Ruby sighed and shook her head. "Regardless of who made this door, we have to enter" she said solemnly.
Everyone looked at each other, none willing to be the first to enter. This went on for nearly a minute before Endyr let out a long sigh and approached the door. Ignoring the expectant gazes of everyone behind her, she placed her hands on the cold stone and pushed against it. Despite exerting significant strength however, she failed to make any progress. Frowning, she poured some more Mana into her muscles but the outcome was still the same. The door refused to budge an inch.
Seeing her failure, Kulkiri and Aryll stepped forward to assist but met the same defeat. "This is some seriously heavy door" Kulkiri grunted with exertion, his straining muscles becoming visible through his clothes. After trying several more times, the trio gave up and took a step back to revaluate their options.
"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way" Aryll suddenly spoke up. "I've raided a few tombs in the past, and there were several instances of doors requiring certain passwords to access. Maybe we need a code for the door to open."
"Or we can just try and break it down" Erich suggested, gripping his dagger tightly. Johan and Victoria murmured in agreement, while Ruby just silently looked at the door with pursed lips. Endyr exchanged looks with Kulkiri, but the masked man only shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "I've never seen material like that, but my gut tells me it's pretty sturdy. If the Vamps don't know we are outside, they will once we blow down the door. On the other hand, I doubt opening such a heavy door will be very quiet anyway."
Himmel turned to Ruby and sought her opinions. "You're the only one here in prophetic powers. What is the best option?" he asked. Ruby didn't answer for a few seconds, before opening her mouth. "My sight is very blurry down here, but I can tell it is a bad idea to destroy this door. We might need to close it sometime soon in the future."
"What, there's some sort of horrible monster sealed in there?" Erich asked in confusion, but Ruby was unable to answer. Victoria narrowed her eyes as she carefully inspected the murals on the door. "Kulkiri said Crystal Mana is formed in the environments of Terrors and above. If the Vampires have brought some war beats from the Tartarus Continent with them, then rashly rushing in might be a death sentence" she warned as her eyes wandered, Endyr joining her.
Apart from the symbols of Fallacy, Daemon, Jester and the Almighty Primordial, the door depicted figures with wings clashing with humanoids with horns. Elsewhere, shadowy figures obscured by a bloody mist and darkness fought animals of various species. Near the bottom left, a titanic wave was rushing towards long-eared individuals surrounded by trees. In the top right, enormous figures wreathed in clouds and lightning grappled with flying creatures the size of buildings. Upon seeing such a scene, understanding instantly flashed in Endyr's mind: the Second Era, also known as the Chaotic Age!
Beside her, Victoria also came to the same conclusion. She gathered everyone's attention to the matter, causing Kulkiri to let out a "hmm" as he stroke his chin like a philosopher. "This is almost certainly a depiction of the war that was waged in the Chaotic Age, where the eight Races and their respective Gods fought one another. The Angels and the Devils, the Giants and Dragons, the Elves and Mermaids, the Vampires and Beasts...yes, this is nearly a one-to-one representation of how the situation unfurled back then. But why is the Ancient War being depicted alongside the Dread Three and the Almighty?"
Kulkiri's question hung in the air until Endyr took a deep breathe and shook her head. "We can wonder about that later. The important thing is, can this provide the code to open the door?" she questioned. Everyone joined in looking for something of note, but came up with nothing. Apart from the battle and divine symbols, the rest of the door was simply covered in artistic squiggles. As the seconds ticked by, Endyr gradually covered the entirety of the art. Just as she was about to retract her gaze, something small and inconspicuous caught her eye.
Underneath the Vampires and Beasts, a dozen symbols happened to intersect. But instead of becoming random gibberish, they seemed to work around each other, forming an entirely new symbol, a symbol that tugged at Endyr's mind. Unable to recall what it meant, she turned to Kulkiri. "What does that symbol there mean?" she pointed out what she saw. Kulkiri traced her finger and rested his gaze there, falling silent for a moment. "It's not a drawing, but a word in an ancient language" he finally responded after a short delay.
