Volume 4: The End of the World Chapter 42 The Future He Chose
"Wait a minute, let me sort it out first..."
After listening to Flora's words, William touched his forehead and said.
According to her, the original Ravenwood was a sea of forests. Just like other places on the continent of Vic, there were human tribes, and ritual magic was discovered, which could initially tame the power of the gods for their own use. However, due to the influence of the local environment, the silhouette of the "mother" observed by the local humans was the image of the dark mother goddess who embodied the characteristic of "returning life to the mother's body", so the locals were afraid and abandoned it in the depths of the forest.
Then, the ancestors of the forest elves landed in Ravenwood at a certain point in time. They brought with them the remaining blessings of the spirits and a magic system that was a dimensionality reduction attack on most humans of that era, and started a bloody era of colonial rule.
Under the pressure of the spirit blessing being about to dissipate, in order to find a new source of blessing to continue to maintain their long lifespan, the ancestors of the forest elves stepped into the depths of the forest. There, they found the image of the "Mother Goddess" forgotten by humans because of fear, and through ritual magic, she appeared in the myth in Camilla.
In fact, this was also a deal between the Dark Mother Goddess and the elven colonists. The reborn "Great Mother" blessed the elves and transformed them into forest elves. With the help of the power of the forest elves, the Great Mother fulfilled her long-cherished wish of returning all her children to their mother's body.
Things should have ended here - the ancient gods that emerged from faith would immediately lose their value after completing their duties. For the "Big Mother", if all the humans in Ravenwood died out, while fulfilling her long-cherished wish of returning all her children to the mother's body, she would also lose all her believers, and she should completely disappear from this world.
However, the forest elves did not kill the last of the Ravenwood people because they wanted to continue to use the power of the "Great Mother". They preserved those humans in tree form forever, thus maintaining the anchor of the Great Mother's existence in the world, allowing them to continue to use the power of this ancient god.
The forest elves at that time probably didn't expect that this action would "accidentally" meet the conditions for the birth of the Void King, Lady Hungry and Corrupted... Of course, William felt that there must be other external forces in this matter, and it is hard to say which Void King was fueling the flames. But in any case, the final result was the birth of Lady Hungry and Corrupted Camilla.
The moment the Void King was reborn, she crossed the past and the future and rewoven time, making her a god who existed in the world from beginning to end. Therefore, the timeline of Ravenwood was broken and a new origin was recreated... It was like restarting the game and changing the background of a new origin.
The past of Ravenwood was replaced by a land that had been polluted by Lady Hunger and Corruption since ancient times. When Camilla was promoted to the Void King, she should have been taken back to the Moon Realm as the cornerstone of her Moon Realm... This was supposed to be the development, but for some reason, Camilla did not choose to do so.
Both of Ravenwood's origin stories end with the birth of Lady Hungry and the complete destruction of Ravenwood - this would not have any impact on the future, but Lady Hungry used her power to force both timelines to continue.
At this point, the ancestors of the forest elves were no longer invaders who massacred the native humans, but colonists who helped this land dispel the pollution of the undead. They signed a contract with the World Tree, believed in the "Great Mother" and the "Father of the Wilderness", and established the Oak Council... All of these were eventually remembered by the world as the truth of history.
"In other words... until now, the entire Ravenwood is still in a broken time? Two possibilities are developing in parallel. In the possibility we are in now, the Sacred Tree Mother is the one who continues the authority of Camilla in the mortal period; and in the other possibility, the Sacred Tree Mother is a puppet controlled by the Hungry Lady?"
William concluded.
But how is this possible?
If so, based on the time when Lady Hungry was born, this time shattering spanned four eras: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum, which is nearly six thousand years. Is it possible that the time shattering lasted for more than five thousand years, and that two timelines existed and developed in parallel for more than five thousand years without any problems?
You know, broken time will eventually come together.
