Volume 3 Chapter 12 Book of Trigon

Chapter 12 Book of Trigon

I

Soon, their sailboat arrived at a small lake, on the centre of which there was a small island.

Floria, Yanni and Stasha were resting on the island at the centre of the island.

Aisling was still in coma, her veins blackened by Cheius who had possessed her.

Captain Mar was collecting herbs to make an emetic for Aisling, and Yanni was sitting down beside her, looking at her face.

Fortunately, Aisling was still breathing weakly, and there was still hope.

Wind was breezing through the island, and the trees there were shaking.

This was breathtaking night. They broke into the Stronghold of Hoemuo and the academy of Cheius.

Now, after the first ray of light, the sun commenced to rise from under the eastern horizon. It looked like an egg yolk embedded in the skyline. The long sleepless night had ended and now it was a brand new day.

Gradually, the coldness of the nocturnal world was dispelled by the warmth emanated by the new sun.

No matter how long a night was, it would end and the day would finally come.

Captain Mar had collected enough herb. He was mixing them together in a cauldron he took from a chest on the sailboat. He then filled the cauldron with water and set up a campfire.

Stasha was reading the book that she took from Cheius’ worktable. The whole book was written in Reauneish so that she couldn’t read it. There were some illustrations in it but all of them were so abstract that she couldn’t understand them at all.

Carefully, Captain Mar was staring at his herb on the campfire.

Now the sun had fully risen and shining lazily on the weeds of this lifeless island. It was a cloudless day, and the sky was as pale as a blank white paper.

Some bubbles were rising slowly from the bottom of the cauldron all the way to the surface of the water. Some of the herbs had dissolved into the water.

“Well, the water is boiling now. Wait for half minute and the emetic will be ready. After that, I’ll feed the medicine to Aisling,” announced Captain Mar.

“So you’re planning to force her to vomit out Cheius from her stomach?” asked Yanni.

“Exactly,” Captain Mar nodded.

“Where do you learn herbalism actually?” queried Floria curiously.

“I learnt it before I became a sailor. Knowing herbalism is important for us sailors since we may get lost in the ocean and be only able to find some desert islands. We need to know which kinds of herb were edible and which kinds of herb were poisonous,” answered Captain Mar.

“I see,” Floria smiled.

“What are you reading, Stasha?” questioned Yanni, noticing that Stasha hadn’t joined in their chatting.

“It’s that book I took from Cheius’ worktable. Reauneish is really hard to understand,” replied Stasha.

“I can read Reauneish,” revealed Captain Mar.

“What?” Stasha raised her eyebrow.

“I am a trilingual. I can speak Normanish, Desertish, and Reauneish. I am good at learning languages,” bragged Captain Mar.

“Wow, that’s wonderful! Since that, you must be able to read this book. What is this book about?” inquired Stasha, handing the book to Captain Mar.

“The title is, ꡛꡏ’ꡂꡟꡃ ꡆꡞ ꡮꡟ (the Book of Trigon) … Trigon is an astrological term, but this book seems to have nothing to do with astrology,” muttered Captain Mar.

“Trigon is also a name of an ancient demonic entity,” whispered Stasha.

“A demonic entity?” pursued Captain Mar.

“Yep. But there are not many records about him. Maybe those elementalists have some connections with Trigon. Can you read this book for me?” pleaded Stasha.

“For sure,” consented Captain Mar.

II

The Palace of Fungruus was the most glorious building in Normania. It was decorated with white marble domes, arches and pillars. There were all kinds of arches all over the building: pointed, ogee, multifoil, and horseshoe. Those exotic designs made the building interesting mysterious.

There were windows on the walls, which were made of stained glass. Those pieces of stained glass formed pictures of Fungruus ruling the glorious kingdom of Reauneians.

Now, great Fungruus was standing beside the Great Pit.

Humans had already explored the surface world, but few was known about the subterranean world. No one knew what was hiding in the deep underground.

Therefore, Fungruus drilled a hole that was nearly 10000 metres deep with the help of Cheius.

This was a secret project, which only he, Cheius and his assistant knew.

“ꡃꡡ’ꡏꡟꡋ ꡗꡞ’ꡂꡞꡃ ꡧ ꡊꡧ ꡊꡞ’ꡏꡋ ꡙ,” [We had dug down to mantle of the earth,] reported Djoulia, the assistant of Fungruus.

