Mysteries: Arcana Wars

The scenes in the gaps of history are often related to one's own understanding of history, but what is shown on the display screen outside has far exceeded Klein's current understanding of history.

He even suspected that some of the screens were showing different possibilities on a certain world line, scenes that had never happened.

At the same time, Klein discovered several images that he could not understand or recognize at all. Those images seemed to come from another world and had nothing to do with the reality that Klein knew.

A strange curiosity and impulse urged Klein to look outside again, but Klein restrained himself.

Looking back at the fragments he had just obtained, Klein's excitement subsided. Compared to the meaning they represented, the information they conveyed was very fragmented and useless, almost meaningless.

Some videos repeatedly show a person sneezing in the old days, with the footage lasting less than a second looping endlessly; some videos are stuck, with a scene stuck for a long time and unable to play; some screens are so blurred that only colorful and distorted colors and harsh sounds are left; some screens are high-definition and uncensored, but the camera is so small that it shakes back and forth and you can't tell what it is filming...

Compared to the weirdness outside the window, there is an unreal stability and quietness inside the car.

He pulled out his pocket watch, and the needle of the illusion compass was still twitching.

This is still an illusion.

There seemed to be a faint sound of singing mixed in with the noise around my ears, as hazy and distant as the stars under dark clouds.

Klein suddenly understood some of Phantom Melissa's actions, why they always appeared and disappeared suddenly, and knew many things that Klein did not expect.

Just like Klein couldn't control when he would hallucinate, the phantom Melissa probably couldn't control where she would appear. She might often be thrown out of her original activities, randomly fall into an electronic screen, and then disappear inexplicably.

But no matter which clip she is in, she is an empty phantom outside the world, a wisp of non-existent black smoke.

The past, present, and future are all realities. Different possibilities of the world are also different realities, realities of different world lines. Even those worlds beyond Klein's understanding are also realities, realities that are different from Klein's existence.

In any case, they are real and indisputable realities.

But Melissa was nothingness, a phantom outside of all existence.

The impact of the electronic screen dump outside the car eased somewhat, and Klein stood up and walked around in the dark. However, his sense of direction had become seriously problematic, and he couldn't walk normally with his eyes closed.

Klein had no choice but to open his eyes, lower his head, focus on the inside of the car, and try his best not to pay attention to the scenery outside the window.

But the bizarre scenery outside the window still slipped into Klein's mind through the gaps in his vision, and the weird and harsh audio also penetrated the creaking noise of the train and slipped into Klein's soul.

The singing beneath the noise grew louder, overlapping, high and low, from both men and women, lingering gently in Klein's mind. It had enough presence, but not enough for him to hear clearly what was being sung.

This made Klein curious about what the singing voice buried under the layers of sound barriers was, so he couldn't help but listen carefully to explore the singing voice. And the singing voice seemed to sense his curiosity, as if it was rushing towards Klein through the chaotic and heavy noise, getting closer and closer, louder and clearer...

…Wait, that’s not right!

Concentrate your thoughts!!

The thoughts that followed the song were suddenly interrupted, and all the mixed sounds and images immediately rushed towards Klein like a dam breaking.

The impact and erosion were hard to prevent, and a certain empty and hazy strange feeling accumulated in Klein's soul, finally causing him to stop and vomit large clumps of sticky black sewage. After the black water broke apart on the ground, it evaporated and floated into black smoke and finally disappeared into the air.

Klein stared blankly at the empty smoke and dust on the floor, and vomited several more times out of discomfort. The strange feeling that was different from ordinary vomiting tortured his mind and body, and he couldn't help but close his eyes with a distorted face.

When he opened his eyes again, there was no trace of the smoke and dust on the ground, as if Klein had never vomited at all.

After recovering from his shock, Klein climbed up with the help of the train. He had already walked to the front carriage of the train, and the driver's cabin was right in front of him. From the square to now, the dizziness and confusion brought by the hallucinations gradually accumulated in Klein's mind, making him feel that his consciousness and body were getting heavier.

Is that song guiding me to extract my thoughts from these chaotic and crazy fragments of time and space, or is it leading me to fall endlessly into the deeper nothingness?

Finally, Klein was ready. He groggily opened the door. The person working in the cab was actually—

Benson Moretti?!

"Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, Klein!"

Benson turned around, obviously surprised by the visitor, but then he immediately smiled and spoke in a familiar and fluent Roselle language.

"Ah, should we say it's evening or night now? Sorry, I'm a little far away from the 'present reality' now, and the feeling is not very real - so it should be night now?"

As he spoke he lifted his hat.

"Then let me say it again: Good evening, Crane!"

Benson in front of him was wearing an old and simple fifth-era Loen three-piece suit and a simple hat, and looked to be in his twenties. He had jet-black hair and black eyes with no visible pupils, just like the phantom Melissa, but he was wearing brightly colored clothes.

"Benson..."

The accumulated discomfort gripped Klein's throat, and the confusion and shock suppressed his logical thinking.

"…So this is how you've been living for all these years?"

Sinking in the abyss of nothingness, wandering in the cracks of reality, floating in random fragments.

Exiled from the world by reality.

"No, Klein, you shouldn't start with this question."

Benson sighed.

"You should ask me what interesting places I went to today, how I learned to speak Rossel so well, when I learned to drive such a big steam train, how much such handsome clothes cost me - instead of this depressing question.

"But I will answer any questions you have, and I know you want to know the answers.

"So, yes, Klein. I've lived like this since I died. When I was alive, it was more like you are now. Of course, the hallucinations were much more severe than what you've experienced in the past two months.

"But you can rest assured about one thing. I think you, as the 'beacon of destiny in time and space', are indeed our 'time and space anchor'. We are on the same timeline as you. Those who can interact with you normally are the real ones. Those who completely ignore you and play holographic movies for you are all our projections from different time and space fragments.

"For us, we can often travel through various broken fragments. But for you, real time travel does not exist at all."

Amidst the chaos, Klein's shattered thoughts didn't know what to say, and in the end he could only squeeze out one sentence.

"……sorry……"

"No, Klein, why are you saying sorry to me?"

Benson's words were gentle but powerful. They passed through the heavy mechanical sounds and noises and gently reached Klein's ears.

"Is it because you were unable to protect us even after becoming an Old One? Or are you feeling sad and regretful about our current lives?

"You don't have to do this, Klein. Whether it's sadness, guilt, grief, or pity, it's all meaningless and shouldn't exist in your heart.

"You have to understand that this is our own choice."