How did that key get into the hands of the first Archon?
This is the question that Agatha is most concerned about at this moment - because no matter which historical record, whether from the perspective of the queen's supporters or from the perspective of today's city-state authorities, there is no trace of the "uprising" or "rebellion" half a century ago.
The descriptions all have one thing in common, that is, there is an irreconcilable conflict between the Frost Queen and the rebels.
The two sides are enemies, and there is no possibility of understanding or cooperation, let alone any "inheritance" relationship - So Lei, why did Queen Nora's key end up in the hands of the city-state consul? Moreover, Winston also called it a "curse"
” and “gift”?
Thinking quickly, Agatha lowered her head and looked into Winston's eyes: "There is another truth about the uprising that year - was there an agreement between the Frost Queen and the rebels..."
"It's not such a dramatic turn, Ms. Gatekeeper, although it does sound like a good story - the crazy city-state ruler and the rebel leader cherish each other, and fulfill their power and responsibility through a great uprising that can end the chaos of the previous dynasty.
Screenwriters and writers will like this theme, but unfortunately, there is no such warmth in real history.
"The great uprising is inevitable. The rift between the Mad Queen and the Frost subjects is irreparable. She was once great, but her failure in the Hidden Abyss Plan has pushed the city-state to the brink of collapse. The first generation of consuls launched an army against the queen.
It was for the survival of more people. There was no room for peaceful dialogue between them from the beginning.
"But you are right about one thing. There is indeed some kind of 'tacit understanding' between the Queen and the rebels.
The queen knew that her overthrow was an inevitable outcome, and the rebels also knew that the queen's crazy behavior was not just insane. She must have many secrets.
"So, on the night before the execution, the leader of the rebel army, the first consul, found the imprisoned queen. He wanted to find out what the queen's secret was.
"So, the queen gave him the key and told him that as long as the execution is over and her life ends, the person holding the key will naturally know everything."
Winston stopped, with a mocking and helpless expression on his face. He lowered his head and stared at the brass key in his hand. After a long time, he said with a wry smile: "You know the last words she said to the rebel leader were
What? The history books of later generations have never described this. Only the consuls of the past generations knew this sentence.
"I tried my best. If you think you can do it, then it's your turn now. This is what she said after the first consul took over the key."
"...All choices have a price." Agatha sighed softly after hearing this unknown history.
"Ms. Gatekeeper," Winston suddenly raised his head and held up the brass key with a strange smile, "do you want to try it? Take the key and take a look at what Le Nora once saw.
scenery?"
Agatha suddenly hesitated. She stared at the key handed over by Winston. She felt that her already slow heart was beating loudly again. A low pressure spread from the key, which seemed to be condensed with half of the energy.
A century of darkness and malice - yet after a few seconds of silence and hesitation, she still took a breath and stretched out her hand towards the key.
A slightly cold feeling came from the fingertips.
The next second, countless phantoms suddenly emerged from the boundless darkness, and chaotic fragments of light and shadow swept in like a storm, filling Agatha's sanity. And in this crazy information fragment, she
Scenes of illusions began to flash through my mind——
In the endless dark sea, some kind of huge and terrifying dark limbs are slowly growing and growing;
The ancient and chilling eyes look at the city-state from the deep sea, scanning the world with indifference like an indescribable ancient god;
Dark and terrifying substances overflowed from the deep sea, rising up and turning into replicas of the real world. During the transformation of virtuality and reality, those substances sometimes turned into shadows, sometimes into entities. The boundless deep sea was densely packed with chaotic and filthy figures.
, looking up at the city-state with empty eyes;
And in even more distant places, on the darker and deeper seafloor, the whole world, the whole boundless sea, hundreds and thousands of
Under the city-state, there are all shadows, as if the old world is sinking in the boundless darkness, and abominations breed from the ancient corpses, rising and rising...
And in the depths of these countless scenes of illusion, Agatha could always feel a certain kind of "gaze". It was not a gaze, not any will with a clear source. She felt as if she was being stared at by time itself.
