Everyone walked through the wooden platform at the door of the hotel. The leaky wooden boards made a creaking sound, like a door that had not been oiled for many years. The bright bonfire on the stone platform not far away was now extinguished and there was no trace of it.
No one bothers to take care of it, but all that is left is a mess.
Walking up the steps, the boiler inside the gate is emitting a dark red light from the grille window and making a chirping sound. A little dwarf is listlessly guarding next to the crystal ore, hugging his knees and pecking his head.
Take a nap.
The miscellaneous golem was still in place, but with its head lowered and no longer shaking its rusty arms to greet every guest who entered the hotel, it remained motionless. There was a crack in the recording crystal.
I don't know when this puppet broke down, but no one cared about it. Tian Lan looked at the empty shell and couldn't help but feel sad for a moment, "It wasn't like this last time." She murmured to herself.
But the last time they came was more than a year ago.
"Hello, Mr. Sayek." Fang Plover now saw clearly the rickety figure standing in the darkness of the hall, and suddenly understood who Princess Brianne said was waiting for them here.
"Hello, young man." Sayek replied in a hoarse voice, unhurriedly.
The old butler is more bent than when they last met. I wonder if it is an illusion caused by the shadow. The wrinkles on his face have also deepened a lot, which always gives people the feeling that they have not seen each other for a while.
Much older.
Princess Brianne's deep voice came to her ears: "It was this person who was looking at us behind the window just now. I don't know what your relationship is with him."
Fang Plover turned around, but saw the elf princess with her hood hanging down on her face, facing forward motionlessly. She didn't seem to have spoken, and he didn't know how she sent her voice.
Then he turned around again and said to the old housekeeper: "Mr. Sayek, we are here to find the owner of this place, the person you follow. You should know that he asked us to go to the south to study.
, now we bring back the things and results.”
He paused, "But when we were in Iron Reef Bay, we received news from the Black Goat Chamber of Commerce that he and Mr. Lucius are no longer here. Is this true?"
Sayek stepped out of the shadows, and the firelight of the furnace reflected his old face.
He looked at everyone quietly with his gray eyes shining with dim silver light, and then replied: "You have made a mistake, young man, the master has sold this place to your people, and now this place
It no longer belongs to us."
He slowly turned his back and made an invitation gesture, "But I understand your purpose of coming. In fact, I have been waiting for you here for quite some time. Please come with me."
The old housekeeper walked forward first, heading towards the corridor in that direction.
Fang Yu and the others looked at each other and hurriedly chased after them.
The pale moonlight shines through the window on one side of the wall and onto the mottled wooden floor of the corridor. The interlacing light and shadow are constantly changing on Sayek who is slowly walking forward.
The old housekeeper suddenly spoke again: "You may have seen that this place is very different from when you came a long time ago. The people and things are no longer what they used to be. The dwarves and little monsters who stayed here have also left.
They left and scattered. Now only my old bones are left to look after this place. For this, they are willing to give me a meager salary..."
He turned his head and looked out the window. The silvery moonlight seemed to fall in the deep eyes, and the darkness was like two doors. Sayek's voice was a little quiet: "...Now there is darkness lurking in this land. There is something."
It is coming back again, and is returning to the world - as you can see, death and decay are returning to this world."
This is not the first time Fang Plover has heard such a description.
But what he saw and heard along the way made him understand it all more deeply - especially the battle not long ago.
It's just that he still doesn't quite understand how this originally lively place became like this in one year.
"So Mr. Sayek, what exactly happened here? Did the attack in Charter City bring about such a big change? I have learned about the war from some people, and they resisted there.
Invasion of dragon beasts."
Sayek stopped and replied: "I noticed the movement outside just now, but the few dragon beasts you killed were actually just the weaker ones among those things."
That's exactly what Fang Plover cares about.
"But how did they get here from Charter City?"
"Since that attack, many things have happened. The dragon's claws have grown out of the darkness and appeared all over Talen. Not only this place, but also from El Paxin to Gula Port, you are all along the way.
You can see this scene as much as you want.”
"First there were dragon beasts, then there were the inexplicable disappearances of people in villages and towns, and then whole villages and whole towns disappeared. But more importantly, something new emerged in the darkness -"
The old housekeeper's voice was neither fast nor slow, but there seemed to be a tone that overlapped with it, moving quietly in the darkness and spreading silently. But if you listened carefully, it was just an echo in the corridor.
Even so, it was enough to make people's hair stand on end. Tian Lan couldn't help but swallowed and asked: "...What's new?"
"...Those are shadows, those puppets blinded by immortality and controlled by dragons. Because you have never seen them, and my master has only seen similar descriptions in some ancient books, but they have indeed come back.
...with the dragon..."
The moonlight outside the window fell on the swamp, and it was bright white, as if covered with a layer of ice.
"Are those the dragon's claws?" she asked tremblingly.
