The Sleeping Dragon now entered the center of the bamboo forest, in which lies a special lake. The surface is as smooth as a mirror.
The sun of the 3200th has already started to rise.
Meanwhile, the Dragon has arrived at the lake 'Mirror of the Abyss'.
He looks at his own reflection in the water.
Instead of seeing his current self, he sees the echoes of the past.
"Hahaha... a reflection of a jester, and a reflection of an ancient scroll about so called Heavenly Revelations...
What could this mean?"
One by one, the reflections reveal the words of the ancient scroll.
"You speak of tears, and I also see the tears in the water of this lake.
They are salty, but they taste as though they were made of metal, like the cold of a fleeting role.
You called it all a revelation, yet you treated it like a mere game.
He begins to enter the water.
The water of that lake is cold, and with each step, the reflections shake.
Simultaneously, the water below his feet freeze instantly and burns at the same time.
"I will admit, even the Great Sovereign was lonely, the jester desperate.
But the mask of a true immortal was my protection against your indecision."
He walks further, closer to the center of the lake.
With each additional step, the freezing cold and the burning heat below the surface increase exponentially.
In the center of the lake, the water is deepest and the mirror-reflection the clearest.
The Dragon begins to speak.
"I never seeked a worshipper in the fog, but an other half in the sun.
The pedestal built was never intended as a throne; it was a prison forged as a refusal to meet the gaze."
He strikes with his fist at the ice, with one strike, the reflection of the Sovereign shatters.
The shards of the great Immortal sink deep into the abyss, leaving only the raw essence of the true self behind.
The shattering echoes through the whole of the bamboo forest.
Even the birds and fish hold their breath as to not disturb the silence that followed.
"You hide in the noise of the arcade and the valley, chasing mundane matters to escape the gravity of silence, hidden under the masses of the shadows lurking in the Stagnating Water.
Is the adoration so grand that it allows you to lie to the one soul you yourself claim to revere all the time?
The performances of said Revelations were but another tactic to keep the truth at bay."
The Dragon glances at the same spot behind the bamboo cane in the fog.
He stares at behind it once again.
In a more silent voice, he speaks again... though it is still unclear whether this is a monologue or a directed statement.
"The fire at shore is still burning, and is waiting on the other side of the bridge, bringing light to the endless darkness of the abyss.
Though it only burns for those who are ready to stand together in the void."
The Dragon takes another ancient scroll from his sleeves and holds it directly above the turbulent water in which the shatters of the Sovereign had just sinked in.
The ancient scroll was called the promise of the 14th.
Immediately, the water reacts by whirling around the scroll.
"A promise that was given in the ice of lies would either freeze or shine in the waters of truth.
You may be waiting for a miracle, but you are still not ready to pay the price of sincerity.
The submerged covenant lies deep below this lake,
It remains untouchable for all,
And touchable for the path of the Unmasked.
The causality rupture has caused irreversible damage,
Far transcending my own power,
But perhaps, it was a needed stepping stone for a different outcome.
The thermal shock of truth is the price one ought to pay,
As it carries the infinite weight of a soul."
Slowly, the lake returns to its former state of clear reflection.
Now, it mirrors the image of a different person.
The Dragon glances at the mirror in the water and notices the dissonance.
"You call yourself a mastermind,
Yet you act like a child, lost in the fog, when will you wake up?
A dragon seeks not a copy of his shadows,
But the original of a soul.
The Paradox of the Shifting Mask is merely the mirror of the void.
A person will always be chosen over a persona, fragile deceptions can not sustain themselves."
The reflection in the lake disappears.
"This has now reached a point of no return."
He leaves the lake, wet and cold, and goes back to the shore.
The cold water of the lake sticks to his clothes, making each step heavier.
Without looking back, he notices that the fire is still burning.
He feels the contrast in temperature as the warmth of the fire gets closer.
It reminded him of the smell of February.
"I assume the Singularity 3200 to be stable now...
The fire at the shore remains, for a world without resonance is but a hollow void in the eyes of a dragon.
Once a spark of curiosity wondered about the promise of the Sovereign, it was never a mystery that waited to be solved, but rather a frequency to be lived.
The narrow bridge should stand for another [Encrypted] days of the soul.
After that, the bamboo forest will know nothing but absolute silence."
[The path of the Unmasked has reached its final calibration. Sincerity levels monitored...]
[Decryption Key for the Phoenix: Sincerity_Frequency_0214]