* Dub—dub, dub—dub, dub—dub...*
He was not imagining it. The heart beat sound just ahead was real, and it gave Hao Ren goosebumps. He checked his Steem Membrane Shield instinctively like he was approaching some ancient being of horror.
He knew he had a pretty accurate sixth sense but he hoped it was wrong this time.
Leading in front and having forgotten about their previous creepy encounter, the husky screamed again. "Whoa! What's this?"
Hao Ren inched closer cautiously. His stopped breathing when he saw what was outside the cave.
It was another gigantic, ellipsoidal karst cavern, which had many similar smaller caves distributed evenly on all sides. The one Hao Ren was standing in was just one of them. Roots grew out from the caves, the walls, and the ceilings, joining into a giant lump in the centre of the cavern. The mass, which looked like a crater-laden meteoroid was roughly a thousand metres across. Dark-red skin tissue could be seen through the gaps of the entangled roots spread over a mass that emanated a red, light pulse. The tissue danced with the "lub-dub" sound like it was a heartbeat, or breathing.
The heart had its roots spread out into the earth and up to the surface.
Surrounding the heart was a pool of surging, dark-red fluid. It was like the water in Beinz Blood Lake, but darker. Its liveliness made it look like it was also some kind of living creature.
Even Y'zaks choked in awe. "There isn't such a ridiculous thing even back in my home."
Everyone knew the entire Gnarled Grove was a single life form. What they had seen back then was just a part of it—only the trees and the roots which were pretty normal stuff. But this bundle of roots in the shape of a heart with its constant 'lub-dub' stumping in the cavern was out of this world. It was a horrifying ancient creature.
Becky clenched her sword instinctively. But she quickly doubted her weapon. She said, "Do you think I could jab this thing with my sword and see if it hurts? By the look of it the skin of this thing might be as thick as ten metres!"
Cold sweat flowed down Hao Ren's forehead: he couldn't fathom why the maiden's first thought was jab the thing first...
Lily's eyes lit up in a golden glow as she raised her Claws of Fire and Ice, all the while staying behind Big Beardy. "You're sure this is the Sacred Cavern?"
Though Big Beardy and his company were also half-stunned, they quickly regained their composure and became as cool as a cucumber again. "It looks exactly like the drawing in the ancient record which the first pope had drawn when he found the Goddess' sacred patrimony here. Guys, put down your weapons. This must be the sacred ancient one. We cannot afford to offend it."
Vivian pondered for a second, then she took out a bat and shoved it in Hao Ren's hand and said, "Keep it in your dimensional pocket."
Hao Ren was flabbergasted. "What for?"
"If things go wrong, your dimensional pocket is the safest place to be." Vivian said, face serious. "I could then transfer my consciousness to the bat—it's a way to stay alive, though a lot of fresh blood and energy may be needed."
Hao Ren had never known Vivian had such ability—this bat was a fetish. As he pinched the bat a little before putting it into the dimensional pocket, he noticed a subtle change of expression on Vivian's face. Vivian said, "You should segregrate the bat from Lil Pea, the kid was grinding her teeth..."
Hao Ren: "....."
He was sincerely curious about what was in Vivian's mind, and how she deal with schizophrenia when she was split into swarm of bats.
Everyone moved closer to the heart lying in the centre of the gigantic cavern. They began to feel the pressure in their minds. The constant thuds of the 'heart' sounded like it was pounding directly on their chests which could drive the weak mind insane. The red light pulse in the 'heart' was ominous by just looking at it. So what was underneath its skin? Blood?"
The 'heart' was surrounded, or rather half-submerged, by a pool of liquid. The surging, sticky fluid was another interesting part of the 'heart'. The young ascetic nun took out crystal bottle as large as her palm and carefully scooped up some liquid.
The sticky fluid surged even inside the bottle, dancing to the pulse of the 'heart'.
"What is this?" Hao Ren asked, frowning and looking at the fluid in bottle. "Is it alive?"
"It's a liquid life form." The MDT replied. It got out from Hao Ren's pocket and analysed the fluid in the pool. "Amazingly, this fluid is a part of the Gnarled Grove, an organ of the 'heart'. But it could live on its own. Once leaving the pool, it's an independent creature on itself."
Hao Ren's blood ran cold imagining the surging fluid-creature might jump on him suddenly. He took a step back instinctively—that thing made him shuddering by just looking at it.
