#140

The voice did not deny its identity. With absolute certainty, Cullen froze. Since being with Kiyen, he had navigated many things he couldn’t have experienced in his own world, but facing a god surpassed all of that. The sheer pressure of the resonance pressed down on Cullen.

However, his awe for the absolute being was brief. Faced with all the destinies surrounding him, what Cullen felt next was anger and resentment.

“What on earth do you want?”

Presumptuously, Cullen asked the greatest and most venerable creator.

“Why do you give me, people, and Kiyen such trials?”

So many questions poured out at once that he could only ask this. Instead of getting angry at the impertinent act, the goddess let out a low, laughing resonance.

Your direct questioning is just like Ria. Though I created you, the human bloodline is indeed strange. That is why I personally spared you.

He couldn’t understand any of it. Cullen hated the name Ria, which was mentioned repeatedly. That woman, clearly referring to Carias, was the one who trapped Kiyen and had caused him to suffer until now.

Was that all? The karma stemming from it overflowed. Victims were created by her descendants who used Kiyen, and they, in turn, became perpetrators, ultimately hurting innocent people.

“I do not resemble her. She is selfish and deceived Kiyen. Were you not a great protector of justice? How can you cherish her?”

The goddess continued to laugh for a moment. Then she said something unexpected.

I cherish humans. I like their unpredictability, their variables, and the fact that they somehow survive.

Like when he heard the goddess’s prophecy, she was capricious.

“You say you cherish us, yet you just watched so many people die.”

Cullen asked through gritted teeth. There was no fear. The final punishment for humans is death, and Cullen had long been willing to accept that death. Even if a soul existed and was tormented by the goddess, it would be no different from the pain he had already endured.

I cannot prevent every ant from dying.

The goddess whispered languidly.

However, I can prevent the extinction of the species. I am your creator, but ultimately, I am also one axis of this endless energy. Therefore, I cannot control the great current of fate one by one. Instead, I can change its direction.

The word “ant” struck him. He was brutally made to understand how all those lives appeared before her.

Are you hurt? Oh, don’t be. My poor child. Because I cherish you, I did not let destruction happen and sent my word through my children. Before the other children outside destroy your lives by their own doing.

Her tone, as if truly showing mercy, brought on a sense of exhaustion. Looking up in the direction she might be, the one who spouted vague words, he heard laughter.

I am everywhere with you. Not in the sky, but in all directions. That is who we are.

“You said ‘we’?”

Yes, though it was in the past. My one and only sibling and lover. You call them Akesis, don’t you?

He recalled what he had heard in the past summer. Akesis was said to be the goddess’s sibling and lover.

The item you are holding is also something that he and I used. It was a token of love. I gave him a holy relic that showed him where I was, and he came to find me with his most cherished jewel. Then we met here, as humans do.

Longing permeated the resonance. It was a clear emotion. Cullen momentarily forgot his anger towards her and was stirred by the emotions the great god displayed.

“Why did you kill the one you loved?”

You made an effort.

The voice sounded as if praising him for figuring it out.

As I said, I truly cherish you. That is why I appeared so kindly, isn’t it? Now, fit the compass to the Chakram held by the last Dragon. Forge a sword. That sword will change the course of the world, so you must bring it safely to the Imperial Palace.

The goddess spoke as if she were about to disappear. He felt the stopped air gradually begin to flow. Although she had said many things, Cullen had figured out almost nothing. He shouted urgently.

“You haven’t told us why you are doing this to us!”

Do not try to know too much at once. Humans cannot even bear a speck of my memory.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t want destruction? Based on our conversation, I can’t infer anything.”

Fate will eventually lead you to your destination, child.

The scents that had disappeared began to flow in. The wind rustled his hair. At the last moment before the goddess left, Cullen shouted again.

“Why did you say ‘the last Dragon’? We have another Dragon.”

The swirling wind fluttered for a moment. The state just before time began to flow was maintained, and the goddess, as if her departure was halted, let out a hum.

This much of a warning might not be bad.

He muttered to himself and spoke slowly.

I will tell you one thing. Akesis and I both possessed the power called Magic, but we also shared other specializations. I possessed the power to give life and continue it, and he had the opposite power. Think carefully.

Without giving him further opportunity to ask, the goddess began to rewind time. The moments equivalent to the stopped time rapidly rewound. Feeling dizzy, Cullen stumbled. An indescribable sensation swept over his body. It was a strange sense of contraction, as if his organs were twisted and released.

Shaking off his dizziness, Cullen quickly straightened himself. He immediately approached Kiyen, who had been frozen. As if a stone that had solidified had come to life, Kiyen’s golden eyes blinked as Cullen touched his shoulder.

