Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 176

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 176.
The Voice of the Sealed Land (22)
What appeared first was a towering spire.
A black banner fluttered from its peak—a heraldic emblem Daphnen had never seen in any Family Clan across the realm.
A tiger with four wings, its fur gleaming gold save for dark markings scattered across its body.
Gradually, other structures came into view. Soon I realized the spire was merely one part of an immense Castle, its architecture echoing the Hall of Spirits with its many rounded domes.
The stones used in its construction were white, each one massive beyond what human strength alone could move.
As my vision expanded, the Castle receded swiftly, disappearing among countless other buildings.
Then a magnificent city emerged beneath a clear blue sky, dotted with drifting clouds.
Towers soaring beyond ten stories cast their shadows in profusion, while beautiful single-story dwellings with gardens stretched to the horizon in undulating waves—a city of staggering breadth.
To traverse it on foot would take days. To linger there would be to lose oneself.
Several grand radial avenues centered on the tallest structures stood distinct, yet beyond them, the paths dissolved into scattered houses before they could properly form streets.
The buildings rarely touched one another. Though single-story, they rose high with domed or triangular gabled roofs, surrounded by grand colonnades.
Their outer walls naturally bore relief carvings, niches with sculptures, small fountains, and especially terraces.
The vision showed what appeared to be a plaza or amphitheater—vast enough to hold thousands, its foundations and stairs hewn from enormous stone blocks with refreshing grandeur.
Most materials were stone: white and blue predominated, with rare dark blue stones scattered throughout, glimmering as if dusted with silver powder.
The peaks of tall towers and spires often bore circular terraces where birds might rest. Some buildings even featured massive arched entrances at heights seemingly useless to humans.
Unless great birds came to perch, I could imagine no other purpose.
The vision swept westward. A rectangular tower rose, its summit crowned with a rooftop garden.
Within it, several small gardens sprouted like mushrooms, creating an unusual beauty both captivating and precarious.
Atop another building, blue flames burned with steady intensity, and occasionally the silhouettes of unknown creatures flickered across them before vanishing.
Bridges of stone, wood, and white rope connected various buildings, casting shadows across the streets.
Some stone bridges twisted in intricate curves, spiraling and bending, rising and falling in multiple turns.
The ingenuity of these aerial bridges, spanning dozens of lengths high and connecting the buildings, evoked something almost spiritual. White birds perched sparsely on the bridge supports like sculptures, gazing down upon the streets.
I followed the radial avenues. The great thoroughfares dividing the city into vast sections were wide enough for dozens of carriages to pass at once. Why would such breadth be necessary?
These roads were paved more perfectly than any city on the Continent, extending beyond the city’s edge to vanish at the horizon.
The city walls encircling it were built of blue stone, their craftsmanship excellent, yet most striking were the sculptures of fierce beasts’ heads positioned at every corner along the wall’s upper path.
Colossal artworks in themselves, they moved and conversed with one another, and when bored, they yawned.
Behind a broad single-story building flanked by towers, a massive jet of water rose like a fountain, scattering rainbows. Yet if it truly was a fountain, its height exceeded twenty men standing tall.
Just as Daphnen spotted something gleaming and circular like a distant mirror, the vision darkened once more.
The Ghost spoke from beside him.

“Arcadia, the Capital of Ganapoli. Once, a hundred thousand people dwelt within that city.”

“A magical city that vanished as if by sorcery. Every building and street there was tended by magic itself.”

The spring brightened once more. This time, I perceived the lengthy sand-colored corridor through the eyes of a small creature in flight.
Columns arrayed on either side whispered like wind against my senses, and the corridor’s end opened into a verdant garden suffused with tranquility. At its heart stood an ancient well.
Yet my gaze never reached the well. Before it could, light erupted from within, soaring heavenward.
Before I could comprehend what transpired, the world transformed into brilliant white.

「It was contact. Beyond the Old Man’s Well—a place even the wise hesitate to glimpse, lest their minds shatter—lay a passage to another realm. Mages are creatures of curiosity by nature. Gitisi, once a king, now the Sorcerer King’s chief advisor and head of the Mage Council, received a ‘call’ befitting his very name. The world beyond the well beckoned to him.」
「He succumbed to that realm’s dynamic, roiling power. For years, entranced, he meddled in its affairs until he committed a fatal error—lending his soul to its denizens. Donning their armor, he ceased to be the mage Gitisi and became nothing more than a monster of the Other World.」

「The result was devastation. Countless monsters poured forth from the well. Their world knew only one law: power, and power alone. Their strength engulfed Ganapoli—once serene and beautiful—in calamity.」

The spring began to paint again.
This time, the image was nearly incomprehensible. A milky veil of light, like the marble here, obscured everything.
As my perspective rose higher, a blue sky emerged, and there—hundreds of vessels floated upon it!

