Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

The brown-red wooden door engraved with crosses slowly closed with a squeaking sound as it was pushed by slender palms.

But at the last moment when the door was closed, the time that should not have left any traces eroded the door from memories in the blink of an eye, leaving behind mottled scratches and scorched black marks one after another.

The next second, it completely collapsed in front of the person who closed the door, shattering into pieces of wood that could not be put back together. The hands that stretched out to push the door had stopped among the pieces before they could retract.

Those child-like palms were brought together to hold a bit of floating ashes. When they were unfolded, light spots emerged from the debris. They emerged from the fingers blankly and floated towards the seats in the prayer room. space, scattered everywhere.

There is still the circular prayer room here, but it has got rid of the state of ruins. Benches with black cushions are neatly placed. The smooth stone floor is painted with thorns, olive branches and flower vines. Gorgeous interlaced patterns surround the circular star symbol in the middle.

That symbol was emitting a faint soft light, and light spots the size of fireflies kept breaking away from it, hovering in this room, gathering more and more, sometimes forming a swarming river, and sometimes just outlining strange symbols. Then it flew disorderly again, hesitating between rising and falling.

The petite figure in a gray robe slowly walked through the aisle. When he stepped forward, the scattered light points subconsciously moved upwards, avoiding the direction of the children's progress.

On the bench in the first row, there sat another figure with her back arched and her head lowered. Light spots hovered above her head, like ants climbing a tree trunk, dyeing her silver hair with color. .

Zoya raised her head, revealing the shell of her face that had returned to its complete form. The silver hair that was originally pulled toward the void by the invisible force now hangs freely to the ground, dragging it as he walks forward, shaking out the silver hair. The shadow forms a gently flowing river, or a winding snake's tail.

It's just that between the shells of Zoya's head, there are no longer those nebula-like floating light spots. There is only a ball of pure light, without any variegated silvery white, like a ball scooped out of the river of destiny. water.

He walked to the side of the figure, leaned down quietly, and observed the person in front of him.

Li Xing, at least for the soul that should fall from Origin Castle to the real world, this is her name.

"Grafting" integrates destiny, "Secret Keeping" preserves everyone's spiritual body and opens a path to the real world when needed, and "Changing" balances the consciousness of the two and achieves stability, changing the appearance of the new body. , bringing a miracle of resurrection from the dead...

Zoya reached out again and gently stroked "Li Xing's" face, as if touching a fragile piece of porcelain, checking whether there were any flaws or cracks on the imitation that was about to be returned.

He withdrew his hand and turned towards the platform standing in front of the room.

Originally, there should have been a tall cross erected on it, but now, that location is empty, with only an hourglass suspended in the air, and the sand in the upper part has almost disappeared.

What is contained in the hourglass is a mixture of silver and pale gold light spots. They are tightly adsorbed together. Although they still emit an illusory light, they are closer to reality and no longer an illusion.

It has been reversed thirteen times.

Zoya stared at the last bit of sand draining away, and then held the ornament that was slightly larger than his fist. But before he turned the hourglass over, another adult-sized hand pressed on Zoya's wrist. , gradually tighten.

A buzzing sound came from the light group: "You shouldn't..."

The man didn't have much patience to listen to what Zoya had to say, but took out the hourglass from his hand. Although his movements could not be said to be rough, there was a hint of impatience.

Zoya raised her head, the light under the mask alternated between light and dark, and she just stared blankly at the other party's actions, looking very confused.

The person who stopped Zoya was surrounded by cheerfully rotating light spots. Clusters of soft light wandered through her hair, splitting into smaller fragments, and then closing and fluttering again to form A ribbon-like spectacle, like a mass of dancing jellyfish tentacles.

Esther held the outside of the hourglass with her right hand, brought it to her eyes, played with it, and observed its appearance.

In terms of workmanship and precision, there is no difference in design between this ornament and those small-town handicrafts that cost twenty yuan for a wallet. It just looks like an hourglass - two connected by thin diameters. The semicircular shell, material transparency and cool feel are similar to glass.

But Esther knew that, like the sand inside, it wasn't real.

The round wooden boards at the top and bottom of the hourglass are engraved with circular starburst patterns. It is not cold, but makes Esther feel a soft warmth while emitting light.

When she held the hourglass tightly, she could still hear a subtle hum emanating from it. Those light spots were not purely "dead things", but had similar activity to the other light spots floating in the prayer room.

