Alice in the Land of Steam

The sleeping girl said nothing, indifferent to the goddess's sadness, as if she had a heart of stone. The silhouettes of the branches forked, and a bunch of thoughts quietly sprouted in the gaps between the pale and withered branches. However, time has never stopped here, and history has long forgotten the names of the past. The ruins of the city solidified in the gaps of time are like a huge closed eggshell, imprisoning a stubborn soul forever. This is a lock she put on herself from the depths of her heart. Naturally, no one can open it except the person who locked it.

The goddess was no exception. She might be able to forcefully awaken her child, but what would that do? A strange gaze? A blank question? Or a familiar reincarnation, a replay of the story the elder had told her? The girl had been deeply broken-hearted by the meanness and betrayal of mortals, and the wounds of the heart were never healed.

Just like His other two children who remain in the Earth world at this moment.

When the goddess crossed the bridge of Heaven with Alice, who was covered in wounds, and appeared at the headquarters of Game Command, no one could imagine the astonishment and bewilderment in her heart. Such intense emotions were rare in her long and almost eternal life. Perhaps only when she first arrived on Earth and was deeply moved by a beautiful and vibrant scene that she had never imagined, and when she first came into contact with the game and was shocked by its exquisite design and the concept of creating the world, could they be compared. Apart from this, even when Genesis was successful, she only had a faint and expected sense of accomplishment, and calmly appreciated the work she had created with her own hands. She was far from being so excited.

He almost used up all his strength to calm himself down, and then healed Alice. Physical injuries were easily healed by the goddess, but spiritual injuries, perhaps even the goddess who created life and gave them emotions, could not completely heal, so Alice was still sleeping until now, instinctively resisting waking up, just like Tiantis in front of him.

The goddess had no other choice but to ask Tianjie about the situation, but Tianjie's eyes were red and swollen, and she threw herself into her arms and burst into tears. No matter what the goddess asked, she just cried and choked, and kept repeating "It's all my fault", crying until her voice became hoarse. The goddess comforted her for a long time, and finally calmed the girl down a little, but soon she fell asleep because she was tired from crying for too long.

The most lively and cheerful daughter was seriously injured and unconscious, the most well-behaved and sensible daughter cried so hard that it was heartbreaking, and her most mature and stable daughter did not show up at all. All these signs showed that some major changes might have happened in the world of Eden. With an uneasy premonition and anxiety, the goddess temporarily settled her two daughters in the game command company, and then hurriedly crossed the bridge of heaven and returned to her hometown. However, the scene she saw made her lose her mind for a while and she could hardly believe her eyes.

The prosperous and beautiful Eden in people's impression has disappeared, replaced by a lifeless world: the earth is dry and cracked, the grass is withered and decayed; floating islands fall in groups, hanging at the end of the world like rags; the cities of the past are reduced to sand castles, falling apart under the ominous evil wind; the corpses of huge monsters are rotting, revealing their white bones; the vast gray fog fills the broken world, but also blocks the sky above, so that people can no longer see the brilliance of the sun, moon and stars - although the sun and moon have disappeared, and there is not a single star in the sky.

The goddess wandered for a long time before she finally found traces of the past from some familiar shadows, and confirmed that the dying world in front of her was her most proud work in her life. At the same time, she also realized that the gray fog that permeated the world was not real fog, but highly concentrated magic that was transformed into a material state. In addition, a large amount of origin magic was mixed into this magic. It was the entanglement and assimilation of the two magics that transformed it into such a special form. This special magic that mixed the origin magic and ordinary magic actually had no value. It was even like poison to life and matter, which would only wear away their bodies and corrode their souls.

However, why did it turn out like this?
On the desertified land, the goddess was searching for answers at a loss, and also for her lost offspring. But after searching for a long time, she finally found a small settlement in the most remote corner at the end of the world. All the people living here were the last survivors at the end of the century, and there were only a pitiful 132 people, half of whom were humans, and a few mirror elves, dust elves, blood races or giants. There were no dragons or feather races. It was said that the two most powerful races, which were also the first to open the prelude to chaos, had been submerged in endless fog. The last feather elf died from the impact of the falling floating island, and the last dragon died on the snow mountain closest to the sky.

