Enlightenment
Miss Surtr nodded.
"Okay, I understand." She gestured for Lian to proceed. "Could you please wait for me in the car for a moment? I need to... speed up a bit."
Lian paused for a moment, then was surprised, because she had guessed Miss Surtr's thoughts.
"It's okay to go a little slower, we actually have a lot of time."
Miss Surtr, however, simply watched her quietly.
"I've been resting for over a week, almost half a month. The constraints on me are dissipating. Is it really okay to keep dragging this out?"
She looked at Filianore and asked.
"How long will it take for the First Flame to go from fading to complete darkness? Has time and space in Lordran already begun to collapse on a large scale? Do I need to ask you that question?"
The smile on Lian's lips froze slightly.
She couldn't help but sigh softly, and although it was unnecessary, she still answered.
"When the flames begin to die out, the collapse of space and time has already begun. It may be a long time, or it may be a short time. Perhaps we stay here for ten years, and the fire in a certain area will only be dying out. Perhaps we stay here for ten days, and decades or hundreds of years will have passed in another land."
Yes, Surtr knew. And he nodded in agreement.
"Spacetime chaos means that the flow of time in different spacetime blocks is inconsistent. However, no matter where I am, the vast mass I possess will suppress the flow of time in my area, making it more like the normal flow of time when order is stable compared to other areas... The stronger I am, the slower time flows in my area. Conversely, as long as I leave the area I can influence, the relative flow of time will increase."
Miss Surtr gently clenched her hands and fists.
"Lotus, how long until the First Flame is extinguished?"
"On a macro level, it's close to a century. But that's a century in a desolate land. If there are villages of mortals on the land, then the village's time is only forty or fifty years. If there are city-states and kingdoms on the land, then the kingdom's time is less than ten years. If there are kings of cinnabar, heroes, or even gods, then the time will be shortened to around a year. And for you, it's less than a few months."
Lotus answered.
Indeed, as the flames neared their end, the spacetime of Lordran would rejoin. Aside from the regions inhabited by Lords of Cinder or powerful beings of Lords of Cinder rank, the weaker, more remote kingdoms would often leave only faint traces or records.
Because time flows so quickly in their lands, the inhabitants might not even realize it. After all, everyone lives on a century's breadth. However, when their own century ends, perhaps less than ten years have passed in the region where the prosperous capital is located. And by the time a century has also passed in the capital, these remote little kingdoms will probably have long since vanished without a trace, eroded and squeezed by the passage of time.
Just like the tower beneath our feet, just like this ruined kingdom beneath our feet. They were compressed by time and space time and time again during the season of linking the fire. So much so that the remnants of various eras and civilizations piled up in one place, and were constantly sinking into the deepest underground.
"Surtr, for every day you linger at the level of a Lord of Cinder, half a year will pass in the desolate frontiers of the world. And if you continue to grow stronger and improve, then this relative flow of time will continue to expand—the world will advance by leaps and bounds as you pile up your firewood. If you were to raise your power to the level of King Gwyn in the next moment, then when you take your first step, you probably wouldn't be able to go anywhere else except the dwelling place of the Lords of Cinder, the Kiln of the First Flame, and the Oolacile Township."
She gazed at Miss Surtr, looking at her intently.
"The amount of time you have depends on how much time you want to have... You should be very clear about that. After all, you experienced everything on the macro timeline 14,000 years ago—wasn't that the reason you made that cat-eared lady leave your side? Even with the current relative flow of time, as long as she leaves the area you influence, this half-day separation is at least several days for her."
"But do you really want to turn these few days into months, or even years?"
The First Flame is order, and the soul of a hero is also fire. When the order of the First Flame collapses, the hero's side becomes the only place where order remains stable.
Miss Surtr lowered her eyes... Ren was right, she had indeed done it on purpose. Once Kal'tsit was out of her sphere of influence, the flow of time would lengthen. She could have weeks, even months, to calm down. Unless she made up her mind to come to her, she would have plenty of time to readjust.
But is that enough? For myself, or for her?
So, should we speed it up?
At its current pace, dismantling it slowly might take several days. But the world's boundaries would only advance towards the apocalypse of order collapse by a few years. However, if I were to act freely and expand my scale, I could reach the ruins of Izalith much faster. But this shortened time might still be equivalent to several years at the boundaries.
Should we do it?
Aren't you going to do it?
—Ugh, really. It's like I'm the only one who can save the world, and that without me, the whole world is just garbage.
