Chapter 262 - Epilogue. Ouroboros
Chapter 262: Epilogue. Ouroboros
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「Remember. Then it won't disappear.」
―Sirwen Armelt.
“Tell me, do you really think this should be considered a work of art?”
In the noisy banquet hall, Dream Demons gathered beneath the gloomy theme music, resting their chins in their hands as they frowned.
“Hmph.”
Before them stood a small ‘Tower,’ no larger than an ornament fit for a side table.
Once called the 《Tower of Nightmares》, it was now simply known as the Tower.
It had once been the greatest artwork to elevate the status of Dream Demons. Now, it was an outdated construct that served as a final comfort for elderly Dream Demons.
The Association Chairman, seated at the head of the table, studied the scene within the Tower and frowned.
“What is this supposed to mean? It has only copied the world we live in.”
“Isn't that the Tree of Illusion? It looks like it recreated the Tree of Illusion.”
“The Tree of Illusion? What do you know about the Tree of Illusion? It may look like a tree on the surface, but...”
“Forget that. Look at the Tower's final floor. This isn't a joke, it's an insult. An insult.”
They stared at the Tower's gaunt form and talked as they pleased.
It was a new work by Sirwen Armelt, the world's last remaining 「Master」.
This banquet had also been arranged as an exhibition of her work.
“So that girl became a Master and got too full of herself. She keeps building these strange Towers.”
“What is so impressive about a Tower like this...?”
“She's pretty, so the young ones are devoted to her because of that. There isn't even a speck of artistic value in her work...”
“Shh. Stop talking.”
The moment one of the elderly Dream Demons raised a finger to their lips, a beautiful young woman in a flowing dress appeared behind them.
The chill rolling off her made every one of them fall silent.
Her footsteps echoed for a while. Then the host's voice rang out from the stage.
“Please welcome the star of today's banquet, Sirwen Armelt!”
Cheers erupted from the young Dream Demons.
After accepting the microphone from the host, Sirwen quietly looked around the hall. There were faces she had never seen before, familiar faces too.
And there were faces she was sick of seeing.
‘Those old fools came again.’
Sirwen's expression darkened when she saw the elderly Dream Demons. They were nasty old beings who always attended other people's banquets just to spoil them. They had grown old without ever becoming Masters, and now death stood before them.
At the thought of death, brief memories flashed through Sirwen's mind.
No. Don't think about it.
She took a deep breath and calmed herself.
“Eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves. That's all I have to say.”
The young Dream Demons cheered once more.
Sirwen's banquets had always been like this. She showed her work, then everyone ate and drank. There was no tedious explanation of the artwork. The guests enjoyed the banquet and went home.
That was all.
Still, the Dream Demon hosting this banquet seemed unfamiliar with Sirwen's style.
“Ah? You don't have any further comments? Perhaps an explanation of this work...?”
Sirwen looked toward the host.
The host continued.
“This work is notable for the contrast between the old world, the 《Tree of Illusion》, and the New World. Since its composition is difficult to understand, perhaps you could provide an explanation to help the audience...”
“I won't.”
The host's mouth fell open at the cold declaration.
“Pardon?”
“I said I won't.”
Sweat gathered on the host's forehead.
“Even a brief explanation would help... Everyone is especially curious about 「First Nightmare」, the Tower's final floor. If you could at least say something about the work's theme...”
“The theme?”
Sirwen curled her lip.
“If I were going to explain it, why would I make a Tower? I could just talk about it instead.”
“Ah, well, that's true, but...”
Faced with her stubbornness, the host forgot the program order and hurriedly flipped through the cue cards.
Watching the host wipe away sweat in a panic, Sirwen curled her lip again before speaking.
“But if I absolutely had to say one thing...”
“Ah, you will?”
The delighted host looked at Sirwen.
Yet Sirwen was no longer there.
Not literally. Her eyes had simply wandered through the distant past.
An era most had now forgotten.
The difficult days when they had fought to become ‘existence.’
Countless scenes flickered and vanished before her eyes like flames.
“This is a Tower I made for one person.”
* * *
Immediately after 「Fall」 struck, the 《Tree of Illusion》 collapsed.
Its Branches and Trunk shattered.
The entire 《Tree of Illusion》 scattered in silver.
Gods and Lords. Adapters and Awakened Ones. Everyone looked up at that sight. They understood that this was the greatest calamity of the dimensional realms, one they could not stop.
And everyone accepted it.
This is the end.
