Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

After the Tarot session, the gray fog in front of my eyes dissipated, and the gentle bright light reappeared in front of my eyes.

"Sun" Derrick Berg sat up from the bed and looked at the mushrooms that were constantly emitting light in the corner of the room. What he was thinking about was the cross on the long bronze table just now.

Mr. Fool said that it was a relic of the ancient sun god...

In the days when darkness has never dissipated, Baiyin City has continued its faith in "the Lord who created everything, the omniscient and omnipotent God" for more than 2,500 years.

This belief has never changed. Even if their gods never answer any prayers, these residents lost in the mutation have never wavered in the face of the dangerous darkness and the monsters spawned from the outside world - at least. Silver City never was.

Derrick slowly clenched his fist and placed it against his heart, as if he was holding his heart through his chest, and the hot blood inside was flowing along his fingertips.

The faces of his parents lying in the coffin seemed to appear in front of him again. Since this kind of light mushroom was planted everywhere, some kind of effect that was not considered a side effect was quickly noticed by people. Dreams illuminated by light would have changed.

In those dreams that are as real as reality, people will always dream about the people and things they miss in their hearts. It is a beautiful dream in which they are protected and comforted. Although it will not affect the quality of sleep, it will still make people feel uncomfortable when they wake up. Full of nostalgia or sentimentality.

Derrick will see his parents again, and the scene in his dream will be different every time.

Sometimes, in the dream, he was still a child, struggling to prepare for the general education exam, and there was a pile of messy pieces of paper on his desk. As soon as Derrick walked out of the bedroom door, he would see his parents already sitting at the dining table. The baked black grass cakes were placed on the table, waiting for him to sit down with them.

Sometimes, Derrick carries his "Thor's Roar" and prepares to go out with the exploration team to say goodbye to his parents who are cleaning up the house - in the dream, they are still there and will always be there, just like they are still alive. Like standing next to him or behind him.

It's just that Derrick is no longer the child who needs the support of his parents to move forward. At this moment, he will be particularly clear-headed in his dreams, knowing that he has forever lost the family member who loved him most.

His mother would smile happily and tell Derrick to pay attention to safety, while his father would pat his shoulder and tell Derrick that he was already a warrior who could stand alone. They were all proud of Derrick.

The first time he dreamed of such a scene, Derrick woke up with tears in his eyes, but several times after that, he opened his eyes from the dream with a smile full of expectation on his face.

Everyone knows that the dream is illusory, but the hope it brings is truly rooted in the hearts of the residents of Silver City.

A very distant light shines in the depths of darkness, and the crumbling city can continue to survive, waiting for the day when someone really lifts that light, lifts it high, and leads the city out of the darkness.

The white lightning tears apart the black sky, as if tearing out an ugly white scar, but it will soon disappear and be torn apart by another lightning. The frequent staggering lightning heralds the arrival of "day" every day.

Derrick was still hesitating in his heart. He hoped to exchange for the cross and felt that he had an obligation to inform the chief of the existence of that thing, but he felt that there was too much selfishness in it.

After all, that cross can be used as a material for the "Sun" pathway. Derrick himself has needs, which makes him very embarrassed to speak to the chief.

Derrick imagined the suggestions that "Justice" or "The Hanged Man" might give him, or the tone in which he would say this, but he felt that he didn't know what to do.

In confusion, he put on "Thor's Roar", stepped out of his house, and came to the street.

Wherever you look, there are neatly arranged huge glowing mushrooms everywhere, often decorated with the black-faced grass that everyone is familiar with, which is the only safe source of food in Silver City.

This period of time is the harvest season of black-faced grass, and it is also a festival for Silver City to worship the Creator. In the difficult years of survival, this is one of the few times that people can celebrate. Everyone will be happy from the bottom of their hearts - no one Likes to go hungry, and the fact that blackface can fill warehouses as a food source is something everyone should celebrate.

Several children ran towards the square with laughter. Two of them had blessing necklaces made of luminous mushroom spores in their arms, and the other two children wore black-faced grass amulets on their wrists. They were talking and laughing. Get past Derrick.

A few adults who walked more slowly followed the group of children. They also had smiles on their faces and talked happily about this year's harvest or the good dreams they had last night. Everything was full of hope.

In the distance, the sound of blessing songs came. More and more people were singing. The voices were very chaotic, but they were also full of vitality. The shimmering mushrooms hung lightly, as if they were also listening to the chaotic chorus.

