Myths Reawakened

Route 114.

Wayne jumped to his feet and put an arm around William’s shoulders. The two exchanged their best hellish jokes.

It would seem that William had already cheered himself up, but he hadn’t. He had simply hidden his sorrow and put on a smile because he knew that Wayne was worried.

Wayne saw through the act but didn’t expose it. They put their arms around each other like the best of friends having a good time together. Feeling alienated, Filomina joined in and trapped one of Wayne’s arms against her bosom, irritating William into bickering with her.

They painted a peaceful picture.

“Here it is. I can still feel the spatial disturbances. We haven’t made this trip for nothing.”

Wayne caught the disturbances from the Ocean of Mist. He felt like a drowning fish surfacing for fresh air, as illogical as it sounded. His suffocating heart finally found some reprieve.

The inner world was too depressing. Projecting his attachments to those from the surface world on their inner world’s counterparts, he had been close to shedding tears several times. He didn’t want to witness more tragedies. If he could help William find his parents, he would feel much better.

“Why are we here, Wayne?” William looked around. He could vaguely sense the strange disturbances and concluded that there was a spatial tunnel in the area. However, he couldn’t pinpoint the node and thus couldn’t enter it.

“When I was looking for treasure in the surface world, I found a great surprise here. I wanted to see if the treasure’s still around in the inner world. If it is, it would be double the joy!”

“As expected of you. You’re frugal.” William nodded in approval. He could tell that Wayne was hiding something, but he didn’t point it out.

“Of course. I hate wasting things, so I always finish every grain of rice in my bowl,” Wayne said with one hand on his hip. But then he realized that he seemed to have quoted a villain. He didn’t remember exactly whose quote it was, so he didn’t dwell on it. Perhaps he would remember later[1].

He borrowed the Dawn Doctrine from William and stabbed at the gaps between the spatial disturbances, swinging the spear upward to tear a gash into the open space and reveal the route on the other side.

“Come on. The treasure’s right ahead. Finders, keepers, as they say.”

They reached the highway where the Ocean of Mist should be, but there was no mist to be found, only the same highway. Wayne’s heart sank. He prayed that Cushing and Carter were still here, that they hadn’t vanished along with Thoggua’s head.

He hadn’t been polishing his prayers, but he hoped that they would still work.

The three traveled fast. Wayne followed the guidance of his memories and went through the tunnel, reaching the small, short house he remembered. His thoughts found no hideous creature inside. Every room was covered in a layer of dust; there had been no signs of life for two years.

Wayne suppressed a sigh, but he was also relieved that he hadn’t boasted to William. Otherwise, if he ended up hurting William, he would really lose it at the sight of William’s forced smile.

He looked into the distance. The black mountains remained, which was enough reason for him to continue marching toward where the Golden City would be. Cushing had been corrupted into a vassal, but Carter hadn’t. Protected by the Sun Knight’s medal, she had fallen into slumber on her own.

Wayne prayed to each of the five goddesses once more. Cushing had been corrupted and become part of Thoggua, so, unable to be replicated by the mirror, he vanished. Carter, on the other hand, had a high chance of existing.

“Goddess, please let her be there!” Wayne muttered to himself.

“Wayne, which goddess does a knight as free as you pray to?” William asked curiously.

“Whoever hears me will be the one I’m praying to. That’s the advantage of not naming names.”

“Is that another tip you learned from your relationships?”

“Yeah.”

You sound proud of yourself! x2

Wayne hastened his pace and reached the bottom of the black mountains in no time. The Golden City was nowhere to be found, and neither was the golden coffin guarded by the knight’s medal.

Wayne felt his hope die. He stopped walking, breathing out a sigh. If not for his insufficient power, he would’ve shattered the world with a punch.

While he was rubbing his face, a figure in a long silver robe made a single step from the black mountains, breaking through space and traveling hundreds of meters at once, drawing a radiant silver trail in her wake.

William tightened his grip around Dawn Doctrine, ready for a fight, and Filomina put Wayne right before her, drawing her sword and gun in alert.

“Don’t worry. I know her. She’s on our side.”

“Wayne, it is you!” The silver robe fell to the ground, revealing a frosty beauty with a look of pleasant surprise on her face. It was none other than Darienne, the Moonlight Knight.

The moment the three arrived at the bottom of the mountain, Darienne spotted them. She was both shocked and happy to see Wayne’s familiar mug. She came to confirm if she had seen wrong, and she hadn’t.

Taking two steps forward, she slapped Wayne on the shoulder. “Come. Play cards with me in the mountains.”

“Sis, I didn’t come to the inner world to play cards with you. Besides, aren’t you curious how I got here and why I was here in the first place?”

“The goddess heard my prayer and tossed you in to play cards with me,” Darienne said, like it was obvious.

