Episode 58: The Origin of Williams

The animal-skin map inside the underground tomb gleamed with a yellowish, aged patina under the searchlight. Though its edges were heavily chewed by insects, the charcoal-sketched characters upon it remained entirely clear—scrawled in a hybrid script combining the ancient language of the Sand-Keepers with the symbols of the S Tribe, like a blood-stained testament spanning two distinct peoples.

Alicia’s fingertips brushed against the flame motif at the center of the map, the faint calluses on her pads whispering across the rough hide. It depicted a woman bound to a stake, holding a child in her arms, with tongues of fire already licking the hem of her skirt. At the woman’s neck was sketched a silver-bird totem, identical to the one on Alicia’s own necklace.

"It was drawn by my mother’s handmaiden," Alicia’s voice trembled. She suddenly recalled seeing a similar charcoal sketch in her father’s study during her childhood. "Mother once said that a handmaiden escaped the pyre back then and lived under an assumed name as a tomb-keeper in the Ancestral Temple."

Lu Chen’s communication ring suddenly grew scorching hot, the Sand-Keeper priest totem on its surface automatically lighting up to translate the text on the hide map into the common tongue:

"Autumn of the Gengchen Year, the priest’s son, Williams, was born on a sandstorm night. His mother, a descendant of the S Tribe, was exposed by her own kin for illicitly coupling with a Sand-Keeper, and was condemned to the fire sacrifice..."

"The priest’s son?" Su Qing’s detector nearly slipped from her grip as the genetic comparison results popped up automatically on the screen—Williams’s Y-chromosome sequence shared an astonishing 92% coincidence rate with the genetic fragments of the Sand-Keeper priest depicted in the Memory Temple frescoes. "He really is the son of the Sand-Keeper priest?!"

The searchlight beam swayed violently. Lu Chen stared at the child motif on the map. The infant was shielded in his mother’s arms, yet his eyes were fixed intently on a black-robed figure standing beside the execution stake—that person wore the chief’s insignia of the S Tribe on their chest, none other than Alicia’s grandfather.

"So my grandfather not only burned his mother to death, but watched with his own eyes as he was cast into the sandstorm?" Alicia’s fists clenched until her knuckles turned pale, pressing against the sandstorm region of the map where three characters were scrawled in red charcoal: "Abandoned infant lives."

The latter half of the hide map’s records abruptly grew sloppy, as if drawn in a frenzy of extreme fury:

"Seven days of sandstorms, the infant did not die, rescued by a passing caravan. Returned to the great desert at age fifteen, witnessing the Sand-Keeper faction expel their own kind for 'impure bloodlines,' and watching the S Tribe slaughter one another over bone cores..."

The map sketched the back of a young boy standing upon a sand dune at the Black Wind Pass. To his left was a scene of Sand-Keepers driving away their companions; to his right were the corpses of the S Tribe’s civil war. Clutched in the boy’s hand was a broken half of a silver-bird totem—the very same piece Alicia’s mother had worn in days past.

"What he hated was never any single tribe," Lu Chen spoke abruptly, the glow of his communication ring illuminating the chill deep within his eyes. "He hated the rules of the entire desert—the Sand-Keepers despise mixed blood, and the S Tribe worships brute force. Their so-called tribal glory is nothing more than a selfish fig leaf."

Su Qing suddenly pointed to a marker in the corner of the map, where a miniature bone core was drawn, accompanied by a line of minuscule characters: "Use chaos to govern chaos, and only then is rebirth achieved."

"Is this his plan?" Su Qing’s voice carried disbelief. "Developing the bone core isn't for the S Tribe; it's to throw the entire desert into turmoil, to make every single faction taste the agony he endured back then?"

Alicia’s fingertips glided over the final entry, where the charcoal had worn down to a stump, the script so deep it nearly punctured the hide:

"My mother’s silver bird, my father’s reverse entropy—both are shackles. I shall use the bone core as an axe to shatter this rotting land, letting all discrimination, hatred, hypocrisy... perish together in the end."

The final three characters were written in blood, the dark red imprint casting an eerie sheen under the searchlight, resonating with the wound on Alicia’s wrist. She suddenly remembered the look in Williams’s eyes whenever he spoke of "rebirth." It was not fanaticism, but a stillness bordering on utter destruction—like a martyr who knew he would ultimately bring about mutual annihilation.

"No wonder he is so intimately familiar with the Three Rings and the Flute." Lu Chen tapped the stone floor lightly with his bone blade. "He is the son of the Sand-Keeper priest, innately attuned to the energy of the bone core. The so-called 'new host' was merely an excuse for revenge he forged for himself."

The tomb chamber suddenly trembled slightly, sand grains pattering down from the ceiling. Su Qing’s detector let out a piercing alarm, dense clusters of red dots popping up on the screen, closing in from all directions of the Ancestral Temple.

"Someone’s coming!" Su Qing hurriedly retracted the map. "It’s the S Tribe guards! How could they possibly know we’re here?"