“ꡊꡞ’ꡏꡋ ꡔꡟ’ꡜꡡ?” [What is earth’s mantle like?] asked Fungruus.

“ꡃꡡ ꡆꡠꡧ’ꡊꡧ ꡗꡞ ꡂꡡ ꡊꡞ’ꡜꡨ ꡁꡟꡃ’ꡂꡠꡋ, ꡋ’ꡙꡞ ꡃꡞꡧ ꡗꡞ ꡂꡡ ꡂꡞꡧ ꡏꡝꡞꡧ’ꡆꡟꡃ ꡜꡝꡞꡗ’ꡛꡝꡞꡗ ꡓꡟ’ꡆꡞ ꡒꡟ’ꡅꡞꡃ ꡊꡞ ꡛꡠꡧ ꡅꡞ’ꡉꡃ. ꡋ’ꡆꡟꡃ ꡓꡟ’ꡆꡞ ꡋꡝꡞꡃ ꡛꡠꡃ ꡗꡠ’ꡉꡞ ꡜꡡ ꡁꡞ’ꡉꡞ ꡗꡞ’ꡗꡠꡃ ꡙꡞꡧ’ꡊꡟꡃ. ꡛꡧꡡ’ꡃꡞꡧ ꡊꡞꡧ ꡒꡞꡋ’ꡁꡦꡟ ꡊꡞ ꡊꡟꡃ’ꡛꡞ ꡊꡝꡞꡧ ꡜꡟꡗ ꡎꡟꡗ ꡋ ꡜꡝꡞꡗ’ꡛꡝꡞꡗ ꡓꡟ’ꡆꡞ ꡉꡟꡋ’ꡏꡧꡡ,” [I found an underground space and there was a small pond of some sort of black material. This kind of material can flow like liquid and gases. Everything thrown inside the pond will be devoured by that black material,] replied Djoulia.

“ꡋ ꡜꡝꡞ ꡁꡞ’ꡂꡧꡗ, ꡃꡡ ꡁꡦꡟ ꡁꡋ’ꡁꡋ,” [That’s weird, I’ll have a check,] muttered Fungruus.

Carefully, he stepped upon the elementalical elevator, descending on which, he arrived at the underground space at the bottom of the hole he dug.

Soon he found the pond that Djoulia said. It was a pond of some sort of black liquid. Though it looked like liquid, it had some characteristics of gases and even solid. Anyway, the black material was whacky.

Suddenly, there was a whirlpool appearing at the centre of the black pond, and slowly, it transformed into a mouth-like structure, from which, Fungruus heard a deep twisted voice:

“ꡃꡡ ꡊꡝꡞꡃ ꡇꡞ ꡜꡝꡞꡋ ꡂꡞꡧ ꡙ, ꡰꡟꡃ. ꡜꡧꡋ’ꡗꡞꡃ ꡙꡗ ꡊꡧ ꡊꡞ’ꡏꡋ,” [I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, Fungruus. Welcome to the mantle of the earth,] greeted that nightmarish voice.

“ꡇꡞ ꡮꡞ ꡮꡟꡗ?” [Who are you?] probed Fungruus, his voice trembling.

The owner of the voice didn’t say anything. Suddenly, Fungruus felt a gust of nausea. His head was aching, and images of what this black pond was flying into his mind.

This black pond was bottomless and it could lead to the core of the earth. Everything thrown into the pond would end up falling all the way through a tunnel composed of the black material into the earth’s core.

There were thousands of this kind of black curved tunnels in this world. They were like tentacles growing out from the molten core of this planet and when they touched the surface world, something horrible was about to happen …

“ꡛꡏ’ꡂꡟꡃ! ꡃꡡ ꡊꡞ ꡆꡟ’ꡔꡞꡋ! ꡮꡞ ꡇꡞ! ꡆꡟꡃ’ꡗꡦꡧ …” [Trigon! My master! It’s you! Finally …] exclaimed Fungruus excitedly

