The architectural style of Iran's magical world is generally derived from the ancient aggressive copycat empire of Persia, which was undoubtedly the most powerful period that local wizards longed for.
Because of this, many traces of styles from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and even ancient Babylon can still be seen in the areas where Iranian wizards lived.
Of course, in fact, it was precisely because the Persian wizards at that time interfered too much with the political and military power of Muggles, which completely aroused the dissatisfaction of wizards in neighboring countries, and ultimately led to the overlapping of dynasties in the Persian Empire that almost "rised by day and died by night".
Although their treatment of Muggle subjects is not as cruel as people think.
In any case, that is all in the past. No one can tell what exactly happened back then.
If you want to evaluate the current Iranian magic world, you have to focus on the present.
For example, what Maka and the others are going to at this time is the largest pure wizard residential area in the Iranian magic world. And just to the east of this street full of khaki stone pillars, round spire houses and various wall reliefs, a temple and palace with a typical Greek style is quite eye-catching.
The Iranian magic world is one of the few magic worlds in today's magic world that still has a church organization.
However, unlike Muggles, just like Druidism, which was popular in the magical world for a while, wizards' churches do not have so-called belief in gods, but only worship of ancestors or nature.
At this moment, in the deepest part of this palace surrounded by striped stone pillars, a withered old man wearing a gray-white robe, a crown on his head and a long staff in his hand was sitting on the white carved stone platform, his head slightly closed. His eyes were motionless. If his chest wasn't still rising and falling slightly, anyone would have thought he was dead.
On the left and right sides of the stone platform, more than a dozen wizards in uniform robes stood with their eyes lowered, and no one said a word.
Further outside, there are the outsiders gathered in this hall. A small number of them are Indian wizards who all wear turbans and have red dots on their eyebrows, while the rest are mostly small groups of stragglers from different countries.
At this time, the hall was very dark. Only a few braziers on the pillars were burning with flames. The flickering firelight illuminated the crowd in the hall indistinctly.
But even though so many wizards have gathered here, even though they are basically people they have never met before, no one spoke from the beginning to the end. Like the believers in the deepest part of the hall, they all remained silent, as if waiting for something quietly.
Suddenly, the flames in the brazier all jumped, causing everyone in the hall to raise their heads. In the blurry darkness, nearly two hundred pairs of eyes cast their gaze towards the deepest part of the hall.
"...cough."
On the carved stone platform, the old man suddenly coughed dryly, causing his whole body to tremble. And at the next moment, those flames jumped again, as if something was pulling them all at the same time.
It was at this moment that the old man's half-closed eyes slowly opened.
"Sin... sin is spreading... many great sins have appeared in the world... looking for the key... opening the door... looking for... the key..."
The eyes were wandering and lifeless, the voice was hoarse and twisted, but no one dared to ignore those intermittent words.
Yes, even Maka, who was standing in the shadow outside the palace door, was listening attentively, not wanting to miss even a word. He was fortunate that this prophecy was made in ancient Persian, which was the standard phonetic notation of Sumerian cuneiform. If it were spoken in Farsi, which is popular among modern Iranian people, he would not be able to understand a single word...
Just now, Maka groped her way here. On the way to this hall, he, Lupine, and Sirius naturally passed by many wizard guards.
At the moment, the other two people were leaving the place with two wizards who looked like little leaders, and went to a deserted place outside for questioning.
Maka, on the other hand, went all the way to the innermost palace, intending to see the situation first.
"It's the so-called 'sin' again..." He leaned against the wall, thinking silently, "It seems that the person speaking inside should be a guy with prophet blood like Professor Trelawney... However, Key? Door? What does this refer to?"
However, the old man deep in the hall was obviously much more capable than Trelawney. At least he is not like the latter, who only deceives people except for his unstable prophecy ability.
Just as Maka was chewing those words secretly, another cough suddenly sounded in the hall, and it was much louder than before.
Immediately afterwards, the red flames in the brazier jumped for the third time.
"... Pain... Incomparably cold edge... The blade that humiliates the soul... The heir of pain! Close... very close... very close!"