"What language is it, and what does it mean then?"
"...The language is called Aesir, and means 'death's advent'."
Before the Kulkiri's words could reach Endyr's ear, the seemingly impenetrable stone doors lit up in a bright white colour. As everyone pulled out their weapons and prepare for combat, the doors began to slowly slide open with a screech. The transition was faster than Endyr expected, the door moving on its hinges with surprising ease. Of course, a muffled groan rang out as it moved, but the sound was somewhat muted. Clearly, the Vampires kept this place well oiled.
Himmel turned to Kulkiri and Endyr with narrow eyes. "What did you two do?" he rasped, eyes darting towards what lay behind the doors. It seemed to be some sort of mausoleum, or perhaps a tomb. Archaic arches and pillars, all carved from a glistening black stone, propped up a circular rise. Statues of armoured knights, all with a great sword planted between their feet and looking at the ground, decorated the walls. Torches were attached to the walls sporadically, but all were lit and flickered gently. A tunnel led deeper into the crypt, where a mouth of darkness awaited the visitors.
Apart from the statues, the room was devoid of all life. Erich and Johan peered into the room and the latter commented. "Well, this is creepy. So, who wants to go first?" he snickered.
"We will" Aryll spoke calmly, gesturing for Ruby and Himmel to follow her. The latter sucked in air through his teeth but didn't refuse, glaring at Endyr and Kulkiri once last time before walking through the open doors. After watching them take several steps in and seeing nothing abnormal happen, Endyr and the rest followed them. Upon entering, Endyr took a wide look around, taking in everything around her. Like the door that sealed it, the crypt's walls were decorated in murals and legends, which combined to tell a tale.
The eight Mythical Races formed camps and fought against each other. The Giants, Elves and Beasts fought against the Dragons, Vampires and Mermaids. The Angels and Devils primarily focused on each other, though they would also wage an indiscriminate war against the other six Races at times. After an age of blood and fire, an uncertain peace descended. The Devils and Vampires formed a closer bond, while the Angels and Elves also became allies. This peace seemed to last for a long enough time, but ended when the Elves murdered the Vampire God. Wage broke out once more, and this time there would be no armistice. By the time the flames died down, only three Gods remained standing.
And then came the Almighty Primordial.
The murals depicted "Him" as a Human with silver wings of light like an Angel, but "His" shadow was warped, twisted and deformed with pairs of eyes and teeth shifting inside it. "His" presence caused the clouds to gather, the sun to shine brighter and lightning to crackle. The next portion of murals showed the Almighty striking down the Dragon and Beast God, and the Mermaids submitting at "His" feet. Next, the Almighty built up the kingdoms of Humanity, and the sun glowed in the sky at all times. In these murals though, the Almighty was not alone: there were other figures attending at "His" side. A woman cloaked in a veil of darkness, a bronze-skinned man in resplendent golden robes, a flaming Giant in weathered armour, a female surrounded by swirling water...one by one, Endyr recognised the Orthodox Gods who claimed to have been present in the Third Era. And now it seems the stories were true.
Aside from "Them" however, there was also others. A woman Endyr presumed to be Gaia was holding a sapling and a man with a swirling cloud covering "His" face were the furthest from the Almighty, while the other four were closer. Yet there was four more figures beside the Almighty, closer than the rest. Directly to the Almighty's left were a child wearing a chequered robe and holding a crystal rotating in mid-air. Beside "Him" was a robed individual whose gender was indiscernible. This figure had squirming tentacles bulging out of "Their" black robes, and "Their" face was obscured by a thick fog that hid a squirming mass. At Endyr's side, Aryll let out a gasp.
"Those two! Why are Jester and Fallacy at the Almighty's left hand?" she whispered, aghast. Endyr shot her a glance before turning back to the murals, which were almost completed. "There are legends that those two were servants of the Almighty before joining Seraphic. Both "He", Aenrys and Navruavati proclaim this" she spoke curtly, not injecting her own opinion into her words. Aryll looked at her silently before taking a deep breath and continuing to "read" the murals.
