Volume 3 Chapter 3 Into the Sanctum of Life

Chapter 3 Into the Sanctum of Life

I

Aisling woke up.

She found herself stood in a turquoise grassland. There were also flowers of miscellaneous colours growing between the grasses. Aisling took a deep breath. She could feel it. She could feel the real fragrance of uncontaminated flowers, which she had never experienced before.

After all, she was born in a contaminated world. Only in another dimension could she smell the real flowers.

There were no concepts such as sun, moon, stars, clouds, nights, days or weather in this dimension. After all, this dimension is small. The sky was not high and the firmament itself was the ultimate source of light that lit up the whole dimension. The gravity must be simulated by high elven magic too.

Anyway, the feeling of walking in this dimension was awesome.

After walking for around one minute, Aisling saw a small town.

Composed of only several dozens of small houses built with sandstone, this town was not very big.

At the centre of the town lay a temple-like building. It was not a big epic building. It was small and it looked normal.

However, Aisling was sure that it was the Sanctum of Life that she and her friends had been searching for.

This sanctum was built with stones of turquoise colour in Desertian style. Both the length and the width of this sanctum was no more than ten metres. She couldn’t believe that it was really the sanctum of life since even the house of Mister Berg was bigger than it.

The cosmos was complicated. But the destination of all complications were simplicity, and this Sanctum of Life must built with the principle of absolute simplicity.

Aisling walked up to the gate of the sanctum. It was quiet as if no one were living in there. She had once imagined that there would be a grandiose city built by high elves in this dimension sealed inside Cuore Celeste, and the Sanctum of Life was the core of this city.

However, there was not.

In front of Aisling was a seemingly mediocre building wrapped in dead silence.

She opened the door of the Sanctum.

This sanctum inside looked like a church of humans. Humans once believed in the Holy Light, a religion which conveyed the concepts of hope, kindness and redemption. They had built a lot of churches for the holy light.

Elves liked humans’ concept of Holy Light too. They thought that the Power of Life they believed and the Holy Light human believed were the same thing. However, the sacred doctrine Holy Light had been abandoned by humans since the dawn of necrology, mechanics and elementalics.

Humans didn’t believe in the light anymore, and the world was polluted … The earth became shattered … The forest withered … Now, elves would soon go extinct.

However, this church-like sanctum was empty now. No one was there.

Unlike a church, there was an altar at the centre of the room.

Aisling walked up to the altar, on the surface of which were symbols that she didn’t know at all. They were not like elvish script, or to be precise, they were not like wood-elvish script.

“This must be High-Elvish,” guessed Aisling.

Lying at the centre of the altar was a crystal ball. Aisling’s heart was thumping. She was pretty sure that this crystal wasn’t anything normal. She could feel some kind of apocalyptic power lurking inside it.

She put her hand on the crystal and touched it. The surface of the crystal was slippery.

Gradually, the crystal ball began to blow. Aisling became excited, because she found herself resonating with that power inside the crystal ball.

Closing her eyes, she began to see some illusions.

It was a rain. A rain pouring down from the sky. The whole earth was wrapped by clouds composed of raindrops, and inside the raindrops was the ultimate power of life, the power which could bring the Life to the withering the world.

Withered flowers would regrow and the oases would spread until the deserts became vibrant grasslands. Weeds would be cleansed, and forests would regrow.

Necrovirus, machinite, and elementium … Anything that might break the balance of Life and Civilization would be neutralized. Humans would live peacefully with the nature once again after the Rain of Regrowth.

Aisling opened the eyes.

There was a ghastly humanoid figure standing in front of her, who appeared from nowhere.

“ᚡᛂᛉ᛫ᛅᚱ᛫ᛑᚢ?” [Who are you?] asked Aisling in Elvish.

“Sorry, I only speak High-Elvish and Normanish but I couldn’t understand Wood-Elvish. By the way, I am an Arcane Shadow, an artificial intelligence constructed by high elves with arcane magic. High elves built me to wait for your arrival, Aisling, the last elf …” that ghastly figure introduced himself.

“So I am the last elf … Where are the high elves? Where have they gone?” queried Aisling in confusion. She thought that there would live lots of elves inside Cuore Celeste. However, there was no elf at all. The town was empty and silent.

