Music for today:
2WEI & hour to home – Alors on danse (Epic Cover)
https://youtu.be/s2nAkxoZneI
Chapter 498: Sinking Anvils
Mid Evening - Late Summer : Year 39 : Poseidon, Draconic Continent
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"How odd..." Barely audible through the noise of ore and rock being ground to dust above us, Reon's breath came out laden with anxiety and wonder alike. "The more I think about it, the more the layering in the rock just.. confuses me..."
It had been a number of hours since the excavation had begun at that point, and by then, the hardest parts had been done.
Having safely excavated nearly all of the relics in the lower layers of the rubble—from corroded tools to fractured structures—the massive plateau left by our excavation efforts had practically become a museum of scattered memories. It was hundreds of rows—each spanning kilometers—decorated with everything from meaningless fragments of structures to absolutely beautiful fragments of pottery, statues, carvings, and even parchment.
To say it was a historical gold mine was an understatement beyond words.
However, despite the remainder of the column Hera and I were managing shrinking, and Reon getting comfortable enough to actually move under it to inspect the relics, we couldn't spare them much attention...
Not because we were worried of a collapse like we were initially, or because the column still needed every drop of focus we had.. but because our attention had been trapped by something else...
A set of.. geological anomalies...
Starting with unusually stark layers around and between the large boulders that were characteristic of the outer-most and inner-most layers respectively.
"These dark, wavy layers." Glancing out toward the outer edges of the plateau, seeing the wavy web of dark mineral layers filling the gaps between the massive boulders, I posed, "They're from moisture, correct?" Still standing firm at the very center of the stone plateau, leaving just enough mental power to continue grinding away the rubble overhead, I looked toward Reon.
"Yes—well—water flow, specifically." But while he nodded confidently, uncertainty tainted his eyes. "It's from the drainage of the caldera—like collected rainwater or runoff that would normally form a lake—that drains through the small gaps in the rock and fills them with mineral deposits. It seems to have acted like a cement that held the outer layers in place, but..."
Hearing his sudden stutter-like hesitance, Hera's attention shifted as well.
"That kind of layering on inner layers, where the pressures were clearly high enough to pulverize the boulders and essentially make it one homogenous rock," He motioned his paws over the smooth, unlayered, sandstone-like rock of the middle layers, before looking toward the center, at the once again present web of mineral deposits beneath my paws. "It just.. doesn't make sense..."
Going on to question how the boulders themselves could even be present, our only explanation was part of the secondary collapse we had discussed previously—and it happened long enough after the initial collapse that everything outside of it had cemented itself in place, and eased the shifting at the core enough that would have grinded down those more brittle boulders.
However, that then implied something that sent chills down my spine... -A random collapsed column at the center of such a cemented stone formation.. doesn't make any sense...-
Looking at the outermost of the web of the mineral deposits, an eerily circular image appeared around me. -It almost looks...-
"Carved..." Reon took the word straight out of my mouth.
And Hera choked.
"It looks like something.. long after the initial collapse, carved through the column..."
Carved.. up through it...
"It would explain what I've seen with the secondary collapse..." Quickly explaining that it was like from the settling or sinking of the column within the upper channel, he motioned, "If something carved up through the center of the rubble, the outside of the column would have lost support and caved in the entire upper channel a second time..." Exactly as we had seen evidence of.
-But...- At last, the dots were connecting...
However, the realization that was forming only made my stomach churn.
-The inner channel is almost two kilometers wide...- Far larger than would be necessary even for Hera or I. -Who the hell could it have been..?-
Unlike I had hoped, none of it was melted—it couldn't have been Konrul. It was an eerily consistent and smooth carve all the way through the column—it couldn't have been Dagr or one of Jormungandr's young...
But just those eliminations alone left... -No one...-
No being I knew of could have been the culprit.
And yet.. they knew of me... The reduction of their divine presence, the suffocation of the mana storm, and the burial of this city... -It was all to keep me from catching onto their scent...-
And exactly as they wanted, even after discovering their existence, I had no idea where to look for more clues... I didn't know what faction, or even species to keep my eyes on...
I was simply in the dark.. only now realizing that somewhere out there, a behemoth in the league of Typhon likely still drew breath.. biding time...
Just.. waiting... -For what..?-
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Late Afternoon - Late Winter : Year 39 : Voldukirk, Holy Kingdom
- Astren Ravenna ~
"Astren, Astren!"
Hearing the call of a young child, I turned to see a small, black haired girl in a nun's garb running across the training ground filled with knights like it was a playground.
