Hearing the truth from Messmer, Melina was left in a daze.
Before Melina could even react, Lucian had already drawn a quiet breath.
He had wondered before where exactly the power of the Gloam-Eyed Queen's eye within Melina had come from.
He had even used his rather extensive imagination to entertain the tiny possibility of Marika × the Gloam-Eyed Queen having some sort of yuri relationship.
But no matter how he thought about it, he could never find a reasonable explanation.
Especially after witnessing Messmer display his own power, Lucian had become even more confused.
Although the Godskin Apostles and Godskin Nobles under the Gloam-Eyed Queen possessed the Serpent's Form, the power of the Abyssal Serpent within Messmer had nothing to do with Black Flame. It clearly came from another source.
Now that he had heard Messmer's explanation, Lucian gradually understood everything.
So this was where Radagon's "Great Rune of the Unborn" given to Rennala had come from…
Apparently, after Marika was finished with it, she had simply tossed it over to her other half, Radagon.
After all, it was a power obtained from defeated enemies, and they weren't using any normal process to give birth to life in the first place. There was no need to worry about the details.
And then there was the faint characteristic of the Shamans that allowed them to merge with the powers of other living beings.
Could the power behind grafting have some connection to the ancient Shamans as well?
Because her own power far surpassed that of her fellow Shamans, Queen Marika had been able to accomplish this feat, creating a miracle that no one else could ever reproduce.
Lucian turned his head toward Melina, wondering whether such an astonishing origin would be difficult for her to accept.
Yet after hearing Messmer explain the origins of the two siblings, Melina's reaction was surprisingly calm.
After a brief moment of astonishment, she quickly accepted the truth.
No wonder her relationship with Mother had always been so strange, nothing like the relationship between a true mother and child.
Although everything had been done for the sake of their respective missions, Melina did not reject the mission she had been born with.
Seeing Melina remain silent, Messmer assumed that she was unable to accept the truth and spoke up to comfort her.
"I would hope thou wilt not fault Mother for the choice she made."
"Though she was a Queen, and a god besides, she was once naught but a Shaman, possessed of qualities most unusual."
"Mother is not omnipotent. She may err, and she cannot always discern the best path before her."
"That is precisely why she is a mother, rather than some cold and distant god."
"To let the light of the Erdtree shine upon the Lands Between, she exhausted every means that lay within her reach."
Melina shook her head and looked up at Messmer.
"I don't have any particular thoughts about it."
"Although this origin is unexpected, it isn't particularly difficult for me to accept."
"And I won't reject my mission either, so don't worry."
Melina suddenly looked at Messmer and asked:
"Brother, what about the mission you were born for? What was it?"
Messmer seemed to have known she would ask this.
"Revenge. That is what I was born for."
"To exact complete vengeance upon the Hornsent, for the Shamans they abducted and subjected to such cruel torment."
Messmer paused before continuing.
"But thou art different, Melina."
"Thou carriest upon thy shoulders Mother's most cherished wish."
"To bring forth a better Lands Between… and to save all that may yet be saved."
Melina sighed, somewhat puzzled by her brother's devotion to their mother.
With what she knew of Mother, she couldn't understand his loyalty.
"Brother, have you ever resented the mission you were given?"
Messmer stood up and walked over to Melina.
Golden Grace flickered within his eyes.
There wasn't the slightest trace of confusion in them, only unwavering determination.
"No. A mission is a mission."
"To fulfill Mother's wish, and to carry out the Crusade of cleansing, I have no qualms about becoming a symbol of terror."
"So long as it is for Mother, I have no cause for complaint."
"Mother was once at my side as I grew, and it was through those years that I came to understand the sorrow within her heart."
Melina smiled faintly.
"I suppose this is what they mean by being siblings."
"You and I don't seem to think all that differently."
"It's just that I continue walking this path to fulfill my mission for someone more important than Mother, rather than for her."
"And for every living being in the Lands Between."
Messmer waved his hand, paying no mind to Melina's somewhat irreverent words.
He walked past the two of them and reached the entrance of the dark chamber.
"There is something within thy heart. It is not empty. That alone is enough."
"Since thou knowest all of this now, there is a place thou oughtest to see."
"That was Mother's homeland."
"And there… Mother left something behind for us."
Compared to a past that could no longer be remembered, her brother's words about what came next left Melina even more confused.
Their Mother had actually left something behind for them?
Melina was genuinely surprised.
Originally, she had thought that her Mother had simply created them to carry her wishes.
Nothing more.