With a thunderous roar, the world overturned. Everything was swallowed by dense silver dust.
It took about one week for the silver dust to settle.
Silver Week.
When that week had passed, everyone was still alive. They realized they would live on in the New World.
A single world formed as the 《Abyss》 that had made up the Branches, the 《Chaos》 that had made up the Trunk, and the 《Great Realm》 that had made up the ground mixed together.
It was a world where gods, Lords, Adapters, and Awakened Ones lived together.
The 《Tree of Illusion》 was gone, and a new world free from the System's restraints had arrived before them.
The New World.
That was what people called the world now.
* * *
“You're back?”
“Yeah.”
“How was the banquet?”
“The same as always.”
“The old people from the Association were being difficult again, weren't they?”
“...”
“Don't let it bother you. It's always like that.”
“Just because it's always like that doesn't mean it doesn't bother me.”
Sirwen smiled and hung her coat over the back of a hospital chair.
“How are you feeling?”
“Full of energy.”
“You certainly don't look it.”
Sirwen looked at the old man lying in the hospital bed. His hair had turned white, and deep wrinkles covered his face. The weight of time had warped his body.
Sirwen remembered him as a boy. A rude little brat from the Abyss who always talked back. He had been so proud and stubborn that anyone could tell which god's Follower he was without being told.
He had been through so much since childhood that he always acted like an old man.
Now, he had truly become one.
Sirwen stroked the old man's forehead and silently recalled his name. As if she were determined not to forget it even after all these stories ended, she carefully repeated it.
“Runald.”
“What is it?”
“Don't die.”
Runald coughed at her words.
“But I'm going to die.”
“That's right. Probably soon.”
“Ah, don't say it like that, big sis. Every time you do, I feel inferior because of my race.”
“Hehe.”
“Did old man Cheongheo feel this way too? And Big Bro Karlton?”
“Runald.”
“I'm joking. I'm joking.”
Runald's lips trembled slightly as he smiled.
“I'm just a little scared. Unlike the old man, this is my first time. Going through death... This is my first and last time.”
“You idiot. It's everyone's first time.”
“Big Sis. What is death? Do we really return completely to nothing? Is there really nothing after this world? No memories, no soul, no body...”
Runald's trembling lips kept chattering for a few more words before falling silent. His strength had run out.
His steady sleeping breaths could be heard.
Sirwen stroked his exposed forehead again and again.
“That's what it means to be human.”
* * *
When the New World first appeared, the name that swept through it was, unsurprisingly, Jaehwan.
The one who had brought down the Tree of Illusion and destroyed the System.
People wondered who he was.
Why had he brought Destruction to the old world and opened a new one?
Many searched for him. Of course, no one could be found who claimed to have met Jaehwan.
Still, people occasionally appeared claiming to be ‘Jaehwan.’
“I am Jaehwan, the god of the New World.”
Usually, they were cult leaders spouting tired lines like that. Most were found dead before a month had passed.
The causes of death varied.
Some had been turned into beehives by Stabs and slashes. Others had been hit by fireballs and reduced to charcoal.
The worst cases had been beaten to death with a golden club.
“Anyone impersonating Jaehwan dies.”
As impersonators began dying one after another, Jaehwan became even more shrouded in mystery. Some people revered him as the god of the New World.
More people resented him.
“How are we supposed to live in a world without Skills or stats?”
“Give us back the old world! Give it back!”
People were confused. Thrown into a world without interface windows, guides, or visible numbers, they now had to endure the world's consequences with their own bodies.
That was not all.
“I don't... I don't want to die...!”
When the System collapsed, the concept of ‘immortality’ vanished. Every being in the world now came face to face with ‘death.’
‘Aging,’ which had been removed, returned. Nothing that existed could escape time's influence.
Only then did people become ‘existence.’
Death came even when one did nothing.
Some feared that truth and suffered because of it, but not everyone did. There were certainly those who willingly accepted that ‘death.’
“Brats, stop making those faces. And you, girl. Stop crying.”
“Who said I was crying?”
At Cheongheo's aged voice, several Companions wiped away tears and sniffled. Sirwen was one of them.
Tears. Was such a luxurious emotion still left in her?
Sirwen smiled bitterly, though her eyes had reddened.
“I've lived far too long. It isn't my first time, but I'm still nervous.”
A few people smiled at Cheongheo, who had not lost his sense of humor until the end.
One by one, they held his hand.
It was the hand of an old Martial God, a hand belonging to someone who had fought his entire life for freedom.
Sirwen was the last person to hold it.