"The Guardian is finally calling for you!"
-Ugh...- I felt my stomach sink like an anvil—my long sword suddenly growing heavy as I twirled it between fingers and slid it into the long sheath at my waist. "Madam," Squatting with the creak of leather beneath my armor, I reached out adjust the young girls hood and jewelry. "I already told you to call me Priestess."
She was so beaming she was nearly glowing. "But Eir told me to treat you as I wished!"
My expression instantly scrunched with a discomforted, forced smile. "I know, but you will one day be her incarnation."
Her smile only seemed to widen at the sight of my discomfort though, "Nope! Eir promised me I won't change like that even after the possession ceremony."
Nearly choking as I straightened her prayer bead necklace of mana cores, a bead of cold sweat formed on my forehead. "That won't be possible... After the possession ceremony, you will be her incarnation. Even if you still remain beneath it, she cannot possibly-"
Her expression morphed with a displeased pout as a jarringly mature voice echoed through my head. "~You heard the girl~. I promised her, myself.~"
Eir's somewhat playful tone only made the knot in my stomach worsen though. "Haah..."
The little girl was soon to attempt to become Eir's incarnation, or permanent avatar. Over the last decade, there had been two other possession attempts made by the other churches, namely Baldur and Höðr, only for their hosts to die shortly after the ceremonies.
But unlike the few in the inner circles of the church believed, the attempts themselves were beyond fruitless... "~Must we really sacrifice a child like this..?~" And having essentially mothered the young girl up to that point, it was harder than ever to sit back and watch it happen.
But... "~It's.. not my choice...~" It was Odin's order... Even Eir had no say in it.
And truthfully.. it was infuriating... "~Just.. what is he thinking...~" I felt like my mouth was simply stitched shut.
Though, not for no reason... "~It feels like he's trying to please Frigg without killing you.~" Eir was quick to to forcefully quell my anger through her tether. *Woom* "~She wants someone other than you that can control Katherine.~"
With the zip of a chill down my spine, a wave of numbness moved through me.
However, after giving me a moment to finish tidying the girl, and get up to follow her out of the arena, Lady Eir's grip on me eased, "~Both Odin and Frigg know you're hiding information about Katherine's obsession, Astren. They know if it came to it, you'd refuse their orders and let her run away just as you did Elizabeth.~"
-Ugh...- Biting my tongue, the taste of iron filled my mouth.
Katherine's obsession was something that had become increasingly problematic over recent years. Nearly every expedition she was sent on, she would simply vanish, and only after days or even weeks passed, return without a word about where she went or what she was doing.
And with Elizabeth gone, the one who was acting as Katherine's face to the public, the burden fell on Frigg's church, and her eldest apostle, Forellri.
"~You're the only one that can get Katherine to open her mouth, and truthfully, after the incidents in the Thunderbird Nest leading to Elizabeth's disappearance.. Frigg lost all trust in me, and grew a special point of hatred for you...~"
Walking through the hall of the church, passing buy innumerable people from all walks of life deeply sunken into prayer, my steps muffled, and presence faded. "~I can understand Forellri's distaste.. but Frigg, herself? Why would she concern herself with me like that? She knows just as well as you that I couldn't control Elizabeth...~"
"~But Astren,~" Her voice stiffened. "~Elizabeth was set to become her avatar... Truthfully, I'm more surprised Odin is actually siding with me and holding her back... If Frigg had it her way, Forellri would have already killed you, and banished me like Skuld.~"
The air stiffened as we reached the courtyard of the church, and climbed into an heavily guarded carriage.
"~It's unusual for Odin to be as merciful as he has been, and you absolutely cannot test his limit. You need to be seriously careful with hiding how you feel about all of this, especially in front of the Guardian.~"
I forced a nod as the taste of blood spread through my mouth.
But as much as I hated it, I understood.
Despite it having been over a decade since the first and only time I had ever seen the Guardian in person, he was practically an equivalent to a physical incarnation of one of the Aesir.
Being one of the largest orchestrating voices of the Holy Kingdom, selecting the girl to be Eir's avatar, pushing the Holy Kingdom's army over surrounding kingdoms, and guaranteeing my safety, he was someone I had to treat the same as Odin...
He was the closest thing the Holy Kingdom had to a monarch—a man whose suggestions were orders.. no matter how great their cost, or how unreasonable their demands.
And in that carriage, going to meet him for a purpose unknown to Eir and I alike.. all I could do was pray it wasn't tearing my own heart out...
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