Chapter 104 – Tomb of the Unknown King

Chapter 104 – The Tomb of the Unknown King
The evening signal bell rang three times, and before the third ring, Vanna had already arrived in the Great Sanctuary.

The old bishop Valentine was already waiting here, this respected old man clad in black clergy robes was standing silently in front of the icon of the storm goddess Gemona and praying with his eyes closed, he heard the sound of someone stepping into the sanctuary, and without turning around, he knew that it was Vanna.

“Inquisitor Vanna,” Valentine said in a hushed voice, “the Cathedral of the Storm has sent an order to summon the Listeners.”

“Direct from the Storm Cathedral?!” Vanna was taken aback, she walked quickly to the icon and allowed her entire body to be placed in the glow of the lamp, “Hasn’t a new anomaly or vision been discovered?”

“The bell would not have rung three times in a row if a new anomaly or vision had been discovered,” Valentine shook his head, “It was a direct message from the tomb keeper on the other side of the ‘crypt’ that there was a movement in the body of the Nameless King, although it is not yet clear what message He is trying to convey. clear what message He is trying to convey, but it seems …… to be that the existing list is changing.”

While speaking, this old bishop turned his head and quietly looked into Vanna’s eyes.

“This time we will need to send a listener inside the crypt to hear information directly from the Nameless King’s Body, the current rotation of the crypt is the Church of the Deep, and the listener will be chosen from the followers of the Storm Goddess – the exact candidate has yet to be decided, you and I are both on the list to be chosen. ”

Vanna settled down and calmly asked, “When do we leave?”

“Now,” Valentine nodded, gesturing for Vanna to follow as he walked behind the Goddess’s icon while a doorway depicting many sacred symbols was already open, revealing a deep and long tunnel behind, “The psychic channel is ready.”

Vanna bowed to the icon of Gemona, then turned to follow the old bishop.

They passed through the door, and then through the long tunnel, and in the light of the wavering lamps, the two devout believers arrived at the deepest part of the old church – a special secret room was located right at the end of the tunnel.

It was a small room, unlike the concrete and brick structure of the main body of the church, this small chamber was made entirely of stone, with gray irregular stones piled up tightly against each other to form the walls and roof of the room, and in the center of the room, on the floor, was a sunken fire pit, with a crackling fire blazing in the pit – but there was no fuel visible at the bottom of the fire. -But there was no fuel to be seen at the bottom of the flames, as if the fire had coalesced out of thin air.

In addition to the flame in the center of the room, there is no furniture in this entire chamber, the only thing is that I do not know where it comes from, the subtle sound of running water constantly from all sides of the illusory sound, every wall around the room looks wet, even the floor of the room seems to have a small stream of water at any time in the flow – this gives a person a feeling as if this stone hut is not one of the cathedral. This gives a feeling as if this stone hut is not a room in the cathedral, but …… a submerged cave at the bottom of the sea.

It was not the first time for Vanna to come to this chamber – as an “Inquisitor” in the city-state with the same status as the bishop, she also had the right to use the “psychic channel” here, and this seemingly insignificant room was the place where the psychic channel was constructed. This seemingly unassuming room was the “port” where the psychic channel was constructed.

Every city-state’s central church has similar facilities, and every church has similar technology – the Storm Goddess’s clerics use such a “water-soaked cave”, while the Reaper’s clerics construct a “pale crypt” that connects them to each other. “These seemingly somber and depressing facilities have a magical effect: they can strip the spirit of the user and send them into a vast, interconnected psionic space, no matter how far apart the city-states may be, no matter how rough the winds and waves may be on the infinite sea.

It is a miracle, blessed by the gods, that allows far-flung branches of the Church on the Boundless Sea to communicate in a timely manner, and in even older times, when ocean-going ships were not as reliable as they are now, it was even the only way many city-states could maintain communication with each other, and confirm each other’s survival.

The door to the chamber slowly closed, the dark, heavy metal door letting out a dull thud, and the intricately densely covered runes on the two doorways immediately darted and swam, entangling and meshing with each other like living creatures, sealing the entire room completely.

Vanna and Valentine stood together next to the fire in the center of the chamber, and they lowered their heads, gazing at the leaping holy flames as they silently recited the holy name of the storm goddess Gemona.

The illusory sound of water flowing continuously came from all around them, and became louder and louder as the holy name was recited. Gradually, the sound of that water flow converged into waves, and even became booming, while a damp smell filled the whole room, and in the heavier and heavier smell of dampness, Vanna saw that the trickle of water on the ground suddenly transformed into churning waves, and began to rise incomparably swiftly.

