Chapter 145: The Last World

“No. Leave out the ‘In the beginning…’ part.”

Lunda then shot back at Sung-Woon.

“But that’s one of the basics when telling a myth, isn’t it? ‘In the beginning, there was chaos. The great god Night Sky existed, and as a hermaphrodite being, Night Sky produced other gods. Those gods were a little lesser than Night Sky.’ So on and so forth.”

“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”

“No.”

Sung-Woon decided to let the joke slide.

“That would be the case for a general myth.”

“We’re not even trying to do something so grand… Can’t we just keep it simple?”

.

It was Eldar who spoke up this time.

Clearing their throat, Eldar said, “Well, I think what Nebula means is that if we start with something like, ‘In the beginning…there was something something,’ wouldn’t those who have lived here for a long time get confused? Their ancestors have lived in this world since a long time ago. If we suddenly talk about the beginning, they would question where the gods had gone if there were any at the start of time, and that would just make the story more complicated…”

Lunda blinked and then nodded.

“I guess that’s true. But Eldar.”

“Yes?”

“Are you a writer?”

“What?”

Wisdom then answered the question instead.

“That’s the first sharp observation you’ve made, Lunda.”

“...The first?”

“Eldar had talked about the Deep Ones and the works of Lovecraft or whatnot before. And usually, people who read such things are enthusiasts or those who make a living out of them.”

Eldar gave Wisdom a suspicious look.

“You didn’t know before, did you…?”

“I didn’t know… Anyway, we haven’t shared much information about each other even after spending a long time together, so wouldn’t it be okay to reveal our identities, at least just a part of it?”

Until now, they had all been enemies, or they could have become enemies at any moment, but that wasn’t the case anymore. Eldar frowned like they were considering it, and then she relaxed and nodded.

“Alright, I can do that. That’s right, I am a writer. But it’s not the way you all are thinking.”

“Then what?”

“We can talk about the details next time.”

Sung-Woon then said, “Right. Seeing that Choi Seo…no, Jang-Wan has participated in this game, there is the possibility of there being more personal connections between us, or even among the players on the other continents. And in order to confirm that, we would have to somewhat reveal our personal information. Now is not that time. But we should make use of the facts that have already been revealed, right?” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Eldar asked, “What do you mean by making use of it?”

“Well, all the gods can’t just gather in front of the priests and tell them every single detail. It wouldn’t be impossible, but that would undermine the mystery that has shrouded us.”

“Then can’t we just have a creation explain as initially planned…”

“That would undermine our authority. It’s a chance for us to get the priests to understand and convince them. And having a creation from a certain god do it may be perceived as unfair.”

“What if it’s Night Sky’s apostle?”

“Lakrak?”

“Yes.”

Sung-Woon shook his head.

“No. Lakrak has actually played the role of a destroyer until now. And he even killed another god. So everyone outside of the priest from Black Scale would feel overwhelmed, no, threatened by him.”

Eldar lightly tapped on the table with their finger as if they were lost in thought.

Sung-Woon continued to say, “Ultimately, I think it would be best for one of us to step forward and talk to them. The priests might ask questions, and that way, we could flexibly provide answers.”

“And that has to be me?”

“Yes. It has to be you.”

“In cases like this, don’t people usually say, ‘You don’t have to if you don’t want to?’”

“Should we go for a vote then?”

Eldar looked around at the other players. They were all busy avoiding eye contact as no one wanted to take the burden.

With a sigh, Eldar said, “I’ll do it… So, what is the first sentence again?”

***

-I came from a place that you all could not comprehend.

Eldar recalled the conversation they had had a few moments ago and began to tell the story.

-From a place that you all could not comprehend, I looked upon your land through indescribable ways. And I have also witnessed you losing your gods and straying away, as well as losing knowledge and culture and becoming wane, so how could I not feel pity? I wanted to guide you all, but it wasn’t easy because all the other gods thought the same.

None of the players, including Sung-Woon, had the ability to create a great myth that would influence all the people on the land, but they also didn’t want to use the simple template provided in the game The Lost World. While they lacked the ability to make one up, that didn’t mean they wanted to have a poorly made story. So Sung-Woon came up with a simple idea.

‘Dramatizing real events that have happened.’

The Lost World they had enjoyed was only a game, but that wasn’t the case anymore. As the Lost World had become reality, all the matches they had played until now had become practice for this moment.

-Many gods entered your land with different purposes in mind. And because everyone hid their thoughts, they became enemies, and there was no end to miserable events. Whenever there was a major failure, we reset everything that happened on this land to the beginning.

When one match ended, the next match started anew. This was an obvious principle for the players, but it sounded different to the priests sitting in front of Eldar.

‘Does that mean the gods turned back time?’