Vivian glanced at Hao Ren, half-smiled. "Oh really? My blood magic has a lot more fun that this thing."
Suddenly, a young ascetic monk called out from nearby. "Here! I've found something!"
Everyone scurried over. A pillar, or rather more like an altar, made of stone, was beside the pool. They hadn't noticed it earlier as they were obsessed with the gigantic 'heart'.
It was well-shaped and carved out of white stone. At three metres across, the altar had mysterious symbols and messy reliefs of Disciples of Glory. Black and heavily weathered substance, probably residue of whatever things that was used in rituals along with a dust-covered, perfectly-preserved, black, small box were on the altar.
"This is the item left behind by the first pope!" Staring at the altar in awe, Big Beardy said, "True to the holy words, a patrimony which would only be revealed in three thousand years!"
Hao Ren was equally excited. "So what's it? A forbidden curse? A new fetish? Another progenitor?"
Big Beardy rubbed his hands in excitement— there goes the characteristically cool composure of him. "I don't know. But we must open it and bring it back to the pope... as per the sacred decree.... By the Goddess' mercy, the box's still in one piece though everything else was destroyed. This must be the will of God!"
Hao Ren's eyes rolled; he almost couldn't stand Big Beardy—it was obvious that the box was intact simply because it was well built...
Big Beardy held the box in his hands carefully. As he opened it up, he found a few parchments, heavily faded but well preserved.
There were black writings—probably messega of the first pope—on the parchments.
Both Big Beardy and Hao Ren took a deep breath; one was imagining some new oracles or sacred words while one was expecting some secret recipe left behind by some older, white beardy.
Vivian wasn't interested in the moldy skins at all. She saundered along the pool surrounding the 'heart' thoughtfully. Looking down at the pool of red fluid, she was facisnated as it let her thought of her own blood magic.
She let a bat out to take a sip from the pool. She wasn't worried about the red liquid-creature in the pool would suddenly attack her as she felt the fluid was just as easy to control as normal blood.
Vivian's brow knit together as she felt it a little salty.
Meanwhile, Hao Ren and Big Beardy had successfully deciphered the writings on the parchments. Big Beardy read with his low tone of voice.
"We... came from the stars..."
* Dub—dub, dub—dub, dub—dub...*
He was not imagining it. The heart beat sound just ahead was real, and it gave Hao Ren goosebumps. He checked his Steem Membrane Shield instinctively like he was approaching some ancient being of horror.
He knew he had a pretty accurate sixth sense but he hoped it was wrong this time.
Leading in front and having forgotten about their previous creepy encounter, the husky screamed again. "Whoa! What's this?"
Hao Ren inched closer cautiously. His stopped breathing when he saw what was outside the cave.
It was another gigantic, ellipsoidal karst cavern, which had many similar smaller caves distributed evenly on all sides. The one Hao Ren was standing in was just one of them. Roots grew out from the caves, the walls, and the ceilings, joining into a giant lump in the centre of the cavern. The mass, which looked like a crater-laden meteoroid was roughly a thousand metres across. Dark-red skin tissue could be seen through the gaps of the entangled roots spread over a mass that emanated a red, light pulse. The tissue danced with the "lub-dub" sound like it was a heartbeat, or breathing.
The heart had its roots spread out into the earth and up to the surface.
Surrounding the heart was a pool of surging, dark-red fluid. It was like the water in Beinz Blood Lake, but darker. Its liveliness made it look like it was also some kind of living creature.
Even Y'zaks choked in awe. "There isn't such a ridiculous thing even back in my home."
Everyone knew the entire Gnarled Grove was a single life form. What they had seen back then was just a part of it—only the trees and the roots which were pretty normal stuff. But this bundle of roots in the shape of a heart with its constant 'lub-dub' stumping in the cavern was out of this world. It was a horrifying ancient creature.
Becky clenched her sword instinctively. But she quickly doubted her weapon. She said, "Do you think I could jab this thing with my sword and see if it hurts? By the look of it the skin of this thing might be as thick as ten metres!"
Cold sweat flowed down Hao Ren's forehead: he couldn't fathom why the maiden's first thought was jab the thing first...
Lily's eyes lit up in a golden glow as she raised her Claws of Fire and Ice, all the while staying behind Big Beardy. "You're sure this is the Sacred Cavern?"
