I am God!

The clouds flowed toward the sky like smoke, and the white foam reversed back like rainwater flowing backwards.

The "Secret Realm of the Kingdom of God" gradually collapsed, and the world changed from beautiful and fertile to barren and barren.

gradually.

It shows what this place should look like.

And among the desolation and barrenness, Helfas stood alone on the ground.

The book of seals floated out, and the crystal head and skull embedded in it began to speak: "The exact position above the sky port has been locked."

Helfas nodded: "Let's go there together!"

His figure floated up into the sky, soaring under the clouds, and the book followed him.

Soon, Helfas arrived at the location of the sky port he had seen before. He stopped and looked into the depths of the sky.

Here, the layers of clouds are even thicker.

But among the thick clouds, he could faintly see a swirling vortex of clouds.

"Yes, that should be the Ladder to the Sky."

When he flew up, he carefully checked and found that the clouds here were not the "clouds" he just saw, so he flew higher.

He walked through the clouds to where the cloud vortex was, then accelerated and rushed forward.

"call!"

He whipped up a gust of wind and flew for a long time.

finally.

He broke through the clouds and appeared on a sea of ​​clouds with bright sunshine.

Helfas stood on the clouds and some dazzling light made him involuntarily close his eyes, and then opened them again.

But he felt strange when he saw such a scene.

"what happened?"

"I went straight through it. Shouldn't it be entering a magical acceleration channel?"

He tried back and forth several times, but with the same result.

Helfas found the entrance to the Sky Staircase, but couldn't get in. This was a little different from what he expected.

In the image left by the wing man with the photo bead that he was watching at that time, he remembered that the train in the picture departed directly from the lower level of the sky port, and circled upward layer by layer until it reached the sea of ​​clouds. In addition, there were various airships and boats outside the window. Flying magic carpets, and even powerful ones themselves fly directly into the sky.

They all went straight to the airflow and cloud vortex, and then followed the passage to move forward quickly.

Why didn't this work when we got to him?
"Could it be that 5000 million years have passed and the ladder to the sky has stopped operating?"

Helfas didn't know the nature of the Sky Ladder. In his opinion, it was not impossible, but of course he couldn't just give up like that.

He summoned his cursed puppet directly above the sea of ​​clouds, and once again retrieved the original scene and all the information about the Ladder to the Sky.

"Look again, is there anything I haven't noticed?"

By repeatedly watching the pictures, Helfas finally noticed a detail. It was not on the Sky Ladder, nor had it anything to do with the Sky Train.

Looking at the special port outside through the train window, he found an altar on the top of the sky port.

When the train, all flying props, and people entered the Sky Staircase, there were extraordinary professionals performing some kind of sacrificial ceremony on the altar at the top. This was certainly not unrelated, and the altar was by no means a decoration.

Helfas suddenly realized: "It turns out that you have to perform a certain ritual to enter the Ladder of the Sky. Only through this ritual can you gain permission."

The reason was found.

Unfortunately, he doesn't know that kind of ritual.

But if he could enter the Sky Harbor 5000 million years ago, he should be able to gain something.
-
the second year.

Rainy season.

Helfas once again came to this land of roiling clouds as expected, but this time he was alone.

When he left last time, he divided the area where this "special cloud and mist" appeared, that is, the area of ​​​​the former Thunder Swamp. There were black pen envoys who regularly patrolled and prohibited people from trespassing. At the same time, he also worked part-time in the cloud. The country created a new master of sealed objects.

However, this area has had various terrible rumors among the nearby birdman settlements since ancient times. Birdmen often disappeared here without even finding their bones. Therefore, under normal circumstances, they rarely approached this area on their own initiative.

Helfas waited quietly. This time he was not so lucky. He waited for several days with no results.

It wasn't until the eighth day that the sky suddenly shook.

"coming."

Helfas watched the clouds and mountains pouring down, but he did not approach immediately. Instead, he waited for everything to solidify before running towards the depths.

