shadow smiled at the guest who came to see him.
“welcome.”
The shadow spreads its arms wide and pronounces the name of the human who came here in an exaggerated voice.
“Ashen Wizard, Raniel Van Trias.”
Raniel frowned.
“Do you know me?”
“Then, don’t forget. Skebal, that overly passionate friend often talks about you.”
“My story?”
“It looks like there’s a lot piled up. “Whenever I said your name, my jaw would tremble.”
The shadow’s voice is excessively calm.
As if he knew he would come here from the beginning. Raniel feels uncomfortable in the shadow’s calmness.
‘madman.’
Raniel has a hunch.
Now, the person sitting on that throne is the madman that Cardi mentioned. That shadow who introduced himself as the first madman…
“this.”
Right now, this place where I am standing.
“Did you make this?”
Raniel is convinced that it was that shadow that created this hell-like tragedy.
“It’s a question I heard hundreds of years ago.”
The shadow shrugs its shoulders at her question. He let out a short breath as if it was something truly new.
“Who else is here besides me? Oh, the Gray Wizard. Please don’t ask such obvious questions. “It is never fun to give a guest who has been visiting for the first time in hundreds of years the same answer as you gave hundreds of years ago.”
As the sigh that escaped subsides, what appears on the shadow’s lips is a smile. The shadow stretches out its hand and points to Raniel’s feet.
“so.”
He tilts his head.
“Coming this far means that you have seen the laws of this place. “I can’t hide my joy that it’s a magician like you who came here.”
Like an artist presenting his work.
Or, like a madman who wants to be understood.
He looks at Raniel with a smile on his face. The madman’s finger slowly raised and pointed to Raniel’s heart. The madman says, pointing to the curse that has accumulated there.
“How did it feel to be scratched by human resentment?”
Wincing, Raniel’s brows narrowed.
“The curse that tore apart the soul of a wizard as strong as you is not something outside of an incomprehensible providence…”
The corner of the shadow’s mouth is torn.
“What are you feeling now that you realize that it is just a human resentment?”
Raniel doesn’t feel it’s worth answering that question. Raniel pulled down his gloves. A little stronger than usual.
“First Prince, Isaac.”
“It’s the name of a fault.”
step.
“The first madman.”
“It is a title given by the Great Sage himself. “It was so glorious…”
Again, one step.
“Whatever the name is…”
Raniel approaches the madman.
Beyond the human hands clawing at the floor, beyond the vibrating rotten smell, she continues to move forward.
“Let me ask you something.”
“However much.”
An ancient being.
A madman who created the concept that became the foundation of the Demon Lord.
Raniel asks the ancient magician a question.
“What were you thinking?”
“What are you thinking?”
“What were you thinking when you made this? “He must have created a shadow because he had something in mind, and he must have done this because he had something he wanted.”
Raniel stops walking.
Her blue eyes shine in the dark.
“I just don’t understand, I.”
What settled in his blue eyes was disgust.
Because he cannot understand the other person from any perspective, and because there is no room for understanding, Raniel harbors a stronger hatred than ever for the shadow in front of him.
“Why on earth…”
A human scream rings in my ears.
Dozens and millions of vengeful spirits that claw at the floor and spit out curses, neither dead nor alive.
“What did you want, what did you want to achieve, why on earth did you do this…”
“Do you really need a reason?”
“···what?”
The shadow’s voice subsided coldly.
“I asked if you really needed a reason, Gray Wizard.”
Like it’s boring.
As if all the anticipation of encountering a being who might possibly be of one’s own kind had disappeared… the shadow spoke in a voice that could not be felt at all.
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“To reach the truth is the goal of a magician.”
He said harshly.
“I just pursued the truth. What more reason do you need than that? “I thought you, a magician, would understand.”
“···aha.”
Raniel bowed his head.
A smile formed on her lips.
“That’s right.”
Lift your bowed head.
She brushed away her fallen bangs, rolled up her sleeves, and muttered briefly.
Cursed mana.
Gray mana blooms over her body. The eye sockets of the shadow that was looking at Raniel indifferently shake with surprise. Releasing her hand that was resting on her chin, the shadow asked a question in a voice filled with surprise.
“···that?”
“What the f*ck, f*ck.”
With a thud, Raniel kicks the ground.
She opened her mouth, extinguishing the gray flames.
“It was made to punish bastards like you.”
Gray mana struck the shadow.
2.
Boom, coo googung!
Gray mana strikes the hallway. Raniel swung his fist to destroy the entire place, but the result was not as loud as Raniel expected.
The shock arrived.
I did break something.
However, it feels as if you have only scooped out a handful of seawater that extends beyond the horizon. What Raniel destroyed was only a small part.
Countless, countless human grudges.
A lot of noise ringing in my ears.
Only one strand of it was erased.
‘···In theory, it can be broken.’
In fact, it could have been broken.
This special mana created to deal with the Demon King is definitely effective on this altar.
‘but···.’
Absolute output is not enough.
Raniel realizes that even if he burns this place until he runs out of power, it will not be a fundamental solution. Now that she realizes it, she looks right in front of her.
“Amazing.”
A shadow sitting on a throne.
“It’s surprising, though.”
The shadow touched his fist, but only briefly dispersed and quickly regained its shape.
“This isn’t enough.”
He whispers, wrapping his shadow around Raniel’s arm.
“Even the first hero, Ganicalt, couldn’t be cut down. Even if he perfected the sword that cuts through the curse at the last moment… even he could not cut the root.”
