Pillars of Ita

The young man's words struck a chord with Elisa, who stood behind Fang Zheng in the incense-filled room, listening to Karatu tell Tang De a story from the past.

The smoke drifting in the air didn't seem to emanate from some kind of incense from Istnia; rather, it was more like a hazy part of memory, like the body and scales of a dragon, flickering flames, and golden eyes flashing in and out of the thick fog. The flowing smoke gradually formed stories about heroes wielding long spears, their companions, and their lovers.

In the end, the characters in the story depart one by one. Heroes grow old, the knight's longsword decays with time, and the old dwarf murmurs his regretful self at his deathbed. Ruins return to dust, and history is sealed away, until someone turns another page of the book and sees hands wearing heavy gloves with the emblem of the Kapka Society on the back.

Karatu, now in human form, involuntarily stopped, her gaze falling on the boy, her captain. He was short-haired, innocent yet full of a sense of justice, his back to her as he opened his notebook, the alchemist's trench coat embroidered with silver trim.

And the characters from that story began to appear in her mind: Joshua, the Dragon Witch, Karatu, Artaut, and the unknown dwarf hero, and finally, the wanderer Art—the great-grandfather of Dond and Dontans, Maryland Rogers.

That is, the young man in front of me.

“My name is Maryland, Maryland Rogers,” the young man lay on the ground, coughing heavily, his body covered in countless wounds, frostbite cracked open, blood mixed with pus flowing down, emitting a foul stench. “…cough, thank you for saving me, kind lady. I am not a nobody, and I hope you will lend a helping hand. My family is very wealthy and influential in the Winterhold area, we…”

Elisa interrupted him: "Tell me, what year is it now?"

"1007 years, how come... Madam, cough cough cough..."

His desperate narration turned into a series of coughs; the young man almost coughed up his lungs. Elisa saw specks of white crawling on the ground—maggots that the young man had coughed up.

She should have given this man a sword to end all the evil deeds that followed, but this is ultimately just a slideshow of history, and even if it were to be rewritten, it would be of no use to the future that has already happened.

Miss Nightingale frowned and took a step back imperceptibly, feeling a little nauseous.

“We have indeed arrived in a new timeline,” a strange voice spoke in her mind. It was Eliusis. “It seems that there is more than one timeline in this turbulent flow.”

“No, this isn’t the same place anymore,” Elisa said.

She raised her head and looked around with a solemn expression. There were collapsed bricks and stones everywhere, and in the distance, broken towers were buried in the fierce wind and snow. The mountain peaks were as crystal clear and reflective as knife blades.

The biting wind, carrying snow dust, swept through the valley, howling and scraping white streaks across the rocks.

She recognized those mountains and valleys, as if they were chiseled into the lines of that story—in a land swept by icy winds, cold glaciers carved out long and winding coastlines, seven ancient kingdoms fought each other, and after conspiracies and treacherous schemes, the ancient kings became hunters.

After that, it led the dead and vengeful spirits to sound horns in the dark forest, hunting tirelessly day and night.

There—this is the Treasure Stick Coast, the Treasure Stick Coast in 1007.

"How could this be? How did we get here? Spacetime turbulence should only send us to different points on the timeline, how could it send us to Colin-Ishrian, thousands of miles away?" Eliusis looked incredulous after hearing Elisa's explanation.

"That depends on the connection between the two."

Miss Nightingale, however, appeared much calmer. She looked at Maryland lying amidst the ruins—a young man who, in this timeline, might not yet have become the wanderer Alter.

“What connection could Dragilim and Corin-Ishrien possibly have? Wait, you mean Vor-Salastir—the Staff Coast, the Great Glacier,” Eliussis’s voice trembled slightly. “This is Vor-Salastir, and we’re on it. It was hidden in the turbulent currents of time… You, you actually found it, the Elven artifact!”

"What kind of spirit artifact?"

"It is the Holy Grail of the Elves, the artifact of Elaine and Tririel. No, to be precise, this is not the Holy Grail of the Elves, but a clue to one of the twelve planets shining together... the place where the first star fell!"

"Treil, is it Treil, the goddess of dreams?"

"Yes, she is Ameya's servant, the protector of the elves, and she participated in the forging of the five Dragon Slayer Swords and the Holy Grail of the Elves. The blind girl Elaine cast a veil of fate upon the Holy Grail."

Elius paused. "Rumor has it that not long ago, the star of destiny dimmed, and that lady seemed to have encountered some trouble, but later she regained her divine status through other means. There must have been some unknown change in the Sea of ​​Light."

Elisa knew the reason, of course, but she didn't intend to say it, because she and this lady who had appeared out of nowhere were not allies; they were just in the same boat.

She turned her gaze back to him: "Didn't you tell Ed that the first star would fall on Vol-Salasti? Why are you so surprised now?"

She gave a cold laugh. "So—you never thought we could find this place, did you?"

Facing Elisa's gaze, Eliusis subconsciously took a step back. "What... what does this have to do with me... Do you really think finding Vol-Sarastil is so easy? If knowing where it is meant to be found, it would have changed hands countless times already."

