Duncan gazed intently at the cube floating at the end of Black Sun’s tendril, at the symbols on its surface that seed to have exhausted every effort to convey their ssage to him.
He imagined how such a small tallic block could have been delivered to this world—delivered to this era—what thod, what process it had undergone.
It was a letter, a ssage from the New World to the Old World. Yet, all evidence proving this had been erased by so force. Its creator might have tried countless ways to ensure that the cube could "reveal its origin," but it seed that these efforts were unsuccessful—though unsuccessful did not an aningless.
The very appearance of it was a kind of interpretation, although this interpretation appeared to be a wildly bold conjecture by Black Sun. At this mont, Duncan was more than willing to believe that this conjecture was the one and only correct answer.
In the midst of this silence, the deep, layered tremor of Black Sun finally broke the quiet: "The manufacturing techniques and operational thods of this cube exceed my understanding—exceed the knowledge systems of any City-State that have existed now or in the past, and surpass any technology known to from before the Great Oblivion."
"On the other hand, considering ’purpose,’ I can find no reason why anyone would make and place the cube inside the Creation of the World—let alone that even the ancient kings’ powers could not manage to send sothing into the Creation of the World. Hence, the only explanation I can think of is that this cube cos from a world and era beyond my comprehension.
"I am familiar with all the history of this Shelter—the only history I do not understand is the future.
"The future concerning the ’New World.’
The brilliant yet false corona at the edge of Black Sun slowly unfolded, its tendrils, scorched by fierce flas, stretched out in the sea of fire and slowly curled again.
And the tendril that stretched a vast distance, reaching the entrance of the mansion, steadily remained before Duncan, as if holding so precious treasure, carefully supporting the unremarkable-looking, small, tallic cube.
"Usurper of the Fla, this letter has no recipient. Soone or so people from the New World tried every ans to send it to this era, but they couldn’t ensure that the cube would reach soone’s hands accurately... However, I have a feeling that it was ant for you."
Duncan found it hard to articulate his feelings at the mont. He looked at the symbols and patterns on the surface of the cube; although all the inscriptions were blurred and chaotic, he still grasped a part of the ssage the "letter" conveyed—
The human body (self), principles, mathematics, a child’s doodles, and stars.
"They live in a rational and stable world... They can see the stars," Duncan murmured to himself as if talking to the air, "They live safely, and..."
"And, they have reached a very high stage of developnt," Black Sun slowly added. "The manufacturing technique used for this cube is beyond belief, and so is the thod employed to send it ’here.’ It is sothing that has never appeared in any ’blueprints.’"
Duncan didn’t speak for a while. Alice, standing by his side, blinked curiously. The doll-like lady looked at the distant Black Sun, then at the nearby cube. Although she didn’t understand complex and profound issues like "manufacturing techniques," "developntal stages," or "blueprints," she at least grasped that the cube was sothing important sent by soone, making her unable to hold back her curiosity and break the silence: "Captain, who could have sent this ’letter’?"
Soone or so people from the New World.
That answer erged first in Duncan’s mind, but he hesitated to speak it out loud. After a long reflection, he reached out tentatively towards the phantom-like cube—a cluster of starlight-flecked flas leaped at his fingertips.
Black Sun’s tendril instinctively recoiled as the fla neared but eventually stretched out again, softly reminding, "This is only its illusion; the actual cube is not here."
"I know, I just want to try to ’hear’ or ’see’ sothing," said Duncan, "Illusion or reality doesn’t matter to ; as long as there is a connection of information, that’s enough."
Black Sun said no more, but slightly lifted the cube’s illusion on its tendril.
The fla at Duncan’s fingertips silently rged into the illusion, like rain dissolving into water.
He remained silent, intently sensing the information passed on by the fla—he felt how the fla gradually faded in the void, but even with the eyes of a Reverse Singularity, he saw nothing deep within the fire.
No echo, no "mory." It seed that all the deep information carried by the cube had been obliterated in the process of passing through the Creation of the World.
Duncan patiently waited for a long ti, until the last trace of fla completely dissipated in the depths of the illusion. Nothing responded to him; only emptiness lay deep within the cube.
Alice watched wide-eyed by his side, silent the whole ti for fear of causing trouble, until she saw the captain let out a slight sigh. She couldn’t help but move closer: "Did you see anything?"
"Nothing," Duncan gently shook his head, "I’m afraid it’s all been eroded clean during the ’transfer’ process."
Alice looked stunned, disappointnt surfacing on her face: "...Oh."
Duncan felt the sa disappointnt but said nothing more, just waved his hand lightly, withdrawing his gaze from the tallic cube.
