Between the winding staircases, behind one ancient door after another, countless solemn and gorgeous floors were stacked in the depths of the silent tower, and the dim court stood on the ground like layers of heavy scrolls, each of which seemed to be a microcosm of the memory of the ancient, remote, hidden kingdom of Violet, and the deeper you went to the deepest part of these floors, the deeper the feeling of ancient secrecy became—until it crossed the ground floor and entered the underground structure of the dim royal court, the tower would still continue to extend into the depthsIn the underground floors, all the objects that represent the "modern" atmosphere are finally gone, and only the grotesque, unknown era of magical creations operate in its depths, guarding something too old, even too old to be mentioned again.

Layer by layer, a hall that is already located in the ground has a solemn atmosphere - it is a hall, but in fact this space is almost a huge karst cave, with primitive stone domes and rock walls wrapping this underground cavity, and at the same time, there are many quaint and huge pillars with obvious man-made traces to support some fragile structures of the cave, and between the rock layers of the dome, you can also see artificial roofs made of stone slabs, which seem to be deeply "embedded" in the top of the cave as if they are fused with the stone. It is only vaguely apparent that they should be a higher floor, or some kind of "foundation" part of the structure.

The stalagmites hung down from the dome, the vapor condensed among the rocks, and the cold droplets of water fell and dripped into the underground cavern—it landed on a layer of mirrors, causing ripples on the solid mirror.

Nearly half of the "ground" of the entire underground cave is in a mirror-like state, it is a layer of pitch-black and pure plane, abruptly "inlay" between the stones on the surface, extremely smooth, extremely flat, but at this moment it is not calm - as if some hidden force is surging in the depths of this layer of dark mirror, on that ink-like plane, occasionally you can see some ripples appear, or some places are abruptly raised, and there is light from unknown sources sweeping through the mirror, in the reflection of light and shadow, Some slightly pale faces are reflected in the edge of the mirror.

The owner of one of the faces stepped back slightly, his body wrapped in a pitch-black robe, and the tip of the long-handled wooden staff in his hand emitted an extremely faint magical glow - this faint light could not theoretically even illuminate the two meters around him, but in this strange cave, it was such a faint light that seemed to be enough to reflect all the details, so that there were no corners of the entire space that could not be seen by the naked eye.

And around this black-robed mage, there were many guards dressed like him, and the tips of each of their staff maintained the same dim shimmer, and under these faint lights, the slightly pale faces of the mages looked at each other, until someone finally broke the silence: "This time the duration has exceeded all records...... Counting the one just now, it is already the sixth time that it has been up and down. ”

"There are more shadows of transgressions than ever," another black-robed mage whispered, "and it seems harder than ever to communicate......

"They are restless, and it seems that their minds have woken up from their slumber, which is not a good sign," the black-robed mage who spoke first shook his head, then frowned, "Has anyone gone to the upper echelons to deliver a message?" ”

"Guards have been sent to inform Prince Nash," a female mage said in a deep voice, "he should be ...... soon"

"I've arrived."

Before the female mage's voice fell, Prince Nash Nart's voice came out of thin air, and along with this voice, there was a sudden swirl of smoke rising from the cave - Prince Nash's figure directly passed through the layers of layers of the dark court and the intertwined magic barriers, like a shadow falling into the abyss, directly "falling" into this cave space located deep underground, his figure condensed in mid-air, and then floated to the edge of the "mirror" without weight, to a group of guards.

At the same time as Prince Nash landed, the "mirror" in the center of the cave suddenly moved again, a large number of ripples were generated from the mirror surface out of thin air, and the plane that originally looked like a solid one suddenly surged like some kind of viscous liquid, along with this strange and chilling surge, and there were bursts of low, vague, dream-like whispers from behind the mirror, echoing throughout the space!

