Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Vigilance
In front of the sacred effigy of Gomona, the Storm Goddess, the blessed candle burned tranquilly, supplented by the Sky Light that cast down from the do above, enveloping the City-State Bishop in his pitch-black robes as if he were bathing in divine grace.
Thus it was in this light that Bishop Valentin lifted his head, serenely gazing into Vanna’s steadfast grey eyes. His words seed to carry a form magic. Faintly, Vanna heard the soothing sound of ocean waves surging in her mind, followed by a thunderous clamor—the power of the goddess, with aid from an external force, finally broke through the veil and exploded at the depths of her heart.
Suddenly, Vanna took a deep breath, as if she’d surfaced from drowning in deep waters, returning abruptly to land. Her chest heaved violently; her heart hamred. The omnipresent gaze of the deities felt crushing her, and in her semi-stupor, she heard Valentin’s voice continue to reach her ears:
“The existence of Holoss is chronicled in history, and the prophetic dreams you experienced are objectively real. With these two factors present, your natural response should be to first assu the threat is real and then seek a solution. But your earlier subconscious questioning of the existence of Holoss indicates you are avoiding the ssage conveyed by the prophetic dreams on a subconscious level.
“Judge, your subconscious denial of Holoss’s existence is evidence that the ship is real—and it seems, indeed, to be approaching the civilized world’s frontier.”
Vanna felt a fine layer of sweat form on her forehead, but the veil that had always blocked her connection with the goddess seed to have vanished, lightening her heart considerably. The words of the City-State Bishop made her realize sothing:
Unbeknownst to her, she had been influenced by Holoss!
This was a characteristic common to many apparitions or anomalies with a tendency to induce terror: making those who ca in contact with them beco disoriented and subconsciously ignore and deny the reality, thereby increasing the influence upon them without their awareness!
This subconscious neglect and denial were an instinctive response for intelligent beings to protect themselves, a mindset to avoid danger. However, when it ca to contact with anomalies, this instinctive response could beco a source of complacency and ultimately lead the individual unknowingly to beco a victim of the apparition or anomaly!
As a Judge who frequently dealt with transcendent powers, Vanna was deeply knowledgeable about these matters. She never imagined, however, that she would fall into such a “psychological trap”—had her strong willpower really failed to take effect?
“I don’t know when I ca under its influence,” she said frankly. Before the Bishop, a fellow devout believer, she didn’t shy away from admitting the weakness she had exposed—being affected by an anomaly or apparition to the point of psychological distress was not unusual, and sha and concealnt would be of no help. “I ca straight here after waking from the prophetic dream. I haven’t spoken to anyone, nor have I touched any books, antiques. I believe I haven’t been exposed to any outside corrosion during this process.”
“But you did display a deliberate avoidance to the prophetic dream just now… so the influence must have occurred earlier,” the Bishop said pensively, his gaze intent upon Vanna’s face, as if observing every shift in her expression and the rhythm of her breathing. “Recently, have you been in contact with anything unusual? It might be the… contamination from Holoss, leaving an anchor point in your subconscious ahead of ti.”
“Recently…” Vanna frowned, then suddenly recalled the “sacrificial offering” that lay in the Black Sun ritual site, the flash of green fla in the eyes of the offering, and her own finger that was amputated.
Her eyes widened in realization, she stared intently at the Bishop: “The day before yesterday, I led a team to clear the sewers of that Black Sun cult site, was there any report after that about so unnad contamination present? Did any report ntion a contaminated ‘offering’?”
The Bishop shook his head: “No, you sent those heretics to the Cathedral and then left imdiately after.”
A chill ran through Vanna’s heart: “What about the others who participated in the operation that day? Has anyone reported anything of this nature?”
“No reports have co in—all the case files only ntion matters related to the Sun Heretic.”
Under the gaze of the Goddess’s sacred effigy, the Bishop and Vanna looked into each other’s eyes.
“It appears we have found the first mont when the contamination ‘ca ashore,'” said the Bishop, exhaling softly, his expression still placid, yet a stormy power seed to be brewing in his eyes, “In the holy na of Gomona, Judge, do you still have clear, complete mories of that night?”
Vanna took a deep breath: “In the holy na of Gomona, I rember every detail of that night.”