“……Kiyen?”

A flicker of fear, just in case, gripped him. At Cullen’s question, Kiyen turned his head. His contracted pupils were sharp.

“The goddess visited. Did you feel it?”

Kiyen’s voice trembled slightly.

“Yes.”

He nodded quickly, and Kiyen asked next.

“She spoke to you?”

His expression was difficult to describe. It was as if…

“……She did.”

He looked like an abandoned child.

Kiyen let out a hollow laugh after hearing Cullen’s words. He ran a hand through his hair, gazed at the Chakram, and quietly opened his mouth.

“My call received no answer. Even though I, a Dragon, met her after a long time that was difficult for me, she didn’t hear my cry. Even though I clearly felt she was beside me…”

With lips that looked unusually pale now that the pink hue was gone, Kiyen lowered his eyelashes.

“Am I… her creation?”

The moment he heard those words, Cullen understood Kiyen’s sadness. He had no parents or anyone to rely on, so perhaps he regarded the goddess as a mother-like being. From the beginning, Kiyen was alone. The first to grow up without anyone to care for him…

No, the last Dragon.

Cullen was deeply bothered by the goddess’s words. Perhaps because it was a conversation with a non-human being, he couldn’t recall everything he heard at once. Cullen decided to follow her words for now.

“Surely there is an arrangement for you, Kiyen. For now, it would be best to forge the sword and get out of here.”

“Did she say a sword?”

“It was one of the things the goddess told me.”

Exchanging glances with Kiyen, who was staring at him with a complex expression, Cullen slowly reached for the Chakram. Kiyen slowly withdrew his hand from where he was holding it. Brushing against Kiyen’s retreating hand, Cullen picked up the Chakram. Then, he brought the compass he held in his hand to the center of the Chakram. The diameter of the fist-sized center of the Chakram matched the compass.

Their eyes met. As Cullen swallowed dryly, Kiyen nodded. Having obtained his consent, Cullen moved immediately. Without hesitation, he inserted the compass into the center of the Chakram.

Then, a change occurred.

Click. The sound of them fitting together echoed exceptionally loudly. Light flowed from the gold carvings surrounding the center of the Chakram, then flowed into the jewel embedded in the lid of the compass. Gradually, gradually, the light spread. It was so bright, as if holding the sun, that it was impossible to open one’s eyes.

WHOOSH!

A white light, so bright it was blinding, surged in, and at the same time, the wind blew. The grass, the flowers, the sky that had beautifully filled my pupils all scattered. They became fragments of light, sucked into the center of the Chakram, swirling. Cullen gritted his teeth and endured.

The wind, which had been swirling for a long time, slowly subsided. I could feel the light fading above my eyelids. I slowly opened my eyes.

“It is indeed a sword.”

Cullen saw Kiyen’s eyes first. He was looking down, not at Cullen. Following his gaze, Cullen also slowly lowered his head.

There, just as Kiyen had said, was a sword.

It was a magnificent and sharp sword, unlike any I had ever seen. The blade, faintly tinged with purple, was as long as my leg, and the hilt was adorned with the same patterns found on the Chakram and the compass.

And in the center of the sword’s hilt was a glowing red jewel. It was so beautiful that even Cullen, who had no desire for material possessions, felt it was magnificent.

“The goddess was right.”

Kiyen nodded. After examining the sword for a long time, he asked Cullen.

“What else did the goddess say?”

Cullen hesitated for a moment. He didn’t know how the words “the last Dragon” would affect Kiyen.

However, there was clearly a need to speak. Although he wasn’t entirely sure what the goddess had explained afterward, it felt as though the goddess had confirmed that Kia was not a Dragon.

“Kiyen-nim… you said you were the last Dragon.”

“The last Dragon?”

Kiyen scowled as if it were impossible. Cullen stopped Kiyen before he could open his mouth to deny it.

“It was the goddess who said it, Kiyen-nim. Is there any reason for me to lie?”

Kiyen’s eyes wavered. The fact that it was the goddess’s word, and not someone else’s, seemed to confuse him. Cullen opened his mouth again to persuade him. However, he couldn’t utter the words to convince Kiyen.

“There are plenty of reasons to lie.”

A familiar voice from afar stopped Cullen. Both their gazes turned in that direction simultaneously. The voice echoed from the stairs where Kiyen and Cullen had descended. In the cave, which had darkened once more, a silver light bloomed. Beyond the burning silver flames, red eyes could be seen.

“A human blinded by love can say anything out of jealousy.”

There stood Lasano, holding a dagger to Arne’s throat.