Chapter 80
"Miel Akunila." Dindel spoke, his voice still gentle but with a hint of indifference.
"I'm sorry for showing you such obscene images," he apologized calmly. "Although this is my dream world, I can't control my thoughts, nor can I control what appears in my dreams. However, I hope you know that this is just a dream."
"Well, it was just a dream," Miel repeated earnestly, then said, "Father, this night has been too long. You've slept for too long. It's time to wake up."
Tyndall lowered his eyes and remained silent for a moment before responding, "I know why you came. I'm sorry to have caused you worry, but I believe I did the right thing, so I have no regrets."
Miel: "In fact, Father, I have come to confess my sins to you."
Hearing this, Dingdel raised his eyes again and looked at Miel without saying a word.
Miel ignored his reaction. He raised his hands, clasped his fingers together, closed his eyes, and sincerely confessed, "My eyes are always focused on 'the majority,' but I can't abandon the important people around me. To save what I believe is the majority, I want to take what I believe is right, but I hesitate because of the resistance of my friends. In the end, not only did I fail to solve anything, but I made things worse. I confess, this is all my fault. If I had been more decisive and taken action directly despite my friends' resistance, wouldn't I have implicated the entire city? If I had paid more attention to my friend, asked him what he really wanted to do, or stayed by his side until he calmed down, could I have stopped him before he did anything stupid? Father, what should I do?"
Dingdel looked at Miel expressionlessly and remained silent.
Seeing that he didn't intend to respond, Miel continued, "My friend is a very good person. He is kind and gentle, but fate is very unfair to him. He has always been doing the right thing, but he never gets good results. But this is not his fault. He has done nothing wrong. The fault lies with the evil god who deceived him and the group of cultists who were brainwashed by the evil god. Their eyes are blinded. They can't distinguish between black and white, good and evil, and my friend has suffered hardships that he shouldn't have to endure. But I will never hate him for this. I will only love him more, because not only does he want to save the world, I also want to save the world, and he is also one of the 'world'."
"But now, I can't save anyone. Because I didn't realize the disappointment in life behind his melancholy eyes in time, I couldn't understand his dedication to saving souls. I watched helplessly as he dragged broken souls into dreams at the cost of his own life, indirectly causing the black fog to appear, swallowing the entire city and eroding all life within it."
"I repent for my slowness and indifference. No one can forgive my sins, but I haven't given up on remedying them. Father, please tell me what I should do. I really want to know how I can persuade my friend to return from the path he believes is right, and work out a better, more correct approach that we can both accept."
Miel finished speaking, saying everything he should and shouldn't say, and waited patiently for Dindel's answer.
Although he kept saying "my friend" from beginning to end, he believed that Tyndall could understand who this friend was.
After a delicate silence, Dindel spoke, but he didn't answer Miel's question. Instead, he asked this question: "Miel, please tell me, what is the value of life? The soul can be eternal, but life will eventually pass away. Before life passes away, the soul is trapped in the body, and the body endures pain. The soul can only helplessly scream - what is the value of life?"
"It's about being alive," Miel responded. "When the body suffers, the soul has nowhere to escape. But when the body feels joy, it also pleases the soul. This is the value of life. It is because of life that the soul has meaning. Conversely, without life, will the soul no longer suffer? Father, if I tell you that your Lord doesn't want your soul, and that you can gain eternity in the dreamland after death, will your soul find peace after losing your life and body?"
Tyndall was silent for a moment. "There's no point in assuming."
Miel: "This is not a hypothesis. Father, you are the agent of Atrak. How can I enter your dream without His permission?"
Dingdel: "..."
Dindel lowered his eyes, his face showing no much expression, but his lips were pursed.
Miel: "Do you understand? If you truly feel that life is meaningless, then your soul is also meaningless."
Dindel: "...My existence itself is meaningless."
"Don't say that. I need your help, and the believers of the church need your guidance. This is the meaning of your existence." Miel responded, "Just like my existence is insignificant, but as long as there are still people who need me, my continued existence has meaning."
"But I don't want to be needed by anyone." Tyndall responded, "Providing help to those in need has always been my wishful thinking. I think they need help, and I provide help to them without authorization..."
"Don't act like a spoiled child to me, Dindel." Miel couldn't help but interrupt him halfway through.
If the debate was normal before, now there was obvious emotion in Tyndall's words.
