Free Web NovelChapter 2022: Chapter 2022: The Reappearance of Miss Feliana
Standing there, looking at the Outlander she had longed for years, the young Red Dragon girl brought her black, little leather shoes together, while her tail behind her continued to lightly tap the ground. After explaining the current situation, she opened her arms to Shard.
After Shard gave her a knowing hug, Fiona took a deep breath with an uneasy heart, then satisfiedly smelled the scent of her own mother dragon on Shard, unobscured by the scent of other kin.
This indicates that there are no other Dragon Ladies around him.
She wanted to do something in this future dream of the Council, also curious if he’s living well now, but she knew this meeting wouldn’t last long:
"Shard, you lie here for a while longer, I’ll go get the teachers."
"But..."
"Don’t worry, the ritual is still stable, sleep, we’ll meet again in a while. Sleep, Shard..."
Everything in front became enigmatic again, the recently restored consciousness seemed to fall once more into the abyss. The figure of Fiona standing beside became blurred, she seemed to reach out to touch his face, but Shard could no longer discern.
Stretching out his arm again to place it on the round table in front of him, he soon fell back into slumber.
This time the sleep was rather brief, the scent of violets and roses soon led his consciousness out of chaos again.
The fresh and elegant floral fragrance was truly pleasant, not just as soothing and comforting as moonlight at night...
He heard "her" laughter, then woke up abruptly, not allowing his confused thoughts to extend further.
Jolting up like waking from a nightmare, he saw the fair hand with a gold ring shake in front of him:
"Can you see how many fingers this is?"
Because of getting up too abruptly, the view in front was still somewhat blurry, but Shard could at least see clearly, that the gold ring was the symbol of the Council Archwitch and the fingers were two:
"Two fingers."
"Count with me, one, two, three."
"One, two, three."
He repeated as he turned his head towards the source of the violet and rose fragrance, then met a pair of gently smiling golden eyes.
In an instant he held his breath completely, even though only looking at the eyes without thoroughly observing the face, when the gentle eyes’ soul gazed upon him simultaneously, he realized who was speaking beside him:
"Miss Mana Feliana!"
The Archwitch, as beautiful as a violet, with a smiling expression, slightly bent down looking at Shard who had just lifted his head.
Wearing a lavish purple gown, a silver earring adorned her right ear. Her features were pronounced, the golden hair this time not simply tied up but styled into highly elaborate hair buns. The smooth gold hair pinned up from the side of the head, secured with hairpins inset with small diamonds and rubies.
Besides those hairpins, the hair hanging behind the ears was decorated with silk ribbons, the hairstyle suited for formal occasions, fully showcasing Miss Mana Feliana’s nobility, intelligence, and elegance.
Although during the final farewell to Fiona in "City of Eternal Night", he briefly saw Miss Feliana, such intimate gazing still seemed a distant past, by the campfire at the Forest of Thousand Trees.
His thoughts seemed to drift back to the past, Shard became momentarily speechless at what he should say. He gazed at her, she gazed back smilingly. They stared at each other until a cough sounded from beside.
Shard and Miss Mana Feliana turned their heads to look at Fiona, the Red Dragon Girl confusedly pointed at herself, then shook her head in panic.
Then turning to the side, Miss Briony Orlando, while playing with the hair hanging beside her ear, reminded:
"Teacher, Shard doesn’t have much time for connection this time."
The long unseen Yellow Moon Witch, still wearing a uniquely elf-styled green gown, bound her yellow hair up, the symbol of elven lineage, pointed ears, adorned with yellow and silver moon-shaped earrings. She nodded at Shard smilingly as well, her eyes carrying quite complex meanings.
Miss Mana Feliana glanced at her student, nodded gently, reached out her right hand to Shard. Upon Shard holding her hand, she directly pulled Shard up from the seat:
"Long time no see, Shard."
The voice was calm yet gentle:
"My student, this time, what confusion do you want me to help solve?"
Her golden eyes continued to gaze at Shard, still holding his hand. From the Forest of Thousand Trees to the Valley of Dead Silence, back to the City of Eternal Night, Miss Mana Feliana seemed unchanged at all. Her refined face seemed permanently paused at some moment, fairer skin than young unicorns...
[Your time is limited.]
"Teacher."
Shard snapped back to reality, even though he had expected the possibility of success, when he actually saw Miss Mana Feliana, the stirring emotion and indescribable feeling in his heart still rendered him momentarily speechless.
"I know, I know all of it. Without me by your side, the last path of the Sixth Era must be difficult, right?"
She smiled gently, as if already knowing the tribulations Shard faced in the Sixth Era:
"It’s okay, everything’s okay, I’ve always been waiting for you."
With that, reaching out, she gently hugged Shard.
Though the words seemed like they were comforting the student, to Fiona and Miss Orland beside them, it didn’t seem like comfort at all.
