Chương 91: CHAPTER 89 – Incense and Torches

"I'm sorry for earlier, and for now…" Elise murmured, walking slowly beside Lance as the back of her dress dragged along the ground. The boy had to lift his head to speak properly, smiling with a confused expression.

"Why, Elise? If anything, I should be the one apologising for being… Inappropriate." He spoke while turning his head, looking toward the wall with a bit of redness on his face.

"I separated you from your companions, forced you to come with me, and now you're even bound to a pact with me." Lance clapped his hands, laughing with closed lips. Elise stared at him, confused, as he wiped a tear from his eye"Don't worry about it. My roommate is just like you, but she's a wonderful girl! I owe her more than I can ever give her. Sometimes I feel guilty for not being able to make her happy." As he spoke, he noticed the nun's face burst into red.

"Lance… H-How old are you?" Her lips trembled, almost as if terrified by the words the boy had spoken.

"I've just come of age. She's older than me." Horror and embarrassment descended on her face as a catastrophe vomited from on high. Lance smiled, tilting his head.

"Y-YOU LIVE WITH A W-WOMAN YOU'RE NOT MARRIED TO?! AND YOU'RE TOO YOUNG! I'M TWENTY AND I WOULDN'T DREAM OF COMMITTING SUCH A SIN!" She shouted in a burst, babbling and mixing in a prayer or two. Lance stared at her, confused, trying to calm her.

"Why is it a sin to share a room with a friend?" Elise clutched her head, lamenting profusely. Lance soon grasped what his new friend meant and mimicked her.

"I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING! DON'T GET STRANGE IDEAS!" She stared at him, cheeks stiffening, those deep eyes laden with a mixture of emotions. She sighed, nodding.

"I believe you. You're not lying." The nun smiled, pressing a hand to her chest. Lance stared at her with even more confusion, slapping his cheeks lightly in the hope of driving away the blush.

"But that still doesn't answer my question… Why would it be a bad thing?" Lance asked, letting a perplexed expression form on his youthful face. He stopped, and Lance did the same, as if reflecting intensely.

"Because that's what the scriptures say." She looked at him with such certainty that for a second Lance had to wonder how deep his own ignorance ran. With a confused nod, he signalled Elise to continue while he tidied the hair at his nape and crown.

"For the Goddess, every impure act moved by passion will not be tolerated, because we are flesh of the Goddess, and to her we shall return clean in soul and body." She recited it in a ringing yet strangely mechanical voice, like the nursery rhymes he had heard on his travels. Lance stared at her in silence, scratching his chin.

"And with marriage, it would be different? But wouldn't there still be passionate love in that case? And what do you mean by an impure act? Is it only what you mean, or is it anything passionate? But wouldn't that ban everything that makes us happy?!" The storm of innocent questions pouring from his mouth made steam practically burst from her ears. A vacant expression and confused stammering took hold of Elise, forcing the boy to rouse her with a dull clap. Lance tilted his head, smiling completely innocently.

She, on the other hand, was too confused to speak.

"W-Well, if you put it that way, no. Marriage is love, not passion… Or maybe it's a contract. It should be interpreted according to law, but then why think about law if two people love each other and are mature enough to decide it… Is it impure to love, or only to do it before marriage?" Elise turned toward Lance, who was still waiting for answers.

"And Elise… Who actually put these scriptures on paper? Eifibes herself?" He pressed a finger to his temple, pushing it with moderate force against his blonde hair. She shook her head, stunning Lance.

"The scriptures have been handed down since the time of the legends… They've been copied, is what I mean." Lance nodded a couple of times, snapping his fingers in satisfaction.

"If she didn't narrate them herself, then they're worthless! How can a human being give themselves the right to interpret the divine?" Elise went pale, almost as if Lance had just vomited the worst blasphemy in history. He took her hand, startling her.

