Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 771 - : Rebellion in the Interstice
Chapter 771 -771: Rebellion in the Interstice
They ran one after another, their target clearly the mountain top—the rift leading to True Death.
“Mr. Beirut! Mr. Beirut!”
Seeing the Interstice in this half-dreaming, half-awake state, Shard had no physical form and was unable to touch anything tangible; he could only make a very faint sound.
He tried calling out, but Mr. Beirut didn’t respond at all. Shard pursued the figure, both of them appearing so hazy within the fog:
“Could this be another lifelong love? Are the citizens of Milestone all so passionately devoted?”
Shard muttered to himself, then had his seated self touch the Mind Crystal Ring on his finger, while his vision in the Interstice was fixed on the back of Mr. Beirut’s head:
“Psychic Shockwave!”
Strictly speaking, Shard and this gentleman were not in the same space. Moreover, he was merely using his eyes to see, not following the strict steps of spellcasting, pointing with his finger at the target, which greatly reduced the power of the Psychic Shockwave.
Even so, the sprinting Mr. Beirut staggered fiercely for a moment, then continued to chase the shadowy figure.
Not far above them was the mountain peak of the Interstice. If Shard didn’t stop him, he might truly be bewildered by the apparition of the spirit and step into the realm of true death:
“Stop, you can’t go any further!”
The previous Psychic Shockwave had an effect; this time, Mr. Beirut finally responded. His pace didn’t slow, and because Shard could only see his back, he didn’t know what expression Mr. Beirut wore:
“I really want to catch up with her.”
Mr. Beirut’s voice was also blurred, a characteristic of dreams.
“Is that your fiancée?”
“No, that’s my sister. She watched over me as I grew up, but I didn’t expect the disease to take her life so soon.”
“But do you really think she would want you to follow her in leaving this world?”
Shard continued to inquire, and finally, Mr. Beirut’s pace slowed down. The shadowy figure ahead even slowed its pace, maintaining a distance within Mr. Beirut’s sight:
“Before she left, she held my hand on her deathbed and told me she hoped that I would live a life of peace.”
“So what are you doing now?”
Shard pressed on:
“Following someone who has died, someone who wished you a life of happiness, is this truly what you and she desire?”
Mr. Beirut’s pace slowed yet again, now almost just walking.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. She has already departed, so what you can do is not to follow her, but to remember her. As long as you remember her, the marks of her existence in this world will not vanish.”
Mr. Beirut sighed deeply and finally stopped. Together with Shard, they looked towards the figure standing atop the stairs in the thick fog. Though not clear, she indeed seemed to be waiting:
“I have seen her countless times in dreams, and countless times I’ve wanted to catch up with her. But only this one time, I felt I was close to her.”
“Then place a bouquet of flowers in front of her grave,”
Shard spoke softly:
“Remember to tell her that you are living happily.”
Mr. Beirut turned around slowly, tears streaming down his cheeks. He walked back in the direction he came from, pausing for a moment to look back at the high-up phantom, gave a final wave as a farewell, and then headed down the mountain.
His figure melted into the fog.
“That’s good, it seems stubborn people are in the minority.”
Shard felt regret for Barton’s stubbornness, but was pleased with successfully persuading this man. He wanted to leave this dream, but then he heard another voice:
“Detective?”
“Hmm?”
Surprisingly, Shard saw Priest Augustus, the old man wearing his white priestly robe with the large brass, notched circular Holy Emblem of Mr. Dawn hanging on his chest, emerging from the mist. Someone had given the old man a new hairstyle; he looked particularly spirited now, as though he had aged backward by ten years.
“Priest? You can see me?”
“Of course I can’t.”
Priest Augustus shook his head:
“But I can hear the voices. Since yesterday when the church arranged for us ordinary priests to enter the Interstice and set up a camp at the peak of the Interstice to protect our safety, I have seen at least four commoners who came following their memories. And that’s just what I’ve seen.
The first three—I stealthily slipped out to kick them away… I mean, convince them to leave. The fourth was talking nonstop while walking away, and then I heard your voice…”
The priest looked around:
“Where are you now?”
“I’m still in the real world, I’ve taken on a mission to persuade that gentleman you just mentioned to go back.”
“That’s good, then you should hurry on your way, the Interstice is no place for anyone at the moment. It’s not just the newly born Undead, even those that have been stranded here since the last era have started to move about, the situation is really very bad.”
“Okay… Priest, I entered the Interstice yesterday and saw Joey Barton. He was merging with a Relic and could even turn the Interstice into his own Maze Lock. It’s confirmed, he has devoured the power of that Jester, wanting to enter death through one of the three passages to retrieve the spirit of the departed.”