To the right of the Almighty were two figures Endyr had never seen. A woman and a man, the latter with a black fog covering "His" face and wielding a scythe. On "His" back, six wings made of black feathers stretched towards the sky. The woman seemed to be an Elf, and had one eye of fire and another of ice. Endyr frowned as she looked at "Them", having no recollection of any Gods like these in the books she had read. Sensing her confusion, Aryll spoke up.
"The Almighty had twenty-two Gods beside "Him". At the end of the Dark Age, only twenty spots were filled. The two portrayed here are the God of Death and the Goddess of Weather. "They" were slain in Seraphic's Rebellion and were allegedly the most loyal to the Almighty. The God of Death in particular was said to have been the Almighty's right hand. "They" were never replaced and slipped from the mainstream canons. Even Ingrid rarely mentions "Them" for whatever reason. Obviously, this caused some to believe there is a massive conspiracy behind "Their" deaths, beyond what we were told."
'The Almighty's right-hand?' Endyr looked back at the God of Death, noticing several details she missed originally. In the first mural of the Almighty, "His" shadow was warped and malicious, with pairs upon pairs of eyes staring out at the world. Yet in the mural depicting "Him" in the Third Era, "He" was missing a shadow entirely! Instead, Endyr noticed pairs of veiled eyes within the God of Death's wings. Furthermore, "His" shadow was abnormally long and seemed to stretch to the boundaries of the mural.
'The Almighty Primordial stripped "His" own shadow and turned it into the God of Death? But all the canons, Secret or Orthodox, promote the visage that the Almighty was pure light, without any dark. Or are "They" talking about the Almighty from the Third Era exclusively, and that "He" possessed a dark side earlier on, in the Chaotic Era?'
After mulling over it, Endyr decided to ask Aryll. "Why does the Almighty possess a shadow in the Chaotic Era but "He" seems to be missing it in the Third?" she cautiously asked, worried that Aryll would snap at her for potentially being blasphemous. To her surprise however, Aryll just chuckled and ran her hand along wall.
"Death isn't necessarily a negative thing" she explained with a slight smile. "From a certain perspective at least, death can be seen as a natural conclusion to everything. Without death, everything would grow stale and eventually fall to stagnation and boredom. If nothing died, Orvonia would quickly be drained of resources. Plus, if death was an impossibility, the likes of Aenrys and Navruavati would wage an eternal war of pain and suffering. Torture would become inescapable."
"It was said that the Almighty was so powerful not just because "He" was the sole inheritor of Allmer, but because "He" was Death itself, and was capable of stripping the Ancient Gods of "Their" immortality. After "He" ushered in the Golden Era, the Almighty had no need for Death, so "He" removed it and sealed it away within the body of "His" most trusted subordinate. From that day forward, the cycle of life and death was established and the Underworld was formed to welcome the pious and pure souls after death. The God of Death governed over the souls of the fallen and made sure balance was maintained. Heh, this is just speculation, but it's believed that Ghosts and Evil Spirits didn't exist back then. It was only after the Depravation of Neriea, and the fall of Death, that the Underworld broke down and the Abyss was truly unleashed."
Endyr nodded to show her understanding and pointed at the Goddess of Weather "And what about 'Her'?" she asked curiously.
Before Aryll could answer, Kulkiri appeared beside them and put his hand against the wall. "The Goddess of Weather was similarly one of the Almighty's closest aides. If Death was the Almighty's most powerful subordinate, then Weather was the oldest of "His" followers, and the first to be bestowed with Divine Ordainment. Yes, you heard correctly, Weather only became a God at the end of the Chaotic Era, shortly before the Almighty rose. As such, there are very few records about "Her" in the Second Era, and all records from the Third have been lost or expunged by the Churches alongside Death's."