"Listen… To me, it's arrogance even to murmur the words 'I know you.' People are far too complex to be reduced to an interpretation in the brief span of existence we can spend together. Imagine how Eifibes might feel at the thought that all her followers trust the arrogance of someone who claims to have understood her." Elise met his pupils with her own, immediately withdrawing her hand.

"Do you believe that?" The question instantly stiffened the air between them, immediately changing Lance's expression.

"Honestly… I don't know." His words were lost in the silence of the cathedral, holding the girl's gaze and anchoring it to his face, stern and strangely steeped in melancholy.

"The world, however horrid, is truly splendid. Even though monsters exist, there will always be beautiful gems that make humanity shine. I don't believe all of this is the product of chance. I refuse to believe it. But I also refuse to believe that the entity above us is entirely good or omnipotent, as we believe…" Those words stirred something in her heart, waking it from a strange coldness.

"Why do you say that?" Elise asked with a faint tremor in her voice, as if she wanted to hold the words back. Lance smiled, quickly raising his gaze to the beautiful golden ceiling decorated with small mosaics depicting the rituals of the cult of Eifibes: birth, decorum, marriage, marking, and the final rite.

"Because if it were omnipotent or good, my family would still be here." Her face turned white as snow after hearing those words, immediately feeling her own body grow light." Go on, Elise. Look beyond that door and see whether a god still exists in this empire." The smell of blood soaked into her nostrils so intensely that she slipped and slammed against the wall. She grabbed her head with both hands, pressing her nails into the white skin. Lance rushed to her, trying to stop her from tearing at her temples.

"Elise, I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" He murmured, while he strained to pull her fingers away. He lowered her arms, pressing them against the wall to stop her. Her breathing was heavy, like after a bout of drinking, and very slow.

"Is she in shock?" Lance thought, trying to pry her fingers away. Her blue pupil had faded, turning greyish.

"I'm sorry, Lance… I w-was bad… I hate myself." She began to cry while the blood vanished from her skin, becoming a whitish smoke. Lance sighed, offering her his hand.

"Nothing happened. Actually, if anything, I'm glad you're crying." Elise looked him in the eyes, tearful, getting up and careful not to slip on the folds of her habit. Lance smiled, moving slightly away from her.

"A heart is destined for tears. We are born crying. Crying shows us that our soul is still alive. As for your earlier question, I have an answer…" He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, holding it a few centimetres from her weeping face. Smiling, he began to speak.

"I could only believe in a god who cries as you do now." The boy looked at her, his lips shaped into a faint smile. Between one sob and the next, Elise began to dry her tears.

"I'm sorry…" He helped her to her feet, lifting her with all the strength of one arm. The woman was momentarily astonished by the power in that single limb"You have nothing to apologise for. What happened is done. The only thing I can do is commit myself fully to understanding the circumstances and live this new reality of mine in peace." Elise studied him as he struck a pose with his fist raised to the sky. She laughed and laughed, while Lance immediately composed himself again.

"You know… I'm not here by choice." They resumed walking parallel to each other. Lance nodded, straightening the folds of his coat collar. Elise held a blonde lock between her fingers.

"Unfortunately, I had guessed as much…" He sighed, with a frown. Elise looked at him, smiling, continuing to toy with her hair.

"I used to live in Termìe. My memories are a little fragmented, and my head spins if I try to remember too much. I ran away from the convent. I was running, but I don't remember why. I was captured and sold to this archipelago a couple of years ago, I think? I was thrown into the cathedral after some officials from my nation killed my master. I've been here ever since." Without changing her expression, she unbuttoned the golden ornaments over her abdomen, slightly revealing it.

Lance covered his mouth with his hand at the sight of those scars branded with fire.

"Sorry, maybe you thought I was thinner?" She smiled, yet the boy before her had such a contorted and frightening expression. His gaze had turned horribly dark, boiling from within.

"I adopted a girl from Termìe like you during one of my operations. Her name is Rea. Technically, I'm her adoptive father. I'm feeling the same thing I felt the first time I saw her." Elise nodded, closing her habit again and smiling, perhaps with gratitude.