This time the clouds fell in a different direction than last time, closer to the core area. Helfas saw the swamp jungle like the wall of the secret realm and the beautiful lake reflecting the sea of ​​clouds.

Fortunately, the clouds partially covered the location of the sky port.

Helfas flew directly to the skyport that day without saying a word.

As he got closer, he discovered that the sky port was originally built on an island. The lower sky port was shrouded in clouds and mist, and even the upper level was also lightly shrouded in mist.

It seems dreamy but extremely dangerous.

inaccessible.

Helfas wandered and searched for a long time before finally finding a safe route into it and landed on the top of the Sky Harbor.

The top is much larger than what you see from a distance, this is a truly oversized port.

There are also various buildings and houses built around the large square, a large number of warehouses used to stack goods, and the airship docking station that Herfas saw in the photo beads. However, all of these now look dilapidated, and the facilities inside are in disrepair. It was demolished before the migration of civilization, and later suffered the ravages and destruction of time.

Originally it was supposed to be an extraordinary building, but now everything related to the blood of power has been drained away, leaving only a completely real phantom.

But what Helfas was most concerned about was naturally the altar in the center.

Ritual is just a way to borrow power from other beings through the dream world, but even if it is the same ritual, the amount of borrowed power will be different if the materials and permissions are different.

But the ritual itself does not possess extraordinary power, and it is very possible that it can be preserved intact.

"Is the altar still intact?"

The altar was built from a single boulder. Helfas checked and found that the ceremony and the altar were still intact, which made him relieved.

However, the various metals and gems originally inlaid on it are gone. They were used to increase the power of the ritual, but this does not affect the operation of the ritual.

Helfas took out the book of seals and asked its rubbings to record every detail of the altar and ceremony.

And he himself began to observe the sky port.

Even if it is dilapidated and everything that can be dismantled has been dismantled, the things and information left behind are still extremely precious to Helfas.

The first thing he observed was of course the area around the ritual altar, which was also a very important core area for Sky Harbor. He stopped in front of an inscription leaning on the ground and read the words on it.

It was the writing of the snake man. Helfas could not fully decipher it, but he could decipher most of it.

The inscription probably records the time when this sky port was built. It is said that it was built by the people of Gamer of the Desire and Alchemy God System and a man named Ossis. Her Royal Highness the Sky Witch prayed to the Sky Titan to get permission. As long as she dedicated Sacrifice will gain permission to enter and exit the Sky Ladder.

Suddenly, the terms Sky Witch and Sky Titan immediately caught Helfas's attention.

"Sky Witch."

"Sky Titan?"

Naturally, there is no need to say more about the witch. He already knows that Anissa is the witch of ten thousand snakes.

He also knew some legends about the giant gods. They were gods that were unimaginably powerful and the gods of life.

Helfas guessed that the ten paths should originate from ten different giants, but he did not completely confirm it because he did not even know which complete giants there were.

"In the name of the sky."

Helfas raised his head and looked at the sky.

"Isn't it the sky above our heads?"

Helfas wanted to laugh, but felt that he couldn't. On the one hand, he instinctively thought how could such an incredible thing happen, but on the other hand, his reason told him that reality might be so absurd and bizarre.

He walked towards the other side and saw another slanted stone tablet, which also recorded things related to this sky port.

It is the owner of Time Station and the train, that is, the deeds of the God of Travel, Mysil, who first drove out of the sky train from here. This is also the glorious past of this sky port. It is rare for Helfas to see someone who has seen it before. I have seen the names before, so I looked at them more carefully.

Looking at it piece by piece, he finally came to the fifth stone tablet.

The content this time seems to be different from the previous deeds of greatness and glory. It seems a bit funny or even ridiculous, like a fable.

Even if it weren't for the fact that the phantom represented by the name had appeared in front of him, Helfas really thought that this was a fable, because the whole story was really absurd and bizarre.

The story is very long, telling the story of a group of believers in the sky giant who choose a witch.

And the name of the witch.

It's called Liz.

Helfas: "Lise?"

Wasn't this the name he heard when the ship passed by?