"Deeper than that, they are silent. It took mortals hundreds of years to finally win a war, but they did not eliminate the believers of darkness. The true immortals have always walked between you and me."
Sayek paused: "The master asked you to go south. You should have seen some things."
Fang Yu couldn't help but think of the wanderer.
But is Tang De’s grandfather also considered an immortal?
The other party indeed walked in this world with many identities, and he even suspected that that was the other party's first identity.
It's like no one knows what happened to the Rogers family in that frozen world.
"You mean, there's more than one such existence?" Fang Pultru suddenly shuddered.
What Idos saw and heard made him still feel scared even thinking about it. If Karatu and Donde hadn't been investigating this matter, the wanderer might have succeeded.
Sayek turned around, his face like a pale and gloomy ghost in the moonlight, and pointed at this place: "Do you still remember what I said to you? It was also here at that time."
There are bad omens lurking under the shadows. Only the dying can see the dragon wings in the shadows——
This sentence made Fang Yu startled for a moment.
He stopped and looked at each other with the others. They had defeated Nicol Bolas's phantom in the south, driven away the wanderers, fulfilled the agreement between Yoshod and Everiel, and eliminated the threat of the Dragon's Golden Eyes.
Completely eliminated from sight.
He has not forgotten that the Dragon's Golden Eyes actually contain the power of Dragon King Lifgard.
It's just that they defeated the Dragon King Lifgard, and Nicol Bolas transformed by Ms. Misu still exists in this world.
That's where it all started.
Tianlan couldn't help but ask: "But haven't Mr. Mazak and Mr. Lucius already set off to find Nicol Bolas? With Garapea here, Nicol Bolas also lost the Dragon's Golden Eyes.
With strength, they should have a good chance of winning, right?"
But Sayek didn't answer, and the long silence felt a bit depressing.
The depressing atmosphere seemed to be the end of this conversation.
Because they had reached the door at the end of the corridor, behind it was the Dragon Horn Hall, where Nicol Bolas's missing corner once hung, and now there was only a mist of darkness left in the hall.
Fang Yu remembered that there were two servants here wearing bright robes, opening the door for passing tourists.
But at this moment, the door was closed and there was no one. Sayek walked to that place, pressed his hand on the door, and pushed the door open with difficulty. Amidst the elongated "squeak" sound, dust blew into his face.
, causing everyone to cough lowly.
In my impression, the bright, warm-toned hall, the bright flames in the fireplace, the neat tables and chairs, the shiny copper pipes, the briskly reverberating bells, and the smell of nutmeg and grilled cheese filling the air are all like the same thing.
Disappeared like an illusion.
Behind the door is a gray world. Tables and chairs are piled together, covered with a white cloth, which is also covered with dust and cobwebs - there is only one open box on several tables put together.
As he got closer, Fang Plover saw the depression inside, which was just the shape to accommodate a sword.
Only then did Sayek stop.
"...Master and Lucius have indeed set off to the north to find the whereabouts of the dragon witch Nicol Bolas. They may succeed, but they may also fail. After all, we have not experienced that era."
"So that for several generations before I was born, the concept of the dark dragon was only an abstract symbol in the minds of each generation. It even only had the alarmist sentence that the former enemy would surely return...
...and the long horns prove that they once existed..."
"What happens if they succeed?" Tianlan asked, "What happens if they fail?"
"Nothing has changed."
"How can it be!?"
"…Because the shadow of dragon wings is just a bad omen, and the real threat lurks under the shadow of death. Everything you have seen on this trip is just their appearance, and what is more important is what is beneath the appearance.
"
"What's beneath the surface?"
Fang Yu suddenly interrupted the two of them and said, "Those things, including the dragon beasts, are they all the descendants of Nicol Bolas?"
Sayek shook his head.
Tianlan was a little surprised, "But weren't they brought by Nicol Bolas?"
"Maybe, but not necessarily. Even if it's not Nicol Bolas, there will be others - the dragon-winged shadow is just a bad omen, heralding the return of the old enemy. The old enemy is not necessarily darkness
The dragon—the black dragon flame, is nothing but a symbol of destruction."
"If the enemy of the Oath Keepers is not the dark dragon, then what is it?"
"The dark dragon is the fate of the Oath Keepers."
Sayek's eyes fell on Fang Plover: "But for those who see the shadow of dragon wings, this may not be the case..."
Fang Yu's heart moved slightly.
Sayek continued: "Lucius doesn't want outsiders to get involved. That's the grudge between him and my master and Nicol Bolas. But my master believes that you will definitely return to this place, so I
I will wait for you here."
Tianlan looked at the others and asked, "Mr. Mazak, do you have anything to say to us?"
The old housekeeper's voice was slightly hoarse.
"He asked me to tell you that your mission has come to an end."
She was stunned for a moment and opened her mouth slightly.
