Chapter 608 – Dark Allies and the Dreaming Skull
Chapter 608 – Dark Allies and the Dreamscape Skulls
A sudden heat swept across the hall, as if a strong sunlight had pierced through the roof and was moving above the crowd, while along with this invisible heat, all the gas lamps and candlesticks in the hall seemed to be inexplicably interfered with and suppressed, and instead, they became rapidly dimming as if they were sinking into the shadows.
However, the Annihilationists in the hall did not react too much to the appearance of this heat, and only raised their heads to the dome above the hall after a slight commotion.
Richard also raised his head, and his eyes swept between the gorgeous curtains, chandeliers, and painted roofs above the assembly hall, and saw that they seemed to be illuminated by invisible sunlight, and the light and dark shadows moved slowly on the surface of the dome, and then the “sunlight” finally and gradually converged to the center of the dome, where it manifested its existence! –It was a sphere.
It was a sphere, which looked like a burning sun, with a floating flame on its surface, releasing burning light and heat, while at the same time showing an illusory and transparent texture, which appeared to be only a projection, and then this small sun projection slowly lowered its height, and came to the center of the hall in front of the high platform, and came to the saints’ face.
Richard heard lowered voices talking and muttering from the neighborhood, and some worshippers were softly expressing their dissatisfaction – the messengers of the foreign gods were getting more and more open and unrestrained, and even exempted from the process of informing them when they came to the sacred assembly ground, and some worshippers said that the assembly ground shouldn’t have been opened to the messengers of the foreign gods, and that their presence itself meant a defilement of the sacred ground. The very presence of them would mean a defilement of this sacred place.
But the saint’s voice suddenly rang in every mind and ear, interrupting the low hum of voices in the hall, “Ah, it is our ‘allies’ who have come.”
As his words fell, the small solar projection that had landed in front of the high platform gradually shed its glowing outer shell, and the light-cast “shell” became dim and transparent, while its inner appearance appeared in everyone’s field of vision.
A sphere made up of oddly shaped flesh and blood tissues and countless curled tentacles piled up, the surface of the sphere between the tentacles also inlaid with countless eye-like structures – the sun’s children.
This projection slowly stretched its tentacles in the air, one eyeball spinning around in all directions, while at almost the same time, another illusory figure appeared below this Sunchild.
It was a human, dressed in the gold-trimmed black robes that represented the magisterial class among the Sunists, while his face was covered with a golden mask modeled after the style of the sunlight – and the projection of this Sun Magister landed on a raised platform in the center of the hall and stood in front of the Saints as if it were an advocate.
The mid-air Sun Heir emitted a low, muffled tremor, which seemed to be mixed with countless layers of whispers and noises that were difficult for the human intellect to comprehend, and was dizzying to listen to.
The figure with the golden sun mask that landed in front of the Saints then immediately spoke, relaying the message conveyed in those muffled tremors, “I can feel that you do not welcome me.”
The saint raised his eye stalks high, “I hope you understand, this is the assembly ground of the Holy Lord, and for a long time we have not allowed followers or emissaries of the Fey God to set foot in such a sacred place – but rest assured, our sincerity towards cooperation will not be affected by this.”
“It is all right, I do not care,” the projection of the Sunchild slowly stretched its torso through the air and continued to emit a low, slurred tremor, while the Solar Magus who appeared with it immediately began to translate, “We can leave the differences in beliefs to the next age, the twilight is approaching, and those of us who have been abandoned by the Deep Age must first learn to coexist.”
“Yes, learn to coexist – when all things are remade, there will be a world wide enough to accommodate our differences,” the Saint said in a hushed voice, “Is that what you’ve come to emphasize to me?”
“No, ally, I have come to speak with you about the losses we suffered in our last operation,” said the masked Sun Magus, “I tried to come to you during the day, but the abomination of the False Sun was always high in the sky, and now that it has set, I have come.
“We have lost many clansmen, precious clansmen, who were burned by the flames of the fire usurper in that great forest woven out of the ‘Dream of the Nameless One,’ and who have not been able to return even to their souls to the Land of Refuge–I must speak with you about this matter.”
“We too are deeply sympathetic and disturbed by the misfortune of those Sun Remnants,” said the Saint, his skeletal spikes clicking and wiggling as if to express some sort of displeasure, “yet you are not the only ones to have suffered a setback in your actions …… who hadn’t expected ‘his’ power to be there – after all, it wasn’t that long ago that the ship was in the far north, and no one expected ‘him’ to intervene in the matter, and ‘his’ followers are already in action, and for you to come to us with a question about it is unjustified and recklessly rude.”
“…… We don’t ask for offense from our allies,” the mid-air Sunchild was silent for a few seconds, and the light that pervaded its surroundings seemed to have tightened up a bit as it murmured vaguely, while the cleric on the elevated platform immediately began to translate, “but we want to make our attitude clear – we are willing to cooperate with your actions in the Dream of the Nameless One, but if you turn this ‘cooperation’ into unilateral exploitation, then our cooperation will be over.”