“There is only one regret. I hate that I'll die without seeing that brat again. He's doing well, right? Jaehwan...”
The old man who had spent his life looking up at the sky closed his eyes while gazing upward until the final moment.
After him, people began to die one by one.
Cayman and Yulhen, then the Hall Masters of Chaos...
Those who had already lived far beyond a human lifespan were the first to reach the end of their lives.
When Yu Seolha's turn came, Yu Seolha said this.
“For the first time, I envy you. I've become like this, but you still look exactly as you did when I first met you.”
“Dream Demons live a long time.”
“Yeah...”
Yu Seolha smiled bitterly.
“You'll keep waiting, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Please. When he comes back, make sure you tell him. Tell him he wasn't wrong. Even if all of this was meaningless, he was never wrong...”
Perhaps that was what a face looked like when age could not take away its dignity. Yu Seolha's gaze remained strong until the end.
The people who remembered the 《Tree of Illusion》, the people who remembered Jaehwan, vanished like that.
And people born after Jaehwan began to appear.
Forty years. Fifty years...
Time passed quickly.
Few people still remembered the 《Tree of Illusion》 or the 《System》. People had forgotten the era when anyone could use a status window and an inventory while competing in strength through levels and Adaptation Stages. They had also forgotten the man who had fought against the world in that era.
Once, Karlton had said this.
“It's strange. Those born recently do not know the Fortress Lord.”
“We know him.”
“Yes. For now.”
“You look like you've lost a lot of strength in your wings.”
“...”
Sirwen's eyebrow twitched.
“Aren't you a Celestial? How can you already be so frail?”
“Perhaps it is because I am a hybrid. I am old even by human standards.”
They were silent for a while.
“Are you not lonely?”
“Shut up. I'm a Dream Demon, not a human.”
“You will become lonely.”
“...”
“I hope you will not be too lonely.”
Karlton folded his weakened silver wings and looked up at the sky.
“I'm afraid this may not be the end.”
Sirwen received the news of Karlton's death one month later.
* * *
Seventy years passed.
She searched every corner of the New World for traces of Jaehwan. When she first began looking for him, many people had joined her.
The souls of 《Chaos》 were especially eager.
“When I meet him, there is something I really want to tell him.”
An Awakened One who introduced herself as Mino.
“I have to show the Fortress Lord how much I have grown.”
Awakened One Cayman, along with the Hall Masters of the Ten Halls of Chaos and the residents of 《Chaos》.
“I need to repay the debt I owe that man.”
Jin Eunsae, an Awakened One Jaehwan had saved in 〈Metaverse〉.
“I only want him to admit that my dumplings are better than Master's.”
Baeko, who had begun learning how to make dumplings from Manri Shintong at the Black Shop.
“Because I want to settle things with him one more time.”
The Leader of 〈Metaverse〉.
“Because he is the person who let me dream of ‘tomorrow.’”
Even Martis, God of Tomorrow, and the Companions of 〈Metaverse〉.
With so many people searching for Jaehwan together, Sirwen thought that even if they searched the entire New World, they would find him quickly.
But ten years passed, then twenty, and there was still no sign of Jaehwan.
The number of people in Sirwen's search party naturally dwindled.
Mino. Claire...
The names of those who had willingly offered to search for Jaehwan disappeared from the list one after another.
Some died in accidents. Others reached the end of their lives.
‘It would have been nice if those two had been here.’
Sirwen remembered those who had vanished during Silver Week, when the 《Tree of Illusion》 collapsed.
Yoonhwan and Seoyul.
They were the only Companions who had vanished with the old world's collapse. It was too strange to be a coincidence, and Sirwen had once wondered whether their disappearance might be connected to Jaehwan.
“Captain, there's something here!”
The search team made a discovery while searching the northern land, where the Trunk of the 《Tree of Illusion》 was believed to have once risen.
There, they found long black fragments that resembled an archetype of darkness.
“This is...”
The moment Dream Demon Sirwen saw the substance, she knew what it was.
“It's a Root.”
“A Root? Do you mean a Root of the Tree of Illusion?”
“Yes.”
“Why would a Root be here? Wasn't the Root originally supposed to grow toward the 「Peripheral Worlds」?”
At the innocent question from a team member, Sirwen narrowed her eyes.
“Where do you think the 「Peripheral Worlds」 are?”
“Under our feet, aren't they? Roots naturally grow downward...”
“Under our feet? What nonsense are you talking about? The universe isn't built that simply.”
