End of the World
Caila looked at everyone gathered in the throne room. There were probably about fifteen people. Speaking of them as people would be a stretch.
She had to start really thinking about what and who had actually ruled here. She knew that her people weren't normal, but she didn't know it was that special.
She saw ordinary people too, or at least that's what they looked like at first glance. Some might have hidden abnormalities. She saw a girl who brought a large mirror and talked to it, or she had to look at a man who brought a large bowl full of water, only to see him discussing with a head that started floating on the surface of the water. Ice Gremlin was also skating around until a frail-looking skeleton in a wizard's robe slapped him on the back of the head and gave him a lecture about fooling around in the palace. And a little further down the bench, a white-haired man with a long beard sat in the lotus position, looking like he'd been cut out of a cultivation serial.
Caila's eye twitched, and she looked away.
She really did have some unique residents here. Only now did she begin to truly realize it. It wasn't just a few people, but the entire End of the World seemed to be completely unique.
Caila couldn't help but begin to wonder why that was. Supernova had brought these people. It truly lived up to her name as the God of the Unwanted and Forgotten. Was she looking exclusively for those who stood out from the crowd? But where did she get them? Honestly, its residents couldn't be more different. It was as if some came from other worlds. It wasn't so impossible because, after all, even Supernova came from another world. Or the Dimension. How did she do that?
Caila's gaze fell to the closed door at her side, and she scrunched her chin. She remembered the legend of this world. The God of Time and Space had shattered reality. Could it have had something to do with that?
Caila was disturbed from her thoughts by an uncanny feeling and went into her Divine Space. It seemed that one of the attack groups was about to walk into the first trap. Caila was curious how the whole thing would go, but she was also a little worried. This was her first time having a close encounter with the enemy, and she was worried that her worshippers would be able to handle it.
If things get dangerous perhaps she can intervene somehow.
*****
South part of End of the World
Archbishop Libertia Paalon left the harbor by the southern route. Her group moved slowly and systematically. Two of her scouts moved ahead, checking houses, saying prayers to detect hidden dangers, and then signaling that the group could move forward.
So far, they had uncovered nothing, but they hadn't found a single living soul. It was all the more disturbing to Libertia. The city itself seemed perfectly fine. Nothing had been destroyed; the plants were not overgrown; the lights were on; even the dust hadn't had a chance to settle properly. Everything looked as if the residents had vanished into thin air a few moments ago.
Libertia, however, could not help but admire the city. Everything looked clean and neat. The houses were not made of wood but either stone or brick! Libertia, as someone from the higher circles, knew how hard it was to mine stone, let alone make bricks. This town was rich in resources to build something like this.
And it wasn't just the materials. They passed several shops that had glass windows and displayed their wares. The style of clothing wasn't that different, but the food options certainly were. They even had a few butcher shops that sold pure meat, and while Libertia wasn't sure what currency they had here, since Slick certainly didn't use it here, to have several shops that sold only meat without a single fish option told her that this town didn't even have a problem raising livestock. Not that they didn't sell fish anywhere, but they did have separate stores for that where they sold purely seafood.
"This place is incredible," Libertia could hear her group talking amongst themselves. She was still alert, but her hearing focused on the quiet conversation.
"All the shops have glass windows. Brick houses, electric lights everywhere, even on the outskirts of town. Does this place even have slums?"
"And have you seen the meat? Hell, when was the last time I had some lean meat?"
"If only meat! They even have a candy store here! Have you seen all the cakes? Where did they get all those eggs? What about the milk?"
"Wow, I'm hungry just looking at that."
"If we occupy this place, we'll live like kings! I wonder what the local girls are like. With all the food around, they're sure to be pretty squishy."
Libertia frowned and snapped. "Stop distracting yourselves! We're in enemy territory!"
That instantly silenced the group, and they started paying attention again. Libertia didn't blame them. This town may have been smaller, but it was definitely much better than Norss itself. And Norss was known as the most prosperous city in all of the Sea States.
