Chapter 507: The Witch Doctors' Divine Name and the Entrance to the Dream Realm

The Capital of Matale

The entire ducal family streamed into the towering stone palace. Even the younger members living in distant lands had returned.

Men and women, old and young, all wore the same grief on their faces.

Throughout the palace halls, the winged people spoke in whispers. Everyone present wore clothing commonly seen in the winged people's kingdom.

Some left one arm bare, their garments secured by a single thin strap fastened at the back. Others wore two narrow straps that joined behind them.

The loose cut left their wings entirely free, with nothing to hinder them.

The more noble the wearer and the more formal the occasion, the lower the hem fell. The winged people seemed intent on hiding their inhuman lower limbs, as though hoping to resemble the beautiful, noble sky messengers.

People came and went without pause, each taking a place beside the bed to speak with the elder reduced to skin and bone.

"Father."

"Uncle!"

"Uncle!"

"Grandfather."

From the bed, Ose watched one familiar figure after another arrive to see them off and send them on to the kingdom of the god.

"You have come back!"

With every new arrival, they nodded.

Each time, they repeated the same words before calling the newcomer's name.

Their voice was hoarse and feeble, their mind already clouded.

The sight drove those around them to lower their heads in unbearable grief. Some could not suppress their sobs, while others covered their mouths.

Ose wanted to speak, but no strength remained.

In the end, they could only lie there and quietly regard the generations that had followed them.

Every trace of grief in that room was genuine. Ose had passed the ducal seat to the next generation long ago and withdrawn from affairs many years before, leaving little cause for a bitter struggle over their legacy.

As the family's oldest elder, Ose had been its ridgepole. Their death would be an immense loss to both the family and the nation.

Ose had aged terribly in recent years. Eight or nine years was neither a long time nor a short one.

Ose was a second-rank ability user, and many descendants had already been born into the great-grandchildren's generation. A life of ninety years was full and complete.

They had never imagined undertaking so much in their old age.

There were the reforms, there was the introduction of the brown ball vine, and there was the work with the demon spirits.

They had even wanted to take their own power one step further.

In the end, however, they had failed.

By midnight, Ose had abruptly rallied. They sat up in bed and had themself helped into a chair, just as they would have in the old days.

The sight only deepened everyone's anxiety. They all knew Ose's final moment had come.

Just then, a branch of the family that had hurried from the Oracle Kingdom arrived and hastened to Ose's side.

A married couple, they carried themselves differently from the rest of the family and looked more like scholars.

Ose saw the child in their arms, only three or four years old, and dimly remembered that she was the first child born to the great-grandchildren's generation.

Ose had never laid eyes on her before.

"Who is this?"

The winged woman answered, "This is our child, Duke Ose."

The winged man said, "Grandfather, this is Matafus. She was born beneath a rainbow on a beautiful rainy day."

In the winged people's tongue, her name meant child of the rain. Its first two syllables, Mata, came from Matale, which itself meant in the rain.

As Ose gazed at the child, they realized that their grandchildren now had children of their own.

"Even this little one is growing up."

Ose regarded the child for a moment, then asked her a question.

"Do you know me?"

The child looked shyly at Ose. Their clouded eyes met hers, glimmering with deep emotion.

Looking at the child, the dying elder seemed to see their own life continuing within her.

The child called out, "Great-grandfather!"

A smile spread across Ose's face. Sitting upright, they gathered the child into their arms.

The child was tiny, with soft feathers on her wings. Dressed in white, she looked like a little sky messenger.

Ose gently lifted her, while the woman beside them reached out anxiously to steady the child.

Ose looked at the shape of her.

"You look just like a little sky messenger."

The look in Ose's eyes and the warmth of their expression dispelled the child's fear, and she began to laugh.

The bond of shared blood was a beautiful thing. Sometimes no words were needed. The other person's scent alone could bring a sense of peace.

"Great-grandfather, have you really seen a sky messenger?"

Ose settled the child on their lap and remembered traveling to the Sacred Mountain of Light for the sky messenger selection in their youth.

"When I was a little older than you, I went to the Sacred Mountain of Light and came within a hair of becoming a sky messenger."

Ose blinked.

"It is true. Only a hair."