The Bishop nodded, turned, and lit specially crafted incense, then, placing the bronze censer at the feet of the sacred effigy, he spoke steadily, “What happened at that ti?”
And so, Vanna laid bare every detail that occurred in the sewer ritual site, as she recollected from her mory—she didn’t omit a single detail. With the help of the holy incense, her mory and thoughts were clearer than ever before; the events of that night felt as vivid as if they had happened to her just anew…
She rembered how the sacrificial offering suddenly opened its eyes, the green flas dancing in its eye sockets, how the flas leaped onto her finger but were promptly purified by her decisive action. On the way back to the Cathedral, she had silently reassured herself, “The contamination has been thoroughly cleansed, the contamination has been thoroughly cleansed, the contamination has been thoroughly cleansed…”
“`
She was muttering these words all the way, and all the guardians walking with her were muttering these words as well!
Not a single one of them felt there was anything amiss!
Now, recalling that scene is terrifying and bizarre—beneath the desolate night sky, a squad of the church’s guards passed through the silent and deserted streets, each person continuously whispering the sa sentence to themselves until they returned to the church.
During this process, they still believed they were carrying out their duties normally: watching over the recently captured heretics, cleaning up the polluted ritual site, escorting the heretics back…
“…Spectral Fla falling upon the soul ans that physical cleansing through severing limbs is ineffective, what you get is rely deceptive solace—the correct procedure is to imdiately light spices, scatter holy oil on the ground to arrange a temporary sanctified area, then call upon the Goddess’s power with a prayer ritual, to execute the cleansing of the ‘spiritual body.’
“…This is my fault,” said Fana, her voice heavy, “I should have been more vigilant, more alert.”
“It is a lapse, but not a mistake,” the elderly man shook his head, “you possess great power, but as a Judge you are still a little lacking in experience. Fortunately, you have now rid yourself of the influence, indicating that the ‘corrosion’ left on that offering wasn’t very strong, it rely caused you psychological interference… Through the incense ritual just now, I was able to roughly determine its intensity.”
He paused here, as if weighing and judging sothing: “The guardians who acted with you should have been less affected, they were just standing around you, and their influence should quickly diminish with prayers in the church.
“On the whole, although the pollution you were subjected to was sinister and eerie, because the source has been severed, the subsequent effects aren’t dreadful. Based on your performance just now and the feedback from the incense, even if you didn’t co here today, you would have realized sothing was wrong in a few days.
“Compared to this, what we need to worry about more is the future.”
“The future…” Fana repeated the Bishop’s last word, her expression gradually becoming serious.
Yes, the future—the matter has not yet concluded.
The vision heralded by the premonitory dream was a warning sent down by the Goddess—the experiences she had encountered so far were perhaps just the prelude to a storm.
“The Holoss has not appeared within the boundary of civilization for many years now, and many believe it has returned to Subspace, becoming one amongst the many shadows in the deepest reaches of the world, but it now seems that Captain Duncan’s attachnt to the real world remains.”
Bishop Valentin said slowly, while he turned around to gaze upon the Storm Goddess’s holy image.
“A century ago, the Holoss plunged into the depths of the Subspace. Although there is no definite evidence, many witness reports have ntioned that there was a great storm lingering in the nearby Endless Sea at the ti, the ship’s fall was, to an extent, influenced by the storm…
“Storms are the dominion of our Lord.”
Fana frowned, “You think Captain Duncan seeks… vengeance against the deity?”
“It’s hard to say—regardless of a ghost returning from Subspace, imagining one seeking revenge on a deity is inconceivable. Deities reside in their divine realms, divine realms hidden above reality, and all things in the world fall downwards from the higher planes, never have I heard of anyone who could travel upwards to the ‘divine realms’ beyond reality…
“But if Captain Duncan seeks to exact revenge on the Lord’s representatives on earth… the possibility is much higher.
“The sacred Storm Cathedral patrols the world for the Lord over the Endless Sea, most of the ti sailing on secret routes, invisible to all, and in comparison… Plunder City-State is the largest anchor point of faith for the Storm Goddess in the world besides the Storm Cathedral… it is also an anchor point of faith that anyone can visit.
“From this perspective, it’s quite logical for that vengeful spirit to choose Plunder to make landfall.”
“`
Reviews
All reviews (0)