They had gone a few yards further when one of the scouts returned. His figure became a little more distinct as he appeared at Libertia's side. "Archbishop, we have discovered a living person ahead of us. She appears to be a young girl," the masked scout reported.
Libertia stared forward and shifted the goggles on her eyes. "Aberanam," she said, a single word, and the glass of her goggles became obscured by silver light.
Her gaze traveled much further now. In an instant, she saw a black-haired girl in a pretty black dress standing in the street, boredly kicking the curb. Libertia's gaze circled around the girl's entire body and scanned her face. She looked completely normal, and even her bored expression looked authentic.
Libertia then checked the entire street with her gaze but saw no one else but the girl. She withdrew her gaze, and the lenses of her glasses became normally clear again. "Everything looks normal, but at the same time, there is something odd about it."
Libertia was silent for a moment, considering her next course of action. "We're getting closer. But everyone beware. Scouts remain unseen," she ordered, wiggling her fingers. If necessary, she had no problem attacking with lethal force immediately.
Child or no child, she wasn't going to underestimate anything.
*****
Libertia took a moment to prepare before they made their way closer to the girl. They were only a few feet away from her when the girl raised her head and noticed them. "Ah!" she made a surprised sound and froze for a moment.
She stopped. "Greetings, I'm..." Libertia spoke, but the girl turned and started to run away. Libertia frowned and watched the retreating girl, but she didn't run far. She suddenly turned and ran into one of the houses.
They all approached, but no one followed the girl into the house. They weren't stupid; it looked too much like a trap.
Libertia looked around the house, which looked quite ordinary. The main door was left open so they could see inside, where there was a hallway with several doors on each side.
"All together. Position 7. Verse 3," Libertia ordered, and everyone formed a circle around her. The only ones who didn't join in were the explorers, who stayed to keep an eye on the area.
They all pulled out their blessed symbols, which represented the moon. Most of the moon was blackened until only the crescent moon remained, which glittered silver.
Libertia began to chant, her voice the loudest, the others gradually joining in. The singing was wordless, but anyone who heard the singing would know it was a devotional song. The symbols in their hands began to emit a silver light that gradually grew stronger. Libertia then raised her symbol above her head, and the others imitated her. A thin stream of silver light flew out of their talismans and merged with the one Libertia was holding.
Her hand began to tremble slightly as her talisman shook with power. Libertia stopped chanting fluently and instead began to chant words of blessing.
"Birana alxain modrenate..." she uttered the incantation, but Libertia had only a vague idea of what the words actually meant.
Perhaps only the gods knew the true meaning. All these incantations people like her have to learn by heart, and all she knows is what the incantation is supposed to do. That's why it was very hard to learn incantations, especially the long ones, but they also had the most power. It was hard to remember so many words and not know what they meant.
However, the more powerful the priests are, the more they don't have to use small incantations, chanting prayers to use their power. A lot of those who get to higher levels can still use talismans; it eventually makes them stronger, but the situation doesn't always allow it, so gradually most give up. But in cases like this, when they have good circumstances to do so, they can use their equipment to the fullest.
The talisman that Libertia was holding looked like it had turned entirely into silver, emitting pure silver light that spilled out in waves, enveloping their group in a silver dome that extended to the sides, covering the street, the sidewalk, and even the surrounding houses.
"Aaaahh!"
"Eeeeek!"
Muffled cries were heard, and everyone looked up to see two black, twisting shadows fly out of the house in front of them, writhing in the air for a moment before they were reduced to nothing by the silver light.
Sssssshhh....
Behind them, there was a sound like air escaping from a bicycle in the shower. Some turned around to see that the two houses behind them had suddenly started to collapse in on themselves, plummeting downwards just like a bursting bouncy castle. A strange mushroom-like smell began to fill the air.
Libertia held the talisman for a moment longer before she cut off the energy supply, and the talisman itself faded away, leaving only a mangled piece of metal in her hand, which she gripped and shattered. It was just an ordinary talisman that couldn't withstand the power of a blessing of this degree.
