Gun of Ashes

How many days and nights has it been since they set out? Froki couldn’t quite remember; he just stared blankly at the distant rising day, feeling the warm sunlight illuminate his figure into a gray-white silhouette.

”Why are you so eager?”

A faint auditory hallucination echoed in his ears, as though a woman were inquiring about something.

”What’s on the other side of the ocean that is so important? In the end, it’s just another boring sea, isn’t it? Why bother devoting your whole life to it?”

The woman gently caressed Froki’s face, trying to smooth out his furrowed brow, but no matter how hard she tried, Froki still maintained a stern expression, and these wrinkles seemed carved onto his face like scars.

Froki moved forward with difficulty, seeing Lorenzo and the Plague Doctor before him, a rope connecting them to ensure they remained within each other’s sight.

His skin began to crack, while the woman’s soft murmur kept echoing beside his ear.

Froki understood this was a sign of being influenced by power. As Lorenzo would describe, an Anti-Meme could also be interpreted as a reverse ”erosion.” With this understanding, nothing that happened would surprise Froki.

Fortunately, for now, he only heard chaotic auditory hallucinations, and his vision hadn’t started hallucinating.

Perhaps due to the influence of the Anti-Meme, Froki found that the mutation of his body was considerably delayed. He didn’t know if this was good or bad, but at least it meant his expected lifespan was now slightly longer.

”How difficult it is...”

Froki stopped in his tracks and looked at the surrounding scenery. Under the myriad effects, coupled with the monotonous and boring scenery all around, Froki had vaguely lost his sense of time, and his perception began to blur; he couldn’t remember how long he had been moving forward.

Perhaps only a few hours, or maybe a few days, or even tens of days.

Memories began to fade, becoming as dull as the world before his eyes, leaving only monotonous gray and white.

Everywhere was filled with blinding light; the glow comforted people, but after witnessing so much, Froki felt as though this place had turned into a pure white Hell.

It was an endless journey; they would keep moving forward but would never die, forever wandering in this white desert.

Froki pondered as the rope in front of him was pulled to its maximum length, the tension bringing force. He mechanically stepped forward, following the already somewhat blurred figure, as the woman’s voice resounded again beside his ears.

”Do you really want to fill the Nautical Chart so badly?”

Froki should have kept silent, but perhaps reality was too unbearable, and he responded involuntarily.

”Then what?”

This time, Froki replied to the woman’s words, beginning to communicate with the auditory hallucination.

Before the woman could continue asking, Froki poured out the words deeply buried in his heart.

”Everyone will die, die meaninglessly. It’s even said that we are born meaningless... But I don’t want that. I believe evaluating a person’s value is about what their death can bring about.”

”You want to be someone recorded in history?”

”Maybe, but that’s too hard. How many people have actually left a mark in history?”

Froki said somewhat sorrowfully.

”I just hope my life can have some value, but value is different for everyone, isn’t it?”

Looking ahead at the blurred silhouette, Froki could still barely make out Lorenzo and the Plague Doctor’s figures.

”Some things may seem worthless to others, but for me, they are invaluable. That’s probably how it is.”

”Your dream is about to come true; you’re about to explore this uncharted land... Why do I feel you’re not happy?”

The woman came before Froki, blocking his path and asked.

Froki also stopped; he couldn’t see the woman’s appearance, nor did he know if she really existed. He just felt there was something in front of him, blocking him.

”Why am I not happy? Because all of this is meaningless...”

Froki sighed longingly, revealing the despair in his heart, as darkness began to devour him.

”The World’s End is not untrodden; someone had long built tall barriers there. My persistence over these years was merely walking the path of old people.”

He looked confusedly ahead; Froki was unsure if he should continue to stubbornly move forward.

”Leaving a mark in history? That’s even more absurd; this world has cycled who knows how many times, palaces of brilliance have all fallen into ashes.”

Froki slowly squatted down, brushing aside the cold sands, revealing the dark blue ice underneath, reflecting his somewhat contorted and grim face.

”There’s no such thing as eternity or immortality; everything in this world will fade away.

The end of all things, silence remains.”

The woman let out a mocking laugh, then disappeared.

In an instant, the auditory hallucinations in Froki’s mind disappeared. He realized his hand was gradually becoming stiff.

A huge terror exploded within him; Froki lost sensation and control of his arm. In panic, he calmed himself with the remaining rationality. Before losing all sensation, Froki grabbed the rope in front of him, only to find it had long since broken. Looking ahead, the silhouettes of Lorenzo and the Plague Doctor were already gone.

”Ah... Ah...”

Froki wanted to call out their names for help, but suddenly he couldn’t make any sound, only producing a whimpering noise.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t speak, but for a moment, Froki had forgotten how to talk. The cognition of ”language” in his mind was crumbling, along with other perceptions, being stripped away together.