Although his tone remained calm, his words were full of sophistry.
But you couldn't blame him. 800 years ago, his body and soul were so damaged that he couldn't even face the most basic emotions.
"Being happy because you're needed and appreciated is proof of being human. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Or has your soul also become a spider, and is no longer human?"
“…”
"Father," Miel spoke again, extending a hand toward Dindel, palm up. "Neither I, Rocas, the followers of the Church of Syracuse, nor your Lord, Atlachnakya, wish you to take such a course. Atlach lent you his power in the hope that you would rediscover the meaning of life, not to commit suicide."
Dingdel stared at Miel's palm for a while, then suddenly closed his eyes to hide his emotions.
Whenever he didn't know what to do, he would close his eyes like this, as if this way he wouldn't have to face the reality that made him feel helpless.
Dindel always gives people the impression of being calm, mature and reliable, but in fact, he has never been a strong person, otherwise he would not pray to the unknown gods and attract Atrak to his dreams.
And this is precisely the proof that he wants to be seen, heard, understood, recognized and redeemed.
The sentence "I don't want to be needed by anyone" is a complete lie.
After a sigh, Dindel opened his eyes again, raised his hand, and placed it in Miel's palm. "Miel, I still don't think I did anything wrong, but you listened to my plea and didn't transfer those poor souls to the wasteland. So, it's only right that I turn around and listen to your thoughts."
"Well, that's right." Miel secretly breathed a sigh of relief, raised the corners of his lips and smiled, "After all, we are friends."
Dindel raised his eyes to look at him: "Although in my opinion, you are still just a child."
The smile on Miel's face froze.
"But," Tyndall continued, "in just a few days, you've already matured much more than I have. Perhaps after all these years, I haven't grown at all."
Miel: "Maybe it's because you've been staying in the church all the time. It would be better if you could go out more, just like Amira."
"Perhaps."
——Following Dindel's response, Miel's consciousness suddenly became blurred and his vision fell into darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the depths of the abandoned factory.
A soft ball of light appeared beside him, illuminating his face, Dindel lying beside him, and Abhoth, which looked like a pool of light gray broth in front of him.
——Dindel woke up, the channel connecting dreams and reality disappeared, and Abhoth also returned to reality from dreams.
There were several ghouls nearby. Before they could react to what was happening, they were entangled by Abhoth's tentacles and dragged into the pool.
There were also tentacles that tried to attack Miel, but were knocked back cleanly by Cthulhu's wings.
Cthulhu flew down to Miel, standing between him and Abhoth, and spoke with interest: "My dear Miel, I have discovered another charm of yours."
Miel: "...What is it?"
Cthulhu: "Incitement."
Miel:?
Cthulhu: "I can almost imagine you standing on the city wall, giving a speech to our believers..."
Miel: “I don’t want it.”
Cthulhu: “…”
It’s true that Miyer believes in Cthulhu now, but he would never preach for Cthulhu, because Cthulhu is a lover to him, but to others, even if He is not an evil god, He is definitely not the kind of god who can fulfill wishes.
Mier doesn't want those who are living a good life to be led astray because of his speech.
Under normal circumstances, he might have refused in a more tactful way, but now, he was anxious to ask Cthulhu a question: "We came directly out of the Dreamland, what about my oath with Atrak?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a neutral male voice came from behind him. The tone gave people a gentle, soothing and elegant feeling: "I will fulfill it for Him."
Miel was startled and instinctively turned around to look behind him.
Two people appeared in his field of vision.
He didn't know when these two people appeared behind him. One of them was a female high elf with long, slightly curly golden hair. She was wearing a gorgeous aristocratic dress, her eyes were pitch black, and there was a gentle curve at the corner of her lips - it was Amiraisyana.
The other man, half a head taller than Amira, had human ears, but his hair was a rare brown-red. His hair was very long, straight and curly, trailing to the ground at the ends. His deep features were framed by a monocle, and behind the lens lay a pair of eyes that shone with a dazzling light, a dreamy blue-purple hue.
Miel vaguely remembered his voice, but still didn't dare recognize him.
Until he took the initiative to introduce himself: "Let's just consider this our first meeting, Miel Akunila. You can call me Yog-Sothoth. Do you want to know what's written in the contract I made with your mother? Yes, I'll tell you now."
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