Volume 2 Chapter 20 Temple of Cuore Celeste

Chapter 20 Temple of Cuore Celeste

I

Yanni and Starsha were searching the first floor. It seemed to be a library.

There were dozens of bookshelves inside this library and each bookshelf contained dozens of books.

All books were written in Desertish, so Yanni couldn’t’ understand them at all.

Starsha was scanning through the titles of all these books. Most books were not important, but one book attracted the attention of Starsha, the title of which was “סְטוֹרְיַא דֵיל קְווֹרֵי צֵילֵיסְטֵי”.

“History of Cuore Celeste”, Starsha translated, “it’s interesting, I’ll read this book.”

Starsha opened this book and started to read.

While Starsha was reading, Yanni was observing her expression. Obviously, she was surprised by the content of the book.

Although Yanni couldn’t understand the Desertish script in the book, he could understand the illustrations.

There was an illustration about some mysterious people, whose costumes resembled the assassins’, forging a small gemstone which was definitely Cuore Celeste; there was also another illustration about a dimension sealed inside Cuore Celeste, where there was a building, a church-like building built of sandstone.

Besides those illustrations about Cuore Celeste and that dimension sealed inside it, there were also illustrations depicting elves. Perhaps Cuore Celeste had something to do with elves too.

Unluckily, Yanni couldn’t understand Desertish scripts, so he had to wait for Starsha to finish reading and after that she would tell him what the book was about.

Anyway, Desertish was one of Starsha’s two mother languages and this book was not so long, so she finished scanning it within ten minutes. Starsha took a deep breath after finishing reading the book. Obviously, this book included too much information and a forgotten history about Cuore Celeste.

“Wow, you read fast!” Yanni praised her.

“It’s one of my specialities,” explained Starsha.

“What is this book about?” inquired Yanni.

Starsha looked at Yanni, thinking about where to start. Her gaze made Yanni’s face red. It was one of Yanni’s problem that he always flushed especially when he was with girls, but he just couldn’t change this.

“You’re flushing once again, Yanni,” giggled Starsha.

“I’m sorry, it’s irresistible,” stuttered Yanni.

“You’re cute, Yanni,” flirted Starsha.

“Umm …” Yanni lowered his head.

“Sorry, I’m just a little excited right now … Calm down … Well, this book is about the history of Cuore Celeste …”

Starsha began to tell the story:

In around 47th century, the high elves noticed the dark side of humans. They thought that humans would ruin the earth in the future, so they decided to curb the development of human civilization, and their plan is to build a magical sanctum and carry out a ritual called the Rain of Regrowth to neutralize all the material on earth that human needed to reach a higher civilization, for example, necrovirus, machinite, et cetera.

That magical sanctum was called the Sanctum of Life. Therefore, the Sanctum of Life was in fact used for a ritual to purify this earth.

When the ritual of the elves is about to be carried out, their plan was discovered by the Lower Desertians. My father was the exiled king of Lower Desertian, so I am a princess to some extent …

Anyway, the Lower Desertians asked their loyal assassins to help them stop the high elves doing the ritual. The power of assassins came from the Spring of Arcana built by the high elves so that the high elves were to some extent the creators of assassins. However, the assassins didn’t agree with the ritual of them and they betrayed them.

In the 47th century, humans lived harmoniously with the sciences. It was an era when necrology did not pollute the environment but heal the diseases of people while machines did not replace people but help them. Therefore, at that time, all humans, including assassins, thought that sciences would bring a bright future humans and they wouldn’t be harmful.

High elves were more far-sighted than humans and they realized that the sciences were a double-edge sword, but the humans couldn’t understand the elves at that time. They just couldn’t understand why elves hated necrology and mechanics so much.

In order to stop the high elves carrying out the ritual, with their enchanted blood, the assassins forged Cuore Celeste the gemstone which contained a small dimension.

Assassins were no match for elves, so they sprung a surprise attack on elves while they were weak after carrying out half of the ritual. Assassins won and sealed the Sanctum of Life along with the high elves inside Cuore Celeste.

For humans, this fight against the elves was dishonourable, so it was not written in the history books and now nearly no one knows the truth. That’s why the assassins still admire elves as teachers and saviours instead of a historical enemy. And the energy inside Cuore Celeste must come from the magical power of the Sanctum of Life instead of the assassins.

Although the seal of the Cuore Celeste was nearly impossible to be opened from inside, it could be opened from outside by someone with strong magical power. Therefore, Aislina is the only who could unseal the Sanctum of Life.

“Wow, so … The Sanctum of Life is inside Cuore Celeste,” summarized Yanni after Starsha finished the story.

“That’s true,” Starsha nodded.

