Sword of Dawn

Page 457

Refreshments were placed on the round table, and there were two chairs beside the round table. Dragon God Enya was standing in front of one of the chairs, looking towards the door with a gentle expression on his face.

When Gao Wen came to the round table, he first checked his surroundings, and found that there were really only himself and Enya in the huge hall—this so-called private meeting was completely literal, not even an attendant, a None of the guards could see.

Unexpectedly, he couldn't help laughing and teasing: "Isn't it a bit too wasteful for such a spacious place to be used only for two 'people' to talk?"

Dragon God smiled faintly: "If you feel unwell, I can make this place look different—even a room you are familiar with."

"That's not necessary," Gawain waved his hand, "It's better if it's more spacious, we can talk openly."

Dragon God didn't care about his weird "pun intended" way of speaking, He just nodded, and then looked into Gawain's eyes: "Well, since this is the first private conversation, maybe I should re-introduce myself .”

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to Gawain, and said in a low and soft voice, "Enya, the protector of Tarrond, the dragon gods."

Gao Wen looked at the hand stretched out in front of him, but he didn't respond immediately. The voice of the dragon god Enya wafted into his ears, making his eyes slightly widen. It feels like "it really is".

"Gods"!

Of all the conjectures and conjectures he had had about Tarrond since he crossed the Eternal Storm, at last one was confirmed.

The Dragon God still maintained the posture of stretching out one hand, showing no signs of impatience, but said casually after seeing Gao Wen lost in thought: "It's not a good habit to make ladies wait too long."

Gao Wen woke up from a slightly distracted state. He hesitated for a while, but still held the soft and warm fingers of the other party for a while, and quickly let go after shaking hands politely—but during this process, he did not look at the other party again. Seeing the phantom of the "Dragon of Chaos", it seems that the dragon god has carried out some kind of deliberate control this time.

"Are the gods really divided into genders?" After withdrawing his hand, he glanced at Dragon God again and asked curiously, "Even if the gods are divided into genders, are the 'gods' also divided into genders?"

"In the early religions of most civilizations, the role of 'protector' corresponds to the image of motherhood," Dragon God said lightly, "Of course, this is not absolute-but at least for me, the role of 'mother' It's more satisfying to me."

Gawain sat down on his own chair, and a large oak cup was automatically filled in front of him. The liquid in the cup swayed slightly, reflecting the golden dome of the temple hall and Gawain's small half. Face.

He looked at the god in front of him: "So, your 'mother' is actually a fusion of many gods? The...thing I saw was some kind of..."

He was suddenly stuck because he couldn't find any gentle and euphemistic words to describe what he was thinking at the moment. The god in front of him seemed to see this. He smiled and said casually in a completely indifferent tone: "Don't worry about it." , Just say what comes to mind. Since today is a 'private conversation', we can talk in depth. No matter what you want to ask, or what you want to say, you can say it boldly."

This was already made clear, and Gao Wen immediately understood the attitude of the Dragon God in today's conversation. Although he didn't know what the other party was thinking, he was relieved a lot: "Then I will make it clear—I saw There is a strange thing like a stitched corpse floating in the sky of Tarrond. You once admitted that it was you, and now you claim to be the dragon's "gods", so I can boldly speculate: the dragons were once like us humans, I believe in many gods holding different priesthoods, but for 'some reason', all the gods have become part of the 'Sewn Corpse', the so-called 'Dragon God'. Is that so?"

"A perfect guess is almost the whole truth," Dragon God said lightly, "only one detail is missing - the 'some reason' you mentioned. You already have an idea about this 'some reason' Is not it?"

Gao Wen immediately frowned imperceptibly, and vaguely figured out some key points. After a little hesitation, he decided to say it: "Yes, I have an idea, and this idea stems from what I learned when I was crossing the eternal storm. Some of the things I saw - I'll just say it, I saw a battlefield in the center of the Eternal Storm, a battleground of dragons and 'gods.' Although I don't know the size of the attackers, my instinct tells me that the The things are the gods of the dragon family. However, it is strange that I am the only one who remembers these things after leaving the storm. Amber, Veronica, and Melita do not remember..."

"This is out of good intentions," Dragon God said, "witnessing those things is not beneficial to the mental health of mortals. Cleaning memories and erasing traces are all to clear their spiritual pollution."

Gawain put his hand beside the oak cup, and his eyes fell on the Dragon God: "So... at that time, it was really you who made the move."

Dragon God nodded calmly: "It is indeed me."