“I understand what you are saying, Emissary,” the acolyte said in a hushed voice, “Rest assured, we will not turn a blind eye to this incident, just a few moments ago we have decided to launch a counterattack against the followers of the Fire Usurper, and one of our next goals is to locate the heretic who has attacked the Remnants of the Sun and our compatriots , to capture her and her demons – she is powerful and insidious, but we are willing to take some risks for that, to avenge those fallen ‘Remnants’.”
“We don’t care if you are truly embarking on an operation to avenge them, or what you intend to use against those powerful and devious ‘followers of usurping fire,'” the golden-masked cleric on the raised platform relayed the words of the Children of the Sun. “Do not forget our original, and most fundamental, goal – there is something in the Dream of the Nameless One that each of us needs; cooperate frankly and to the best of your ability, we care only about this, nothing else matters.”
The Saint was silent for a moment, then his skeletal spikes clicked, conveying friendliness, “Yes, we each have what we need …… We just want the tree.”
The Sunchild slowly lowered its height, the myriad eyes set between its tentacles gazing silently at the brain encased in its skeletal prison on the raised platform, “We just want that sun.”
The “heat” that enveloped the assembly hall began to recede, the figures of the Sun Heir floating in mid-air and the Sun Magus on the platform began to fade and dissipate, and after a few short seconds, these two uninvited guests left the sacred assembly hall.
The hall was quiet for a while before the gathered Annihilationists breathed a sigh of relief, and Richard also felt his thumping heart gradually calming down-perhaps it was because his heartbeat had become too fast just now without him realizing it, and he even felt his chest throbbing slightly.
His heart was palpitating.
Even if the one who came here was only a projection, it was still the projection of the Sun Heir – the monster that was directly separated from the essence of the “real Sun God” was like a demigod, and its existence itself was a source of fatal contamination for mortals, while the one in this hall was a demigod, a demigod that was directly separated from the essence of the “real Sun God”. Fellow citizens …… have not yet broken through the realm of “mortals”.
Perhaps only the “saint” present can compete with the so-called “heir of the sun”. “We should not have opened this place to the messengers of the pagan gods,” said someone in the crowd, not too quietly, “they are emboldened by the sunlight that shines through. ”
“That ‘heir’ gives me a bad feeling,” another voice echoed into Richard’s ears, “We can’t understand its mind or true intentions, and a masked cleric is needed to act as a translator each time –who knows just how much more disturbing information lies behind those translations, and those eyes of its when it looks at us …… don’t look at all like the gaze of a sentient being looking at other sentient beings.”
“Those ‘Sun Remnants’ give me the same feeling, I don’t sense reason or emotion from them at all …… In the end, they are still monsters that were abandoned in the last era… . have long since degenerated in the darkness ……”
A low discussion began to spread through the hall, the emotions after the suppression were rapidly resonating, however, just at that moment, the voice of the Saint suddenly resounded in everyone’s mind, instantly interrupting the exchange of the Annihilationists, “Silence.”
The hall instantly fell silent.
“…… I know your concerns,” the Saint’s voice continued, carrying a soothing power, “but we need their power.”
“Saint,” one of the Annihilationists closest to the high platform spoke up boldly, “That Sunchild, and those ‘Remnants’ …… do you think that they will really keep their word?”
The Saint was silent for a few seconds.
“I’ve never trusted those aliens with their ‘promises’ because they were born in back oaths from the beginning, but at least none of them have a reason to break their promises until they get what they want,” he said slowly, “Just as we need them, they need us – in the time and space woven out of the Dream of the Nameless One, those aliens can only ally themselves with us.”
The questioning voices died away.
And the chiming bells struck at the right time.
Clang – clang – clang…
The mechanical clock hanging on the high wall at the end of the assembly hall chimed loudly.
“…… Let’s end these topics, the time is approaching, the Dream of the Nameless One is about to connect to the reality dimension,” the voice of the Saint quickly drew everyone’s attention, “Prepare yourself for the dream entry, those who will enter the dream this night come out of the column, come forward and prepare to touch the Dreaming Cranium.”
Richard, who was standing in the middle of a group of black-robed men, quickly responded, and looked up to see several other of his compatriots already making their way to the high platform, including Dumont, who had come to see him during the day.
He hurried forward as well.
And at the same time, a few more low-ranking congregants clad in gray robes walked into the hall – they were pushing a cart depicting many runes and cast from a special heavy alloy, which was covered with a bloodstained black cloth, under which something appeared to be covering it.
“Push the Dreaming Skull to the high platform.” The acolyte ordered.
The low-ranking religious then pushed that cart to the front of the platform in the center of the hall, and two of them grabbed the black cloth on the cart and prepared to lift it off.
Richard subconsciously gulped – even though it was not the first time he had touched the Dreaming Skull, he still felt a little nervous at this time.
That strange thing, every time you touch it, you will feel a kind of soul penetrating …… horror, and no matter how many times you experience, this kind of horror seems to be unable to adapt.
Strong faith and piety could only help him make up his mind to touch that thing, but could not dispel the impression left by the terror itself and the instinctive nervousness at this moment.
And then two lowly religious lifted the black cloth.
The “dream-cranium” on the cart came into Richard’s sight – it was a black, as if it were a dream-cranium, and it was a black, as if it were a dream-cranium, and it was a dream-cranium.
It was a black, as if carved out of wood …… goat head.
(End of chapter)