“This book is informative … Since that, we can find the entrance to the Sanctum of Life in this temple? That’s … unimaginable …” murmured Yanni.

II

Aislina and Floria were exploring the third floor. The third floor seemed to be an armoury. Miscellaneous weapons were hidden inside this armoury.

There were all kinds of weapons there, swords, axes, maces, bows, crossbows, daggers and shields. Most of those weapons were made of fine steel. However, they were still too weak compared to lunarite and machinite.

However, in those epic stories the protagonist could always find some mythological artifacts or legendary weapons in such kind of mysterious armoury. Therefore, Aislina and Floria kept searching carefully.

Finally, Aislina found something.

“Floria, come here! I’ve found something!” called Aislina.

Floria walked up to Aislina and the latter was staring at some weapons made of some sort of light brown metal.

At first glance, Floria thought that they were some bronze weapons, but it was not like bronze. The colour of the metal that composed those weapons was much lighter than the colour of bronze.

Obviously, Aislina seemed surprised to see those weapons.

“Those weapons were made of solarite!” Aislina pointed out.

“Solarite? What is solarite?” asked Floria.

“Solarite is the legendary metal in Desertia. It’s said to be invented by the high elves. I always thought that solarite only existed in legends, but now I know that it is real. Those weapons are made of solarite,” answered Aislina.

“Solarite is much harder than lunarite, isn’t it?” pursued Floria.

“Exactly. It may be harder than machinite too,” Aislina nodded.

“There are a solarite shield, a pair of solarite daggers and a solarite bow. Finally, we can update our weapons,” whispered Floria.

“I can upgrade my power too. Look, this ring is made of solarite too, and according to the legends, solarite can strengthen the magical power of those who wear it. Although my magic is powerful, casting spells always exhaust me, and wearing this ring can make me more durable,” Aislina took a ring from the shelf and wore it.

“However, these weapons are strange. For example, these solarite daggers are hard but they’re not sharp enough to cut things,” Floria pointed out.

“My solarite ring is not functioning either. Maybe we need something to activate those weapons,” murmured Aislina.

Anyway, Since the commence of their adventure, they had only met two things which could break lunarite. One was the necrology of Master Mortis, and the other was the flechette of Nephrenbethys. However, both of them couldn’t destroy lunarite as easily as solarite.

Perhaps if the weapons were activated by them, the four could beat Nephrenbethys or even Achnosiris, because solarite may be even stronger than the machinite produced by the Mother Matrix.

Aislina and Floria did not say anything but exchange glances. When they were about to give up, a turning point came. They could have the solarite weapons now, and those weapons might be the key to defeating Macchina Gloriosa.

Maybe the Mother Matrix could figure out the optimal alloy according to the known knowledge of Macchina Gloriosa, but solarite was the unknown part.

Hope began to burn inside their hearts once again. They wanted to tell this good news to Yanni and Starsha, but now they would explore the fourth floor first, since there might be even something more surprising hidden in the fourth floor of this fantastic temple.

Maybe the method of activating the solarite weapons was hidden in the fourth floor of this mysterious temple.

III

Starsha and Yanni went to the second floor of the temple.

There was a strange chest there. The chest was pretty big in size. Starsha walked up to the chest and opened it carefully.

Suddenly, a cloud of purple gases flew out of the chest and transformed into a shadowy humanoid figure. That figure had no legs. However, he had blur arms and a face with two glowing eyes, with which, he stared at Starsha and Yanni.

stared at Starsha and Yanni.

“בֵּיוֵוינוּטַה קְוִי מוֹנְדוֹ, סְוַה אַלְטֵיזַّה.׃” [Welcome here, your highness,] greeted that figure. Obviously, it had found out that Starsha was the exiled princess of Lower Desertia.

“Can you speak Normanish? If you can, please speak Normanish, or my friend will not understand our conversation,” begged Starsha.

“For sure I can, your highness,” said the figure in Normanish.

“Who are you?” asked Starsha directly.

“Well, let me introduce myself first. I am an Arcane Shadow, a constructed creature created by of the high elves. You can consider me as some sort of artificial intelligence built with arcane power. I am here to guard the solarite weapons,” the figure introduced himself.

“Solarite weapons?! I know them! Solarite is a kind of legendary metal and it’s said that it’s the hardest metal in this world, and it’s the solarite weapons are lost treasures that belong to Lower Desertian royal family,” exclaimed Starsha.

“Yes, that’s true. Solarite weapons are nearly invincible, and even super-machinite is no match for it. High elves were once a nomadic race in Desertia. Luckily, the Lower Desertians allowed the high elves to settle in their kingdom. To thank the Lower Desertians, high elves forged a series of weapons as a gift to Lower Desertian royal family,” narrated the Arcane Shadow.

“What happened next?” asked Starsha.

