Joan carefully placed the ancient scripture in his small storage bag, his eyes scanning the remaining scriptures on the bookshelf in an attempt to find something equally interesting and important as his last discovery.
Meanwhile, Madelyn explained the entire ordeal with the ancient prophecy of the great sorcerer to the dumb duo.
It turned out to be a widespread myth believed by many people in the Central Region since ancient times.
The father of the land had a son and a daughter who were twins. The son was a strong individual who assisted him in the war and helped create the Night's Edge.
During the war, the daughter went insane, prophesizing about Antara breaking apart and bloodlust creatures killing its residents. Some believed she was possessed, while others thought she could actually see the future.
Over time, she gained the name of the great sorcerer because some of the little things she predicted seemed to come true.
Although she rarely left the Royal Garden Tower, which was once the home of the father of the land and his family, her personal attendant helped relay her prophecies to the masses.
Among her prophecies, the most famous one was the one they read on the scriptures earlier:
Behold, the sole deliverers shall be those who wield the Night's Edge, unraveling the darkness that shrouds. Once more, they shall restore harmony to a tranquil realm, uniting the realms of forest, mountain, and ocean.
This prophecy spoke of a peace bearer—a person destined to bring nothing but prosperity to Antara.
Even to this day, many people still believed in this prophecy, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the peace bearer who would wield the Night's Edge before their eyes.
Asa hummed in contemplation with the new information she gained.
Dunn, on the other hand, chuckled. "So the masses believe in such a fairy tale?"
Madelyn rolled her eyes. "A myth that is believed by the people for a long time is a history."
As Joan continued to explore the ancient scriptures, his fingers carefully traced the faded pages, searching for hidden knowledge that could shed light on their quest. The underground town held the key to unraveling the mysteries of Antara, and every piece of information could be crucial.
Madelyn, having finished explaining the ancient prophecy to Asa and Dunn, joined Joan in examining the remaining scriptures.
Unfortunately, other than that one scripture, everything was written in the language of the Blood Drops clan, leaving them unable to decipher its content.
However, Dunn did find a scripture that was understandable to some extent because it had a lot of drawings in it.
"This seems like a dictionary of sigil use," Joan guessed.
Madelyn agreed, "I thought so too."
"Let's keep it for now. Who knows, it might be useful in the future," Asa suggested.
The group checked the house once again but deemed there was nothing left worthy of their time, so they exited and walked through their first original destination.
The group approached the building from before, its wooden door creaking open as Asa pushed it cautiously.
The interior revealed a large, central hall with what appeared to be a ceremonial altar at its center. Dust-covered relics adorned the space, giving a sense of spiritual and magical to the room.
Before the altar, there was a large empty room with a circle drawn in the middle.
Dunn opened the scriptures from before. "This place is exactly like the one drawn in the sigil dictionary."
Madelyn came over to see the drawing and compared it to what she saw in front of her. She agreed, "You are right!"
Based on what they deciphered from the scriptures, a maximum of two people could perform a certain spiritual ceremony at a time by sitting on each end of any diameter line of the circle. It had to be a woman and a man at a time.
A specific sigil should be drawn in the middle of the circle using the blood of the spiritual performer.
Each sigil had its own function, and there were numerous sigils drawn in the scriptures. In the end, they decided to use one sigil that stood out the most.
"This one seems to help one see into the past," Joan said, pointing at a particular sigil.
"Let's do that one," Asa decided.
"I will do it," Joan volunteered.
"With me," Asa added, "Not alone."
Still sensing suspicion from Asa towards himself, Joan chuckled, "Suit yourself, Amerta"
The group carefully prepared for the spiritual ceremony, following the instructions detailed in the sigil dictionary.
Joan bit his thumb to draw his blood and carefully sketched the chosen sigil in the center of the circle, making precise strokes with a mixture of his blood.
"Got a painter here," Dunn said, unable to resist teasing Joan's carefulness in drawing the sigil.
However, no one responded to his playful remarks, leaving him feeling ignored.
Asa and Joan positioned themselves at opposite ends of the diameter, their eyes focused on the sigil before them. The air in the room felt charged with anticipation as they began the ceremonial ritual.
As they closed their eyes, the room seemed to shift. The dusty relics surrounding them faded away, replaced by a vibrant energy that pulsed through the air.
The sigil on the floor shimmered, casting an ethereal glow in the dimly lit space.
In that shared moment, Asa and Joan felt a connection—a bridge between their consciousness and the ancient powers embedded in the sigil.
Images began to materialize in their minds, revealing glimpses of the past in a fast-paced sequence, and then... darkness swallowed them whole.
It was as if the darkness held a weight of its own—a profound silence that echoed with the whispers of the past.
Asa reached out, but there was nothing tangible to grasp.
In the void, time seemed to lose its linear structure. Seconds stretched into eternity, and the absence of sight heightened their other senses.
Asa could hear her own heartbeat, a rhythmic echo in the abyss.
And then…
"Earthquake!!! Earthquake!!!" a scream of panic blared in her ears.
Snapping her eyes open, Asa reflexively got up, opened the first door she saw, and ran in the direction where people were fleeing.
She and the people arrived in a massive building.
Asa looked around and realized that this building was the same one where she and Joan had been performing the sigil magic. However, the building looked much newer and sturdier than the one her real body and Joan were sitting in.
After a few minutes, the earthquake came to an end, and everyone let out a relieved sigh, including Asa.
An older man in front of her turned his back and bowed, "I am sorry for not greeting you beforehand, Royal Sorcerer. Thank you for building this place for us to always hide from any catastrophe. Thanks to this building, we can be saved from the earlier earthquake."
Asa, not accustomed to such praise, grew confused on how to respond. But, her body turned out to be out of her control.
She watched her hand give a gesture to let the old man stand up from his bow, "It is alright. I am glad everyone is saved," she heard herself talking.
At this moment, she finally grasped the situation. She was only a passive observer here. She couldn't control anything, nor could she change anything.
She was just a watcher, a witness of what happened hundreds of years ago.
Asa felt a strange mixture of awe and detachment. She couldn't believe she was currently visiting the past using the body of the Great Royal Sorcerer.
She let the body of the sorcerer take her to the places she usually went, to do things she usually did.
She learned that the now-dead underground town she found with her friends was once bustling with so much life.
There were children laughing and crying in the central part of the city.
There were villagers selling foods and goods.
There were old people who smiled at her and nodded whenever she walked by.
She also noticed that her attire was a bit grandiose. She wore a long dress along with a long cloak over her shoulders, making her look somehow majestic and living up to her title as a Royal Sorcerer.
She also learned that the Great Royal Sorcerer spent most of her day going from house to house, greeting the people and checking if anyone was feeling ill.
She would heal those who were ill, give future telling to those who were stressed and anxious, play with kids, and help elders with chores.
Overall, the Royal Sorcerer was far from what Asa originally imagined her to be.
She thought someone who was the child of someone as powerful as the father of the land would be arrogant. She had also heard the sorcerer was an insane person, so she imagined the sorcerer to be someone unique and weird at the same time.
But what she had seen so far proved her wrong.
As night finally fell, Asa returned to her own house—or, in this case, the sorcerer's house.
Just when she finally had a moment of rest, a knock on the door was heard.
Asa felt the body she was in stand up and walk toward the door.
As she opened the door, a surprise rushed through her whole body.