“ꡃꡡ ꡮꡧꡡ ꡂꡧꡡ ꡇꡞ ꡋꡝꡞꡃ ꡒꡗ ꡊꡞ’ꡏꡋ ꡂꡠꡋ’ꡊꡧ ꡃꡡ. ꡊꡞ’ꡏꡋ ꡃꡞꡧ ꡝꡟ’ꡮꡟ ꡂꡡ ꡆꡠ’ꡗꡃ ꡊꡞ ꡜꡝꡞꡗ’ꡛꡝꡞꡗ ꡅꡞ’ꡒꡝꡞ, ꡔꡞ ꡆꡠ ꡂꡡ ꡜꡝꡞꡗ’ꡛꡝꡞꡗ ꡅꡞ’ꡒꡝꡞ ꡮꡞ ꡃꡡ ꡊꡞ ꡁꡞ’ꡆꡟꡃ ꡗꡞ ꡂꡡ ꡅꡟ’ꡮꡠꡧ ꡊꡞ ꡗꡞ ꡊꡧꡋ, ꡔꡞ ꡙꡞꡃ ꡗꡞ ꡊꡧꡋ ꡒꡗ ꡊꡞ’ꡁꡞꡧ ꡊꡞ ꡔꡟꡃ’ꡜꡡ ꡆꡞ ꡆꡟꡃ. ꡇꡞ ꡮꡞ ꡊꡞ’ꡗꡞ’ꡂꡡ ꡰ’ꡜꡠꡋ ꡃꡡ ꡊꡞ ꡅꡞ’ꡉꡃ ꡎꡞꡃ ꡜꡡ ꡃꡡ ꡊꡟꡗ’ꡜꡧ ꡊꡞ ꡰꡏꡔꡞꡋ,” [I said that you can see me in the depth of the earth. There are thousands of this kind of black pond in earth’s mantle, and this black pond is one end of one of my tentacles, and the other end is in the molten core of the earth. You’re the first mortal to discover my pond and talk to me,] revealed Trigon.

“ꡃꡡ ꡗꡞ’ꡂꡞꡋꡃ ꡒꡗ ꡃꡡ ꡊꡞ ꡮꡞꡏ ꡏꡟꡃ ꡆꡟꡃ ꡉꡞꡃ’ꡂꡠꡋ ꡇꡞ ꡔꡃ ꡃꡡ ꡄꡠꡋ’ꡝꡧꡃ ꡊꡞ’ꡜꡨ ꡮꡞ’ꡂꡠ ꡊꡞ ꡊꡞ’ꡗꡦꡟ ꡜꡝꡞꡋ ꡂꡞꡧ ꡙ. ꡁꡞ’ꡅꡟ, ꡃꡡ ꡗꡞ’ꡝꡟꡗ ꡆꡠ’ꡛꡠ ꡊꡞ’ꡗꡨꡟ ꡂꡞꡋ’ꡂꡞꡋ ꡮꡞ ꡃꡡ ꡊꡞ ꡜꡧꡋ’ꡂꡧꡠ, ꡊꡋ ꡜꡠꡋ’ꡒꡗ, ꡃꡡ ꡆꡞ’ꡊꡧ ꡆꡠ ꡮꡞ ꡆꡞꡋ’ꡮꡞ ꡊꡞ. ꡃꡡ ꡁꡡ’ꡗꡞ ꡜꡡ ꡇꡞ ꡊꡟꡗ’ꡜꡧ … ꡇꡞ ꡮꡞ ꡆꡠꡋ’ꡮꡞ ꡊꡞ,” [I’ve been hearing your whispers in my deep dreams for years, the whispers that call me to go to the subterranean world. At first, I thought that those whispers were just my hallucinations, but now, I know it’s real. I can talk to you … You’re real …] blurted Fungruus feverishly.

“ꡊꡃ’ꡔꡋ ꡃꡡ ꡮꡞ ꡆꡞꡋ’ꡮꡞ ꡊꡞ. ꡇꡞ ꡄꡟꡗ’ꡜꡟꡗ ꡙ ꡉꡠꡋ’ꡂꡧ ꡆꡞ ꡛꡞꡏ ꡗꡞ’ꡂꡞ ꡁꡞ’ꡆꡟꡃ ꡊꡞ ꡮꡞꡃ’ꡏꡞꡃ ꡮꡞꡃ’ꡊꡠꡋ ꡏ?” [For sure I am real. Have you destroyed Cuore Celeste and the Sanctum of Life inside it?] questioned Trigon.