After the battle on the ice of Bena Lake, Shard encountered Priest Augustus in the woodland, who was also looking for Joey Barton, but for an unknown item in his possession. At that time, Shard promised to share intelligence about Joey Barton with the priest.
“Merging with a Relic? Oh, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten he belongs to the Truth Society. Things are a bit troublesome but no matter. Rest assured, I’m keeping watch at the mountain’s peak, I won’t let him enter the Land of Death from there. In the Interstice, I am no longer that ordinary old man.”
He said, mocking himself, and because Mr. Beirut was close to waking, Shard had to leave:
“I hope the ritual tomorrow goes smoothly, praise the dawn!”
“Praise the dawn… You really mustn’t run into the Interstice again, this place’s…”
Shard didn’t hear the last half of the warning because he had fully awoken.
Except for the groggy Mr. Beirut, the other people in the room quietly left. After a moment, the sound of sobbing emerged; he still remembered the Dream he just had.
Shard and Sister Michelle both sighed in relief, and Sister Michelle escorted Shard back to the upstairs resting room.
“Sister, why do people always hope to bring back those who have left?”
“Because of regrets.”
The middle-aged nun answered without much hesitation.
The two weren’t walking shoulder to shoulder on the stairs, with Sister Michelle a step below Shard.
“Regrets… Some can be persuaded, while others stubbornly choose to make a grave mistake. I am conflicted, actually. I understand his actions, but I think he’s truly in the wrong.”
Even though Sister Michelle didn’t know exactly who Shard was referring to, she didn’t mind continuing the conversation.
As they turned the corner on the second-floor staircase, Shard saw a decorative oil painting on the wall depicting a person blindfolded with cloth, opening a door to Brightness in the darkness.
“It’s normal, you empathize with the pitiful, but you don’t let their plight muddle your own sense of right and wrong. As for the stubborn, when you can’t persuade them, you should just give up.”
After thinking it over, Shard realized this was true:
“So what should I do?”
“What you should do, why ask me? By asking that question, don’t you already know the answer?”
Sister Michelle said with a smile, and Shard looked at the steps beneath his feet:
“Yes… I actually admire that person, it’s quite a pity.”
The fog around Midshire Fort had grown even thicker.
Helping to save Mr. Beirut, who had wandered into the Interstice, was merely a trivial task for Shard. But Sister Michelle still insisted on giving Shard compensation.
The Spiritual Practice Order had helped Shard so much without asking for payment, and so he certainly couldn’t take any this time either. However, Sister Michelle insisted, stating that it was a private commission from her to Shard, and in the end, she still gave Shard a 5-pound reward, which made him quite embarrassed.
Rescuing Mr. Beirut, who had drifted into the Interstice, was but a minor incident while waiting. And a lot happened in the town during the somewhat lengthy afternoon that followed.
The first anomaly was an earthquake that occurred around two o’clock.
The earthquake was very sudden; a second before, Shard was sitting on the couch reading a book, about to reach out for his teacup, when Mia, who was lying on the couch, suddenly sprang up. She jumped onto Shard’s lap, her fur on end, meowing loudly. She looked around as if invisible enemies opposed the cat.
Before Shard could grasp what Mia was trying to convey, ripples formed in the cup of tea on the table:
“Earthquake!”
It was then that Shard felt the floor’s trembling, but the shaking lasted only about ten seconds before stopping. The intensity and destructive force of the tremor were incomparable to the two major earthquakes in Midshire Fort reported in the newspaper, which Shard had missed a few days prior.
Mia seemed very afraid, and even while held by Shard, she remained on edge, her fur bristled, and it took a while to calm her down. Shard left the room again to check on the situation in the House of the Blind. Though there weren’t many guests today, there were still some blind people who got injured from panic during the earthquake, and some of the wall hangings and furniture had toppled over because of it.
Shard helped Sister Michelle manage the restoration of the House of the Blind, during which even neighbors came seeking aid, as the House of the Blind had a very good reputation in the vicinity.
The unexpected occurrence of this minor earthquake was certainly related to the abnormalities in the Interstice, but Shard, who was in the House of the Blind, had no idea what exactly had transpired.
What was certain, however, was that the Unclassified Level Relic, the Interstice of Life and Death, would not let the church seal it without resistance. After the stakes pinning it to reality were pulled out one by one, the Interstice itself would undoubtedly mount a more powerful resistance before the ritual set for this afternoon commenced.
The Interstice did not have its own consciousness, but like nature resists destruction by humans, this Level 0 Relic would also spontaneously generate phenomena that resist being sealed.
