Chapter 1270
The Oracle of the Twin Mirrors
The hymns from the depths of the sacred spring reached the sky at this moment.
Words hold power, their might capable of killing the sun. And ancient poems are smeared with the oil of “beauty.”
It is a tool of sacrifice, an unsolidifiable beauty, wisdom in motion.
“I praise the Twin Mirrors, the eyeless, egoless, purely beautiful and flawless gods!”
Aimel Nour recited loudly, striking the lake surface with his holy staff.
Even the most defiant and arrogant shepherds maintained a proper and devout posture at this moment.
Everyone quietly recited the poems praising the Twin Mirrors. Their postures varied, but no matter which one, they could feel the “tranquility” within.
More and more white smoke emerged silently, it was icy smoke.
It coiled around their skin, with a touch as cold as jade.
The hymns did not stop. But as everyone entered a state of emptiness, their consciousness suddenly vanished.
Eivass felt as if he had arrived in a mysterious world composed of infinite mist.
He felt like he was flying high in the sky, with a swift wind hitting his body.
Immediately after, the sense of imbalance suddenly intensified. The raging wind felt suffocating, and his brain instantly sobered up.
Eivass felt his hair fluttering backward, and his body instinctively spread the six white wings of a Winged One.
At this moment, a voice that Eivass seemed to have heard somewhere gently sounded in his ear:
“—Know thyself.”
The voice was ethereal like the wind, gentle like water. But after Eivass heard it, he felt as if it were an illusion, as if it had even appeared.
Eivass suddenly remembered that he had indeed heard this voice.
It was the voice of the Twin Mirrors he had heard during that Ascension Ritual when he became a Child of the Moon’s blood slave—
As this voice sounded, another person suddenly appeared before Eivass.
He was incredibly handsome and quite young. His eyes were filled with caution and confidence.
—Who is this? Whom does the Twin Mirrors want me to see?
Such thoughts instinctively flowed through Eivass’s mind.
But then, looking at the “self” opposite him, Eivass suddenly realized… this was the “mirror.”
The person opposite was not a Ring Heavenly Envoy, nor was he Ai Shiping. He was not a Shepherd, nor even Alistair.
He was Eivass himself.
Another self reflected in the mirror.
—Yes, Eivass did not know himself at all. He rarely looked in the mirror, but often observed others carefully. The way he recognized the person opposite as himself was not by recognizing “it is me,” but by excluding “it is not them.”
…I really don’t understand myself that much?
As Eivass realized this, a luxurious mirror outline appeared beside the “Eivass” opposite him.
He stood before a giant floor-to-ceiling mirror, and the outline of this floor-to-ceiling mirror was like a grandfather clock. Eivass heard the extremely clear ticking sounds in his ears… as if a clock was constantly urging him, “Time is almost up,” “It’s almost too late.”
Eivass felt somewhat annoyed, so he wanted to turn and leave.
But he had only turned halfway when he suddenly hit a wall.
And at this moment, he realized… he couldn’t leave the scene displayed in the floor-to-ceiling mirror!
…Is it that, or myself, in the mirror?
“—Moderation in all things.”
The voice of the Twin Mirrors gently sounded again.
In that instant, Eivass felt as if a gust of wind, a cloud of mist, had hugged him from behind.
He subconsciously turned his head. But it was so illusory that it dissipated upon contact with himself.
When Eivass turned his head again, he found that the mirror had disappeared without a trace.
It had turned into a door.
Opposite the wide-open door was a mountain range burning with flames and filled with smoke.
Weapons were stuck all over the mountain range, and a castle stood at the highest point.
“This is…”
Eivass murmured.
…The Dream Realm? But, where is this…
He had no idea what this scene meant. This was incomprehensible for Eivass, who was proficient in Dream Realm knowledge and mastered High-Tier Divine Arts and Past Life strategies.
However, conversely…
If Eivass didn’t recognize it at all, perhaps it was truly something new.
—Is this the domain of Calamity Red?
“…Are you trying to tell me that this is an enemy I should defeat?”
Eivass gazed into the distance and slowly said, “No problem, leave it to me. I will do it.”
“—No.”
The Twin Mirrors appeared again, and the voice became Isabel’s.
She hugged him from behind again.
This time, Eivass could even clearly feel Isabel’s touch and temperature, smell her scent, and glimpse Isabel’s hair from the corner of his eye.
