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The constellations in the sky guided the way.
A line created by connecting shining stars, and a constellation created by connecting lines. The constellations embroidered in the dark night sky looked like a river of stars. Eunha (銀河). Raniel walked along the platinum-colored river.
“It’s a spectacular view.”
Destel muttered.
Kyle also nodded. But Raniel remained silent and continued walking. The sky seen through the eyes of her guide was a little different from what they saw.
A star is a net.
To Raniel, the constellations engraved with rules only looked like a net that bound this land. Therefore, it was a prison scene rather than a superb view, and a breathtaking scene rather than an open one.
“···Phew.”
Raniel let out a long breath.
Just as you are looking up at the constellations, the ancient dragon will also be looking down at you through the stars. Raniel continued walking, feeling someone’s gaze.
Cross the forest, pass the canyon, pass the ruins of old temples…
Before you know it, you will arrive.
On the only passage leading to the Ancient Dragon City.
“······.”
Raniel stopped walking.
The place where she stopped was a temple plated in platinum. A temple located on a steep cliff. The sound of waves crashing against the cliff echoed for a long time.
Raniel stopped there and raised his head.
As I walked endlessly, the end of the night came before I knew it. The sun was rising beyond the horizon. With the sea turning red under the rising sun, Raniel let out a long breath and took a step forward.
Toouk.
The moment she stepped into the temple, a bridge made of constellations appeared in front of her, along with a strange sensation as if heaven and earth were overlapping. Looking around, there was only a blue sky spread out across the vast expanse of the sea.
A heterogeneous space where land and sky are indistinguishable.
This bridge, standing alone in that space, was the only passage leading to the Ancient Dragon City, a separate space completely separated from the world.
“If you won’t open it, I was planning to force it.”
Raniel chuckled.
“You opened the way.”
She took her first steps towards the bridge.
Kyle and Destel walked behind her. Stepping on a bridge made of constellations, they headed to the Ancient Dragon City.
···The deep night is over.
With the rising sun, a festival will begin in the royal capital.
And, the warriors arrived at the final battlefield.
The old capital, the city of the ancient dragon.
There wasn’t much Raniel knew about this place. I can only guess based on a few history books and a few banned books. In the old elf history books, the city of the ancient dragon was called by this name.
White Gold Tower.
A place where a god who put an end to a long war sleeps. It is a city made of platinum, a golden city with temples and towers made of platinum.
widely.
With that description in mind, Raniel took the final step. The moment I stepped into the distorted space at the end of the bridge made of constellations, my vision turned pure white.
Light, sound, shaking.
When you slowly open your closed eyes, what you see is a huge city made of platinum. The buildings glowed softly with platinum, and rivers of stars flowed through the waterways that led to every corner of the city.
And, when you look up…
What you see there is a huge temple.
A huge temple, or royal palace, located at the center of the ancient dragon city. Looking at that, Raniel smiled bitterly. This is Raniel, who visited this place once in the past when he was called the Gray Wizard.
‘At that time, I didn’t understand why this place was called the White Gold Tower…’
Now I understand.
In the literature left by the old elves who experienced the beginning of time, why did they call this place the White Gold Tower? The reason was simple. Because there must have been a tower there originally.
Raniel’s eyes turned to a corner of the city.
This is where the river of stars that circulates throughout the city begins. The river with its gently shining water must have originally been the site of a structure. There was probably a tower there. A tower that the ancient dragon wizard would have used to hang stars in the sky.
The first Babel may have been there.
‘But not now.’
After imposing discipline in the sky, the Elder Dragon Wizard toppled his own tower. He blocked the path to heaven and destroyed all related records. So that no one dares set foot in the sky.
“It’s familiar.”
Kyle, who was standing behind Raniel, opened his mouth.
“It looks like you’ve been staying here for quite some time.”
Raniel looked back at Kyle.
Kyle answered with a shrug.
“Right after we encountered Ganicalt in the north. At that time, didn’t the ancient dragon wizard come in connection with the contract?”
This was the place I was taken to at that time.
Kyle continued, muttering that.
“And, if I remember…”
Kyle raised his hand.
The fingertips pointed toward the back of the temple. As if responding to that finger, the Ancient Dragon City shook for a moment. The earth and sky shook and something rose up.
“There was an ancient dragon there.”
The one that rises from the back of the temple is an ancient ancient dragon. A giant dragon that had the wings of a goddess and crossed the continent with the ancient dragon wizard Jormun. The shadow of the gigantic ancient dragon rising from the temple cast a long shadow over the city.
The dragon’s horns and wings were broken.
Every time he moved, scales fell off his skin, and his eyes, which should have been shiny gold, were extremely dull.
The old dragon, who had not moved for a long time and had lost pride, faith, or anything else, looked at the guests who had come to the city. Or, he glared at the intruder who came here to harm his master.
“let’s go.”
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Raniel said briefly, taking that gaze head on. She approached the temple by following the waterway that runs through the city. Like going against the flow. How long did it take to walk like that?
【Up to there.】
A voice echoed throughout the city.
Raniel raised his head towards the place where the voice rang out. The place where my eyes stopped was the top floor of the Platinum Temple. There he stood.