“The high elves have all died …” answered the Arcane Shadow.

“Dead? Why?” pursued Aisling in panic.

“You must know that high elves built the Sanctum of Life to purify this world, however, we’re betrayed by the assassins and trapped into this dimension. Fortunately, also the seal set up by assassins is nearly impossible to open from inside this dimension, it can be opened from outside. Therefore, high elves decided to contact other elves on earth to save them,” narrated the Arcane Shadow.

“What happened then?” inquired Aisling.

“This altar beside us is the Altar of Life. It contained enormous power, and with the magic power inside the altar, high elves got in touch with you successfully,” continued the Arcane Shadow.

“That’s why I can hear the calling of the Sanctum of Life …” guessed Aisling.

“Yeah,” the Arcane Shadow nodded.

“Since that, what happened to the high elves? Why are they gone?” asked Aisling .

“There is a cost of using the altar. This altar is a dangerous device. Although the power inside the altar is invincible, one must sacrifice himself or herself to evoke the magical power inside this Altar of Life. Contacting someone outside this sealed dimension must take unimaginable amount of magical power. Therefore, all the high elves have sacrificed themselves in order to guide you to the Sanctum of Life,” replied the Arcane Shadow.

“So they all sacrificed themselves only to … guide me here,” summarized Aisling, lowering her head.

“Yes, Aisling. When this dimension is sealed, the Rain of Regrowth cannot be summoned, but now you can bring the Rain of Regrowth to this corrupted world. You are the only one who can finish the ritual, because you’re the last elf of this world,” revealed the Arcane Shadow.

“You said that one must sacrifice herself to use the Altar of Life … So will I die after the ritual?” murmured Aisling.

“Unfortunately, you will, and there will be no more elf after that. The extinction of the elves marks the end of one era, and it shall also be the commence of another. And I wish that the new era would be an age of life, light, and hope instead of darkness and corruption. Finish the ritual for us, Aisling, please,” pleaded the Arcane Shadow.

It was a long silence.

The Sanctum of Life was not like what she had imagined. It was not the core of a prosperous elven city waiting for her to live in and make new friends.

On the contrary, I was only a small normal building in which the cruellest fate in this world was waiting for her.

She had to sacrifice herself to purify this world.

Was the world worth sacrificing for?

There were countless planets in this cosmos. To the whole universe and those universes beyond this universe, earth was nothing more than a speck of meaningless ash.

However, even if she didn’t sacrifice and purify this world, she would still face a hopeless future. She might live with her friends happily for less than a century and then endless solitude would wait for her.

She would literally be the last elf in this world. No one could accompany her throughout her whole life after that.

Solitude was what she feared most.

“I will, Arcane Shadow. I will purify this world, even though I will lose my life after that. You’re right, this world is worth saving. However, I have to talk to my friends first. I want to say goodbye to them,” explained Aisling.

Just as she finished spoken, the crystal on the Altar of Life suddenly began to burn.

“It’s elementalics. I can’t believe that those elementalists have become such powerful in four centuries,” murmured the Arcane Shadow.

“What has happened?” inquired Aisling.

“Cuore Celeste is polluted by the evil power of elementalics, and since we’re in a dimension which is sealed inside this gemstone, the reality that we’re standing in right now is polluted too, and so is the Altar of Life,” explained the Arcane Shadow.

Closing her eyes again, Aisling tried to summon the portal back to the earth. However, there was some kind of scorching power stopping her from going out. She knew that if she continued trying to open the portal, she would be devoured by some obscene power.

She was trapped inside this dimension by some unknown power.

II

One month later.

Floria, Yanni and Stasha had travelled in the endless plain of weeds for four weeks towards the east.

Sometimes they would see villages and cities along their way, but they wouldn’t drop by and spend the night there, because they were wanted criminals in Normania.

After one month, they had arrived near the border between Normania and Reauneia.

Their foods had run out and they felt Hungry. They had to take a risk to get some food in a village, because villagers were more uninformed than citizens. Those villagers might not even know what the Grey Factory was, let alone the criminals who had destroyed it.

It was a cool afternoon when the three arrived at the first village that they dropped by during their journey to the east.

They were still in Normania so they didn’t worry about the language problems.

As soon as they stepped into the village, they were greeted by an old man.

