Chapter 1 The Beginning

Nina had never expected this to happen—she had imagined some changes might occur after Mr. Morris touched the light curtain, such as something popping out of the curtain, the surrounding environment undergoing earth-shattering transformations, she even imagined a loud cracking sound, with Uncle Duncan and the entire Vanishing Sea arriving from the sky, but the one thing she hadn't anticipated was this.

That light curtain, suspected to be the "Wall of Whispers," would silently, like a soap bubble… pop.

The magnificent wall of light that formed the barrier instantly shattered into fragments, the structure that once supported the heavens and the earth dissipating into light dust in the blink of an eye.

At the moment the barrier shattered and disappeared, the entire forest seemed to fall into a brief period of stasis, and then a second later, the mist permeating the forest began to flow again—Nina finally reacted, running to her teacher's side in a few steps.

"Mr. Morris!" she exclaimed, "Are you alright? How did this thing suddenly..."

"I don't know…" Morris was clearly a bit dazed. The old scholar, who usually seemed so calm, reliable, and refined, looked somewhat at a loss. His lips twitched, and his mind inexplicably recalled the seven archaeological commandments that his teacher, Rune, had taught him many years ago when he was studying at the Academy of Truth—

First, don't touch things randomly; second, handle the environment with caution; third, don't touch things randomly; fourth, don't jump to conclusions; fifth, don't touch things randomly; sixth, revere the traces of civilization; seventh, don't f***ing touch things randomly…

The old gentleman lowered his head and looked at his hand in a slightly bewildered manner. After so many years, he finally had that feeling again, "This must not be allowed to be known by the teacher."

But soon, the jumbled thoughts in his mind were interrupted by Nina's sudden exclamation from the side.

"Ah—" Nina couldn't help but cry out. At the former boundary of the light curtain, in the mist that constantly flowed and diffused from the forest, she widened her eyes and looked into the distance—at the place that had once been shrouded by the "Wall of Whispers."

She looked up, gazing at the space around her filled with dark mist.

Mist escaped from the dense forest, mixing with the ash and dust in the plains above, outlining a hazy "boundary."

Nina stared blankly at the scene. After who knows how long, she couldn't help but mutter to herself, "So many… are these all Xilun…"

Duncan shook his head, temporarily shaking off the wild thoughts that had suddenly popped into his head.

The entire ruin was surrounded by countless of these Whisper Trees.

Nina was startled by his words and immediately understood the deeper meaning in her teacher's statement.

He came down from the mound, his face pensive, and approached Nina.

Nina noticed the expression on her teacher's face. "Mr. Sicilanti, have you discovered something?"

Morris in the Echo and the Wall of Whispers treated every individual who entered this forest and held goodwill as an "elf."

That era had already ended—ended in the Great Annihilation.

Sicilanti didn't answer immediately, but instead calmed down and communicated with the captain in the depths of his mind—he reported everything that had happened here and waited patiently.

"So what do we do next?" Nina asked.

"Approach those 'ruins'," he said in his heart, "Investigate Morrisus."

This was only the Dream of the Whisperers.

A gentle breeze blew from the ashen sky, stirring up a layer of fine, pale ash, mixed with the mist that emanated from the forest, swirling around Sicilanti and Nina as if in embrace.

Duncan took a light breath.

However, Nina couldn't help but imagine how that elven girl, who had traveled a long way with herself and Mr. Sicilanti, and who had excitedly returned home in the mist of the Wall of Whispers, had crossed the boundary of the dense forest, crossed the light tomb, and then arrived at the edge of this ashen land, quietly transforming into a tree in this place that overlooked the remains of Morrisus.

The "witch" and the illiterate squad were still wandering around in the forest, the physical education student was still eating dirt alone in the desert, but the historian had already taken his student to the middle of the map to dig up the tomb of the ancient god.

They pierced the Wall of Whispers, saw the truth inside the wall, and even… saw Morrisus, who had been reduced to ruins.

Here, giant branches were like towers, and remnants of roots were like cities. The terrifying remains formed an apocalyptic wilderness, and ashes like bone meal filled every ravine of the earth, scattering a pale and barren landscape around the giant tree—Sicilanti and Nina stood on the edge of this extinct kingdom, as if standing on the border of the end of the world, gazing at the ancient doomsday.

Nina was a little dazed.

Sicilanti subconsciously raised his head, following Nina's gaze.