"Why do you wear the mask of a nun, Elise? You were the first to tell me we shouldn't lie, but in that total scene earlier there wasn't an ounce of honesty… No, wait, not firmness… You aren't sure of the foundations of your own beliefs." Lance was stern with those words, raising his tone completely unusually. Elise stared at him, silent, her lips almost limp, unable to form an expression.

"I… I didn't want this life, but it's the only way of living I know." Lance clenched his fists, clicking his tongue.

"I'd like to create another way of living in here, something that can help everyone." Elise didn't cry, but her eyes were glossy and filmed with tears.

"Elise, if I promise to help you, regardless of our earlier pact, are you willing to listen to everything I'm about to tell you?" The girl scrutinized him, nodding repeatedly.

"You see, Elise, I come from an organisation that exists to protect people like you and me. All my colleagues here are part of it, and they're like us. They call us Meta, beings with an innate compatibility to a radiation generated by Lambdite. The problem is that this radiation is emitted by an alternative dimension parallel to our own, called Hel…" Lance noticed her face on the verge of giving out.

"I understand…" Elise smiled, lifting her chin with pride. Lance shook his head, scratching his cheek. Elise kept that expression for a couple of seconds, then shook her head, huffing.

"Maybe it's too complicated to explain like this… In any case, we came here to safeguard the area. There's a disturbing risk…" The woman immediately became serious, focusing on his words.

"Could it have something to do with visions?" Lance immediately stared at her, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"What did you see?" His face was burning, his irises frenetic, his eyes shot with blood. Elise blushed quickly, pulling back. Lance did the same, slapping his cheeks.

"It's nothing… I can't remember very well. If I concentrate, I remember an expanse of white sand, a white moon in the sky, and the waves of the sea, but nothing more." Lance tried to retrace his visions, but the only common element was the sand.

"Father Abbondius says they're proof that I've been chosen by the Goddess… And yet they've only left me with sadness." She fixed her hair, letting it fall back over her shoulders as she spoke.

"I got here precisely because I opened a door. Honestly, more than a vision, it was a real portal." Lance explained, pointing to the corridor behind him.

"It happened to me too… I thought I'd fainted. But I've never heard the others complain." The pair kept walking until they reached a corner.

"It might be because you're almost a Meta, I think. You haven't developed a personal ability yet." Elise's eyes lit up with even more curiosity than she had shown before.

"Could I have powers too?" Lance smiled, scratching the back of his neck with his right arm"I hope not, honestly. I don't want you to go through the necessary process…" His tone dropped, his smile strangely ironic. Elise understood that, in some way, those powers were a stigma. Without saying a word, the boy created a black and white sphere on his palm, crackling with electric discharges.

"My ability is used to hurt others. It strengthens me when I wound, and in some ways it's truly disgusting. These abilities are nothing more than the materialisation of a trauma, a failure, or an obsession. That's why I hope you never become like me." Lance let out a sigh, followed by a quick nod, his gaze low and sombre.

"Just like you, I remember little of my childhood, but I don't think it's because of our condition. Frankly, I remember only what I dream, and that my sisters have disappeared. One, I'm now convinced, is dead. The other was torn away, and I will do everything possible to find her." Elise raised her head, looking at him again. Perhaps he hadn't realised that his eyes were now slightly glassy.

"I've asked myself what I'd do if one day I remembered, and I realised I'd lost everything behind me. What would you do, Lance?" The boy dried his eyelid with the tip of his index finger.

"If that's how it must be, then so be it… But I don't want to think that my sister is dead and that I couldn't do anything, not even understanding how." Elise smiled, brightening slightly.

"Then Lance, if you wish to help me and to receive…" She froze, hearing footsteps echo in the corridor. Lance saw a gigantic shadow with an elongated skull growing on the wall. A metallic, unnerving sound of chains began to stun his senses. With every echo, Elise trembled more, petrified.

