When the mission was judged to be completed, they would automatically be transferred back to Paradise.
—so the reason for the long delay of their return was, naturally, because there was still a zombie alive. Once it died, the instance would end; it was very simple logic.
After the voice fell, pure white light suddenly enveloped their vision.
The world dissipated into nothingness and solidified again.
People were talking not far away; their boisterous voices slammed into Yu Feichen’s ears.
“Did you return from the Beyond? Did it go well this time?”
“We almost got wiped out. God above, that damn place was like the end of the world.”
“Few people have ever seen how the end of the world looks like.”
“Who cares if it was or wasn’t, I’m back anyway. Isn’t it more than enough to see how the middle of the world looks like?”
There was a roar of triumphant laughter, and a scarlet-cloaked clown on the side of the road even whistled. He tossed the red-white-blue coloured ball in his hand high into the golden sky, laughing long and shrilly, “In the middle of the world—is a tower.”
Yu Feichen moved his legs and walked on ahead. He was about to cross where they were cheering and laughing when a meteor-like light suddenly streaked past. A moment later, a figure with a reflective head appeared; the captain. And another moment later, figures of varying shapes and sizes also appeared in this space.
“Come over and greet Yu-ge.” The captain called them over.
“The Tower of Creation,” after the greetings were made, the captain sighed lightly, his voice calm with a trace of weariness, “we’re finally back.”
Tacitly, they raised their heads and looked ahead as one.
Ahead—a sky of pale gold, its brilliant hues sprinkling downwards onto thick, white cirrus clouds gathered in an immense whirlpool, and at the centre of the vortex stood a tall, snow-white tower.
An obelisk.
It was grand and dignified, but its lines weren’t graceful. Four prongs stretched upwards before converging abruptly into the infinite distance to form a sharp tip, razor-sharp like a long sword piercing the sky.
The Tower of Creation; the centre of the world.
It was colossal. Even after the limits of human’s vision were exhausted, no one was able to view it in its entirety.
It was erected in the boundless plaza at sunset, as if towering over an unending river of ice, but even the most crystal-clear rivers of ice paled in comparison to the ground of this plaza.
It was paved with an incandescent mineral of ice from the Eastern continent, thus the name ‘Incandescent Plaza’. No seams could be observed from between the stone tiles. They reflected the sky, the drifting clouds, and the holy tower, as well as a faint iridescence dancing at its fringes. It was said that these crystalline stones were once an inconceivably precious treasure unmatched by any other in the ancient past, and were only used to decorate the tombs of kings.
Many shimmering orbs composed of intricate, golden runes floated in the air, emitting lively voices when people walked by them.
“Hi, would you like to buy face shaping? What style do you like?”
“Giant Tree Inn, discounted prices today. It’ll make you feel right at home.”
“First time to Paradise? Do you need a tour guide? Do you need a Translation Sphere?”
“Wish tokens for Resurrection Day, handmade by the Grand Priest Iscadilla. Selling at discounted prices, would you like one, or two?”
Voices clamoured everywhere. A busy flow of people constantly passed through Incandescent Plaza; meteors flashed, people appeared, and people disappeared. A young girl with flowers stuffed a bouquet of sunset-coloured flowers into the arms of one of the teammates.
“It’s great to be back,” sighed the captain. “We all worked hard this time, I’ll treat everyone to drinks at Sunset Avenue. Yu-ge, let’s go together.”
No one answered.
“…Where’s Yu-ge?”
—There was a tall, dark figure ahead. Yu Feichen was walking into the distance.
“Yu-ge! Yu-ge!” The captain’s sleeves had been pulled. He stopped admiring the tower, saying, “Hold up!”
Yu Feichen turned his head back hearing this.
The golden sky spilled soft light that reflected against the incandescent mineral of ice; for a fleeting moment, his silhouette appeared ethereal.
“Your face is handsomely shaped.” He saw a silver-haired youth in a white robe take a few steps forward to stand before him. His lips were pulled into a smile, his eyes crinkled, and his voice was gentle and refined. He said, “You saved my life. I wish to thank you.”
Looking at the youth’s unfamiliar face, Yu Feichen’s mind drew a tiny blank.
After gazing at it for five seconds, he then dimly recalled that this should be a member of the team, named Xia Sen.