The ancient dragon wizard, Jormun van Dragonic.
The god of wizards with golden dragon eyes looked down at Raniel and warned him.
“Don’t cross that line, Gray Wizard.”
Don’t cross the line.
Raniel smiled inadvertently as he thought about the warning he had once heard. Stopping in his tracks, Raniel lifted his head and looked straight at Jormun.
“If I wasn’t going to get over it, I wouldn’t have come this far.”
“It means don’t cross lines that don’t have to be crossed.”
Jormun let out a long breath.
He nervously brushed his hair as if this situation itself was unpleasant. By the time he let out a long breath, his tone had softened considerably.
“All four plagues were defeated. The first madman also died by your hands. Even the false god who had settled in this world was defeated.”
It’s an amazing feat. It’s a feat that deserves praise.
Jormun muttered.
“You are heroes. Heroes who drove chaos from this land. Heroes who accomplished great feats. I sincerely salute you.”
he groaned.
“So, I’m telling you to stop there.”
“······.”
“I’m asking you to stop there so I don’t kill heroes with my own hands.”
Raniel looked at Jormun.
It wasn’t like he was telling lies. In the first place, the Jormun that Raniel knew was someone who hid the truth when he had to, and was not a person who told lies. He had a truly distressed expression on his face.
“I will grant you anything you wish. You deserve it. I will make it happen. I can swear on my name. But, but…”
Maybe it was a plea.
“Only one.”
He let out a long breath.
“Don’t expect a taboo to knock down a star. A hero must remain a hero. Being forgotten by this world as a sinner who broke a taboo is not a fitting end for you.”
Sinner, taboo, final.
“Isn’t the era of chaos over? Hasn’t the era of peace you’ve longed for finally begun? So stop there. Please.”
End of chaos and peace.
Raniel inadvertently laughed at those words.
“The world has already tilted. You wouldn’t know that, Jormun.”
“······.”
“The chaos is over. The era of peace has come. Yes, that’s right. Even if the peace is only temporary, there will be peace.”
Raniel knows.
“The stars are no longer free from providence. The being that corresponds to the stars has once appeared on the other side of the scales. And now that the shadow has disappeared… the world will force the stars to strike a balance. Am I wrong? peel?”
Jormun was silent.
Raniel said.
“It will appear. Whether it’s ten years or a hundred years, it will appear again someday. A being that is contrary to the star will appear. I don’t know what form it will take…”
Raniel laughed bitterly.
“As long as the stars are gods created for humans, conflicting beings will seek to destroy humanity.”
“···It’s not that I haven’t thought about preparing for that.”
Jormun crossed his eyes.
“A being like a hero follows. We destroy the being that appears. There are many ways. The shadow was unexpected, and it was a case where I was tied up so that I could not respond. But next…”
“Next, next, next… until when?”
Raniel interrupted Jormun.
“You intervene? Then you have to strike a greater balance. What will happen the moment a counterpart to you appears across from you?”
Just because she is, doesn’t mean she hasn’t thought about it.
She knew why Jormún did not move. The moment he moves, the balance will tilt even further.
Now that he knew the reason, in Raniel’s eyes, Jormun could only see that he was making an excuse.
“The struggle will continue forever. As it continues, the star will become more and more broken. You will also become more broken. Don’t you know that?”
Raniel sneered.
“With the birth of the shadow, the star was destroyed.”
After being put on the scale with the birth of the shadow, the star rapidly fell into ruin. I was lost in balance.
“The fact that you, the star, were obsessed with maintaining balance, not for the sake of humanity. The star that day brought an end to the beginning of time… and the star now is so different.”
There’s no way you don’t know that the current star has fallen away from the winds of Gletus of Discipline.
“You already know, Jormun.”
“······.”
“You are just holding on to remnants of the past. Let it go.”
“I can’t do that.”
Jormun said in a cold voice.
“The stars are all I have left.”
He laughed bitterly.
“There is a line that I cannot back down from. This is something I cannot compromise. She left a will. Just ask me to follow the rules. To me, the rules are the stars, and what I must protect are the stars.”
“Even though the current star is far from the star the first guide spoke of?”
“Even though we are far away, this is still all I have.”
“Is that so.”
Raniel let out a long breath.
Raniel and Jormun looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
“Negotiations have collapsed.”
“That’s it, after all.”
There is a line that no one can ever step back from.
That is why humans have been struggling for a long time. He wants to carry out his values. Even though it was at this moment, it didn’t make much of a difference.
“Jormun.”
“Ranielle.”
Jormun Van Dragonic.
Raniel van Trias.
“Come down, now.”
“Stop. That will be the end of your path.”
Raniel lifted his foot and crossed the line. Kyle and Destel followed her as she crossed the line. At that moment, Jormun struck the temple with his raised staff.
Goo, goo, goo…
The majestic sound of bells rang throughout the ancient dragon city.
The city’s waterways flooded with bells ringing. He closed his eyes as the water flooded. By the time he opens his closed eyes, the person standing there is no longer Jormun van Dragonik.
Genius, Jormun.
The first sinner who dropped all gods opened his eyes.
fantasy,
