Liberi Reader

What's going on...? Why am I back here?

Wei, old thing, still alive? I came to see you.

(Hoarse howl)

You've been sleeping for so long, and you're still as pissy as ever...

Drop the scary act already. Can you even do anything after lying here all this time?

Hoo...

Nothing to be afraid of... right?

Shangshu?

Which mountain is this? Why isn't there a single road sign... no, what year is it even?

Judging from the houses by the road, this looks like Shangshu before it went nomadic... why does it look like the city I saw when I first got here?

Wei—you, up on the mountain! What'cha doing?

You don't know who I am?!

Why would I?

It was I who designed and created this city!

Oh, that's pretty cool.

The Catastrophe's about to arrive, and everyone's already evacuated. But the disaster will destroy all the houses I built.

I can't let it happen just like that!

The fifth year of Jingyan, when I had just arrived here, and stayed for three decades... 'Record of Shangshu City'?

I'm carving how I crafted the city onto this cliff so future generations will remember my achievements!

But the Catastrophe's just around the corner. You're risking your life for this, but what if a thunderbolt cleaves the mountain into two? Wouldn't your hard work be in vain?

I couldn't care less. This is the only thing I can do. Why even bother living, if no one will know of my feats?

How do you even live like that...? Fine, just keep working, I'll disturb you no more.

Wei, where does this mountain path lead?

I don't know.

It's you...

Sir, I wish for you to grant me a sword.

What for?

To save. To avenge.

I've told you, my swords don't come cheap. What're you offering?

My life.

Again...

...I should've said no already.

...

Do you hate me for giving you that rusty piece of scrap metal?

What am I saying? This is just an illusion.

But you do remember me.

Just thinking about that screenplay draft... I still can't help but wonder if the story would've ended differently, had I given you a proper blade then.

How can someone so remarkable and knowledgeable show compassion to a nobody like me?

A mere mortal life is honestly worthless to you.

Hey, don't go that far. I still like you mortals a lot.

You look at us as if you're watching a play.

Your casual acts can add a little marvel to the show and change the fates of countless people. Sometimes you'll even be in the mood to join us for a few songs.

But in the myriad of plays, you're the only one offstage.

You've been alone all along.

Jeez, I didn't think I'd get this kind of hallucination...

I'm tired. Just take the sword. It's made for proper combat.

Let me see if the story ends differently.

Sir, a young man asked me to deliver this to package to you before the day of Dongzhi.

Don't have the guts to see me in person?

I suppose... he's passed on by now...

...

What's this...?

Sir, I've been anticipating this for a long time.

You've been waiting for me?

I'm puzzled by something that I'd like you to clarify.

Do elaborate.

I went to collect references at the edge of the city today, and saw an odd fowlbeast perched by the riverbank.

I've never seen a fowlbeast so beautiful... I was just about to whip out my brush and paper when it flapped its wings and vanished from sight.

I tried to paint it from what I could remember, but I could not do it.

Just let it go, some things are beyond your control.

That holds true for others, but I still call myself a painter for the time being... so I'll always want to capture it somehow.

I've painted quite a lot these past few years. I always thought one had to paint plenty of paintings and see many sights to make life worthwhile.

But I finally realized... that paintings are ultimately inanimate objects.

What do you mean?

The scenes I paint turn into a passing cloud a moment later. The more I paint, the more insignificant I feel my paintings become.

That's only natural, no?

One can only dream of seeing the entire land if one won't even make it to a hundred years of age.

No... I think you still don't understand.

Sir, I'd like to ask for some thoughts on this undeserving work of mine.

Is this a painting?

My painting.

This is the view we ignorant mortals see.

Even one like you with all the views you have seen are only a drop in the ocean when compared to the tumultuous changes this land has experienced over the last millennium.

Please, take a good look once more.

For we only have this one dusk.

They're growing well...

Did you plant all these?

The people here did.

As you said, I can't use my abilities to meddle with their growth... I'll disappear one day, but these people will still be here for a long time.

You've worked so hard...

It's been a while, Shu.

How very strange. That brother of mine has been telling me he's seen you in his dreams lately.

Why do you keep thinking about me...? Are you getting nostalgic with age?

You know how to make fun of me too now.

The people here all remember a 'Shennong' who compiled the twenty-four jieqi solar terms, taught them how to till the land, and even risked her life to cultivate a vast expanse of frozen soil into fertile fields.

How can I bear that title on my own? We achieved it all together, so why put everything on my shoulders?

It's been so long, is there still a difference between you or me?

All I remember is someone taking me in when I was wandering about aimlessly like a child, and giving me a home.

She told me I needn't care about the differences between man and beast... that I should just live as a human.

I didn't expect you to stay here even now.

I promised you I would. To stay and guard this land, so people wouldn't have to go hungry.

Oh, Shu... have you ever resented me?

...

A thousand years. How can you call this devotion? This is clearly incarceration...

Even though your consciousness is gone, you're still trapped here by your ties to this land, rather than go free.

All because of one mistake I made...

I don't resent you for it... only myself. For not going north in your place.

Shu... You know I've never seen you as a Xian, the whole time we were together. I almost forgot that you weren't mortal.

I only realized when we parted ways, I had my own selfish motives, a 'human' selfishness.

I wanted to beg you to stay, to continue helping the people here. All of my kin need you.

But I wasn't sure if you would love them, as you loved me...

I'm afraid I've let you down.

So we failed in the end, right?

...

You never found the seeds, and I never managed to grow crops on Originium-tainted soil.

We couldn't even protect this land.

Man can prevail over nature... but when will that happen for real?

Shu... Do you regret it?

...

You knew that everything I said would come to pass, didn't you?

Yes, I always knew.

You shouldn't have met me here.

You're only a shred of consciousness left in this device, and I'm a memory within.

I am you.

Ghaah—?

You're still here.

I'm always with you.

A command to want and rage, in greed for life and fear for death.

I nearly forgot why I even created you back then.

No place of place amidst high mounts or waters far; no matter to me free amidst the human realm.

I've been muddleheaded for so long that I even lost track of why I'm awake.

Who ever said you had to paint the entire realm to be considered an artist? Just paint a realm, and true it be.

Wei, wake up.

A director can't be sleeping on set, right? That's crazy irresponsible.

What's wrong with taking a snooze when you're tired... which one are we shooting this time?

Oh. Isn't that the screenplay I stashed away in the bottom of my drawer?

You mean it's that bad...?

I swear, this year is the last one.

Anything can be spun into a good story, that's what legends and strange tales are...

I gotta ask, li'l Lava.

What makes you so willing to humor me for so long?

The legendary weapon you promised. When are you going to give it to me?

Sure enough, you're still after that...

Would you miss me, if I were to vanish one day without a trace? For good?

Nope.

If that day comes, no one will remember you.

The weapons, tools, cities, and those films you made will all vanish... you know that.

You're right... I shouldn't be seeing you here either.

...

Yeah, you called it. The dumb stuff I waste time on again and again all amounts to nothing in the end. But I can't help it. I just wanna have some fun and leave some memories behind.

Leave something behind and have fun. That's enough for me.

Thanks, li'l Lava. It was pretty fun making trouble with you at Rhodes Island.

Humiliating... I ended up giving myself a lecture with something I crafted with my own hands.

Letting people go through these old and irrelevant memories just like that is really something...

Well, enough of that. We answered that question when we managed to split off from chaos.

You're just a heart. So stop dreaming about taking us back in.

We worked hard to be free from that pitch-black tomb. We're not about to go back to living under your shadow, old thing.

So I'll—