“ꡃꡡ ꡊꡞ ꡍꡟ’ꡄꡟꡃ ꡮꡟꡗ ꡜꡟꡗ ꡄꡟꡗ’ꡜꡟꡗ ꡉ,” [My servant Cheius will destroy it,] answered Fungruus.

“ꡉ ꡅꡞꡃ’ꡂꡟꡃ ꡙ ꡏ?” [Did he succeed?] pursued Trigon.

“ꡃꡡ ꡎꡟ ꡆꡞ’ꡊꡧ. ꡃꡡ ꡜꡟꡗ ꡁꡦꡟ ꡂꡠꡏ’ꡅ,” [I don’t know. I’ll have a check,] replied Fungruus.

“ꡮꡞꡃ’ꡏꡞꡃ ꡮꡞꡃ’ꡊꡠꡋ ꡎꡞ’ꡛꡦꡟ ꡎꡟꡗ ꡄꡟꡗ’ꡜꡟꡗ,” [The Sanctum of Life must be destroyed,] commanded Fungruus.

“ꡃꡡ ꡆꡞ’ꡊꡧ. ꡃꡡ ꡜꡟꡗ ꡎꡟ’ꡛꡞ ꡗꡞ’ꡄꡠ ꡊꡗ’ꡂꡨ ꡄꡟꡗ’ꡜꡟꡗ ꡔ!” [I know. I will destroy it at all costs!], promised Fungruus.

III

Floria, Yanni, Stasha and Captain Mar was sitting around the campfire.

With rapt attention, Captain Mar was reading the Book of Trigon. His expression looked serious while Floria was cooking the breakfast for the others.

All of them hadn’t slept for a whole night. They really wanted to have a rest now, but Aisling was in mortal danger right now so that they couldn’t stop. They must try their best to save Aisling.

Now they were waiting for Captain Mar’s emetic. It was being boiled on the campfire now and soon it would be ready.

Yanni was observing the black veins on Aisling’s skin worriedly.

“I’ve finished reading this book. Do you want to know what this book is about?” asked Captain Mar.

“For sure,” Yanni nodded.

“This book is very informative. Trigon is an entity living in the subterranean world. His heart is in the earth’s core and his tentacles reaches all the way to the surface of the mantle of the earth. It has existed long before the birth of humanity. Some scholars even think that Trigon has existed before the earth began to form,” revealed Captain Mar.

“Before the earth was born? How come?” asked Floria.

“Maybe he used to live in the outer space, and colonized the core of the earth before its formation. According to the scholars, necroviruses, machinite and elementium were the secretion of Trigon. He fed on the core of the earth, and his urine became necroviruses, while his stool became machinite and his sweat became elementium,” explained Captain Mar.

“So the enemies that we have been fighting for has the same origination,” summarized Yanni.

“Yep. Parasitic in earth’s core, the tentacles of Trigon even reached above the surface of the world in the ancient times. Fortunately, the titanesses such as Sylvana, Arcana and Luschina fought him and exiled him back to the subterranean world. However, the secretion of Trigon was still left on the surface of the world,” narrated Captain Mar.

“Since that, is Trigon still alive now?” inquired Floria.

“Yes. The titanesses couldn’t kill him but they had sealed him. They summoned a magical seal between the mantle and the crust of earth, which Trigon couldn’t break through. Only a few scholars and mythologists in this world know who Trigon really is, while most people know nothing about Trigon. The titanesses sealed Trigon at the cost of their physical bodies and that’s why you can only communicated with the titanesses in spiritual realm right now,” answered Captain Mar.

“If Trigon returns to the surface of the world again, it will be extremely easy for necrologists, mechanics and elementalists to acquire the material they want. The balance between humanity and civilization will be broken then. According to the book, The day when Trigon will break the seal is coming soon …” speculated Floria.

“It’s nightmarish ... I can’t believe that the core of the earth has been hijacked by an ancient parasitic entity …” commented Stasha.

“It’s like this illustration,” said Captain Mar, showing one of the illustrations in the book to the others.

It was the illustration about planet earth. However, there was a dense mass of tentacles within the surface of the earth. The planet had been completely corrupted by Trigon from inside, and when he reached the surface of the world one day, the consequence would be unimaginable.

