Chapter 814 The Essential Divergence

Ding…ding ding…

It was the sound of the God who carried history, carving the sand with stone chisels in the burned history.

The giant sat on the ground, seemingly unresponsive to the approach of the uninvited guest. He still looked the way Vanna remembered—old, tall, and the vicissitudes of history left deep ravine marks on his face as if knives and axes had carved it. , messy hair and beard, and a pair of sunken eyes.

But compared with what Vanna remembered, he seemed older and a little more stooped, and in his torn robes, you could see that there was still a dark red glimmer of light that was flickering, as if the remaining fire was still there. His body was burning, and small sparks occasionally flew out from the corners of his clothes as he moved. The firelight fell on the desert, creating a brief and blurry phantom.

The giant raised his arm again, and the stone hit the stone chisel. The chisel fell into the loose yellow sand, but splashed out sparks and a crisp sound like gold and stone hitting each other. However, after all, yellow sand is something that cannot be carved - there is no carving in the sand. No trace was left behind, only the crisp chisel sound echoed hollowly in this boundless sea of ​​sand.

Fanna stood still next to a sand dune, looking at the familiar figure not far away. After a brief hesitation, she finally followed the captain and took a tentative step forward.

Then, the giant's deep and hoarse voice finally broke the silence and reached her ears: "Time... is the illusion imposed by observers on the changes in things, and history is the shadow cast by intelligent races in the illusion of time. To the intellectual observer, all meaning is based on 'people'... without people, there is no meaning."

Vanna stopped a few meters away from the giant.

"A long time ago, there were stones here, and history could be engraved on the stones, but now there is only sand left here, and even the flames are only a small fire." The giant looked at the pile crumbling in the cold wind. bonfire, saying to himself, "It's almost over."

"Civilization begins with fire and stone, and it will end there..." Vanna couldn't help but say - this was what Tarijin told her personally during the long dream in Breeze Harbor.

The giant finally raised his head and his eyes fell on Vanna.

"I had a very short dream recently. That dream was transferred from a long, long time ago, and only vague shadows remained... But I saw you in those shadows," he looked into Vanna's eyes. , the grooves on his face piled up into a smile, "Thank you for accompanying me on that journey. Although I can't remember it clearly...but I still remember that that journey was originally very lonely."

Fanna opened her eyes slightly: "That happened in Sirandis's dream. You...can also know?"

"When time is about to close, all events that have happened in the time flow are connected to each other." Tarijin nodded slightly. "When this shelter was first established, I was connected with its time flow. Deeply bound... Now, I know a lot of things."

Then he turned his head and looked at Duncan who was standing next to Vanna.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time, Fire Usurper," the giant smiled faintly, "But it's okay, this is the only meaningful thing in this place where there is nothing."

"To be honest, I didn't expect this place to look like this before," Duncan exhaled and spoke his thoughts frankly, "I thought...as the recorder of civilization, You would be better than other 'gods'. Better, after all, 'memory' is one of your powers, you should be better able to fight against 'corruption'."

"A counter-intuitive fact is that when the process of disaster is prolonged to a certain extent, the demise of 'history' will often precede the demise of the ethnic group itself," Tarijin shook his head. History dies. In many cases, while a group is still alive, their history has ended... Forgetting is a very scary thing. "

The giant paused briefly here and sighed softly: "...Forgetting is terrible, especially when many things in this world will suddenly disappear. The 'correction' inside the shelter cannot completely bridge those caused by The holes caused by 'blasphemous archetypes' have left countless lesions and tears in history. I have tried my best to cover up those historical distortion points that may lead to the spread of pollution, and re-carve the memories of the world again and again. Again and again...the stone finally turned into sand, and the sand turned into ashes, and now it is almost beyond repair."

Tarijin shook his head and threw down the stones and chisels in his hands - the moment they fell into the yellow sand, they shattered and turned into sand that was no different from the surrounding sand.

Duncan took a step forward and came to the giant who was taller than the tallest human being when he sat down: "You should know what I am here to do."

"I know, Navigator 2 has contacted me," Tarijin said very indifferently, "You are here to end this world, just like the scene I saw a long time ago... you will burn everything, and everything will eventually be destroyed. Destruction in your hands - this is your first step in saving them."