Though Big Beardy and his company were also half-stunned, they quickly regained their composure and became as cool as a cucumber again. "It looks exactly like the drawing in the ancient record which the first pope had drawn when he found the Goddess' sacred patrimony here. Guys, put down your weapons. This must be the sacred ancient one. We cannot afford to offend it."
Vivian pondered for a second, then she took out a bat and shoved it in Hao Ren's hand and said, "Keep it in your dimensional pocket."
Hao Ren was flabbergasted. "What for?"
"If things go wrong, your dimensional pocket is the safest place to be." Vivian said, face serious. "I could then transfer my consciousness to the bat—it's a way to stay alive, though a lot of fresh blood and energy may be needed."
Hao Ren had never known Vivian had such ability—this bat was a fetish. As he pinched the bat a little before putting it into the dimensional pocket, he noticed a subtle change of expression on Vivian's face. Vivian said, "You should segregrate the bat from Lil Pea, the kid was grinding her teeth..."
Hao Ren: "....."
He was sincerely curious about what was in Vivian's mind, and how she deal with schizophrenia when she was split into swarm of bats.
Everyone moved closer to the heart lying in the centre of the gigantic cavern. They began to feel the pressure in their minds. The constant thuds of the 'heart' sounded like it was pounding directly on their chests which could drive the weak mind insane. The red light pulse in the 'heart' was ominous by just looking at it. So what was underneath its skin? Blood?"
The 'heart' was surrounded, or rather half-submerged, by a pool of liquid. The surging, sticky fluid was another interesting part of the 'heart'. The young ascetic nun took out crystal bottle as large as her palm and carefully scooped up some liquid.
The sticky fluid surged even inside the bottle, dancing to the pulse of the 'heart'.
"What is this?" Hao Ren asked, frowning and looking at the fluid in bottle. "Is it alive?"
"It's a liquid life form." The MDT replied. It got out from Hao Ren's pocket and analysed the fluid in the pool. "Amazingly, this fluid is a part of the Gnarled Grove, an organ of the 'heart'. But it could live on its own. Once leaving the pool, it's an independent creature on itself."
Hao Ren's blood ran cold imagining the surging fluid-creature might jump on him suddenly. He took a step back instinctively—that thing made him shuddering by just looking at it.
Vivian glanced at Hao Ren, half-smiled. "Oh really? My blood magic has a lot more fun that this thing."
Suddenly, a young ascetic monk called out from nearby. "Here! I've found something!"
Everyone scurried over. A pillar, or rather more like an altar, made of stone, was beside the pool. They hadn't noticed it earlier as they were obsessed with the gigantic 'heart'.
It was well-shaped and carved out of white stone. At three metres across, the altar had mysterious symbols and messy reliefs of Disciples of Glory. Black and heavily weathered substance, probably residue of whatever things that was used in rituals along with a dust-covered, perfectly-preserved, black, small box were on the altar.
"This is the item left behind by the first pope!" Staring at the altar in awe, Big Beardy said, "True to the holy words, a patrimony which would only be revealed in three thousand years!"
Hao Ren was equally excited. "So what's it? A forbidden curse? A new fetish? Another progenitor?"
Big Beardy rubbed his hands in excitement— there goes the characteristically cool composure of him. "I don't know. But we must open it and bring it back to the pope... as per the sacred decree.... By the Goddess' mercy, the box's still in one piece though everything else was destroyed. This must be the will of God!"
Hao Ren's eyes rolled; he almost couldn't stand Big Beardy—it was obvious that the box was intact simply because it was well built...
Big Beardy held the box in his hands carefully. As he opened it up, he found a few parchments, heavily faded but well preserved.
There were black writings—probably messega of the first pope—on the parchments.
Both Big Beardy and Hao Ren took a deep breath; one was imagining some new oracles or sacred words while one was expecting some secret recipe left behind by some older, white beardy.
Vivian wasn't interested in the moldy skins at all. She saundered along the pool surrounding the 'heart' thoughtfully. Looking down at the pool of red fluid, she was facisnated as it let her thought of her own blood magic.
She let a bat out to take a sip from the pool. She wasn't worried about the red liquid-creature in the pool would suddenly attack her as she felt the fluid was just as easy to control as normal blood.
Vivian's brow knit together as she felt it a little salty.
Meanwhile, Hao Ren and Big Beardy had successfully deciphered the writings on the parchments. Big Beardy read with his low tone of voice.
"We... came from the stars..."
