EP.142 The past, the more distant past (5)
A tower built in the distant past.
A library where the history that no one remembers remains intact because it has not been recorded anywhere.
“······.”
Raniel remains silent in the face of the truth.
I saw a lot. It took some time to accept and reflect on what I saw.
“···Phew.”
Raniel let out a short breath.
She tilted her head back. She closed her eyes as she looked at the ceiling of her church, the starlight streaming down from her ceiling.
‘The disaster of the four is the first hero.’
Raniel pondered one sentence.
It was a sentence that could not be easily accepted. I had to chew it over and over again to swallow it. With his eyes closed, Raniel collected his thoughts.
I thought about a lot of things.
I remember the words left behind by disasters.
Cardi put together the words she had inadvertently uttered.
Only after thinking, recalling, and putting it back together again… Raniel was able to accept that one line of sentence. She slowly opened her eyes. It was after quite a long time.
“···so that.”
Raniel muttered.
“Is that why a hero was born?”
Her gaze is directed straight ahead.
The product of the contract made by the wise men of the past is there. Raniel, the current wise man, faces it.
Four brightly shining stars.
Four stars resembling the starlight possessed by the warrior orbit in a certain orbit around the pillar of light. Raniel thinks as he looks at the stars.
There is a question I have had for a long time.
‘Why does the hero keep appearing?’
When one star sets, another star is born. In any era, at any moment, a warrior was born. Even though there may be a gap, warriors have consistently left their mark on human history over the past hundreds of years.
Everyone takes it for granted.
However, it was not Raniel.
She has always questioned the obvious.
‘There is no way the stars can continue to bless.’
There is neither good nor evil in the stars.
It’s just something completely calculated. Such a being has always lent the power of the name ‘Hero’ to humans. Raniel couldn’t understand it.
I couldn’t understand it though.
Now I can understand it.
“From the beginning, there was only one hero.”
A pillar of brilliant light.
A sacred object placed in the center.
Cardi made a deal with the star to leave it here. When the contract was made, the light that was once was split. It was divided into four stars.
“······.”
Raniel wordlessly stretched out his hand beyond the light.
What was caught in the light was a wooden box. Raniel took it outside.
Squeak.
When I opened the wooden box, soft light came out. The thing emitting light was someone’s arm. A long time had passed and only a bone remained, but it wasn’t difficult to guess whose arm it was.
‘Saint’s arms.’
The arms of a saint, not an apostate.
The arms of Gleria Bel Armias.
Looking at it, Raniel traces his memories.
‘I heard it once.’
There are legends that I saw while researching ancient times. Among them, this sentence was clearly written in the document that recorded the first saint.
“A saint is a vessel.”
“A vessel to hold the stars.”
Raniel looked at the wall.
She read the name carved into the wall.
“The first hero, Ganicalt van Galatric.”
The sword of death, Ganicalt.
When Raniel faced him, there was no starlight left. Even if he was corrupted, if he was a warrior in the past, he must have had starlight in some form.
‘But, he didn’t have it.’
There was no starlight left for him.
He merely shed shade.
‘why?’
Raniel asks himself.
She answered the question she asked herself.
“Because it’s here.”
This is the moment I pronounced it.
Starlight gathered in the air. The gathered starlight became letters. It became a sentence.
“I leave a few lines of a letter for someone who has to face the truth.”
It was a letter from the distant past to the present.
2.
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“My name is Cardi Van Armiel.
I was once a warrior, but now I am nothing more than a loser. The reason I, who am just a loser, am writing this line is because I hope that someone will know the truth.
I, we failed.
When you arrived here, you would have seen it.
Although our purposes were different, we continued our journey with the sole intention of hunting down the demon lord. It was not a smooth journey. It was a journey that took several years, and was mentally draining.
At the end of the journey, we arrived in front of the Demon King. He opened the door to the shadow temple where he was staying. That day, there, at that moment, we saw the true nature of the devil. We fought against that curse for ten days and nights.
I risked everything I had.
I did everything I could.
And, we failed.
I reached, but didn’t reach. I cut, but I couldn’t cut. There we were defeated by the devil.
At the moment of defeat, we thought.
We are defeated now. Every journey returns to nothingness. However, it is up to us to choose whether it will be a meaningless defeat or a cornerstone for future generations.
So, there we made a choice.
Couldn’t win.
Since I couldn’t win, I had to wait and see.
Gleria cut off her own arm. Ganicalt put his starlight there. They asked me to leave it to them.
If you live a life close to eternity,
I’m sure we’ll find a way.
I couldn’t refuse their request. However, I couldn’t find a way. It was impossible for me. It has to be that way. I already failed once. The path I took was wrong. I wasn’t sure that the path I was walking again wouldn’t be wrong.
