Chapter 1057 — Thaw
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
For the next few minutes, a dead silence hung over the ruined, collapsed hall. Three gazes were fixed on that slab of metal with its curious material, until at last the writing on it gradually faded away—and even the slab itself began to dissolve bit by bit into the air. It broke into motes of luminous dust that slipped from Hragor's hand, leaving not a trace behind.
At last Ba Yang'er could not help himself and broke the silence: "What did that third story mean?"
"...When Gaoyang Cecil visited Tarond, 'He' once told him two stories—two stories about gods and mortals," Hragor rubbed his fingers together, as though he could still feel the solid touch of the metal slab. "'He' said then that there was a third story, but that story had not yet come to pass..."
Ba Yang'er looked into Hragor's eyes. "So do you understand what 'He' meant?"
"No," Hragor shook his head. "And even now I still do not understand... I spent over a million years trying to decipher every metaphor 'He' spoke, and in the end I could only grasp a portion of them. Some things... are simply not ours to understand."
"Then what do you make of the earlier ones?" Ba Yang'er pressed. "These things... were they really left behind by 'He'? Why would 'He' leave them?"
Hragor did not answer. He only fell silent, brooding in that silence for a long while, and at last said softly, as though to himself: "Perhaps... this is knowledge 'He' could only tell us once the shackles had been severed."
"Clearly, 'He' also wished to tell that human named Gaoyang Cecil," An Qian broke his silence only then. Turning back to glance at the dragon egg at the center of the hall, which gave off a faint golden radiance, the aged dragon spoke in a complicated tone: "Hragor, you decide what should be done."
"...Then let us follow it through," Hragor said after a full dozen seconds of silence. "When all is said and done, Tarond's fate has become inextricably bound to that human's trajectory. The turning points of history are tied to his actions, and perhaps for a long while to come this bond will endure. 'He' likely foresaw all of this, and so arranged these things in advance."
"Very well, since that is your judgment," Ba Yang'er spread his hands. "We have already decided to return to the mortal world in any case. Forging a bond with one of the mightiest nations of the human realm in this manner is not a bad beginning."
An Qian's gaze, meanwhile, remained on the dragon egg all the while, and at last he could not help saying: "Hragor, do you think this dragon egg is safe? Could it be... some dangerous omen of return?"
"Do you remember the 'first' and 'second' we saw just now?" Hragor answered with a question of his own. The other thought briefly, then nodded: "Of course. The first: 'gods,' as a natural phenomenon, never truly perish in their essence. The second: the 'gods' in mortal eyes are merely the ripples produced by the interaction between that natural phenomenon and the 'observer collective' that is mortality."
"I believe those two," Hragor said slowly. "So we need not worry about this dragon egg. As for dragonkind—the gods we know have already departed."
"Then how do we handle it? And come to think of it... do you think this egg can hatch?" Ba Yang'er regarded the dragon egg with an odd expression. A scholar by nature, he was at this moment at a loss as to which theory to apply to the bizarre situation before him. "Ah, another question just struck me—the message said to 'entrust all of this to Gaoyang Cecil.' Does 'all of this' include the egg?"
The vast ruined hall fell quiet for a time, and only after a long while did Hragor's voice sound, somewhat muffled: "...Now you have put me on the spot."
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