, something older than history, bigger than a city-state, something that even seems to come from the deepest part of the world... is watching me.
There was no emotion, no malice or goodwill in that "gazing". He just stared, like a soulless empty shell staring at an uninvited guest who had ignorantly broken into the truth, and said indifferently——
"Oh, you're here."
"boom!"
Agatha felt a roar in the depths of her consciousness, and her remaining sanity made her desperately float up in the countless layers of illusions. In the process, her perception and thinking were suppressed to the limit - she could feel
, there is more information and more thought fragments surrounding herself, which may even contain the will or words left by Queen Le Nora, but she can neither see clearly nor understand them.
By the time she regained control of this body, all the illusions were over. She opened her eyes in the darkness and chaos, and saw that Winston Archon was still in front of her, and even kept handing the brass to her.
The last gesture of the key - only a second seemed to pass.
I am back in this weird creeping dark space... Wait, no, something has changed!
Agatha suddenly noticed the strange changes in her field of vision, raised her head in horror, and looked around her.
The darkness in all directions seemed to have faded a lot compared to the beginning, and the black invisible things that were slowly squirming and deforming in the darkness seemed to be gradually condensing and transforming into entities. Between the constant creeping reality and reality, she saw more
Many things spread and grow out of thin air in the surrounding space - they look like dry tree branches, but their scale densely fills the entire space. The black "tree branches" bridge and converge with each other in the void, with a faint flash of light.
Then wander between them, like...
Express capsules are transported quickly in steam pipes.
And deep in this complicated "tree power" network like a thorn bush, through the layers of phantoms, Agatha saw a huge... limb.
It was a sturdy limb that looked like a tentacle. Its huge scale was like a giant pillar supporting the heaven and earth. The surface of the giant pillar was covered with dark blue lines. The pattern formed by those lines... looked like countless pairs of eyes.
Mental pollution? Illusion? Borderline madness?
Countless thoughts flashed through Agatha's mind. She immediately closed her eyes, only to find that the "giant pillar" that supported the heaven and earth still remained in her field of vision. She tried to pray to the God of Death and use magic to stabilize her body.
Will, but found that his mind was clear and there was no sign of being eroded at all.
After several quick emergency responses failed, she realized one thing——
I am not crazy, but I am sober and rational, and I see a "landscape" that I don't know where it is, and I don't know if it is real.
She stood in this majestic and terrifying "landscape", as if she had lost her thoughts, until the voice of Archon Winston pulled her back: "Oh, it seems you saw it."
As the middle-aged consul spoke, he slowly raised his head and sighed softly: "It's spectacular, isn't it?"
Agatha lowered her head hesitantly, and then noticed that what Winston was "leaning" on was not a tree stump at all - it was actually part of the huge "branches" structure around it, and was the end of a section extending from the tree branches.
And there is a faint black structure on the upper part, which extends to the deepest part of this strange space.
"These...these branches..."
"This is the thinking of the ancient gods, and it appears like this in the eyes of us mortals," Winston said lightly, "You have only touched the key for the first time, and there are very few things you can see.
, but I have been living with this key day and night for more than ten years... what it tells me is far beyond your imagination."
As if falling into a dream, Agatha slowly understood Winston's words and subconsciously repeated: "The ancient god's... thinking?"
"Isn't it incredible? These tree-like things don't really exist. What you see is probably just a thought that the gods flashed at a certain moment, and this thought was strongly imprinted here and transformed into
The huge structure you see in front of your eyes - don't try to decipher something from it, don't try to understand the laws of those flashes of light, you will go crazy."
Agatha turned her head suddenly: "Is anyone going crazy because of this?"
"Yes," Winston laughed, "have you forgotten? Her name is Leigh Nora..."
Agatha was speechless for a moment, and after a few seconds, she spoke softly: "Then...'What is that thing outside the thorn bush?"
"It's the Holy Lord Netherworld," Winston said calmly, "It's a small part of him, the part that penetrates the city-state."