#229. Labyrinth and Record (3)
—
To indicate that it was the past.
In a world rendered in black and white,
the opponentâs entire figure was glowing in a deep violet hue.
It was a color the boy had rarely, if ever, encountered throughout his long journey.
An emotion that, even if someone tried to contain it, would quickly dissipate.
Who could it possibly be?
Ray chased after the figure, feeling a violent surge of nausea.
Tap, tap, tap, tap!
The overlapping footsteps of the past and present reverberated chaotically through the tangled corridors.
Ray tried to observe the figure carefully, but a thick robe and deeply pulled hood concealed their face.
Thenâ
[Redran, in the end, youâve divided us like this.]
A voice escaped between the figureâs lips, along with their labored breath.
It was the voice of a young woman. And in the next moment, something truly strange happened.
ââââ.
The mana that had only been displayed in black and white in the air began to take on vivid colors, following the vibrations left by the voice.
Red, yellow, indigo, and more…
The mana, which had shone in particular colors, soon faded and returned to black and white.
Ray, who had been momentarily dazed, quickly realizedâthe colors were emotions carried in the womanâs voice.
A fierce curiosity arose.
In the world he lived in now, no matter how one spoke, mana did not depict emotions.
âThe elves didnât show anything like that earlier. Is there some special method?â
As the question formed, the womanâs pace quickened, and Ray increased his speed to match.
Tap, tap, tap, tap!
The woman moved swiftly with no wasted motion, as if she knew every path within the labyrinth.
She headed deeper and deeper into the maze.
Perhaps using concealment magic, the elves they passed by acted as though they couldnât see her.
How long had they been running?
âTap.
The womanâs footsteps came to a halt.
They had arrived at a spacious room.
It was silent. No presence could be felt anywhere nearby.
As the woman caught her breath, she waved her hand, and the air split open. From within, a massive stone slab appeared and landed in the center of the room.
âBoom!
[âŠI must record it.]
The woman pulled out a violet gem from her robes, and Ray instinctively recognized it as a fragment of the Rainbow.
[The record⊠so that when that one returns someday, they will know what happened to this world⊠I must leave behind a record.]
As she murmured, the gem began to emit light.
Soon, hundreds of beams of light burst forth, flying toward the stone slab and the labyrinthâs walls, carving letters and images into them.
Amidst the brightening surroundings, Ray clearly heard the womanâs voice echo.
[That oneâthe Rainbowâwill return.]
And along with her voice, he saw the mana in the air tinged violet.
That colorâviolet.
It was…
âHope.â
The next moment, the entire world was engulfed in light.
*
*
*
As the light receded, the world returned to its original landscape.
All objects regained their color, and it was clear the World Treeâs vision of the past had come to an end.
ââŠâŠâ
Ray stood dazed.
The thoughts and emotions clinging to him from the past still stuck heavily to his mind and body.
Judging from what he saw, this was likely the case:
The woman was probably the guardian of the violet fragment of the shattered Rainbow.
And the Rainbow wasnât merely a natural phenomenon but referred to some special existence.
âAnd the stone slab and murals were created as a kind of historical record, to be shown when the Rainbow returns.â
Ray approached the labyrinth wall and placed his palm against it, quietly asking,
“Why show me this memory, using the last of your strength? Shouldn’t it be delivered to the one who symbolizes the Rainbow instead of me?”
As expected, there was no response.
Only the quiet sound of vines brushing against each other, blocking the passageways, could be heard from all directions.
Ray moved to stand before the central stone slab.
The ancient script carved in relief was hardened by mana, as if to prove the passage of immense time.
A dusty gray color.
He focused his mind, and as he dispersed the dust, the underlying mana revealed itselfâletters glowing faintly in violet along each stroke.
[In the beginning, a Rainbow hung in the sky.]
It felt as if someone was narrating a fairy tale, similar to the small stone slab he had seen at Binjinâs Tower.
[The Rainbow, shining in seven brilliant colors, was breathtakingly beautiful. The sun, the clouds, the rain, the snow, and the winds all thought so. Yet the Rainbow was not happy.]
[Because the Rainbow saw that the beings on the earth, whom it deeply cared for, lived in sorrow. They neither laughed, nor cried, nor grew angry, trapped in a black-and-white world, living lifeless existences until they returned to the soil.]
[After much contemplation, the Rainbow decided to share its colors with the world.]
The tale was quite long.
Ray continued reading without even taking a breath.
[The rain tried to stop it. âThey are not unhappy. Because they don’t even know what unhappiness is.â]
[The clouds tried to stop it. âAdding colors would indeed make it beautiful. But colors clashing could cause problems. Itâs better to stay as it is, in black and white.â]
[The sun merely watched the Rainbow.]
[Though many friends tried to dissuade it, the Rainbow had already made up its mind. Only by imagining a world lively and full of colors could it feel happiness.]
[The Rainbow threw itself down to the earth, and so the world shed its black-and-white shell and was bathed in color.]
The story ended there.
After gently caressing the slab for a moment, Ray turned toward the beginning of the mural.
It seemed to continue from the final portion he had seen in the underground ruins.
