Chapter 1166 A World That Repeats A Continuous Cycle Of Death And Rebirth
“Master!” Astrape exclaimed as soon as she felt William’s presence headed in their direction.
She and Bronte had been blaming themselves for losing sight of him inside the fog. Titania, on the other hand, still had a calm expression on her face, but she felt more relaxed now after sensing William’s presence as well.
A few seconds later, a lightning bolt descended a few meters away from the three Pseudo-Gods that had sent Camelot’s King packing.
As soon as William appeared in front of them, Astrape immediately gave him a hug and squeezed him tight. Bronte did the same, and soon the Half-Elf was sandwiched between the two beautiful deities, while Titania watched from the side with contemplation.
Part of her wanted to join the fun, while the latter half just wanted to observe how her Master would react to the two over-eager ladies, who were treating him like a burger patty.
After a few minutes, the two Deities finally had their fill, and allowed the black-haired teenager to get a breather.
“Master, we’ve been looking for you for almost a month!” Bronte reported. “Although I tried to assure my sister that you might be in a different Domain doing your trial, she still wouldn’t listen and almost started a one-sided genocide with the mortals of this plane.”
Astrape pretended that she didn’t hear her sister’s words and busied herself looking at the clouds in the sky as if they held the answers to the mysteries of life.
William was shocked by this discovery. He had only been in this world for nearly an hour, while his subordinates had already been there for almost a month already, which was insane. It was also at that moment when the Half-Elf noticed that the Black Phoenix was nowhere to be found.
“Where is Sepheron?” William asked after looking around. “Is he not with the three of you?”
This time, it was Titania’s turn to reply. “We originally thought that Sepheron was with you, so we weren’t too worried about him. Besides, he is already a Pseudo-God. No one on this plane of existence can threaten his life.”
William arched an eyebrow as he listened to the Fairy Queen’s report.
“What do you mean by plane of existence?” William inquired. Bronte and Titania had both used the word plane as well, so he wanted to confirm whether his hunch was correct.
“Master, this world is half real and half illusion,” Astrape answered before the Fairy Queen could even reply. “It is true in a sense because it is following a certain timeline, and half illusion because we all know that this isn’t real. Although it might sound contradictory, this world is trying to portray something that had already happened. But, it is stuck in an infinite loop.”
Titania then interjected on Astrape’s explanation as she told William the conclusion that she had formed.
“Master, in short, this world repeats a continuous cycle of death and rebirth,” Titania replied. “I’m guessing that our trial is about letting the time of this world continue to move forward, instead of rewinding itself.”
William was still trying to comprehend their situation, but he was starting to understand the gist of it.
“So, in short, we just need to find a way to let time flow forward again, right?” William asked. “That way, the infinite time loop will be broken.”
Astrape, Bronte, and Titania all nodded their heads in unison. Although they didn’t know what was causing the world to always revert back to a fixed moment in time, they believed that as long as they all worked together to solve the mystery, all of them would be able to pass Boreas’ trial with flying colors.
“But, it is strange.” Bronte frowned. “I don’t think we are in Hestia. At least, I don’t feel any connection with Hestia at the moment.”
“Could that fog have some kind of trick to it?” Astrape inquired. “I’ve stayed inside the Dungeon all my life. This is something very new to me.”
“Indeed.” Titania nodded her head in agreement. “As the Fairy Queen, I would sometimes venture out of Tir Na Nog when I was bored. Although I’m not a hundred percent certain, every Forbidden Domain had its quirks.
“Anyone who enters Tir Na Nog stops aging, but the moment they leave its boundaries, their age catches up to them. Several mortals who pursued eternal life would often try their luck in my Domain. However, they could only get what they wanted if they survived long enough to enjoy their long lives.”
Titania chuckled with amusement because he had seen countless humans die in Tir Na Nog due to their wish for eternal life. However, instead of longevity, what they found in Tir Na Nog was a long, and painful way to die.
“When I was in the Seventh Sanctum, I fell into the River of Samsara and was sent into a world that wanders in the void,” William said after a few minutes of silence. “It was the place where those who had temporarily escaped the cycle of death and rebirth gathered. Maybe, Titania is right. This may indeed be one of the unique features of this Domain that bars people from reaching Hyperborea.”
The three ladies looked at their Master with serious expressions on their faces. They didn’t want to get stuck in an infinite loop, so they decided to tell William everything that they had experienced so far.
“So three days ago, you found yourselves standing in the same location after you stepped out of the fog,” William muttered as he rubbed his chin. “During the time that you were here, all of you explored in different directions in order to try and find me, but your search didn’t come up with any results. You also didn’t find Sepheron, so all of you thought that he was with me.”
The three ladies nodded in confirmation.
“So, did you find anything interesting when all of you were frantically trying to find me?” William inquired.
The three ladies exchanged a glance at each other before nodding their heads.
“There were a few places of interest,” Titania replied. “However, we all deemed that these places would take us to a different planes of existence, so we didn’t dare to enter them casually.”
“Getting stuck in an infinite loop may be bad, but getting stuck somewhere permanently is something I don’t want to happen,” Astrape commented from the side. “This was why we decided to just continue searching for you, Master, before we made any decisions about whether we should try these places or not.”
William closed his eyes as he pondered their next course of action. For some weird reason, he had a nagging feeling that those places of interests that the three ladies were talking about were similar to the great oak tree that led to Alfheim, where Acedia, and the Elves resided.
After some internal struggle, the Half-Elf finally decided that nothing would change if he didn’t take a chance, so he gazed at his subordinates with a serious expression on his face before giving his reply.
“Take me to those places,” William ordered. “We will decide what to do after I have seen them for myself.”
“””By your wish, Master.”””
