The World after the Fall

"…Anyway, I am Karavan. Vicegerent of Ignis the Flame. People call me Karavan of the Flame too."

Karavan, who decided to join to reconnect his link to Ignis, introduced himself awkwardly. Runald responded grumpily, "You introduced yourself yesterday and the day before. Why are you doing it again?"

"Oh, I thought you might not remember me, so I just did it again. People don't remember my name even after I tell them two or three times. I'm still a Vicegerent, you know…"

Karavan, unlike his well-known name, was not a man with memorable features. He had a calm face and common facial features. The only unique feature about him was his fiery hair, but it was apparent that he purposely made it so people could remember him by that feature at least.

"Don't be so suspicious, I have my business too. Oh, and Andersen asked me to help you guys…"

"But you don't seem trustworthy at all."

Karavan held back his annoyance and said solemnly, "…I swear to Ignis that I will never do that. Besides, you two are better off going with me."

"Why?"

"Because there is no other who knows more about the Great Forest than me."

The Great Forest.

One of the 8 forbidden places of the <Depth>. The Great Forest, the entrance of which was at the corner of the 4th and 8th site, had many various threats and had earned many nicknames.

Cemetery of the lost ones.

Fallen Ancients.

Forgotten 9th site.

Some said that this was the most dangerous place of all the 8 forbidden places. Some even said that the Great Forest was the 'Depth' within the <Depth>. They were all different names, but they mostly meant the same thing. However, there was one fact that everyone agreed on the Great Forest.

-Within the Great Forest lies the [Parts] left by the Three Ancient Gods.

The [Parts] of the Three Ancient Gods. What it meant was too obvious.

-The best [Parts] of the <Depth>. The forgotten three legendary [Parts].

They were legendary parts that were said to allow the wielder to control the entire <Depth>. It lured all kinds of newbie gods and their Vicegerents to <Depth>. In fact, there were records that at around 100 thousand years ago, in the age of the 'God-boom', that half of all newbie gods who were born had ventured into the Great Forest. Official numbers counted about 50 thousand gods, but with Vicegerents and Followers, the numbers would have multiplied by a lot.

It was an incident that would be later named 'Component Rush'.

"A lot died back then. It's funny to say it as if I was there when I wasn't even born, but…"

Karavan recounted as he pushed away black leaves to the side. Jaehwan asked, "Any survivors?"

"Yeah. 5 including my predecessor."

"Predecessor?"

"It's actually pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre… but anyway. There was a Vicegerent of Ignis' long before me. Only five of them, including him, came back alive."

"I see."

"So, you've never heard of the story? About those gods who came back alive. Everyone knows about it in <Depth>."

"Huh? Is that…"

It was Runald who interrupted.

"Are you talking about the 7 gods?"

"Oh, so you knew?"

Like all places, <Depth> had powerful Gods that represented it. They were the ones who were called the 7 Gods of <Depth>, or the 7 pillars of <Depth>.

Big Brother of the System.

Droyan the Dragon God.

Ignis the God of Flame.

Peste the God of Disease.

Chronos the God of Time.

Budda the God of Cycle.

'Nameless' the God of Madness.

Everyone knew about them in <Depth>. They were the 7 gods of the <Depth>.

"Out of those 7, 5 of them including Ignis, were the ones that traveled to the Great Forest. Droyan, Peste, Chronos, and Budda."

"Oh, they are all famous now."

"Yeah, they are the masters of the largest sites now."

"Ignis too…"

"He's the master of the 3rd site. Have you ever been there?"

"Yeah, it was an amazing place."

The 3rd site, 'Tropical', was a place with a very high average temperature within <Depth>. It was so hot that it was better to camp out in another site than to sleep in the 3rd site. Karavan smiled bitterly.

"It's not hot. It's just a bit warm."

Warm? Runald thought that was probably the reason he was made Vicegerent and asked, "Anyway, was Big Brother originally one of the 7 gods? I thought Big Brother isn't considered one of them."

"Well, you are correct in that. Big Brother is much more. There are people who don't consider Big Brother to be in that category."

Big Brother of the System. Just like Karavan said, Big Brother was much more than just a God. Some even said that Big Brother had moved onto become something more than a God, thus he was no longer a God.

"Oh, talking about Big Brother, I've been to all the other sites, but never to the 1st site where Big Brother is said to reside. I wanted to go there sometime."

"Huh? You want to go to the 1st site?"

"Yeah. I've been to all the other sites but not that one."

Karavan then burst into laughter as Runald frowned.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because that's a funny joke."

"Joke? I'm not joking."

"Huh? Oh… I guess you really don't know then?"

Karavan then stopped walking to glance at where they were at, and then left a trace so they would not get lost, before he continued, "There are two things you got wrong there."

He broke one of the tree limbs from a nearby tree.

"The first is that Big Brother does not exist in the 1st site."

"What?"

"He's at the top of the Tree of Imagery called the [Nest]. I think it's the place where… what was it called? The First Nightmare? Where that exists. Some call the [Nest] the 1st site, but it's not. There are no Vicegerents or Followers there."

Karavan's words caught Jaehwan's attention as he had mentioned 'the First Nightmare'. Runald asked, "Then, where is the 1st site?"

"The second is that the 1st site is not in <Depth>."

"What?!" Runald shouted in shock. It was a bad joke. He just said that Big Brother was not in the 1st site, and he now was saying that the 1st site wasn't in <Depth> either. This was a strange story for Runald who had been living in <Depth> for 3 years. Of course, it was hard to hear any stories about Big Brother in the first place.

"What are you talking about? There's no 1st site in <Depth>?"

"Yeah. The site became so big it was taken out of the Tree of Imagery."

The site was taken out of the Tree of Imagery? How was that possible? Runald seemed confused but Jaehwan grimaced. He had come to a question. It was actually a question he had for quite some time.

If Big Brother was a God and if his [Setting] was the System, then what would be the range of his world? He thought about the possibility, but he never really considered it seriously. It was more than 'big'.

"Wait. Is that…?"

As if he read Jaehwan's mind, Karavan smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. The <Great Lands> IS the 1st site of <Depth>."