"Then why didn't you 'process' my memory?" Gawain asked curiously, "Or did you keep my memory on purpose, just to talk about these things with me today?"

"...I tried, but failed." Dragon God seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then said an answer that surprised Gawain, "In fact, I tried a full six times."

Gao Wen: "?"

"It seems that you don't even feel that a god has tried to cleanse your memory," Dragon God Enya said unhurriedly, "In fact, when I realized that I was facing a vast, endless, and I knew this was going to happen when the ocean of memory was rapidly repairing itself and protectively reorganizing every second."

Gao Wen's expression gradually became serious: "What else did you find?"

"Don't worry, I didn't spy on your memory - I don't have the authority to do so, and even if I did, I doubt whether I can see something useful from your memory, and whether I can guarantee that in the process Your own safety," the Dragon God laughed, "after all...you are closely connected with the voyager, and no god is willing to collide head-on with the legacy of the voyager."

Gawain's hand holding the oak cup trembled very slightly - he knew that such a slight tremor could not hide from the eyes of the "god" on the other side.

"What else do you know?" He raised his head and looked at the other party.

"Not long after your 'resurrection', I noticed the changes in the human world." Dragon God just smiled flatly, his expression never seemed to change much, "You have brought a lot of things to this world , quite a few of them are beyond the stage of development of mortal society at that time, and also beyond the knowledge and experience that the real 'Gavin Cecil' may have mastered. Although you have been very serious about making yourself like an ordinary human, in the It doesn't look like enough to me.

"I have a lot of clues, but I don't need to tell you every clue. Here, I just want to say hello to the 'real you' as the dragon gods - the dragon gods greet you , Outer Territory Wanderer."

"Wanderers outside the territory..." Gawain couldn't help laughing, "Actually, they were just used to scare those dark cultists at first..."

"But it's not completely fabricated," Dragon God looked at Gao Wen with a half-smile, "and it's very appropriate to describe an 'foreign soul' who comes from nowhere, why it came, and what purpose it has. Is not it?"

"...it seems the connection between the dragons and the voyagers runs deeper than I thought."

The Dragon God didn't respond to this sentence, he just looked Gawain up and down with a certain kind of scrutiny, and asked curiously: "Actually, there is one thing that I care about - even if you have a certain connection with the legacy of the voyager , but what you are currently using is still just a human body, this body is very fragile, I do not mean to offend-but I can crush the body you are using now with one finger, but you still accept my invitation to put down The huge empire you just established came to Tarrond with only two 'guards' who are better than nothing...Are you really not worried that the dragons have malicious intentions, or that my 'god' has malicious intentions?"

Gawain picked up the oak cup and took a sip, then raised an eyebrow: "You were the one who offered the invitation back then, and you invited it twice."

"Inviting is one thing, keeping an appointment is another," Dragon God obviously didn't want to hear a perfunctory answer, "From common sense, your current status in the mortal world determines that you shouldn't act so hastily. From a cautious point of view, whether it is Tarrond or the "Dragon God", they are both unknown camps for humans. If you consider your existing knowledge of the gods, you should have a certain natural hostility towards me , that's why I'm even more curious... Under such a vigilant situation, what kind of confidence do you have to come to Tarrond for an appointment like this?"

The eyes of the "Gods of Tarrond" fell on Gawain, and unimaginable power seemed to be brewing in those pale golden eyes. Gawain could even feel the entire upper temple trembling with his breath. Trembling slightly.

He has no doubt that this "god" does have the power to kill himself in an instant - he has lived in this world for too long, the dragon race has developed in this world for too long, and the god of Tarrond has long been so powerful To some unbelievable degree, His strength is hard to resist by any mortal power.

Except "Starter".

"Do you have a reason to do it?" Gao Wen asked calmly against Enya's faint pressure.

"Yes—just because you have a certain connection with the legacy of the voyager, you are already a natural hidden danger of the'God', and your hidden danger is now in a state that is very easy to be killed. A considerable number of gods will choose in this case Eliminate the threat."

"Then I'll pretend you have a reason to do it." Gawain put down the oak cup, leaned back on the gorgeous golden seat relaxedly, but his eyes floated upwards, as if looking at the bright starry sky of the North Pole through the dome of the hall. , "But you have to know that the legacy left by the navigator spreads throughout the entire space, and the orbits of some in-orbit facilities will cross the North Pole, and at any time, there are at least three gravity-anchored satellites and a large gravity-anchored space station watching Tarrond... and more unanchored installations will pass the skies near Tarrond within twelve hours."