"What was that?" one asked, looking at the house in front of them.
Libertia wiped her hand with her handkerchief while she answered. "It looked like ghosts. There was probably some sort of curse on the house."
"Those two houses are flattened and look like they're melting. From the smell, it looks like they're... mushrooms?" another uttered, and the three of them moved to the opposite houses, which had collapsed into the shape of a rotten building made of fungus. Since the blessing revealed nothing else, it was a good assumption that it was already safe to approach.
One of the Order members put on gloves and pulled a tool belt from under his clothes and began to take samples in small vials. "A giant sponge that mimics the appearance of real buildings. Fascinating. Could they be cultivated?" he muttered to himself, and the other two moved away from him.
Libertia hadn't paid attention to her group's games and instead focused on the house in front of her. Despite the cleansing blessing being one of the strongest in her repertoire, she still didn't feel at ease enough to send anyone inside.
She held out her hand, and a thin silver thread flew out from each of her fingers. Everyone stopped moving when it did and watched her.
The Moon Thread was a unique ability that Libertia had developed when she received her blessing. Every time she got stronger, so did her ability, and it was also one of the reasons why she rapidly advanced in the power rankings. Libertia had a minor obsession with needlework since she was young, which also caused her blessing to go in a slightly different direction.
Libertia didn't question the Church's decision to keep it a secret from the lesser members of the Church. In fact, Libertia more than approved of the rule. Unique skills could be very powerful and dangerous. Going through the historical records of the church, she came across several cases of church members who had obtained unique blessings and turned bad in very wrong ways.
The most terrifying was probably the man who had come to be known as the Corpse Burner. He lived approximately 4500 years ago and was a case where a mere Vicar nearly killed the Pope himself, and only because of his unique ability.
The Corpse Burner had the unique ability to absorb moonlight into his body and then produce it with an intense force that burned people's skin and disintegrated like burned paper. It was hard to defend against because it was a light that was intangible and thus could not be stopped. The Corpse Burner, for unknown reasons, suddenly attacked his church and killed many of his brothers and sisters.
The scary thing was that everything happened completely silently. People didn't notice the attack until their skin began to peel. All the Corpse Burner had to do was be in the same room. If God Baa hadn't intervened then, the Pope would have fallen to the silent killer as well.
The silver threads reached out, encircling the whole house and entangling it. Libertia then tightened the threads with a backward motion of her hand, and they penetrated the house without resistance. Her filaments were such that they only affected living organisms, and solid, non-living objects were no obstacle to her.
The silver filaments writhed, snaking through the house, surfacing, and plunging into the building again, but Libertia felt no resistance. She studied the building for a good minute before she jerked her hand, and the threads broke away from her fingers, which disappeared with a faint flicker.
Libertia found nothing wrong with the building, but that was also the disturbing part. Where had the little girl gone? "It would probably be wiser to ignore the whole thing," she thought, but she didn't like unresolved issues. Even after two inspections, Libertia still considered the house a threat.
She turned and called the two Deans to her. They were talented but also the weakest of the group at the moment. All the others already had the status of Vicars. From Libertia's point of view, the two were expendable; she had no intention of cruelly sacrificing them, but losing them wouldn't affect the group much either.
"It should be safe. But still, be on your guard. There's something wrong with the house, so keep your protection activated at all times," she warned them.
The two Deans looked at the house and then at Libertia again. "Wouldn't it be... better to ignore it then? Or destroy it?" one of them worried.
Libertia shook her head. "It's a source of valuable information. We can learn a lot about this place or the Evil God himself from it. If there's no other option, we'll destroy the house," she replied.
*****
The two Deans looked at the house but nodded as they accepted the orders and approached the door. They peered inside but saw nothing that was out of place—an ordinary hallway. Grabbing their talismans, they spoke quiet prayers before a faint silver glow appeared around them, and one by one, they entered.
The two Deans looked around, but there wasn't much to see. In front of them was an ordinary narrow hallway with several doors on either side and one window at the end of the hallway. The walls were paneled with dark wood, and everything looked to be in good condition.