âThe figure holding the indigo light fragment surrounded by six others…â
…Perhaps because he had trained steadily in mental imagery, the mural, once a mass of abstract dots and lines, now vividly came to life in his mind.
Tapâ Tapâ Tapâ
As he moved along, Ray continued interpreting the mural.
The figure, presumed to be the guardian of violet, engaged in battle against the six other guardians.
The lengthy depiction of fierce combat suggested just how formidable she was.
But in the end, she lost.
The six guardians appeared to seal the indigo guardian within a cubic structure, and afterward, they dispersed to their own domains.
Peace seemed to follow… but it didn’t last long.
The red guardian began whispering to the others.
Each time he did, negative emotionsâanger, suspicion, jealousy, anxietyâbloomed above their heads.
…And once more, war broke out.
Powerful magic created black clouds, which rained black rain, polluting the soil. The corrupted earth limited resources, and the scarcity of resources fueled even greater wars.
A vicious cycle.
Each time a truce seemed near, the red guardian would intervene, deepening emotional rifts.
The ancient races, already devastated by the previous wars, rapidly declined.
Tap.
Before he knew it, Ray arrived at the final mural.
There, the red guardian, leading his subordinates, was shown invading the territories of the other guardians.
âThe red faction stayed out of the wars deliberately, waiting for the others to weaken. The scene shown by the World Tree must have been this point in time.â
Ray stared at the red guardian depicted invading the forest.
Above his head, a speech bubble depicted six fragments of lightâevery color except red.
…It seemed his objective was to gather all the fragments.
âIf the Doctor is the red guardian…â
If his long-standing suspicion was correct, it would explain all of the Doctorâs actions so far.
The Doctor had issued orders to search for the Rainbowâs fragments over a long period.
He had also damaged, or attempted to damage, murals recording the old eraâs history.
âAs if trying to erase and conceal his own misdeeds carved there.â
According to Curiosa, the Doctor also seemed not to age.
But it was still too early to be certain.
The evidence was all circumstantial; all the conjectures ultimately remained leaps of logic.
No matter how he thought about it, there was no clear reason why the Doctor would want to hide ancient history from *Ray*.
âIf anything, he would be trying to conceal it from that âRainbowâ figure.â
At that moment, the sound of vines clashing outside the room grew louder.
Sssss!
The labyrinth was closing.
Ray immediately pulled out his sketchbook and began quickly copying the murals.
And just before the passage connected to the room was completely sealed by vinesâ
Tap!
He closed the sketchbook and launched himself forward.
Screech!
Barely slipping through the vines,
he sprinted toward the place where the white sun could be felt.
Sssss!
With the World Treeâs strength finally expended, the labyrinthâs reversion to its original structure was accelerating rapidly.
One misstep, and he would be trapped in the labyrinthâs depths forever.
Destroying the labyrinth walls to move forward was an option… but Ray didnât want to hurt the World Tree.
He pushed his bodyâs enhancement magic to its maximum output.
Snap! Screech!
He instantly caught up with the two spirits running ahead.
They were lower-ranked spirits, still clumsy in their spirit form, and without help, they too would have been trapped.
“Climb on!”
He slightly slowed his pace as he spoke.
The two spirits, leaping desperately, landed on Rayâs shoulders, and a piece of jerky was snatched and tucked into his coat pocket.
âItâs going to get rough. Hang tight.â
Ray accelerated.
He spun through tangled, knotted corridors.
He slipped down slopes and leapt over obstacles.
The path he had entered was perfectly stored in his memory.
He continuously corrected his course in real time to adapt to the labyrinthâs changing structure.
…How long had he been running?
Ray finally reached the labyrinthâs outer perimeter and could see a round light in the distance.
The hole at the base of the World Tree.
Though he had escaped the labyrinthâs depths and secured safety, Ray didnât slow down.
Because he knewâthe white sun would be waiting there.
The light grew larger and larger, until at some point, it filled his entire vision.
Huff, huff.
He came to a stop.
He gasped for breath.
As his senses, previously focused solely on running, dispersed, his vision cleared, and the sounds of murmuring voices grew distinct.
“Heâs out!”
“Three hours and thirty-two minutes!”
Dozens of elves surrounded the labyrinthâs entrance.
Over three hours?
When had so much time passed?
Looking around, he saw the crimson sunset spilling through the forest.
Veronica, who had been on the verge of tears, came running over and anxiously checked Rayâs body.
“Iâm so glad…! I was about to go in after you…!”
Gant and Gwendel also approached.
“Weâre relieved. You returned just in time before the new passage closed.”
“You look exhausted. First, you should rest…”
Out of breath, Rey nodded in response.
Gwendel, seeing the two spirits emerge from the pocket and climb onto his shoulder, asked.
“Did they help you at all?”
“…Very much.”
“I’m glad to hear they were helpful. Now, Carat and Potah, you can come back now. Come here.”
Gwendel called, but the two spirits didn’t move.
After a few tries, Gwendel pulled a piece of vegetable from a small pouch and placed it in her palm.
“Here, your favorite-.”
Snap!
The two spirits snorted and went back into Ray’s pocket.
…….
…….
There was a moment of silence, then Gwendel turned to Ray and asked him with her eyes.
What did you do to my spirits?