Could it be that this person had actually loved them?
What a terrible mother.
She had never been able to feel it at all.
Melina silently followed after him, her thoughts impossible to read.
Lucian followed alongside them, somewhat unable to make sense of the situation.
These siblings really did have remarkably stable emotions.
He had been worried that some sort of argument might break out, but instead, everything had passed peacefully.
—
After leaving the dark chamber, Messmer led the two of them onto another lift.
After a brief descent, the three arrived at the rear gate of the Shadow Keep.
Outside was a desolate plain filled with countless weapons.
The roars of battle seemed to still echo across the land.
Farther away stood another wall, sealing off a road leading to an unknown destination.
Messmer did not head in that direction, however.
Instead, near the rear gate, Messmer walked toward a hidden chamber.
Inside the chamber was nothing but a statue of Queen Marika built against the wall.
Messmer approached the statue and slowly knelt before it, spreading his hands out reverently.
As he did so, a mechanism within the statue was triggered.
After a deep, heavy rumble, the statue slowly shifted, revealing a hidden passage behind it.
Beyond the passage, flowers stretched across the land as far as the eye could see.
They bloomed quietly across the mountains and valleys, bright and radiant, almost completely unlike anything that should exist within the Land of Shadow.
Lucian and Melina walked out of the hidden chamber and gazed toward the endless sea of flowers.
Although Lucian had witnessed countless breathtaking sights throughout the Lands Between, this place felt particularly different.
It was incredibly beautiful, yet at the same time, unbearably sorrowful.
Because there was no one here.
Even the Eternal Cities, which had long since been destroyed, still retained traces proving that people had once existed there.
But here, there was nothing.
It could only serve as a place of remembrance and mourning.
Messmer had already risen to his feet.
Without saying a word, he silently walked ahead and led the way.
None of the three wanted to disturb the tranquility of this place.
They didn't choose any other method to hurry along. Instead, they simply walked on foot at a leisurely pace, following the road surrounded by flowers.
After a while, Lucian suddenly raised an eyebrow.
He had made an unexpected discovery.
In the distance, he unexpectedly spotted two old friends.
Two Tree Sentinels were fully armed, seriously repeating their endlessly dull patrol duties.
Seeing Tree Sentinels he was so familiar with in such an unfamiliar place as the Land of Shadow gave Lucian an indescribable sense of nostalgia.
When the two Tree Sentinels spotted Messmer in the distance, they habitually gave him a respectful salute before continuing their patrol toward the distance.
Lucian turned his head toward Messmer and asked,
"Do you come here often?"
Messmer nodded, then thought for a moment and gently shook his head.
"Not oft, no."
"Sometimes, when I find myself a little lost, I come hither."
"Having done so time and again throughout the years… I suppose I have come here rather more often than I realized."
As he spoke, Messmer stopped walking and pointed ahead.
"We are here."
"The Shaman Village… Mother's former home."
Just like the sea of flowers they had passed through, this place was also covered in blossoms.
And just like the sea of flowers, it was equally silent and devoid of life.
Within the dead village, the only thing that remained was a Minor Erdtree, radiating a faint golden glow.
Marika had surrounded her old home with gold, even though she understood that those who needed healing were already long gone.
This was gold without Order, only kindness.
Lucian and Messmer both stopped walking, leaving Melina some space.
Melina walked forward and reached out to touch the Minor Erdtree, silently experiencing the complicated emotions contained within it.
The Minor Erdtree that Melina wielded had been passed down from this very place.
Because of that, she could easily sense her mother's tenderness and love within it.
Compared to powerless words, this kind of contact was far more direct for mother and daughter.
In the past, Melina had rarely experienced her mother's love.
So when she truly felt that genuine love and tenderness, her emotions became incredibly complicated.
The image of Marika in her heart gradually became fuller and more vivid, yet at the same time, she seemed even more difficult to understand.
She was the lofty Queen, a god, but she was also someone's child...
And someone's mother.
It did not take long before light began to shine from Melina's fingertips, flowing back into the Minor Erdtree.
The somewhat dim Minor Erdtree once again began to shine, growing continuously until its radiance completely enveloped the Shaman Village.
Lucian did not disturb Melina. Instead, he turned his head and quietly asked Messmer,
"Should we let the Shamans live here from now on?"
Hearing Lucian's suggestion, Messmer raised a hand to his chin and began to think.
He genuinely had never considered this possibility before.
Seeing that Messmer seemed rather tempted by the idea, Lucian continued,
"The kinswomen who could not be saved in the past have now all been healed."