It was no lie. Ose had reached the peak of second rank by their own strength and had indeed fallen only a hair short of the selection's aptitude requirement.

The child asked, "Why didn't you become a sky messenger?"

Ose said, "They told me I lacked a little talent. Perhaps what I truly lacked was a little courage and a little stubbornness. I might have held on back then, but in the end I gave up."

In truth, Ose knew that effort alone could never have overcome the flaw in their talent, however close they had come.

Looking back now, however, they wondered if the faintest chance might have remained had they pushed themself a little harder.

The past could not be reclaimed. All that remained was regret.

The child looked up at her great-grandfather with open longing.

"Getting to go to the Sacred Mountain of Light for the sky messenger selection is already amazing!"

"Father and Mother say you're a very, very... very amazing person."

Ose rocked gently in the chair, swaying with the child in their arms.

"Haha. Once, perhaps."

"I am proud to have gone to the Sacred Mountain of Light for the selection. I am proud to have governed this nation steadily and well."

"But I take greatest pride in the latter half of my life. In its final ten years, to be exact."

Fumbling near the head of the bed, Ose finally drew out a book.

Round Earth Theory.

Ose pointed to the names written on it. Among them was their own.

The sight of the book lit Ose's eyes and transformed their whole bearing.

"This is what I am proudest of. I helped Ray build the Globe, and helped him compile this very book, the Round Earth Theory. There, you see? My name is written on it."

Unable to hold back, the child's father stepped forward.

"Great-grandfather, this is a monumental discovery. Your name is certain to endure in the annals of history, praised by all."

"Not only the winged people. Every race will remember you."

The child asked in curiosity, "The world's really shaped like a ball?"

Ose nodded.

"It is. Someone has already proved it."

The child asked again, "Who was it?"

Ose held up the Round Earth Theory.

"The first name on the list, the one who wrote this book. An ancient member of the divine race named Ray."

"He flew an aircraft from Ruhe Beast Island all the way around the world, proving the earth is round. He built a Myriad Magic Tool unlike any before it and soared into the high heavens."

"He fears nothing. He does not know fear or surrender."

"He is the person I always longed to become, steadfast and stubborn."

As the child listened, the longing and yearning in Ose's voice awakened a longing within her too.

The book fell open near the back, revealing a letter tucked between its pages.

It was Ray's most recent letter to Ose.

Ray had written that his attempt to fly into the high heavens had failed.

Jokingly, he said that he had fallen from the sky and made a terrible landing. Now he was searching all across the sea for the scattered pieces of the Sun's Wing.

So far, he had recovered the Sun's Wing's body, both wings, and one foot.

The failure had been crushing, yet Ray's letter held not the slightest trace of discouragement.

"Never give up."

"How I envy him!"

Ose gently stroked the letter. As they read the words on the page, Ray seemed to rise before their eyes.

A refined young man with barely any expression on his face, but a fire burning behind his eyes.

Ose said to the child, "Remember this. If one day you find something you want with all your heart, something you truly want to do, then go and do it."

The child asked, "If I try, will I succeed?"

The elder shrugged and shook their head.

"There is no guarantee!"

"But if you never try, you will regret it one day."

"And when you are as old as I am, you will spend all day saying..."

Looking into the child's eyes, Ose adopted the gruff voice of an actor upon a stage.

"If, back then, I had chosen that road, I would surely be different today. I would surely be more successful. I would surely have accomplished something great."

At that point, their voice slowed once more.

"Does that not sound ridiculous?"

The child covered her little face and shook her head again and again.

"I don't want to turn into that."

Ose laughed aloud before answering her.

"Precisely. Do not become that kind of person."

"We may fail, but we must never be cowards. We may be weak, but we must still be brave."

"We all wish we had been steadfast and stubborn. We wish that at every choice, at every fork in the road, we had charged bravely ahead."

"Whether the road was right or wrong."

"Rather than linger, waver, and turn back in fear."

"Just like... Ray."

Ose's expression gradually changed as the spirit drained from them.

"A pity. By the time I understood, it was already too late."

"By the time I found true courage and knew to press ahead, I had already missed far too much."

Ose's voice dwindled. The others noticed the change, and the child's mother moved to lift her away, but Ose shook their head.

Clinging to their final breath, they spoke softly.

