In a stretch of wilderness, lightning occasionally flashed across the sky, briefly illuminating the entire wasteland.
Three figures sat atop a dark cyan stone. They were intently shuffling a deck of cards before dividing them into three piles and beginning the familiar game of Fighting Evil.
On the other side of the dark cyan stone, two figures were staring at the lightning that occasionally flashed across the sky, seemingly debating how many times lightning would occur in the Forsaken Land of the Gods over the course of a year.
Elsewhere, another figure was squatting on the grass, holding a twig and earnestly teasing the ants crawling past. Sometimes, when the mood struck him, he would deliberately disrupt the ants' orderly formation, an extremely delighted expression appearing on his face.
There was also one sitting on the grass, carefully wiping a pair of glasses he had just taken off with a smooth and spotless light-colored lens cloth, a monocle.
Another figure dressed as an adventurer stood atop a rock, gazing at the distant scenery with an ambitious expression, as though he might transform into an eagle at any moment and fly off on an adventure.
There was even an unlucky fellow who had said the wrong thing and was now tied to a rack over a fire pit. Someone nearby was gathering branches, apparently intending to light a fire and roast the poor fellow like a suckling pig.
The numerous figures brought plenty of liveliness to the silent wilderness.
The only frightening thing was that all of these figures had exactly the same facial features, as though they had been carved from the same mold.
Suddenly, a beam of golden light blossomed in the distance, like a golden gateway opening within this world of darkness.
Across the wilderness, every figure simultaneously turned to look in that direction.
Every single one of them wore a monocle, identical even in style and color.
"Someone has come to the Forsaken Land of the Gods." The figure standing on high and gazing into the distance spoke very seriously.
"Who's here?"
"There's still someone who can safely enter this place?"
"How unusual. I suddenly want to go play with him."
"It's probably another mad believer of the True Creator. His believers are always doing stupid things without regard for the consequences."
"It's rare for a newcomer to arrive. This should be a good thing."
"Don't you think interesting things have been happening more often lately?"
The cacophony of discussion soon made the silent wilderness lively once again.
In the end, they reached an agreement and decided, by drawing cards, to send three lucky individuals to investigate the matter.
When it came to matters like this, they had always been very fair. Most of the time, the minority obeyed the majority.
Of course, occasionally, there would also be a one-vote veto. As long as even one person disagreed, the entire decision would be overturned and they would start over until everyone agreed.
This method was extremely time-consuming. Sometimes, merely deciding whether they should go out and play the next day could take an entire month of voting.
Compared to casually going out to play, they were more willing to spend their time voting on such trivial matters.
After all, that was what democracy was all about. As for whether it would delay or interfere with anything, that wasn't within their considerations.
Soon, the three lucky individuals were successfully selected.
One was an adventurer, one was a bard, and the last was a silent fellow who liked standing motionless and staring blankly into space.
The adventurer's body transformed into an eagle. It soared into the clouds, flapped its wings, and rapidly flew toward the distance.
The bard glanced into the distance and transformed into a galloping steed.
The silent fellow remained silent for a moment before quickly climbing onto the horse's back and settling into place. Then, amid the steed's unwilling struggles, he rode it away.
Those who remained enthusiastically raised their hands and waved, singing songs and playing instruments as they cheered their departure.
After the three had gone far away, a rather unique evening party began in the wilderness.
...
The City of Silver was likewise holding an evening party, a welcoming party for Mr. A.
Derrick sat off to the side. He glanced from afar at Mr. A, who was surrounded by people and continuously answering the City of Silver residents' questions about the outside world, then looked at Elder Lovia, who had remained highly vigilant toward Mr. A.
The vigilance and disgust in her eyes didn't seem to be an act. Elder Lovia truly hated this outsider, Mr. A.
Aren't they both believers of the True Creator? Derrick couldn't understand it, so he could only remain silently puzzled.
During this time, he had once again asked Mr. Fool to allow him to communicate with Mr. Hanged Man.
In the end, the ever-reliable Mr. Hanged Man gave him advice similar to Mr. Fool's: wait and observe, don't act impulsively, and leave everything to the Chief to handle.
"Will the merciful Lord bestow hope upon our City of Silver?"
"As long as you continue to devoutly believe in the Lord, then the Lord will surely respond to your expectations."
Mr. A answered naturally. He had already answered this question dozens of times.
Every resident of the City of Silver who approached him would ask something similar. They yearned for hope and salvation, hoping that one day they could leave this world.
