A Tale of Forgotten Gods

Chapter 30: Mask of Abyss

Xue Lan pressed his hand against the cold door. His lips held no smile, eyes staring outside relentlessly. His hand curled on the handle of the door.

"The path of a dreamer is filled with dreams, and dreams... Once you wake up, they are gone." He shook his head and opened the door and stepped through without looking back at the cooling tea.

***

Elsewhere, in a corridor painted with fading light, two figures walked toward the entrance. Jian Yue and Lin. Jian Yue examined the walls. "Something is really wrong."

Lin walked, her boots clicking on the clean floor too loudly. It made no sense, but she couldn’t deny it. "The presence is heavy." Her legs stumbled, every muscle of her body tensed.

Jian Yue put his hand on his neck, rubbing it back and forth. "If what others said is true, then God’s son should be at least ordinal 5, a past demigod." Jian Yue rippled his shirt, the damp fabric sounding like a wet sail in a light breeze, a futile act against the sudden warmth.

The air turned thick, pressing down like a suffocating blanket. Lin tossed her tunic back and forth, creating a soft, rustling sound that did nothing to cool the air.

"We have three weeks of preparation, but we don’t have pages." She paused, her eyes narrowed at the doorway. "But the ascension requirements pisses me off."

"I assume that Mo Fei’s first descent ritual will happen in a different world... there is always a specific world for each." Jian Yue exhaled to calm himself.

***

Somewhere, Mo Fei and Zhuo were circling, opening doors and trying to find a way through them.

Zhuo put his hands on his temples. "Are we lost?"

"Guess what... Congratulations." Mo Fei sighed, peering around to find a way.

Hao Yu walked around; he peeked through a door, finding nothing but just cultists eating. The scent of the rice escaped the room before he backed off the gate.

Xin Yi didn’t leave Mo Fei, circling with him and her hand clenching his sleeve.

"Boom!" A voice came from behind, and they flinched from the sudden voice.

Alisa waved, and beside her stood another woman. The first thing he noticed about the woman was a genuine smile. She had short brown hair and eyes the same warm shade. She was gentle with unamusing beauty.

"You again?" Mo Fei crossed his arms together.

"Is that a sad face?"

"And you bring another person with you?"

"Can’t I? Lovenia is sweet enough to not bother you."

"I like that sound."

Mo Fei glanced at them before unwrapping his arms. "Do you only speak, or are you useful too?"

"Trust me, I’m both. With the way you speak... I’m sure you are lost."

"Now I don’t like the sound of that." He muttered. Hao Yu stood near him, his eyes staring at them.

Zhuo’s hand rested on the hilt. "Can you please show us the way... it’s... it’ll be helpful."

Alisa and Lovenia exchanged a glance. "Inventory, huh? Well, I suppose I can." She started walking with her hand opening the doors to their way.

Throughout the walk, they passed cultists who nodded in greeting. Finally they reached the inventory. It had a generic door without any security, as if it didn’t matter so much.

"Go for it." She swung open the door. Mo Fei expected shelves, boxes, and organized chaos. Instead, the room was almost empty; it was filled with old dust. A few potion bottles on the ground scattered like spilt beans.

On a single stone pedestal at the side rested a mask. Black as a moonless night, two horns on its head and closed eyes with a demonic face. Beside it, two yellow pages, vibrating with the faintest silver glow.

Mo Fei’s hand went to his covered eye, and he pressed it slightly. It still ached.

"The mask of abyss," Alisa said, her voice uncharacteristically quiet. "It’s been a useless weight for a long time now."

Lovenia finally spoke, her voice filled with warmth. "We should leave you alone then." Both Alisa and Lovenia left the room.

But the children were tugging at his clothes, not leaving Mo Fei; his eyes scanned them. "What should I do?"

Xin Yi’s grip tightened. "If I let go, they will take us again."

Mo Fei looked down at her. "No, they won’t; they are gone." Xin Yi’s fingers only dug deeper.

"I don’t want to go there."

Zhuo noticed that. Their eyes fixed on the kids. Zhuo knelt down to their level and spoke with a small chuckle. "I used to get scared too. When I had to fight alone I thought I’d die."

Hao Yu looked at him. "Did you?"

Zhuo shook his head. "No. But I was scared." He held out his hand. "You can be scared with me. Mo Fei needs to do something important. We’ll wait right here. I won’t move; I’ll save you from anything you fear."

Hao Yu stepped forward only a step before clinging back to Mo Fei.

Mo Fei spoke. "He is actually much stronger than me; you can trust him."

Hao Yu’s hand dropped into Zhuo’s. But Xin Yi didn’t move; she stared down at the surface.

Mo Fei looked at her. "Xin Yi," he said quietly, his hand pointed in the direction of the mask and pages. "I’m not leaving you; I’m just a little far away... Ten steps away. You’ll be able to see me the whole time. Just give me a few minutes."

Her eyes flickered to the place. Only ten steps away... Enough to run back.

"And Zhuo will be here," Mo Fei continued. "If anything, like anything feels wrong, he’ll come and get me. Or I’ll come back. You understand?"

She didn’t answer for a long moment. The silence was palpable in the inventory. Then, in a barely audible tone: "Everyone says this."

"I know, It’s not dangerous." He stood up. Xin Yi’s hand slipped from his sleeve and didn’t grab him again. Her eyes stayed fixed on him, squinting slightly as if trying to see through the lie.