Alicia’s gaze suddenly shifted to the hidden compartment of the stone coffin. Alongside the communication ring and the map, there rested an inconspicuous copper whistle—the signal whistle her mother had left for the tomb-keeper back then, meant to be blown only in dire emergencies.

"It’s the tomb-keeper." Alicia’s voice was as cold as ice. "Mother said the tomb-keepers of the Ancestral Temple are loyal to the chief across generations, which means... the present Williams."

Heavy footsteps echoed from outside the stone coffin, accompanied by the harsh grinding sound of sand-crystal armor. Lu Chen shielded Alicia and Su Qing behind him as his bone blade and communication ring simultaneously flared with golden light. The stone door of the tomb chamber began to shake, clearly struck by heavy instruments from without.

"He knew all along that we would come." Lu Chen’s gaze swept over the hide map, and understanding dawned on him. "He left this map behind on purpose! He wanted us to know his origins, wanted to make us waver—"

"Waver my foot!" Alicia suddenly snatched up the copper whistle and blew into it with all her might. The piercing shriek reverberated through the tomb chamber, forming an eerie duet with the dull thuds against the stone door. "He suffered, so he earns the right to make more people suffer? My parents' deaths, Old Blade's sacrifice—are they rendered worthless just because of his childhood?"

With a heavy "clack," the stone door cracked open a sliver. A sand-crystal guard’s bone spear lunged through, grazing past Lu Chen’s ear to embed itself deep into the stone coffin. Lu Chen swung his blade, cleaving the second spear as a golden flash of sword-energy exploded at the gap, forcing those outside to temporarily retreat.

"Su Qing, is there an escape route on the map?" Lu Chen’s breathing was heavy, the light of his communication ring dimming as continuous use imposed a severe burden on his body.

Su Qing quickly unfurled the map, her finger pressing down on the location of the Ancestral Temple’s foundations. "Here! The tomb-keeper passage! It connects to the wind-eroded trench outside the city!"

Alicia suddenly seized Lu Chen’s wrist, the light of the communication ring surging violently the moment they touched. "Have you ever wondered why he wanted us to know all this?"

Lu Chen’s movements froze.

"He hates the rules, yet he uses the cruelest rules to retaliate against everyone." Alicia’s eyes shone with a startling brilliance. "He claimed he would 'use chaos to govern chaos,' yet he laid an inescapable net right here in the Ancestral Temple—this isn't revenge at all, it's a plea for death!"

The crack in the stone door widened further, the roars of the sand-crystal guards drawing dangerously close. Staring at the copper whistle in Alicia’s hand, Lu Chen suddenly recalled Old Blade’s words: "The sand remembers everything, including the grief you never spoke aloud."

"Go!" Lu Chen yanked them toward the tomb-keeper passage. "Whether he’s seeking death or revenge, we have to get out alive first to stop him!"

The passage was narrow and damp, with recesses chiseled into the stone walls on either side for oil lamps, clearly untouched for a very long time. Alicia’s copper whistle emitted a faint glow in the darkness—the energy resonance left behind by her mother, serving as a guide.

As they rounded a corner, Su Qing abruptly halted, pointing to a series of fresh carvings on the stone wall: "Look at this!"

It was a freshly chiseled line of text, evidently left behind by Williams in the ancient Sand-Keeper script:

"Silver bird and reverse entropy share a single origin. If the three rings resonate, the bone core dissolves itself. My sins need no redemption, hoping only..."

The remaining characters had been violently scratched out by a sharp weapon, leaving behind a deep gouge as if he had changed his mind at the very last moment.

"He knows how to completely eradicate the bone core!" Su Qing’s voice carried excitement. "Resonance of the three rings can make the bone core dissolve! He’s been waiting for us to find the way!"

Yet Alicia’s footsteps grew heavy. Touching the defaced writing on the stone wall, she finally understood Williams’s true purpose—he wasn't seeking death; he was waiting for someone capable of ending it all, someone who possessed both the bloodline of the silver bird and the willpower of the Sand-Keepers.

Someone... who could finish the words he left unsaid.

The howling of the wind-eroded trench echoed from the end of the passage. Lu Chen had already pushed open the hidden door at the exit, golden sunlight streaming through the crack to dispel a portion of the gloom.

"Hurry!" Lu Chen turned back to beckon, only to find Alicia standing frozen in place, tightly clutching the half-sheet of the hide map.

Her sand-crystal thorns had somehow spread further, the deep blue patterns on her neck intertwining with the silver-bird totem like an ominous shackle.

"You guys go ahead." Alicia’s voice was terrifyingly calm. "I have something else to do."

Lu Chen’s heart contracted violently: "What are you planning to do?"

"There isn't just one tomb-keeper passage in the Ancestral Temple." Alicia raised her head, a flicker of absolute resolve flashing in her eyes. "One of them leads straight to the bone core’s energy nexus. It was written in my mother’s journal."