Silver City has not been so cheerful for many years. The life shrouded in darkness all year round is heavy and depressing. Even during the harvest seasons of the past years, there seemed to be few such relaxing moments. Everyone had a smile on their face.

Those smiles were imprinted in Derrick's eyes, and he only hoped that such smiles could exist every day.

The original uneasy mood gradually calmed down, and Derrick's steps towards the Twin Towers became more and more steady.

——

"What happened to you this time?"

Colin Iliad, the "Demon Hunter" with gray and messy hair, met Derrick who came to apply for a meeting in a room at the top of the round tower.

The chief's face had particularly deep decree lines, and the mottled scars were medals for his repeated survival from desperate situations. His light blue eyes were weathered but sharp. When he glanced over, they almost pried out the thoughts in Derrick's heart.

After a simple greeting, Colin noticed that Derrick looked anxious and asked the previous question.

Derrick took a deep breath: "Your Excellency, I... I saw a relic of the Creator, the Dark One corresponding to the fourth sequence of the 'Sun' pathway."

Colin's body stiffened slightly, and his condensed eyes almost wanted to pin Derrick to the wall. There were too many complex emotions in them, with sadness, gloom and pain just floating on the surface. Not even sinking any deeper.

After a moment of silence, Colin's deep voice sounded again: "Relic?"

Derrick closed his eyes tightly and opened them again. This was a very cruel and sad thing, but they always had to face it, and they should face it one day.

"Well, relics. Kings, they betrayed the Lord..."

When the exploration team went to investigate the afternoon town, the clergyman who only had a shadow of a resentful soul kept confessing and repeating the same words, mentioning that "kings frequently go to the palace of dusk to conspire."

Derrick did not directly tell the ending of the Creator being eaten. He had been traumatized by this for a long time and did not want to tell the Chief about such a cruel thing.

Colin was still looking in Derrick's direction, but his eyes lost focus.

After another long moment of silence, Colin's vision returned to sharpness and calmness: "I understand."

After a pause, he suddenly asked Derrick: "It's the same source you got that mushroom from, right?"

Although the mushrooms came from the help of Mr. World and Miss Lover, it was only because of Mr. Fool that I was able to have this opportunity to contact other members of the Tarot Society... and the chief knew that I was asking for help from that secret existence. prayed for.

Thinking this, Derrick nodded: "Yes."

"Everyone in Silver City will be dreaming now."

Derrick heard the chief's tone was a little heavy and couldn't help but become nervous: "Is this, is this a bad thing for Silver City? Has that mushroom mutated?"

"No, that's not a bad thing. It's just that I looked up some very ancient textual information," Colin gestured to Derrick to relax. "In many towns where news has been lost, there are also customs related to this, and even That city is called 'Dream City'."

"Dream City?" Derrick had never heard of this place. The written information must be the secret history of the Twin Towers.

"On the road leading to that city, there are dirty rivers and ruins of ancient training grounds. We are unable to explore such a distant place." Colin paused for two seconds and continued, "That city includes the influence of destiny. The custom of praying to angels and angels of time."

Colin's eyes were very firm, but his expression softened a little:

"They have the habit of praying collectively on the day of the Good Dreams Ceremony. Those who are pious will eventually get good luck or have a dream come true."

"A dream where all your wishes come true..." Derrick repeated subconsciously. This is very similar to what is happening in Silver City now, at least it is completely consistent with his own situation!

"But there is no similar situation in other cities. The residents of the 'Dream City' will use it for decoration and prayer, and it also includes an additional material, skylark feathers."

Miss Lover had tracked down Skylark’s story during the Tarot Club, and because it was Derrick who answered it at the time, he was very impressed. Could it be that "lover" has something to do with this?

How is it possible that Silver City had been silent for so many years before Mr. Fool responded, and "Dream City"...

"Your Excellency, what happened to that city in the end?"

"At least before that river was occupied by monsters and completely blocked, there were other towns that explored it and left some information." Colin's tone became heavier and heavier. "It fell into an endless cycle. , I was trapped on the day when I was performing the 'Good Dream Ritual' and praying for beautiful dreams."

"That is to say..."

"Yes, the day the sun disappeared above our heads."

Derrick didn't say a word for a long time.

Colin nodded at the young man: "When you can learn to restrain your spirituality and fully master the divine arts, I will give you the information on the Saint-level sealed artifacts in Silver City.

"I will take you there then. If you can combine with a certain holy-level sealed object and reduce its negative effects, you can control it."

Derrick straightened his back subconsciously: "Yes! Your Excellency, Chief!"