"Wait a little..."

"Just a little longer."

"I am waiting for someone."

Though their life had reached its end, Ose held back that final breath and waited for someone.

As the sky began to brighten, a streak of flowing radiance appeared at its far edge.

Lomier had arrived at last.

When he entered, everyone lowered their heads and regarded the sky messenger with curiosity.

Lomier walked up to the chair and called the elder's name, "Ose!"

At the sound of his voice, Ose slowly opened their eyes at last.

They looked at their friend and spoke in a whisper.

"I failed, Lomier!"

Lomier looked at Ose without speaking. He knew they had only one breath left and that they wanted to say everything in that single breath.

"But even now, at the end, I am happy."

"Because I went and did it. I lost, that is all."

"The hardest thing in life is not defeat. It is wanting to do so many things, only to do none of them in the end."

Lomier knew that Ose had said those words to him.

That was why Ose had wanted to see him one last time. They had no request to make of him, only the reassurance that if he truly meant to do it, he need neither panic nor fear.

At the final moment, he would not regret his own last decision.

Finally, Ose asked Lomier to carry a message to Ray, who could not be there, the person they would never see again after their farewell.

"If you ever see Ray again."

"Tell him..."

"I was fortunate to meet him, and unfortunate not to have met him sooner."

"To live never giving up and leave no regret behind is too beautiful a dream for ordinary people like us."

"But in the end, at least I do not leave with the greatest regret of all."

"I am grateful to him!"

Ose said it all in a single breath, then let their head settle against the chair.

Their face turned toward the windowsill where the sunlight entered. No further sound came from them.

Even in death, they still faced the sun.

In that last moment, they seemed to see once more the aircraft that had emerged from the sea of clouds wrapped in rainbow-like light.

They saw the mechanical puppet gleaming in the sunlight, waving to them with its companions gathered beside it.

As death came, their hands remained locked around the book.

The book called Round Earth Theory.

Lomier stepped forward to close Ose's eyes.

He told them, "I shall tell Ray."

Ose's Life Dream entered the Dream Starry Sea rather than the summit of the Sacred Mountain of Light from the winged people's legends.

At that time, the Sacred Mountain of Light had not yet become a Divine Kingdom and could not receive the spirits of servants. In any case, Ose had never served the King of the Sky Messengers.

Everyone bowed their heads to mourn Ose's passing.

---

Floating Island, the Witch Doctor Kingdom

Meanwhile, the botanical garden above had been turned upside down. Deep in its jungle stood a tiny city, a hundred times smaller than the cities of mortals.

The city stood at the foot of an enormous tree, beside a small stream.

Its many kinds of houses imitated those of the mortal world, and the same was true among the surrounding trees. Small doors opened at the foot of trunks, in the forks of branches, and within cracks in the burls, each with a tiny home behind it.

Lately, Shelly's favorite pastime was searching the jungle for the little doors tucked into the trees' crevices and knocking on them.

Twig in hand, Shelly crouched on a tree and rapped at a tiny door no more than ten centimeters high.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

A key imp lived inside. It poked its head out, looked around, and immediately shrieked.

"Eeek!"

Abandoning its home on the spot, it tore around the trunk and vanished without a trace.

"Pfft!"

Shelly nearly rolled on the ground laughing. It was far too much fun.

Next, Shelly found another little wooden door at the foot of a tree and knocked on it.

A pen imp lived inside. When the door opened, it called out, "Letters written to order. One coin per..."

Then it looked up and saw the little giant crouched in its doorway with a wicked grin.

"Aaah!"

With that single shriek, it slammed the door shut.

Shelly paid it no mind, merely stifling her laughter.

Never tiring of the game, she continued searching the jungle for the next hidden imp house.

Along the way, she spotted a moving pair of scissors. An eye had grown from the screw at their pivot, giving them a rather frightening appearance.

"Trim... trim..."

It had no mouth, but a faint ripple of consciousness carried the words. Weak though it was, it remained an extraordinary Wisdom Seed.

It could speak mind to mind whenever it chose.

The scissors were trimming the jungle's low shrubs, as though they had once belonged to a gardener.

Shelly caught hold of the scissors.

On a whim, she hacked a small tree beside the path until it looked as though a dog had chewed it, then turned away in satisfaction.

