"It’s over..."
As everything around her gradually turned into mist and dissipated, Maria raised her head, gazing at the world before her. She had been trapped in this nightmare for an untold amount of ti, but now, everything had ended.
"Outsider, who exactly are you?"
Maria looked towards Fang Zheng, her suspicion was clear — the identity of this foreigner was no simple matter. Even the Healing Church, with all its resources, could not completely understand the origins of the Ancient Gods, yet this outsider seed to know everything here, including the true identities of those Ancient Gods.
"I am a Watcher of the Abyss, from Farron’s Undead Squad."
Fang Zheng sheathed his Greatsword, gazing around. The one with the big chin had disappeared at so point, perhaps he was just a hunter’s phantom within this dream.
"To tell the truth, I’d like to know what exactly happened to this world, why it beca like this?"
"Allow to answer that question, Lord of Ash."
Just at that mont, suddenly, a voice rang out, and Fang Zheng and Maria were startled to see another figure appear before them.
"Fire Girl?"
Seeing the Fire Keeper before him, Fang Zheng hesitated for a mont.
"How did you appear here?"
"Because this place is also a dream, Lord of Ash."
The Fire Keeper gave Fang Zheng a slight smile, then she raised her hand.
"I have been here waiting for your return, Lord of Ash. I have witnessed the changes in this world, and now, it is ti to tell you everything."
As the Fire Keeper moved, the world in front of Fang Zheng transford as well; the coast disappeared, and the next mont, what appeared before him was a battlefield burned to ashes.
"This is...?"
Looking at the battlefield before her, Maria was greatly shocked. She could feel that this place was none that she had seen before. It was filled with ashes, weapons embedded in the ground had long since rusted, and in the sky, it was not the sun Maria knew, but a pitch-black Dark Ring, its edges shimring with a crimson glow.
"This is indeed familiar,"
Fang Zheng remarked as he gazed at a broken sword and the burning bonfire before him. The Fire Keeper quietly ca to Fang Zheng’s side, everything seed like a replay of that day.
"Lord of Ash, do you rember? That day, you chose to extinguish the embers of this world..."
The Fire Keeper extended her hand, a small fla appeared in her hand. Then, she brought her hands together, snuffing out the tiny fla. With the Fire Keeper’s gesture, the entire world began to dim, as if sunset had descended.
"The embers have been extinguished, the era of fire has ended..."
"Woosh..."
Fang Zheng heard the sound of water, in front of him, he saw raging floods sweeping over everything, covering the entire world in a vast ocean.
"The era of the deep sea has arrived."
"Boom!!"
No sooner had the Fire Keeper finished speaking than Fang Zheng and Maria saw the ocean before them explode violently, and then, huge creatures erged from it, as if prisoners freed from their cells, wildly thrashing their bodies, releasing their excitent and joy. Seeing this scene, Fang Zheng let out a cold snort.
"With the disappearance of the deities, the power of the Abyss began to grow. They once believed that this world would beco their possession..."
The flood started to recede, and various powerful Abyssal Monsters erged from the waters, their appearances bizarre, bodies massive, strong and wicked. They excitedly rushed onto the land that had once been protected by deities, now depleted of its residual fires, and indulged in everything it offered.
But no one noticed that on the tumultuous shoreline, one by one, small figures slowly crawled out, their expressions bewildered as they looked at the world before them, seemingly unsure what to do now.
"With the extinguishing of the residual fires and the disappearance of the deities, the curse of the Undead also dissolved, but for this world, they were still too weak."
Next, the world before Fang Zheng began to fast forward, showing him the subsequent history of this world.
The remaining fire vanished, but humanity did not gain freedom because of it. The monsters of the Abyss began to mimic the forr King of Salary, enslaving these humans, forcing them to serve, and to build splendid buildings, cities, civilizations, and everything else. They indulged greedily in their newly acquired pleasures, like ex-convicts reveling in their freedom.
Unfortunately, this did not last long.
Even the Abyss had not realized that the disappearance of the remaining fire was not just about gaining this world.
The temperature started to drop, a cold wind swept across the land, gradually freezing everything. Although the Abyssal Monsters possessed imnse power, this did not an they could freely withstand the encroaching cold. The onset of a long ice age instilled fear in the Abyssal creatures, but by then, it was too late—most of the Abyssal creatures were frozen and perished in the endless extre cold. Others retreated deep into the pitch black Abyss, and a few who could not escape chose to enter a prolonged hibernation.
"But... not all creatures failed to survive this long winter..."
In front of Fang Zheng, as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the thick clouds and lit up the endless darkness, humans in ragged clothes erged from their caves. They lifted their heads towards the sun in the sky, knelt on the ground, raised their hands as though in praise or in song.
"After that, ti revolved..."
The world before Fang Zheng fast-forwarded again, and he saw what happened on the land of Anan thereafter—the Ancient Gods who once enslaved the Surian civilization fell into slumber during the long ice age. The ambitions of the Surians swelled; they tried to seize the Blood of the Ancient God to make themselves equally powerful and superior beings, but the Surians failed.
After so long a ti, most humans had already forgotten where they ca from and what they had experienced. The Abyss, Dark Soul, Dark Ring, Primordial Fire—all had vanished from everyone’s mory over ti, along with the once towering heroes, their glorious deeds, and everything that had happened in this country known as Lothric, all buried forever beneath the seas.
This also led to the Surians not understanding what it ant to extract blood from a being they called an "Ancient God" and then inject it into their own bodies.
The Abyss is the sedint of human nature, and the creatures of the Abyss are its embodint. The result of the Surians’ actions was their contamination by the Abyss, which then transford them into Abyssal Monsters.
This also led to the extinction of the Surian civilization.
Until the river of ti flowed once more, Anan appeared... When Byronvis Academy discovered the remains of Sur, it signified the beginning of another cycle.
"It’s quite ridiculous."
Watching the scene before him, Fang Zheng shook his head. So many had fought to seal the Abyss, even deities had plunged themselves into it to protect the world. And now, these foolish and ignorant mortals were actually willingly embracing the Abyss... Ironically, as the Fire Keeper had said, it was like a cycle. Humanity originated from the Abyss and beca human by desiring and obtaining the power of the Primordial Fire, but now, they wanted to voluntarily return to the Abyss...
The Surians didn’t know, the Anan People didn’t know either, that the endpoint they constantly longed for, sought, and anticipated was actually the place their ancestors, and their ancestors before them, had barely escaped from.
"This... this..."
Watching all this unfold before her, Maria was stunned, looking at Fang Zheng and the Fire Keeper, at a loss for words.
"This is indeed an ironic play."
Watching the final scene fade away, Fang Zheng comnted as the coast he had seen before reappeared before his eyes.
"Humans always repeat the sa mistakes, yet they try to rectify these errors... Well, it’s a good thing that Anan’s bunch of lunatics is gone, and they didn’t spread this Blood Healing to other places. I’ve had enough of those Abyssal freaks; I definitely don’t want these lunatics to cause more problems."
"Outsider..."
Hearing this, Maria took a deep breath, looking at Fang Zheng.
"Are you... a god?"
"I am no deity."
In response to Maria’s inquiry, Fang Zheng waved his hand.
"As you can see, the gods who once ruled this world are dead, and the monsters of the Abyss are pretty much gone too. Next, this world will be a world for humans, and you are free... Well, perhaps you should consider not giving up on this hard-won freedom. You should know, I decided to extinguish the fire with great determination."
"So, what should I do next?"
"That’s for you to decide."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng extended his hand towards Maria.
"But for now, let’s leave this place."
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