Silent Crown

The giant tree of light that occupied the entire Caucasus erupted into forlorn whines.

Terrifying wounds emerged on it, and waterfall-like torrents flowed out like blood.

The brilliance that represented the god swayed in the sky, flickering dimly. In the end, rupturing with a rumble, it completely dissipated.

On the paradise, a forbidding crack appeared.

After the whole axis had been pierced through, the paradise was thoroughly penetrated from the inside out. Its foundation and structure were completely destructed, and the eternally quiet kingdom of heaven was completely destroyed.

In the paradise that fell apart, all the glory it once had had collapsed completely.

The earth was swallowed up by flames, the rivers evaporated, and all the souls of the dead dissipated amid swaying shadows. The paradise that had once made everyone yearn for it was totally shattered.

And the god was nailed to the very center of the crack.

He let the sword pierce through his body without resisting in the slightest bit.

He just smiled, gazing at the enemy in front of him, waiting for the upcoming relief.

However, the blade stopped abruptly.

It stopped before destruction came.

Exactly as planned a long time ago.

Ye Qingxuan had disregarded the fact that he might be destructed by a single blow from the god, and he made the same choice as Abraham had in the past.

“Sure enough, you just… want to die, right?” In the silence, Ye Qingxuan gazed at the face covered in blood and sat down on the ground, exhausted. “Do you really want to die in my hands so badly, Charles?”

“Isn’t it a good thing?” Charles gazed at the broken sky and murmured softly. “Such is the best ending, isn’t it? The world needs no god… I have understood from the beginning.

“As long as I am alive, everything will lose its value. ”

“…The world doesn’t need me.”

He finally gave an actual smile, like how he had done in the past, and it was weak and soft.

Ye Qingxuan was silent.

He lowered his eyes forlornly.

“Don’t act like a child anymore, Little Yezi, and don’t hesitate anymore.” Charles spread his arms, like he was embracing the collapsed paradise and welcoming the coming of the end. “Do what you should do, at least out of pity for me.

“Come on, kill me and save your world. ”

So, Ye Qingxuan reached out, clenching the hilt of his sword, and pulled the blade out from the crack in Charles’ chest.

He raised the burning residual light up high, and it seemed like the afterglow of the kingdom of heaven.

It illuminated Charles’ broken smile.

Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes.

At the moment, cracks emerged on the blade.

In Ye Qingxuan’s hands, the weapon that sufficed to kill gods was snapped into two. Thousands of fragments flew in the air, giving off crisp and clear echoes.

On the hand that had been cut by the blade, red blood flowed out of the wound and fell on Charles’ face, smelling like rust.

“Charles, I came here not to save the world —” Ye Qingxuan said, “It’s to save you.”

From the wound in the palm of his hand, countless fine pieces of aether crystals appeared. Each piece was so small and insignificant like dust, but together they formed something so complex, like the operation of the world.

It was what he borrowed from Bai Xi, the alchemy matrix inscribed in blood.

A low and deep aria flowed from it, sounding peaceful and distant.

Amid the intricate perception threads, they intertwined in one place, weaving the prototype of a soul.

It gave off a faint gleam of candlelight. The light was reflected in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes, as if it intended to illuminate the dark world.

“So, endure the pain, Charles, it definitely won’t be the last time.” He spread his palm, sprinkling the brilliance of salvation towards the Son of God in front of him. “— I will not allow you to die lonesomely.”

In the silence, the gleam of candlelight fell from Ye Qingxuan’s hands. Drawing a straight trajectory in the air, it entered Charles’ chest and disappeared into the wound created by the blade.

At the moment, a hoarse, melancholic whine sounded from the god’s mouth.

It was the rumble from the heavens and the earth shaking.

Pure flares of light burst out from Charles’ body, sweeping across like torrents. Wherever they passed, they engulfed the shattered paradise, igniting it and burning everything down amid the sorrowful whines.

The flares consisted of flames and pain.

They cruelly killed everything, pulling the god down from the altar, and causing the kingdom of heaven to fall amid the fire of hell.

First, it was the kingdom of heaven of Eden, followed by the scepter and the Symphony of Predestination, then all the music theory… All the miracles and power were burned down in the flames.

After taking everything away, the original sin of human beings was filled into the empty body.

First came sadness and confusion, then anger and despair…

In the sorrowful wailing, the catastrophe was killed, and a human was born.

In the depths of the realm of aether, the turbulence finally returned to calmness.

Innumerable musicians who had survived looked up towards the highest point with lingering fear and ecstasy, gazing at the collapsed Eden. In the vast kingdom, countless pillars slowly snapped and dissipated.

The huge domain ushered in its final collapse, fluttering in the distant region of high-level dimensions, and disappeared from sight.

The god was falling.

With a rumble of unprecedented magnitude, the ground of the Caucasus was in turmoil.

Countless blood-like torrents flowed from towering tree of light, causing the barren land that had been purified to be polluted by the mortal realm once more, and the frozen soil and wasteland that had previously existed returned.

As the tree of light shattered, innumerable pairs of sealed wings emerged from above the territory of the Caucasus, igniting the dark night, as if they intended to wrap the whole world up.

Before they could unfold, they disintegrated and turned into blinking stars, returning to the sea of aether. Only distant and sorrowful songs were left, mourning over the end of paradise.

Salvation from a god, a calm world, and a tranquil paradise…

In the end, they were still rejected by humans.

Only the world that had not changed remained.

Stars were still shining.