“What? Then where are they?”
The team member did not hear Sirwen's answer.
When they turned around, Sirwen had gone still as a statue.
“Captain?”
Sirwen's eyes were wide. Her hand trembled.
One step. Then another.
She walked toward the edge of the enormous Root and grasped something embedded there.
“In a place like this.”
Holding back tears that threatened to burst forth, Sirwen stroked the object lodged in the Root.
It was a broken sword.
The sword wielded by the loneliest and most stubborn person in this world.
Jaehwan's broken Dokbul was there.
* * *
That year, Sirwen presented a new hypothesis on the 《Tree of Illusion》 at an academic conference.
“So you are saying that 「First Nightmare」 may be in the 《Root》, is that it?”
“Put simply, yes.”
“Hmph. You should say something that makes sense...”
Even after the 《Tree of Illusion》 vanished, Dream Demons continued researching it.
The 《Tree of Illusion》 held the secret of their birth.
It was the archetype of every Tower, the tree that had given Dream Demons their reason for being by making cultivation possible. Dream Demons still could not forget it.
“That cannot be true. If 「First Nightmare」 had been near the Root, there is no way we would have failed to find it until now. It is certainly beyond the Branches.”
“You don't know that. We do not know what form the 《Tree of Illusion》 had to begin with. We may have even visited that place without realizing it.”
Sirwen's new Tree of Illusion hypothesis was not accepted.
It was not because her argument was difficult.
The hypothesis itself was simple. It claimed that the tree called the 《Tree of Illusion》 did not grow in a straight line.
“It is already well known that the Tree of Illusion's Branch and Root do not grow in straight lines.”
“I know that, but...”
“What if the Root and Branch of the Tree of Illusion circled through distant space and met each other? What if the 《Tree of Illusion》 had been growing in a circular form from the beginning? That would explain why 「First Nightmare」 was not found when the Tree of Illusion collapsed. There is no ‘top floor’ of the Tree of Illusion. From the start, the Tree of Illusion had a circular body...”
“That cannot be true!”
“The fact that a fragment of Root was found on this land is proof. The 《Tree of Illusion》 may have looked completely different from anything we imagined.”
Sirwen's voice was desperate.
There was a reason for that desperation. She desperately needed the help of these damned old fools.
“You cannot prove your claim. In any case, we can no longer reach the 「Peripheral Worlds」. Even if the 「First Nightmare」 is there, the 《Tree of Illusion》 is gone now...”
“That is what I am saying! If we revise the hypothesis, we may be able to rebuild the passage. We might even be able to travel freely between dimensions again!”
“Impossible. At least say something that makes sense...”
She had thought that, if nothing else, these elderly Dream Demons who still clung to the 《Tower of Nightmares》 would understand.
But it was impossible, as expected.
Then again, they were old fools who still insisted on cultivation Towers even though cultivation and Products had disappeared with the collapse of the 《Tree of Illusion》.
Sirwen knew.
The age of Dream Demons was over.
No Dream Demons had been born since the 《Tree of Illusion》 vanished.
With cultivation gone, Towers had become empty art. As if that horrible cultivation had been the entirety of art.
Holding back her anger, Sirwen said, “Fine. Spend the rest of your lives dreaming about past glories and die.”
The downfall of her species?
She did not care anymore.
* * *
Sirwen returned to the one place where someone understood her.
“Did it not go well?”
“No.”
At Runald's worried expression, Sirwen smiled.
“It's fine. I can study it alone. It will take longer, but someday I will succeed. I will see him again. You just need to stay alive until then.”
Runald smiled weakly.
“Jaehwan is definitely alive, right?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
Runald blinked slowly.
“Lately, I have strange dreams. I hear a voice calling me from somewhere. It feels similar to when I was still in that person's Unique World...”
“Stop talking like you're about to die, brat.”
“How long are you going to call me a brat? You're being rude to an old man.”
Sirwen quietly flicked Runald's forehead.
The two laughed and joked.
As always, they began telling old stories.
They spoke of the days when Jaehwan first appeared in the 《Abyss》. They spoke of their journey with him. They cursed Jaehwan for his stubborn nature and remembered the days when he planned impossible things.
And then, and then...
“When are you going to die, big sis?”
“Who knows? Maybe I have another thousand years left.”
“A thousand years... I didn't know it could feel like such a long time.”
Runald looked up at Sirwen with lonely eyes.
“Big Sis.”
“What?”
“Even if I am gone, you have to keep telling someone the story.”