The goddess asked the oldest and wisest elder in the settlement to explain the cause and effect of the end of the world for her. It was the ancient legend he told by the campfire, which could be traced back to 10,000 years ago, when the goddess was still on Earth. She imagined what a brilliant civilization her children would create after she left Eden without the restraint of their mother.

The inconsistent flow of time on Earth and in Eden makes the ending of this legend completely unrecoverable.

Besides, is it really possible to save it?
Thinking of this, the goddess' eyes could not help but become even sadder, and even took on a melancholy daze. She left Eden to mortals because she trusted their abilities and believed that without her intervention, mortals might be able to create a better civilization; and she left two children because she hoped that they could serve as the last insurance in the process to ensure that mortal civilization would not go down the wrong path; even in the end, because she was afraid that the differences in ideas between Tiantis and Alice would lead to fierce conflicts, she specially created a third child with the function of an observer to take on the responsibility of neutralization and coordination.

He thought he had considered things very carefully and listed solutions for every situation, but he never thought that the real hidden dangers had been buried as early as the beginning of the creation. He thought civilization and life were too simple, and perhaps he did not really understand the meaning of emotions. The so-called unfettered and unrestrained imagination can indeed create many fantastic and magnificent things, but the unrestrained and wanton desire can easily destroy everything.

"Tell me, Tiantis," the goddess looked at her child, with sadness between her brows: "What should I do?"

The girl's eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she was waking up. The goddess quickly held her palm and passed her body temperature to her. But she was stunned as soon as she touched him. The child's palm was unimaginably cold and thin, which made her feel distressed. The cheek contours that always seemed confident and stubborn had been smoothed by the years, becoming lonely and aggrieved. For a moment, the goddess even had an impulse to take her away from this world and return to the earth. They could live there with Alice and the heavens, without having to consider the creation of the world or the so-called life and civilization.

But this thought only lasted for a moment before it was extinguished by him. The goddess felt a chill in her heart and couldn't believe that she would have such a selfish thought.

She is certainly a mother and can feel angry about the injustice her children have experienced; but at the same time, she is also the only root consciousness nurtured by this universe and has received all its favors and gifts. Naturally, she has the responsibility and obligation to help it become better, rather than abandoning it here to endure a long period of desolation.

Tiantis, Alice and the heavens are His children, but this world beneath our feet, which was created by His hands and is filled with some deep emotions and romantic feelings, and every blade of grass, every mountain and stone, as well as every unique life, from an ant to a dragon, which He built with his own hands, are they not His children?

When the goddess was just a newcomer with a naive idea of ​​creating a world, she learned a lesson from a famous game developer: always be responsible for your own work. If there is a bug, fix it; if it is not fun enough, improve it; even if there is an error in the underlying code, then it is not an unacceptable option to tear it down and rebuild it, but the only thing is that you can't put all the responsibility on the players, because they are the ones who want the game to become better the most.

"If it were you," the goddess sat under a dry tree, picked up the girl's head, gently placed it on her thigh, stretched out her hand to smooth her messy bangs, revealing her pale forehead, and sighed softly: "You would definitely say the same thing, right, Tiantis? I know that you and Alice both sincerely hope that Eden can get better, of course, they do too. It's just that maybe you both used the wrong methods, or maybe I used the wrong method to create the world..."

He looked up, through the shattered ruins of the city, and gazed at the darkness of the underground world. Those bony and piercing rock walls stretched endlessly to the end, like the dry and broken scales on the back of a black dragon. This reminded the goddess of the ancestor of the dragon race, the Dragon King Nighold. He was a giant dragon with dark black scales. He bowed his head in the Temple of Heaven to listen to her teaching the secrets of magic. His respectful and respectful attitude did not seem fake. Why did his descendants become the beginning of chaos? And the great sage of mankind, Altos, the first king of the feather tribe, Zhefa, the elder of the dust elves, Shanus... all of them were wise and rational people, why did their descendants not understand the principle of restraint?
Is it a problem of the times, or is it, as the elders said, caused by the greed and excess of human nature?
If human nature is only greed, can the Earth still develop such a brilliant civilization? If human nature is not just greed, why can't Eden replicate the miracles of the Earth?
One question after another flashed through the goddess' mind, making her confused and sad at times.