The scissors imp stared from the shrubs it had trimmed so neatly to the single gnawed, ragged one standing among them like a crane in a flock of chickens. For a long while, it had no idea what to do.

Eventually, she reached the miniature city's outskirts.

Craning her neck, she crept forward on tiptoe.

She slowly eased her head above the city wall. The moment she peered inside, panic erupted.

A dark shadow engulfed the entire city.

Every imp fell into chaos and fled for home.

"Run!" A crowd of little bottle imps had been standing in line. As they fled in panic, they crashed into one another and toppled like dominoes.

"It's that one, it's that one!" A quill pen imp styled after those of the winged people's kingdom stared skyward and screamed in the terrified voice of a middle-aged man.

"Shut the doors! Everyone, shut your doors!" Doors slammed shut throughout the city.

"She snatched up several cup imps just a few days ago! Everybody, watch out!" Several imp soldiers, once silver forks and spoons, shouted from the road at the top of their voices. Marching onto the main thoroughfare, they glared valiantly at the terrible shadow in the sky, ready to fight to the death, though for some reason their lower halves had long since gone soft.

Most imps were missing a string somewhere and looked none too clever.

They were Wisdom Seeds nonetheless, and many could carry on a conversation. This was especially true now that they had lived for some time and begun living in groups.

Perhaps their humanlike habits came from the power mortals left behind at death, though no one could say for certain.

The botanical garden was not the only place transformed. The City of the Divine Kingdom had changed too.

Most imps placed in the City of the Divine Kingdom were larger ones, arranged here and there as ornaments.

The scroll painting imp, the helmet imp, and others like them had all been placed inside.

They brought a touch of color to the empty City of the Divine Kingdom.

For a time, the whole Witch Doctor Kingdom brimmed with life.

During this period, the witch doctors entered the God's Mount to seek the Dream Sovereign, Hila.

"Lady Hila!"

The golden-haired spirit already knew why the witch doctors had come. They had brought so many imps to life for a single purpose, opening the great gate of the Dream Realm and drawing the power of dreams into this world.

"Have you made all your preparations?"

"And where will you place the entrance to the Dream Realm and your mythical altar?"

The six witch doctors had settled on their plan long ago and answered at once.

"Lady Hila, we intend to place the entrance to the Dream Realm and the mythical altar within the botanical garden."

Hila nodded.

"Then go. I shall lend you my aid."

Every mythology built its own mythical altar, gaining the power to open a gate into the Dream Realm and extend its law and strength across great distances. Through it, the mythology could also sense any servant or believer who chanted its divine name.

This place, however, lay beyond the Dream Realm's reach. Despite their preparations, the witch doctors still needed the Dream Sovereign's help.

Once Lady Hila agreed, the witch doctors breathed a sigh of relief.

Now nothing at all could go wrong.

The six witch doctors gathered in the botanical garden and made their way upstream. From there, they could see the garden's largest tree and the imp city beneath it.

The miniature city itself was the mythical altar the witch doctors had built. A wide hollow in the great tree held a set of double wooden doors.

Standing in a ring around the imp city, the witch doctors formed the same gesture with their hands.

It was as though they were praying.

The miniature city that served as their mythical altar blazed with light. Lines of pattern emerged within the city, beyond it, and across its walls.

A shaft of light shot into the sky, reaching toward another world.

Along that light, the witch doctors' voices carried to the farthest reaches.

"Rooted in the realm of the void within the dreams of all living beings, reaching deep into the domain of dreams within the consciousness of all spirits."

"I inscribe my divine name in the depths of the Dream Realm, and with the mythical altar as the bond I seal an eternal pact with the Dream Realm."

At their words, a mighty power crossed over from that other world and spread through every corner of the floating island.

It reached even into the depths of every heart.

"Our divine name is..."

"The Lord of the Divine Form above the Star Realm, the God of Creation of the Spirits of Old Things, the Primordial Mythical Witch Doctors born of the power of creation."

At that moment, the six witch doctors cried out in unison.

"The mythical altar of the Witch Doctor Kingdom, open!"

As the divine name appeared, the witch doctors' power poured into the mythical altar and spread onward into the Dream Realm.

