The True Divine Cup

Dreaming starlight spread endlessly outward from within Polo's body, and a gate made of countless points of glimmering light opened, swallowing both Polo and the whole of the Sun Cup garden.

With Star in his arms, Polo rose slowly into the air, turning gently as he went, sending out ripple after ripple of light like waves.

The scene looked for all the world as though the sea of stars, the milky way, had gathered to encircle them.

At last, Polo and Star faded little by little within that halo of light, dissolving into starlight.

Clutching his Yinsai Epic bone tablets to his chest, Tito ran after them, staring up at the high sky in a daze, and murmured.

"Queen Star."

"Lord Polo."

The ground below lay utterly empty. That dazzling garden had vanished along with the queen and the Divine Messenger.

In the air there lingered, faintly, the last sigh Polo had left behind.

"What a pity!"

"I never got to see God one last time."

"I am sorry... God... in the end, Polo could not travel on with You after all."

Just as Polo had once told Star, he would carry her down with him into an eternal dream.

There, the two of them would remain together forever.

Tito stared blankly up at the sky, watching that radiance fade away bit by bit. At that very moment a streak of golden light fell from the heavens and landed before him.

He turned his gaze down to the ground, dropped to his knees, and slowly lifted the thing up in his hands.

"This is... the Divine Cup?"

Polo's body, and all of his power, had condensed together into one golden Divine Cup, brilliant with starlight.

Upon it were etched dreaming patterns, the marks of sun and stars alike.

The Divine Cup held within it the very concept of dreams, and the core coordinates of every dream ability there was.

It was the foundation of dreams themselves, and more than that, the supreme power behind dream ability.

Tito cradled the cup and looked down into it, and starlight rippled within.

He saw the shadows of Queen Star and Divine Messenger Polo, turned into star and sun, entwined together, moving through an endless sea of Sun Cup flowers.

Then he saw dream after dream, some vast, some breathtaking, rising and dissolving within the golden Divine Cup.

At last, the light drew inward and was gone.

Rust crept slowly across the golden Divine Cup, until it had become a thing worn and ancient, weathered by time.

Anyone who had not just witnessed the miraculous power it held could never have guessed what it truly was.

But Tito already understood, dimly, what he now held in his hands.

It was a thing like the legendary Mother Conch of All Things, which belonged to Shelly, the Mother of Life, or like the Crown of Wisdom that belonged to Redlichia, the King of Wisdom.

This was a supreme divine artifact.

All at once the poet's hands began to shake violently as they cradled the Divine Cup. Even to touch it with his own hands felt to him like a kind of desecration.

He lifted the Divine Cup high above his head.

"Lord Polo."

"Is this the gift you meant to offer the divine being?"

"How could I ever be worthy to offer up this supreme and sacred thing in your place? Can I truly... do what you said I could?"

The flower called the Sun Cup was known among the trilobite men as the Divine Cup, yet in truth, it had never been worthy of that name at all.

But this, this divine artifact condensed from Polo's own being, sovereign over every Sun Cup that ever bloomed, the supreme thing behind all dream ability.

This, and only this, was the true Divine Cup.

Tito carefully put the Divine Cup away, countless emotions churning within him.

He felt he could not even find the words to speak. All he could do was set it down in writing.

The poet Tito took up his carving tool, a stone as fine as jade, and carved the final chapter of the Yinsai Epic into his bone tablet.

【The shining star went dark with the queen's passing, and the spirit born of dreams met its end when the beautiful dream shattered.】

【The rulers of generations past were buried under the dust of time, yet the legacy of Yinsai continued.】

【But the epic was no more, and the myth was lost in the passage of time.】

【Only faith remained eternal.】

The story of the Divine Messenger and Queen Star.

Had ended.

Sky Temple, God-Servant City

The poet Tito returned bearing his great poem, and the queen opened the road to the temple for him.

In the tall and imposing palace hall, under the watching eyes of the Star Luo Kingdom's many priests, he prostrated himself upon the ground and held up the Yinsai Epic he had carved with such care into stone tablets.

"I offer this to Her Noble Majesty, the queen."

"May the legacy of Yinsai never be extinguished, and may faith in God Yinsai endure forever!"

The young reigning queen sat upon the throne. When she had finished reading the poem carved into the stone tablets, a look of astonishment crossed her face.

Even she, the third-generation queen of the Star Luo Kingdom born of the Xilong family, had known only vague, half-remembered stories of Yinsai's past, passed down by word of mouth.

This was the first time she had ever seen such a complete Yinsai Epic, one so true and so detailed.

Within it lay a fatalism that could strike fear into the heart, the will of God towering above all else.

There was the desire for power, the greed of original sin, and there was devotion and faith as well.

There was the clash between the exalted King of Wisdom and the leader of the craftsmen struck down by heaven's own punishment. Through it all moved the crossing, cycling figures of kings, powerful ministers, priests, and divine messengers.

Figure after figure, gathered together into one great epic.

"It truly is a magnificent poem. They say you walked the whole of the four kingdoms before you finished this work."

Tito answered humbly, "Only by witnessing the footsteps of kings for myself could I set down a history that was truly real."

Curious, the queen asked, "I have heard that you even met Queen Star, and His Excellency the Divine Messenger Polo."

Tito did not hide it. "I did indeed meet Queen Star and the Divine Messenger."

The queen rose to her feet at once. "What... what became of them?"

Tito bowed low, pressing himself to the ground, and spoke.

"Your Majesty!"

"The stars vanish, but dreams endure forever."

Within the hall, silence fell in an instant.

With the Yinsai Epic complete, Tito became the most sought-after name in the God-Servant City, and countless people took up his poem and sang it.

The nobles of the Star Luo Kingdom counted it an honor to invite him to their banquets, and priests came knocking at his door one after another, begging for copies of his work.

His name spread even beyond the borders of the Star Luo Kingdom into the other kingdoms, where nobles and even kings sent invitations, hoping he would come to them as an honored guest.

He became, at last, everything he had once hoped to be, surpassing his father and his grandfather both, a poet of towering renown.

And yet, none of it was enough to satisfy him.

Tito stood upon the stairway of the Sky Temple, looking out over the sea of clouds, over the whole world.

He asked himself a question.

"Tito, you've already achieved so much success. Why does your heart still feel so empty?"

He had already succeeded, more than enough. He had tasted a glory he had never known before.

But what he had achieved could only be called success. It could not yet be called greatness.

He wanted to be a great poet.

In Tito's ears, the words of the Divine Messenger Polo echoed once again.

"Tito, go and seek out the legendary paradise God had promised. What I leave behind will guide you toward the kingdom of God."

"Go to the Pyramid Temple, and stand in the presence of eternal Yinsai."

A sudden wind rose and fanned the flame in Tito's heart alight once more.

The flame climbed higher and higher, until nothing could hold it back any longer.

Tito turned his head all at once and looked toward the God-Descended City.

His eyes passed over mountains, lakes and deserts, and passed over the boundless, endless ocean.

And there he saw it, the kingdom of the divine, blooming with fields of Sun Cup flowers.

"I will write an even greater epic."

"No, that's wrong!"

"It will be a myth!"

"The name will be..."

Tito's eyes seemed to burn with fire and light. "The Hymn of the King of Wisdom."