Chapter 504: City Of Silent Light

Sometimes the road between the two high walls became so narrow that One had to slow down.

A few times, parts of the path had completely collapsed, and Lian and Kain had to get off so One could cross the rocky slope.

They stopped for about twenty minutes to eat and drink water.

During that stop, the Celestial Book of Treasure was still open, and the three-hundred-kilometer map that had shown only weak lines at the beginning of the journey had now become much clearer.

The World Memory was also adding more information to it as they moved forward.

Old roads, the locations of former towers that were now ruins, parts of a water supply system, and even what seemed to have been a path for pilgrims.

Everything on the World Memory showed that they really seemed to be heading toward something like a religious place.

However, it was not very surprising either, since according to the natives, their destination was a shrine.

But the center of the region was still unclear.

There were several very large lines there whose nature the Book could not determine, and the golden mark had also become clearer, although not enough to provide complete information.

But there was no longer any doubt that the destination was worth investigating.

[Valuable treasure source has entered the identifiable range.]

[Accurate information is blocked by several unknown obstacles and structures.]

[Accuracy will increase as the distance decreases.]

Since this golden treasure mark was exactly on the same path as them and their destination, Lian guessed that it could be the same thing the natives of the Third Region were looking for.

Of course, this was only a guess and nothing more, and there was also a good chance that he was wrong.

Anyway, their journey continued.

Around the fifth hour, the first clear signs of the natives’ operation appeared.

The wheels of several carts had left marks on the white dirt of the road.

Near one of the turns, several broken boards, ropes, and dark pieces of cloth were lying on the ground.

A little farther ahead, they could see the remains of a temporary camp, and the extinguished fire was still not completely covered by dust, making it clear that the troops had passed through here recently.

Lian slowed One down.

"It looks like there aren’t a few of them," Kain also said after seeing the scene.

A few minutes later, from the top of a small hill, they saw two carts about one kilometer ahead, with six natives accompanying them.

The load of the first cart was covered with cloth, but something large and round was underneath it, and as far as they could see, it seemed to be a metal frame several meters in diameter, with pieces that looked like mirrors attached to its edges.

"They’re taking something inside," Kain said quietly.

"Yeah." Lian looked at their path, if their goal was only to take a treasure out of a ruin, why were they carrying heavy equipment there?

So the operation was not finished yet, maybe the main part had not even started yet.

"Do you think it’s for opening that place?"

"Maybe."

The young Vorhelm went over the words of the captured natives in his mind again.

The priests needed at least three days, and whatever they wanted to open was half open and half closed.

If they were only breaking a door open by force, they could not know with such certainty that it would take three days.

Unless there was a specific amount of work left.

Or

"I think they’re waiting for something to happen."

"What kind of thing?" Kain looked at him.

"I don’t know."

Lian looked at the carts as they slowly disappeared from sight.

"But if they were only opening something, being so exact about the time would be strange."

"You mean something like a door that only opens at a certain time? Or a ritual that can only be performed at a certain time?" Kain thought for a moment.

Lian said nothing this time, that was possible too, but whatever was inside those carts could also be part of it.

They did not enter the fight directly.

If those six people disappeared, there was a chance that a warning would reach the destination faster than they could.

So they waited for a few minutes, and when the carts moved farther away, they started moving again.

Almost six hours had passed since they left the pass, and the road was now squeezed between two huge stone walls.

The sound of the wind moved through the gaps like a long cry.

Under One’s feet, real stone pavement appeared again for the first time in several kilometers, and a complete road was now in front of them.

Both sides of the road were marked by white pillars, most of which were half-broken.

The Celestial Book of Treasure shook, and the map on its page quickly became clearer, while the World Memory also recovered several new structures.

[Old road detected.]

[Historical use: Pilgrim’s Path.]

[Destination name: Damaged information.]

But a few seconds later, the golden mark on the Book became stronger.

[Distance to the main area has decreased.]

One passed through the stone passage, and the road made a gentle turn to the right, then a second turn, and suddenly the giant ant stopped.

This time, Lian had not told it to stop.

Its antennae slowly rose, and its master took his eyes away from the Book, saying nothing for several seconds.

Kain was the same.

All three of them fell silent and stared at the scene in front of them.

Because there was no longer only a road and mountains in front of them, an entire world had opened below them.

At first glance, Lian thought he was looking at a sea, a black area stretched from the bottom of the cliff for several kilometers, and its surface reflected the gray light of the sky.

But the wind passed over it, no waves formed and there was no movement at all, instead, only a thin layer of dust moved across the black surface.

Then he saw the first ship, its huge wooden body was placed at an unnatural angle on the black area.

The main mast was broken and the sails had rotted many years ago, half of its body had sunk into the same black surface.

The entire bottom of what had once been a sea or a huge lake had now turned into a black layer, it was not clear at all what that layer was.