They looked at each other and stepped forward, each going to the door on opposite sides and putting their talismans to it while they said a prayer that covered the door with light and framed it for a moment. They tried to detect any traps or curses on the door before attempting to open it.
After checking, they both pushed the door handles at the same time and opened the door, only to reveal that there were no rooms behind the door, but more hallways. "What's that?" one of them didn't understand.
"More hallways. That doesn't do justice to the powder room of the house. There seems to be some kind of manipulated space," the other replied.
"Huh? Space? I thought only believers in the God of Time and Space were allowed to play with space," commented the first.
"Whatever the case, this place could be a great maze. We should go back and... damn it!"
"What happened!?"
They both turned around only to see that the entrance they had entered through had unnaturally moved away from them when they weren't looking. There was now another long hallway in front of them, and all they could see in the distance was a bright spot that was probably a door.
"We're trapped now," the first Dean sighed.
"Shall we try to get to the exit?"
"I doubt we'll be allowed to. The direct route never works in cases like this. We'll probably walk a bit." They both turned to the open door. They debated for a moment before entering the door they had opened.
The door slowly closed by itself, as if pushed by an invisible hand.
*****
One or two were still busy with the mushroom houses, but everyone else was looking in through the open door and watching their two colleagues walk into the hallway. They saw them check the door and then open it. They discussed amongst themselves for a moment before they walked into one of the doors they had opened.
Libertia monitored all of this closely but saw no problem. Besides, if something came up, the two of them would surely return immediately. Which they didn't. Maybe she was being overly cautious, and there was nothing wrong with the house anymore? Not finding the girl could also mean that she left the house in a different way than she entered.
They waited for a moment as they saw one of the Deans come in from the doorway and make his way back to the exit. "I report that the space inside the house is shifting. The hallways are suddenly getting shorter or longer. But other than that, we've discovered nothing," Dean said, pausing in the doorway.
"Is the space shifting?" Libertia was intrigued. Could the Temple of the God of Time and Space be located here somewhere? "Where is the other one?" She asked, looking over his shoulder into the hallway.
"We came across a small library. He's collecting volumes for later research."
Libertia considered before she turned and nodded to one of the Vicars. "We're going in. The rest of you secure the area. None of you will move without my orders," she said and then followed Dean inside. "Take us to the library," she ordered.
Dean nodded and led them to the door he had gone through earlier.
Bang!
They hadn't even taken a few steps when there was a crash behind them. They all turned sharply, only to feel dizzy. The door itself slammed sharply shut, and now they were quickly moving away from them as the hallway lengthened. "So this is what you meant by the space shifting. Unpleasant," Libertia said, turning away again.
"Where's the library?" she asked.
Dean was silent for a moment. "This... is not the hallway," he said hesitantly.
None of them said anything before Libertia sighed. "So you're saying that the entrance is the same, just the hallway is different than the one before?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
Tap tap
Tap tap
They heard footsteps and all looked towards the end of the corridor where a figure appeared. Libertia squinted her eyes and waved her hand. "Stay behind me," she ordered Dean and the Vicar.
The girl they had seen earlier was approaching them. Libertia was wary because there was no way she was here. Her ability was never wrong, so the girl definitely couldn't be normal.
"Stop. Stay where you are!" Libertia said loudly, raising her hand, silver threads slipping out of her fingers and twisting like earthworms. "If you come any closer, I'll attack. Stay where you are and answer my questions." Libertia didn't panic or show fear; it was clear from her voice that she was serious.
The girl looked perfectly normal, looking at them but still walking forward. Libertia had a strong feeling that something was wrong with the girl and was on alert. "One last warning. Stop or die." The ends of the silver threads began to tangle before knitting themselves into a lacy arrow.
The girl paused, but only for a moment before suddenly running in their direction. Libertia didn't hesitate anymore and shot the dart at the girl. The dart made a short swishing sound and pierced the girl's body. The girl's body fell backward... no... broke off.
