Chapter 58 : Chapter 58 May we meet again at the end of the west wind!
Clearly, some had noticed this as well.
After passing through the Prophecy Library and solving the puzzles, the group arrived at the place where Tiresias had lived as a child.
Although Phainon and Star had never been there, players who had experienced Tribbie's perspective recognized it instantly—this was the very scene from that suspected horror map!
It was hidden inside the Triune Temple?
Phainon deeply felt this; he too found it hard to imagine that such a stifling place was meant for human habitation.
So Trinnon introduced the two of them one by one:
"By the time 'we' were born, the title of Saintess was already in name only. Those who could hear the Titan's guidance were inevitably destined to become the mouthpiece for others."
"But for the sake of appearances, the Authorities still arranged things somewhat. Plus, with Mother by our side, 'our' childhood wasn't exactly sorrowful."
"Still, twenty years passes quickly."
Phainon felt shaken: "Teacher Trinnon, twenty years is already an eternity for mortals."
Twenty years—perhaps the long-lived species before the screen couldn't feel it, but for ordinary people, it was truly suffocating. Like Guinaifen, an outsider.
In twenty years, she had no idea what she'd become.
The group continued exploring the room.
There was a Small Rocket Tiresias had tinkered with, and a Music Box she'd made with her mother.
There were the geography notes of Amphoreus, completed over ten years. Those dull memories, when recited by Mother's voice, had somehow become vivid and lifelike.
Only after she was gone did Tiresias realize that the once-fascinating books were merely ordinary knowledge.
On the floor, the group found a red gemstone, said to have been brought back by Tiresias's mother.
They later learned that in Januspolis, whenever someone died honorably, the Saintess had to polish such a glass gemstone and give it to the deceased's family.
"So this is the unlucky thing Tribbie mentioned."
"Was it simply because Trianne lacked too many memories, so she couldn't recall?" Guinaifen remembered.
And what came later was even more brutal.
On the day Tiresias's mother passed away in the ritual, she too received such a glass gemstone—the very one before Guinaifen's screen, belonging to her mother.
Unnoticed, even the usually lively Sushang beside them had fallen silent.
Continuing forward, they reached the moment when Tiresias was about to depart.
In her mother's arms, she was about to leave to preside over the ritual. Before departing, the child Tiresias also wished to meet Janus, so the two made a promise.
"If you want Mother to ask the Titan for you, then you must promise one thing: no matter what you dream, don't be afraid. Just sleep soundly until dawn, until tomorrow."
"Because... this ritual might take a very long time."
"How long?"
"My dear child... tomorrow, Mother will return."
"But if tomorrow isn't enough, then the day after tomorrow. If the day after tomorrow isn't enough either, wait until the next tomorrow."
"If a very, very long time passes and Mother still hasn't returned... then it means the ritual succeeded. Mother has driven away the black tide and reached that brand-new world beyond the shore."
In their promise, that place was the end of the west wind, the shore beyond the black tide, a flower sea blessed by divine protection.
Under a rose-colored sky, on silvery shallows, at the journey's end—no blizzards, no bitter cold, no sudden storms. And that was also the promised reunion place.
"Mother will be waiting for you there."
"Then it's a promise!"
...
"I understand," Sushang suddenly said.
"Huh?"
Guinaifen beside her turned her head, staring at her puzzledly. "Chang Chang, what do you understand?"
"Uh..."
Seeing Guinaifen's clueless expression, Sushang rubbed her forehead and decided not to spoil it for her.
"It's nothing, Guinaifen. You should just keep going forward."
Guinaifen: "?"
To fulfill the promise with her mother, Tiresias set off through a secret passage.
Along the way, she encountered enemies who came to stop her, and also met people who had been helped by the previous Saintess—Tiresias's mother.
And a mysterious figure, who seemed to be helping her from the shadows, forever.
Soon, she reached the Janus Treasury, the place where the Ember was stored. Janus, still retaining Reason, wished to bury himself.
But Tiresias chose to take up His Ember.
In the trial of fate, even Janus could not understand.
He asked: "Those who guide the world, their souls must stray onto divergent Paths, shattering into a thousand fragments, like glass cast upon the ground."
She answered: "That suits me perfectly. This is destined to be a long journey. With a thousand selves for company, I shall never be lonely."
He doubted: "Even bearing the Ember, you shall stray far from the glory of godhood. The Path shall ever keep company with dust, and even mortal blades may threaten you."
She explained: "It matters not. My hands were not born to wield spears, but my feet were born to run for all living beings."
Finally—
"Even so, Fire Chasing is a journey of constant loss. Among all things, even life is not worth cherishing!"
Clearly.
Facing the final trial of the Path, Tiresias had long been prepared.
She stepped forward and replied thus: "Of course, Titan. Let this prophecy shatter me—"
"So that I may carve out countless Paths for this crumbling world!"
The scene faded.
Eerie text, words like "Fall" and "Gods" flashed before Guinaifen and Sushang's eyes.
Once all sounds dissipated, that initial oracle—the one that had puzzled players the longest—was reflected once more at the center of the screen.
"Yet, thou shalt remember..."
"The many shall part with the one, for that one shall behold a miracle—"
"This is—the workings of fate—"
...
And now, even without Sushang's spoilers, many in Guinaifen's livestream had understood.
[Got it, got it! I truly understand now. That Saffron Secret Recipe letter—I know who it was hinting at.]
[Clearly, what Myrtle said should refer to Tribbie's mother...]
[Tribbie's mother was the Saintess of Janus, but she seems to have touched upon something, was persecuted in a ritual, fell into the abyss, and then...]
[It should be Tiresias. From the earlier conversation between the two, it's clear the previous Saintess knew her own fate before participating in the ritual, and Tiresias eventually learned it too.]
[Saffron represents Tiresias. That group who persecuted Tribbie's mother imprisoned her and planned to monopolize power.]
[Isn't the black tide coming? Why are these people still fighting for power?!]
[So astonishing. Even in Janus, persecuted and having lost everything, she was still willing to shatter into a thousand pieces, pick up the Ember, and become a lamp lighting the way forward for all?]
[Hajiti, you...]
[...]
The scene shifted once more.
In the dim firelight.
A mournful, slow soundtrack, faint sobs and whispers...
A girl with a cascade of red hair sat slumped on the ground. Her clothes were somewhat disheveled and, as the child had said upon arrival, rather thin.
But she clutched the Spirit Casket tightly in her arms. Unnoticed, tiny teardrops had begun to fall, tracing Paths down her face, partially hidden by her red hair.
"I understand, Janus..."
"Thank you. Now, sleep well."
This was the response to that prophecy.
"..."
In the long silence, only the girl's shallow, broken sobs and murmurs remained, like a drowning person trying to call for help, but the rushing, converging river waters stifled all sound.
Her voice trembled: "Mother... did you see?"
There was also a note of resolve: "I have taken up the mission. I am about to set off."
"May we, may all people in this world..."
"follow those countless Paths carved out... and reunite at the end of the fragrant west wind."
"Goodnight, Mother. See you tomorrow."
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