—If I don't relay the fire, will no one else? Subjective time won't change; even if I'm the only one gathering firewood, time will indeed speed up to the point where I'm about to do it!
Miss Surtr. She let out a soft breath. She tried not to think about anything related to Kal'tsit, even though it had been her plan from the beginning.
She glanced helplessly at the oblivious Lian, then directly pulled the Fire Keeper over and, amidst the girl's slight panic as she stopped screaming, pressed her lips intimately against hers.
Inner darkness, resonance.
—Muspelheim, unfold.
A surging tide of fire poured down from the top of the tower, crashing onto the ancient ruins and engulfing every place that showed signs of spiritual activity.
The story is over... thankfully, the backstabbing wasn't too serious. The foreshadowing laid earlier will come in handy, allowing us to correct this character's change in personality.
Honestly, throughout the entire story so far, Kaimiaomiao is the only character who stands out from the very beginning, and after the Dao Erosion setting was introduced (very early on), it's clear she's the only one capable of resisting it (Persephone is a separate case). Logically, the earlier chapters, connecting cause and effect and highlighting the difference between having a body (Terra) and losing one (Dream World), shouldn't have elicited a strong reaction... As expected, my writing skills are still lacking. I bet quite a few readers have dropped the story. _(:з"∠)_
Fine... I won't do anything so stupid again. Cute girl posts will do. Let Arknights betray us, it's only natural for the official account to betray fanfiction _(:з"∠)_
By the way... 23/75 [Rosemary]
Don't ask why it shows as still updated even though there's only one section, and don't ask me what's in parentheses... As the first post, I'll try to keep it as clean as possible. So as not to scare the readers... _(:з"∠)_
Chapter 212 Enlightenment
—The flow of time is abnormal, just as recorded in the literature.
As the underground flames boiled, and countless undead were directly transformed into unclaimed souls for Surtr to drink and expand his swarm, on the other side of the land of Lordran, at the edge of a wilderness and woodland six hundred kilometers away, Kal'tsit, cloaked and trekking alone, gazed in the direction she had come from.
The sky was a dim, yellowish color, and the cycle of day and night had completed six full rotations in her perception. She traversed woodlands, crossed wilderness, and passed through mountains. She remembered eating seventeen times, traveling by boat twice, and once by local horse trainers in Lordran. She had met three hundred and fifteen people in total, and the total distance her feet had traversed must have been around a thousand kilometers.
For an ordinary person, this speed was absurdly fast. But for the resilient individuals of the Terra race, it wasn't a particularly difficult journey. Based on her acquired geographical knowledge, she was certain that her area was still seven hundred kilometers away from the Lothric Castle. But theory is one thing, reality is another.
The mountain is no longer in its original location.
Trees and shrubs grow together in a mixed manner, and architectural relics of different styles are also pieced together... The space in this world is shrinking. The fewer people, or rather, the fewer living things, the more rapidly space is compressed.
—I once passed by an abandoned fortress and rested there for an hour without noticing any changes visible to the naked eye. But when I returned three hours later, one of the main beams supporting the outer wall had shifted slightly toward the church inside.
Is this the end of the world? Ordinary people can't perceive it, yet the end is truly approaching. The 700-kilometer journey to the royal city might actually only take a little over 600 kilometers. Just like how I was supposed to arrive here in half a day.
She turned her head and looked in the other direction. At the end of her gaze, a gloomy and silent fortress came into view.
She remembered the fortress; Surtr had once destroyed a massive tree within it with flames one night. She had seen the tree's surroundings and location from her window and marked it with landmarks. Originally, she intended to add it to her ordinary intelligence gathering, to be placed in the Lordran archives upon returning to Terra —just an insignificant line. Little did she expect that this intelligence would prove so useful now.
—Surtr ... It's strange, even though my heart is still filled with longing and love for you, I'm not as crazy about you as I was before.
She gently pressed her chest; the Spirit-like Entity heart and pulse were still pounding. Pulling down her cloak, she strolled towards the fortress. She knew perfectly well that she still harbored an extraordinary infatuation with the red-haired Sarkaz lady. But now she was able to control this emotion well, neither discouraged nor impatient because of it.
Looking back, the changes I underwent after arriving in this world were truly extraordinary... like a fanatic, with no other thoughts but to dedicate everything to my master. Her joys and sorrows could easily sway my emotions, but even more significant was the contrast between myself and the person I was before arriving here.
Sliding down the mountain, the desolate and dilapidated fortress was close at hand. A faint, faint smell of blood lingered in the air, indicating a battle had taken place there not long ago.