"...So, this is your so-called 'hole card'?" Dragon God frowned, then shook his head slightly disappointed, "I had higher expectations—do you think I don't know? You Those facilities mentioned have been exhausted many years ago. Except for the sky, what the voyagers left in space are only hundreds of cold tombstones. Your hole cards are those tombstones without any attack power 'What?"

"They really have no offensive capabilities. Their main energy sources are all offline, and their self-repair functions have collapsed. Now they are only relying on backup energy sources to maintain their orbits," Gao Wen said calmly, "No matter how many satellites and space stations float over Tarrond, they are indeed There is no way to even fire at the ground..."

He paused for a moment, and the corners of his mouth curled up: "But what if they fall?"

Dragon God's eyes finally became serious.

"There is an instruction that even if the energy of those facilities is on the verge of depletion, they can still be used, because it is completed by relying on backup energy." Gawain held up the oak cup again, and seeing that the drink in the cup had been filled again, he showed a hint With a satisfied smile, he said happily, "'Abandonment Protocol' is used to safely decommission space facilities that have exceeded their service limits - before departure, I have set Tarrond to twelve satellites and three space stations As long as the agreement takes effect, the legacy of the sailors will fall from the sky—I want to ask, can the great shield of Tarrond stop them?"

"...Even if the meteorite falls, the large shield will be safe and sound, but if the legacy of the voyager falls from the sky...the shield is really irresistible," Dragon God seemed to hold his breath for a few seconds before opening his mouth to break the silence, "Those satellites and Some dangerous devices and remaining weapons in the space station will explode, harmful substances will pollute the entire ecosystem, and countless dragons will die, and I will protect them without hesitation—and be seriously injured or even fall.”

He took a long breath and looked at Gao Wen solemnly: "Okay, I admit that this is a good card. But are you really sure that you can issue the cancellation agreement in time? Maybe... Destroy you before you react, so that you can't give orders in time, or I can interfere with your thinking, so that you can't give accurate orders-my hands can be very fast, so fast that the nerve reflex speed of your mortal body can't keep up Come on, have you ever thought about this possibility?"

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows.

He put down the oak cup in his hand (it did take a bit of willpower), then took out the mechanical watch from his pocket, and glanced at the time on it.

"You've got one thing wrong," he said, "I didn't need to give the order to scrap the agreement—I did.

"After crossing the eternal storm and before setting foot on the continent of Tarrond, I ordered to start the abandonment process of all the space facilities on the list. Twelve satellites and three large space stations have already started operations—but, I gave They leave a twelve-hour countdown to final confirmation.

"And what I'm doing these days is postponing them every twelve hours."

Chapter 0960 "The Gods"

The liquid in the oak cup was slightly rippling, reflecting the resplendent dome of the temple hall and the faint golden light that wandered between the pillars and paintings. Gawain was holding the oak cup with a faint smile on his face. Satisfied, and the "god" sitting opposite him also smiled after a few seconds.

"Wonderful," He said with a smile, "You scared me."

"Because you scared me too," Gawain said frankly, "especially after seeing the 'truth' over Tarrond."

Then he paused, and then continued: "Actually, even if I achieve this step, I can't guarantee that my card will be effective-I can only prepare everything, but there are always people in the world who cannot prepare. For example... I was not sure how deterrent those falling shocks are to you, and I am not sure whether you have the ability to directly read the memory and tamper with the instructions I sent... My only reliance is A 'god' like you can't directly manipulate the legacy of the voyager, and can't intercept or tamper with my instructions, but judging from the results now, the situation is not bad."

While speaking, he stretched out his hand and randomly took a piece of delicate looking snack from the table and put it into his mouth.

Slightly sweet, not greasy, and a unique fragrance.

"It's true... even if I know your arrangement, I can't do anything about the legacy of the voyager... You have a gamble, but you are right," Dragon God also picked up the teacup in front of him and tasted it lightly. After taking a sip, she looked at Gao Wen and said as if she was talking to ordinary friends, "Ensure mutual destruction, even in the case of one party's extinction, it can still ensure that the means of retaliation will automatically take effect, an amazing idea—— You see, those dark believers are actually right to be afraid of you, there is a very terrifying mind under your glorious heroic image, let me make a bold guess—this terrible habit of thinking is related to your real 'hometown'?"

"Almost," Gao Wen said casually, "but I still feel that the conditions in this world are much harsher than those in my hometown."