“I’m not blaming you,” Elisa smiled gently. “Miss Eleusis, why do you need to explain yourself to me like this?”

"I didn't explain it to you... Damn it, I only promised to help you find the Fountain of Youth." Eliusis said stubbornly, but she was still relieved.

She felt a lingering fear; if she had a choice, she wouldn't want to stay in this place for even a second longer. Unfortunately, she had no choice. She hadn't actually told Olivia and Fang Zheng the whole truth: her transformation ritual hadn't been half-completed, but had failed.

The incompletely formed cursed fire had created a smoldering curse on her; otherwise, she wouldn't have been in such a hurry to find the Fountain of Youth to wash away the runes etched into her soul. In her current state, it was impossible for her to possess another's body, and she couldn't even act independently; otherwise, she wouldn't have sought out Olivia.

When she passed through the time turbulence, she was unexpectedly separated from Fang Zheng by a force, but ended up next to Miss Nightingale. The two of them accidentally entered this timeline that was completely different from before.

It's less of an alliance and more of a one-sided dependence on the other.

Of course, Eleusis would never utter these words to Miss Nightingale. "So what do we do now?" she asked listlessly. "Vo-Salastir is in the temporal turbulence, and no one can take it away."

"us?"

“You—” Eleusis said, each word distinct, her heart filled with both shock and anger:
"They actually want to take all the benefits for themselves!"

She gritted her teeth in anger, “Eleusis, you must not let these lowly... lowly people, these greedy creatures succeed. At least half... a third, a quarter of it belongs to you. This is a clue to the Holy Grail of the Elves, and the most important one at that.”

"With this, you can negotiate with your father...that person, return to the empire, and even become a princess again is not impossible. What's so good about adventuring outside? It's dirty everywhere, full of annoying guys, and those traitors. They must be made to pay the price."

She completely forgot that she was the one who coerced those people into taking her away from the Empire, and ultimately scuttled their ship. Except for a few who were saved, most lost their Starshine. It's not that reporting them to the Empire is a matter of course; even if it was a premeditated act of revenge, there's nothing wrong with that.

Besides, this adventure had nothing to do with her. Her agreement with Fang Heng only included the Fountain of Youth, and even the water itself was something Fang Heng agreed to give her out of a sense of morality.

After all, what prisoner would negotiate with their master? Of course, this duchess herself was completely unaware of this.

"Whether we can take it or not is another matter," Elisa said. "In any case, let's figure out why it's here. Isn't it strange that Vo-Salastiel would be lost in this temporal turbulence?"

"After all, it is real and real, unlike these illusions."

Eliusis was indeed curious, "But how can I figure it out?"

Elisa looked at Maryland in front of her.

"You know him?"

"More than just knowing each other."

She stepped forward. "Why are you here?"

“I…” Maryland felt his throat crack from the cold, his voice hoarse and dry, like a cry squeezed from the chest of a dead man, “…Our fleet is scattered, and I have been stranded on this island.” “You are lying,” Elisa said coldly. “If you want me to rescue you, you’d better tell me the truth. You should know very well that in this harsh environment, everyone is wary of each other.”

Elisa's conversation with Eleusis had taken place in her mind; to Maryland, it was merely a momentary lapse of concentration, and he didn't suspect a thing. He quickly said in a hoarse voice, "I wasn't entirely lying, ma'am..."

"...After all, you said it yourself, it's normal for me to be wary of you..."

He coughed heavily, "But I really need your help now. I've been separated from my family's ship and ended up here..."

"Who hurt you like this?" Elisa interrupted him, getting straight to the point.

“There’s something on the island…” Maryland said hoarsely, with an incredulous look on his face, “…I…I saw a dark dragon, and it was it that injured me like this.”

"What is he kidding?"

“No, he’s telling the truth.” Memories surfaced like sediment in water, and Elisa gradually recalled the details of the story. Maryland’s life was inextricably linked to the words “Dark Dragon.” He obtained the Moa Sword, the foremost of the five dragon-slaying swords, and made a pact with the soul of the dragon king Livegard within its fragments.

After that, he became Andro's servant and a member of the Dragon Cult. Later, in order to seize the power of the dragon king Lifgard in the sword, he did not hesitate to infiltrate the Arlingan family under the identity of Alter, kill his own granddaughter, and finally unleash the full power of the sword, razing Amalgam to the ground.

After that, he disappeared without a trace. In order to find his sister, Tang De left the old territory of the Rogers family and used dark magic to make himself look neither human nor ghost.

Until he met Fang Dong, this lich had been searching for the whereabouts of his great-grandfather, who was also his lifelong enemy.

But the matter did not end there. After that, Alte, who had survived the ordeal, acquired another identity. At this moment, he had completely transformed into a slave of the purple fire, becoming a beast, a monster that was half human and half ghost.

He took the soul of Lifgard to the homeland of the Oathkeepers and colluded with Garcia, the lord of Idus, to orchestrate the tragedy that would later befall Eve and Joshua, the Dragon Witches, causing many cities to perish under the dragon's flames.