Xia Sen was a medic with little combat power in the zombie world. That place had flesh and blood flying everywhere, and everyone’s faces were filthy with grime. There wasn’t time to notice much else, let alone how anyone looked like. Besides, people had manifold appearances across different worlds. Even after returning to Paradise, they could change their appearance as they wished—and this was called ‘face shaping’.
Perhaps because he was stared at for such a long time, Xia Sen blinked.
And then a tiny glimmer streaked past.
At once, Yu Feichen suddenly focused at the corner of Xia Sen’s right eye. There was a small, dark red birthmark under it. Its tint was peculiar, like blood that had congealed.
He was slightly faceblind. He could distinguish between beauty and ugliness, but it was difficult for him to remember faces. However, he was lazy to expand the effort, so he usually relied on the hair colour, eye colour, voice, or some other distinguishing feature. For example, the captain’s bald head.
And before him, that colour faintly glimmered in his mind.
Where have I seen this colour before? He thought.
Xia Sen said, “Yu-ge? Shall we go to the pub together?”
That thought was difficult to catch hold of, quickly flitting past in a twinkling.
“It’s fine.” His tone didn’t carry any inflection or emotion whatsoever. “I’m heading off.”
With this, he turned around and walked towards where the Tower of Creation stood, quiet and still.
“Eh? Yu-ge!” Xia Sen said, “Are you upset?”
“No.” Jet-black pupils faced him again. Mayhap too little light had been striked into the pupils when the face was shaped, but when being looked at by this pair of cool, impersonal pair of eyes, Xia Sen couldn’t help but shiver.
He said, “I’m going to the Gate of Eternal Night.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, there was an abrupt hush around him.
The group of people stood on the spot, unmoving, their eyes fixated on Yu Feichen as if this person was going to visit some kind of ruthless and cruel type of hell with a mountain of swords and a sea of flames. They had not known each other for long, yet their stiff stares made it seem like this was their final parting before death.
A long time later, the captain hesitantly said, “You… is your level high enough?”
Yu Feichen said, “Only just.”
“No, you… you…” The captain stammered for a while before saying, “Why not think it over?”
Yu Feichen gave him a flat look as if he couldn’t understand why this man was asking this.
“Goodbye.” He turned around, leaving that area.
A whispered mutter came from behind him. “I’m afraid that this might be the last time we meet.”
Yu Feichen knew the reason why they would say so. As everyone was well aware, the Gate of Eternal Night was an extremely dangerous place where people left and none returned. Those who went there were either zealous believers, or believers sent to exile.
—Yu Feichen walked into the Tower of Creation.
This tower was an immense building of white. Its higher reaches were dense with golden enchantment symbols and thick, white clouds, and the end was nowhere in sight.
Resurrection Day occurred once every century, and more and more people were keen to venture into the worlds beyond. The Tower of Creation was much busier than usual, and the clamour on the first floor was even noisier than at Incandescent Plaza.
People streamed past Yu Feichen in a flurry. They were of all races, manner of appearance and fashions, either crossing from one side to the other, or ascending the wide, spiral staircase built against the inner walls. The walls of the tower were lined with countless gold-ornamented cedarwood doors, and an endless flow of people passed through them.
In Paradise, all contractual and legal activities proceeded on this level. A statue of a god stood silently in the middle of the floor. It was huge and conspicuous, and its top dipped past the clouds. It depicted a god with a solemn and aloof face in ancient garb, as well as an inscribed tablet hovering above his right hand.
This was Mogrosh, the God of Contract, presiding over the first floor of the Tower of Creation. His temple was at the bottom of the spiral staircase, a place that Yu Feichen was well acquainted with.
Yu Feichen walked forth, and came face to face with two people engrossed in conversation.
“I just got back from Mogrosh. He met me for a cup of tea and told me that I greatly disappointed him. He was very upset.”
“You received another complaint?”
“It is the nature of employers to nitpick.”
“If it were just nitpicking, Mogrosh wouldn’t say things like ‘I am very upset’ to me.”
“There are so many things in the world that would upset Mogrosh.” Saying this, that man huffed out a laugh. “When I went in, Mogrosh was arranging a stack of complaints against Xiao Yu. You should have seen his expression, he really looked like someone had lodged a complaint saying that his son was caught sleeping with another man’s wife.”
Just then, they walked right up to Yu Feichen, six eyes locking together.
“…”
“…”
Tugging at each other, those two swiftly vanished behind an enchanted door on the steps.
