Indulgence Without Limits

The moonlight in the Moonlight Pool flowed silently over the fine patterns on the jade steps. Now and then, a few flecks of light rose from the water, drifted a short distance through the air, and slowly fell back, like a snowfall that would never end.

The Moon God reclined against the jade steps beside the pool.

The next moment, a figure appeared beside the pool.

He seemed to have grown out of a shadow by the Moonlight Pool, his arrival unnoticed even by the floating flecks of light.

His black hood was pulled low, revealing only a pale chin.

Darkness flowed around him as he restrained his dark, drawing it close. The darkness shrank into a thin layer against its master, doing its best not to touch the moonlight around him.

The man in black robes silently watched the moonlight reflected in the pool, the other's closed eyes on the jade steps, and the silver-white strands of hair dangling in the water, swaying with the flow of moonlight.

A black blanket appeared in his hands. He gently dispersed the moonlight over the other's knees and laid the blanket over them.

Then he slowly sat down beside him.

Wuma Xiu opened his eyes.

His gaze fell on the black figure before him, and he paused briefly.

Wuma Xiu remembered the dream he had just had.

He had dreamed of the scene where he first met the Night God.

Come to think of it, back in the real world, when he was still playing the game, he had encountered this man clad entirely in black by the Moonlight Pool one day.

At the time, he had been controlling the Moon God. He woke up by the pool to find this silent figure before him.

Then the image froze, and an achievement box popped up in the center of the screen, bearing the words:

—[White Moonlight].

But when Wuma Xiu obtained that CG, he hadn't paid it much attention.

There were simply too many.

The Moon God wasn't the first character he had played. He had spent so long immersed in the game that he couldn't count how many CGs he had unlocked.

There was [Dawn of the Gods], [First Moonlight], [Wine and Song]... Every one of them was exquisite.

He had already grown used to them.

Still, after Wuma Xiu saw this CG and looked at the words [White Moonlight] on the screen,

He thought for a moment, then nodded.

Those words could not have been more fitting as the name of the CG for this scene.

The sun only appeared during the day, and the Star God had yet to be born. In the Night God's long life, without even a glimmer of light, the Moon God truly was the first light he had ever seen.

For the Night God, that light hadn't come particularly early, but it had come just in time.

"Night. You're awake?"

As Wuma Xiu's voice fell, the dark figure stirred.

He raised a hand, his pale fingers gripping the edge of his hood, and pushed it back.

The black cloth slipped away, revealing a young, silent face.

His features were sharply defined, and the shadow of his brow concealed the expression in his eyes.

His eyes were an exceedingly deep shade of dark.

Smooth and tranquil.

They reflected nothing, nothing at all, except for the moonlight standing before him at that moment.

The Night God looked at Wuma Xiu, and at last, a barely perceptible ripple appeared in those eyes.

"You came, and you didn't wake me."

"You were resting. I didn't want to disturb you."

The Night God's voice was still low and slightly hoarse, as though it had been stored in his throat for so long that it had gathered dust.

The Night God didn't want to disturb the Moon God's rest.

In his life, long enough to seem almost eternal, waiting was nothing unbearable.

He had been born in darkness and wandered alone for who knew how many years in days without light.

Later, he had waited all along the way before finally catching up to that moonlight.

A long time passed before he learned how to drink tea at ease beneath the moonlight.

So, to the Night God, waiting was as natural as breathing.

"What if I'd slept for a thousand or ten thousand years? Would you have kept waiting?"

Wuma Xiu said jokingly.

The Night God nodded.

He would. He would have kept waiting.

"Then you really are a block of wood," Wuma Xiu remarked.

"Yes, I am."

The Night God accepted it without hesitation, his dark eyes looking back at the other without the slightest trace of "Why would you say that about me?"

His expression roughly translated to:

Whatever you say I am, that's what I am. A block of wood, a stone, anything at all.

Wuma Xiu met his gaze for a moment, then looked away.

He shook his head gently to himself.

Whenever he was with his close friend, this boundless indulgence made him unable to resist pushing his luck.

If he took a step forward, Night would draw back the darkness behind him by a step. If he took a step back, Night would gather the shadows around him to shield him from the cool breeze blowing at his back from who knew where.

Even if he said something offhand, the other would accept it without the slightest objection, as though his words were the only law in the other's entire world.