It looked as if the girl's body from the knees up had been torn away from the rest of the legs, which meanwhile were still running forward.
Libertia's heart skipped a beat at the sight, for this was how she finally understood what was wrong with the girl. Only part of the girl's body was in the hallway while her feet were sunk into the floor.
The girl's body remained lying on the floor as her feet continued to rush in their direction. Libertia immediately shot threads that went through the floor towards them and tried to hit them. Her threads, however, only passed through as if there was nothing there.
The three of them jumped to the side and pressed themselves against the wall while their feet ran past them and continued down the hallway. The feet then stopped at one of the doors, which opened of its own accord, and the feet went inside before the door closed again.
"What the hell..." Dean muttered, stunned.
"How come your ability didn't affect it?" Vicar asked, sounding a little breathless.
Libertia looked warily down the hallway. "There's only one explanation. It's not alive, and it doesn't have a solid body."
"So... Ghosts? Spectres?"
"Probably. But definitely on a different level than we're used to. Ghosts are just bogeymen that perform little tricks. Spectres are already stronger; they can possess people with weaker minds or inanimate objects. Both feed off the terror of their victims, but their ultimate goal is to kill someone through fear." Libertia scrunched her chin and looked around.
"Ghosts. Wraiths. Spectres. Poltergeist. Ghosts are the weakest and Poltergeists are the strongest. They are incorporeal and can manipulate large numbers of objects and induce frightening hallucinations that can cause cardiac arrest, stroke or insanity." She explained.
"But none of them match the actual situation. The whole house seems to be under their control, and that's not something even Poltergeist can do." Libertia pursed her lips and shivered a little. "Ghosts are turning into Wraiths. Wraiths are turning into Spectres. Spectres turn into Poltergeists. That's a fact known to all. But there are others that aren't so well known anymore, and no one's seen them in hundreds of years."
Vicar swallowed loudly, and Dean remained silent. "What are the others?" Vicar finally asked.
Libertia sighed. "Banshee is the next one. Her screams are laced with such a high-pitched tone that she only tries for moments to make people hallucinate, causing blood clots and eventually turning victims' brains into a bloody mash." She replied grimly, but immediately dismissed that possibility.
Banshee screams were recorded to cause great discomfort to severe pain. None of them here suffered from it.
"What comes after that?" Dean asked.
Libertia looked at him. "Shadows. According to the records, they have no physical power, but they are the most terrifying. They can control the shadows and change their form. The fact that their bodies are made of shadow makes them hard to kill as well. All of these creatures fall into the category of Ghosts."
Libertia suddenly bounced off the wall, her hand enveloped in silver light and smacked Dean. Or tried to; her hand hit the wall, which cracked and Dean's body twisted into an unthinkable angle that was impossible for a human being to perform.
"I didn't expect to be the first to meet a creature of legend here." Libertia said coldly and looked at Dean.
Instantly, a dead face emerged from the darkness of the hood, the white skin curling around the mouth revealing white bone and teeth dripping with fresh blood. The nose was flattened, and the whites of the eyes filled with blood.
"Aaaarr!" It roared, trying to bite Libertia's face.
Libertia, though she was an Archbishop, was still human, and the sudden appearance of such a face near her startled her, making her jump back.
A beam of silver light struck the monster. The shadow shuddered and turned its head towards the Vicar, who aimed his talisman at it, which glowed again as it prepared for another attack.
"Kekeke." The creature chuckled, its teeth chattering together as it did so, before its body fused with the wall and turned into a mere shadow that slipped between the cracks of the wood paneling.
The Vicar looked around wildly, then quickly moved away from the wall his back was pressed against. "Archbishop. What shall we do? How do we fight the Shadows?" The Vicar was not as brave as Libertia and wanted to know how to fight something like this.
"The Shadows cannot be killed by conventional means. Physical attacks don't work. Apparently, moonlight has little effect on them either. Sunlight is the most effective." Libertia walked over to the wall and touched the cracks created by her strike.
