The Depths of the Abyss (3)
"This is serious."
Cheonganmun, the brain trust of the Mun Kingdom, watched the divination plate floating on the water spin.
The Law is woven into all of nature, and water is one of its primary manifestations.
"This has never happened before."
What looked like still water was actually full of countless particles in motion.
It was true chaos.
The plate was a divinatory instrument that read that chaotic motion to map out futures.
"So it's rotating?"
If the future becomes unpredictable, then anything could happen.
"What is the matter?"
When Munryong entered, everyone in Cheonganmun rose and stepped back to either side.
"Your Majesty, you're here."
"Aren't you going to tell me what's happening? The positions of people in the banquet hall suddenly changed."
"Indeed."
The leader of Cheonganmun nodded.
"Your Majesty, the world's Law is shifting. This cannot occur naturally. Someone is artificially manipulating the Law."
"Manipulating the Law? Who could do such a thing?"
"Perhaps..."
The leader trusted his intuition.
"It could be Kitra of the Paras Kingdom. The Zodiac of the Twelve used to be our equal, but they shouldn't have the power for something this unprecedented. They must have acquired something."
"Hmm."
The Mun Kingdom, birthplace of divination, and Munryong himself understood the principles of the world well.
"What should we do, then? If Paras's astrology is stronger, the Mun Kingdom stands to lose."
Their art of divination was being undermined.
"There are two options. The first is to conform to the Law they're imposing. If Cheonganmun exerts its abilities, we could respond nimbly."
It was the sensible course, but the idea of bowing to a rival nation rankled them.
"And the second?"
The leader's gaze sharpened.
"A curse. Strike Kitra with a soul-blackening malediction to shatter his mind."
"...Is that possible?"
"If it's the leader of a nation, that force would be formidable—stronger than a mere tiger. It would demand extensive preparation. Still... if everything is in place, it's not impossible."
"Hmm."
Munryong pondered.
'Use Paras, or kill Paras. Either would have effect, but...
His eyes flashed.
Paras's Zodiac of the Twelve.
On the hologram spread across the pentagram, the stars visible from the planets filled the display.
"Hmm."
Kitra, seated on the dais, scanned the constellations.
'This is rather thorny.'
Even Anke Ra, the manager of the cosmos, only had authority to initialize the system.
To alter the system itself—making fine adjustments—was an absolute, external power.
'Even a slight misalignment could change the essence of the universe. Get it wrong and you could end up as nothingness.'
Changing the Law of the banquet hall was an experiment for a far greater transformation.
"Your Majesty."
The door opened and the Zodiac of the Twelve's astrologer brought a diagram of the banquet hall's status.
"The fates have shifted."
"Bring it here."
When the astrologer handed over the plans, the venomous snake coiled about Kitra's neck snapped at them and brought them forward.
'Let's see.'
The astrologer's specialized language could pack much into a short notation.
"What is this?"
The astrologer hadn't seen what Kitra pointed at, but he could guess.
"It's Kaiden, born under the fate of the Red Cross Star. Yet there's an escape anomaly on his right hand..."
"No, that's not important. It's going to happen anyway and can't be controlled."
When the astrologer looked up, Kitra turned the diagram and pointed to a single line.
"Shirone. According to the Law I designed, he should move thirty-two meters. But... only three centimeters?"
"He's someone who's mastered the mind. From nearly every cause, he's predicted to reach almost the same conclusion. Isn't that why Your Majesty permitted the search of the Pyramid of Truth?"
To locate the god's position.
'Of course, but... he's far more powerful than we expected. Soon he'll meet a god in the Pyramid of Truth. If this is pushed this far, I might be the one in danger.'
"There will be no change, Your Majesty."
"Indeed."
The stronger Shirone's resistance to fate, the more precise the god's coordinates would become.
"I will change the world's Law."
"So be it."
While the Zodiac of the Twelve's astrologers bowed, Kitra spread his arms.
"I will become a god."
Miro blinked.
"A strange dream?"
"Yeah. There was a sea, and a huge monster came out. If you were Miro, you'd know it."
"No. I don't have dreams like that."
"You don't?"
That could be true.
'It was only my thought anyway. This is reality.'
Still, why did seeing Miro not remember him feel like his chest being torn apart?
"Think carefully. I saw you in the dream. You were trying to tell me something. Right?"
Gaold.
What had the woman in the dream wanted to say?
"Dad, this man's weird. Let's go."
Miro tugged at her father's hand.
A parent would leave at once, but Sein surprised everyone by speaking.
"Wait... talk with me for a moment."
In Sein's cozy home, Gangnan sat beside Gaold on the sofa.
"What do you want to say?"
