Chapter 55 Underground sanctuaries

Chapter 55: Underground Sanctuary
At the end of the day, Duncan didn’t understand what a “heir” was.

The goathead had been very vague on the subject, and it seemed to be because it didn’t even know what these ancient creatures wandering on the fringes of civilization were all about, and Duncan had only been able to draw out a few concepts from the limited clues he had been given – the Heir was a product of ancient times, and had a mind for the modern world.

The Heirs are the products of ancient times and hate the modern world, they have strange and dangerous power, but also hidden in the shadows, except for the children of the sun, the other “children” almost never appear in the civilized world, but in the fringe of the threat to the safety of the explorers.

And in all of this information, there is something else that is very concerning:
The Children of the Sun seem to be able to disguise themselves as humans – only the Church’s Transcendents can distinguish the disguised Children of the Sun from ordinary people.

Duncan thought of the recent changes in the city-state of Prand, and thought of those “sun believers” who suddenly became highly active after several years of low profile.

Behind the high-profile activities of the cultists …… is the order of the “heir”? What are these ancient and bizarre beings up to in the city-state of Prand?
Duncan stood at the edge of the deck of the Lost Country, gazing longingly at the undulating sea beneath him.

There were children of the deep, ancient beings not unlike the children of the sun, and “they” threatened the safety of the fleets that sailed between the city-states.

Duncan was wary and curious about these things of the deep.

Even though he had never dealt with them, he thought, as long as the Lost Country was still roaming the seas, he would have to encounter them sooner or later, and it would not hurt to be prepared for them.

Whether it was gathering intelligence, further controlling his power, or realizing the potential of the Lost Country, it was all planning for the future.

Of course, he was not afraid of the dangers that lurked in the deep sea – after all, he had followed this ship on the sea for such a long time, and he could more or less guess how many weird things there were in the deep sea, and the heir was just one of the countless weird threats, the so-called lice don’t itch, the debt isn’t a worry. As the captain of the Lost Country, he had a lot of things to be wary of here.

He pondered for a long time on the deck, and realized that the most important thing he needed to worry about at the moment was whether the “supply channel” that he had found with great difficulty would be affected – those heirs of the deep sea would not affect his fishing, right?

Although the Pigeon Ai has the ability to transport supplies, but now it is still not sure of its capacity and reliability, not to mention that the city-state of Prand is a place of order, and the supplies that are transported to the ship have to be purchased at a cost, so it is not certain when this supply line can be put to good use.

Coupled with the abundant catch during the last fishing trip, Duncan knew very well that the improvement of the living conditions of the Lost Country ship could not be separated from the gift of nature after all.

And those “heirs” are now a hidden danger – they may affect the gifts of nature.

Duncan is a bit worried, he just hope that the evil things in the sea will not affect his fishing.

……

Bright gas lamps emitted light, dispersing the darkness of the church’s underground facilities, the deep sea runes engraved in the long corridors exuded a reassuring power, and the lines symbolizing the waves and coasts contained in those runes were connected to each other as if they were outlining an invisible giant net, shrouding the entire underground structure of the building in a sacred and quiet atmosphere.

Vanna walked in the underground sanctuary of the church, this sacred and quiet place calmed her slightly restless mind a little.

The Goddess of Storms, the most powerful force on the boundless sea, was not the only one who symbolized the violent side of “storms”, but this ancient deity also held the power of silence and sealing.

Just as the sea has two sides, the calm and the storm, so does the power of the Goddess – the underground of the Cathedral symbolizes the “mirror image of the storm”.

There are many gods in this world that have two sides of the same coin, or have the characteristics of both sides of the same coin. The God of Death also holds the power of life, and the God of Wisdom also has the power to deprive sanity, and the power to make fools insane.

She also knew that it was due to the characteristics of the two sides of many gods, but also gave birth to some very controversial, even close to heresy, some scholars even believe that the whole world is also two sides of the same body – in a certain dimension, and even the existence of a sea and land completely mirror image of the “dry land”, there is a world of the sea and land, and it is a place where the sea and land are completely mirrored. In one dimension, there even exists a “dry land” where the sea and land are mirror images of each other, where there is a vast expanse of dry land, and extremely rare rivers and oases are dotted in the drought, and there is even an intelligent civilization in that dry land that is plausibly different from the real world, which is a reflection of each other and the reality of all things. ……

These outrageous speculations based on pure conjecture are of course unrecognized, and even Bishop Valentine of the city-state of Prand, who was known for his enlightenment, scoffed when he heard these claims-

In the old man’s words, a subspace at the bottom of the world is already enough to make people’s heads spin, so some folk theologians should stop hanging things underneath the subspace, shouldn’t they? Vanna shook her head suddenly, letting her uncontrolled thoughts collect again.