On the side, Fang Plover didn't look surprised.
Tianlan couldn't help but said: "But Nicol Bolas, Ms. Misu..."
Sayek interrupted her calmly, "From the moment we drank the blood of the dragon, the fate of the Oathkeepers was doomed. We once killed those monsters with our swords, and now they are coming from the depths of our blood."
Returning again, but everything begins here and everything ends here——"
"The former holders of Jalapea, their descendants and descendants, their ancestors have established great achievements, and their descendants will also end their long-cherished wish at this moment."
He looked at everyone with his pale gray eyes: "A thousand years after the Giant War, the history of the Oathkeepers has ended, but the history of this era has just begun. Leave this place, far away...
"
"You have completed the task entrusted to you by my master very well, but your journey is far from over."
"From now on, everything here will have nothing to do with you. And you will see this land being born from the sea of clouds and ending under the sea of fire."
The old butler's penetrating gaze finally rested on Fang Plover.
"Young man, do you understand what I mean?"
Fang Plover nodded slightly.
"But I really didn't expect that so many things would happen here during our trip south."
He looked around and replied in a low voice that there were some things that even Hongye hadn't told them. Of course, maybe even she herself didn't know.
Sayek replied unhurriedly: "You must have never heard of these things in the south, because the prime minister of the Kaolin people suppressed the news. In fact, your people have already been involved. Not long ago, a group of young people
They stayed here for a while while investigating the matter."
And while the two were asking and answering, a page of screen was slowly unfolding in front of Fang Pliance, and the line of world events on it had already undergone obvious changes.
‘Dragon Witch event line changed——’
‘More branches are listed in the lower directory of the Third Bane event line——’
…
When we returned to the ship, everyone's mood had changed slightly.
Fang Plover turned back and looked at the distance of the forest from the side of the ship. Behind the diffuse mist was the light of the wind lantern. It faintly penetrated the shadows of the longing trees.
The swamp looked endless in the moonlight. On the flat horizon was a wetland as bright as a mirror. There were some sparks in that direction, reflecting the stars on the horizon.
That may be the direction of the traveler's rest.
"Mission accomplished?" Luo Hao pulled everyone up from the gangway one by one and asked.
Fang Plover nodded slightly.
"Have the things returned?"
"No," Alyssa replied, "It was given to us as a reward."
"Does this mean there are no other rewards?"
Everyone was slightly startled, as if this was really the case, but they forgot to care about it at that time.
Luo Hao looked at everyone's expressions, was stunned, shook his head and said: "No, then there is none. In fact, you will gain a lot along the way. There are some tasks in Aitaria that are like this, and the rewards are included in the process of the task.
among.”
Is that so?
Alyssa nodded slightly, but seemed a little silent for a moment.
It was hard for her to tell at this moment whether this was really just a high-dimensional information world or the real thing?
The owner of the hotel didn't leave anything for them. Even Lynn Lucius at least left them a emblem. However, what Shayek told them was enough to answer what they had done in the past year.
all efforts.
That sentence turned out to be very simple——
Don’t forget your fallen enemies.
It is not the dark dragon that has made a comeback, there is a real ominous omen hidden under the shadow of the dragon wings.
That is the light of the evil star.
Mazak asked them to go all the way south to find the past of the Dragon's Golden Eyes, perhaps not just to allow them to eliminate the threat of Dragon King Lifgard, because the Giant War was a story of a past era.
Together with the Oathkeepers, they have been buried under the dust of history. The final grudge between Nicol Bolas and Garapea wrote the final chapter of this story.
And after that, it was the beginning of a new era.
Unlike the Star of Disaster that the elves of Numerin faced, they still have no way of knowing the name of the shining demon star in the sky, but it has truly come to this world and will surely set off a storm.
.
Fang Plover looked up at the dark night sky. In the southern sky, the stars with visual magnitude six were shining with a strange red light.
And they still don't know what Aitaria will face in the future.
As for Tianlan, this little girl was silently looking at the dark distance in the mist, seeming to feel an emotion she had never experienced before.
That was the mission they had been carrying out since the beginning, and it finally came to an end today. But there was an empty feeling in her heart. What had they changed, but it seemed like nothing had changed.
She looked at Luo Yu beside her and couldn't help but lean on his shoulder gently.
"Luo Yu, do you think Mr. Mazak and the others can defeat Nicol Bolas?"
Luo Yu lowered his head and looked at the poet lady who was clinging to him.
He thought silently for a moment and nodded.
Everything they do may have some effect after all.
The past of Jalapea, a thousand years ago, a hundred years ago, thirty years ago, until today, from Idos to Doliphon, and everything will eventually change. Perhaps, I hope, towards a better future
Good direction.
"Where should we go next?" Luo Hao's voice asked from the other side of the deck.
"Gula Port."
Fang Plover replied: "Next let's go to Gula Port."