The old man's hoarse voice became louder and louder, and in the end it was even close to a roar, as if it was about to cut his own throat.
Then, his eyes suddenly regained their vitality, and then he slammed the long staff in his hand on the floor tiles under the stone platform.
"The successor of the Dagger of Pain... is right outside the temple gate!"
As mentioned just now, Maka didn't understand what the old prophet said now at all. But as he finished speaking, a burst of chaotic footsteps suddenly sounded in the hall, making it impossible for him to understand even if he didn't understand.
Because those footsteps were obviously coming from the direction of the door!
"Did you find me?" Maka wasn't too nervous. He was just stunned for a moment, then quickly jumped forward, "The phrase 'The heir of pain is very close'... could it be referring to me?"
After jumping to the open space in front of the hall, he suddenly turned around, only to see that the door of the hall had been opened a crack. And the moment he looked over, a black shadow flew out from the crack in the door, so fast that people couldn't see its specific appearance.
But Maka clearly sensed that it was also a wizard, and he had hidden himself in the shadow behind the stone pillar on the left.
After one figure, there was another, equally fast and dexterous, one after another, disappearing into places around him that were beyond the reach of his sight. It looked like these guys were planning to completely surround him.
At the same time, the main entrance of the hall has been completely pushed open. A large number of wizards poured out from inside, standing next to each other at the door, all their eyes focused on Maka.
But Maka didn't care so much, he was still frowning in thought. Because there was a trace of memory looming in his mind, accompanied by the familiar feeling from before, constantly stimulating his nerves.
"Oh, it turned out to be that time..." His eyes suddenly lit up, "Yes, that dagger that once buried my emotions... The environment on that night of the assassination was indeed similar to what I saw today."
Of course it's not the same place, Maka still knows this, but the feeling is very similar.
What lit up the memory that was almost left in a corner of his heart was the six black-robed wizards who just rushed out of the hall. Their speed was unusually fast, but also so fast that Maka was very familiar with it.
"Prophet, won't you come out and explain the situation to me?"
Maka ignored the suddenly tense atmosphere around him. While speaking in ancient Persian, his gaze went straight into the deepest part of the darkness inside the palace door. On that carved stone platform, the figure of the old man sitting on it was half visible and half hidden, making it difficult to see clearly.
"Heir, return the Dagger of Pain to my teaching..."
The old man's voice echoed in the empty hall, and it was already blurry when it reached the door, but Maka could barely understand it.
However, he said out of nowhere that he was the successor, and then asked him to hand over the Dagger of Pain without saying a word.
He has already guessed what the "Dagger of Pain" is - but let alone he doesn't have it. Even if the dagger is really in his hand now, will he hand it over obediently
"Aren't you planning to come out?" Maka nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll come in by myself."
If you can hear the two prophecies just now today, you can already say that you have earned something. But if he could get some explanation from the prophet's mouth, he wouldn't mind spending a lot more effort.
As soon as he spoke, there was a staff in his hand.
It has to be said that since the incident between Voldemort and Grindelwald, he has rarely used this thing. In daily life, a long stick is really inconvenient. Maybe it can be used as a crutch when you get older, but now it is obviously not necessary.
And as soon as his staff appeared, the six black-robed cultists hiding in the corner immediately moved!
They are indeed very fast, but Maka will not be slower than them. After turning on the agility ability, a total of seven figures including him passed by each other in an instant. Several icy streams of light appeared and disappeared, followed by a crisp and clear collision sound that was almost complete.
That's a bladed weapon! It was the remaining glow of the six sharp blades that were bathed in the moonlight for an instant!
Modern wizards rarely use weapons other than wands. But in ancient times, when the goblin clan's knowledge of crafting magical weapons had not yet been lost, various weapons were also popular among wizards. Even at that time, there were several wizards who were good at making magic weapons.
Of course, to this day, perhaps sporadic groups of wizards still vaguely remember the tradition of using weapons, but magic weapons have become extremely rare treasures.
Maka was very sure that all six sharp blades were ordinary daggers, at best the ones with better forging techniques. Because the dagger that first came into contact with his staff was already broken.