Mo Fei walked toward the mask.

Behind him, he heard Zhuo’s voice, low and calm, talking to Hao Yu about nothing but the temple. How dust got everywhere. Keeping their minds occupied.

The mask loomed before him. In a close look, it was worse. The black colour seemed like depth, then he saw something move; the empty sockets weren’t empty; something moved in them, just beyond sight.

The pages beside glowed faintly. Mo Fei reached for the first one. The ordinal 10th page.

The moment his fingers touched the paper, the world was not the world he had known.

He wasn’t in the room anymore.

He stood in a void. Grey, formless, endless. And before him, a single thread of silver light stretched into infinity.

A voice spoke. Too much familiar to ignore. "The First Witness."

Mo Fei opened his mouth. "This voice..." Mo Fei’s chest ached.

The voice manifested. A woman stood ahead. She was in her early 40s, her hair in a bun, her eyes the same as Mo Fei’s.

He couldn’t find any words; it was the only thing he had wished to see, just once more. The silhouette of his mother.

But he knew the threads weren’t familiar; just the voice was.

The silhouette spoke. "Read the ritual requirements."

"Why?! Who are you truly?"

"The manifestation of the ritual," it said and continued. "I take the place of someone close to an ascender."

Mo Fei’s hand went to his chest. And his eyes narrowed at the page.

"1:- Write your name on the mask with the ’Ji Yu’ feather."

"2: Wear the mask and choose your destiny."

"3:- Hide what you can’t..."

"4:- Three days advancement time."

The first two he could do... But ’hide what you can’t’?

"You will write your name on the mask with your blood. The mask will hold memories. In return, you will receive the Foundation-Seer’s eyes and the ability to deceive."

"And the mask?"

"The mask will bind to you. It will hold what you cannot..." A shield. Something to slow the cost. "But it is not infinite. If it breaks, the costs will flow at once."

Mo Fei understood the consequences. The mask wouldn’t save him forever. It would just delay the inevitable.

"Do you accept such outcomes?"

He thought of home. Of sunlight through a window and the warmth of the food made by his mother. "No." He looked at the silhouette of his mother. "But if I have no other options, denying the outcomes would be foolish."

***

The void dissolved from his sight, and his senses came back. Mo Fei was back in the dusty room, his hand still touching the page.

The ’Ji Yu’ feather was in world 4, but he had one in his pocket. Pure luck that he took it from there. His hand searched the pocket, and hand found the sharp quill, taking it out.

He drew the Glaive; the sharp edge cut his right finger. It stung him once. His fingers held the feather before he dipped it in his own blood.

The feather dripped blood. His hand held the mask of abyss. He pressed the quill on it.

The name ’Mo Fei’ appeared on the mask in letters of silver blood. He didn’t even write.

The page disappeared, dissolved like mist, leaving behind the memory of the faint glow. He moved the mask to his face.

The closed eyes stared at him. Mo Fei’s vision blurred. When it cleared, the world looked different.

A mask that deceived.

Slowly, the warmth disappeared. The mask settled against his skin, and for a second, he couldn’t breathe under the mask. Then it bonded; it became his perception.

He could see through both eyes now, even though his right eye was gone. The mask saw for him. The left socket showed the normal world. The right showed the threads more clearly than the left.

Mo Fei turned.

The cost had been sided for a greater one.

Mo Fei traced it. The surface was smooth and cool; his gaze lowered at his ribbon. The number had changed from 11 to 10, and ’The Witness’ had disappeared completely. No other name had appeared yet.

"It’s okay." He glanced at Xin Yi. "It’s mine now."

Three days of Descent. The ribbon would tell once the ritual was completed after three days. His arm ached, a signal that his body was beginning to change.

Hao Yu tugged Zhuo’s sleeve. "The mask... Looks scary." Hao Yu pressed closer to Zhuo. "Is he still him?"

The question hung in the air. Zhuo just observed Mo Fei with an unreadable expression. "Congratulations." Zhuo blinked. "The ritual will take more time to awaken; let’s head back... you can remove the mask."

***

Elsewhere, in a corridor reflecting the afternoon’s golden light, Xue Lan stood at an intersection. A moth sat on his fingers, then it dissolved.

A bird landed on the windowsill beside him, the same little blue one, its feathers bright against the grey stone. It chirped twice. Oblivious of the situation, or perhaps knowing, but a way of comfort.

Xue Lan looked at its smallness, and freedom,. It had complete ignorance of the weights that crushed him.

His moth flew toward somewhere and he followed it.

***

In the inventory room, Mo Fei picked up the second page. Ordinal 6. Far beyond his reach for now. He folded it carefully and placed it inside his robe.

Hao Yu tugged his sleeve. "Can we go now?" Mo Fei took off his mask and looked down at him.

"Yeah," he said. "We can go." He took a rope from the ground and bound the mask on his shoulder.

"My Authority," Zhuo whispered quietly, "lets me see the traces of motion, but with that mask on... I couldn’t recognise you."

"What?" Mo Fei said in surprise.

Zhuo shook his head. "I don’t know. But it’s never happened before... It’s almost as if you can become a different person." Mo Fei went silent, thinking of this situation and what the reason behind it was. Zhuo opened the door, and the light spilt inside. They walked out together.

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