This house seemed to be a strange one overall. Normally she would have broken through the wall with her strike.
"So... the Dean brothers..." Vicar began to ask, sounding calmer now.
"Dead or lost. I suspected from the first moment that it wasn't one of us," she replied.
The Vicar was stunned silent for a moment. "So you went into the trap knowing it was a trap? I'm sorry venerable Archbishop, but why?"
"Naturally for the sake of research and study. Shadows are so rare, and information about them is limited. No one is sure what comes after the Shadows. There is speculation that the Shadows are a stage where they can change into a different kind of monster altogether."
"Uhm..." Vicar was at a loss for words. If she wanted to study it, she had to drag someone along? He almost had a heart attack!
"We'll keep going. Let's see what else he has in store for us," Libertia said firmly, and Vicar wanted to cry. Couldn't they just try to leave? In the end, all he could do was take a deep breath and just give in.
"Let's try the door those legs left through." Libertia made her way back down the hallway to the door that had opened earlier. The Vicar followed Libertia and preceded her to apply a blessing to the door before daring to open it.
His courage fell to the very bottom before he abruptly closed the door again and placed his hand over his heart. Libertia looked at him critically before opening the door herself to take a look. Beyond the door was not a room but another hallway that was very different from the one they were in.
The walls looked old and dingy; they were a dirty grey with patches of damp and mould. An unpleasant smell of rot and decay wafted from the corridor. Most importantly, both walls of the corridor were lined with skeletons and decomposing corpses that stood in a row on either side.
Some of the remains weren't even complete, but what they all had in common was that their arms or claws were half-extended or bent, ready to grab anything that tried to walk down the eerie alleyway.
Both Libertia and Vicar stared down the hallway; nothing moved, the occasional quiet snap like bones crunching, but nothing moved except the rags that flapped on some of the dead.
Libertia felt a slight discomfort, but that was all. "Let's go. Don't forget to shield yourself with protection," she reminded him and said a short prayer herself, and a faint glow appeared around her.
The Vicar's face contorted unwillingly beneath his golden mask, but he clutched his talisman and began to say a prayer, and as the silver halo wrapped around him as well, Libertia stepped out into the hallway, the Vicar following her.
Libertia did not hesitate much, striding forward confidently, her arm occasionally pushing away a bony hand that blocked her path. The Vicar was right behind her, a chill running up and down his body.
But they had gone a few steps, and still, nothing moved. Not only the Vicar, but Libertia was watching the skeletons closely, expecting them to suddenly start moving, but they were already approaching the middle of the corridor, and still, nothing happened.
Suddenly feeling as if a shadow had fallen over him, Vicar looked back. "Aaah!" He exclaimed in shock and surprise. His body automatically shot forward, but Libertia was standing in front of him, so he slammed into her until she staggered, and Vicar ended up on the ground, only to see what had scared him again.
Standing just behind them was a tall skeleton with a black robe stained with fresh red blood. The skeleton stood there with his head slightly bowed and one hand raised in a way that made him look almost pitiful, but like the other skeletons, it didn't move.
Libertia turned sharply and frowned at the black-clad skeleton. She stepped over the stiff Vicar on the ground and slammed her fist into the skeleton. The skeleton crumbled into a pile of rags and bones after the blow. Libertia watched him for a moment before looking at the terrified Vicar.
"Stop panicking. I told you the Shadows are incapable of physical attack. It's all about psychological pressure. The more scared you get, the stronger it gets," Libertia scolded him.
"I... I'm sorry, Reverend Archbishop." The Vicar began to rise from the ground, trying to calm his heart.
The Vicar looked at the pile of bones, and something occurred to him, so he looked at Libertia. "Reverend... But what if... what if the Shadow isn't working alone? Could there be something else here that can already physically harm us?"
Libertia paused at the words before slowly answering. "That would be... a dangerous variable." For monsters of different species to work together? A disturbing and frightening thought. If creatures with clear weaknesses began to cooperate with creatures that shielded their weaknesses, things would become very dangerous.