"So in order: Death was the right-hand, the alleged Deputy of God. Weather was only slightly behind and served as the Almighty's voice and orator. Now according to this mural, Jester and Fallacy were very high ranked in the Almighty's court and likely held the position of Dukes in our time, just for reference. The Orthodox Gods here seem to be lower ranked, so maybe Counts or Earls, to continue with the reference. Clearly, whoever made this place was a supporter of Jester and Fallacy."
"I don't see anyone that could be Seraphic though" Endyr frowned as she scanned the walls. "And why would the creator add Daemon's symbol to the door, who only rose in the Dark Age. Also, why was the opening phrase related to Death and not the Almighty or the Dread Three?"
Kulkiri and Aryll went silent as they organized their thoughts. "Perhaps the crypt was made in the early Fourth Era?" Aryll proposed. "Daemon might have already risen at that stage, and the history of the Golden Age might not have faded away completely back then."
"Another answer is that the crypt was made in the Golden Age, but the door was only added in the Fourth Era" Kulkiri mused. Endyr found both answers possible, but still noticed a problem. "That doesn't excuse the absence of Seraphic" she insisted. "Both 'His' bible and the Dread Three's state that Seraphic was at the Almighty's side during the Third Era. Since only the Orthodox Gods insist Seraphic rose from the Abyss, and "They" are outnumbered, I'm more inclined to believe the former."
"Well isn't this proof that the Orthodox canons are right though?" Aryll asked breezily. "Seraphic is missing from the picture of the Almighty's aides, so "He" must have not been by "His" side. As for why the Dread Three would insist that "He" was...Well, it could simply be propaganda to prop up "Their" ally."
Endyr frowned but couldn't find a logical hole in her statement. She stopped paying attention to the murals and stepped away from the wall, Kulkiri and Aryll staying back to observe some more. As she explored the rest of the crypt, she passed by the giant knight statues. She observed them with a keen eye, looking for any secrets or hidden details. Apart from acknowledging the master craftsmanship however, Endyr found nothing of note. All the statues were identical, and she still didn't recognise the stone they were made from. Endyr vaguely guessed it was volcanic, but wasn't certain.
Inevitably, she came to the centre of the room where a large stone coffin awaited. Erich, Johan and Victoria were already there, inspecting every corner carefully. The coffin was covered with a stone slab that looked just as heavy as the doors, and was similarly engraved with runes and murals. Endyr recognised more Aesir, but obviously didn't know what it said. Her Language Comprehension Skill only allowed her to grasp the Gaian tongue from birth, but was now useless since she had learned the language manually too. Speaking of which though...
'Hey System, can I upgrade my Language Comprehension Skill?'
[Affirmative Host. However, it will cost Authority Points you do not possess. Instead, the System has a different proposal.]
'Well, what is it?'
[Host can directly ask the System to translate for them. It will only cost a singular point.]
Endyr frowned as she heard that. 'Is this tied to stopping whatever the Vampires are planning?'
[Even better Host. It is intimately tied to the last mission the System gave you. The one full of question marks.]
Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me' Endyr scowled. 'What the hell was that description anyways?'
The System stayed silent however, refusing to answer. Endyr took a deep breathe to calm her anger as she pondered over the choice presented to her. In the end, she realised that a single point could easily be made back by completing this quest. Plus her curiosity was getting the better of her.
*DING!*
Before Endyr's very eyes, the words on the tomb squirmed and bled together before reforming into something legible. After glancing at the others and realising they hadn't noticed anything, she leaned forward to get a better look. Squinting slightly, she slowly moved her mouth as she pronounced what was written.
[Slain in deceit, the Goddess of Weather lies within.]
[The second to fall to betrayal, may the benevolent Tamar join Serapis in the deepmost cloister of the Underworld, where the Almighty may raise "Them" up at the Dawn of Retribution.]
[In the Almighty's hallowed name, the Lord of Light offers salvation to all.]
'This...!' Endyr's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. All this time, she had thought the crypt belonged to some powerful Ascender, such as a Sovereign or maybe even above. Yet she had been wrong. What lay here wasn't a mere Ascender.
This was the tomb of a Goddess.