"Oh, Elise… To what do I owe your presence in this wing?" A massive man with olive skin appeared, towering over them. His face was serene, mature, and pervaded by an unsettling generosity. On his head he wore a large oblong black hat, to which was tied a golden sash that wrapped entirely around his chest and waist, covered by his white uniform. On his scarred hands, dozens of gold and silver pieces were chained to one another, some of the chains dangling and some resting on the skin of his wrists and forearms.

Were it not for the jewels, the passage of that man with faintly bluish eyes would have been completely silent.

"Greetings, Father Abbondius… I-I was here guiding one of our guests. Were the others unable to inform you?" He loomed before her in a way no human being should be capable of. He grabbed her shoulder with one hand and pressed his icy rings to her cheek with the other.

"You should have informed me. I would have personally escorted this guest wherever he wished, and you would not have been distracted from your duties…" His smile began to crack. Beneath his lips, his teeth started grinding, and his eyes pierced her deeply.

"I-I…" She began to stammer as Abbondius withdrew his hand, raising it slowly. Elise was now trembling and sweating profusely from her hands and brow. The Father stared at her, narrowing his eyes with severity. Suddenly the air shifted, and the Father's hand was seized with force and hostility.

"My name is Lamb Klivmt. I'm here with my supervisors for structural safety." Though he was a full six heads shorter than him, Abbondius clearly felt the strength impressed in those fingers. He smiled, nodded, and removed his hat. His hair was short, with a long black braid falling over his shoulders.

"Forgive my inattention. I wouldn't want you to witness a reprimand while at work." Lance squeezed even harder, surprising him. The veins on his hand began to seethe, along with a slight twist of his lips.

"There's nothing to reprimand here. I disturbed her while I was wandering… After all, it's my first time inside." The boy replied, forcing that powerful neck to tilt to the side. He glanced at Elise, still petrified, smiling to show his teeth.

"I see! The fault is mine for jumping to conclusions too quickly. Unfortunately, discipline can sometimes slip from the control of a good heart. If you had a daughter or a sister, perhaps you could sympathise." Lance glared at him, searing his retina with Abbondius's face.

"Of course I understand, but kindly see that you don't repeat those manners here." Abbondius released his grip, seizing Lance by the shoulders. He squeezed hard, creasing the fabric.

"In our cult, threats made on sacred ground by outsiders are not well tolerated. Curiosity compels me to ask by what methods you would discipline me." Immediately, the air turned frigid and stirred, as if a whirlwind were moving it.

"You shouldn't ask questions whose answers are unnecessary." Lance's eyes flickered with a faint golden glow. Abbondius smiled, releasing the boy and making his way down the corridor.

"I leave it to you to reunite him with his companions, and not a single word to the others. For tonight, I want four perfect copies of the rosary in my room." Elise nodded when suddenly Lance's hand dragged her away. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Let's get out of here immediately. That man is dangerous." Within minutes they quickened their pace, passing dozens of doors and corners, until Elise collapsed to the ground, coughing.

"I need a break…" She leaned against the wall, clutching her chest and breathing hard. Lance saw her there, legs trembling, drenched in sweat, face pale. He clenched his fists, cursing as he turned away, chewing insults between his teeth.

"That man shouldn't be here… The others said he was travelling." Lance leaned against a large window, so colourful it made the outside impossible to see, only figures confused and altered by the multicoloured mosaic.

"Abbondius is occupied with some research, and I had the misfortune of discovering it, and…" Elise paused, biting her lip. Dark, dense stains formed along her tunic, wrapping the fibres of the fabric.

"Please, Lance… DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH HIM!" She lunged at him, grabbing his arms. Her face was again streaked with pain and tears, this time driven by something visceral. The boy looked her carefully in the eyes and, without a word, wiped the tears from her lashes with his thumbs.

"Elise…" He took off his coat, revealing the black sweater beneath. He removed his scarf and rolled up his sleeves, showing all the scars on his right forearm. The woman stared at him, astonished, yet he was smiling, cheeks flushed.

"I've already defeated a man who could be called a god… Whatever obstacle appears in my path, I'll sweep it away." His scars flickered for an instant before becoming almost invisible again.