Unfortunately, he truly didn't know which path he had taken to arrive here. Throughout the entire journey, he had simply followed the Lord's guidance.
Without the Lord, he didn't know which direction to go.
Just like now, he didn't know whether he should remain in the City of Silver or continue on his journey.
After the party ended, Mr. A brushed past Elder Lovia and heard her lower her voice as she said, "Don't let your filthy faith influence the City of Silver!"
"A believer who has abandoned her faith has no right to lecture me," Mr. A calmly replied.
He was certain that this Elder Lovia had once prayed to the Lord, but her heart wasn't on the Lord's side. It remained with the City of Silver.
In this dim, lightless world, an eagle that had traveled a great distance flew in from afar and landed atop a statue in the City of Silver's central square.
Its eyes looked down with great interest at this city that had yet to be swallowed by the darkness.
It had come here once before and had even encountered a believer of the Fool here.
Now, someone from the outside world had arrived here as well.
What a wonderful place.
Should it destroy this place? Or should it allow it to continue existing?
The eagle tilted its head slightly and began pondering. Then, it looked toward the lightning that occasionally flashed across the sky.
It suddenly had a good idea. It would wager on whether the number of lightning flashes in the sky over the span of ten breaths would be odd or even.
If the final number was odd, it would destroy this City of Silver, which should have vanished long ago. If it was even, it would continue leaving the city alone.
Raising its head, it began counting seriously.
Ten breaths quickly passed, and it obtained the result it wanted.
One hundred and twenty-four.
Even.
How lucky.
It withdrew its gaze with great regret, wondering whether it should count again. This time, it could make the duration longer and wager on a hundred breaths.
But in the end, it didn't do so because something else caught its attention.
It saw the outsider. That conspicuous and repulsive aura on him belonged to a believer of the True Creator.
This cast a shadow over its previously good mood. It greatly disliked this True Creator and didn't even want to acknowledge His existence.
Should it kill him directly? Or should it keep him around and play a game with him first?
The eagle atop the statue revealed a humanlike look of contemplation in its eyes. Then, it raised its head and looked at the sky again.
Perfect. This time, it could count for a hundred breaths.
Bolts of lightning streaked across the sky one after another. The dazzling, conspicuous lightning was one of the few vivid colors in this world.
A hundred breaths passed.
This time, the number was also even.
This allowed it to summarize a rule: the lightning in the sky always appeared in pairs.
In a good mood, it looked toward Mr. A, who was sitting in his room deep in thought.
It merely watched him. The dust in the air, the occasional blades of grass drifting past, the ants crawling across the window, and the rats searching for food all seemed to truly come alive at that moment.
"What a terrifying feeling!" Mr. A, who was still pondering where he should go next, suddenly felt his spirituality frantically warning him. He shot to his feet, inexplicably shuddering and nearly tripping over his chair.
His vigilant gaze carefully swept across the empty surroundings. For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt as though countless pairs of eyes were secretly staring at him.
The inexplicable chill caused an enormous sense of panic to surge within him.
At that moment, large black rats scurried out from every corner of the room. These creatures, which should have been afraid of humans, now stood upright on their hind legs. Their scarlet eyes stared down at him with a scrutinizing gaze.
And it wasn't just the rats. All sorts of small creatures hiding throughout the room crawled out as well, spiders, little snakes, writhing larvae, moths beating their wings...
They appeared fearlessly before him, all staring at him with scrutinizing eyes.
Goosebumps rose all over Mr. A's body. Small fleshy bumps even bulged from both of his arms before splitting open and growing into red eyeballs the size of fingernails. Filled with vigilance and fear, they stared back at the gazes coming from every direction.
Perhaps finding this interesting, all the small animals surrounding Mr. A simultaneously revealed smiles.
Mr. A froze for a second. Then, his body transformed into a tide of black liquid and surged toward the window, attempting to flee.
To his surprise, the strange rats, spiders, moths, and other creatures inside the room didn't pursue him.
But before Mr. A could breathe a sigh of relief, pairs of eyes appeared all around him, surrounding him with mocking gazes.
He was like prey that had fallen into a trap, with nowhere to escape. Mr. A knew that an extremely troublesome enemy had definitely arrived in secret.
Derrick, who was preparing to rest for a while in his room, was suddenly jolted awake by Mr. Fool's transmitted voice.
"Amon has arrived."
Those words were like a magical curse. Derrick instantly lost all desire to sleep, and his face turned deathly pale.