Liberi Reader

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<p=1>Year 759</>Year 759

The right leg... almost fully polished.

I can't believe the first thing I'm doing after reforming my vessel is to die for someone else's sake...

It's time to go—

Oh, it's you.

No, you're It, but you're not It. You're... ah...

Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

Wang

How does it feel to see your old enemy split apart like this, and your old followers turned into an unruly rabble?

What enemy?

I simply had a dream that caused some delay. I managed to evade the Great Hunt before I awoke. It's not such a bad thing to die here after awakening.

But you should not kill me here quietly. You should let me die before the Yanese army. Otherwise, maniacs will keep coming, trying to die in my name.

It would be the last thing I want.

Wang

Desperate people will resort to desperate measures. You are not necessarily the reason.

Wang

I won't kill you. Quite the opposite. I can't let you die.

You want to help me instead of killing me? Interesting.

How do you intend to deal with the self-proclaimed 'Shanhaizhong'? Though it is no more than a fragment, they have indeed inherited the old carpenter's arts. They are not entirely unassociated with me.

Wang

They'll live, if you leave.

What do you mean?

Wang

The Yanese army wants you, not them. It's trivial for you to leave.

Wang

I'll help you, if you encounter any obstacles.

Wang

As for the Shanhaizhong, they'll last two more days, give or take. Ultimately, they will all die, taking a third of the Yanese army with them.

Wang

If you die for them here, they will become even more fervent and fight to the bitter end.

Wang

If you leave, they will flee, and Yan's mission will be done, so they can recall their armies.

Wang

This is the only way for you to stop the war.

You are It... no, not quite. You are ten times It in scheming and intrigue.

I would be indebted to you. What do you wish from me in return?

Wang

A piece in reserve that could perhaps come in useful. No great loss, if it never comes into play.

Now that makes me feel a little slighted.

I'll repay this debt. I promise.

Wang

How do you intend to help me, when you don't know what I'm trying to do?

You would treat a Feranmut as a piece in reserve. What you're plotting must not involve mortal man. This is about yourself. Split apart, you said? How many pieces are there?

Wang

...Twelve.

Then I take it the only thing you care about is whether it is the twelve that is left, or the one.

One word of advice. One tree does not make a forest. You are defying the laws of nature. You need all the help you can get.

Ask your siblings if they've thought of any alternatives. Beings like you are not meant to be measured by normal logic and reason.

If you can find the solution, you will rid the world of a great threat...

Wang

...

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Ling

We will never be truly gone, as long as my dream has not been fully worn away, as long as the twelve of us persist in my dream.

Ling

Falsehood is reality, the Great Way unfettered. Such is for all things.

Wang

It sounds to me you intend to carry the heaviest yoke of them all.

Wang

You want to drag the entire family into the instant before Sui awakes, then extend the instant into eternity in your waking dream...

Wang

How long do you think you will last?

Ling

What if I drank all the wine across all the lands?

Wang

I hope there is a less desperate way.

Ling

We were never equals to It. Desperate times call for desperate measures, do they not?

Wang

I know. But...

Wang

...I did not save Ju on a whim.

Ling

Why do you bring this up again? Of course you have your reasons for doing things, but too often you cast your eyes too far and forget the things that are near...

Ling

Wait, what do you mean?

Wang

I was asked to do so.

Ling

By whom?

Wang

Hou.

Ling

The old man's alive?

Wang

He has avoided the eye of Yan, as he does not have followers like the Shanhaizhong. He told me about Ju after I took him beyond Yanese reach.

Ling

Have you told our eldest brother?

Wang

Not yet.

Ling

You can be pretty astute, when you need to be.

Wang

I asked Hou about ideas for a way out, after I helped Him leave Yan. His words have given me thought.

Wang

'Perhaps I am not in Its dream. Perhaps It is in my dream.'

Ling

Interesting, that old man. I would love to drink with Him, if I got the chance.

Wang

The unusual activity of Sui may indicate that something is disturbing It in its dream and accelerating Its awakening.

Wang

It's merely addressing the symptoms, but if I can enter Its dream and see what the culprit is...

Ling

Risky. Are you not concerned It may awaken?

Wang

Does it really make a difference, whether It awakes in seventy years, or seven days?

Ling

What if I offer not my help?

Wang

I'll find a way.

Ling

Might this way have something to do with me? Such as, stealing something from me?

Wang

...

Ling

I will take that as a 'yea'.

Ling

...*sigh*.

Ling

Give me your word, you will not do anything too foolish in this dream.

Wang

If I violate my oath—

Ling

Stop.