“Hello, travellers, welcome to Everlight Village. I am Barry Edwardson, the village chef,” that old man introduced himself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mister Edwardson,” greeted Floria politely.

“What are you coming for?” asked Mister Edwardson.

“Our friend has been caught by a Reauneian, I am going to break into Reauneia to save her out,” answered Stasha.

It was a common knowledge that Normanians and Reauneians hated each other. Therefore, telling the truth that they were enemies of Reauneians would make the villages like and trust them.

“You three are such a band of brave young heroes! Even our soldiers are not courageous enough to sneak into that horrible kingdom. Since you’re heroes against Reauneia, it’s our honour to treat you. You can eat freely in our village and we’ll prepare our best foods for you,” exclaimed Mister Edwardson.

“Wow, that’s nice of you,” expressed Floria thankfully.

“For sure! Heroes against Reauneia always deserve respects! Come on! I’ll take you to my home! The fiancé of my daughter is a soldier who fights against Reauneia. Since you three fight against Reauneia too, you’re comrades of my future son-in-law,” explained Mister Edwardson.

On their way to Mister Edwardson’s home, they heard someone scream: “Leave me alone, please!”

They looked towards the source of that voice.

It was a tall muscular man. He was a human but his left arm looked strange because the skin on it was like some kind of magmatic rock, just like the skin of Hoemuo.

“Let me go, please!” pleaded that man, tears began to stream from his eyes all the way down his cheeks.

“What’s happening?” queried Floria.

“My villages have caught a Reauneian scout. Those scouts are annoying. They sneak into our territory and steal our information. If we catch, torture and kill a scout, we will be rewarded by the government,” answered Mister Edwardson.

The siblings and Stasha walked up to that caught scout. His eyes were wide with terror and he was trembling all over. He was totally terrified. Around him was a band of aggressive villagers with all kinds of torture devices held in their hands.

In the law of Normania, Reauneians were not humans in a legal sense. Normanians could kill Reauneians freely without being permitted. In turn, in Reauneia, Normanians were not humans according to laws too.

Now, Mister Edwardson didn’t look like a warm-hearted village chief just now anymore. He looked like a demon on earth. He smirked at that caught Reauneian scout, his face twisted like rubbed flour.

“I have a wife and a son. Please leave me alone, please! I really want to see them again! I don’t want to die today, please!” cried the scout, his voice trembling in absolute fear.

“Do you know how many Normanians had been killed by you Reauneian army? The number is unimaginable. You’re a scout and thus you’re their accomplice! You’re a murder and murders shall be punished,”

“No, please. I haven’t killed anyone. I am just a scout! I do this only to earn money and feed my family!” begged the scout.

“I’ve said! You’re an accomplice! You’re a murderer! You’ll be punished! My villagers will torture you. They will cut off your limbs, dig out your eyes and rip off your tongue! Just like this!”

Mister Edwardson opened the door of a house beside him. The instance he opened the door, rotten smell began to fill the air.

Stasha, Yanni and Floria peeked into the door, and the scene inside the house was astonishing. There were ponds of blood, broken limbs, and stinky tissue fluid. As well as some parts of miscellaneous organs. Those disgusting things were mixing together, assembling into a scarlet pond.

The three covered their mouths with their hands. They had seen lots of horrible scenes such as the zombie plague of dwarves’ Titan Forge, but those bloody parts of human bodies were one of the most hellish scenes they had ever seen.

They were shocked because those villagers were not special psychopathic evil fanatics. They were just common people who believed deeply in heart that what they were doing was justice …

“Let him go, please …” requested Floria.

“Let him go? He is a dirty scout! He is the enemy of all Normanians! Look at his mutant left arm! He is not a human! He is an abomination, a monster!” cursed Mister Edwardson, pointing at the left hand of that man.

“Let him go …” growled Stasha, staring at those mobs. She knew that they were only some unreasonable foolish mobs and their minds were impossible to change.

However, those villages wouldn’t listen to her at all because she only looked like a powerless little girl.

Stasha lunged forwards and grabbed the wrist of one of the villagers. With a simple twist, she broke the arm of that village.

“Oh my heavens!” screamed that village.

Floria untied that scout.

“Thank you, you’re my hero,” expressed the scout thankfully.

Slowly, he ran away and left the scene.