Mystery: Becoming a Creator Through the Doorway

An Ruowang knew that building trust was a process of dancing with risk.

A famous parable proposed by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer:

On a cold winter night, a group of porcupines huddle together for warmth, but their sharp quills prick each other.

To avoid getting hurt, they had to back away; but because of the cold, they drew closer to each other again.

People crave intimacy, warmth, and connection, yet fear being hurt, disturbed, exploited, or losing their personal space. This contradictory psychological state of wanting to get close yet fearing being hurt is known as the "porcupine dilemma" or "hedgehog dilemma."

This concept also applies to Abraham.

The full moon curse, which has lasted for over a thousand years, has turned this once-angelic family into a group of wounded porcupines, huddled in various corners of the northern continent.

They yearn to find the truth, to save their ancestors, and to restore their family's glory.

When he approached them with the truth and extended an olive branch, the Abraham family hoped to cooperate with him, who had already shown sincerity, but they were also afraid of being betrayed again.

Therefore, having demonstrated Abraham's sincerity and goodwill, Dorian hoped to see Aleister provide further proof of his goodwill and sincerity.

To put it dramatically, this feeling is like taking on a girlfriend with an avoidant attachment style who has been deeply hurt by her ex. She will constantly use the wounds left by her ex to play the victim and demand that you constantly prove your love for her. Once you get a little impatient with this, she will say, "I knew all along that you didn't love me at all."

Those who know, know; having experienced this kind of thing in one's lifetime is considered a success.

However, this is just a superficial abstraction of Abraham as a collective being into a single person; in reality, it's not that complicated.

An Ruowang could understand the other party's caution, although he felt that the truth and ritual of the Full Moon Talk were enough to prove his sincerity.

He refused before simply because he wanted fairness and didn't want his goodwill towards Abraham to be taken for foolishness.

People who are more animalistic and not fully evolved will be perceived as weak and easily bullied if you treat them well.

But now that Abraham has proven their goodwill, sincerity, and respect for him through the "Sword of Peyton," Anjowan no longer minds asking them to further prove their sincerity.

"What you see now is my true face; this is the only face I have now."

Facing Dorian's gaze, An Ruowang touched her face and slowly said:

"I've looked like this since I was very young; this is the appearance my parents gave me."

He paused, then looked honestly at Dorian before him:

"Even if you turned me into 'Aleister Tamara' right now, I still wouldn't know what he should look like. Not long ago, I didn't even know I had the surname 'Tamara'."

Undoubtedly, all of the above are true.

Dorian's eyes widened slightly as he scrutinized An Ruowang's face repeatedly, somewhat incredulous.

"You mean, to avoid trouble, your parents used magical artifacts to completely change your appearance when you were very young? They didn't even tell you that you're actually a descendant of the Tamara family?"

An Ruowang gestured for him to proceed.

"You can try to divine the truth of my words; I don't really want to use this magical item."

Since he said that, Dorian didn't stand on ceremony. He could understand why the other party didn't want to use this magical item.

He immediately took out the crystal ball he always carried with him and began to divine.

This divination was not disturbed in any way, and the results came out quickly.

Dorian's face showed an expression that said, "I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked."

In the world of mysticism, methods of changing one's appearance are not uncommon. The "Faceless Man" can change his appearance at will, and the "Rose Bishop" is an expert in flesh magic. If you want, there is always a way.

However, to allow a child to maintain an altered appearance from childhood, and then gradually grow up with that appearance until adulthood...

Dorian has never seen anything like this in all his years of life.

No wonder Aleister is so outstanding in appearance.

To avoid being hunted down by other branches of Tamara, it's best to have an unremarkable appearance.

I don't want to be so ugly that I'd disgust people on the street, nor do I want to be like Aleister now, someone who always makes people want to take a second look, someone whose appearance is pleasing to the eye and gives rise to the thought that "there is still beauty in this world."

But if someone like Aleister grew up looking completely different, then it doesn't matter.

The other person doesn't consider themselves "Tamara" at all, and doesn't even have that concept.

The best disguise is no disguise at all.

In that case, his parents would naturally mold him into the most beautiful shape they could make him.

only……

Dorian's gaze toward Aleister became complex, a mixture of understanding, pity, and an indescribable, empty melancholy.

Aleister's current face is fake, a forgery; he can no longer remember his former face and cannot change it back.

If he is the "Faceless Man," there are probably only two extreme outcomes:

Alternatively, he is naturally suited to the characteristics of "Faceless Man" and does not need to actively play the role of digestion, just like those mythical creatures born with the ability to digest.

Either he immediately loses self-awareness, completely loses control, and goes insane.

An Ruowang couldn't stand Dorian's current gaze, and her tone was somewhat helpless:

"Don't look at me like that. I don't think there's anything sad about it. People are fully capable of deciding how they live in this world."

He said this to Dorian, and also to Sharon in his shadow.

Having an overly strong spiritual intuition isn't always a good thing.

An Ruowang seemed to be able to read what Sharon was thinking from her silent gaze as she watched him.

From the initial surprise at hearing "Tamara" and "Abraham," to the silence and pity I felt upon accidentally overhearing a friend's unhappy childhood, even tinged with a maternal concern...

If he is really what they imagine him to be, then that's fine.

The key point is that the current situation is a genuine lie he created after selectively revealing the truth, which is quite embarrassing.

Seeing Aleister's attitude, Dorian immediately felt a pang of sorrow for his own kind, as well as an urgent sense of urgency to do something.

He can see Abraham's doom in Aleister now.

Those Abrahams who refused to be extraordinary and only wanted to be ordinary people probably wouldn't teach their children about the history of Abraham.

Their descendants, like Aleister today, will never consider themselves Abraham, even though they have Abraham's blood in their veins.

If this continues, Abraham will perish!

Whether it's a family, an ethnic group, or a nation, they are all "imagined communities" that are artificially constructed.

Therefore, this can almost be considered a kind of national subjugation and genocide.