Ling

There is no need for oaths between family.

Wang

...

Ling

But please, do not break my heart.

Wang

Yes.

Ling

Now then, drink up. You may take the goblet with you.

Wang

Just drink?

Ling

What more do you need to dream? No ritual necessary.

The elder proxy takes the cup and downs its contents.

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As vertigo overcomes him, he attempts to support his body with his arms.

The stone table beneath his elbows had turned into a mountain boulder covered in moss.

He has never seen such scenery, be it in the chaos, or after he came into the mortal realm.

He is It, but Its dreams are too complex to be closely examined one by one.

Wang

Where am I...?

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A battlefield.

A battlefield of void and emptiness.

The proxy hears Feranmut roar at Feranmut, humans swing their weapons at other humans, humans swarm Feranmut, before they are suffocated, crushed, and devoured.

He hears the pained trembling of Feranmuts, as massive human weapons are locked and loaded...

But he sees nothing.

Invisible Feranmuts walk across the ground. Vegetation disappears where they tread, revealing black and yellow soil.

Invisible entities strike the mountains, cracking them and causing avalanches.

But It remains still.

It is in fear, angry, in pain, but It cannot fight back, cannot avoid it, not even let out a whimper.

Wang

Is this Its... nightmare?

Wang

After the twelve of us left, Its dreams lost their visible image...

The proxy takes a step back, but even the mountains are trembling in the nightmare.

He can hardly keep himself upright—

???

Just because you're in a dream doesn't mean you shouldn't watch your feet.

Wang

Who's there?!

Wang

How did you get here?

Hou

Ju wanted to come personally to help you, but His brain has a hard enough time dreaming for Himself, much less entering another's dream. I'm more suited to these things.

Hou

Lamentable, is it not, that Sui's dream has become so torn and broken... fortune and misfortune are truly two sides of the same coin.

Hou

You are in Its nightmare, and you have drawn its lines, like it or not.

Hou

Look.

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Hou points in the distance, where heaven and earth melt into one. Suddenly, a black silhouette emerges from nothingness.

Feranmut.

Humanity.

Weapon.

It all seems utterly unreal, like the picture books that some Yanese soldiers carry with them.

Flip through the pages rapidly, and the pictures begin to move, as though they have been subject to Dusk's touch.

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Wang

I'll awaken It?

Hou

Quite the opposite.

Hou

A nightmare does not last long. Anyone trapped in a nightmare only seeks to wake up. This silhouette at least allows It to sleep a little longer.

Wang

Then, what do you mean by fortune and misfortune being two sides of the same coin?

Hou says nothing, but Wang sees it.

At first, the images are awkward and stiff, but soon they become smooth.

Not much has changed, except for a white shadow appearing within the black silhouette.

Wang

What is that?

Hou

All twelve of you took something from Its dream. When It let Yu go, Its old dream gradually blurred, and the new dream became empty.

Hou

But what was left behind was not a void. It was a mirror, waiting to reflect the first thing that enters this dream.

Hou

That thing... that man, is you.

Wang

What is this?!

Hou

You are seeing Its nightmare, and now a reflection of you—the you who filled the void in Its dream.

Hou

You told me about the strange things that happened to your family a century ago. Now, they have all come together... but in your image.

Hou

This is Its creation, Its puppet, and... the reflection of a reflection, which It is loath to face.

Hou

It's time to go.

Wang

Go?

Hou

What else? Do you intend to kill It?

Wang

If this is the shape of the void, then killing it might destroy whatever consciousness It still retains in the dream.

Hou

Your mind is sharp, but your words are terrifying.

Hou

You could not kill Sui outside the dream. What makes you think you can kill It in the dream?

Hou

I suppose, you could try it, if you are confident that you will be able to escape unscathed.

Wang

I'm confident... that I can take it down with me.

Hou

You don't listen to what people say, do you?

Hou

I suppose I'll have to fetch someone whom you care about.

Ling

Wang?

Hou

He wants to sacrifice his own life to kill Sui in this dream.

Ling

Have you abandoned your word so soon, my second-oldest brother?

Wang

Such opportunity...

Wang

Will not come again—

Hou

That's quite enough. It's time to bring your brother out of the dream, girl, or we'll all be in danger—

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Wang

In this dream, this time.

Wang

I glimpsed the dream of your slumber, and my own reflection.

You saw the reflection, and the price was... to create an inexplicable foe for yourself in the centuries to come.

Having to face this again, you must be filled with regret.

Wang

What a terrible error. If I knew this reflection of yours could leave the dream and enter reality... I would not have left so easily.