「Evbzenis, blue-eyed niece of Gitisi and the king’s eldest daughter, made a ‘noble’ sacrifice befitting her name. She was not alone. After Evbzenis slew the monster that had consumed Gitisi, the mages of the Round Table of Truth who followed her united their strength to isolate and destroy Arcadia, now shrouded in corrupted power.」
「From every corner of Ganapoli, mages both illustrious and humble converged upon Arcadia. Among them was young Epibiono, renowned as a prodigy since his seventh year. His name means ‘to survive’—yet did he survive? There too was Katreftis, a retired sage whose gaze fixed only upon the day of his death. All of them wished to sacrifice themselves to shield those who remained.」

「Were their hopes answered? Evbzenis, renowned for her wisdom, yet faltered before such immense catastrophe. The more fervent the will of those gathered, the greater her delusion that her spell would surely succeed. Thus all the mages who came assembled at Simerone, the Tower of Dawn, from which Arcadia lay spread below like a map.」

「Whether their magic would succeed or fail, they were destined to die in that place—they harbored no other desires. Yet even in such circumstances, mages remained mages, and they could never agree on the best course of action. For mages, you see, prize pride far above mutual interest.」
「As the debate showed no sign of ending, before the worst moment arrived—when the Other World’s corruption would taint the very earth beyond Arcadia—Evbzenis resolved to force the unleashing of her power. Thus was invoked the Origin of Annihilation, the most sacred incantation among all the great magics of Ganapoli.」

「Was it because their hearts were not united? Who was at fault, none could say. What went wrong, none could know. But the spell failed. Evbzenis and countless mages perished, and the malevolent spirits dwelling in Arcadia unleashed their power upon all of Ganapoli with terrible fury.」

「Yet the spell also succeeded. The dark force obliterated every last fragment of Ganapoli’s lands, but it could not cross that boundary. Though they sacrificed all of Ganapoli, their prayer to annihilate the Other World’s power was fulfilled.」

Within the spring, I saw the vessels gliding across the blue sky as though it were a sea.
Clouds and wind brushed against folded sails, and the ships soared into the distant heavens, vanishing from sight.

「Because they had foreseen the possibility of the Origin of Annihilation’s failure, they had organized an exodus from the beginning. Every airship in existence was mobilized, and people were selected and boarded upon them. Tisiajo, Evbzenis’s brother and heir to the throne, bore the responsibility of leading the refugees across the sea to the Continent, known to exist beyond.」
「Yet on the day the Northern Sea first came into view as they departed Ganapoli, Tisiajo became a ‘sacrifice’ in truth, falling into the waters. Perhaps it was fitting recompense for one who departed in joy at his own survival, leaving his sister and parents to perish in the catastrophe.」

Daphnen found himself seized by an odd thought and asked without deliberation.
“Why did the heir depart, rather than the king?”
The answer was simple.

「A king cannot abandon his people in the face of crisis and flee that land alone. A king is born bearing the duty to die in his people’s stead. In that sense, Tisiajo too fulfilled his obligation through death.」

A king who abandons himself for his people…. Noble words, certainly. But would the kings of the Continent truly attempt such a thing? Could the Nobility or lords do so?
I had no doubt that those born into nobility and raised in privilege were far more likely to believe they possessed even the privilege of living longer than the common people—to enjoy rights without bearing any duties, much like the Regents of This Island.

“When Tisiajo’s ship sank, the other vessels lost their fuel supply and fell into the sea in a chain reaction. Though they were built with structures capable of navigation as a precaution, Ganapoli was an inland nation with airships as its superior means of transport, so there were scarcely any skilled in seafaring.”
“Not only did we fail to reach the distant Continent we had originally planned to visit, but only a single ship arrived at This Island. The ancestors of This Island’s people were aboard that vessel…. And we ghosts were traveling with them.”

Daphnen stared at them in bewilderment. He had never heard of spirits emigrating by ship.
“Is the contamination of that land something even the dead cannot endure?”

“No, there are still spirits there now. Unlike us, who died before the calamity, they are those who lost their lives during the disaster itself. Despite countless ages passing, their souls remain unpurified, and they continue their senseless slaughter. This must be because the ‘Origin of Oblivion’ was incomplete.”

“It would be difficult for you to fully understand life in Ganapoli. From ancient times, countless spirits lived alongside living humans there. When humans face death, most enter a long rest, but rarely, like us, some gain new life as spirits. The people of Ganapoli did not find our existence strange—they sometimes sought our counsel, and we became friends through companionship. The spirits built dwellings in the Alternate Space that resembled our original land and lived endless lives.”

“Though it may seem strange, we cannot survive in places where humans are entirely absent. For spirits to maintain their sense of self, they must ceaselessly observe and contemplate the dwellings and lives of their descendants. Should a spirit become isolated in a place without human habitation, it will not last long before losing the memories and identity of life, transforming into a monster or something no different from a mass of energy. This is why we came here, and why we came to know This Island’s history well.”

“Then how long have you all…. No, does this mean you will live this way forever?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————