Morris, however, did not speak. The old scholar simply gazed quietly at the Whisper Trees that were arranged in a circle around the remains of Morrisus, and then, as if he had thought of something, he went to a distant mound, looking towards the direction from which he and Nina had come, towards the vast dense forest in the distance.

The soft whispers that had just entered her ears seemed to be just illusions, and what her fingertips felt was only the smooth texture of bark.

Nina's eyes widened slightly, and she instantly looked in the direction of the sound.

"That…" Nina hesitated for a moment, unable to help but ask, "But we are not elves…"

"...Because I knew from the very beginning that the Wall of Whispers could not save anyone. I am just a sapling, and when that day comes, all I can give you is a pretty bubble..."

Later, she discovered that it was a tree, a giant tree that had been almost torn to pieces, its remnants covering the ground in a twisted and tangled posture, making it almost impossible to imagine its original appearance.

At first, Sicilanti thought it was a mountain, a strangely shaped, rugged, and twisted mountain.

The canopy that had once been enough to cover the entire plain had collapsed and decayed, the trunk had also broken and crumbled, and the lush green had long disappeared from its body, as if burned by a raging fire, leaving only twisted branches like hideous bones, pointing strangely at the sky.

"Morrisus created the Wall of Whispers and gave it the mission of sheltering elves, but this is an impossible task, and it seems that from the very beginning, Morrisus, the 'creator,' knew this—but the Wall of Whispers has still been executing this command," Sicilanti said with a serious expression, "I just observed the scene at the edge of the forest and confirmed that these 'Whisper Trees' are all arranged along the dividing line between the forest and the ruins, and that their arrangement vaguely follows a pattern, like some kind of… array, rather than a random natural distribution. This is the trace of careful design."

"Nina, look over there."

Nina slowly came to the tree, hesitated for a long while, then stepped forward and placed her hand on its trunk, tentatively speaking, "Xilun?"

In the disordered wind, Nina seemed to hear someone whispering in her ear—the voice sounded a little familiar:

The tree did not speak, only the branches hanging down from the edge of the canopy swayed in the wind.

…

A breeze blew, and the trees swayed their branches, making a very subtle sound that was difficult to distinguish as the sound of the wind or the sound of the trees.

Or guarding the world outside the remains, the lush forest outlined by dreams.

Because they had already died many, many years ago—died before the appearance of intelligent races other than elves in this world.

"…I have a bold guess—'Xilun' is the Wall of Whispers," Sicilanti said in a deep voice.

"But this is not the real Morrisus and the 'Primordial Dream'," Morris shook his head and said, "Don't forget, this is just the 'Dream of the Whisperers'."

He was still with Agatha at the bottom of the Vanishing Sea, researching the massive spine of the ancient god in the hope of finding some useful information related to the Great Old One, Sasloka, or uncovering more secrets of the Vanishing Sea itself.

Sasloka's spine stretched out beneath his feet, and the fragmented ancient god seemed to be conveying some information to him in this way, and even the Vanishing Sea built on the spine of the ancient god… seemed to be doing its best to display its "memory."

Any tree in the Dream of the Whisperer was taller and more robust than it.

Duncan was a bit dazed.

The era described in the myths of the elves, the Great Old One who created the world in dreams, Sasloka, and the World Tree that sheltered the elves in dreams, Morrisus, the years when they were truly active, were long before the Deep Sea Era.

Even more Whisper Trees appeared in her vision—on the edge of the remains of the giant tree, on the dividing line between the land of ash and dust and the forest, on that doomsday border, one Whisper Tree after another was arranged in order, as if guarding the ashes and remains.

A thin and weak Whisper Tree quietly took root between dust and ash. Its trunk and branches grew upward in a twisted manner, but the outermost branches drooped down, swaying left and right in the breeze, looking… just like Sherry mentioned, the tree that Xilun finally turned into.

He didn't expect that in the short time he hadn't paid attention, Sicilanti and Nina's team had actually pulled off such a shocking feat.

Duncan felt a bit unreal in a daze.

Sicilanti was still waiting for his instructions.

It was the dim sky light, the hazy firmament, and the chaotic mist shrouded everything. It was the end of the forest, where vast mountains and hills stretched. In the endless mist, massive things gradually revealed their outlines.

Sicilanti's voice suddenly came from nearby, interrupting her wild thoughts.

Nina woke up instantly and immediately came to Sicilanti's side, looking in the direction her teacher was pointing.

There was a stimulating feeling of sending out two investigators at the beginning, only to find that Cthulhu had already died at the door after eight rounds.