In the next second, something suddenly condensed from the undulating mirror like soft mud, they quickly floated up, and constantly recombined with the invisible energy in the air, quickly forming a hollow "human body", these shadows were draped with things like rune cloth, and the amorphous black smoke in their bodies was bound into rough limbs by the cloth strips, these uninvited guests from the "other side" muttered, roared, left the mirror in a daze, and staggered towards the nearest guards— However, the guards had already reacted, and under the order of Prince Nash, a series of shadow burning rays were launched from the top of the mage's staffs, penetrating those "transgressors" from the shadow realm without hindrance, their rune cloth bands silently burst into flames under the rays, and the black smoke inside them was also neutralized and disintegrated in an instant, and after just a few seconds, these shadows were re-disintegrated into energy and shadows, sinking into the depths of the mirror.

Everything happened in the light of lightning, done with the almost instinctive muscle memory of the guards, until the transgressors were all expelled back, and a group of black-robed mages finally caught their breath, some of them staring at each other, others subconsciously looking at the black "mirror". Prince Nash's gaze fell on the pitch-black mirror, his gaze slowly moving over its surface, watching for every slight change in it.

At this moment, a flash of silver light and phantom suddenly appeared in his eyes—the thing was blurred to the point of being completely unrecognizable, but it could not help but think of a cold "sight".

Nash Nart's face changed instantly, and he suddenly retreated half a step, and at the same time shouted at a rapid speed: "Turn off the light source and time yourself!" ”

In the next moment, all the light sources in the cave were gone, not only the glimmer of light on the tips of the mages' staffs, but also the runic flashes on the ancient stone slabs on the top of the cave and the glowing moss in some damp corners—the light of the mages was obviously artificially extinguished, but the light elsewhere seemed to be swallowed up by some invisible force, and the whole cave fell into absolute darkness.

In the darkness, everyone's heart was pounding, faintly, as if some kind of small friction sound came from some corner, and then there seemed to be footsteps breaking the silence, as if some guard had left his place and was groping his way through his companions, and then after a while, the cave finally fell silent again, as if someone had exhaled a long breath, and the silence in a low voice: "It's okay, let's light the staff again." ”

In the darkness, there was no sound to answer, and no glimmer of light was lit.

After a while, suddenly several short screams came from the densest part of the guards, and in the midst of the cries of pain, one of the guards who seemed to be struggling shouted: "Quick, hurry up and light the staff, I'm entangled in something!" I was ......"

The shouts were still answered only by darkness and dead silence.

Finally, the strange voices disappeared again, and Prince Nash Nart's voice broke the silence: "The timer is over, each light up the staff." ”

There was still no response in the darkness, no light coming up, only a few long, long, breathing sounds that seemed to be blocked away from the world by a thick veil, mixed with a hint of nervousness, but no one's voice sounded panicked—so that after another ten seconds or so, a glimmer of light finally appeared in the cavern.

The first mage guard lit up his staff, and then the rest of the guards also lifted the "dark silence", one by one, the staff was lit, and the glimmers of light throughout the cave were restored, and the figure of Prince Nash reappeared in the light of these shimmers, and he looked in the direction of the guards for the first time, counting the number of people among the slightly pale faces.

"One less." He said in a sudden low tone.

The guards immediately began to check with each other, and after a brief internal inventory, all eyes focused on a vacancy at the front of the crowd - there was an empty spot, apparently once standing alone, but the corresponding guard was gone.

The black-robed mages stared nervously at the empty position, and then, the empty place suddenly burst out with a slight flash, the flash of light floated about a person high, flickering and dimming, sometimes reflecting the hazy silhouette of a figure in mid-air, as if an invisible mage was standing there, trying to light the staff in the "darkness" that belonged to him, trying to reflect his figure in the real world - he tried again and again, but the flash became weaker and weaker, The silhouette of the figure that is occasionally reflected is becoming more and more blurred and thin.

One of the black-robed mages couldn't help but mutter, "Come back...... Back to this world...... Come back soon...... Don't give up, get back to ......"

