Morris felt that his consciousness was drifting, as if he had completely separated from his body. He didn't know where he was, what year he was in at the moment, or even for a moment in a long period of time - even he His name has been completely forgotten, and he is just floating mindlessly in a chaotic void, surrounded by turbulence of light and shadow that cannot be understood by human intelligence and a deathly silence.
It took Morris a long, long time to reassemble his fragmented thinking and repair his incomplete humanity——
He remembered that his name was Maurice and he lived in the city-state of Pland. He was a historian. Today he was going to visit an antique shop in the lower city to find out what thing almost killed his daughter. .
He found out... they were a warm subspace family.
Countless roars and harsh noises like the earth was tearing apart finally exploded. There was something he could sense again in this empty and silent chaos. His newly condensed humanity was almost shattered again by this noise, but Just before complete annihilation occurred, he "saw" a chaotic and void smoke suddenly gathering from all directions, wrapping all his senses in it.
This layer of "smoke" protected his mind, using the shield of "ignorance and stupidity" to isolate him from the noise and turbulent flow of light and shadow around him. Morris once again had the ability to think, and he looked through the smoke. Looking around, he found that he could no longer see the crazy knowledge and truths, and there was only a flickering light in the depths of the endless fog that attracted his attention.
It was a shimmering center formed by many large and small light sources. It was a blanket of red light, about the size of a human head, surrounded by dozens of blue, green and red small light spots flashing rapidly like some kind of matrix. , seems to have no rules and seems to contain some kind of "reason".
In the countless turbulence of light and shadow, these regular flickering lights became the anchor point that completely stabilized Morris' mind, and he also realized what these flickering lights were after a moment of astonishment.
He came face to face with Lachem, the god of wisdom.
In every university and laboratory of the Academy of Truth, there is an image of Lachem, and there are corresponding words in the "Lachem Holy Book". This god who holds the power of wisdom and stupidity at the same time has no human image. The pool has been hidden in the fog for a long time. The outline that is occasionally revealed is a plane covered with glimmers of light, with dozens of light points orbiting a circular light.
"Lord!" Morris was instantly inspired and quickly saluted the light matrix that protected him. "Are you going to guide me?"
Those flashing "lights" did not respond to the old scholar, but there was a vague and low tremor. It was not until a while later that Morris heard Lachem's "voice" in the depths of his mind - "Return, contact, understand, pass on."
"you……"
Morris looked at the light in astonishment. He could not understand Lachem's will. However, the elusive God of Wisdom did not give him a chance to continue asking questions. A strong sense of rejection came quickly every second. It only took a moment for Morris to be "ejected" out of this chaotic and terrifying place...
His body shook, and his brain seemed to be boiling. Information from the world filled his senses, including the sound of traffic on the street, distant bells, cold wind, and the crisp sound of bicycle bells.
Then there were footsteps approaching quickly, and the girl's concerned voice - that voice was very familiar, it was his "student".
"Mr. Morris?! Why are you here? Are you okay?"
Morris suddenly raised his head and saw Nina standing in front of him, but the next second the girl in front of him turned into a burning arc of flames, surrounded by ash that seemed to cover the entire city-state.
Then he turned into a human form.
He looked stiffly to the side and saw a giant with shining stars looking down at him. The giant's body was filled with crazy light and shadow, but the giant suddenly turned into a middle-aged man with a friendly face. He looked at him with concern.
Looking at himself, his eyes are filled with the shadows of subspace.
The streets in the distance are also trembling, and the ground beneath your feet is shaking. The doors and windows of storefronts sometimes turn into normal and sometimes turn into empty black holes. The sky hangs crookedly, with flowing flames and shapeless limbs between the clouds.
Faintly, a passerby on a bicycle passed by quickly. His body suddenly turned into fragmented cement, but returned to its original shape in the next second.
Morris lowered his head with difficulty and looked at his wrist.
He wore a bracelet made of colorful stones, with a total of four stones.
But the stones did not continue to break, and his mind did not continue to slide toward madness. The world in his eyes was seriously distorted, but his ability to think and judge had recovered, at least partially.
The old scholar quickly judged his current state - a "critical state of madness" that achieved temporary balance under Lachem's protection.
He was crazy - but God made his madness look like sanity.~~
Maybe he can recover, but he must find a way to recover before Lachem's protection ends and before all the stones are broken. Otherwise, the short-term madness may collapse at the critical moment. By then, no one can remove his sanity from
Rescued from the madness.
While Morris was thinking hard and slowly in his mind, Nina and Duncan were also looking at the old man with concern, who was obviously in a bad state in front of them.
While they were practicing their bicycles, they suddenly saw Morris standing in the open space next to him. Nina originally wanted to run to say hello, but when she was halfway there, she noticed something was wrong with the look on the old man's face.
Sluggish, hazy, unresponsive to the outside world, as if falling asleep while standing with eyes open.
"Isn't it because he suddenly suffered from Alzheimer's disease?" Duncan muttered suddenly, waved his hand in front of Morris, and then turned to look at Nina, "Has your teacher been in such a daze at school these past two days?
"
"No." Nina shook her head and said while stepping forward to hold the old man's arm, "Teacher has always been in good health, how could he suddenly become dementia!"
"You can't tell for older people." Duncan supported Morris with his other arm and then raised his head to glance at the sky. "Don't talk here now. It's going to rain. Let's help the old man in first."
In the house.”…
Nina yelled, and together with Duncan helped Morris, who was looking dazed, into the store, and then trotted to the open space outside to move the bicycle into the house.
Duncan sat Maurice on the chair next to the counter. The old man seemed to have regained a little ability to think at this time. He sat down stiffly, his head slowly turning left and right, and his eyes finally focused on Duncan.
"Return, contact, understand, pass on." Lachem's voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
Morris's remaining sanity seemed to slightly understand these words.
Is this the will of the God of Wisdom? Let him continue to contact the "existence" in front of him?
In Maurice's eyes, Duncan has temporarily stabilized to a human appearance. Although the scene around him has been trembling and creeping, at least he can't see the starlight giant's body for the time being, and his reason has gradually gained the upper hand.
Morris has realized that this ordinary-looking "antique store manager" is by no means a person who should appear in the real world.
Even my "student", the girl who always smiles gently and is always sunny and optimistic, is not a normal human being.
If you continue to stay here and continue to communicate with this "family", it may not take long for you to cross the critical balance point of madness and slip from temporary madness into the abyss of permanent madness.
But the voice of the God of Wisdom seemed to have taken root in his mind, making him sit there involuntarily. At the same time, another more bold idea gradually filled his heart.
In the "critical state of madness" protected by the gods, no matter how crazy his mind becomes, he will not completely lose control. As long as he does not cross that critical point, during this short balance time, he can even face the subspace and maintain himself and humanity.
.
It is said that the greatest but craziest knowledge pursuers in the Kingdom of Crete will even take advantage of this. After a lifetime of preparation, they will use potions and rituals to actively embrace the "crazy threshold" and experience it only once in their lives.
He took the opportunity to pry into the truth in subspace, brought precious knowledge to the world, and then died happily.
Now, he seems to be standing on the "battlefield" where the sages of the Cretan era once stood.
Slowly, the old gentleman's blank and dull face changed. He gradually showed a smile, looked at Duncan with his cloudy eyes, and said slowly: "Hello, Mr. Duncan."
Duncan looked at the change in the old man's expression in front of him and suddenly felt a little panicked.
This old man...why does his smile suddenly look so scary?