__________ POV Ashton__________
It only took me around a week to decipher the writing on that altar. And, apparently, there are two different texts.
I didn't notice this when I got my hands on it, but it was a dark place, and the second writing is much smaller. I had to use a magnifying glass to read it.
And, I won't lie, the contents of these texts are really concerning. Although it's within the boundaries of what I had expected...
'The beasts are born of crime,
Demons from an ancient time,
Rose from the bodies of the Greater Gods,
The fools!
They tried to capture them,
To study them and to recreate them,
Their sins are pronounced,
The Gods were displeased,
An entire Race doomed at the hands of a few,
The gateway was forced open,
The abominations were woken.
Will this also be the end of us? The faithful?'
This time, the text was full. It also had two sides. This is the first one.
It's quite clear that the 'fools' are humans in this case. They created some of the 'Abominaitons' that litter the continent.
But it seems that not all of them were created by the hands of humans. And it also seems that these 'Greater Gods' have failed in killing off the human race. Twice.
The Altar is quite clearly from a much older civilisation than that labyrinth city... They needed to be evolved enough to be able to mutate the beasts in the first place.
It means that the first appearance of these beasts was in the 'first' civilisation of humans. And they studied the beasts and tried to combine them in many ways.
They angered the 'Greater Gods' and were almost wiped out. It seems quite a few survived and rebuilt their society. Slowly and from scratch.
Either that or they re-evolved into humans from another species of apes over the course of a few hundred thousand years.
Regardless, the second era of humans was also ended by the beasts, quite obviously sent by the 'Greater Gods' to take care of their unfinished business.
And, people from that civilisation, are likely the ones that escaped to Lake Mobius and reestablished themselves there.
There is nothing written in any text on Lake Mobius, but I think this is the most logical conclusion. That's our current era.
I don't really know when I was born, but the civilisation should've been at a high medieval stage. I washed up to these shores by pure luck. I still find it hard to understand.
Anyway, it seems that these 'Gods' didn't realise that humans were still alive, but the expeditions caught their attention. At least I think so.
So they decided to stir up the beasts they created once more. To kill them off once more. But, for some reason, they can't really leave this continent.
Neither the Gods can influence Lake Mobius. It seems only the Calamities can enter the Human World.
From this text, I also learned that these 'greater gods' can interact with the world through this 'gateway'.
There's also the strange tone this tablet has. Were the writers part of the 'Faithful'? Were they worshippers of these gods?
Something that makes the second side of the altar all the more suspicious...
And, well, it was also a bit more... Interesting...
'Sleeping in the depths,
Underneath the thousand steps,
An unspeakable horror, of flesh and bone,
It will come alive, to face the older ones,
You must awaken it! It is your duty!
Face the sunken temple's gates of unparalleled horror and beauty. '
It basically wants to send the reader on a quest to free something capable of going against these 'Greater Gods'.
Something about it feels quite strange though. The 'sunken temple' underneath the 'thousand steps'...
I think I know what this text is referring to... But I simply can't put my finger on it, my memory is really foggy.
It's probably one of my earliest memories. They tend to get really foggy and they are rarely detailed.
I just faintly remember a strange whirlpool. It was massive, larger than an island. The inside looked dark and foreboding.
Swirling endlessly and swallowing anything that passed by. One of those things happened to be the ship I was on as a child.
But my recollection always ends there. As if something is blocking it...
I need to figure that part out too. Maybe looking for that place would be helpful... But at a later time.
Still, they don't describe this thing like you would a hero. It's as if they are unleashing an abomination to fight a tyrant.
Like fighting evil with evil. I guess things are not really as black and white in this situation. I need to tread carefully.
But... This altar feels shady.
It almost felt as if the people that wrote the first one warned against the gods. But the one that wrote on this altar seems to revere them.
The second part of the Altar writing is really shady to me. But maybe I'm getting the wrong message from it...
I have gotten a lot of information from these altars. But I still can't help this feeling that I don't know enough. That I'm not seeing the full picture...
Well, I will figure it out eventually.
I also decrypted the book that came with that Crown relic. It just held information about the relic. Much like 'The Blessing of the Greater Gods' which makes me think they are somewhat related...
It's called, 'The Sacrificial Crown'. It can completely enslave the one wearing it to the owner of the relic.
It seems that waking up this strange abomination that can fight the old ones isn't as simple as going to its house and beating on the front door.
The person doing the work needs to perform a type of ritual. It is needlessly complicated and requires the blood of one pure maiden wearing the 'Sacrificial Crown'.
Well, I will see where this search takes me. This crown is quite useless for now, but I'll keep it nonetheless.
That was all I had found in my research. I will have to go and visit the next calamity to see if I can find out more.
Well, I learned a lot this time. It was a profitable trip, although the fight with Brion could've gone better.
I didn't even look into the seed, mainly because I don't want to take it out in the wilderness. I will research it when I reach my laboratory.
But, for now, my next target is the Swamps on the far southeast shore of Lake Mobius. The home of the Hellbells.
I already know of their fighting strength, but their numbers will likely pose a problem to me... Also, that mind-altering power will be annoying to deal with.
But I will figure something out.
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