Their mythical law began to travel through the Dream Realm as well, carrying the very mythical traits they had inscribed upon the Divine Cup.

Witch Doctor Left Hand, for example, could bestow extraordinary power on a dead thing and turn it into an organ. Witch Doctor Left Leg and Witch Doctor Right Leg could absorb the power of emotion and memory.

Their mythical law reached through the Dream Realm and into every corner.

From then on, any old object in the world that held longing and memory might become an imp under the power of the mythical altar and the witch doctors' mythical law.

At the same time, imps born during this period were reaching the witch doctors through the mythical altar's power.

Together, the witch doctors raised their hands and pointed at the great tree the imp city leaned against.

"Gate of the Dream Realm, open!"

At their command, the wooden doors in the tree hollow burst open with a roar.

Shadows flickered into being as imp after imp tumbled through.

They slid down the great tree's aerial roots and along its grain, spilling into the miniature city.

---

The Land of Light, Matale Principality

Once Ose's funeral ended, the gathered mourners slowly dispersed.

The sprawling family had produced many illustrious figures and held an entire nation in its grip, yet only a handful in each generation inherited anything, while most became ordinary nobles.

By the third generation, many held nothing but a title, without any fief at all.

By the following generation, they might not inherit even an honorary title.

Matafus's parents belonged to that class of honorary nobles, possessing nothing beyond a title. They had met at the Oracle Academy in the Oracle Kingdom, then become instructors at the Oracle Academy themselves, teaching etiquette and history to the children of nobles.

Now they were leaving the Matale Principality to return to the Oracle Kingdom.

The airship station on the mountaintop was already packed.

After a short wait, a standard mechanical fish airship descended from the sky, its tail swaying somewhat stiffly.

"Demon spirit airship bound for the Oracle Kingdom, with a stop in the Good News Kingdom." A Jar Demon Spirit aboard the ship made the announcement.

"Only those with tickets may board," the Jar Demon Spirit added.

"Can't I pay now?" Several winged people crowded around the winged ticket seller off to one side of the station. The so-called tickets were merely strips of coarse cloth covered in writing.

"No. We're sold out." Seats on the demon spirits' airships were clearly in high demand and had been snapped up long ago.

Passengers filed aboard the floating ship. Some found it novel, while others had long grown accustomed to the demon spirit race's airships.

Many winged people still flew short distances themselves. For journeys across one or several nations, however, they had begun growing accustomed to the demon spirits' airships, especially when burdened with luggage.

"Matafus, we need to board too," her father said to the little girl at the station.

The little girl remained on the bench, reading as though lost in the book's world.

Then her mother bent down and fixed her with a glare.

"Matafus!"

Only when her mother sharply called her name did the startled girl close the book.

Satisfied at last, her mother nodded and spoke.

"That's enough reading. Hurry up and get aboard!"

"Miss this one, and it'll be more than ten days before the next."

Carrying the Round Earth Theory, the book Ose had held in their final moments, little Matafus boarded the mechanical fish airship and took a window seat.

It was only an ordinary book. In everyone else's eyes, it could not compare with Ose's precious tools or books on divine technique research. It was not even worth as much as a map of the world.

That was why Matafus had been allowed to keep it, yet the little girl treasured it, considering it immeasurably precious, valuable, and meaningful.

Above all, the world described within the book filled Matafus with wonder.

"A world shaped like a ball. Only a very small piece of this world has truly been explored. The more we come to know of it, the more of the unknown we find."

"The earth holds a force that draws everything, ourselves included, down against its surface. All that we take for granted is in truth a law of a strength beyond imagining."

Matafus sat at the window, her small head brimming with imaginings.

She drew the letter from the book and wondered whether she should open and read it.

Matafus failed to notice the writing on the book suddenly begin to flow and twist, forming the outlines of human figures.

Though there was no wind, the pages stirred. Then, of all things, they flapped into the air and flew.

They flew out through the window.

By then, the mechanical fish airship had already climbed into the sky.

"Huh?"

Astonished, Matafus reached out to catch the book.

The book was too fast. In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the sky, vanished into a blaze of splendid light.

Clutching the letter Ray had written to her great-grandfather, the girl leaned out the window and stared into the blue sky beyond.

"Great-grandfather's book..."

"It flew away?"