"And right now, my path is to do my best to help you!" He smiled, squeezing her hand firmly, still with that veil of embarrassment on his face, but convinced of his own words. Elise smiled, laughing weakly and coughing.

"If that's how it is… I'll do my best too." Catching her breath, she dashed off, dragging Lance with her." This girl's strength is almost on par with Jeanne?! Are all Termician girls like this?" They crossed all the corridors in a hurry, quickly descending stairs until they found themselves in front of a whitish wooden door, almost as if it had been painted with soot.

"You're certainly fast…" The boy smiled, straightening all his clothes and helping her stay on her feet. Once again her body was weakening, growing progressively paler.

"My heart isn't exactly healthy." She smiled, coughing intermittently. Lance studied her carefully, then made the glasses appear on his face again. The moment the frame settled on his nose, he saw the enormous mass of Frequency hidden behind the door. He immediately removed all his outer clothes, storing them inside Lachesi.

"Where did your coat go?!" Lance now wore only a fitted long-sleeved shirt. Without a word, he pressed the screen of his watch, pulling out a silver disc the size of a bug.

"The situation here is serious, and I honestly don't think your heart is the problem." Elise stared at him, confused, as he handed her that strange metal disc. She took it, pinching it between her index and middle fingers.

"Technically, I still don't know how it works, but don't eat it! Attach it to your neck, where you feel the pulse." He explained, fumbling clumsily with the watch screen. Elise pressed it against her skin with her index finger, feeling a slight tremor spread through her body.

"Before you ask, my clothes are inside the bracelet on my arm, and that disc is used to measure your index… Lucas spoke of radiation and particles… In short, how compatible you are with the energy I was talking about before." He kept scrolling through the dozens of pages forming on the device, then stopped.

"Impossible…" Lance's face became agitated, veiled in anguish. He bit a nail, shaking his head and quickly rereading the glowing data on the screen. He turned toward Elise. Only now, with the glasses on, did he notice the columns of light rising from her to the ceiling.

"Is something wrong?" Elise murmured, worried, putting her hand in front of her mouth to mask her rasping breath.

"The area ahead of us is terribly saturated with Frequency, and your readings are… Incredible. I only know a couple of people with these values, but they're full Meta." Lance blinked several times, hoping those numbers would go away. Elise stared at him, shaking her head, drifting closer.

"We measure the levels of a Meta with categories. If we exclude the more particular cases… You're in the highest category, a Herrscher." Lance immediately closed the watch, looking around before resting his fingers on Lachesi.

"Elise… The Frequency here is accelerating your mutation. In your heart, an organ called the core is slowly growing. Afterward, headaches will come too. I think this area is forcing your body to adapt, but this pace isn't sustainable." He approached the wooden door, stroking it with the back of his hand.

"What's behind here?" He asked, smiling, trying to reassure her. Elise moved closer to him, keeping her trembling under control.

"This is the garden, a private cultivation of medicinal herbs and decorative plants." Lance nodded, pushing hard on the door. He set his shoulder and planted his feet, managing to move one of the two gigantic white doors. A white light blinded the pair, and as it cleared, green and blue took command of their eyes.

"Don't worry, Elise. We'll help you." Lance smiled, letting her lead him inside. A thin dew softened the grass stems growing through the cobbled path. The variety of colours was now evident: blue diamond-shaped flowers, trees with square red leaves, and various yellowish globes composed of dozens of crowns. Above, a white, terribly luminous sphere danced in the air.

"It's called Moonslicer, an artificial sun built by the Empire to continue assaults even at night. It was brought here by the first soldiers who erected the cathedral." Lance observed the vines hanging from a low, twisted tree, its leaves a terribly vivid green.

"You know quite a lot about what happened in the war?" Elise nodded weakly, picking a red flower from among the stems.

"Enough to understand what I've been through…" Lance looked around, watching the flows of frequency gather in the middle of the path, a few steps ahead of them.