From any angle, this was Isabel.
But he clearly knew that this could not possibly be Isabel…
So Eivass suddenly realized: “Is this a dream?”
Mirror. Doorway. Dream.
These were the three true forms of the Twin Mirrors.
They were all passages connecting this and that, truth and falsehood, illusion and reality.
“—Vow wrongly, and disaster is near.”
Isabel’s voice sounded softly behind Eivass: “One cannot predict the future, so there is no need to pre-empt the present… Eivass, you carry too heavy a burden. Those things are not entirely your responsibility.”
“…Do you mean I should relax?”
Eivass understood why the Twin Mirrors had come here.
What she wanted to say to him.
Like a mother, gazing with concern at her child who was struggling, saying—it’s okay if you can’t keep going. If it’s impossible, just come back.
—But how could Eivass let go?
Eivass could sense the goodwill of the Twin Mirrors.
But to this day, he had no way back and would never allow himself to fail.
He gently shook his head and replied, “The oracles’ warning that mortals cannot predict the future… this does not mean that mortals cannot glimpse a corner of the future. In fact, such precognitive abilities are not uncommon. The true meaning of this sentence is that mortals cannot see through all the possibilities of the future.
“The future is constantly changing, and as soon as the future is known, it will continue to change.”
Just like what the Moon card Eivass had chosen when he originally created the Illusion Card to seal the Shadow Demon said.
Now, after going in circles, he had returned to the beginning.
“—But that is precisely why the future belongs to those who believe in it.”
Eivass slowly replied, “All things change, only change is constant.”
At this moment, Eivass remembered the words of the Lord of Scales and Feathers:
[“‘Metamorphosis’ represents the constant nature of eternal change in all things… what goes up will eventually go down, what goes down will eventually go up, all things change and flow, and only change is constant.”]
This was the answer given by the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
Let everything change—let everything constantly change. Whether it is good or bad, civilized or barbaric, stable or chaotic…
As long as everything keeps changing, this system will continue to become more chaotic. Countless variables will be generated, and infinitely many differences will increase… This was the strategy the Ring Heavenly Envoy planned to use to counter the Void.
If the Void meant reducing everything to nothing, then as long as the rate of increase was greater than the rate of voidification, a relative balance would be maintained. The Ring Heavenly Envoy intended to make the entire world chaotic, to fill all domains with randomness, and to destroy all fixed things, patterns, predictions, and theorems—
And this was also what the Twin Mirrors hoped to see.
She was the god of difference. An ancient god who had survived from the old era. If not for her grace and benevolence, the nascent civilization could not have developed to this extent.
It was precisely because the Twin Mirrors knew that the old civilization would not work that she wanted to forge a new path.
More possibilities meant a higher success rate.
—But Eivass did not intend to do so.
“Infinite possibilities… is this not just a meaningless proliferation for the sake of infinite infinity?”
Eivass shook his head. “In my opinion, this is just feeding the Void its sustenance. Meaningless proliferation, the larger the scale, the larger the scale of ‘meaninglessness.’ If the Void eventually devours infinity, then it will achieve ‘infinite nothingness.’
“It would be better to trap the Void here together and all perish.”
His pupils burned like the scorching sun.
And the Twin Mirrors were also helpless.
“Isabel” lightly touched Eivass’s cheek and disappeared like a dream bubble.
“These are the three oracles I have given you, and I hope you will at least not take the ‘wrong’ path.”
The voice of the Twin Mirrors once again became ethereal and illusory. “However, it seems now… you have forged your own path.
“This is good.
“I bless you, Eivass. May happiness always be with you.”
The next moment, the suffocating feeling of the constantly forward rushing wind suddenly reversed.
He felt himself flying backward rapidly, accompanied by a strong sense of weightlessness.
He instantly returned to reality, just in time to hear Aimel Nour, whose voice had become hoarse, finish his last prayer:
“Great Navel of the World, Mother of the World! Protect our ship as it passes through the cracks above the Great Abyss!
“Gaia—”
The shepherds cried out the true name of the Twin Mirrors in unison.
And at this time, on the stone slabs, statues, and fountains that covered all of Anxi.
The dark yellow runes symbolizing the Great Abyss lit up simultaneously.
—The Ouroboros Ring Ritual was activated.