"If Queen Marika knew about this, I'm sure she would be very happy to see it."
"And being able to return to their homeland, I don't think the survivors would refuse."
Messmer was persuaded. He no longer hesitated and nodded.
"Thou art right. We shall do so."
"Once their condition hath grown somewhat more stable, we shall restore this place."
"Only…"
Messmer turned his head toward the distant side.
"Over there lieth a Finger Ruin. There are a great many Fingercreepers dwelling within."
"From time to time, some of the Fingercreepers wander hither."
"They have been able to dwell in peace thus far, for none lived here to trouble them. But once the village is restored and folk return… we may have to see to them."
Following Messmer's gaze, Lucian saw a strange landscape in the distance, with ridges and grooves rising in circles like enormous fingerprints.
Lucian had already seen the two enormous Finger Ruins on Messmer's map earlier.
They looked as though a gigantic finger had been pressed into the Lands Between, leaving its imprint behind, and the sight alone was enough to make one's heart tremble.
Especially since countless enormous stone fingers had grown there.
That was clearly not something that could have been left behind by an impact.
Lucian recalled the mysterious finger-like entity he had encountered in the past.
That existence which had impersonated the Greater Will and manipulated the fate of all living beings in the Lands Between was certainly connected to these Finger Ruins somehow.
"What exactly are the Finger Ruins?"
"Is there anything else inside them besides Fingercreepers?"
Messmer looked toward the Finger Ruins and answered,
"We know little of them. All that is certain is that the Fingercreepers dwelling there will attack those who trespass upon their domain."
"As for the Finger Ruins themselves… I cannot offer thee an answer, for I know no more than thou."
"Yet, if the matter hath piqued thy interest, I can recommend one who may be able to enlighten thee."
After thinking for a moment, Messmer explained,
"My consort, Rellana, was once a princess of Caria. She led a number of warriors with her into the Crusade."
"Among the Carian folk who followed Rellana into the Land of Shadow, there was a rather peculiar sorcerer."
"His name was Ymir. He was a man of exceptional talent."
"Yet throughout the long years that followed the sealing of the Land of Shadow, his mind seems to have grown somewhat… unsteady."
"Though Ymir had once served as Rellana's tutor in sorcery, he ultimately forsook his devotion to the Moon."
"He became convinced that he had discovered traces of the Greater Will, and thereafter turned his search toward the Finger Ruins, believing that the truth lay hidden within."
"Even so, we have maintained some small measure of contact with him."
Lucian nodded and committed this information to memory.
If that sorcery tutor really had discovered some clues, perhaps he could follow the trail and eventually find the entity that had been impersonating the Greater Will.
Melina had already returned to their side, so the conversation between the two temporarily came to an end.
Just when Lucian and Melina thought that their journey was over, Messmer instead led them somewhere else.
Inside the trunk of a great tree was the corpse of a special female Shaman.
Just like Marika's body in the game, the Shaman woman's entire body had completely petrified, becoming almost indistinguishable from a statue.
Before the petrified Shaman was an offering.
A single severed braid of golden hair.
Lucian quickly realized what it was.
It was one of Queen Marika's braids.
So that was why some of Marika's statues throughout the Lands Between had a single braid, while others had two.
Looking at the golden braid, Messmer slowly began explaining its origin.
"This is the braid Mother cut from her own hair. An offering she made unto Grandmother."
"I know not what she prayed for, what she wished for… or perhaps, what it was she sought forgiveness for."
"All I know is that, from that day onward, Mother never again returned to her homeland."
Messmer reached out and picked up the braid, holding it out toward Melina.
"Mother once told me that, should I ever miss her, I might take the braid with me."
"But I believe it ought to be thine."
"After all that came to pass… I could feel Mother gradually closing her heart to the world."
"For thee… that was truly unfair."
Lucian could sense the power contained within the braid.
This was a braid Marika had cut from herself after becoming a god, and it contained a special power.
If it were used as a talisman, it would probably be capable of raising one's holy damage negation to an absurd degree.
Of course, for these two siblings, its emotional significance far exceeded its practical value.
Melina looked at the braid and shook her head without reaching out to take it.
"Here, I have already found Mother's love."
"Being able to understand even this much about her is enough for me."
"Let this braid remain here, as a symbol and guardian of the Shaman Village."
"And besides, you're wrong about one thing, Brother."
"Although I never felt Mother's love in the past, I don't need this kind of compensation."
"Now, I already have something far more precious."
Melina turned toward Lucian and smiled gently.