Sein watched his daughter playing with Arius on the floor and asked.
"I have the same nightmare."
Gaold and Gangnan's faces went blank.
"You mentioned the sea and the monster—I still remember them vividly."
Gangnan said.
"It could be a coincidence. Dreams are like that. You latch onto things and give them names."
"The name came out."
Gangnan snapped at his husband's obsession.
"Stop being ridiculous! After going through that unbearable pain, you wish the nightmare were real?"
How could that be pleasant?
Breathing felt like being torn apart; in every fight he had prayed for death.
Gaold clenched his fist.
'I'm not hurt.'
Compared to the nightmare, it was heaven, but the problem was he couldn't shake Miro's auditory hallucination.
"I understand."
Sein said.
"I don't want to return to nightmares either. I love my daughter too. But..."
A thought came to him.
'Why a daughter?'
That small question had kept him from turning his back on Gaold and had brought them here.
Gaold asked, "Miro—or your daughter—why doesn't she dream? Is she lying...?"
"Miro does not lie. Stubborn, yes, but she's a good child."
Sein was savoring that when a sound came from the ceiling.
- Everyone's gathered.
Everyone looked up, eyes wide.
"What the—"
The wooden ceiling bulged like liquid, and a pale-faced boy descended.
"Sorry I'm late. It took a while to find the drift point. I'm glad everyone's safe."
"Who are you?"
The boy shook his head.
"It's thinned considerably, as expected. Can't be helped. I'm Monga, a dream designer. I was waiting at the deep entrance and had no choice but to come down."
"A dream designer? Deep entrance?"
It felt half-known, half-unknown; no memories surfaced.
"I need your help. Persuade Yahweh. He's been staring at the sea all day."
Sein asked, "The sea? Where is a sea here?"
"You must know. Don't you all dream? It's like a nightmare..."
The mood turned chilling.
"Of course I know. I know it's sunk beneath the sea. My daughter doesn't seem to have nightmares, though."
"Hmm?"
Monga's gaze, which had been quietly watching Miro, settled into a calm resolve.
'...I see.'
It was a very Miro-like conclusion.
"Let's go for now. Time's short. Miro did well, but waking Yahweh is the top priority. Once we reach the shore, everything will become clear."
They would do anything to unravel the secret of the nightmare that had tormented them.
"All right, let's go."
Leaving Sein's house, Monga followed the sound of surf.
'How could you not know?'
The group was shocked.
"I've never been this way before. I've lived in this city so long and yet..."
"It's because the memory is set that way."
Monga said, "If you set the cause to be the memory of having lived ten years, it becomes the result—you truly lived ten years."
"So this is our first day?"
"It doesn't mean that. It means time is meaningless here. That's what this world is."
Sein looked around.
"What happened here?"
"Everything was swept from Imir's mind. It's proof Lord Lubber was desperate enough to make the city unrecoverable."
Between skeletal steel buildings, a white beach appeared, and beyond it, a blue sea.
Hearing the waves eased their chests.
"Huh?"
A boy sat on the sand in front of the breaking surf, slumped and dejected.
"Shirone."
Approaching, the face was the one from the dream, but his eyes were empty.
"Lord Odaeseong, I brought your friends. Snap out of it. We have to go fight again." Monga shook his head.
"He's saying nothing. He's lost his will to act. I can't say I blame him, though."
"Why?"
"It seems he activated a dream barrier to withstand the pressure exerted by the abyss's mind. This beach is the evidence. It means he came out of the sea. In any case, you won't suffer mental attacks here. Those things don't happen."
"Those things?"
"Aren't you satisfied with this reality? The integrated dream merges individual dreams. In other words, everyone's wishes connect and form one world."
"So this situation is what we wanted?"
"The closest result. Miro realized it when the dream barrier activated. That's why she wiped all her memories. That image was embodied as a child."
"Why would she do that?"
"So she wouldn't hurt Gaold."
Monga raised a finger.
"Dreams are the fulfillment of desire. If Miro had been an adult, Gaold would have loved her even if it meant bearing the pain. Of course, no one knows how it would have turned out. With everyone's desires mixed, she might have become Sein's wife in the dream."
Sein gave a hollow laugh.
If Monga was telling the truth, even in the dream he had been rejected by Miro.
'A steel wall.'
"So she erased her memories. It was the only world in which Gaold could be happy. Impossible in reality. Miro wanted that."
"Honestly, there's no way out. The moment you leave, you're wiped out. We pinned hope on Lord Odaeseong because he realized something, but in this state it would be impossible. Living here might not be a bad choice."
Gaold turned his head.
"Yay! The sea, the sea!"
Woof! Woof!
Arius ran across the beach, and Miro's face shone with a wide smile.