Esther raised her head and stared at Zoya's light ball with a calm and indifferent gaze. She didn't know how she should react - angry? hatred? Is she really angry about all this?

The emotion aroused in her heart was very cold, more like an empty feeling close to pity, without any real feeling, as if she knew very well in her heart that the anger was not her wish.

Esther didn't have many overt emotions, so she simply said: "I'm awake."

"You woke up too early."

"No, I think this time is just right."

After Zoya heard this, she stretched out her hand hard, trying to grab the hourglass that had been taken away, but Esther raised her arm, making Zoya's grasp fail.

This action was deadlocked for several seconds before Esther took half a step back and opened the distance between her and Zoya. The strange thing was that Zoya didn't say anything, but Esther clearly felt the anger, and even A little aggrieved.

"Am I not the one who should be angry?" Esther sighed heavily, but did not return the hourglass to Zoya, but gradually increased the grip exerted by her right hand.

Just like Esther could feel Zoya's emotions, Zoya suddenly realized what she was going to do. This was something completely beyond his expectation, and it was definitely not an idea that any spirit that conforms to fate should have.

Zoya straightened up subconsciously. However, the child's body gave her no advantage in this entanglement. There was no way, Zoya could only take the simplest action plan, and he tried hard to pull Esther's arm:

"No! If you really do this-"

"Then the fusion process will be interrupted, and we will still have to continue to see between divisions, right?"

Zoya seemed to have calmed down, and the anxiety in her previous tone was gone:

"Since you understand, why are you still doing this? At this moment, the greater possibility is that we will all disappear. Whether it is Li Xing or Zoya, they will completely disappear under such changes, and nothing will be left. .

"What finally occupies our body may be the collection of medium light, or it may be the consciousness of other existences, including the 'Spirit World Beacon' or the 'Incarnation of Destiny'. When that time comes, do you think we can still have any leverage? Any room?"

"Is that so..." Esther remained expressionless for two seconds, then suddenly laughed softly, "Even now, do you still want to lie?"

"Have you forgotten something?" She squeezed the hourglass in her hand more tightly, and a subtle cracking sound came from the transparent shell. "Or, His influence on you is so profound that you can't even Have you almost deceived yourself?"

Zoya was silent and tried to take back the hand she had just raised, but Esther reacted more violently than him because she still held the hourglass in her right hand, so Esther grabbed Zoya's wrist with her free left hand.

The current stalemate was really unbelievable. Zoya couldn't help but let out a sigh. As the sigh came out, the light spots in the room violently turbulent, as if the calm water was broken by ripples, and the light spots began to move toward the two of them. People gathered around them, surrounding Zoya and Esther, forming spinning circles one after another.

Everything is deviating from the original plan. Obviously, if it is flipped one more time, this back-and-forth process will be over.

Zoya couldn't figure out what went wrong. His face raised and turned to her to fabricate the facial features belonging to "Li Xing". Even if she couldn't see it, Zoya knew that everything about her was right in front of her.

"I am not Li Xing," Esther said. If her words did not contain pain, her indifferent expression would be more convincing, "and you are not Zoya."

The child with scattered silver hair and a translucent facial shell subconsciously took a step back, shaken by Esther's words:

"What are you talking about? I am obviously Zoya..."

The sadness in Esther's eyes became more and more obvious. Her left hand let go of the wrist she had just grabbed, but she did not let go of the hourglass. A more obvious breaking sound was heard. At least in terms of hardness, the shell of this hourglass was stronger than Ordinary glass is more fragile.

She squatted down, and when Zoya wanted to take another step back, she reached out to hold the "child"'s shoulders. It seemed that she was supporting the other person's body, but Esther also firmly stopped Zoya from retreating. idea.

But in terms of words, Esther was not as polite as her actions: "Then let me say it again, you are not Zoya."

Feeling the trembling in her palms, Esther showed a gentle smile: "You have been deceived for a long time, haven't you? Just like I have been deceived for a long time."

"How could I not be..." The light under Zoya's mask swayed in twisting waves one after another.

Esther let out a few short laughs: "Haha, none of us would have thought of such a thing before coming into contact with those memories.

"But He left too clear a flaw... No, considering His ability, that might be a hint for me."

She squeezed her right hand tightly, and in the next second, silver light streams and golden filaments flew away from Esther's palm.

"That's not 'my' memory at all."

The moment the hourglass completely shattered, the same clear shattering sound came from Esther and Zoya. (End of chapter)