But in that voice, others called her Her Royal Highness Liz.

He had previously speculated whether Her Royal Highness Liz would be a princess from a certain country in the previous era. This was the most likely. He even speculated whether the other party would also be a witch, but he felt it was unlikely. If she was a witch, How could the words be dissolved in that cloud and mist.

As a result, what he thought was most likely was far from reality, and what he thought was impossible was half correct.

Liz in the story is not a princess, just an ordinary fisherman's daughter; she is a false witch, but she was not chosen by God, but was pushed to the position of witch step by step by mortals.

Everything originated from a country called Thunder Kingdom.

They live next to the kingdom of the giant gods in the sky, so they have believed in the gods for generations, but the gods have never paid attention to them.

One day, because of the king's needs, because the temple needed faith, and the mortals needed to prove their piety, everyone hit it off. The king and the believers of the god selected a fisherman and told everyone that she was the witch.The day the witch appeared, the whole country cheered.

The king was extremely happy and excited, his legitimacy being verified.

The temple and its devotees rejoiced as their faith was recognized.

The people fell to the ground with enthusiasm. They finally got the witch they wanted.

In the temple, the "witch" who was still a child greeted everyone's worship in a daze. She had never seen such a scene. She was immersed in everyone's admiration and worship, and was immersed in the witch's superiority.

What a great situation, everyone wins.

There are no losers.

but.

What is fake will be fake after all, and the fake witch will gradually grow old, and the truth may be discovered.

Therefore, the king and the chief attendant of the temple made a decision to send the witch to the depths of the forbidden land to hold a sacrificial ceremony, and then announce that the witch had ended her reincarnation and gone to the palace of the god.

It would be better if the gods accepted their sacrifices, even if they did not accept the witch's problem would be solved.

Another brilliant ploy, good or bad they win.

Mortals are as smart as ever.

As everyone cheered, the "witch" embarked on her reincarnation and turned into foam in the sea of ​​clouds in the forbidden area.

During the cheering sacrificial ceremony, the temple's attendants and kings finally received the attention from the gods they had longed for for generations.

God opened his eyes from high in the sky and glanced at them.

They melted under that gaze.

When Helfas read this story, the expression on his face kept changing, from the initial shock to whether these guys were crazy.

Until I saw the ending, the corners of my mouth twitched for a moment.

"what?"

"This……"

In the story, roles are played one after another, including a king who is desperate for status, a godly servant who is obsessed with profit, a people who blindly follow the so-called oracle, and a fisherman who sinks into the witch's name without knowing where to go.

It starts with a ridiculous reason and ends with an even more ridiculous reason.

Generally speaking, fables should end here. As a story, it is enough to warn the world.

But Helfas didn't expect that the story didn't end here. There was still a long section behind the stone tablet.

He read on.

The false witch died, the king died, and the divine servant turned into a pile of flesh in the mad "piety", but nothing changed.

For the sake of profit and political needs, and in order to continue the existence of the "witch" and the illusion of being loved by the sky giant, the new kings and divine servants created new witches generation after generation, creating the so-called illusion of reincarnation. Then the "witch" was sent to the forbidden land as a sacrifice again and again.

Let this story continue hundreds of years later.

Countless people participated in this ridiculous reincarnation stage of the Sky Witch, killing "witches" one after another amidst cheers and fanaticism, proving their faith and piety.

Helfas was amused at first.

These guys dare to deceive even the gods. I don’t know if they are brave or stupid.

After seeing it later, I felt that what they deceived was not the gods, but the citizens and ordinary people.

And in the end, it was clear that these guys had even lied to themselves.

They deceived themselves. They even believed in their own piety and believed that everything they did was for this country and for everyone.

Lies told countless times seem to become true in their minds.

They persist in believing in false things, as if they become real and exist in their hearts.

Helfas shook his head at this ridiculous story, but he couldn't laugh anymore. There was even a sense of sadness in his heart unconsciously, but even he himself didn't know why he was sad.

For that witch?