"Abbondius was a member of the Malus Nomen, a cult within the order meant to repress heretics. It should operate in secret, but he was deployed in the war. He's not technically human, but no one is allowed to know that. During the war, he was an Inquisitor. A murderer." Lance knelt on the ground, feeling its surface.

"I saw him appear here once. I watched him enter, and then he disappeared. When I passed by again, he was jotting something down exactly where you are now." Lance began tapping the rock with the back of his hand, noticing a strange sound. He raised his finger, vibrating it. Suddenly a thin black flame ignited on his nail, and Lance began to carve into the ground.

"Of course, don't tell a soul… I could already be punished for this." Lance smiled, lifting the stone slab he had just cut away and gently setting it behind him. To the astonishment of both, a long, dark staircase appeared before them.

"It's a shame I don't have the system for scanning the underground with me… There must be too much interference." He sighed while Elise motioned for him to descend. He nodded, starting to place his foot on the first iron rung available. He made to move another step when an image surfaced in his mind. He looked carefully at Elise before making room for her.

"You go first…" He smiled, clasping his hands firmly behind his back. She nodded, beginning to descend slowly into the dark tunnel. The two climbed down for about ten minutes, until they found themselves in a damp chamber, roots emerging from the half-light. Lance raised his finger, producing a torch of energy with his index finger.

"There aren't enough documents about the cathedral… How long has this area existed?" He gestured for Elise to follow, and she obeyed in silence, pushing roots away from her face. The pair walked side by side, watching the surrounding walls expand, and the rock become somehow drier and more fragile.

"Any idea what's down here?" He felt the walls with the back of his hand, finding it covered in a thin mixture of reddish and black powder. Elise shook her head, shaking out her habit.

"This is the first time I've come down here… I thought it was just a myth that there were ruins beneath Bayork." Lance studied her carefully, glancing at the screen of his watch, the same one that had projected that complex system of caverns beneath the Institute.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." He didn't have time to ask before they found themselves before remains of rock, carved with incomprehensible writing. Lance moved closer to inspect them when Elise knelt behind him.

"Th-The Holy… Protection… The Holy Protection, it says here!" Elise traced the characters with her finger, stunning Lance. He was so confused that he did the same, hoping to understand.

"You can read this stuff?" he asked, even more astounded by her nods.

"I have no idea what language it is, but my head automatically translates it." She smiled, pointing a finger at her temple. Lance nodded, pointing ahead into the corridor.

"What on earth is the Holy Protection? I've never heard of it, not even in Nikola's diaries…" The light on his hand cast strange shadows around them, and now he could no longer even illuminate the walls. They walked for more interminable minutes until an acrid, chemical smell hit him. Lance recognised it immediately, grabbing Elise by the hand and hurrying forward.

"This will be a bigger problem than expected…" Lance murmured, staring at the black reflections engraved around him, like dozens of small splinters. Elise looked around, brushing a mass of glass anchored to the wall, which had now grown narrower. A series of torches lit in sequence, revealing the room into which they had stumbled: tall, circular, with two rows of colossal statues arranged before them. The walls, studded with black crystals, did not reflect the light; they almost devoured it.

"The first cult of humanity…" Elise murmured, gazing at the figures made of black and white rock, in a combination so refined that it had withstood the ravages of time. Lance examined them carefully, moving from right to left: the first depicted a sinuous, tall woman, completely white, with only her face black and featureless. On her bare back, thin filaments like wings and a cloak tied at the waist.

The second statue was also of a woman, with hair so long it wrapped around her ankles, completely black like her skin, in contrast to the white veil that covered her. Beside her, the third, again depicting a maiden covered by a single tight veil split at the navel, her chest covered by a cloak of flowers. On her young, delicate face, full, dishevelled hair decorated a joyous, smiling expression." Matrix, the first mother. Umbra, the shy sister. Volpatas, the joyful sister.

Those are the names written on the pedestals." Lance nodded, staring carefully at those statues, so large and majestic.

