act23side

How dare you compare those things to It?

You are slow on the uptake.

It slipped my mind as to who would be so interested in It, other than the imperial court and my siblings.

You have forgotten what you used to be.

Only a Feranmut would seek out another.

Long time.

No see.

An utterance with a million connotations behind it.

Poignant lament, cold sarcasm, or seething anger, a thousand emotions exploded at once, then dissipated.

They dig wounds in the depths of memories immemorial.

In time beyond reckoning, It and It, They, engaged in dialogue form afar as such.

I came back to this land to settle our debts.

But what right does a fragment sealed in a trinket have to engage in dialogue with me?

I want to see you as who you truly are.

There's something I'm curious about.

You fled after the hunt, not to be heard from all these years. Why have you chosen to return to Yan at this time?

It was my brother who awakened you...

As for the Shanhaizhong that appeared with you...

They? Hah.

Just made some company on the way.

I encountered them in the desert. I shared the forming Catastrophe that I saw, and made a little show of power.

They were surprised that someone could know the Feranmuts so well. They were convinced that I was a herald of the Feranmut.

Some are pretentious, some sincere, but all strive to prove their faith to me, worshipping bits and pieces that they claim to have come from the Feranmuts.

They curse their own kind and imagine overthrowing all order. They look down on mankind, utter meaningless words, and implore me to communicate their faith.

Little do they know that the object of their faith itself stands before them.

If your encounter with the Shanhaizhong was by chance, and you had intended to sneak into the central room all along, in order to lock on to the Sui's location through Yumen's navigational coordinates...

Why are the Shanhaizhong here?

To destroy Yumen? Not very likely.

Until they met you, they didn't know there would be a timely Catastrophe in Yumen's path.

I'm not interested in mankind's petty machinations.

I just needed some hands to cause chaos.

In human terms, you manipulated your followers.

And?

To become infected with hysteria and start thinking about one's own existence, even denying it.

Only slightly more amusing than those who remain foolish, from their first moments to their last.

That is to say, not very amusing.

What would they think, if they knew their god thought so little of them?

Since when have we needed the faith of such puny beings?

Except for fools like the Sui.

Leaving so soon?

I spared some time for you only because you are Its fragment.

I've already wasted too much time.

I should have realized the other day when we fought. The scent of flowers and the sight of spring were too real to be achieved by Originium Arts.

Sui Regulator records speak of a beast by the name of Ya, who cuts away the seasons and holds them at its bosom.

You have Its memory, yet you dare call me in the human way!

'Ya?!'

What a disciple name, just like 'Sui!'

Cuts away the seasons?

Humans measure time in such silly ways.

It is no illusion. An illusion cannot be so real.

It ceases to exist in some other fleeting time.

It exists in this never-ending present.

Time has stopped.

Eight thousand years of spring, eight thousand years of autumn.

A maze that has no ending.

Time has not stopped.

A lone boat on a river, each one standing on one end.

A ripple spreads from the end of the boat.

You're trying to make me stay?

Yes.

You demonstrate incredible mastery of space, but I must make you stay.

Even if I can't.

I would have left Yumen by now, if things had gone according to plan.

For you, neither Catastrophe nor Yumen can compare in importance to the Sui.

For me, however, there is nothing that I care less about than the Sui.

For you, all that is happening outside is a fleeting cloud.

For me, it is the damaged walls, broken houses, suffering soldiers and civilians.

And... one old friend who died with regret.

The Catastrophe has not passed. They do not even know that you exist.

Someone must make a stand for Yumen.

I guess there's no one but me to do it.

The second long journey through the vast void.

Awakening at the end of the journey—

Regret. Shame. Anger. Disorientation.

But even more so, confusion.

You want me to stay? Then answer my question for It!

I came so far to find you.

Did you know that those ants have dug through mountains and filled in rivers, calling the scars they leave upon the land 'cities?'

Is this frail and sick land still the cosmos that we had once lived and frolicked in?

Did you know that the marks They left before They died remain on this despicable city they call Yumen?

The ants have not repaired it for a thousand years, calling it part of the glorious journey towards civilization.

This is the city that your fragment has sworn to protect?

It is It. I am I.

(Heaven's repressed anger)

The boat continues to sail.

The plants on the banks grow shorter, pressed down by the snow.

Do you remember how our consciousnesses journeyed the sleepless void and became the first living beings here?

Do you remember how we watched the sun rise and set, giving order to time and objects, and Heaven and earth took shape?

Do you remember that eye which broke the heavens? We watched and clashed in the cosmos, the rivers turned red, the mountains leveled, the bodies piled up until they reached the clouds, becoming new mountains when they rotted away...

Such a magnificent thing a true war is!

(Heaven's repressed anger)

The boat continues to sail upon a river without end.

The snow grows thick. Each question echoes like an avalanche.

It is white up above and down below. The skies are so low that one only has to reach out to touch them.

Why would one who has seen such an era care about the ants between its claws, and the dust that they stir up?

To deceive humanity, you meddled with cloud and rain, sent preposterous 'blessings' from the heavens, helped the so-called True Lung triumph. How utterly meaningless...

Why do you answer them again after a thousand years? Harass, provoke, hunt and kill your own kind?!

Compared to their ancestors, puny but brave, these ants are feeble, despicable, filthy. Why do you want to rule over them?!

Why do you want to become their god?!

(Heaven's repressed anger)