It's not worth it for those who died in the madness.

Or for everyone’s obsession.

"Who left this behind? Shouldn't leaving such a disgraceful past in such a place take the initiative to cover up and modify it?"

He couldn't help but look at the stone tablet a few more times, trying to find its origin.

Finally, he found a passage on the base of the stele.

"What people believe in is not gods, but our deepest desires. I ended Liz's obsession and finally opened the Ladder to the Sky with God's permission."

"Liss of the Yaen family, I have carved your story here not to laugh at your past, I just want to tell everyone about your pain and confusion."

"Neither you nor I are divine."

"Just a stubborn person in this vast sea of ​​people."

Helfas saw such a sentence, which should obviously be written by the person who left this stone tablet, and the sentence "I finally opened the ladder to the sky" also proved her identity.

"The Witch of the Sky."

The sealed book turned around and imprinted the entire ritual on the altar. Helfas grabbed the book and clasped it at his side.

After so long, it was almost time for the dissipated "clouds" to go back, and Helfas was ready to start the ceremony on the altar before then.

But at this time, there was sudden movement in the distance.

Helfas immediately turned his head and looked over.

High above the sky harbor, his gaze crossed the horizontal lake.

He saw a familiar ship passing through the high walls of the secret realm guarded by the swamp forest, causing ripples.

He saw the "Her Highness the Witch's Ship" slowly approaching again, but last time he saw the beginning, and this was its end.

Helfas took a step forward unconsciously, and his eyes began to search, as if he was looking for a certain figure.

Soon, he saw the other party.

He saw someone paddling a canoe chasing under the tall building boat, waving and shouting, with a happy smile on his face.

"Thank you!"

"Thank you for saving me..."

They headed towards Yunshan together.

On the boat, there is a fisherman who is immersed in the identity of a witch.

Under the boat are wandering people pursuing happiness and love.

They all seemed to get the happiness they wanted.

That happiness is illusory and hazy.

I can't catch it, and I don't dare to drive to the end. I can only reincarnate in the illusion again and again.

The wandering people under the boat will never board the building boat to catch that figure, because the only thing that can be truly caught is bitterness.

And this ship can never sail to the end, because there is only despair at the end of the dock.

At this moment.

Looking at the figure on the wooden boat.

However, Helfas suddenly remembered the knowledge system that he saw in the Babel Tower rushing towards the star sea, and the ball-like kingdom of gods they created. At that time, he learned that the other party had created an illusory world. , allowing everyone to give up their bodies and live in illusions from life to life.

Looking at the countless smiling faces reflected on the surface of the sphere, as if they were all walking hand in hand into the void of eternal darkness, he actually felt a little creepy.

He felt that the end of the world was far from coming, yet hundreds of millions of people gave up on reality and went toward illusion. Why on earth was this?

Perhaps people of that era were unable to accept the real situation and went to the illusion to find what they had lost or what was unobtainable.

In reality the era will eventually end.

Their cities will fall into ruins and then be buried under jungle vegetation, their fertile homeland will be reduced to barren waste, their mountains and seas will vanish into thin air.

But in that illusion, their civilization, country and hometown can continue forever.

Suddenly, Helfas understood where the sadness in his heart came from.

"Is the story of the false witch Liz really over?"

In the Thunder Kingdom, between the fisherman and the witch, Liz chose to be a false witch.

At the end of the era, between the real and illusory worlds, countless people chose the illusory world.

Even now, he witnessed with his own eyes the wandering man chasing the shadow of the bubble that did not exist at all.

Liz's story may be over.

But it never ends.

Helfas sacrificed a furnace made of black steel and opened the altar ceremony on the Skyport.

The ritual granted Helfas authority, and the Sky Ladder finally opened its door to him.

He flew towards the spreading vortex.

The shadow of the boat sailed into the cloud mountains and the sea of ​​mist, waiting for the next reincarnation.

And Helfas is also running for the ideal world in his heart that he doesn't know when it will come, looking for the past that he doesn't know where to forget again and again. (End of chapter)