The last glimmer of light finally faded away, and it never came back again.

Someone among the guards couldn't help but curse in a low voice, vaguely inaudible.

"He is gone," Prince Nash's gaze lingered for a long time on the place where the flash had finally vanished, and after a few seconds of silence, he said in a low voice, "may this venerable guard find peace on the other side of the darkness." ”

The guards bowed their heads and said in unison with solemnity and sadness: "May he find peace on the other side of the darkness......"

"Inform the family as soon as possible, and send the spare uniform and staff that this person used before guarding the house...... There must be something for burial," Prince Nash whispered, "and his family will be richly cared for, and all will be taken care of." ”

The leader of the guard bowed and saluted, "Yes, my lordship. ”

Nash Nart nodded, and his gaze returned to the "mirror" in the center of the cave, this terrifying layer of dark mirror had completely calmed down, as if all the visions that had just happened were a dream of everyone—Prince Nash could even be sure that even if he stepped directly on the mirror at this moment and walked on it at will, nothing would happen.

"The restlessness is over," the "King of Mages" sighed softly, "but I'm afraid the barrier is no longer so strong. ”

"This change must have something to do with what has happened recently," said the leader of the guards, "the gods have fallen or disappeared one after another, and Talrond, who had been stagnant for a million years, has suddenly broken free from the shackles, and the mortal kingdoms are in a state of unprecedented drastic change, all minds have lost their previous order and stability, and impetuous and turbulent currents of thought have caused ripples in the deep sea—this time the ripples are larger than any before, and they will surely affect the entire deep sea...... Naturally, it will inevitably disturb the dreams of the sleepers. ”

As he spoke, the leader turned his head and looked at the large dark mirror with nervous and wary eyes.

"What should we do to keep Him asleep?" Another mage guard couldn't help but say.

Prince Nash Narte looked at the black-robed mage who spoke silently and asked softly, "Why?" ”

"This ......," the mage guard was stunned for a moment, and replied a little blankly, "we are the ...... guarding this dream"

"We're just guarding this entrance, making sure that evolution happens naturally, and as for whether this dream will last, whether it will wake up early, and under what circumstances...... These are not things that we can interfere with, but as for the changes that involve the whole world, the whole era...... It should not be left to us," said Prince Nash calmly, "and all this is a natural course of history, and Violet is only a bystander to it." ”

At this, he shook his head slightly.

"Don't underestimate the power of this historical evolution, and don't be blinded by an overly high sense of mission, we are just a group of guards."

Nash Nart, a puff of smoke, once more through the layers of floors, through the depths of the various protections, returned to the room on the upper level of the tower, and the bright light appeared in view, dispelling the black shadows that had entwined around the mage king—those shadows evaporated in the light, making a subtle sizzling sound.

Nash sat in a crimson high-backed chair and pondered for an unknown amount of time, when the sound of soft footsteps suddenly came from behind him.

On the wall not far behind him, the surface of an oval magic mirror with a gorgeous pale gold border and more than a person's height suddenly glowed, and a woman wearing a white court dress with an extremely beautiful face quietly appeared in the mirror, she looked at Prince Nash: "You are in a bad mood, there is a loss of guards?" ”

"A very experienced guard is lost at the border," Nash said, shaking his head and sighing, "and nothing is left." ”

"Why is this happening?" The woman in the mirror looked surprised, "How can an experienced guard get lost at the border?" ”

“…… The mirror briefly lost control and the boundary became blurred, and the guard resisted all temptations and deceptions, resisting the urge to light the staff in the darkness, but did not return to the light in time after the boundary was restored, resulting in a failure to return to our world. ”

The woman in the mirror fell silent, and sighed softly after two seconds: "What a pity. ”

“…… May he find peace on the other side of darkness. Prince Nash said calmly.

"We all know that there is nothing on the other side of the darkness - there is only an immensely empty dream."

"That's the ultimate tranquility."

(End of chapter)