Just like completing a mission in a game, you can choose to sneak in and assassinate, you can choose to force your way in, or you can even rely on your eloquence to deceive... There are many ways to complete the mission, and the specific execution details can be countless. But no matter what, time will eventually converge to the ending of completing the mission.
Under different initial conditions, after nearly six thousand years of the butterfly effect, William couldn't imagine how Ms. Hungry and Corrupt would eventually bring the two timelines together.
It's impossible that they were all hit by meteorites and turned into a sea of fire?
Perhaps seeing the confusion in William's eyes, Floral explained:
"History with too big a gap will naturally be cut off and eventually become a piece of empty fantasy. But you have to know that the other timeline is maintained by Ms. Hungry and Corrupted. The deviation between the other timeline and the timeline we are experiencing now may be less than 5%. Therefore, the king of the Moon Realm can easily replace it with our current history, and it will not cause too much paradox. At most, it will leave some contradictory records."
William continued to shake his head when he heard this.
That doesn't make sense. People in this world are not NPCs with set behaviors. They all have their own will. And self-will is the ultimate . Even the Void King can't control the life trajectories of hundreds of millions of mortals over five thousand years like controlling puppets.
The course of history may be completely rewritten just based on a mortal's desire to "go out and see the outside world."
The free will of mortals, which is not controlled by any god, is the weapon that can truly break the chains of the gods.
After William raised this question, Flora suddenly loosened her grip on the staff and left the magic medium standing still.
She gently lifted her black veil, revealing a face that was too pale for a forest elf. Without the cover of this enchanted ornament, a strong smell of death instantly lingered around .
The moment she took off her veil, everyone in the room, except William and Ebony, turned their eyes to her in shock.
Such a strong breath of death... could only be emitted by the highest-level undead creatures.
Lich... The Duke of the Holy Tree in Jade Province is actually a lich? What kind of joke is this in the Empire?
William already knew the other party's identity, so he didn't react at all. He was just curious about what she was doing.
But Wu Mu, who was standing by, also did not react. It was not until he noticed the silence around him and everyone's shocked looks that he asked in confusion :
"What's wrong with you all?"
It was only then that Flora looked at William and said:
"In the timeline controlled by Lady Hungry and Corrupted, after Camilla was promoted to the Void King, there were no living people in the entire Ravenwood due to the powerful pollution of the Moon Realm. Only a dead desolate land and wandering, decaying corpses remained."
After saying that, she looked at Wu Mu and continued:
"So, she manipulated countless undead spirits, imitating the historical process of our timeline, which has continued to this day."
As soon as Flora's words fell, Wu Mu, whose expression had been getting uglier and uglier, immediately said with a grim look:
"That's enough! What kind of bizarre lies do you want to make up to cover up your crimes? Are you trying to say that I'm a ghost?!"
Ebony's whole body was shaking as he said this, not out of fear or nervousness, but simply to suppress his anger.
The vague animal spirits took shape around him. It was obvious that if the listener of the Holy Tree Mother had not clearly realized the difference in strength between the two sides, she would have wanted to rush up and pull out the other party's tongue instead of using words to refute.
"If there is no Blood Moon Game, how can we choose the successor of the Wild Father? The Ebony Tribe has always been a tribe under the care of the Great Spirit of the Wild, and its history can be traced back to the Golden Calendar Age. Also, if the will of the 'Great Mother' has long been inactive , how did the forest elves resist the conquest of the Riel Empire?!"
"So, don't try to use such lame lies to influence Lord William's judgment!"
Ebony said, looking at William, with an expression on her face as if she was anxious to get his confirmation.
However, in response to Ebony's words, William slowly said:
"In my time, your forest elf ancestors used the power of the 'Big Mother' and the 'Father of the Wilderness' to dispel the attempt of the Hungry Lady to come. After that, the two ancient gods said that they would fall into a long sleep and would not wake up until the forest elves needed them again."
