Time echoes are a common phenomenon in ruins and dungeons, especially in the Ruins of the Gods, where they are most frequent. These places are often fragments of space, and when they were formed, certain images became frozen within the shattered spatial cracks. Through these time echoes, one can learn about the events that took place here long ago.
They can even guide adventurers on their path.
However, time echoes are usually unclear, showing only blurry images, often visible only from specific angles. For instance, now, as Ye Chui and Debbie stood atop the strange mountain in the garden, they suddenly saw a time echo. Debbie had seen similar scenes before, but she quickly realised with surprise that this time echo was different from those she had witnessed previously, because—
“It’s so clear! When I was here before, the echoes only showed vague battle scenes, but this one feels so real!” the young girl exclaimed.
Ye Chui gazed up at the grey, chaotic sky, his face frozen in awe, much like the first time he watched a 3D IMAX movie in his past life.
It was immersive, as if living through the moments recorded in this space and time.
Suddenly, the sky split open with a massive hole, cracks spreading around its edges, a result of the divine realm’s barrier being breached. Terrifying creatures crawled out from the hole, their grotesque forms baring sharp fangs, emitting silent roars. The scene was so vivid, so shocking!
Debbie instinctively moved closer to Ye Chui, clutching his arm. Staring at the sky, she said in astonishment, “Is this the moment five thousand years ago when the divine realm was invaded? They say the divine realm was a powerful world created by the ‘God of Gods,’ impregnable. During the God-Slaying War, human warriors paid a great price to break its barrier… but what are those things!?”
The grotesque monsters crawling from the hole had pitch-black forms, legs like those of cows or goats, arms with sharp barbs, long, rigid heads, and slender tails covered in spikes. Bat-like black wings sprouted from their backs, and sharp horns adorned their heads. After emerging from the hole, they swiftly dove toward the ground.
Since the space preserved only images, no sound could be heard, but Ye Chui could almost hear the piercing shrieks from these terrifying creatures.
Then, from the ground around Ye Chui and Debbie, yellow lights rose. The time echo’s scene was like a movie frame, and now these yellow lights entered the frame. Ye Chui and Debbie soon realised the lights were people… or perhaps angels?
They were all women, dressed in uniform battle skirts, with white feathered wings on their backs. Some wielded swords, others shields, each exuding an aura of majesty and valour, their appearances varied yet flawless.
They clashed with the monsters invading the divine realm, a battle like angels against demons. Streams of light burst in the sky, blood and mist spread, and the brutal combat needed no sound to convey its intensity. Severed limbs and blood rained down, like a horrific deluge.
“They are War Goddesses, guardians of the divine realm,” Debbie explained to Ye Chui. The monsters invading the divine realm seemed to have left no trace in history, but tales of these War Goddesses were not uncommon. As a self-proclaimed adventurer, Debbie was well-versed in such lore.
“War Goddesses, huh?” Ye Chui watched the battle in the sky, then sensed something, saying curiously, “Debbie, don’t you feel that the terrifying creature we met earlier resembles these War Goddesses? Could that creature be a War Goddess who survived from five thousand years ago?”
“But how did she end up like that?” Debbie, struck by the same thought, widened her eyes. “She seems to be stitched together from different War Goddesses’ bodies, and one of her wings even looks like it came from those terrifying demons.”
The demons, naturally, were the horrific creatures invading the divine realm.
The origin of that zombie-like creature only deepened Ye Chui and Debbie’s curiosity.
“Is this how the divine realm fell?” Ye Chui marvelled. The demons kept pouring from the hole, endless, while the War Goddesses were finite and gradually losing ground. The God-Slaying War of five thousand years ago seemed not merely a human rebellion against the gods; there appeared to be hidden complexities.
Soon after his reflection, Debbie excitedly gripped his arm, “Ye Chui, look! There! A dragon! It’s a dragon!”
The young girl was so thrilled her voice trembled. In the distant sky, a massive black shadow emerged, the spread wings of a colossal, terrifying creature. Its black-and-gold body spewed roaring black flames. It was a dragon, and not just any dragon, but a famous one.
From Wade’s memories, Ye Chui had inherited many ancient legends. He realised, “Is this the Black Gold Flame Dragon?”
In ancient times, dragons were the mightiest creatures on this continent. But as humans rose, the dragon race vanished, leaving only descendants with dragon blood, known as magical beasts. One such beast, with the aid of the ‘God of Gods’ and through its own efforts, awakened its bloodline, growing into a true dragon: the Black Gold Flame Dragon, guardian beast of the divine realm.
In the scene before Ye Chui and Debbie, the Black Gold Flame Dragon roared into battle, its black flames instantly reducing the terrifying demons to ashes. Its power was unshakable!
Its arrival seemed to turn the tide for the struggling War Goddesses. As spectators of this ancient war, Ye Chui and Debbie felt a surge of excitement, unconsciously siding with the God Clan. But their excitement soon faded.
From the hole in the sky, a red demon emerged.
This red demon resembled the others but was far larger, its blood-red form even more terrifying. It wielded a massive blade. Emerging from the hole, it didn’t attack immediately but stood still, its red wings flapping, as if assessing the battlefield, observing the unstoppable Black Gold Flame Dragon.
Then, at a certain moment, it moved. Its red blade sliced through the air, creating a ripple that seemed capable of cutting the sky itself. The strike was so terrifying and precise that the next moment, the Black Gold Flame Dragon writhed, its massive jaws opening as if letting out a horrific roar. Then, its head detached from its body, dragon blood raining down like a blood shower, its massive head plummeting like a meteor.
The red demon’s single strike had severed the dragon’s head.
As the head fell, Ye Chui and Debbie gasped, realising it was heading straight for where they stood!
Though they knew these were events from five thousand years ago, they instinctively felt a tremor of fear from deep within. The massive dragon head crashed through their bodies, silently hitting the ground. Suddenly, Ye Chui and Debbie realised something, a realisation so unbelievable they looked down at their feet.
They were standing on a small mountain in the garden of the ruins.
And now they understood: this mountain was the severed head of that dragon!