“...”
“You have to keep talking, even if it is only to yourself. You must not fall apart. Even if everyone except you forget that time, forget those memories, forget Jaehwan... You must never think it was an illusion or a dream. Understand?”
“As if I would.”
“Right? You're a Dream Demon, so you must have a better memory than I do.”
“Of course.”
“That's a relief, big sis.”
Runald smiled.
“Lately, those memories keep becoming blurry. Sometimes they feel like things that never happened. Like I had a long dream. Like those things never existed. Like there was never a person named Jaehwan, and everything might have been a lie created by a brief nightmare...”
Then Runald fell asleep.
His breathing gradually slowed. The intervals between his heartbeats grew farther apart.
How fragile the human body was. How futile and delicate life was.
Even knowing this was the end, Sirwen could not bring herself to wake him.
Unable to close her eyes for fear that tears would spill out, she quietly laid her hand on Runald's forehead.
* * *
The people who had dreamed together disappeared. The old Dream Demons died one after another.
Sirwen was left alone.
Alone, she remembered everything.
No more of the 《Tree of Illusion》's Root was found.
Sometimes she thought the Root she possessed might be the last one left by the 《Tree of Illusion》.
She treasured it and studied it whenever she had time.
That Root was the only exit that could resolve all her questions. It was the only clue that could tell her why she had been born into this world, why she had met Jaehwan, and what 「First Nightmare」 was.
It alone could become the passage connecting her and Jaehwan.
She studied and studied again. She collected the materials left by dead Dream Demons and borrowed the power of other races.
But the research did not go smoothly.
Ten years passed.
Then twenty.
One hundred years passed.
Then two hundred.
One day, Sirwen realized that everyone except her had forgotten Jaehwan.
History no longer recorded Jaehwan, and people no longer performed Stabs.
The System showed signs of returning.
Its signs were not as obvious as before.
There were no levels or stats, but Sirwen could still feel it.
The System would appear again.
And Sirwen still knew nothing.
What 「First Nightmare」 was.
Why the 《Tree of Illusion》 had given birth to her.
Sirwen had learned nothing.
One day, Sirwen put down the Root she had been researching.
Whether it was surrender or the beginning of a new challenge, even Sirwen did not know.
She remembered the last Tower she had made.
The final Tower she had made while remembering him.
Perhaps it had been a momentary impulse.
Still, she decided to entrust herself to that impulse. She peeled away the bark of the Root she had treasured and began carving it with her tools.
She began making her final Tower.
Filled with deep longing and unbearable loneliness, she began making the Tower.
It was not a Tower for cultivation.
It was a barren Tower that could cultivate no Product.
A single Tower so useless that it could not be exchanged for anything of value in the world.
As she made it, Sirwen often dreamed.
This is not a dream.
These memories must not be treated as a dream that has passed.
Even as she thought that, she dreamed.
She dreamed of arguing with Cheongheo.
She dreamed of Karlton and Runald.
She dreamed of fighting with Yu Seolha.
She dreamed of him returning.
At the end of the long nightmare, she adjusted the Tower's shape with a weary face. A lonely, solitary tree rested at her fingertips.
Just a little more. Just a little more...
Before she could finish her work, she fell asleep again.
This time, it was a deep sleep.
I may not wake up in time, she thought, before falling completely asleep.
Quiet breathing echoed steadily through the small workshop.
It was a silence as warm as down.
As though it were saying that she had done enough. That she had worked hard enough.
It felt as though that silence would continue forever.
Crack.
That was when a small sound came.
But it was so faint that Sirwen did not hear it.
Crack. Crackle.
The sound came from the Tower she had made.
A small fissure appeared inside it, and a faint light spread through the dark workshop.
It was a fissure she seemed to have seen before.
Like the day the sky had been torn apart by a Stab, cracks spread through her Tower.
As one world called to another.
As one world overlapped another.
Even in her dream, Sirwen could see the fissure.
Because she knew what it was, she smiled.
Through her hazy vision, her lips moved.
She wanted to say that she had waited far too long.
But the sleepiness was too overwhelming, and she could not bring herself to rise.
The Tower gave off a warm light and embraced her. It held her as if telling her it was all right, as if telling her she could sleep a little longer.
Reassured, she closed her eyes.
It was a sleep she could ask for because she knew this was not the end.
Submerged in bright light, she dreamed for a long time.
As she dreamed, she thought that she should rest well and save up her stamina in advance.
Because when she woke, a new world would begin.
Footnotes:
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