"The first mother… Isn't that also Eifibes's title?" He turned toward Elise, his gaze lowered, thoughtful.

"It's heresy for the Empire, but Termìe has a much older history than people are led to believe. Originally, several deities existed, venerated in a single cult called the Six Peaks. From that point on, though, something must have happened that pushed people to believe exclusively in Mother Eifibes, a human ascended to heaven by a Greater Will." Lance scratched his chin, moving his gaze to the other statues.

The first to catch his attention depicted an extremely muscular man with a gigantic blade on his shoulders, a colossal squared mass. His body was wrapped in a loose tunic, bound together by spiky chains, upon which his long hair, turned white by the material, rested. The second was less human than the others, depicting a brute holding a hammer, with the lower half of his body supported by a complex whirlwind of rocks and strange dissolved flows. His braids rested on his shoulders and his gentle face.

The last statue left him petrified, motionless, eyes wide." Lachesi?" He murmured, staring at the woman with four wings spread from a dark, swollen work tunic. One pupil on her proud face was white, the other dark, as were two of her wings. Elise moved closer to him, tapping him on the shoulder." Lachesi? This one is named Eirinna. There doesn't seem to be anything else written. The others are Eneook, the king of iron, and Ooleas, the just war. These must be the members of the very first cult."

Lance turned, pointing to the two destroyed and torn pedestals. They were separated from the row and somehow smaller, made of a different, almost shinier material. The first pedestal was completely shattered, with only a few characters written at the bottom, while the second only retained its lower half. Elise moved closer, lowering herself to read that long inscription.

"I cannot bring myself to produce it. Forgive me, Dyer, for this sin, but the soul of Abend I cannot desecrate further. I have preserved history even though I promised Nikola I would tear it to pieces, and now I am the custodian of this truth, but I will no longer soil the world with the presence of those monsters, were they the very reason I live. Only her name, Amon, makes my heart capable of hatred. I will carry on the cult of Eifibes, replace it, and ensure that all previous generations can forget them.

The Empire I believed in is rotten. Forgive me, forgive me, please, if this choice will bring harm, for I have failed to find hope elsewhere…"

"Signed by Evans A-Aurelius." The eyes of Elise and Lance dimmed as they stared at the ruined column before them. Both understood, each in their own way, how horrible the truth contained in those new revelations was.

"Lance… Evans Aurelius is the founder of the theocracy of Termìe. This message was written before the cult itself spread throughout the world. The Six Peaks were still venerated after Eifibes. Is the whole legend false?!" The boy looked around, staring at the unknown statue. Only chains caressed the legs of that creation, almost as if they were its only clothing.

"Evans and Dyer? Are they really the same people? None of this is good… None of it is good at all." Suddenly everything began to shake, and a gigantic staircase emerged from the centre of the six intact statues. A continuous echo of footsteps spread around them, heavy and slow in the darkness. A thud and then another, before a profound sigh reverberated from the shadows.

"I imagined that a disgusting pest had wormed its way into the sacred walls of this cathedral, but that it was also a parasite has, to say the least, surprised me." From the dark emerged a white glove and, immediately after, a black splinter held by a powerful arm. Abbondius made his appearance, gripping a colossal fragment of black Lambdite, identical to that anchored to the walls and to that used by the Demiurge. Elise retreated behind Lance, terrified.

"You've found the ancient relics? It must be a hard blow for you, knowing that the whole world lives inside a lie." Lance rested his arm on Lachesi, immediately drawing Gloriousus, its blade reflected in his lenses. Abbondius smiled, studying the frames closely"I never would have imagined that a piece of that disgusting traitor could live on in this era…" Abbondius pointed at those glasses, now strangely warm on Lance's face. He approached him slowly until Lance's blade carved a furrow at his feet.

"Then who the hell is Adam? Answer!" The moment he closed the distance between Lance's blade and his own face, Abbondius burst out laughing.

"One of the finest members of the Mundus Aureus, the highest rank among the ranks of our glorious pontiff, and a disgusting traitor!" The flames on the walls bent as he shouted those words from the depths of his throat.

