Chapter 1392 Desolation

Chapter 1392 Desolation

Updated from n0velbIn.(c)o/m

After the island broke apart, it did not take a lot of time for the debris to disappear into the depths of the Great River. Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie stood on the deck of the Chain Breaker, observing the death throes of this lost part of Fallen Grace in somber silence. The flowing water seethed and boiled, turning into white foam. The ashen remains of the dark garden were pulled down by the current and swallowed by the depths. In something that felt like too short of a time, though, the surface of the river became calm and clear once again, with not a sign of the massive island-vessel left in sight. Sunny sighed softly.

The destruction of the artificial island had been too depressing of a scene. It was like a metaphor of the futility of human existence... countless River People had worked hard to create and maintain it, and even more spent their lives walking upon its ground. But now, it was gone, swallowed by the elements in mere minutes. With every trace of it erased from existence. Weave was going to be erased the same way before too long. The cities of the sybils had already disappeared... only Fallen Grace remained, its fate all but decided. The Tomb of Ariel had been home to a thriving civilization once...

But now, it was nothing but a Nightmare. Sunny shook his head, suddenly grim. Would the cities of the waking world be gone one day, too? He had not even known that there was a world outside the endless sprawl of NQSC once. It was hard to imagine that a place so populous and boundless could cease to exist.

...But then again, the waking world was already a world of ruins. Plenty of thriving cities had been erased from its maps — most of them, even. Entire continents stood desolate, devoid of life, and uninhabited. He even witnessed the extinction of one of these empty continents himself. 'My mood is all over the place today.'

What was there to feel sad about? That island had been nothing by the lair of a dangerous abomination. They had come to its shore, killed the abomination, and absconded with precious loot. Cassie even received a pretty stick as a bonus. If anything, he should be feeling utterly delighted. However, Sunny felt mostly tired and sore all over. The battle against the Drowned was a short one, but nevertheless very intense. He was battered and bruised, albeit not injured too badly. "Gone! Gone!"

Sunny turned and glanced at Crow Crow, who was hopping excitedly on the railing and staring at the empty space where the island had been with a curious expression. The small bird was unburdened by any kind of heavy thoughts. In fact, it did not have any thoughts at all...

After all, it was an Echo.

Now that the island was destroyed, though, that Echo had a job to do. As he watched, Cassie approached the black bird and gently took it into her hands. Saying something, the blind girl opened her palms and let the crow fly away.

"What are you doing?"

The blind girl took a sip of tea absentmindedly.

"Trying to figure out how it works. It's weird... the enchantment doesn't seem to respond to everything. It points to you, Nephis, Effie, and Kai... but not Jet or that person, Mordret. Or Fallen Grace, for that matter. It does respond to Wind Flower, though."

Sunny raised an eyebrow, then shifted his perception and gazed beneath the surface of the Guiding Light. Just as he had expected, there was no weave there. There were no runes, either... just a field of blinding radiance. He had seen something similar when looking at the knives created by Sun God. Within each, there was nothing but a radiant ocean of something — soul essence, perhaps — and a sole string of fate, bound onto itself and looping endlessly. Such was the sorcery of gods, entirely unreasonable and void of any kind of logic he could understand. 'Looping endlessly...'

His tired mind got caught on these words, but he was distracted just then by Neph's strangely muffled voice:

"Found it."

Shaking awake from his reverie, Sunny turned and looked at her. Nephis had a spoon in her mouth, holding one of the slates he had pushed away in Shaking awake from his reverie, Sunny turned and looked at her. Nephis had a spoon in her mouth, holding one of the slates he had pushed away in both hands. Sunny was rather amused by that sight. "...What did you find?"

She blinked a couple of times, then awkwardly removed the spoon from her mouth and pointed it at the slate.

"Wind Flower. Uh... it's described right here."