"If possible, I really want to see what the real hometown of you, an 'outsider wanderer' looks like," Dragon God sighed, but then shook his head, "Well, it's not important, the important thing is—— If everything got to that point, would you really choose to destroy Tarrond? You should now realize how destructive those 'abandoned satellites' are after they crash, they are enough to destroy and pollute a country, and the people in this country Many members...actually have a good relationship with you."

"So I'm very glad that it is only a deterrent after all." Gao Wen said calmly.

"...That's right," Dragon God stared at Gao Wen for several seconds before slowly saying, "Maintain this vigilant and decisive attitude, if you want to deal with gods in the future, then this attitude is necessary Indispensable."

Gao Wen didn't speak for a while, he sorted out his sentences, and then suddenly raised his head to look at the other party: "Didn't the dragons at the center of the Eternal Storm who fought against the 'Gods' not be vigilant and decisive enough?"

"They..." Dragon God seemed to hesitate for a moment, and there was a complex look in his eyes, "They are very good, they have done a good job... It's a pity that they were one step late. They had a chance to succeed, but the belief of the whole civilization It has become too powerful, to the point where it is impossible to face it head-on, and under such circumstances, rash confrontation has caused all the gods to descend at the same time and lose control..."

"The simultaneous descent and loss of control of all the gods?" Gawain frowned immediately, "Then how did these 'all gods' become you, the 'gods'? Why did they... merge into you?"

When he asked these questions, he felt very strange, because the objects he asked were the "gods" of the past, the targets of the dragon clan's disobedience, and the source of the greatest shadow and terror in the sky above Tarrond. But he had a feeling that Dragon God would definitely answer him, these seemingly rebellious questions were even what he had been looking forward to for a long time.

"...This is the result of the failure of mortals to break free from the chains," Dragon God said in a deep voice, his eyes became very serious, even a little scorching, "Remember, remember—no matter what The mortal race, they all have only one chance, and if they fail, they will face the same result as the dragon race. When the order of belief completely collapses, the relationship between gods and humans exceeds the extreme value of contradiction, and the chain still fails to break free , something like this happens—

"The gods will merge into one, and the 'gods' will become the ultimate shackles.

"The 'gods' will be named after civilization, with all the history, culture, worship, and fear of civilization as the skeleton, and with the minds of all members of civilization as the source of power. The strength of the civilization as a whole is as strong as the gods .”

……

The terrifying roar and nightmarish whistling sound awakened many dragons living in the upper area, and even Speaker Andal, who had just fallen asleep, was awakened by the abnormal movement outside the hall.

The awe-inspiring primordial dragon raised his head from his "throne" entangled with countless pipes and cables, and heard the faint sound of thunder and storm still coming, echoing in the nerve sensor terminals of many kin Asking and exclaiming anxiously, driven by anxiety, he immediately called out: "Omega! What happened outside?"

Omega's interactive interface quickly lit up, accompanied by a mechanically synthesized voice: "The external monitor is being transferred... It is an energy storm, which is forming above the upper temple, and the energy level is still increasing."

Immediately afterwards, a clear surveillance image appeared on the surface of the largest crystal curtain in front of Andal. He saw the resplendent and resplendent upper temple appearing in the curtain, surrounded by a more powerful pale golden halo than before, and A terrifying cyclone hangs upside down over the temple—the cyclone is filled with scarlet fire and lightning, and its scale may even be larger than the entire mountain peak. It rotates and spreads, constantly emitting deafening roars and roars The sound, and it is expanding every minute and every second!

Why is there such a terrible natural phenomenon in Tarrond? !How could such a thing appear on this land protected by the gods! ?

"Omega!" Speaker Andal shouted immediately, "Why isn't the weather controller responding?"

"The weather controller is operating normally, and this phenomenon is outside the warning list..." Omega quickly responded, but its report was interrupted immediately, "Special contact——Andal Speaker, Heragor High Priest to speak to you."

"Hragor?" Andal was stunned for a moment, then realized, "Connected."

In the next second, the Omega interface on the side of the hall was replaced by Heragor's serious face, and Andal then turned his head: "Hragor, over there in the upper temple..."

"Everything is normal, nothing happened," said the dragon priest on the interface expressionlessly, "Just tell everyone, just rest assured."

The mechanical prosthetic eye in Andal's eye socket shimmered, and the mechanically controlled telescopic structure moved slightly unconsciously: "Hragor, you..."

"Our lord is receiving guests," the dragon priest said indifferently. "Your Excellency, nothing happened—don't worry about that cyclone, it will disappear. Tomorrow, the sky in Tarrond will still be clear."

