Chapter 81: Chapter 38: Dream Serpent 2
The scenery around them sped past in retreat.
Su Ziyu followed closely behind the Winter Witch on his celestial steed, as she seemed to have regained her lost memories from the past.
The whole situation was still unclear, but Su Ziyu had more or less pieced together some truths.
Back then, York and the Winter Witch probably left the Dream Forest, possibly out of curiosity or the allure of play; these weren’t issues of great consequence.
The real problem lay with the Golden Apple.
Back then, the Winter Witch, the White Queen, and Pick had all left this plane, entering the broken world after Ragnarok, a place filled with malicious corruption. At the time, something imperceptible must have occurred, as the White Queen seemed largely unaffected, yet the Winter Witch and Pick were unconsciously tainted by the post-Ragnarok Old World’s corruption.
Among them, Pick was the most severely corrupted.
Having lived in the Dream Forest, a world like a fairy tale, Pick was severely shocked by the hell-like Old World post-Ragnarok. Then, he saw Jörmungandr in his nightmares, got enticed by it, and stole and ate the Golden Apple.
It was then that Dark Jack was born.
Unlike the usually optimistic and kind Pick, Jack was a thorough pessimist.
He believed everything in the Dream Forest was an illusion, a deceptive dream, shameful and unreal. Only the hellish Old World outside was the truth!
And the real world was despairing!
This splintered personality gradually darkened in despair, and the large mud doll holding the Black Mud Apple was actually their consciousness’s incarnation within the dream.
Before Su Ziyu arrived.
The Guardian Witches of the Dream Forest likely battled Jörmungandr; the Winter Witch mentioned ’It’ but did not remember ’It.’ The other three Guardian Witches most likely perished trying to fend off Its invasion. The surviving Winter Witch was tortured to near madness within the nightmares woven by It, yet she should have realized she couldn’t give up resistance.
Thus, the witch of the day was insane, but the witch of the night was lucid.
There is much strangeness in this world.
For example, the Dream Forest by day appears as a beautiful fairy tale world, where all things good, kind, and hopeful are visible.
Yet.
None of the elves here know of Ragnarok, nor anything of the Old World.
It is not only these elves; most people in the Chessboard Realm know nothing of Ragnarok, nor anything of Nordic Mythology, with perhaps only those of Vanir Race blood knowing a slight truth.
Why is this?
Did someone deliberately cover up the past of the Age of Gods, preventing people from knowing the terribly tragic Ragnarok?
Diana said the Dream Forest is a shield protecting this world; at first, Su Ziyu didn’t understand how the Dream Forest served as a shield, but now he seemed to glimpse something.
The Dream Forest is a fairy tale world filled with truth, kindness, and beauty.
While the Old World after Ragnarok is a living hell.
Why did someone create such a perfectly beautiful fairy tale realm that feels almost fake at first?
Su Ziyu thought of that filthy black mud.
The worldly evils accumulated in the Old World post-Ragnarok, that dark, deep anger, greed, hatred, and despair. The Dream Forest serves as a barrier not against twisted monsters but against those endless malign thoughts gathered post-Ragnarok, only a realm beautiful like a fairy tale could resist the foul corruption of those malevolent thoughts.
All the Great Elves here bear childlike innocence.
They are kind, diligent, enthusiastic, and hospitable, living joyously every day, never getting angry even during play; Su Ziyu saw hardly any human flaws in them.
However, the elves in Nordic Mythology are far from perfect.
All of this is man-made!
The Land of the Elf has existed like this for many years until a ’Rebellious Pick’ emerged.
Su Ziyu doesn’t know who intervened in all this secretly.
Why did Pick take the Winter Witch away from the Dream Forest? Why did they seek the White Queen to invite her to find the Golden Apple together?
All of this remains a mystery.
But back then, they found three Golden Apples, one in the White Queen’s hand, one was brought back to the Dream Forest by the Winter Witch, and the last one was seized by the Dragon Witch.
To this day, Su Ziyu has never seen the Dragon Witch!
If one wants to understand what truly happened back then, she would definitely be a key figure.
The Elemental Pool appeared before them.
The Winter Witch seemed to have regained most of her strength, with a wave of her hand, an ice storm froze the serpent monsters, twisted tree spirits, and squirming shadows that tried to block them into ice sculptures. More monsters emerged from the darkness; this world had been severely corrupted by the Dream Serpent.
When Pick returned to the Dream Forest, Jörmungandr, known now as the Incarnation of Despair, was likely already invading it.
Dark Jack was Its minion.
It continually sought to drive the Winter Witch insane, a situation that persisted until Su Ziyu’s arrival.
"Sister!"
"Join us!"
"Haven’t you been looking for us?"
"Come to us!"
"We shall never be apart again!"
The squirming shadows again assumed the forms of three beautiful witches, but the Winter Witch remained unmoved, gathering an ice spear in her palm and hurling it, shattering the shadow incarnations.
However.
The broken forms regrouped, transforming into twisted, shattered shapes like broken porcelain dolls pieced together.
Just one glance was enough to make one’s scalp tingle; they spoke in voices filled with venomous hatred and evil aura:
"Our deaths were so cruel..."
"You killed us!... You broke the witches’ taboo!... You brought disaster!... You destroyed the Dream Forest!... All these consequences are because of you!..."
"You devoured us!..."
Those spine-chilling voices continued:
"You think you’re safe?"
"You too are polluted!... You will become like us!... Now you are a monster!..."
"Heh heh!..."
"You can’t escape!... The outside world is the real one!... That is a living hell!... This illusory world will be destroyed today!..."
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