Fiona stood there with her legs together under her skirt, but her swaying tail indicated her mood. She looked at her teacher again, so the Moon Witch once again asked "untimely" questions:
"Shard, we managed to meet successfully this time; your active connection on your side was the most important reason, but I think this shouldn’t be something that can be replicated. Do you have anything urgent to ask us?"
Miss Mana Feliana also released Shard:
"Yes, what did you encounter this time?"
Shard tried to restrain his excitement at this moment and said to the two Grand Witches:
"I heard some news in the Sixth Era, about the apocalypse."
Fiona was somewhat bewildered, Miss Orland looked worriedly at her teacher, but the blonde witch nodded slightly, her gentle expression unchanged:
"Since you already know this news, we can also tell you something we know: yes, the Sixth Era is theoretically facing the apocalypse."
"But why?"
"The world before the First Era was the bygone days. After the First Era, it was already the afterglow before the apocalypse. In the Second Era, the departure of The Gods caused the crumbling support of the world, in the Third Era, the shattering of rules gave birth to terrible things like Evil Spirit Demons, in the Fourth Era, civilization comprehensively collapsed, and the Era of darkness and chaos arrived, now in the Fifth Era, our now..."
She lightly shook her head to Shard:
"Do you really think it’s right that only women can become Transcendent beings with the power of the Ancient God: Chaos Witch?"
Fiona showed a look of sudden realization, she seemed to be hearing this for the first time.
Shard had heard similar expressions from Laplace Klein Howard, but he still wanted to confirm:
"So, the apocalypse really is..."
"Yes, all things have an ultimate death, even the world of the First Era that continued for billions of years will have its curtain fall. Since the Second Era began, it has been a stage where the curtain is falling."
Miss Orland said, gently pursing her lips:
"Originally, we couldn’t directly tell you these things. But now you’ve become stronger, and you’ve already obtained the truth yourself. I’m very sorry, Shard, but these are the facts."
Even though the Outlander was prepared, he still found it hard to breathe:
"So it’s really not caused by external forces, but truly just because there was a beginning, so there will be an end?"
So this Foreigner, it turns out, really was sitting in the audience when the grand theatrical performance came to its finale. But he couldn’t let the performance on this stage end, otherwise, sitting alone in the seats after the curtains fell would have no meaning.
"Teacher."
Fiona raised her hand beside him, and when both teachers looked at her, she gently asked:
"The thirteen Ancient Gods also cannot..."
"With a beginning, there will be an end. Even the Deities who created everything will witness the termination along with the world."
Miss Mana Feliana knew what she wanted to ask, and after answering Fiona’s question, she continued to say to Shard:
"But although the apocalypse cannot be reversed, it can be delayed. From the Second Era to our present Fifth Era, though the world’s condition has been worsening, civilization still exists, wisdom continues to reproduce, and the world still sustains everything. Many people did many things; otherwise, you and us wouldn’t be standing here discussing these. As for your Sixth Era, the situation is indeed worse than the previous Eras, and... the timing of the Sixth Era is off."
Fiona raised her hand to speak again:
"Yes, if Shard was just one Era away from us, no matter how difficult, we would always be able to find a way to communicate with him. But between Shard and us, although the timeline seems coherent, each attempt to communicate with the next Era feels as if the timeline has spiraled several times before continuing forward. We seem close, yet we are actually very distant."
"It’s not spiraled several times; there are at least six ruins."
Shard said, but he did not intend to explain Luvia’s destruction time. That was not only Luvia’s secret, but more crucially, it was the future for the ladies of the Fifth Era. Informing them of such secret things about their future is an extremely dangerous act in the time rules.
However, Miss Mana Feliana seemed to have understood, her beautiful brows furrowing slightly:
"So that’s how it is. The situation is worse than expected; the future’s possibilities are not many."
"A deity once mentioned to me that there would be no Seventh Era... Miss Mana Feliana, what else can we do?"
Shard immediately asked, as this was the most critical question. Even Laplace Klein Howard, with such an outstanding Divination Talent, could only guess the bygone eras and could not find the right way to the future. If the apocalypse is bound to come, then accept the facts and prepare. Miss Mana Feliana also said that past generations have been delaying the inevitable end.
"There’s not much, but actually, there is a lot. Shard, I am certain that besides you and us of the Fifth Era, there are many more people attempting to resist the apocalypse’s arrival or at least find a way to survive through it. I cannot tell you everything you can do, not because I can’t speak of it, but one reason is, we of the Fifth Era are also still researching, and another is, you are not strong enough yet."
When Shard first met Miss Mana Feliana and Miss Orland in the Forest of Thousand Trees, he was at the Second Ring, and now he is at the Seventh Ring. But compared with Demigod Witches and Thirteenth Rank Witches, this is indeed far from enough:
"Yes, Teacher. I will seize time to enhance my power, so is there anything I can do now?"
"Yes."
The beautiful and intelligent blonde Grand Witch tapped the table and looked at her student with some reluctance:
"This task you are actually already doing, and doing it well, otherwise you couldn’t meet us here — you must control the Witch Council."