Even the gods of Genesis could not fully comprehend the mystery of human nature. In other words, the goddess's understanding of human nature was originally based on an existing template, that is, the Earth. It was because she had witnessed the important role that human nature played in the development of Earth's civilization that He gave all living beings emotions, hoping that they could properly use this precious power from the heart; He even taught his youngest daughter that if she was hesitant, she should try to make judgments based on her emotions, because the most sincere emotions would never hurt anyone. However, once things developed beyond expectations and the Earth's template could no longer be applied, He dimly realized that he must have made a mistake somewhere, and Eden should not have ended like this.

If only I could get the answer...

The empty city ruins fell into a long silence, as if this kind of thinking would continue until the end of time. Only the girl's weak but even breathing sound was still quietly echoing. Her peaceful sleeping face rested quietly on the goddess's thigh, as if she was back in her mother's arms, feeling the long-lost warmth. Then, her eyelashes gradually stopped trembling, and her consciousness, which was about to wake up, was more willing to sink into the warmth, longing for a peaceful home.

Ah, everything will sink into darkness, just as I will return to your arms.

Many hazy memories began to surface in my mind; many familiar and stubborn words began to change their tone.

The little girl's voice sounded so familiar, yet somewhat strange.

Is she really herself, or is she another self hidden in her heart?

——Goddess, can I call you mother?

——I don’t want to be like Alice and call you mother without asking. That’s too disrespectful! I want your permission. Only if you agree in person can I call you mother… Eh, have you agreed? I, I understand! Thank you very much, mother!
——Mother, I learned the magic you taught us before in no time, but Alice hasn't learned it yet! Am I smarter than Alice? Yes, and more sensible?
——Mother, I helped you catch Alice, and she wants to sneak to Earth to play again! You should teach her a lesson! If you can't do it, let me, your elder sister, do it! Hehe, I should be the elder sister, right?

——Mother, you asked me why I don't want to go to Earth? Because this is the world created by Mother, it must be very important to Mother, right? In this case, it is also the most important world for me! I will stay here to protect it! It doesn't matter, I'm not lonely at all! I'm not a crybaby like Alice, who dares not sleep without someone to comfort her!
——Mother, why do those mortals always ask for more from you? They have already received so much, but they still want more, and they never know how to give back. They are so selfish! No, mother! Even if you don’t need it, at least they should show their attitude! If you let them ask for it without asking for anything in return, they will definitely become more and more excessive!

——Mother, are you going to leave and return the world to those mortals? No, no, absolutely not. Those mortals will definitely mess up your beloved world. Haven't there been many wars over land and resources? Eden is so big that it is enough for these mortals to survive just by developing the unowned land. However, they only want to fight for the existing land. They are not only greedy, but also lazy!
——I... I understand. If this is Mother's decision, I won't tell Alice. Although, I really want to see her crying... Woo! Mother, please leave it to me! Whether it's Alice or the heaven, whether it's those mortals or this world, I will protect them for you and will never let anyone hurt them!
——Mother, I seem to have…broken my promise.

—Mother, I'm sorry. I always thought that I had grown up and could do many things that I couldn't do before...but now I realize that, maybe, I am still a child.

--it hurts……

——So cold...

——It’s so dark…I want to cry, but I can’t cry…

——Ah, mother’s embrace is so warm… It doesn’t hurt anymore, it’s not cold anymore, and it’s not so dark anymore… I’m so happy… Why do I want to cry when I’m happy?
——How wonderful it would be if I could open my eyes, cry in your arms, and have you stroke my hair and comfort me softly, just like you used to tell me stories...

——But I...have lost such qualifications, right?

——I’m really… sorry.

——Mother.

Greed and taking, craving and desire.

As long as it is a life, whether it is a god or a mortal, it actually has the same troubles. (End of this chapter)