Chapter 1043 That's the Rain Crying
Beneath the night sky, the sea resembled a colossal beast.
The endless coastline was like the gaping maw of a monster, attempting to devour the entire world in one bite.
The tides washed over the coastal rocks again and again, causing the sound of the waves to rise and fall in succession.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Amidst violent coughing, a rough, large hand suddenly emerged from the sea, gripping a rock and pulling itself ashore.
"Where is this...?"
"The coastline southeast of Londinium."
A cloaked figure stood beside the rock, answering upon seeing this.
"I altered reality and pulled you back from the sea."
"So it still ended up like this after all..."
The dwarf, his fur completely soaked, sighed as he stepped onto the shore.
"What about Londinium? What happened to Uther, and to Cernunnos?"
"Uther is dead, Londinium is destroyed, and Cernunnos has given up."
"..."
For a moment, Ector was at a loss for words.
"Cernunnos is heading to Orkney. Will you go with her?"
"...No."
Ector remained silent for a long time before shaking his head with a sigh.
"This old man fought alongside her for over two thousand years, and I've finally seen her give up. To be honest, I actually feel relieved... In any case, what happens next will likely align with what you've said. So, I'll take my leave first."
Ector took soggy steps, heading deep into the fog-shrouded island.
His figure soon grew hazy.
"If fate allows, let's meet again in 2400 years..."
Soon after.
Ector vanished.
Eiji gazed in the direction he had left, remaining silent for a long while.
After the sky cleared.
Eiji reunited with Cernunnos and the others.
"Where's Ector?"
Cernunnos asked him.
"He left."
Eiji replied softly.
"I see."
Cernunnos also lowered her head.
"Grim said he had something to investigate, so he's not here either."
Feeling the atmosphere growing heavy, Habenyan broke the silence, adding to Eiji.
"Now it's just the four of us left."
Mashu's eyes fell dejectedly.
Just one day earlier, everyone had been lively and boisterous, but now they were separated by life and death, scattered to the winds.
"I need to go to Orkney. What about all of you?"
Cernunnos quickly composed herself, calmly asking the group.
"I'll go with you."
Eiji immediately spoke up.
"Me too."
Mashu also responded without hesitation.
"...I'll stick with you till the very end as well!"
Habenyan paused for a moment before showing a bright smile.
"Thank you, everyone."
Cernunnos gave a faint smile.
The group packed their belongings and set off toward the northern frontier.
Orkney.
They had visited once before, back when they were investigating the secrets of the Genesis.
It was the ruins of the Rain Clan, destroyed over three thousand years ago. Broken walls and debris were everywhere, almost identical to Londinium 2400 years later.
The only difference was that, likely due to its location in the far north, the sky here ceaselessly shed heavy snow.
The temperature had long since dropped below zero. The ruins, stretching for kilometers, were blanketed in thick snow, cold and hard like ice caves everywhere, making it difficult to even find a place to stand.
Snowflakes continuously fell from the sky, as if the entire world were weeping.
"Before, Eiji, you once asked me why the Rain Clan was wiped out, didn't you?"
Eiji came to a halt amidst the ruins of Orkney, a nostalgic gleam appearing in her eyes.
"Around the year 4000 of the Fairy Calendar, the Rain Clan was destroyed overnight by an alliance formed among the four great clans—Wind, Earth, Fang, and Wing."
"But at that time, the four great clans were constantly at war with each other, making an alliance nearly impossible. Unless... a tremendous threat emerged, forcing them to unite..."
Among the original six great clans, both Rain and Mirror were races with a pastoral and idyllic atmosphere.
They generally despised war and disliked the constant scheming and bloodshed that characterized the conflicts of Wind, Earth, Fang, and Wing. Thus, they established their own cities—Rain in the northern Orkney and Mirror in the Lake District.
Yet Orkney was destroyed in the year 4000 of the Fairy Calendar, and the Lake District city of Mirror was destroyed 2,400 years later by Melusine, who feared the withering of Aurora.
Indeed, the good are always bullied.
While Eiji had long known the reason for Mirror's downfall, the cause of Rain's destruction had always remained shrouded in mystery, as if veiled by a layer of fog.
"But in this fairy nation, the six great clans are the most powerful. What could possibly threaten them?"
Mash was puzzled.
Even the once-in-a-millennium Calamity couldn't unite the fairies.
What threat could be more terrifying than the Calamity?
"Of course there is."
Eiji curled her lips in a mocking smile.
"Isn't it the Fairy of Paradise?"
Mash was instantly stunned.
Eiji was left speechless as well.
That's right.
Eiji was born around the year 4000 of the Fairy Calendar and sent to the surface from the Inner Sea of the Planet.
And the Rain Clan was also annihilated around the year 4000 of the Fairy Calendar, by the united forces of Wind, Earth, Fang, and Wing.
The timing matched perfectly!
"After being born in the Inner Sea of the Planet, the Fairy of Paradise was sent to the surface along with the Staff of Selection, eventually drifting to Orkney at that time. She was adopted by a female fairy of the Rain Clan—that was my foster mother."
Eiji recounted the truth of those days in an indifferent tone.
"The Rain Clan was a peace-loving race. Even though they feared the Fairy of Paradise, they still took me in and gave me a happy childhood. Even the name 'Eiji' was given to me by my foster mother. She hoped I could be like the ash tree, providing shelter from the wind and rain for everyone."
"But soon, the fact that Rain had sheltered the Fairy of Paradise was exposed. Fearing the Fairy of Paradise, the four great clans united at an astonishing speed and destroyed all of Orkney in a single night. Not a single member of the Rain Clan was left alive."
Her tone was cold.
It was as if she were narrating a story that didn't belong to her, but to someone else.
After all, so much time had passed. Even if there was sorrow in her heart, it had been worn away by time.
Of course, that wasn't the reason.
She simply didn't care about anything anymore.
As if everything would eventually fade away like passing clouds and smoke.
"Do you know why it snows here all year round?"
Eiji reached out her hand and caught a glistening snowflake.
"Because Rain is weeping."
The snowflake quickly melted away in her palm.
As if signifying that nothing could be undone.
The three of them fell into silence.
No one could remain unmoved at such a moment. Mash and Habenyan's expressions were filled with sorrow, and Eiji's face was equally grim.
In other words, for over three thousand years, Cnoc na Riabh has been striving to reconcile the conflicts of the race that annihilated her own kind, dedicating herself to bringing peace to her enemies!
Even if it was for the sake of a so-called "place to belong," such actions are truly hard to... no, one can only be left speechless.
"I died during the genocide against the Rain Clan."
Cnoc na Riabh continued her account.
Her words, however, startled Habetrot, and Mash widened her eyes in shock.
"Without the assistance of the Fairy of Paradise, the five great clans continued to slaughter one another, and the Great Calamity ravaged the land. By the end of the Fairy Calendar, the Beast Calamity that devoured cities and the Flame Calamity that scorched the earth ultimately destroyed Britain."
"After that, only a small number of northern fairies under Mab's protection survived, but their numbers were so diminished that it could hardly be called a kingdom. The Lostbelt Britain had already died in name and reality by that time. The two thousand years that followed were merely a lingering existence, and it would not have been surprising for it to vanish at any moment."
"Until 2018 AD, an outsider appeared in Lostbelt Britain."