In the quiet underground of the cathedral, it was easy for one’s thoughts to spread out uncontrollably, this was because the “Mirror Image of the Storm” brought too much tranquil psychological cues, and the sense of peace of mind brought by the goddess’s refuge could minimize the psychological barriers of the mortals, and this kind of effect was invisible but powerful, even a rigorously trained inquisitor like her could not be immune. The effect was invisible and powerful, and even a highly trained Inquisitor like herself was not immune.

But on the other hand, this special environment had a special purpose.

For example, getting certain fanatical and insane cultists to talk.

Vanna stopped at the end of the corridor in the underground sanctuary, where there were several doors leading to various “interrogation rooms”, and an icon of the Storm Goddess stood silently in the foyer between them.

This icon was different from the icon of the goddess on the ground of the church – the icon on the ground had its hands open, as if it was accepting the pilgrimage of all the people, with its own infinite majesty surrounding it, while on the ground floor, the icon of the goddess had her hands folded together in front of her breasts, quietly and gently, as if it was a young girl listening with her ears turned to the side.

No matter which icon, however, the face is covered with a light veil – a symbol of divine agnosticism.

This icon of listening with hands folded together is the storm goddess in her other guise: the Maiden of the Silent Sea.

She calms the waters below sea level and shelters the peace of the city-state’s underworld.

Vanna bowed before the icon of the Maiden of the Still Sea, then turned and pushed open the door to a nearby interrogation room.

The sound of a door shaft turning broke the silence in the underground facility, and after the door opened, a spacious yet rather dimly lit room appeared before Vanna.

In the center of the room was a large table from which Ms. Heidi, dressed in a long black dress, was rising, and across from the table was a chair with restraining chains, on which a Solar Heretic was sitting quietly.

The heretic’s eyes were lifeless, leaning crookedly against the armrest next to him, as if his sanity and strength had been drained from his body, leaving only a chaotic residue.

The strong scent of incense still lingered in the room, and Ms. Heidi’s medical kit was still sitting on the table, in which large, empty syringes, writhing thorny vines, and gold-tipped cones that seemed to still have traces of blood could be seen.

“Oh, Lord Vanna, you’re just in time,” Ms. Heidi turned her head in greeting as she heard the door open, “I’ve just finished a ‘session’.”

Vanna’s gaze swept over Heidi’s medical kit, her expression was as it always was, “Seriously, I’m still having a hard time connecting this set of yours to a ‘healing session’ ……”

“These are standard tools of a psychiatrist …… Well, I admit that I probably use them more often than the average doctor,” Ms. Heidi said, shrugging, “but who made me a ‘healer’ who is employed by the city hall and also ‘hypnotist’ who often does work for the church? The ‘patients’ I come in contact with aren’t exactly normal patients, especially cultists like this one, and shaking crystals and low-frequency pendulums don’t work as well as a triple dose of ‘Midnight Hopscotch’.”

“…… I highly doubt that the reason you triple dose the cultists every time is that you can only fit three doses in this big syringe of yours,” Vanna spat at the acquaintance in front of her, but shook her head immediately afterward, “but it doesn’t matter, you can pry these guys’ mouths open just …… Tell me, what’s the catch?”

“There is, and the harvest is not small, the situation is bizarre,” Ms. Heidi immediately replied, “I have already carried out deep hypnosis on several cultists, and also used some special means, and now we can basically be sure …… that these cultists who participated in the sacrifice The cultists who participated in the sacrifice ceremony most likely did not go crazy after the ceremony went out of control ……”

“Didn’t go crazy after the ceremony went out of control?” Vanna immediately frowned, even though she already knew that the complexity of this matter would exceed expectations after talking to Bishop Valentine, Heidi’s words still exceeded her expectations, “What does this mean?”

“I searched their memories and found that these people’s thinking …… or cognitive logic went awry before that last failed sacrifice ritual began, and more technically, it seems that these cultists were subjected to some sort of . …cognitive filter to the extent that their memories …… hmm? Don Vanna, you don’t seem too surprised?”

(End of chapter)



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