Su Qing’s face turned instantly pale: "Are you insane? Williams must have set a trap there!"

"He’s waiting for me." Alicia lifted the copper whistle. The silver-bird totem upon it suddenly flared, resonating with the light of the communication ring. "Resonance of the three rings requires a medium, and I... am the sole person possessing both the Sand-Keeper bloodline and the S Tribe royal genes."

She shoved the hide map into Su Qing’s hands, her fingertips brushing lightly against Lu Chen’s communication ring: "Tell Williams that the words he left unfinished, I will write them for him. But not through destruction—through the very 'rules' he hates most: the rules that allow the silver bird and reverse entropy to truly coexist."

The sound of the stone door being battered echoed into the middle section of the passage, the roars of the sand-crystal guards drawing ever nearer. Casting one final look at Lu Chen, Alicia whirled around and plunged into the alternate fork, the faint glow of the copper whistle vanishing swiftly into the dark.

"Stop her!" Lu Chen moved to chase after her, only to be held back with all her might by Su Qing.

"Don't go!" Su Qing’s tears fell freely. "She’s right! We’ll only hold her back here. Besides, look at the map—"

Lu Chen lowered his gaze to the map where Su Qing’s finger pointed to the very end of the wind-eroded trench, marked with a familiar symbol—none other than the Black Wind Pass altar, one of the triangular focal points of the Reverse Entropy Array.

"She’s going to activate the final focal point!" Lu Chen’s communication ring suddenly erupted with unprecedented brilliance, finally making him understand Alicia’s plan. "Resonance of the three rings requires all three altars to be initiated simultaneously. She’s going to draw Williams’s attention away to buy us time to activate the Reverse Entropy Array at Black Wind Pass!"

The hidden door at the exit of the passage burst open as the bone spears of the sand-crystal guards lunged through. Dragging Su Qing out into the wind-eroded trench, Lu Chen looked back toward the Ancestral Temple. A column of black-purple smoke was already rising from its direction, a clear sign that Alicia had disturbed the bone core’s energy nexus.

"She’s going to be fine." Lu Chen’s voice carried a conviction he didn't even believe himself as he gripped his bone blade tightly. "Because she is Alicia—the one who can make even the restless dead clear a path for her."

At the end of the wind-eroded trench, the silhouette of Black Wind Pass grew increasingly distinct amidst the howling gale. Lu Chen could feel his communication ring burning hot, thrumming in intense resonance with the distant energy of the bone core, acting both as an urging and a warning.

What he did not know was that at the end of the fork Alicia had charged into, Williams was standing before the bone core energy nexus, the Requiem Bone Flute on his mechanical arm gleaming coldly. When he saw Alicia’s figure, the corners of his mouth beneath the sand-crystal mask curved into an expression bordering on tenderness.

"You really came." For the first time, Williams’s voice lacked madness, leaving only a weary sense of release. "I’ve waited thirty years for this day."

Alicia raised the copper whistle, the radiance of the silver-bird totem illuminating her face. "I didn't come here to perish with you; I came to tell you that what my mother left behind wasn't just hatred."

She blew fiercely into the copper whistle. The piercing sound pierced the barrier of the energy nexus, causing the bone core to shudder violently, emitting a shriek that was simultaneously agonizing and yearning.

Williams’s mechanical arm abruptly dropped, the Requiem Bone Flute clattering to the floor. "Is that so... Then that is truly... wonderful..."

His body began to undergo sandification, spreading upward from his tips. Black-purple calamities seeped out from the sand grains, yet they did not scorch Alicia; instead, they clustered at her feet to form a minuscule silver-bird totem.

This was the final token Williams left for the world—a totem belonging to her mother, drawn using his own sandifying flesh.

Deep within the bone core’s energy nexus, however, a black shadow was slowly awakening. Its power was far more terrifying than Williams’s fused form, carrying the primeval aura of total annihilation.

Alicia’s whistle note abruptly broke. Staring in terror at that shadow, she finally understood what the scratched-out words on the hide map had been—

Williams hadn't refused to write them; he had been too afraid to.

The true form of the bone core was nothing they could ever contend with.

From the very beginning, the endgame of this revenge had never been under his control.

Back at Black Wind Pass, Lu Chen suddenly felt a pang of deep anxiety as his communication ring flickered frantically like a final warning. Looking up toward the Ancestral Temple, he saw that the column of black-purple smoke had transformed into pure black, rearing upward like a giant serpent winding toward the netherworld.

"Su Qing, speed up!" Lu Chen’s voice carried unprecedented solemnity. "I have a terrible premonition—Alicia may have... awakened something that should never have been disturbed."

The gales and sands of the wind-eroded trench suddenly turned violent, echoing his words. In the distant sky, the firmament began to twist, and amid the black-purple clouds, a pair of gigantic eyes could be faintly discerned, gazing coldly down upon the vast desert.

The true disaster had only just begun.