Episode 123. presentation (7)

past 30 years.

Before joining Laplace, a dragon suddenly immersed itself in astronomical research for over eight hundred years.

The sea breeze was blowing in the polar region where the night sky was the clearest.

A gigantic iceberg overflowing surrounded by sea ice that even the adventurous humans have yet to conquer.

In his nest, whose white surface glistened with salt and starlight, only the sound of the regular crashing of small waves would resonate.

As it is a remote area where everything is swallowed up by the bitter cold and dark shadows when night comes, it is a place that can only be reached by crossing the frozen sea and breaking through the drift ice.

The fact that he, who was born and raised in a nest and devoted everything to celestial research, has never met other intelligent beings… . From that point of view, it was understandable.

‘Hey, listen up. Why are you so depressed.’

‘… ?’

That said, of course, that it was only because he was lonely that he faced an intruder who had set foot in his nest for the first time without warning.

It wasn’t because she broke the silence that had hovered here for hundreds of years.

‘… Is it an unrecorded species? Or a human mutation?’

It was because the four purple wings on the girl’s back, which did not breathe even when breathing in the cold night air, aroused his curiosity.

She fluttered her school uniform skirt made of a material not found in nature, hovering around him and smiling brightly.

‘I’m a fairy who came from the other side of the world.’

‘… Does that mean you came from another world? That is just a human delusion. It has already been proven-‘

‘no! there really is It’s a darker place than here. Can you believe it when you see it floating around me?’

‘… !’

As mana swirled around her in a form she had never seen before, the colorless and odorless mana, which should have moved irregularly, turned black and stopped moving, wrapping around her.

Mana’s unique nature was not visible at all.

Surprised by the shocking sight of the transformation of the goddess’ power, he tried to get closer to her by raising his body again.

‘If you move further from there, your unhealed wounds will open more. What are all the dragons like? How… . How can you not even look at yourself?’

She came down quickly through the air and pressed his head gently, but he shook his head and shook her hand away.

‘This is my wound, don’t mind it.’

‘… why? To die?’

The dingy ultramarine seawater pushing the iceberg shone sparks as it met the blood he was pouring.

It was a splendid sight that would have looked like a fireworks display under the sea, had it not been for the smell of blood everywhere.

She looked into his eyes, not paying attention to the glimmering lights on the floor.

‘Didn’t you all see life as an opportunity to please your guardian spirit? If you die like this, the God of Truth will be sad.’

‘Is a believer who can’t even serve God really worth existing?’

The light brown eyes of the girl, reminiscent of a dog, are not avoided… . With a calm expression, he continued.

‘Despite being ordered by the God of Truth to reveal the secrets of the celestial bodies. I, who have not contributed in the slightest to astronomical research in recent years… . What will this useless body do while living?’

About the secrets of the infinitely cataclysmic and expanding universe due to the lifespan, size, and mana of the stars that light up the night sky.

The more we uncover, the more… . The more you know. He had to feel his ignorance and incompetence as he looked up at the sky.

The first hundreds of years of research were days filled with joy, when new facts were realized each time the research continued.

As time passed, Heaven gradually forbade him to show him any fragment of the truth.

The only thing in front of him is the night sky, which moves far beyond my comprehension.

The movement of the stars, the mysteries of the universe, and the future of the changing world.

He couldn’t figure out anything.

It’s been years since he struggled with the pain that seemed to be rolling around in his head, the stars scattering like broken glass and giving off sharp light.

He, who wanted to reach the truth through astronomy, lost the meaning of his own existence in the world in despair.

‘But that’s the case, is that a reason to die? Besides astronomy, I can do other research.’

He also shook his head at her question.

‘The reason why the number of dragons is set at exactly 49. Do you know?’

Although this also meant that if someone did not die, another entity would not be born.

It also meant that if an entity dies earlier than its intended lifespan, another entity will be born prematurely.

It was only right that such an incompetent individual, unable to do research for the long-cherished wish of his race, should quickly return to nature and move aside so that a new clan could take his place.

‘yes? Then you will die anyway. will you listen to me? I’ll solve your problem. Pretend to be deceived, close your eyes for a moment.’

Before he could answer, she closed his left eyelid with both hands like a curtain.

‘hurry!! If I can really cure your symptoms, you’ll be able to continue your research. Isn’t that the best thing for you and for the God of Truth?’

As she said, he would die anyway, and he couldn’t think of anything to refute to the stranger’s scolding.

I was already feeling extreme fatigue to ask questions about the other person’s identity.

In the end, he closed his other right eye and decided to try believing in the futile hope.

‘Imagine such a world. Everything in the universe moves according to the cycle and orbit, and revolves infinitely within the golden rule… . A world complete in itself.’

‘… .’

‘You will draw a map of the heavens in it, and you will write down the days when the meteor shower will fall on the calendar. No cacophony, no improvisation. Everything will be in harmony.’

Let her voice, which used to be gentle, calm down and become a melody and linger in your ears.