After all, one of the main themes of this game is "The End of the Age of Gods, the Dawn of the Age of Mortals". Before the end of the game, the era is basically frozen at the moment when the belief in the ancient gods is abandoned and inactive, the Void King of the Moon Realm is isolated, the belief in the Holy Spirit returns to its original rationality, and modern magic is systematized and about to be promoted on a large scale.
After expelling the "Hungry Lady", the last words left by the Great Mother who possessed the Listener to all the forest elves were: "The time for you (mortals) has come."
But after all, more than a thousand years have passed, and the Riel Empire has taken a sharp turn in history. William was not too surprised that Ravenwood has basically made no progress. Rather, it is precisely this style that makes it easier to compete with the Riel Empire.
That is why he has always felt that Fularo, who is willing to cooperate deeply with the Empire, might be a better partner. From the perspective of the system itself, the secular structure of the Empire is at least a little more advanced than the belief system of the forest elves that blocks the possibility of civilization.
At least I don't have to keep eating corpses.
Thinking of this, William looked at Flora and asked:
"I want to ask, after being there, have the two ancient gods, the Great Mother and the Wilderness Father, never woke up?"
Flora nodded and replied:
"That's right. Not long after you disappeared, the Oak Council also hoped to awaken the 'Big Mother'. To this end, they found Mr. Nehe, hoping that he could restore the will of the 'Big Mother' by re-signing the initial contract. Many things happened later... In the end, Mr. Nehe almost succeeded, but it was also because of that attempt that he was able to glimpse the history of another timeline being manipulated, thus interrupting the ceremony. What I know now is all learned by analyzing the information left by Mr. Nehe."
"In other words, these materials were left behind along with Neh's legacy?"
"That's right."
Flora's expression was calm.
"What?"
Wu Mu turned his head stiffly. He looked at William with a deathly pale face and said as if begging:
"But... weren't you the one who banished Lady Hungry to the Moon Realm all by yourself? Didn't you reject the help of the 'Great Mother' and the 'Father of the Wilderness' in the end and fight the incarnation of Lady Hungry alone?"
William pondered for a moment about this question.
The history that Ebony told is both right and wrong.
The boss battle against the incarnation of Lady Hungry and Corrupted has a special mechanism combined with the plot. During the battle, Lady Hungry and Corrupted will add a special state to the player that continuously deducts the health and mana limit. If the boss cannot be killed within a certain period of time, the health bar and mana bar will soon be forcibly reduced to an unacceptable level.
The assistance of the two ancient gods, the Wilderness Father and the Great Mother, is reflected in the game by helping players to remove those two special states.
The normal clearance process requires the blessing of the two ancient gods to defeat the boss. However, the game developers also gave players who want to challenge themselves the option of refusing the blessing and killing directly.
William remembered that those who passed the level in this way would also receive an achievement called "Scavenger", but the acquisition rate was less than 3% at the time.
He first completed the game in the difficult mode of Refusing Blessing, and then completed it according to the normal process. In order to get a better sense of immersion, he finally chose to use the normal difficulty save file and continue the game process.
After all, sacrifice and regret are part of the game.
But if it is true as Flora said, then this seems to make sense...
Maybe, the decapitation save file that I chose to play solo, the timeline that originally did not exist, was taken over by Ms. Hungry and Corrupted and shaped into the timeline where Ebony was in the past?
Thinking of this, William shook his head and looked at Ebony.
At this moment, the other party looked at William as if he had found a life-saving straw.
"But you refused the help of the Great Mother and the Wild Father, right? This is what the records passed down from generation to generation by the Listeners say..."
He desperately hoped that William could prove that what Flora said was nonsense.
"I did refuse their help and defeated the void incarnation of Lady Hungry and Corrupted alone..."
William said slowly.
Then, before the other person's expression turned to joy, he continued:
"But I also accepted their help and defeated the void incarnation of Lady Hungry and Corrupted together with them."
Looking at Wu Mu's gradually stiffening expression, William said solemnly:
"And I ended up choosing this future and making it the past of the present."