It can be said that most of the tragedies that have occurred in Colin-Ishrien over the past half-century have his shadow behind them, including the current standoff between the North and the South, where the New King's faction with unclear intentions is mostly related to the Shadow Man.

"This person is truly... an insect." After listening to Elisa's account, Eliusis couldn't help but frown and comment in her mind.

“Insects?” Elisa didn’t expect her to give such a high evaluation of the incredibly powerful wanderer. “I should remind you, Miss Eleusis, you’ve killed quite a few people as well.”

“Don’t compare me to insects,” Eleusis said with some pride. “Pursuing power without paying the price, and only shifting the burden of the price onto others, is a typical mentality of the weak, because true geniuses don’t need to take shortcuts.”

She looked at Maryland with disdain, "There's a reason why this person keeps failing. He doesn't understand the nature of power, just like someone who has magic power but can't understand the nature of ether. Therefore, these things don't actually belong to him."

“Don’t let his current appearance fool you,” Elisa said, “he’s not dead. We might run into him again. I hope that when we do, Miss Eliussis, you’ll still be able to say those words.”

“Hmph, he’s just old,” Eliussis said disdainfully. “When I’m the same age as him, I can swat this worm with one hand.”

Elisa ignored her.

However, she had to admit that Eleusis wasn't entirely wrong. Maryland was born at least a century ago, had experienced so many major events, and had even gained a portion of Livegard's power, but even so, the strength he displayed in Idus was still inferior to that of a true dragon knight.

Eleusis was right when she said he had grown old in vain.

Art is adept at plotting and scheming behind the scenes, but in reality, he might not stand a chance against Karatu and Tangde in a head-on confrontation. That's why he keeps avoiding these people and only dares to show his face in front of Fang Zheng.

It's shameful for someone who has lived for over a hundred years to be utterly defeated by a mere brat. And this person even arrogantly tries to seize the power of Livegard, or even Andro, which is truly laughable.

She recalled witnessing the true power of the Dark Saint within the roots of the sacred tree Terraka during the battle at the Pillars of the World. The Insect King was merely a creature created by Amatolus, the Lord of Souls, on Elaine's corpse.

“Tell me,” Elisa said, looking at Maryland, “what did the dark dragon you saw look like?”

That definitely can't be the Dragon Witch.

The Dragon Witch had not yet been born in this era, but the last dark dragon recorded in history to be killed was the Dragon King Helltongue, who died by the sword of the dwarf hero Valit. It is said that the Dwarf King and the Dawnlight Sword also disappeared shortly after that great battle, and were only recently rediscovered.

During those years, there was no word of any dark dragons, except for the green dragon Toragothos, which had always been lurking in the shadows. But Toragothos had never left Fenris Island, so it was unlikely that he would appear here.

Elisa couldn't help but think of Maryland obtaining the Holy Sword Moa. Could the shattered dragon-slaying sword have originated from this place? Was it originally in Vol-Salasti? But wasn't history saying that it broke when it severed Livegard's head...?

etc--

Maryland was also taken aback. He originally thought he would need to explain more, since there were no dark dragons left in this era. Shouldn't they have been wiped out long ago?

To be honest, when he saw the giant dragon hiding in the shadows, he almost thought he was seeing things. But in that moment of hesitation, a biting icy wind rushed towards him, almost killing him on the spot.

Fortunately, the dragon's target didn't seem to be him. Otherwise, he would never have survived to climb to this place. But when he got here, he had exhausted the last bit of strength in his body. If he hadn't met the girl in front of him, he would have almost given up hope.

“I…I don’t quite understand…” Maryland shook her head weakly, feeling that she would soon die if the other party didn’t make a move. “It was very far away, but I saw the golden eyes of a dragon…the fire of Venus, falling into dust…only the Dark Ones have golden eyes. I…I saw a shadow that blotted out the sky, as if I saw my own death…”

Seeing the ominous shadow of death beneath its wings is indeed one of the characteristics of the dark dragon.

But Elisa seemed indifferent to his condition. "That's all. Did you see... a sword?"

"sword?"

Maryland shook his head in confusion, but then a sudden thought struck him, and he retrieved fragments of his vague and terrifying memory. "Wait, I did see a sword."

Elisa and Eleusis both looked at him.

The young man coughed and said somewhat urgently, "...I seemed to see someone wielding a broken sword fighting that dragon. Yes, I was initially a little unsure, thinking it was just a hallucination I had before I died. How could someone be challenging a dragon with a broken sword..."

"But... that's precisely why my memory of it is so vivid..."

"one person?"

"The Broken Sword?" Elius's voice echoed in Elisa's mind. "Wait, the Broken Sword, the Dark Dragon, could it be that... is lurking here..."

Born into royalty and having read countless ancient texts, she was naturally familiar with these distinctive terms. Historically, only one dragon-slaying sword had ever broken, and only one dragon had perished by that broken sword.

That was the first Dragon King of the Dark Dragon.

Lifegaard.

Livegard died in Vor-Salastiel?

Nobody has ever told her this.

...(End of chapter)