Yu Feichen also entered a door. This was a sealed, translucent box with a column of numbered symbols on the side, corresponding to the number of floors in the Tower of Creation. Different floors corresponded to different colours, and he pressed the pitch-black XIII, the thirteenth floor.
Invisible force shook the space as it climbed steadily and swiftly upwards through the clouds.
The second floor was similarly packed with people. This was the place to receive missions.
Apart from this, the only other level Yu Feichen frequented was the seventh floor. This was the domain of the Goddess of Power.
The statue of the goddess wore a long, golden dress with her hands clasped around a large sword. Both her eyes were slightly lidded, and her expression was calm. The statue’s flying strands of hair were the path and bridge of that place, connecting to the seven relief-sculptured stone doors on the tower walls. Each door had a name corresponding to the seven levels of danger of the worlds beyond.
After choosing a mission on the second floor, a team would go to the seventh floor and walk along the path that belonged to them. The power of the goddess would open the door to the mission world for them.
At the end of the mission in every world, the rewards were settled in incandescent stones, which were the only currency of Paradise and can be claimed from the third floor.
The amount of rewards that every person received for carrying out a mission was recorded by the Goddess of Wisdom, representing the amount of merit that each person had earned.
The rewards received for aid and coaching were similarly counted as merit for they had been witnessed by the God of Contracts. Once a certain level of merit had been accumulated, a person could increase their promotion level and gain the privilege of access to higher worlds.
A higher-levelled world naturally implied a greater level of danger, as well as more lucrative rewards.
Yu Feichen’s rates were very expensive. His ‘guaranteed clear’ sold for 30,000 incandescent stones, and double that for ‘quick-fix’, a term which referred specifically to those worlds that allowed off-site help, where the principal of the contract hired an agent to clean up if they made a mess of things.
Therefore, his merits and levels rose quickly.
After the rewards for the zombie world were settled, he gained the privilege of accessing the thirteenth floor—the Gate of Eternal Night.
The Gate of Eternal Night had no established rewards.
But there were legends circulated in Paradise about it. The legend goes, over there, as long as you survive, you can get anything you want—no matter what it is.
The enchanted box stopped. Its colour had changed from its initial pure white, to pitch black.
Still, the door didn’t open.
Yu Feichen reached out.
The moment his fingers touched the door—
Everything disappeared, and he was enshrouded in boundless darkness.
In the void, from all around him came a deep, male voice.
“Visitor,” said that voice, “why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
The echo reverberated layer upon layer, and a long time passed before it completely fell away.
Yu Feichen didn’t really want to answer.
First, he didn’t like dark places. Secondly, he hated overly loud voices. Lastly, he didn’t like answering other people’s questions.
He said, “Because I’ve enough merit.”
That voice suddenly stepped severalfold louder with anger and authority. “Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
It appeared that his perfunctory and superficial reasoning was seen through. In Paradise, there were also exhortations such as ‘Never lie in front of the Gate of Eternal Night’. He subtly lowered his eyes and considered his wording, then spoke.
—“For the Divine Lord is the king of all kings, and the god of all gods. Anywhere that is touched by light is his domain.”
“Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?” Before he could finish speaking, that voice rose again.
—“Everything beyond the seven doors is territory belonging to the Divine Lord.”
“Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
—“God is omnipresent.”
The aid that could be acquired with incandescent stones, the tips that one would receive before entering a world, the physical enhancement that could be brought from Paradise to the worlds beyond—and other countless such things—were all attributed to the power of the Divine Lord. These traces of ‘God’s Benevolence’ could be found everywhere. As if the Divine Lord was always there, constantly gazing down over them.
But he wasn’t a believer. To this day, he had not seen even a statue of the Divine Lord.
“Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
“It’s someone else’s territory.” He gazed ahead, each word clear and firm, he said—
“And I don’t like that.”
t/n. Incandescent mineral/stones more literally translates into dazzling ice mineral/stones. It has an english equivalent term – pyxorene (general category of minerals), but based on the description I decided to treat it as a fantasy object instead, thus this revised name.
Face shaping can alt be translated as face moulding/kneading, likely a deliberate reference to some beliefs wherein humans were shaped from clay. KIV that this work contains significant talk on theology, religion, suchlike.
Changing schedule to sporadic updates whenever the mood strikes me.