But whatever it was, it was definitely not normal water.

Farther away, more ships could be seen, some had fallen onto their sides and some had been broken in half, and one of them was so large that small buildings could have fit on its deck.

But the view did not end with the sea.

Beside the old shore, there was a city, with white and gray buildings built at several different heights on the rocky slopes.

Half-collapsed domes, wide streets, and stone bridges that crossed between cliffs.

Docks that were now dozens of meters above the black sea, and tall, narrow towers could also be seen in different parts of the city.

Huge statues could be seen in different parts of the city, people wearing long robes with their faces raised toward the sky.

Several statues were also holding a stone sun between their two hands, and in the farthest part of the city, inside the mountain wall, there was a building that made everything around it look small.

Huge white pillars came out from the mountain slope, and a very wide staircase continued from the city level all the way to the entrance.

The main door was closed, but light was coming through a narrow gap between its two sides, a white and warm light that seemed to have life.

In a city where almost everything was dead, only that building was still lit.

It seemed that this was the shrine.

Kain said nothing for several seconds, then his eyes stopped on a ship stuck in the black liquid, and then on the dock that was dozens of meters above it.

"This isn’t a ruin."

Lian was still holding the Book, and the lines on the page became more complete at that moment.

Alleys, towers, districts, and more parts of the city appeared one after another.

The golden mark was also almost directly in the direction of the same huge building.

"No, it’s a city," he said quietly, and his eyes moved across the size of the area.

[City of the Silent Light.]

The wind passed through the passage behind them, moving their clothes, but neither of them moved for several seconds.

Even Lian, who had seen many very strange things during the past few months, could not deny the greatness of the scene.

The first thing that caught his attention after a few minutes was the presence of the natives.

Fresh tents could be seen on several terraces higher in the city, and there were several small camps with people moving between the towers.

On one of the main roads, carts were moving back and forth, and near one of the mirror towers, several people in bright long clothes were working beside a group of soldiers.

The priests.

Two round metal frames were also beside the tower, almost the same as the ones they had seen on the cart.

"Those frames we saw on the way..." Kain pointed at the same place.

"I saw them."

"So they’re not just waiting."

"No. They’re preparing something." Lian examined the structure of the tower for a few seconds.

It was still unclear whether repairing the towers was necessary to open the shrine or for another ritual, but one thing was clear.

The forces of the Third Region had arrived before them, and they had not been doing nothing for a long time either.

Kain looked at the number of forces in the city.

"I think getting down there isn’t going to be a problem with only monsters."

The young Vorhelm looked at one of the old streets that entered the first district from the top of the cliff.

"We already knew that from the pass." Then he made One move again.

They had not gone down from the high area yet.

Near the old entrance of the city, a small building had been built inside the rock.

It was probably once a resting place for pilgrims who saw the city for the first time after hours of travel.

A large part of its roof had collapsed, several stone benches were still beside the wall, and at the back of the building, a stone lantern could be seen inside a large metal frame.

Kain moved closer.

There were several lines written under the lantern, but the inside of the building was so dark that it was difficult to read them.

He opened his palm, and a small, controlled light formed between his fingers.

Only enough to light up the writing, and then he bent down slightly, but before he could read the sentence... Click.

A very small sound came.

One of the narrow lines on the lantern frame lit up.

Kain immediately turned off his light, but the line did not turn off, instead, a white glow moved down from the frame, entered the base, and then a thin line of light moved across the stone floor from the base.

Lian immediately looked at the city.

Nothing happened for several seconds, but then something moved in one of the nearby towers.

A huge mirror-like panel placed on that tower, which had probably remained still for centuries, slowly turned.

Although it was strange that there was a mirror panel on a tower, they had a more important concern right now.

What exactly was happening...?

KRRRRRRR...

Dust and pieces of stone fell from its edges.

Kain looked at it with his eyes slightly wider, and the mirror continued to move.

It turned until its dark surface was directly facing the building where they were.

A very weak light appeared on it and then reflected, a white line moved from the mirror to a smaller panel on the second tower.

The second mirror shook for a moment and then sent the line of light downward, onto an old staircase, a staircase that had been almost invisible in the shadow of the mountain wall until a few seconds ago.

The light moved across the stones.

Step by step.

Until it reached the first district of the city, and then stopped.

It was as if part of a city that had been dead for centuries had detected their presence.

Kain looked at his now-dark hand and then at the mirror again.

"My god... what was that?"

Lian examined the glowing line beside the lantern, now there was no doubt, the effect of the Tear had not only changed Kain’s talents and Class.

There was something inside his light that even the structures belonging to the Divine of Light could recognize.

"Those natives aren’t the only ones who can recognize your light." He answered after thinking for a moment.

"Is that good or bad?"

——-

( City’s Visualization )