Duncan faced the giant's gaze calmly and asked curiously: "You are referring to the time when you and other ancient kings first discovered 'me' before the sanctuary was established? From that time on, you called me 'Fire Usurper'...is it also because you foresee the future?"

"I don't have the ability to calculate the entire world like Navigator 2, but I have a pair of eyes that can see far away on the timeline-although it doesn't always work that well," Tarezin laughed, with a hint of laughter in his tone. With nostalgia, "In the old world, those who believed in me believed that I could do this, so I could do this."

"I have always been worried that 'burning everything' will lead to the 'flame ending'," Duncan thought for a moment and said, "This worry arose shortly after Pilot One proposed the 'takeover plan' to me - A preacher of the end showed me the end of this ending. In that branch of history, I also burned the world, but the world still inevitably came to an end."

He paused for a moment and frankly expressed his long-standing worries: "This is what I have always been worried about, and it is also the only thing I am worried about so far. The 'end of the flame' is like a shadow. I always feel ...The conditions for its effectiveness seem to be very close to the 'first step' I am going to do next. When I complete the 'first step', will I mistakenly enter the historical branch of the 'flame ending'?"

Tarijin, who was sitting in the yellow sand, leaned forward slightly and stared into Duncan's eyes for a long time. After a while, the old giant finally withdrew his gaze.

"So, there is a key point of disagreement," he said with a low voice. "Whether it is Pilot 1's plan or your current plan, 'burning the world' is the unavoidable 'first step' , and the difference after that is...who you are when executing this plan."

Listening to the words of this "Eternal Burning Fire", Duncan suddenly felt something in his heart!

He finally vaguely grasped the key point... the key point that he had been vaguely aware of, but had never determined.

He subconsciously took another half step forward and stared into the giant's eyes: "What do you mean..."

"Captain Duncan's power has its limits," Tarijin said calmly, "You have stayed in this incarnation for too long, but... this is just an incarnation after all."

Duncan's eyes widened slightly. He lowered his head and looked at his hands. He finally understood what he had always vaguely felt was wrong, and why he had that instinctive worry...

That was a subconscious warning sent by his "self" who was bound in this body, aware of the limitations of the incarnation.

He is not Duncan, he is Zhou Ming.

Duncan is just one of his incarnations, just like Pland's antique shop manager, just like Frost's cemetery guard - the captain of the Lost Home is just one of the three incarnations.

Duncan's first spiritual walk occurred when he activated the brass compass - and Zhou Ming's first spiritual walk occurred when he pushed open the door of his bachelor's apartment and walked through the thick fog. !

He took a gentle breath, letting his thoughts slowly calm down.

In fact...he had already noticed these things before. As "Zhou Ming", he had realized that his so-called "body" on the Lost Home was actually the same as the two "corpse incarnations" of Purander and Hanshuang. "There is no essential difference. He realized that the identity of "Duncan" should be his first incarnation in this world, but until now, he had never thought carefully about the deeper meaning of this matter——

Is he Duncan or Zhou Ming? This question has been the key from the beginning.

That’s the key right from the start…

Zhou Ming suddenly frowned. He suddenly recalled the first words the goat head said when he saw him after he arrived at the Lost Home, and the words it would confirm to him every time - " Name?"

"Oh, it seems you are beginning to understand the nature of this problem." At this moment, Tarijin's voice suddenly came from the side, awakening Duncan from his meditation, "Then can you control your thoughts a little bit- The starlight is almost burning my eyes."

Duncan reacted suddenly, and then he noticed that a layer of faint starlight had spread around him. The starlight shone in the surrounding yellow sand, and even seemed to make the desert gradually become saturated with the starry sky.

Tarijin lifted up his tattered robe to block the starlight shining on him, his tone seemed helpless.

On the other hand, Fanna, who was standing next to him, seemed to be fine, just standing there in a daze.

There is a kind of beauty of a sports student standing next to the teacher, unable to keep up with his thoughts.

Duncan coughed twice in embarrassment: "Uh...sorry."

The starlight surrounding him gradually shrank.