When the mission was judged to be completed, they would automatically be transferred back to Paradise.
—so the reason for the long delay of their return was, naturally, because there was still a zombie alive. Once it died, the instance would end; it was very simple logic.
After the voice fell, pure white light suddenly enveloped their vision.
The world dissipated into nothingness and solidified again.
People were talking not far away; their boisterous voices slammed into Yu Feichen’s ears.
“Did you return from the Beyond? Did it go well this time?”
“We almost got wiped out. God above, that damn place was like the end of the world.”
“Few people have ever seen how the end of the world looks like.”
“Who cares if it was or wasn’t, I’m back anyway. Isn’t it more than enough to see how the middle of the world looks like?”
There was a roar of triumphant laughter, and a scarlet-cloaked clown on the side of the road even whistled. He tossed the red-white-blue coloured ball in his hand high into the golden sky, laughing long and shrilly, “In the middle of the world—is a tower.”
Yu Feichen moved his legs and walked on ahead. He was about to cross where they were cheering and laughing when a meteor-like light suddenly streaked past. A moment later, a figure with a reflective head appeared; the captain. And another moment later, figures of varying shapes and sizes also appeared in this space.
“Come over and greet Yu-ge.” The captain called them over.
“The Tower of Creation,” after the greetings were made, the captain sighed lightly, his voice calm with a trace of weariness, “we’re finally back.”
Tacitly, they raised their heads and looked ahead as one.
Ahead—a sky of pale gold, its brilliant hues sprinkling downwards onto thick, white cirrus clouds gathered in an immense whirlpool, and at the centre of the vortex stood a tall, snow-white tower.
An obelisk.
It was grand and dignified, but its lines weren’t graceful. Four prongs stretched upwards before converging abruptly into the infinite distance to form a sharp tip, razor-sharp like a long sword piercing the sky.
The Tower of Creation; the centre of the world.
It was colossal. Even after the limits of human’s vision were exhausted, no one was able to view it in its entirety.
It was erected in the boundless plaza at sunset, as if towering over an unending river of ice, but even the most crystal-clear rivers of ice paled in comparison to the ground of this plaza.
It was paved with an incandescent mineral of ice from the Eastern continent, thus the name ‘Incandescent Plaza’. No seams could be observed from between the stone tiles. They reflected the sky, the drifting clouds, and the holy tower, as well as a faint iridescence dancing at its fringes. It was said that these crystalline stones were once an inconceivably precious treasure unmatched by any other in the ancient past, and were only used to decorate the tombs of kings.
Many shimmering orbs composed of intricate, golden runes floated in the air, emitting lively voices when people walked by them.
“Hi, would you like to buy face shaping? What style do you like?”
“Giant Tree Inn, discounted prices today. It’ll make you feel right at home.”
“First time to Paradise? Do you need a tour guide? Do you need a Translation Sphere?”
“Wish tokens for Resurrection Day, handmade by the Grand Priest Iscadilla. Selling at discounted prices, would you like one, or two?”
Voices clamoured everywhere. A busy flow of people constantly passed through Incandescent Plaza; meteors flashed, people appeared, and people disappeared. A young girl with flowers stuffed a bouquet of sunset-coloured flowers into the arms of one of the teammates.
“It’s great to be back,” sighed the captain. “We all worked hard this time, I’ll treat everyone to drinks at Sunset Avenue. Yu-ge, let’s go together.”
No one answered.
“…Where’s Yu-ge?”
—There was a tall, dark figure ahead. Yu Feichen was walking into the distance.
“Yu-ge! Yu-ge!” The captain’s sleeves had been pulled. He stopped admiring the tower, saying, “Hold up!”
Yu Feichen turned his head back hearing this.
The golden sky spilled soft light that reflected against the incandescent mineral of ice; for a fleeting moment, his silhouette appeared ethereal.
“Your face is handsomely shaped.” He saw a silver-haired youth in a white robe take a few steps forward to stand before him. His lips were pulled into a smile, his eyes crinkled, and his voice was gentle and refined. He said, “You saved my life. I wish to thank you.”
Looking at the youth’s unfamiliar face, Yu Feichen’s mind drew a tiny blank.
After gazing at it for five seconds, he then dimly recalled that this should be a member of the team, named Xia Sen.