Wang

Where are you hiding?

Wang

No matter... I will find you.

Wang

Yes. It's time to go.

Clearly unwilling to stay any longer, Hou waves His stick, and the three figures disappear...

But neither He nor Ling realizes that they have simply taken one of many weiqi stones.

The stone will shatter when they depart the dream, and Hou and Ling will not find the same hill when they attempt to return to the dream.

Wang

Don't try to find me again.

Wang

It's not worth it.

A black aura suddenly surrounds the proxy. The next instant, he has leapt from the cliff, into the formation of thingless things.

At the horizon, the beast-shaped silhouette seems to have been hit by something, letting out a wail that shakes the earth.

The grey-white tide of humans outlined by black lines quickly swallows the Feranmut's silhouette and rushes toward the proxy.

In the distance, it looked like a thin line; up close, the raging tide obscures the heavens.

Black armor, plain robes, iron swords, pale bows.

Yanese equipment from a thousand years ago in black and white, like an uncolored draft, surrounding the proxy.

The first soldier charges at the proxy. A spear carrying the afterimage of Arts rushes towards the proxy's throat. The proxy cleaves it in two.

Wang

Bring it on!

He shouts.

The army in Sui's dream pauses for an instant...

Then, they rush towards him, like a river that his words had frozen for an instant.

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Shuo

What's going on?

Exhausted Candleholder

M-Mr. Shuo...

Shuo

You're Ling's Candleholder? Where is she?

As he speaks, a claw the size of a mountain is brought down upon Shuo.

Shuo swings his fist. Heaven and earth tremble.

Its attack foiled, the Sui beast turns its attention to the other side, at the enormous weapon that has just been assembled, not even taking the time to lick its bleeding wounds.

Exhausted Candleholder

We can't stop It...

Exhausted Candleholder

Half the Imperial Guard have fallen, along with the Yumen troops that had been deployed to the Tomb of Sui...

Exhausted Candleholder

We have mobilized every soldier in the four cities around Baizao. We can only hope, before It destroys the next city...

Shuo

Where is Wang... where is he?!

Exhausted Candleholder

What use is there in looking for him?

Exhausted Candleholder

Ling took the others into a dream to protect them when Sui awoke. You led the army to fight Sui... who else could have awakened It, other than the great offender?

Shuo

The... offender...

???

Dage!

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Shuo

Ling?!

Shuo

You should not be here! Or has the dream already...?

Ling

Who could see... a gulper of cups...

Ling's eyes are closed. The dream has yet to end.

Even in the dream, however, she and the other siblings in it can feel Its presence, so very near now.

Shuo

It has come to this...

Shuo

...A fight to the death, it is.

Shuo is awake. He draws his sword, which has not yet tasted blood.

In the dream, Ling points her lantern at the body of the bestial Sui.

The bestial Sui turns around, towards the beings born of Itself—

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Yet just before everyone on the battlefield—every human and every beast—could plunge into the coming slaughter, a bloody, black figure appears behind the bestial Sui.

Wang

Caught you.

???

You—

Wang

Through dreams in dreams infinite, all of me and all of us are here. There is nowhere for you to go.

???

You wouldn't dare! Kill me, and you will be destroyed, as will all your family—

Wang does not answer. He lunges forward with his sword and impales the throat of his own reflection, which he had pursued through dreams far too numerous to count.

Strange scenes from countless dreams gush from the wound.

Mountains, Feranmuts, armies... white dreams boil and roil between heaven and earth, and a white mist, fever-hot like fresh blood, wraps around the army and proxy outside the dreams, even the Feranmut.

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Only when the white figure falls to the ground do the others see that two bodies lie upon the ground, all life gone from them.

One was Wang. The other was exactly like Wang, but not even death could wipe the malice from his face—no one knew who he was.

Shuo

Ling?!

As the two bodies fall, Ling and her siblings in the dream vanish into nothingness.

Shuo

Ling!

The bestial Sui wails with the last proxy.

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Wang

You're still trying to daunt me with illusions... it will not succeed.

Wang

'Who could see a gulper of cups, become now a sorrowful drunk?'

Wang

Ling would never say that, not even with the end upon us.

...How many of your stones sacrificed, this time?

Wang

Go on, count.

Wang

You may think that I don't have many stones left, but how much is left of your memories?

Not much.

But perhaps you have forgotten something.

Did you really think a few fragments, split from a mere one-twelfth, could possibly stand against me—the whole that was born alongside this entire land?

Remember?

Your last failure was the same as this.

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<p=1>Year 759</>Year 759