Lisdia

Right when Yaxiu was being rated as non-recyclable combustible trash, far away in the prosperous imperial capital of Nabistin, there stood a sprawling complex of magnificent, solemn palaces. Within this palace complex, the most eye-catching feature was a soaring tower built upon a small islet in the middle of Lake Yalan. With white walls and a blue roof, golden orioles warbling amidst verdant greens, and white doves circling overhead, the structure seemed not to belong to the mortal realm, existing only in fairy tales. "...And so, the brave knight defeated the fire-breathing evil dragon and rescued the beautiful princess from its lair. Together, they returned to the royal capital, greeted by everyone's cheers and congratulations. The king presided over their wedding, and the knight and the princess lived happily ever after. A joyous conclusion, a happy ending indeed." Smiling warmly, the kindly old woman closed the picture book. Right then, the mantel clock in the room chimed, and an adorable cuckoo popped out to announce the hour. "Your Highness, the bells of midnight have chimed. It is time for bed." The old woman gently pulled up the quilt, as if afraid that the mere act of tucking her in might hurt the princess on the bed. The princess blinked her beautiful pale-green eyes, which sparkled like dazzling stars. Her skin was pure white like snow, her lips crimson like blood, and her lustrous black hair, like a dark waterfall, fanned out across the pillow. "Granny Martha, when will an evil dragon come to take me away?" The old woman smiled and patted the princess's head. "The brave knights are all outside protecting you, so no evil dragon can ever snatch you away, my lovely princess." "Huh? Won't the dragon be terribly disappointed, then?" The princess looked rather wistful. "It wants to take me away so badly, just like how badly I want to see Nina... Granny Martha, when will Nina come visit me?" "Princess Nina is very busy. Once she has some free time, she will certainly come to see you." The old woman turned off the lamp and quietly left the room. Lying in bed, the princess let her thoughts wander. In her mind, she pictured the dragon's appearance: it would have four beautiful, sharp horns, an entire body of gleaming scales, and a fearsome yet neatly aligned set of sharp fangs. Its eyes would be as large as vanity mirrors, and I could see my own reflection in its pupils... When the princess rolled over, she froze in astonishment: outside the window was a Bronze Dragon that matched her imagination down to the last detail. It gently flapped its wings in midair, staring straight at her through the window with a vertical slit pupil. The princess pulled back the quilt and slipped out of bed. Wearing a pure white cotton gauze nightgown, she stepped barefoot onto the cold marble floor and walked over to the window to meet the Bronze Dragon's gaze. "Have you come to take me away?" The Bronze Dragon did not speak, merely watching her in silence. Yet the princess seemed to hear an answer, and a radiant smile broke across her face. "All right, I'll go with you." Compared to the knights who perpetually guarded the base of the tower, the dragon before her felt far more like a hero coming to her rescue—she would ride upon its back, soar through the skies, gaze down upon the breathtaking lands below, and embark on thrilling adventures. This was the life she had yearned for all along. Carefully, she climbed over the windowsill. The barrier that had previously kept her confined seemed to have vanished in that very instant. Sitting on the edge of the sill, her dainty, translucent little feet swinging gently, she opened her arms to the Bronze Dragon. "Thank you, evil dragon." However, the knights beneath the tower were actually guards. The Bronze Dragon did not exist in reality. Yet the princess truly leaped. A piercing whistle shattered the night sky, alarming the entire imperial palace. Palace sorcerers were mobilized in haste, and Three-Winged Sanctuary Sorcerers flew straight to the chamber at the tower's summit to conduct a carpet search, yet they found nothing. "Where is the princess?" "The princess is gone!" "Find her! Summon the prophecy sorcerers!... No, ask the Book of Gospel directly for the princess's location! No matter how many points or how much gospel it takes, use it!" "It's no good, the Book of Gospel won't accept the inquiry!" "How could that be...?" Furious and panicked, the searchers quickly vacated the disheveled royal chamber, expanding the dragnet across the entire imperial capital. No one noticed that an uninvited guest had long since arrived in the room, quietly watching the spectacle unfold from the side. He walked to the window, rested his arms on the sill, and leaned forward to gaze down at the illuminated, majestic royal city. Curtains of light akin to auroras gradually unfolded above the capital, thousands of 'Eagle Eye' drones took to the skies in every direction, laser-like patterns shimmered across the ground, and all surveillance systems operated at full throttle. Within minutes, every corner of the entire city was swept, and all spatial miracles were purged, all just to locate the missing princess. "Well, that saves me some trouble," he chuckled, resting his chin on his hand. "Educating the Sword Princess cost me quite a bit of 'time,' after all." "Who are you?" A sullen, huffy voice came from behind. The Watcher turned around and looked at the girl in the black dress standing beside the bed. She possessed a breathtaking countenance, with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and lustrous, jet-black hair. However, unlike the serene, sweet princess who had just leaped out, this girl was brimming with fury. With her hands on her hips, her cheeks puffed out, she glared at the Watcher as if ready to pounce and bite him like a wild beast. "While I'd love to say it's our first meeting, we were actually looking at each other just moments ago," the Watcher said with an open-handed shrug. "Pleased to meet you, Witch. I am the End Watcher, but you can call me the Watcher." "I'm not a witch!" Marching straight up to the Watcher, she poked his chest with a finger. "I am Princess Lisdia! You can call me Princess Lis or Princess Dia, but there's never been any weird title like 'witch'!" The Watcher leaned back tactically and asked, "So, should I call