Chapter 241 — The God of Nature
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
To survive—that was no easy thing.
A magical fortress stranded in a foreign space, cut off from the present world without and bereft of any resources sufficient to sustain long-term survival within. The storm unleashed by the magic tide had destroyed the stasis hall and the vast supply warehouses that went with it, and in the few structures that remained, Camille and his fellow Watchers had been forced to ration their every remaining day.
"We were participants in the 'God-Spawn' experiment. Every one of us had undergone the final stage of mutational modification, which let us outlive ordinary humans—but insufficient supplies remained a grave problem all the same. We firmly believed the situation would improve, that a day would come when every problem was solved, but first we had to live to see that day. Under the Grand Archmage's leadership, we began to conserve every scrap of resource and set about repairing what facilities survived in the fortress."
Camille led Gao Cenxing through a succession of abandoned zones. This place already lay near the present edge of the "fortress"; the magic tide had destroyed much of this region, and shattered rooms and corridors were the commonest sight here. But because a powerful magical barrier still functioned, these areas were not yet wholly unfit for survival.
"First we restored the supply of magical energy. This fortress, built within a foreign space, possesses its own energy circulation system—we can draw energy directly from the external environment to sustain its operations. Next we repaired the great majority of the damaged inner walls and barriers, to keep the dangerous chaotic magic from seeping in. Finally we began attempting to restart the magic gate leading to the outside world... and there our attempts failed.
"The magic tide had altered the gate's operating mechanism. It was not damaged, yet it could not be activated. We diverted half the fortress's energy into the gate, and still it could not open so much as a tiny crack. And amid our ceaseless attempts and research, our supplies dwindled ever further, and the health of every member began to deteriorate.
"Nor did the magic tide leave us untouched—in truth its influence was everywhere, subtle and pervasive. As time passed, our bodies began to fail. It proved that the 'God-Spawn' modification could not grant us eternal life. Claude Pillin was the first to die—a swift illness struck him down in the laboratory. Then came the eldest son of the Paldini family...
"Some died by accident. The Colden brother and sister, while attempting to repair a barrier, were struck by a boulder drifting through space and knocked from the platform. Cerode was killed in an explosion while repairing the mana focuser. Our numbers kept dwindling, yet no hope of leaving this place appeared—even releasing a single mage's eye to glimpse the world outside would have sufficed, but alas, the gate was shut and could not be opened at all."
Heddy's eyes dimmed. "And then... everyone died..."
"Humans are fragile creatures, in body and in mind alike," Camille sighed, the sound trembling with energy. "We could not maintain order to the end. In the final decades, we broke out into a most serious... chaos. The crushing pressure shattered every last hope, and even the Grand Archmage could hold out no longer. Right here, more than half of our number found... 'release.'"
Camille brought Gao Yang to a wide open place. It seemed once to have been a gathering hall, but the half that extended outward had been utterly shattered; fragments of floor and wall and roof drifted in disarray through the darkling space, and an energy barrier hung over that broken boundary line.
Everywhere were the traces of destruction wrought by mighty spells.
"When it was over, the survivors who had come to their senses realized what a foolish thing they had done—but it could not be undone. Barely a dozen still lived, and none of them for much longer."