The shadow laughs.
“It may be a remnant of the shadows, but such remnants will not work in this place where the origin exists. “It would be better not to lose your strength for no reason, gray wizard.”
Crack.
Raniel grits his teeth and strikes the shadow again. However, the result is the same as before. No damage is done to the shadow. It just scatters.
“It’s no use.”
The shadow just laughs.
“I am personally very interested in this special mana that you have developed. “To be honest, it’s quite surprising.”
He calmly analyzes Raniel’s mana.
“You probably don’t understand the shade, and you probably don’t even fully understand the origin of the curse yet… I can’t believe you created this kind of mana. “I feel like applauding.”
“You’re teasing me now…”
“I’m not kidding. “They are surprised.”
The shadow’s voice became sticky.
“I imitated something I didn’t understand. how? This must be the first time since you came here that you have understood the shade. However, it seems like this spell was created a long time ago.”
The shadow’s empty pupils and black eye sockets stared intently at Raniel.
“It’s like imitating a difficult, very difficult circuit without even seeing or understanding it. That’s amazing. “It’s surprising and sad at the same time.”
“What on earth…”
“You don’t have much time left to live.”
Raniel’s eyes narrowed.
“It means that I am saddened by your fate, which will end its life unfinished in the face of completion. “You must be truly merciless, Star.”
The shadow speaks in a lamentable voice.
“Why don’t you come this way? “If it were me, I could live your life as long as I wanted.”
Raniel responded by swinging his fist once again. The shadow laughs as it looks at the cavernous throne.
“Be picky. “The way you go out with your fist first, it seems like you resemble my sister.”
I know that it is something that will not be tempted.
Therefore, the shadow disperses from the throne and stands right next to Raniel. The shadow that had been sitting arrogantly on the throne stood up for the first time.
“I’ll tell you in advance, I’m quite friendly towards you.”
At those words, Raniel had to suppress a sigh. Favor, that damn favor.
‘Is there something that crazy people have in common?’
Starting with the apostate, that crazy bitch… Now even the first crazy person is friendly to him. Naturally, the madmen’s favor did not work in the right direction.
‘It will be like that this time too.’
Raniel planned to listen to the shadow’s voice with one ear and let it go with the other. However, the voice heard was something that could not be easily ignored.
“Between death and life, I, who exist in an imperfect form, never disappear. Even if you complete the spell, it will be the same.”
Raniel turns his head.
She looked at the shadow standing next to her.
“It can only disappear if special conditions are met. “Bet on yourself.”
Shadow shrugs his shoulders.
Surprisingly, the shadow pronounced the condition with its own mouth. Without any boundaries.
“Only a star child can kill me.”
star child
“Only a child like my sister, with brilliant starlight… and loved by the stars, can shatter my spirit. “It means it’s impossible for you.”
“Why did you tell me that…”
“You probably know that too.”
The shadow says
“Fourth Princess, Ayla.”
“······.”
“The child you are raising might be able to kill me.”
Raniel cannot understand the shadow’s intentions.
The madman, as always, is just laughing. No one can know its true nature.
“Three years, Gray Wizard.”
The corner of the shadow’s mouth was torn.
The voice that comes out from the corner of the torn mouth is soft.
“The darkest period in human history that will come in three years, the time when starlight will be weakest.”
A period of generational change for warriors who come periodically.
“Three years is the period you are allowed, and that is how long it will take for me to head to the next stage.”
Why do you tell me that?
Since the reason is unknown, Raniel asks the shadow. The shadow answered that question.
“Because humans who resist to leave something behind in the face of approaching death are beautiful.”
Only incomprehensible answers come back.
They are called mad because they cannot understand.
“Maybe it’s a tribute to you for creating an opportunity to break hundreds of years of silence.”
With those words left behind, the shadow disperses. As if it never existed here to begin with. With a clink, something fell where the shadows were scattered.
Raniel silently picked up what had fallen on the floor.
That was the key.
A key to open the door.
3.
Raniel walked along the path behind the throne. The reason why human resentment gathered on the throne was because the shadow sitting there attracted the resentment.
After the shadow disappeared, the curse went a little deeper. Raniel continued walking.
If you continue walking along the foul-smelling hallway, you will arrive in front of a tightly closed door. There were broken pillars around the closed door, thirty and seven in total.
‘Sacred number.’
A pillar broken to desecrate the number thirty-seven.
Raniel squeezed through the gap in the pillar and approached the tightly closed door. There was a small key hole in the door.
click.
Raniel opened the door with the key he picked up a moment ago. The door opened softly, and a different odor than before lingered in Raniel’s nose.
“······.”
The answer was there.
Raniel stood in place for a while, staring blankly at the scene in the room. Only after such a long time had passed did she burst into laughter.
“···under.”
Why did they blame the stars even as they became bodies that could neither die nor live? How was it possible for such a death to take place in secret?
“Born by human hands.”
Raniel muttered.
“Because it wasn’t just humans who prayed.”
The condition has been achieved.
Thus, Raniel reaches the second truth.
‘I got the answer.’
She feels the traces of a contract binding the root of her tongue. It was the same sensation she felt in the Northern Tower. Now that she had earned her right to know the truth, Raniel turned around and left the room.
Now, it was time to check what he had found out.
‘Cardi.’
There was a lot to hear from him. Very much.
A word from the author (author review)
It’s late, but I hope you enjoy the rest of your Lunar New Year holidays 😀