you Lis, or Dia?" She blinked. "...Dia." "Still, I think 'Witch' sounds better." The Watcher turned back to gaze at the imperial capital bustling in the distance. "So, Witch, how does freedom feel?" "Are you mocking me?" Dia seized the Watcher by the collar, wrenching him around and nearly hoisting him into the air. "Who on earth are you? How could you pierce through layers of barriers to enter the royal city, let alone my tower? If not for the Bronze Dragon's help, even I could never have escaped this cage!" "Even if a Legendary Sorcerer might somehow sneak in here, the fact that you can see me completely surpasses the realm of mortals," Dia said solemnly. "I am not a soul, nor a spirit, nor sorcery power. I am merely an illusion, a thought, a mood... Aside from Lis, no one could possibly perceive my existence. No one in this world can see me. "How could you possibly see a thought?" Dia scrutinized the misty visage of the Watcher. "Are you the Lord of the Gods?" "I'm sorry to disappoint you." Held aloft by Dia like this, the Watcher was not annoyed in the slightest, remarking calmly, "I am no god—at least, not yet. On the contrary, I have come to ask for your help." Dia tilted her head. "What kind of help?" "Become my companion and accept my arrangements." "May I take that as your declaration of enslavement?" "I will defend to the death your right to imagine freely." "Absurd." Dia shoved the Watcher out the window with force. Pure white radiance radiated outward with her at the center, and in an instant, the entire world turned into a vast expanse of blinding white, leaving only Dia standing and the Watcher falling. The Watcher's dark-red gradient trench coat slowly faded to gray. His entire body froze in midair, as if suspended by time itself. "Whoever you are, and however you managed to see me, communicating with me means you are inside my mind," Dia enunciated every word. "Trespassing into someone else's mental realm is a very dangerous thing." She clasped her hands together. "Be sliced to pieces by countless moments of time, Watcher!" The moment Dia finished speaking, the Watcher's entire body shattered like a mirror, fragmenting into smaller and smaller shards until dissolving into a heap of glistening sand. Hmph, is that all you've got...? Just as the thought surfaced in Dia's mind, shattering sounds suddenly resonated from all directions! Crack! Dia looked up and saw that the pure white, frozen world she had created was fracturing into countless fissures like a mirror! And within every single fragment of that world, the hazy, indistinct figure of the Watcher emerged! Above and below the heavens, in all directions, infinite and everywhere! "Not an illusion, not a trick—every single one is the real me." The Watchers' voices boomed like layers of rolling thunder, the resonance rattling Dia's very form. "We come from a second ago, a nanosecond ago, a millionth of a nanosecond ago... Rather than using time to kill, you ought to learn how to use time to become immortal. "Looks like the effort I hoped to save still can't be spared, after all." ...... When Dia came to her senses, she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, while the Watcher was still leaning against the windowsill, as if nothing had happened at all. Yet Dia knew that in the clash of minds just now, even within her own mental realm, she had lost. She had been utterly defeated. She couldn't describe the feeling—how could free thought itself be conquered? She rolled across the bed and hid behind it, ducking out of the Watcher's line of sight. Like a startled little rabbit, she asked timidly, "Does an existence like you really need help from someone like me?" "You seem to overestimate me," the Watcher chuckled. "In truth, I am merely a distant thought. If not for certain special methods, I couldn't have met you at all. My true body has only just set foot on the Time Continent and doesn't even possess a single Golden Feather. My strength is actually weaker than yours. With your help, the upcoming Void Realm Exploration will be much easier." How could that be possible...? Dia did not believe for a second that the Watcher had only Two Wings, but she quickly caught the key phrase he mentioned: "Void Realm Exploration?" "Yes. You will join my Void Realm Exploration team, and together we'll run rampant across the Time Continent." The Watcher nodded. "Don't expect me to provide much intel, though. When it comes to the Void Realm and the Time Continent, you understand them far better than I do." Explore the Void Realm together? Dia's first instinct was to reject such a whimsical idea, but upon further reflection, compared to him being able to see her, teaming up in the Void Realm actually seemed quite ordinary. Most importantly, there was no reason for the Watcher to deceive a mere Two-Winged Sorcerer like her, even if she was one favored by the Bronze Dragon. Still, if the Watcher's strength really was inferior to hers, that meant... "By the way," the Watcher added as if suddenly remembering, "I have another companion, a sword sorcerer. Together, we've roamed the Sea of Knowledge and slain many enemies side by side." Dia suppressed the daring notion blooming in her mind. "Do I have the right to refuse?" "I have another companion, a sword sorcerer. Together, we've roamed the Sea of Knowledge and slain many enemies side by side," the Watcher repeated with a smile. Fuming, she pointed at him and shouted, "You're threatening me!" "I prefer to call it an inducement," the Watcher said, tilting his head. "Though I will defend to the death your right to imagine freely." Dia looked as if she wanted to say more, but her expression suddenly shifted, and her figure quickly blurred and faded away. "Leaving without even a farewell—what an ill-mannered princess," the Watcher said lazily as he sat down on the vanity chair. "It's only getting caught by cultists. What's the rush? She should've known long ago that the Bronze Dragon's favor doesn't come easy." "Compared to you, she really is far more mischievous." The Sword Princess sat on the windowsill, her long legs clad in black stockings swinging gently in the air, a hint of worry in her expression. "But she might be too mischievous. I'm more worried about whether Yaxiu can handle her." "Don't worry," the Watcher replied with an amused smile. "Isn't there still Sonia?"