Fine specks of light spilled down from the sky, illuminating the embers of the paradise, and the slowly opening pair of eyes. The eyes were tired and silent, as if their owner had awakened from a long sleep and had difficulties adapting to the pain brought about by life.

“Little Yezi, will a new era come?” Charles murmured softly. “The beautiful world that you hope for, will it really come?”

“It will.” Ye Qingxuan nodded.

“Will such a world still be as full of disputes as it is now?” Charles asked.

“Probably yes,” Ye Qingxuan said, “if human nature is as such.”

“I believe that it isn’t.” Charles laughed softly. “Disputes… will end one day, right?

“Everyone on earth will love each other, as if they are in the kingdom of God. There may still be troubles and sorrows, but a life in long-lasting peace and stability will enable everyone to face everything properly.

“Such a world will come, right?”

He gazed at Ye Qingxuan with hope. “A world in which everyone can live without having to hurt others exists, right?”

“Mhmm, such a day will come.” Ye Qingxuan nodded and promised him. “When the day comes, even the new world I create will be considered outdated and be abandoned by people.

“The perfect world will be created in the hands of people who are hundreds of times stronger than us.

“Such a day will definitely come. ”

But his words received no answer.

Ye Qingxuan only discovered that Charles had shut his eyes when he turned to look.

Charles seemed to have been reunited with a long-lost sweet dream. With a smile on his face, he looked calm and tranquil in his sleep.

Ye Qingxuan was momentarily surprised, then took off his own coat and draped it over Charles.

“Sleep tight, Charles,” he whispered softly.

The nightmare is over.

Your life has just begun.

…

When Ye Qingxuan got up from the ground, his expression returned to calmness.

Perhaps, everything had already ended.

Perhaps, a little problem remained unresolved.

He gazed at the last of the wrecks of the paradise in front of him, and his sight seemed to pass through the barriers of matter, falling upon the deepest part of the realm of aether, as he watched the shock waves gradually calm down in the distant world.

He seized the remaining time.

In the silence, he suddenly came to an actual realization: Perhaps, to aether… humans are the actual catastrophes that have appeared out of the blue?

Humans willfully broke into the silent world, created their own civilization without permission, considering themselves to be above every other living things and thinking that everything was in their control.

They created, destroyed, rose, and perished, concentrating on the acting out of their own sorrows and joys, but they have never seeked permission from the true masters here.

“Be it the Originator or anything else,” Ye Qingxuan whispered, “you are looking at me, right?”

At the moment, it seemed that nothing had happened.

But in the tranquility, amid the waves reverberating through the deepest part of the realm of aether, a vague response seemed to have been sent.

The inexhaustible sea of aether was turbulent. With the huge shock waves stirred up by the fall of the god, a distant figure was outlined.

It was just like a fuzzy pair of eyes that cast a brief look at the mortal realm in between long slumbers.

It gazed at him quietly.

It listened to his words.

Perhaps, it was the actual end to all the mysteries and power, the source and destination of all aether, the Originator humans yearned for.

As compared to the long period of time It had experienced, the thousands of years for which mankind had existed was just a brief instant to It. The rise and fall of countless dynasties was also nothing but a long sleep to It.

Confined to matter, human beings had never come close to Its essence. For centuries, mankind had borrowed the power of aether, squandering miracles and disturbing Its dreams.

Thus, amid the complex prayers and sorrowful wails, imagery known as ‘catastrophes’ and ‘gods’ were born.

At the moment, perhaps even It felt resigned and fed up?

In the seemingly eternal silence, Ye Qingxuan gazed at Its eyes and put forth a request as a human being.

“I’d like to have a chat with the world.”

…

God knew how long it took.

Time seemed to have stopped moving forward, and human perception couldn’t understand its flow.

When the first snowflake fell from the sky, the brief and calm conversation ended.

“Then, thank you for your generosity.” Ye Qingxuan got up, put a hand to his chest, and bid farewell with human etiquette. “According to the agreement, from now on, the Net of Aether will host the operation of the realm of aether, completely sealing off the path leading to the Originator for human beings. No new catastrophe will be born, and no one will disturb the silent slumber of the Originator.

“Maybe the world will be different again the next time I wake up?”

No one responded to his words.

As the last shock wave in the realm of aether dissipated, the sea of aether returned to calmness.

It seemed that nothing had happened.

No one knew that a distant door far away quietly closed.

The world ushered in a new era, in such a quiet way.

…

When faint sunshine emerged from the edge of the sea of ice, Bach saw the figure of Ye Qingxuan from afar, the first person to walk out of the barren land.

Ye Qingxuan brought with him the final outcome of the war.

Bach lifted his head, sitting on the ice, and looked up at the silent young man. After a long night, they both had the same tired eyes.

Ye Qingxuan told him, “It’s all over.”

“Where’s the god?” Bach asked.

“Already dead.” Such was Ye Qingxuan’s answer.

Seemingly having understood something, Bach nodded, and said no more.

The two silently looked at the sun rising in the distance.

After a long time, Ye Qingxuan finished his last cigarette. “I am leaving, do you need a ride?”

“Nah, thanks.” Bach smiled and put the cold pipe by his side. “Just let me stay here alone for a while.”

“Then, goodbye,” Ye Qingxuan said.

“Mhmm, bye.” Bach smiled. He didn’t watch the young man leave, but just gazed at where the sun rose.

After a very long time, he closed his eyes peacefully.

And so the old era ended.