So, I made another decision.
to the next.
In the past, just like they did.
Just as their species, humans, has done this since the distant past.
Next, then again.
I decided to cycle the starlight. I split Ganicalt’s most brilliant star into four. The reason may lie in the characteristics of the star and the law of the power it gives, but I don’t want to explain it that way.
The reason for dividing it into four is simple.
Because it is impossible to do alone.
Because there were four of us, we were able to arrive in front of the Demon King. When one seemed about to collapse, the other supported him. Because there were four of us instead of one, we were able to continue our trip.
No matter how strong you are, you will eventually collapse. At that time, I wish there was someone standing next to him. That’s why I split the star into four.
Yes, that is the origin of the hero.
A cycle that cycles forever.
That’s the rule I created.
This is the third contract I made with the stars.”
The letters stopped for a moment.
After a brief pause, a new text appeared.
It was closer to a request rather than information.
“······I am.
I don’t know what era you are living in when you arrive here and read my letter.
Maybe 100 years have passed.
Maybe hundreds of years have passed.
Maybe, thousands of years later.
I don’t know how much time has passed, but I think I will probably still be alive until that time. Because elves live for a long time. Therefore, I picture you arriving here.
Are you a warrior?
Is he a sword superhuman similar to that guy?
If not, is he a wizard like me?
I don’t know who you are, but I bow my head to you in the distant future.
Remember.
That we were in the past. You know that in the distant past, there were people there who wanted to catch the devil.
Please remember.”
‘Please remember.’
With those words, the letter ended.
The letters of light floating in the air crumbled and crumbled into powder. I slowly closed and opened my eyes.
“···Anyway.”
Four heroes, four heroes party.
A bitter smile appeared on his lips.
“You stupid elf, you should have told me from the beginning to form a party of only four heroes…”
Why are there four heroes?
This is because it is a power that originally came from one source. After knowing this, it became clear why if one hero was strong, the other hero was weak.
‘Because the power comes from one.’
The total amount was a fixed force.
I suppressed a sigh and relaxed my shoulders. Although I say this, I didn’t actually think that anything would be possible even if four warriors gathered together.
‘The sword of death… The reason the first hero was strong was not because of the starlight.’
I knew because I saw the memories engraved on the church.
He was strong even before he was a warrior.
Because it was a complete being before receiving power from the stars, it was able to achieve the highest efficiency when it was given a ‘weapon that could cut anything’.
“···still.”
I muttered as I looked at the bones in the wooden box.
“There is a sure way to kill the apostate.”
The remains of a saint.
Four stars orbited around these remains. Even without the saint’s bones, the star continues to orbit. But why was this bone placed here?
‘To capture the starlight.’
Orbiting stars wear out.
The starlight, which was strong at first, gradually fades. Whatever it is, it can’t last forever. The shattered fragments of the star were contained in the saint’s remains.
One or two turns won’t do.
‘Replacement of dozens or hundreds of generations.’
The star has been rotating for an unimaginably distant time. It continued from next to next again. That long period of time is literally melted into these bones.
someday.
It was a device made by Cardi for someone who would arrive here after a very long time.
“······.”
Before leaving, I took one last look at the center of the church.
“Next, next again.”
That one line of sentence lingered in my head.
It has to be that way. That sentence that Cardi left behind was, funny enough, the same thing I had always thought.
“to the next.”
Because it is impossible alone.
“Again, next time.”
Still, I couldn’t give up.
“…so that my journey is not meaningless.”
The elves of the past believed:
He engraved the truth for anyone who would come here in the future. He has prepared a way to hunt disaster. Although it was impossible for him, Cardi left here a method that could be possible for someone in the future.
he believed
If time passes by.
As it is passed down and passed down again.
Someday, I will definitely reach it.
The potential he left behind lies here.
The law of the four stars is untouchable. However, the remains of a saint who had been filled with starlight for hundreds of years were in my hands.
‘It’s something I can’t accept.’
Because my soul is already broken.
Because it has already worn out, it is unacceptable.
‘Where should I use this?’
It was decided from the beginning.
I walk outside the tower holding the wooden box. Every time I take a step, visions of people who have visited this place in the past pass before my eyes.
“I hope my sword will be helpful to the world.”
I passed the warrior.
“I hope no one loses a family member.”
I passed the shaman.
“May everyone just be saved.”
Pass by the saint.
“Next, next again.”
I stood in front of Cardi.
Cardi, standing in front of the door, looked at me and smiled weakly. The silver-haired elf I knew, not the gray one, spoke.
“In the past, in the distant past…”
He stretched out his finger and pointed at me.
“To your future self.”
The illusion dissipates.
I walked through the scattered illusions.
