Chapter 144 144 – Wall of Lights
“Is it working?” Marko took a step forward, looking at the pillar of light with tense facial muscles. Vilja is still in that thing and can’t be seen at all. “Or should we help her?”
“I think she made it.” Kimi walked over to Marko, making the red-haired warrior gasp. “Soon, she will get that power.”
Marko suddenly hugged the woman’s tiny body. Kimi, who was always almost expressionless, widened her eyes.
“Thank goodness you’re okay.” The red-haired man said in a low tone. “We’re all worried about you, you know?”
“A-aren’t you mad at me for leaving you and the others?” Kimi’s voice started to get hoarse.
Marko let go of his arms, looked at Kimi with a smile, and shook his head. “Of course not, this mission is very tough, and from the start, no one forced you to come…. I sometimes complain that our party is getting smaller, but it’s more because I feel lost and worried about you disappearing.”
“I see.” Kimi wiped her tears that started to fall. “Soon, Vilja will free you from this suffering.”
Mark frowned. “What?”.
The light pillar became even more dazzling, making them shield their eyes with their hands.
“Open your eyes, Elise, Yua….” After a while, Raymund said to his two servants.
As soon as the two women obeyed their master’s words, they found themselves surrounded by a wall made of multicolored light lines. They feel like they are inside a slow rotating luminous tornado.
“I…. I remember everything.” Vilja knelt and pressed her palms down onto the white expanse of light below.
Kimi came to her friend, kneeling too. “Now you can finish all this. I always feel sad when each trip ends. You all will always be reminded of everything. It makes you and the others in so much pain.”
“Did we make it?” Marko approached the two elven women. “Have you gained the power to destroy humanity, Vilja?”
“That doesn’t matter anymore!” Vilja lifted her face, which was already full of tears. “We should think about the souls trapped in this vicious circle instead!”
“What do you mean?” Marko looked even more confused. “Did the ritual fail?”
“We also want to know what happened.” Yua took a few steps forward. “Even our master won’t tell us about it yet.”
“Yeah, you two probably deserve to know what happened.” With her tears also starting to flow, Kimi took the lute on her back. “First, we’ll see the beginning of that cursed mission.”
“When Valtteri died two months ago, you mean?” Marko asked with a heavy breath. “Why are we looking at it again?”
“Not two months ago.” Kimi started playing her lute, creating a melodious tune. “But thousands of years ago, I lost count…”
Except for Kimi and Vilja, they all gasped in surprise.
On the wall of light lines, something resembling a screen appeared, but it was round, and the edges were blurry. That thing featured a male knight being stepped on multiple times by a giant plant monster.
“That’s Valtteri, one of our friends.” Vilja sobbed again, rising to her feet.
“Hey, stop it!” Marko had reached out his hand to stop Kimi, but suddenly he couldn’t move his body, and his mouth couldn’t make any sound anymore.
Furthermore, what is shown are gruesome incidents of elves being slaughtered by monsters or another elf, from a giant golem to a wizard with the wind ability.
And when the screen showed a scene with the salamander, Elise and Yua covered their mouths, not believing their own eyes.
Marko widened his eyes as he watched the salamander shoot fire at him until his body turned to ashes.
Something that shouldn’t have happened.
The scene changed again. This time they saw a giant three-headed dog pounce on Henrik.
Again, a scene that shouldn’t have occured.
In the next scene, the female figure from the lake is not hugging Henrik but Vilja.
“The price for obtaining this god-like power is the death of all the people of this land. The ritual emits enormous energy that destroys everything. You can see the remnants of it all around the land.” Kimi stopped playing her lute.
“The mist?” Yua responded and took a deep breath, trying to digest what she had just seen and heard. “Those are remnants from rituals? After thousands of years, they still exist?”
The petite elf nodded. “And since I think I’m already a demigod, I want to reverse that tragedy. I also want to revive my fallen comrades. However, those who have died can’t really be brought back to life….”
“There is a cycle.” Yua made a guess with trembling lips. “Those people – including your friends – did come back to life, but they were just repeating what they had done…. They couldn’t go beyond that…. And it continued for thousands of years?”
So shocked by what she had just heard, Elise stumbled backward with her chin down.
“Yes, they will only get to the point where the ritual is carried out. And I can’t do anything to stop that with my power. I must trigger a second gigantic explosion of magical energy to ‘kill’ everyone again.” Kimi closed her eyes. “However, I can’t perform that ritual anymore. It’s because I’ve already obtained this power. My body can no longer trigger that power to appear a second time.”
“So, you’re trying to find a way to end this nightmare?” Vilja stood up and wiped her tears. “And you concluded that someone else had to successfully perform the ritual, to ‘kill’ the people here? To free their trapped souls?”
Kimi nodded. “I’ve seen you and the others begging for this to end many times. In each repetition, you’ll remember everything once you get to where the ritual supposedly takes place.”
“Yeah, Its hurts so much.” Vilja covered her face with both hands, sobbing for the umpteenth time. “How many thousand times have I had to re-enact the incidents where my friends died…. I want everything to be over…. I just want peace.”
“Many times, I almost managed to get Vilja or anyone else to do the ritual, but it always failed.” Kimi continued and played her lute again.
The round screens with blurry edges appeared on the light wall, showing various battles, mainly featuring Kimi’s friends, but there were others as well.
“I even asked for help from people who dared to enter this land, but the result was the same…. Always. Sometimes the storyline didn’t change much, or it became more chaotic, or people became greedy and wanted to control that power. There was conflict, and the ritual didn’t happen in the end…. There are many scenarios.”
“Apparently, whenever Kimi doesn’t tell anyone what really happened, she always finds that the ritual is almost done successfully,” Raymund added. “Thus, she chose not to tell the two of you. I was just following her analysis. The success of the ritual would be greater if the people who came there to help knew nothing.”
Vilja and Kimi looked up while opening their mouths.
“She also didn’t come to her friends for the same reason and only helped in a specific capacity.” The god continued.” Like when a salamander blast hits them or protects them from that magical energy explosion right now.”
“Is that the voice of your god, Yua, Elise?” Vilja asked in amazement.