eurekapd Chapter 886 Why?
Chapter 886 Why?
"What did you do?" The voice of the Firstborn boomed in Yun's ears like thunder. Although he tried his best to hide the panic in his voice, Yun still keenly caught it like a spider's web.
A strong sense of unease welled up in Yun's heart. He stared blankly at everything that was happening before him, stammering, "I...I don't know, I don't know, he...he's like this, this is..."
However, before he could finish speaking, the five gemstone energies that had been scattered in the void suddenly began to converge rapidly, as if summoned by some mysterious force. They intertwined and coiled in the air like nimble snakes, outlining a complex and ancient rune in a dazzling manner.
The rune exuded a mysterious and ancient aura, as if it had existed for countless ages, witnessing the birth and destruction of the universe. At the center of the rune, a faint light was beating rhythmically like a heart, each beat emitting an increasingly strong suction force, as if trying to devour everything around it.
Yun stared wide-eyed at the scene in disbelief. His throat was dry, and his voice trembled slightly: "What...what is this? What's going on?"
The sigh of the newborn came again, the helplessness and powerlessness in it even more obvious: "You... sigh, I feel like you are more like a key pushed by the hand of fate, which should have guided you to another path long ago, but... sigh, I didn't expect it to come to this in the end."
Yun stared anxiously at the ever-growing point of light and the increasingly distorted space around him. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his voice involuntarily rose eight octaves: "What's going on? This thing doesn't look right! You need to think of something! You've lived for so long, you must know how to deal with it!"
A sudden surge of intense expectation welled up within him, as if this Firstborn was his last lifeline, capable of solving the thorny problem before him. However, the Firstborn did not respond to his hopes; only a suffocating silence hung over his heart like a heavy, dark cloud.
Finally, the newborn let out a sigh that was deeper and more weary than before, a sigh that seemed to carry endless sorrow and helplessness. Then, in an extremely ethereal voice, it said, "I...cannot do it."
These three words struck him like a bolt from the blue, leaving him stunned. He couldn't believe his ears. How could this be? This omniscient and omnipotent Primordial Being would utter such words?
The voice of the Firstborn continued to echo in his ears, carrying an undisguised sorrow: "Don't you understand? I am already 'dead'. The moment I refused to carry out the final revival plan of the mother planet, refused to sacrifice the newborn universe for a civilization that had already perished, I was annihilated by the ruins of the mother planet."
Yun was completely stunned. His mind went blank; he couldn't comprehend what the Firstborn had said. How could this be? Shouldn't the Firstborn possess boundless power and wisdom? How could they be so easily annihilated?
The Firstborn seemed to sense his confusion and then explained, "The reason I can still communicate with you with this remaining consciousness is simply because... I am powerful enough that even after being completely erased, I can still barely retain a wisp of unwilling obsession, drifting in the universe, searching... searching for someone like you."
Its voice held no pride, only endless sorrow and helplessness. The cloud finally understood that the Firstborn was not as omnipotent as it had imagined; it too had its own helplessness and pain. The only reason it had persisted until now was because of a lingering, unyielding determination—a desire to find someone who could understand it.
"So... don't count on me. I can't do it. The path to the 'origin' I can open for you is the limit of what this remnant soul of mine can do. The only one who can truly stop all of this is you, Yun." These words exploded in Yun's ears like a thunderclap, catching him completely off guard.
Yun stared wide-eyed, his face filled with astonishment, as if the whole world had stopped turning at that moment. His mind went blank, with only the heavy, blood-stained crown looming larger and larger before finally slamming down on his head.
The crown brought not only weight, but also an indescribable force that bound Yun tightly, causing him a violent sense of repulsion and dizziness. Yun's body trembled involuntarily as he tried to break free from this force, but found his efforts futile.
"Me?" Yun's voice suddenly rose, filled with disbelief and anger. "Why me?! Just because of this damn chaotic energy? Just because I was unlucky enough to transmigrate? You all, Flor, Lishwim, and you! You've all been putting this bullshit mission and cosmic destiny on me! I've had enough!"
His roar echoed in the air, carrying pent-up resentment, anger, and disgust at this imposed responsibility. These emotions erupted like a volcano, no longer able to be contained.
"I just want to survive! I just want to find my way home! I don't care about your home planet's revival! I don't care about cosmic energy! Why should I be responsible?! Why should I risk my life and die for these worlds I don't even know?!"
The newborn did not refute or persuade as the cloud had expected; it simply stood there quietly, silently enduring the cloud's wrath. Every word the cloud uttered was like a sharp blade, piercing the newborn's body, but it remained unmoved, merely watching the cloud silently until the cloud finally stopped breathing.
Then, the Firstborn said in an almost deathly indifferent tone, "I know. I know everything. It's not fair. It's cruel to impose such a burden on you. I... resisted like that back then, which is why I was wiped out."
The voice of the newborn seemed to pierce through eternity, bearing the mark of blood and fire, reminding one of the pain and struggle it had endured. Yet, despite its calm tone, it contained immense sorrow, as if the weight of the entire world rested upon it.
“But, Cloud,” the voice of the Firstborn continued, “there is no answer to the question of ‘why.’ Fate never makes sense. It simply happened. The seed has been activated, Mendisius is suffering, and the energy of countless worlds is about to be drained. All of this was accelerated by your gathering of gems and your activation here—that is a fact.”
The Firstborn's words struck Cloud's heart like a hammer blow. Cloud couldn't refute them, for he knew the Firstborn was telling the truth. Though his heart was filled with resentment and anger, he understood that no matter how much he resisted, he couldn't change what had already happened.
