"So... in order for me to live, you actually reversed the laws of life and death..." Castorice sat beside Polyxia, her fingertips gently brushing a nearby blue flower, her voice saturated with lingering remorse and heartache. "I... I regret it so much. Why couldn't I have discovered the truth earlier? Why didn't I come find you sooner? If only I could have..."
"Don't say any more, Big Sister." Polyxia gently grasped Castorice's hand, interrupting her self-reproach. Her smile was gentle and serene, as if she had long accepted everything. "I loved, I truly loved, the sunlight of Okhema, the hustle and bustle of the Holy City, and all the different people and things you described for me in your letters."
"They were like another window, letting me see a vivid and warm world. If you had come to find me too early, I might... not have received so many wonderful stories."
She tilted her head slightly, trying to dispel her sister's gloom with a lighter tone. "Even though my body cannot leave this flower sea, a projection of the Nether Realm into reality, because you wrote to me often and shared your life with me, I never felt lonely."
"Wait, you said you can't leave this flower sea?" Castorice keenly caught this key piece of information, her body stiffening slightly, her eyes filled with confusion and concern. "Why?"
"That... is a long story." Polyxia sighed softly, her gaze drifting over the swaying sea of flowers as if reviewing that distant past. "Reversing life and death, defying natural law, comes with an extremely heavy price. Back then, what I paid to allow your soul to reunite and return to the mortal world... was my own entire life."
"But... but you're clearly still alive..." Castorice's eyes were filled with incomprehension and deeper worry. She held her sister's hand tightly, as if afraid she might vanish the next second. "Did something else happen later? Who... saved you?"
A trace of distant recollection flickered in Polyxia's eyes. She was silent for a moment, as if organizing her words. "Later... a very... strange 'person' found me. I'm not even sure if it could be called a 'person'."
Her voice carried a note of uncertainty. "He... 'revived' me in a way I cannot comprehend."
"What's even more unbelievable is that he somehow, by means I still don't understand, forcibly separated the Death Coreflame that had nearly merged with my soul. To this day, I don't know how he did it. It felt... like tearing my soul apart, yet miraculously preserving my consciousness."
She paused, then continued. "But... he truly did make me what I am now—a special existence bound to this place, sustained by this Nether Realm sea of flowers, yet not burdened with the authority of Death. I once asked him why he did this, why go to such lengths to save a soul that should have been utterly extinguished."
Polyxia lifted her head, looking at Castorice and Stelle, who was listening intently beside them, and slowly uttered the keyword:
"He answered with only two words—'Preservation'."
"Then, he gave me the Janus box that could deliver letters across space, said 'Use it to maintain your connection with the world,' and then, just as abruptly as he had appeared... he left."
"'Preservation'?"
Hearing these two words again, Stelle's brow furrowed lightly. A strong sense of unease gripped her.
'Preservation' again!
From Nikador's mad ravings to the motive of the mysterious figure who saved Polyxia, this term was like an ominous curse involve in the many anomalous events of Amphoreus.
Even someone like her, usually a bit scatterbrained, now clearly realized the truth hidden behind this world was absolutely extraordinary.
It seems... after returning, I must immediately sort through these clues with Dan Heng and Mr. Yang, she thought to herself. Given the layered, bizarre complexity of Amphoreus, she wouldn't be the least bit surprised if a Stellaron suddenly popped up next.
And that mysterious man glimpsed in the river of Time, capable of invading the timeline in reverse... what role did he play in this series of events?
"By the way, Polyxia." After silently digesting her sister's sacrifice for her and the subsequent bizarre events, Castorice fell silent for a long time before speaking up, as if suddenly remembering something.
"You've been here for such a long time, almost becoming one with this ancient city... Do you know if the Phagousa priestesses of this city-state in the past hid some unknown secret? For example... some powerful seal, or deliberately concealed history?"
Polyxia lifted her head, her purple eyes, so similar to Castorice's, giving her sister a deep look, seeming to understand her intent.
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, her gaze seeming to pierce through layers of buildings and the pervasive mist of the River of Souls, settling on a specific direction within the city-state. After a moment, she responded softly, her tone carrying unwavering certainty:
"There is one, Big Sister. In the depths of the River of Souls, in that silent abyss seldom visited by anyone, past or present... I do know of a place where there exists an extremely ancient, powerful seal laid down jointly by the Phagousa priestesses."
...
"Who would have thought... such a vast space was hidden deep within the River of Souls?" Stelle couldn't help but murmur in awe, her voice stirring slight echoes in the spacious cavern.
Following behind Polyxia, they seemed to pass through an intangible membrane. The thick, icy sensation of the surrounding River of Souls abruptly vanished.
In its place was a vast, suddenly opened underground cavern.
There was none of the oppression and darkness of the river's depths here. Instead, it was bathed in a soft, mysterious blue light of unknown origin.
The air was fresh, carrying a hint of cool moisture.
The cavern was astonishingly vast, with a high, vaulted ceiling from which hung countless glowing mineral clusters like crystals, illuminating the entire space like a dreamscape.
And directly ahead of them was a flat rock platform, carved by hand.
At the very center of the platform, an object stood silently—it was a water altar, its entire body carved from some unique material.
The altar's design was ancient and elegant, with fluid lines, its surface inscribed with countless complex, seemingly ever-flowing and changing runes.
"This is..." Castorice's breath hitched slightly. "The place that Teacher Anaxa inferred from various clues... the place theoretically closest to the world's origin?"
She involuntarily took a few steps forward, wanting to touch the mysterious object now within reach.
However...
"Hum..."
A low hum resonated. The layers of Phagousa secret arts on the altar's surface, like activated water, rippled with a gentle yet resilient wave.
A gentle but irresistible force gently pushed Castorice's hand away, preventing her from touching it.