Xia Sen was a medic with little combat power in the zombie world. That place had flesh and blood flying everywhere, and everyone’s faces were filthy with grime. There wasn’t time to notice much else, let alone how anyone looked like. Besides, people had manifold appearances across different worlds. Even after returning to Paradise, they could change their appearance as they wished—and this was called ‘face shaping’.
Perhaps because he was stared at for such a long time, Xia Sen blinked.
And then a tiny glimmer streaked past.
At once, Yu Feichen suddenly focused at the corner of Xia Sen’s right eye. There was a small, dark red birthmark under it. Its tint was peculiar, like blood that had congealed.
He was slightly faceblind. He could distinguish between beauty and ugliness, but it was difficult for him to remember faces. However, he was lazy to expand the effort, so he usually relied on the hair colour, eye colour, voice, or some other distinguishing feature. For example, the captain’s bald head.
And before him, that colour faintly glimmered in his mind.
Where have I seen this colour before? He thought.
Xia Sen said, “Yu-ge? Shall we go to the pub together?”
That thought was difficult to catch hold of, quickly flitting past in a twinkling.
“It’s fine.” His tone didn’t carry any inflection or emotion whatsoever. “I’m heading off.”
With this, he turned around and walked towards where the Tower of Creation stood, quiet and still.
“Eh? Yu-ge!” Xia Sen said, “Are you upset?”
“No.” Jet-black pupils faced him again. Mayhap too little light had been striked into the pupils when the face was shaped, but when being looked at by this pair of cool, impersonal pair of eyes, Xia Sen couldn’t help but shiver.
He said, “I’m going to the Gate of Eternal Night.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, there was an abrupt hush around him.
The group of people stood on the spot, unmoving, their eyes fixated on Yu Feichen as if this person was going to visit some kind of ruthless and cruel type of hell with a mountain of swords and a sea of flames. They had not known each other for long, yet their stiff stares made it seem like this was their final parting before death.
A long time later, the captain hesitantly said, “You… is your level high enough?”
Yu Feichen said, “Only just.”
“No, you… you…” The captain stammered for a while before saying, “Why not think it over?”
Yu Feichen gave him a flat look as if he couldn’t understand why this man was asking this.
“Goodbye.” He turned around, leaving that area.
A whispered mutter came from behind him. “I’m afraid that this might be the last time we meet.”
Yu Feichen knew the reason why they would say so. As everyone was well aware, the Gate of Eternal Night was an extremely dangerous place where people left and none returned. Those who went there were either zealous believers, or believers sent to exile.
—Yu Feichen walked into the Tower of Creation.
This tower was an immense building of white. Its higher reaches were dense with golden enchantment symbols and thick, white clouds, and the end was nowhere in sight.
Resurrection Day occurred once every century, and more and more people were keen to venture into the worlds beyond. The Tower of Creation was much busier than usual, and the clamour on the first floor was even noisier than at Incandescent Plaza.
People streamed past Yu Feichen in a flurry. They were of all races, manner of appearance and fashions, either crossing from one side to the other, or ascending the wide, spiral staircase built against the inner walls. The walls of the tower were lined with countless gold-ornamented cedarwood doors, and an endless flow of people passed through them.
In Paradise, all contractual and legal activities proceeded on this level. A statue of a god stood silently in the middle of the floor. It was huge and conspicuous, and its top dipped past the clouds. It depicted a god with a solemn and aloof face in ancient garb, as well as an inscribed tablet hovering above his right hand.
This was Mogrosh, the God of Contract, presiding over the first floor of the Tower of Creation. His temple was at the bottom of the spiral staircase, a place that Yu Feichen was well acquainted with.
Yu Feichen walked forth, and came face to face with two people engrossed in conversation.
“I just got back from Mogrosh. He met me for a cup of tea and told me that I greatly disappointed him. He was very upset.”
“You received another complaint?”
“It is the nature of employers to nitpick.”
“If it were just nitpicking, Mogrosh wouldn’t say things like ‘I am very upset’ to me.”
“There are so many things in the world that would upset Mogrosh.” Saying this, that man huffed out a laugh. “When I went in, Mogrosh was arranging a stack of complaints against Xiao Yu. You should have seen his expression, he really looked like someone had lodged a complaint saying that his son was caught sleeping with another man’s wife.”
Just then, they walked right up to Yu Feichen, six eyes locking together.
“…”
“…”
Tugging at each other, those two swiftly vanished behind an enchanted door on the steps.
