Chapter 241 — The God of Nature

To survive—that was no easy thing.

A magical fortress stranded in a foreign space, cut off from the present world without and bereft of any resources sufficient to sustain long-term survival within. The storm unleashed by the magic tide had destroyed the stasis hall and the vast supply warehouses that went with it, and in the few structures that remained, Camille and his fellow Watchers had been forced to ration their every remaining day.

"We were participants in the 'God-Spawn' experiment. Every one of us had undergone the final stage of mutational modification, which let us outlive ordinary humans—but insufficient supplies remained a grave problem all the same. We firmly believed the situation would improve, that a day would come when every problem was solved, but first we had to live to see that day. Under the Grand Archmage's leadership, we began to conserve every scrap of resource and set about repairing what facilities survived in the fortress."

Camille led Gao Cenxing through a succession of abandoned zones. This place already lay near the present edge of the "fortress"; the magic tide had destroyed much of this region, and shattered rooms and corridors were the commonest sight here. But because a powerful magical barrier still functioned, these areas were not yet wholly unfit for survival.

"First we restored the supply of magical energy. This fortress, built within a foreign space, possesses its own energy circulation system—we can draw energy directly from the external environment to sustain its operations. Next we repaired the great majority of the damaged inner walls and barriers, to keep the dangerous chaotic magic from seeping in. Finally we began attempting to restart the magic gate leading to the outside world... and there our attempts failed.

"The magic tide had altered the gate's operating mechanism. It was not damaged, yet it could not be activated. We diverted half the fortress's energy into the gate, and still it could not open so much as a tiny crack. And amid our ceaseless attempts and research, our supplies dwindled ever further, and the health of every member began to deteriorate.

"Nor did the magic tide leave us untouched—in truth its influence was everywhere, subtle and pervasive. As time passed, our bodies began to fail. It proved that the 'God-Spawn' modification could not grant us eternal life. Claude Pillin was the first to die—a swift illness struck him down in the laboratory. Then came the eldest son of the Paldini family...

"Some died by accident. The Colden brother and sister, while attempting to repair a barrier, were struck by a boulder drifting through space and knocked from the platform. Cerode was killed in an explosion while repairing the mana focuser. Our numbers kept dwindling, yet no hope of leaving this place appeared—even releasing a single mage's eye to glimpse the world outside would have sufficed, but alas, the gate was shut and could not be opened at all."

Heddy's eyes dimmed. "And then... everyone died..."

"Humans are fragile creatures, in body and in mind alike," Camille sighed, the sound trembling with energy. "We could not maintain order to the end. In the final decades, we broke out into a most serious... chaos. The crushing pressure shattered every last hope, and even the Grand Archmage could hold out no longer. Right here, more than half of our number found... 'release.'"

Camille brought Gao Yang to a wide open place. It seemed once to have been a gathering hall, but the half that extended outward had been utterly shattered; fragments of floor and wall and roof drifted in disarray through the darkling space, and an energy barrier hung over that broken boundary line.

Everywhere were the traces of destruction wrought by mighty spells.

"When it was over, the survivors who had come to their senses realized what a foolish thing they had done—but it could not be undone. Barely a dozen still lived, and none of them for much longer."

"We accepted our end in silence. At the very last, we managed to preserve a final shred of dignity as Imperial Mages."

Gao Yang studied Camille's energy-filled body. "Then you... how did you become like this?"

Camille fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly: "I was the last. Whether it was fortune or misfortune, I cannot say. My 'God-Spawn' modification had succeeded beyond all expectation—I became the healthiest and longest-lived of them all, and after everyone else was dead, I showed no sign of weakening whatsoever.

"I passed a dozen muddled years, and in that time I laid out the remains of all my colleagues—as you see them now, seated there as though everyone were still alive... I think I may have gone mad, but I no longer remember what a sane mind ought to feel like. Afterward I wandered this hollow fortress for several more years, continuing my work—checking the ancient equipment, taking stock of the stores, observing changes in the external environment, keeping records, occasionally performing experiments, occasionally talking to myself, occasionally talking to the people seated in the hall...

"But still I did not die. My day of natural death seemed endlessly distant, and all the while I found my mental state deteriorating ever further.

"So I resolved to end my own life ahead of time—by a method of my own choosing."

"A method of your own choosing?" Tyr looked at Camille curiously. "What method could turn you into... this?"

"I said before that this is the place where the White Star fell. Three thousand years ago, the God of Nature perished in this spot, and this entire Fortress of Defiance was built with the 'White Star' as its core and foundation. I paid the price of a lifetime for this place, and so I decided to end my life by means of 'Him.'"

Camille halted. Before them stood a partition wall cast from some unknown metal and covered in runes. As Camille released a spell that activated the rune array upon it, the heavy metal wall began to quiver; one by one the runes upon it kindled, and before everyone's eyes it rose slowly and solemnly.

Beyond the partition lay a translucent energy barrier, and through that barrier the true state of the world outside the facility was at last revealed to Gao Yang.

This was indeed not the Shadow Realm—but a place stranger and more disordered still. Countless shattered boulders drifted through the dim and deep space, and these densely scattered stones, floating freely in the void, formed the boundless "ground" of this realm. Above that broken earth coiled clouds of chaos that never dispersed; eerie bolts of dark lightning raged silently on high, tracing within the chaotic clouds all manner of indescribable and monstrous phantasms. And amid this world of chaos, one thing drew every eye profoundly.

It was a colossal white stag, vast as a hill, floating among the shattered floating islands of stone. Countless thick chains bound its four limbs, and a hazy white radiance cloaked its body. Around the giant stag could be seen many broken remnants of metal and crystal hovering in the void; the great metal wreckage was severely twisted and deformed, its forms so bizarre that Heddy could not begin to imagine what they had originally looked like or what purpose they had served. Yet Gao Yang dimly sensed that, pieced together, those great metal remnants resembled some kind of flying craft—they had tail structures like thrusters, and extending frames like weapon mounts. Such structures were utterly beyond the comprehension of the humans of the Loren Continent today!

And more importantly, the texture of that metal and crystal was exactly like that of the Eternal Slate!

Gao Yang felt his heart pounding, and he heard Camille's voice come from beside him: "Look—this is the fallen White Star, Amorn, the giant stag of nature once worshipped by the druids!"

"The God of Nature!" At that moment Heddy could no longer suppress a cry of shock. "My God!!"