Is this a war?

Do the towering black spires symbolize something, or do they really exist somewhere in Eteliria?

And the Giant Dragon above the clouds, is it the Dark Giant Dragon, or is it an image of the tail of a black comet?

The two walked to the front of the second mural, where Xi's match cast an orange glow on the mottled wall, spreading in all directions and outlining the shadows between crevices. Then, the light flickered and went out. Xi lit another match, and its wavering light revealed the scene depicted on the wall—continuing the previous setting:

The painted tower crumbled, burning fiercely in the fire, fell beneath the clouds like a meteor streaking across the sky, trailing a long tail, while people below scampered in all directions.

Fang Hong looked up, and the Giant Dragon above the clouds still appeared so indifferent, motionless, like an emotionless deity coldly observing the catastrophe unfolding on the land below, as if it was watching him—of course, not the so-called 'emotionlessness' of the Xiangzi.

Then came the third painting, its pattern buried under a collapsed column, but the half exposed revealed enough information; this mural was split in two, one side black, the other white, as if the dark Giant Dragon had split in the middle.

The white side transformed into a deity wielding a Longsword, piercing into the heart of the Dark Giant Dragon on the other side—it looked like a burning dark meteorite, but whatever laid behind the meteorite was obscured by sand and indiscernible.

The match went out just at the right moment, and with Xi leading the way, Fang Hong walked around the collapsed column to the other side. With the light from the third match, he saw the mural here, which should represent the fifth painting—a deity in white laying in eternal rest amid the ashen mountains of Chongshan, and from his body, eleven Giants were born.

Fang Hong paused for a moment, the giants in the painting were exceptionally handsome, not the vile Giant race; this must be a depiction technique for deities.

Eleven deities, aren't they the Sun Gods of Xinsas? So this is their origin? Then who is this deity in white? Or, does the white side of the painting symbolize the sun and light, while the black represents evil and darkness?

They continued to walk forward, with only the sound of their footsteps remaining in the dark underground. Sophie occasionally explained through Xi, and the mountain girl's voice was soft and pleasant to hear.

Fang Hong had already seen the murals that followed, from the ancient kings of Xinsas acquiring the Black Throne, birthed from fire, the establishment of the Empire, to the chaos of the Seven Kings, the end of the first era, the beginning of the second, the war with the Giants, the relocation of the Royal Capital, and the end of the second era.

The murals ended there, and what likely followed was the era when the Black Holy City was built.

Fang Hong gazed at them for a while, his heart shaking unimaginably, particularly by the first three murals—an unrecorded war and disaster in numerous records, the confrontation between light and darkness, the birth of the two deities, almost like a sign heralding the beginning of Eteliria's creation.

This is also mentioned in the Abyssal Sea Scroll, but not in detail. At the beginning of the world, two consciousnesses of light and dark emerged, and from their fierce collision, Eteliria and the original land of Aithelin were born, following the will of the great Yita.

Following the will of the great Yita is the concluding sentence of every important section of the Scroll.

But what exactly Yita is, remains a topic of diverse opinions to this day.

"What do you make of this?" Fang Hong asked, turning back. He was addressing Sophie.

"Similar to what you see, the many histories since the establishment of Xinsas, but in more detail. The earlier murals depict a great war that exists only in the imagination of the Serpent People, who call it 'Aku Sadaka', meaning the ancient war. In the slates where the older generation of Serpent People recorded events, there are many descriptions of this war, though they vary in form, but one thing is certain," she said.

"That at the birth of the world, from a great will, two deities were born; one called The Holiest, the all-good and all-beautiful god 'Yita', and the other the Dark Evil Dragon 'Ku Lamonsoda'. In the myths of Xinsas, the good god ultimately defeated the Evil Dragon, and the missing page in the middle, in reality, describes the era of darkness that followed the Dark Giant Dragon's fall into the mortal world, transforming into countless Dark Evil Gods tormenting the world. The text below is clear—"

"To save all beings, the all-good and all-beautiful god, 'Yita', made a great decision: It sacrificed itself, turning into a Sea of Light, sealing the Dark Evil Gods below. And Yita, exhausted of strength, then lay to rest in the ashen mountains of Chongshan, and from His remaining will, eleven deities were born, the Sun Gods of Xinsas."

Fang Hong keenly felt that this Sea of Light was indeed what the Lizard People call the Shining Sea.

He suddenly thought of a possibility: if the Sea of Light was a cage, or a barrier, could the second Star of Calamity be a Dark Evil God who pierced through that cage, and could the third Star of Calamity be the same?

And the first Star of Calamity could be the Evil Dragon 'Ku Lamonsoda' from the ancient war described by the Xinsas Serpentfolk.

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and he shared this idea with the girl who was eloquently speaking beside him.

After hearing his thoughts, Sophie paused and nodded, saying, "That's very possible."

Fang Hong felt as if he had grasped the main point. Excitedly following this train of thought, he said, "Remember, the very bottom layer of this ruin actually contains the secret of the Numelin Holy Grail."

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