Wayne rolled his eyes. It was a pleasant surprise to run into Darienne here. With her leading the way, he didn’t have to worry about finding his way back home.

“Oh, Filomina...” Darienne scanned the big man and beautiful woman with realization. “As expected of you, a devout follower of Moonlight and my proudest heir. You found the High Reverend of the Church of Moonlight and brought her around as soon as you entered the inner world.”

“Well, whatever makes you happy,” Wayne grumbled.

William and Filomina stood to the side, wondering about who Darienne was. William could sense that the icy beauty was far stronger than he was, and it sounded like she had come from the surface world just like Wayne.

What William was most concerned with was her relationship with Wayne. Judging by how intimate they were acting and the way they were quick to touch each other, they were most likely lovers, too.

“Our house is so big...” William grumbled, vexed. “Wayne, is this beautiful lady your girlfriend, too?”

“Who are you looking down at? How could she be my girlfriend?!”

“Who are you looking down at? Why am I not good enough for you?!” Darienne huffed. Wayne didn’t think she was good enough, did he? Well, she didn’t think he was good enough for her!

She grabbed his arm and said bashfully, “You took White Night Creed and say such irresponsible words now? Do you have a conscience?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. When did I ever have a conscience?” Wayne broke free of her hold and pointed at the icy beauty, whose image had quickly shattered. “This is Darienne, the Moonlight Knight of the surface world. I’m her successor in our world and will only become the chosen knight after her passing.”

“Nicely said. I’ll reward you with card games.” Darienne nodded. Her student called himself the successor of the Moonlight Knight, as he should, having forgotten about Nature and Sun completely.

“That’s not a reward, but punishment. Both for me and for yourself...” Wayne mumbled. “Darienne, this is Filomina of the inner world. You’ve met in the surface world. This is William. I don’t think you’ve met each other. He’s Kristen’s junior and a cute girl. He’s one of my girlfriends.”

“Huh?!” Darienne’s jaw went slack as she looked from the burly man to Wayne. When Wayne nodded, she shuddered and stepped back. “I know you’re a noble in Londan, but I didn’t expect you to go down the same path. Let’s break up. We’re no longer a couple.”

As if we ever were!

Wayne high-fived William. Good job, team. They managed to scare another newcomer.

He hadn’t explained that William was Vera. He simply put his arm around William to show that they were close enough to wear the same pair of pants and that he had gone down the path of no return.

Darienne gave him a look. “You nobles... Whatever, we’ve broken up. I don’t care which path you go down as long as you play cards with me.”

“Forget cards. Do you know how to leave the inner world?” Wayne asked. He wasn’t in the mood for card games. “Why are you in the middle of nowhere? Is this a mission from the goddess?”

“Do you want to know? I’ve placed everything on the card table. If you want the truth, look for it!” Darienne smirked with her hands on her hips, laughing like a villain.

What a terrible gambling addict. The pretty face is wasted on her. x3

***

Past the black mountains, the area that had sealed Thoggua’s head had been replaced by a bottomless abyss of darkness. Darienne set up a card table on the cliff. She had needed three card buddies, so Wayne and his two companions had come at just the right time.

“Damn it, you’ve definitely cheated!”

Darienne grabbed the card table with both hands. After losing nine games in a row, she was at the end of her patience and was going to flip the table.

“Calm down,” Wayne said from behind a pile of chips. “This place is too remote for you to recover the table after flipping it, and without a table, we can’t play cards properly.”

“You insolent man!”

Enraged, Darienne flipped the table high into the sky, letting it and the chips go on free fall into the abyss below. There was no quitting her gambling addiction. She could create as many tables and chips as she wanted, mass-producing thousands of sets every day with superior efficiency to factories.

“Darienne, I’ve won everything in cards. It’s your turn to answer my question.”

“I’m not. You cheated!”

“Lady, I’ll continue playing cards with you once we’re back. I’ll make sure that you win once.”

“Who are you looking down at? I can win even if you don’t let me!”

Darienne gnashed her teeth together. No gambling addict would lose every game, yet she always lost when she played Wayne. That meant she wasn’t a gambling addict.

She got it now. She hadn’t played enough cards and studied enough of the techniques. If she practiced more, she would surely get even.

Though Darienne was a sore loser who flipped tables when she lost and mocked her card buddies while flipping the table when she won, she did have her bottom line: she never cheated, and she always honored her word. Since Wayne had won all her chips, she would answer all of his questions.

“How are we going to leave the inner world, Darienne?” Wayne asked directly.

“I’ll just take you with me. Don’t have to worry about the details,” Darienne said bluntly. It had something to do with being a demigod, and Wayne wouldn’t understand even if she explained it to him.

“Could they leave with us?” Wayne asked tensely. William and Filomina, sitting on either side of him, held their breath, too.

1. It’s a quote by Yuwen Chengdu from Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties, a Chinese drama. ☜