“High elves accidentally found solarite and used it to forge those weapons. When the weapons were ready, high elves found that the weapons were too powerful. Therefore, they commanded me that I should only tell the spell which could activate the solarite weapons to a worthy one who belonged to the royal family of Lower Desertia. You belong to Lower Desertian royal family, girl … But are you worthy to manipulate the power of solarite weapons?” queried the Arcane Shadow.

“I don’t know … If I am worthy, you can give me the solarite weapons, right?” questioned Starsha.

“Why do you fight, princess? Answer me honestly. You cannot lie in front of me,” inquired the Arcane Shadow.

“I’m sorry … You may feel disappointed that … I … I don’t have great dreams or ideals … I fight only to … to protect my friends …” stammered Starsha, lowering her head. She wanted to lie and say some noble words, but she failed. The gaze of the Arcane Shadow seemed to contain some magical power that stopped her from lying.

“What about the world? How could you put yourself and your friends above the world?” demanded the Arcane Shadow.

“I don’t know … It’s … For sure I want ” murmured Starsha.

“No, be confident, princess, you’re worthy. You’re different than other humans I’ve known. The spell to activate the solarite weapons is ‘attivo-solarito’,” revealed the Arcane Shadow.

The instant the voice of the Arcane Shadow broke off, he began to decompose. Soon, he turned into dust and ashes.

“Anyway, we shall find the solarite weapons right now,” proposed Starsha.

IV

Aislina and Floria went to the fourth floor.

On the fourth floor of the temple there was a small chamber. Inside the chamber there was an altar, and on the altar, there was a gemstone.

Without doubt, it was Cuore Celeste.

They had been walking in this scorching desert for one weak in search of this gemstone, and now they had finally found it.

In fact, this gemstone didn’t look so special. It was transparent and to be honest, it didn’t look more beautiful than a normal gemstone in the jewellery store.

“Is it Cuore Celeste?” asked Floria, pointing at that gemstone.

“Yes, it is, I can feel its voice. It is calling me. I can feel something inside it talking to me …” breathed Aislina.

“What do they say?” pursued Floria.

“A word, a phrase … The Sanctum of Life! it’s the Sanctum of Life!” exclaimed Aislina.

“The Sanctum of Life?” questioned Floria.

“The Sanctum of Life is inside this gemstone. It has been sealed inside it somehow. Inside Cuore Celeste is another dimension, and the Sanctum of Life is inside that dimension!” explained Aislina.

“We have been searching for the Sanctum of Life for so long, and … It is in front of us right now … It’s incredible,” stuttered Floria, her eyes fixed on Cuore Celeste.

“Fate has guided us here. We have been on a journey for answers. We have been through hopelessness, and right now, the destination of all our adventures is in front of us. It was not the gemstone that has been calling me, but the Sanctum of Life,” murmured Aislina.

“You said that the Sanctum of Life was sealed inside Cuore Celeste, but how can we get inside the sanctum. It is inside another dimension, but it is brick and mortar, right?” inquired Floria.

“For sure it’s brick and mortar. Since the Sanctum of Life is sealed inside Cuore Celeste, we can’t throw it into the lava lake. Now, I’ll try to interact with the gemstone,” replied Aislina.

Slowly and solemnly, Aislina walked up to Cuore Celeste. She put her hand on the gemstone and touched it tenderly.

The instant Aislina’s hand touched the gemstone, it began to glow.

Aislina was glowing too and the whole body of Aislina became fluorescent too, as if she and the gemstone had merged with each other. She was shining like an angel painted inside the church and she looked so beautiful now …

She always said that she was just a normal elf girl, but now she really looked like something immortal. On their adventures against the Grey Factory and Macchina Gloriosa, there had been people saying that Aislina would finally be the saviour of this corrupted world. Maybe they were right.

The solarite ring on her finger was glowing too, inside which pure magic was streaming. Slowly, Aislina closed her eyes. Cuore Celeste was vibrating and emanating surges of mild energy.

“I see something …” mumbled Aislina.

“What do you see?” queried Floria.

“It’s hard to describe. I’ve seen something which can possibly change the reshape the world. I see the rain. The Rain of Regrowth. It can purify the whole world and wash away all the dirty things,” responded Aislina.

Finally, they had found all the things that they wanted. Cuore Celeste, Sanctum of Life, and weapons that might be able to help them defeat Macchina Gloriosa.

They didn’t notice that Achnosiris was approaching this temple of Cuore Celeste.

The Mother Matrix was nearly omnipotent. It had figured out the place of the Temple of Cuore Celeste successfully after analysing the samples provided by both their human explorers and autonomous drones.

Quietly, Achnosiris arrived at the gate of the temple.

A fight was about to begin inevitably …