After saying this, Heragor unilaterally hung up the communication without waiting for Andal's answer. After a short noise scene, the Omega interface reappeared on the crystal curtain on the side of the hall.

"Chairman Andal," Omega's voice woke Andal from his momentary stupor, "Do you need to issue a disaster avoidance order?"

"...No, there's no need." Andal took a deep breath, slowly shaking his head, "Tell everyone, this is a temporary adjustment of the weather controller - there is no danger, nothing happened."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Speaker."

……

"I seem to hear something moving outside." Gawain put down his glass, frowned slightly and looked towards the end of the hall, where there was an open balcony, but probably due to the angle, he couldn't see much scenery from here.

"Don't worry about it," the god sitting opposite him said calmly, "It's just a little rumor."

"Well, the sound of the wind, the wind around Tarrond is always strong," Gawain glanced at the "god" and shook his head indifferently, then his expression became serious again, and he returned to the previous one. He was so shocked that he almost couldn't hold the cup, "Gods...that is to say, as long as the 'disobedience' fails, the gods will definitely merge into one and become the 'Gods'? How did this process happen? This Is there any reason for it?"

"You really like to investigate the principles," Dragon God smiled and shook his head, "Unfortunately, I can't give you the answer..."

Gawain stared at the other party: "I don't know, or can't tell?"

"Neither know, nor can I say," Dragon God said, "Although I am the result of the fusion of the 'gods', I don't know how it all happened, and I believe the truth behind this process is beyond The 'limit' of our communication - even between you and me, some knowledge cannot be easily exchanged."

"Okay, I understand," Gawain nodded with some regret, and then he looked thoughtfully at the entrance of the hall, and looked at the place where Heragor was theoretically staying, "What about Heragor? What about the matter? You know... I have seen a dragon in human form in the center of the eternal storm, and I believe it is Heragor. Regarding this, can you satisfy my curiosity?"

Dragon God fell silent.

Just when Gao Wen thought the question was too sensitive and the other party would not answer, he heard the other party's voice suddenly: "Since you saw it, you should be able to tell that he once stood in the center of the battlefield, leading Watching the dragons rise up against the out-of-control gods... Ironic, isn't it? Now he is the highest priest in Tarrond, serving the only and highest god in Tarrond."

Gawain frowned again. He looked at the Dragon God and said in a low voice, "So is this some kind of 'punishment'? Is it a reprimand from the gods? Or...pure 'bad taste'?"

Dragon God shook his head: "Neither, it's a deal."

"trade?"

"Mortals choose to submit, and the gods end the trial," Dragon God said frankly. "This transaction needs a 'symbol', and Heragor is this symbol."

"that's it?"

"that's it."

"Okay, I see." Gawain nodded, indicating that this topic can end here.

"Maybe we should talk about something light." Dragon God suddenly smiled, and his tone became as if he was talking about the weather and daily life, "You and your friends have been touring Tarrond for three days—I believe you I've seen a lot, and now I want to hear your opinion."

"My opinion on Tarrond?" Gawain raised his eyebrows, "You want to tell the truth?"

"If I want, I can hear countless gorgeous and sweet lies-I want to listen to the truth, and listen to the evaluation from the heart of you, an 'outside wanderer'."

Gawain looked into the other person's eyes, and in those perfect eyes beyond ordinary people, he saw a piece of peace and emptiness.

"Deformed," he said, "prosperous but sickly, advanced and rotten, with no life beneath the clamorous and bustling surface."

Dragon God nodded: "Spicy and direct evaluation."

"This is what I saw," Gao Wen said, "How many years has Tarrond stagnated? How many hundred thousand years? One million years? Perhaps only such a long period of stagnation can explain everything I see. At a glance, I saw its prosperity and advancedness, and frankly, it even shocked me. I almost thought it was an advanced society that had only appeared in fantasy—but as I saw its interior, more and more What a dark and desolate thing appeared before my eyes...

"Talrond is dead, dead within a technological framework developed to its limits, dead within a social structure as rigid as stone, dead within this... shelter that you call the 'Cradle of Eternity'. Frankly speaking , when I looked at Tarrond, I even felt as if I was looking at a ruin—a ruin that was running on its own."

At the end of Gao Wen's speech, he finally couldn't help sighing: "This country is called the kingdom of dragons, but the dragon race seems to be the last thing you need here—whether it's the citizens of the lower Tarrond, The so-called upper-class citizens have actually been decoupled from the development of civilization, and this is the fact I have seen."