Shune Lak Orazen was surprised. He knew that gods were beings with great powers, but turning back time was a possibility he had never even entertained; it was a difficult concept to wrap one’s mind around until the invention of clocks.

Eldar continued.

-And in the world that had started anew, we planned everything again. We chose who our followers would be, ruled over creations, led civilizations, and fought other gods as if we were stags charging into each other with our antlers. And we did so because that was the only way we could express ourselves. However, that world failed again. So we tried once more with the belief that someday, we would find a way to reach an agreement. Again and again, dozens, hundreds, thousands of times…no, even for an unimaginable number of times that you could never comprehend, we repeated this process.

Shune became dazed. People felt overwhelmed when considering only all the years ahead of them, but here, the gods were saying that history was repeated even thousands of times.

‘Can the gods turn back time forever?’

Eldar heard Shune’s voice.

It was necessary for the storyteller to also respond to a listener’s voice.

-Not forever. Because our repeated battles have burdened your world. One of the gods had come to learn that fact with great difficulty, and we also learned that we only have one chance, just like everything withers away in the end. Therefore, with the utmost caution, we began the last salvation, hoping our wills would finally align… And you all are that final world.

Hearing that they were the final world, the priests’ expressions turned solemn.

Unfathomable beings had felt pity in these mortal beings and fought almost endlessly. However, they eventually faced the end.

Shune was grateful that he existed as part of the last chance, and not the countless repetitions of history.

-And so, conflict between the gods began again. Among these gods, Night Sky is at the top. He surpassed everything in this world, ruling over people beyond his initial intentions, and reached answers that he didn’t even know…

A Whisper Conversation window that only Eldar could see appeared to interrupt them.

[Nebula: That’s a bit too much.]

Eldar’s acting was visible to the other players too.

And then another message immediately appeared.

[Lunda: No. Keep going.]

Eldar slightly smiled.

Nebula was soon going to be the leading god, so it didn’t matter that Eldar went a little overboard when describing him.

-No one could catch up to Night Sky. However, the other gods, who concealed their true intentions, stayed wary of Night Sky, so Night Sky had to fight alone. I too was like that, but looking back now, that was foolish of me because I belatedly realized that Night Sky and I shared the same goal.

At those words, the eyelids of the Elf priest from Zarin began to twitch.

-Night Sky and I worried about whether the beings on the land would be used and enslaved by evil gods, and if they would be devoted for a more fearful and wicked purpose, so we hid our intentions to prevent being deceived by others. And that was Night Sky’s will, so how could I dare go against that?

The priests couldn't answer, but Eldar knew that they agreed in their hearts.

In Eldar’s perspective, they were a much more receptive audience compared to the other players, who might not even be listening now.

Eldar continued to talk about the events that had happened on the continent, the intentions of the gods, and the detailed process of misunderstandings and reconciliations.

The overall throughline of the narration was that the gods had been fighting without communicating with one another, and only after Night Sky achieved victory did they have conversations. And gods had been killed due to misunderstandings, as Night Sky didn’t even get the chance to reveal his intentions.

The overall story revolved around conflict and reconciliation, so it was natural for those who believed in Night Sky to be even more moved. As for those who didn’t believe in Night Sky, it was a narration created to make them rethink what they thought of Night Sky.

In the narration, Lakrak’s name was brought up quite frequently, and during the retelling of how Lakrak became an apostle after making a great sacrifice against an evil god, Shune even shed some tears. At that sight, Lakrak, who was standing behind Shune, was rather embarrassed.

Soon afterward, beyond the continuous conflicts between the gods, it was revealed that when all the countries came together to fight the pirates, it was actually to oppose a new evil god. Eldar also explained that the artillery technology that was derived from the knowledge of alchemists and non-believers was only a fraction of the knowledge that the gods possessed.

It contradicted common sense, but since Eldar said so, the priests simply nodded and believed it to be true. This was a key point Sung-Woon had told Eldar to make.

‘He said that now that we’re going to accelerate the development of technology, we need to explain this kind of scientific knowledge as knowledge of the gods.’

In the case of Black Scale, which followed Night Sky, there was little to no anti-intellectualism, but in order to strengthen the faith of the followers, other countries tended to hold some negative thoughts against technological advances.

Until now, nothing could be done about that since the issue stemmed from each player’s build, but now, it was necessary for all of their builds to be somewhat unified.

And there was another reason outside of scientific development. On the third continent, there was a gear that still wasn’t turning smoothly, so it was necessary for Eldar to apply some lubricant.

-Three Wizards have escaped from the Alchemist Tower and sought help from Night Sky. I will now reveal what kind of grace Night Sky has granted them and how those Wizards repaid that grace.