“Oh, it’s ten minutes since I began boiling the herbs. It’s ready now. Yanni, could you please help me pour the medicine into Aisling’s mouth?” questioned Captain Mar.

“Yeah, for sure,” consented Yanni.

Carefully and tenderly, Yanni opened Aisling’s mouth with his hands while Captain Mar poured the full cauldron of emetic into Aisling’s mouth.

Soon, the emetic worked. Aisling suddenly opened his eyes and began to vomited out dark blue-purple liquid. After vomiting for two full minutes, Aisling staggered up to her feet, her chest puffing in and out.

Fortunately, her veins had turned back to normal.

“What is happening … It’s like a long dream …” asked Aisling, her voice trembling weakly.

Suddenly, that pond of purplish water Aisling vomited out transformed into a disgusting tentacled slimy humanoid.

“Cheius!” Screamed Stasha.

Aisling turned back and saw that humanoid. She wanted to cast her magic to dispel this abomination but she had run out of mana because of fatigue.

Cheius ran towards the shore of the island in order to dive into the water.

“Don’t let him touch any water!” shouted Floria.

Cheius was made of elementalical water, and if he dived into water, he would become unstoppable.

Yanni ran towards him, knocked him down to the ground and began to smash his bald mutant head with his stellarite shield. Soon. Cheius passed out. Stasha walked up to Cheius in an attempt to strike the killing blow.

When she was about to stab Cheius’ heart and kill him for good, something fell from sky and plummeted onto the island. The collision between that thing and the ground produced a destructive shockwave, which knocked everyone on the scene to the ground.

Moaning in pain, Captain Mar, Aisling, Stasha, Yanni and Floria stood up to their feet and saw the falling thing. That was man in white robe with a golden crown on his head.

“Fungruus!” exclaimed Captain Mar in astonishment.

Captain Mar was right. That man was Fungruus, King of Reauneia. He was also the most powerful human on this earth, both physically and politically.

In Reauneian philosophy, air elemental was a symbol of supreme power, so Reauneian nobles always bought air elementium ray to make themselves mutate.

Since Fungruus was the most powerful individual in Reauneia, Cheius had given the greatest air elementium ray he had synthesized to him.

Now, Fungruus could manipulate the power of wind and thunder. To his people, Fungruus was no different with a god.

“I am Fungruus, King of Reauneia,” Fungruus introduced himself.

“Wow, you’re a king. That’s cool. By the way, I am Stasha, princess of Lower Desertia. I am a noble too, like you,” returned Stasha.

“Lower Desertia? It has been subjugated, hasn’t it? Unlike Lower Desertia, the glory of Reauneia will last for eternity!” smirked Fungruus.

“What do you want, Fungruus?” demanded Floria.

“Give me Cuore Celeste, and I will spare your life,” commanded Fungruus.

“Never!” growled Aisling, her hand holding the gemstone tighter.

“Really, since that …” scoffed Fungruus.

Fungruus released a chain lighting towards Aisling. She wanted to parry the lightning but she just woke up from a coma, and she had no mana to fight right now. Seeing Aisling in danger, Yanni interposed and put himself between Fungruus and Aisling.

Luckily, though stellarite wasn’t insulation, it could absorb power and the stellarite shield of Yanni took in all the lightning energy released Fungruus.

“Impressive,” commented Fungruus.

Fungruus began to transform, and finally, he transformed into a genie-like creature, some kind of humanoid air elemental. Power of thunder was flowing inside his veins and his body enlarged into approximately two and a half metres tall, while his legs were wrapped by a fast spinning tornado, ascending on which, he flew to the mid-air.

Winds from all directions were gathering into a storm, shaken by which, all the trees on the island were trembling in fear.

Suddenly, a flash of lighting descended from the sky and plummeted into Fungruus’ body. He was glowing with the energy of electricity.

Captain Mar and the four could feel their hair standing up due to the powerful electric field produced by Fungruus.

They wanted to run but Fungruus had wrapped the island with a wall of wind, within which, electrons were running like mad.

Aisling closed her eyes in an attempt to cast some magical spells. However, she was too tired. She just woke up from a coma and she really had no vigour to fight right now.

If she was in peak form, she might be able to lead the team to escape from Fungruus. However, beating him was still nearly impossible. He was too powerful.

“Now, it’s time to cleanse you bugs!” announced Fungruus.