After hanging around the sundial for almost two hours, the light was nearing the center. Just a little longer and the light would be perfectly aligned.Right at that moment, monsters were heard coming from outside.“Sir, it's the monsters. What should we do?" Cian asked when he spotted shadows approaching. “The rock's a fake, so it's useless against them. Otherwise, they would never have come here." Rozi had given up on using the rock like before. Frowning, Adrian said, "We're running out of time. Cian, you looted some explosives from those Rondoniers, right? We'll use them to buy some time."Cian nodded. "Understood. Come on, guys. Let’s blow those f*ckers sky high!" He grabbed his bag and fished out some explosives. He was familiar with them as he had received formal training. Soon, the remote-detonator explosives were in place."All right, throw on the count of three. Remember, we have to hit them all!” Cian said. "Okay!" “One… Two… Three!”Everyone hurled their explosi
Adrian nodded and shifted one of the oil lamps. Clink!The sound of chains was heard as the oil lamp was moved. As part of the mechanism's design, the oil lamp entered a track and moved along it. More tracks started appearing on the palace floor, and the oil lamp continued to move along it."Over there." Rozi pointed at one of the tracks. Adrian watched the oil lamp and pressed it when it got to its destination. As the oil lamp stopped, the mechanism stopped as well. Then, he walked over and shifted the second oil lamp. The process repeated once again. After a moment, all the oil lamps had been moved, still in the pattern of the Big Dipper. The sound of chains rattling grew louder after the final oil lamp was moved. The chains were covered in rust after thousands of years, and the sounds they made while moving caused goosebumps. Rumble! In the distance, the floor split open and beams of light emerged from beneath. The Profound Circle emerged and four statues popped up from
Everything was so glaringly bright that it was difficult for them to open their eyes. After a few minutes, they managed to adapt. They realized they were in the middle of a beautiful canyon dotted with rocks and surrounded by tall mountains. The scenery was breathtaking. Even rabbits rushed in and out of the bushes."Woah…”"It's a miracle. Nobody could've possibly found such a mysterious place. I feel like we're in heaven!"Cian and Padraig were mesmerized by the stunning scenery. Everyone felt delighted upon basking in the sunlight after being trapped inside that dark palace for over a week. They were over the moon as they gazed at the rainbow-colored canyon. "How did we end up here, sir?" Padraig scratched his head and looked at his surroundings in confusion.They felt as though they had traveled through space and time and arrived in another world, and this world felt like heaven. Even a white crane was soaring through the sky. There was a giant revolving stone at the top of
The Creator was unable to reset the palace, or more accurately, resetting it cost him a huge price. Hence, rather than resetting the palace, he sent out his minions to secure the palace. Now that Adrian had arrived at the canyon, his memories that the Creator had reset were restored. This proved that the Creator's abilities could not reach the canyon."I get it now. He's not invincible. All we have to do is find them and we can take him down.”This canyon was a place the Creator could not touch. Otherwise, Adrian and Rozi's memories would not have returned.Rozi nodded in agreement.Cian and the others asked. "You regained your memories, sir?""Yes, I have.""What's going on? This feels so unreal… Where are we?" Cian scratched his head. Cian had not experienced the events at Enigma City, and thus everything here felt very foreign. However, Adrian gave no explanation."Look, Adrian. There are drawings all over the canyon walls. I believe they’re stories of the past. Do you un
Cian and the others started to panic.Adrian then said, "I don’t think we have to worry about that. As this place exists and he can't reach it, there must be something here that will allow us to retain our memories. Rozi just didn't find it the last time she was here. First, let's find out why this place exists.” He continued studying the drawings.Rozi already knew most of what the drawings meant now that her memories from her last visit over a thousand years ago had returned. After some time, Padraig asked, "What do the drawings say, sir? We can't understand any of it."After a brief pause, Adrain explained, "It depicts the Creator killing countless lives a long, long time ago, and how he destroyed entire regions with tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, typhoons, and even crustal movements. The more casualties there were, the more families were broken. The sky was filled with dark smoke, blotting out the sun that shone down on us tiny humans."Padraig and the others exchanged lo
Adrian continued, "The drawings also say that it was the immortals who were victorious. Young and brave immortals had almost succeeded in sealing him away, but he managed to escape after sustaining severe injuries. Later on, the Creator was too afraid to appear. Instead, he created monsters and sent them to our world to kill the remaining humans. These monsters were snake men, walking skeletons, and other strange-looking demons. They were all cold, mindless beings whose only purpose was to kill."The drawings were a story of the past."What happened after that, sir?" Cian asked. "One of the snake men saw a mother being brutally murdered while protecting her child. She had protected the child till her last breath. This touched the snake man and imbued him with emotions. He began to think about who he was, what was the purpose of his existence, and why was he murdering humans so mercilessly. Having gained emotions, the snake man joined the humans and fought against the Creator."Aft
Everyone was silent as they digested everything they had heard.After a while, Cian asked, "Do you think that snake man we saw back in the coffin was Wonder?"Rozi shook her head. "It's hard to tell. This drawing says Wonder disappeared after his blood became part of the Celestial Lake. His disappearance may have very well been his death, which means the body at the palace wasn't him.""There's even a chance that Wonder is still alive," Adrian added. Rozi gazed at Adrian and did not refute. This was because she, too, thought Wonder might still be alive. Regardless, he did not seem to have any plans of revealing himself at that moment."Even if he is, he won’t reveal himself so readily. A creature like him would easily be misunderstood by humans, and I'm sure he knows this very well. But Wonder doesn't want history to repeat itself, so he left behind all these messages for us to find a way to save ourselves."Adrian nodded. "That's why we've been brought here, where all of our me
Padraig suddenly cried out in shock, "Look, sir! There's a body over there!"The group followed Padraig's line of sight and spotted a body lying among the bushes. Its face wore a gruesome expression and blood covered its body.Adrian went up to the body and saw it had on clothes originating from Navia. The body riddled with bullet holes made the cause of death clear as day."It's Erwin! How did he end up dead here?" Cian exclaimed in shock."Erwin? Wasn’t he with Mr. Oliver?" Padraig asked.Cian and Padraig knew the body as Erwin Doyle, one of Cian's former companions. Cian’s group had lost contact with Oliver back in the palace, and Erwin had been with Oliver.Adrian got to his feet and looked around. "Oliver and the others got here too? They might be in trouble."Rozi was stunned, surprised that Oliver managed to lead his men to this despite being a mere engineer. Judging by the state of the body, Erwin had been dead for about two days. That meant Oliver and his group got he