You could choose to turn away and escape all of this. With your abilities, you might be able to find a chance to survive, a hiding place, before this catastrophe fully erupts. However, when everything you know—Azeroth's lush forests, clear lakes, the vibrant faces you've seen and touched, even the azure sky and white clouds of Earth in your memory—gradually loses its luster, becoming gray, dilapidated, and eventually disappearing due to the depletion of energy… that heavy feeling will be far more unbearable than what you feel now.
I am not ordering you, Cloud. I... am merely, in the name of a loser, a soul that, though long dead, still harbors resentment, earnestly requesting you... to take on the fate that should have been mine.
The voice of the Firstborn grew fainter and fainter, as if it might dissipate into the air at any moment. And the light on the path leading to the core of the runes, the "origin," began to flicker, sometimes bright, sometimes dim, as if it might be extinguished completely at any moment.
"The path... is about to close. The choice is yours." The Firstborn's last words echoed in the silent space, lingering for a long time.
Yun stood frozen, his face pale. He stared at the point of light that represented a devastating future, listened to Mendisius's invisible wails, and felt the suffocating expectation of the Firstborn. A sense of rejection gripped him like a tangible force; he wanted to shout, to refuse, to turn and run.
But his feet seemed to be nailed to the spot.
The words of the newborn, a mixture of helplessness and expectation, burned like a red-hot iron, making even the soul of the cloud tremble. Shoulder its destiny? By what right!
The light of the path leading to the "origin" flickered before his eyes, as if silently urging him on. Yun suddenly took a step back, as if trying to escape some deadly plague.
"No...no...this is too much, I can't handle it!" Yun growled at the almost fading consciousness of the Firstborn, as if trying to convince himself, "There must be another way! Yes! The Titans! The Ancient Gods! And those glowing Holy Lights! Aren't they the guardians of the universe? They swarmed over whenever Mendisius caused a commotion, and now that their home planet is draining the energy of the entire universe, they can't just sit idly by, can they?!"
The thought struck him like a lifeline. Yes, if the sky falls, someone taller will hold it up; why should he, a nobody dragged into this mess, risk his life?
“Listen! I know what else you can do!” Cloud shouted into the void, trying to grasp the last trace of the Firstborn. “Tell me, how do I get the message out? How do I let those guys outside know what’s happening here? Let them handle it!”
The Firstborn's response was as faint as a candle flickering in the wind: "It's too late... The seed's absorption will begin from within, first draining Mendisius, then... the surrounding space. By the time the outside world notices the abnormal, massive loss of energy, the seed will have grown to an uncontrollable size... Moreover, the Titans' order, the Old Gods' chaos, the purity of the Holy Light... they might be able to temporarily delay it, but they cannot fundamentally resolve the rules at the seed's core. In fact, their intervention might trigger even more intense conflict, accelerating the consumption of energy..."
"How will you know if you don't try!" Yun interrupted him, refusing to accept this answer. "It's better than me going to my death! Tell me how! You caused this trouble, you have to do something!"
After a brief silence, a faint, farewell-like stream of information flowed into Yun's consciousness. It wasn't a specific method, but rather a vague guide on how to intensely burn one's own energy, especially chaotic energy, to create a sufficiently strong "spacetime ripple" within Mendisius's body, detectable by specific external means. The price was that he would be exposed and potentially drained instantly.
The firstborn's last voice was almost inaudible: "If... this is your choice... good luck..."
Immediately, that last fluctuation of consciousness completely dissipated. The path to the "origin" also completely closed.
Yun stood alone in the trembling darkness, watching the light of the "seed" grow ever brighter, as if he could hear the hissing sound of energy being frantically drained. Mendisius's pain was like background noise, constantly assaulting his senses.
He took a deep breath, a ruthless glint in his eyes. Following the vague guidance, he began frantically mobilizing all the energy within his body, especially the hazy, chaotic energy. He compressed it to a high degree, not for attack, but to detonate it like a bomb, creating a sufficiently loud "distress signal."
"Come on, come on! Aren't you all self-proclaimed cosmic police? Come and see what's happening here! Something terrible has happened!" He gritted his teeth, preparing to push the energy ball, which contained all his strength, into the void.
However, just before the energy was about to be released, his movements froze.
Images flashed uncontrollably through his mind—not grand cosmic scenes, but subtle fragments he thought he had long forgotten: the hearty laughter of the dwarf tavern owner in Azeroth, the mist and tranquility of Ashenvale in the early morning, and even… the shadow of the old locust tree swaying in the sunset outside the window of his rented room on Earth.
What if... what if the Firstborn were right? What if the Titans came, but instead of solving the problem, their fighting, like when they fought Mendisius, shattered everything around them and accelerated the depletion of energy?
What if his "distress signal" not only fails to bring in reinforcements, but instead acts like lighting a fire in a dried-up oil field, attracting more plunderers and destruction?
At that time, will those subtle, ordinary scenes that he had experienced and that formed part of his memory disappear even faster?
The energy cluster in his hand flickered, reflecting the intense struggle on Yun's face. He didn't want to be a hero, didn't want to bear the burden of fate; he just wanted to go home. But if the universe where his "home" was located was gone, where could he go back to?
Shifting blame to others seems like an easy path. But what if... what if this path leads to even faster destruction?
The pulsating light of the "seed" seemed to mock him at that moment, stinging his eyes.