However, just as he averted his eyes, as if a wisp of an incredibly ethereal breeze blew by, a phantom-like flicker crossed his mind—during that nearly hallucinatory instant, he heard a voice, as though erging directly from his mory:
"...I will do everything in my power to see you again... I must find a way to leave sothing behind..."
Duncan turned sharply, staring intently at the small cube.
The sound at that instant was so ethereal and elusive that he couldn’t even be sure if it had any connection with the cubic artifact, or if it was rely a "mory" that had popped up in his mind. The voice did not appear again, everything seed like his own hallucination.
But a few seconds later, a slight smile suddenly appeared on his face.
In his mind erged the figure of a hunched, elderly Cretan elder in a worn white robe—the old man who walked into the twilight of the world’s end, waving goodbye without looking back, stepping into the endless night with almost no guidance, in search of the slim glimr that should not have been able to shine upon the old world.
The Cretan elder had succeeded.
He had sent a ssage of peace from the new world.
...And perhaps it wasn’t just a "status update" ssage.
Duncan seed to think of sothing, his brow furrowed in deep thought, his expressions changing — Alice, perceptive to the changes in the ship captain, felt a tinge of worry and couldn’t help but step forward and tug at Duncan’s sleeve: "Captain?"
Duncan raised his head with a still solemn expression, and casually patted the Puppet Lady’s hair, looking at the distant Black Sun: "You just said that this cubic artifact ca ’from’ the Creation of the World?"
"Yes," Black Sun imdiately answered, "This cubic artifact has ’surfaced’ from the depths of the Creation of the World, that much I can be certain of."
"It sounds like you know quite a bit about the Creation of the World and have always been keeping an eye on it," Duncan’s expression turned serious, "Other ’Ancient Kings’ don’t seem to know as much about it as you."
"As you said," the imposing eye faced Duncan squarely without concealnt, "I know many things related to the Creation of the World, just as I understand the entire Endless Sea... Do you rember what I said at the beginning? Throughout the long years, I’ve been ’overlooking’ this world..."
Upon hearing Black Sun’s words, Duncan’s face changed slightly, then he suddenly realized: "Wait, are you saying... your true body is actually inside the Creation of the World?!"
"No, I am on its ’reverse side’," Black Sun said calmly, "No one can stay within the Creation of the World, not even the so-called ’Ancient Kings’; it is a place that devours and tears apart everything, it is the end of the world itself—but apart from that, the Creation of the World itself... is an impregnable ’barrier’."
"It is sufficient to completely separate the entire Endless Sea and those harmful, dangerous exiles, shielding the toxic, corrosive ’influences’ to the Shelter on the other side of the barrier—at the ’reverse side’ of the Creation of the World, lies the cold land of exile, and for ten thousand years, I’ve been right here, just above everyone’s heads."
The... reverse side of the Creation of the World!
Duncan felt his heart pound. A reality he had always ignored suddenly ca before his eyes—the Creation of the World actually had a "reverse side," and on that unbelievable "reverse side," Black Sun, the most ancient and dangerous "ancient god" that terrorized the whole world, was actually suspended above the heads of mortal beings?!
After a brief shock, Duncan suddenly realized sothing—
Why the cubic artifact that "passed through" the Creation of the World and was sent to this era fell into Black Sun’s hands—because in this world, the one closest to the Creation of the World is this ancient god, exiled ten thousand years ago!
"Usurper of Fire," at this mont, Black Sun’s voice ca, interrupting Duncan’s thoughts, "Why are you suddenly interested in the Creation of the World?"
Duncan imdiately collected his scattered thoughts. After briefly composing himself, he looked up earnestly at the ancient "deity".
"I have a rather bold plan... It might sound a bit insane."
"Oh?" Black Sun made a curious sound, "Can you tell ? Is it related to the Creation of the World?"
Duncan thought for a mont and nodded earnestly: "Simply put, I plan to detonate it."
Black Sun went silent in an instant.
After an unknowable length of ti, the twisted and indescribable "ancient god" suddenly emitted a series of strange tremors and gurgling sounds from within, and then the disordered noise reassembled into a coherent syllable—
"...Huh?"
(Of course, before the book’s end, I have to quickly... plug a few books to pad it out! This ti I am recomnding "Sword Path Ashes," by the author Panda Who Wrestles, who is also a reader of mine. Below is his own introduction:)
After Xie Xuanyi fell into the North Sea, under the nurturing of the Fountain of Immortality, he unexpectedly welcod his second life.
Enchantress, Sword Immortal, Buddha’s Son... with demons dancing wildly and a great tide approaching, another golden age has arrived!
In his previous life, his body was feeble; this life, he forged Lustrous Vajra Bones with golden Vital Energy!
The three hundred flying swords of the past all broke, so he refined an entire realm of sword qi!
Milk for the Sky Sacrifice.)
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