"He impregnated one of our Saints and let himself be seduced by those accursed people. He exterminated my platoon, and the last thing I remember was his body being torn to pieces by the Grand Heloise." Lance took a step back, disgusted by the rivulet of saliva beginning to drip from the man's mouth, lost in a trance.

"So this place is a link to the ancient ruins buried beneath Bayork? What do you think you're doing, you demon?!" A vein of hatred began pulsing on his forehead as he advanced with the harsh sound of grinding teeth.

"You dare call me a demon, heretic? I, who received the call of an apostle of the Grand Heloise?! That black-haired man granted me the tools to use the secret of this underground world, and I will sacrifice everything necessary for the Saint!" Elise trembled behind Lance as the splinters on the wall began to vibrate.

"Whatever is down here is not what you imagine. You have no idea how disgusting the Other World can be." Abbondius stomped violently on the ground, making the shards behind them burst and fly inside the stairs. The lights went out, and a white light began to spread from the bottom of the steps. Lance immediately glared at him, his eyes shot with blood, but his body could not hurl itself forward.

"This relic is all that remains of an ancient conduit to the realm of the Great Virgin. I hope she can forgive me for using a tool of the heretics. The Black Mirror will devour you and turn you into energy for its complete restoration, just as it did to its own mistress." Lance felt himself being sucked in, dragged further and further down, and with him Elise. He clung desperately to the steps as he slid lower, with her pressed against his free arm.

"Abbondius… I will shatter this fantasy of yours before your very eyes. You can be certain of that!" The rock gave way, and Lance, along with it, slid into the whirl of silver light. A few moments later, he found himself with a mouth full of sand and his cheek resting on Elise's stomach. He stood immediately, noticing that Elise was unresponsive and strangely hot to the touch.

"This is a space within Hel …" He thought, distressed, as colossal black clouds, pyramidal and square, crossed the bluish sky. All around them, dunes of white sand stretched to the horizon, veiled by a bluish mist, almost darkness.

"Where… A-Are we…" With difficulty, those words left Elise's lips, sweat pouring down her burning cheeks. Lance looked around, gently lifting her onto his shoulder.

"Inside the relic that dog was talking about! Though I don't understand much about all that talk of devouring and energy." He smiled, scanning his surroundings out of the corner of his eye. Elise was heavy, lacking the strength to keep her balance.

"I'm… Sorry." Lance began climbing one of the dunes, feeling the sand tumble behind him. Her warm breath pressed against his nape, and the cold of the zone beneath his soles.

"It's nothing. Don't talk. Save your strength. I have supplies in my coat. I promise they'll make you feel better once we've worked out what to do!" His face remained smiling until a violent impact spread behind him. He turned, shaken by a violent, dull, repeated beating, as if someone were striking wood. The watch on his wrist began to ring, lighting up red.

"The Black Mirror will devour you and turn you into energy for its complete restoration, just as it did to its own mistress." Realisation struck him, shooting down his spine and jolting his mind, turbulent and terrified at the sight of that masked being in the sand. A continuous lament emerged from the torn chest of that winged, gigantic beast. Dark, filthy braids fell over its stone face, where from time to time a tongue flickered out with every scream.

Feathers and scales covered the skin where the dark vascularised tissue could not. Bloodied wings helped support the weight that its dry, twisted legs could not bear, bending in on themselves. Its long, clawed hands slowly reached toward its head, while dozens of arms emerged from its ribcage, writhing. Lance noticed a long blade piercing its skull, emerging just below its skeletal abdomen.

A terrible wave of nausea churned his stomach as he watched it tear the weapon from its body, losing feathers, flesh, and limbs. Elise, despite her condition, trembled on the boy's shoulders.

"EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! A TEUFEL -CLASS SINGULARITY HAS APPEARED IN THE AREA!" A small robotic voice rose from the watch as Lance's face and the beast's mask of rock and flesh met.