Yu Feichen also entered a door. This was a sealed, translucent box with a column of numbered symbols on the side, corresponding to the number of floors in the Tower of Creation. Different floors corresponded to different colours, and he pressed the pitch-black XIII, the thirteenth floor.
Invisible force shook the space as it climbed steadily and swiftly upwards through the clouds.
The second floor was similarly packed with people. This was the place to receive missions.
Apart from this, the only other level Yu Feichen frequented was the seventh floor. This was the domain of the Goddess of Power.
The statue of the goddess wore a long, golden dress with her hands clasped around a large sword. Both her eyes were slightly lidded, and her expression was calm. The statue’s flying strands of hair were the path and bridge of that place, connecting to the seven relief-sculptured stone doors on the tower walls. Each door had a name corresponding to the seven levels of danger of the worlds beyond.
After choosing a mission on the second floor, a team would go to the seventh floor and walk along the path that belonged to them. The power of the goddess would open the door to the mission world for them.
At the end of the mission in every world, the rewards were settled in incandescent stones, which were the only currency of Paradise and can be claimed from the third floor.
The amount of rewards that every person received for carrying out a mission was recorded by the Goddess of Wisdom, representing the amount of merit that each person had earned.
The rewards received for aid and coaching were similarly counted as merit for they had been witnessed by the God of Contracts. Once a certain level of merit had been accumulated, a person could increase their promotion level and gain the privilege of access to higher worlds.
A higher-levelled world naturally implied a greater level of danger, as well as more lucrative rewards.
Yu Feichen’s rates were very expensive. His ‘guaranteed clear’ sold for 30,000 incandescent stones, and double that for ‘quick-fix’, a term which referred specifically to those worlds that allowed off-site help, where the principal of the contract hired an agent to clean up if they made a mess of things.
Therefore, his merits and levels rose quickly.
After the rewards for the zombie world were settled, he gained the privilege of accessing the thirteenth floor—the Gate of Eternal Night.
The Gate of Eternal Night had no established rewards.
But there were legends circulated in Paradise about it. The legend goes, over there, as long as you survive, you can get anything you want—no matter what it is.
The enchanted box stopped. Its colour had changed from its initial pure white, to pitch black.
Still, the door didn’t open.
Yu Feichen reached out.
The moment his fingers touched the door—
Everything disappeared, and he was enshrouded in boundless darkness.
In the void, from all around him came a deep, male voice.
“Visitor,” said that voice, “why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
The echo reverberated layer upon layer, and a long time passed before it completely fell away.
Yu Feichen didn’t really want to answer.
First, he didn’t like dark places. Secondly, he hated overly loud voices. Lastly, he didn’t like answering other people’s questions.
He said, “Because I’ve enough merit.”
That voice suddenly stepped severalfold louder with anger and authority. “Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
It appeared that his perfunctory and superficial reasoning was seen through. In Paradise, there were also exhortations such as ‘Never lie in front of the Gate of Eternal Night’. He subtly lowered his eyes and considered his wording, then spoke.
—“For the Divine Lord is the king of all kings, and the god of all gods. Anywhere that is touched by light is his domain.”
“Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?” Before he could finish speaking, that voice rose again.
—“Everything beyond the seven doors is territory belonging to the Divine Lord.”
“Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
—“God is omnipresent.”
The aid that could be acquired with incandescent stones, the tips that one would receive before entering a world, the physical enhancement that could be brought from Paradise to the worlds beyond—and other countless such things—were all attributed to the power of the Divine Lord. These traces of ‘God’s Benevolence’ could be found everywhere. As if the Divine Lord was always there, constantly gazing down over them.
But he wasn’t a believer. To this day, he had not seen even a statue of the Divine Lord.
“Why have you come to the Gate of Eternal Night?”
“It’s someone else’s territory.” He gazed ahead, each word clear and firm, he said—
“And I don’t like that.”
t/n. Incandescent mineral/stones more literally translates into dazzling ice mineral/stones. It has an english equivalent term – pyxorene (general category of minerals), but based on the description I decided to treat it as a fantasy object instead, thus this revised name.
Face shaping can alt be translated as face moulding/kneading, likely a deliberate reference to some beliefs wherein humans were shaped from clay. KIV that this work contains significant talk on theology, religion, suchlike.
Changing schedule to sporadic updates whenever the mood strikes me.