She gazed at the flames in the center of the room, which, as always, blazed in the rising waves.

Vanna closed her eyes and calmly and openly allowed the illusory waters to completely submerge her.

The icy touch quickly dissipated, and she opened her eyes again, seeing no longer a rocky chamber of water-soaked caverns, but an extremely wide expanse of chaotic space – it seemed to be a plaza, a nearly limitless plaza, ancient and vast, with many grand pillars supporting it at the end of her line of sight, and the tops of all those pillars took on a The tops of those pillars all appeared to be in pieces, the tops seemed to be shattered and dissipated in the distant sky, a muddy stream of light enveloped the plaza above, in the depths of that stream of light seemed to be hiding something, but it was by no means something that could be penetrated by the eyes of mortals.

As Vanna settled down, she saw that there were already many figures standing in the plaza – black silhouettes with only outlines, and although she couldn’t see their faces, she could confirm through the familiar aura emanating from each of them that these were devout saints of the Storm Goddess – and that they were from various city-states, as well as from the Storm Goddess, and that they were all from the Storm Goddess. were saints from various city-states, as well as from various mobile churches, even from the Cathedral of Storms.

Only “saints” could be alternative “listeners” – because there were some “voices” that only powerful saints could hear while remaining conscious. Because there are some “voices” that only powerful saints can listen to while remaining conscious. “It seems that we are the latest group,” a black shadow drifted closer, because of the familiar day-to-day, Vanna recognized him as Bishop Valentine even before the shadow spoke, the tone of this old man seemed to be slightly embarrassed, “I was also the latest to arrive at the last meeting! ……”

“Do the saints of the other city-states live in secret chambers ……” Vanna cooed, “Every time the news of a convocation comes out, half of them are gathered in less than ten minutes… …”

“They’ve been at it ever since Saint Folsom wrote ‘first’ in the register of the assembly grounds twenty years ago, scrambling to get there early,” Valentine shook his head, “Seriously, can’t fathom it It’s not like the Goddess …… is going to drop extra attention for this.”

Vanna was noncommittal, and just then a sudden roar suddenly came from the end of the crowd, interrupting her thoughts and the sound of conversation between all the Saints’ vapors.

Vanna and Valentine looked up in unison, and saw that the ground in the center of the plaza was rumbling – the broken ancient stone tiles were actually rippling like water, and in the layers of ripples, something huge was rapidly rising, first the pale spire, followed by the tilted stone walls and ancient pillars.

Almost in a moment, the object fully entered Vanna’s field of vision – a huge building made of pale boulders.

It was a twilight “palace”, an ancient structure built in a long lost history, dominated by a pyramid and surrounded by several obelisks and towers, like no other city-state in the world, and with a low, depressing atmosphere that did not seem to be inhabited by the living at all.

Rather than a palace, it was a huge mausoleum.

In fact, it was indeed a mausoleum-a mausoleum that belonged to a certain ancient and powerful existence.

Like everyone else, Vanna’s gaze couldn’t help but fall to the bottom of that gigantic pyramid building, and under the gaze of countless gazes, the door to that mausoleum finally slowly opened.

The heavy, pale stone doors receded to the sides, and an extremely tall figure slowly walked out of the mausoleum.

That was the tomb keeper of the tomb of the nameless king.

From Vanna’s point of view, it was hard to say that “he” was still a living human being.

His body was wrapped in layers of shrouds, half of his body and the shrouds appearing almost burnt black, and the other half of his body was entwined with heavy runic shackles, some of those gloomy chains even extended directly from his flesh and blood, with pulsating veins and nerves at the end of them – the ancient tomb guardian was like a mixture of flesh and blood, steel bonds and death curses. Like a terrifying creature made of a mixture of flesh and blood, steel restraints and the curse of death, this ancient tomb keeper stepped out from the tomb of the nameless king and walked with heavy steps towards the dark shadows that had gathered in the square.

Even though it was not the first time she had seen the Gravekeeper, Vanna subconsciously sucked in her breath and felt her muscles tense up.

Then, she saw the “Gravekeeper” walking straight towards her.

The choice had been made.

Without hesitation, the Gravekeeper passed everyone in the square until he stopped in front of Vanna, his shrouded and chained head with only one eye exposed, which stared calmly at Vanna – who, despite her considerable stature, was still a full head taller than the Gravekeeper.

“You, may enter the chamber.” The Gravekeeper spoke, his voice hoarse as if it had come from a corpse, and then he raised his right hand again, which seemed to be charred by fire, and which grasped a quill, as well as a roll of parchment.

“Write down what you hear.” The Gravekeeper commanded succinctly.

(Mom yeah!)

(End of chapter)