With the stars above his head, his senses, which had been extremely sensitive, gradually dulled, and the breath he had been exhaling began to subside.

‘If the world doesn’t expand and doesn’t move beyond prediction… . In other words, if it has its own periodicity, everything that happens in the world will repeat itself forever. Then you can anticipate what will happen when. There will be no reason for descendants to worry about things that haven’t happened yet, such as the Ice Age and meteorite impacts.’

He opened his mouth, holding on to his consciousness drowning in her whispers that permeated like sweet rain.

‘It’s no use. It’s just a meaningless fantasy.’

‘Do you really think so? This world was originally so static and beautiful. Everything the goddess created had a reason, and the creations interlocked and moved in an orderly fashion.’

In the beginning, there was darkness in chaos, and it is said that Elma created the world by giving order called light.

She committed an incomprehensible act of scattering mana in a carefully designed world.

‘The goddess messed up the perfect world with her own hands.’

‘… .’

‘However, in a world that has become essentially unknown… . Elma has given you an unattainable goal to grasp all the truth.’

‘Goddess… . why-‘

‘Well… . Maybe it’s because it’s fun? A world where everything is obvious and there are easy-to-achieve goals wouldn’t be fun for a goddess.’

‘What is that… !’

The power of the goddess, mana, moves unpredictably and has the property of constantly changing the world.

No matter how much dragons devoted their lives to exploring the universe, the world affected by mana could never come within their predictions.

While they study one, the world changes twice, three times, four times… .

‘To seek the truth that dragons do not change while making the world change endlessly. If this is not deception, what is it?’

‘… that’s.’

‘Because that goal is indelibly imprinted on your instincts. Dragons live their whole life feeling pain. … Poor thing.’

Elma’s contradiction.

This was an inconvenient truth that dragons would not speak out.

Observing the infinitely expanding universe, he fell into madness, but he also did not think about it.

‘… So, what should I do?’

Even if the given fate is ephemeral, if it is the will of the guardian deity, you must follow it… . At the time, he was lost in that thought.

‘Have you ever thought, looking into the universe, that I never questioned that? I already knew that it would be impossible for me to fully understand the laws of the infinitely expanding and changing universe. Elmas was the one who created the world, so of course that must be Elma’s will.’

‘… .’

‘By the way, even if you know that, what will change? No matter how much we are a clan, we are just a handful of small things in the world. Is the world badly designed? If the goddess created us in an absurd way, it is the fate of the creature that we have no choice but to accept it. I just have to choose the best option I can within it.’

‘Really, do you think you can’t change the world or destiny?’

‘Yes.’

‘What if it wasn’t? Even if I give you a chance to mend the twisted fabric of this world… . Are you going to continue to accept the goddess’ incomprehensible behavior as it is?’

When she opened her eyes, the night sky was covered with a purple aurora that obscured the stars that only shimmered in the distance.

His eyes were stained with the brilliance of her wings unraveling in the night sky.

‘As you may have seen before, mana doesn’t move where I used to live. Endlessly silent, dark… . It’s peaceful.’

The black mana flowing from her covered even the smile on her face.

‘If you lend me your strength, I can make this world like it. The day when all mana stops and the gods disappear from the world… . This could be a paradise.’

‘… .’

‘I’ll be your hope.’

He doesn’t know exactly when, but after hearing her story, he realized that the starlight no longer bothered him.

He followed her beckoning and crossed the night sky that he couldn’t even get close to.

As if fleeing from the east, through the moon and clouds to the west, the two reached a gloomy valley.

There, out of reach, other members of the clan waited for her with their heads bowed.

‘Welcome to Laplace. I’m Akasha… . I came to rescue dragons and other races from the goddess.’

In the valley filled with purple mist, the nights were singing melancholy songs.

‘Everyone, welcome the new member, Kegar.’

It was the moment when his name was made.

To her who wipes off the blood he spilled and applies a black liquid in which a vast amount of mana is dissolved over the wound… . He bowed his head.

‘I will follow you.’

Later, when she went on a long journey, she called it, Idea.

Before Elma scattered mana, everything kept its original shape and repeated infinitely… . nature of the world.

After meeting Akasha, the eyes of Kegar, who has been running for only one goal… . As if to deny all of that, it began to fill in pure white.

“Clinamen.”

As Ian chanted, white light began to slowly descend over Kegar’s head.

Everything touched by the light began to bleach to a terrifying degree.

Starting with the Rubedo scholars sitting next to him, the observers surrounding him, the pulpit, Ian and Dana, and the sky map on the ceiling that was gradually losing its light faded to white.

The mutterings of the confused crowd gradually faded away, until complete silence remained.

‘Let’s stay calm. There is absolutely no reason to be agitated. It’s just a hallucination drawn by Ian with his free magic… !’

Professor Ian’s voice echoed above Kegar’s head, who was standing alone in a white vacuum where he couldn’t even hear the rustle of his collar.

“This is what you are seeing in the beginning as it was written in the undeciphered Bible.”