The beginning of civilization was the fire burning in the wild campfire.
In the first thousand years after the initial fire ignited chaos and allowed order and the world to appear, ancient humans were born on the forestless plains. This new race walked among the newborn heaven and earth, watching everything curiously.
At that time, everything had no name.
Because they hate darkness, people imitate thunder and lightning, use solid rocks and dry wood to ignite fires from the barbaric era, and use them to illuminate the lightless dark night. In the process of holding torches and exploring and identifying this unknown world, they give everything that has no name. Name things, use primitive symbols to describe them, and record unfamiliar things.
Gradually, by accumulating and using simple language, human beings summarized laws and logic and developed the civilization of the Enlightenment Age.
Then, the fire was passed down from generation to generation and continues to this day.
Starfall, night of December 11, 831.
Four days after the Kuroshio siege.
The cold wind kept blowing at the fortress that stood among the snowy forests, and the soft white snowflakes like goose feathers fell on the ground and condensed into a thin layer of frost. The twin moons, as new and bright as silver plates, hang high in the sky, and the bright moonlight spreads like flowing water over the entire bluestone plank road.
The black-haired man led his horse through the night streets, followed quietly by a silver-haired maid.
Looking around the entire fortress, the young lord's eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the boundless darkness and the cold and solid walls, and see the flickering fire of life. And his young head maid looked curiously up at the night sky dotted with stars, quietly estimating their number.
The girl's elegant voice echoed in the silent street, while Joshua focused on his surroundings.
Now, they were at the back of the fortress, with rows of similar houses neatly lined up on both sides of the street. However, part of the house is currently unoccupied. There is no smoke from the fireplace coming out of the chimney, and there are no traces of the owner's activities behind the windows.
In the past few days, the black tide seems to have ended, and there is no movement at all. Even if the warriors personally enter the black forest to explore, they can no longer see the group of wild beasts running like a black tsunami. Under the sunlight, the purple mist gradually dissipated, and the black jungle returned to its former tranquility.
In this case, after confirming that this was not some kind of conspiracy, the fortress resumed normal operations. A steady stream of dragon chariot convoys came from the main city, transporting urgently needed food and equipment, and in order to hold requiem ceremonies for the fallen soldiers. Pastor Artanis of St. Laurent Cathedral even braved the severe cold of winter and brought his two apprentices to the Black Forest Fortress with the convoy.
The team led by the archbishop to the Holy Mountain in the Far Sea has not returned yet, so currently, he is the only one in the entire Moldavia territory who has the ability and qualifications to preside over this ceremony. However, this morning, in solemn silence, this ceremony will be held in After the people who died in the black tide were buried, the white-haired priest set off and did not stay in the fortress for long.
But before that, he specifically found Joshua and said a word to him.
"Now is the time."
This old friend of the old butler said to Joshua, his eyes were extremely calm: "Go and see your father and Fan... Although I don't know why, before he left, he asked me to wait for you to become the lord for a while. Then I will tell you this sentence and say that you should understand what it means."
Of course Joshua knew what it meant.
December 11th has been so long. It has been almost two months since my father died and the old housekeeper left. Now that I have arrived at the fortress, it is indeed time to see them again.
So late at night, he put on a coat made of white wolf skin, simply walked out of the room, and walked in the winter fortress with his maid and war horse.
This is a cold and regular city. Relying on the magic of the mage, the gray-white city wall that has been roughly repaired once again separates the mountains and the plains. Strong and tall towers stand majestically behind it, while the gray-green needles of the roadside pine trees sway in the cold wind. Rustling.
There are wide avenues, winding streets, and stone huts arranged on both sides of them, as well as forts and barns placed in them. A few patrolling soldiers walked back and forth on the stone paths, and the ever-bright lamps made of pyroxene in their hands emitted light. With a white faint cold light.
Joshua's destination was a quaint church on the edge of the fortress.
After crossing a few more streets, Joshua came to the door of this ancient building. He looked around, but found nothing. This unexpected surprise made the soldier show a rare expression of confusion.
"What's going on? Isn't it here? Impossible."
Shaking his head, he left Hei outside, then pushed open the unlocked door with Yingying and walked into the church.
"Huh."
As soon as she entered the hall, the silver-haired girl let out a slight exclamation. She looked around with some confusion, then frowned and said, "Master, this place... feels a bit weird."
This church is not big. There are only less than forty seats in the prayer hall. There is a layer of gray dust on it, and it seems that no one has cleaned it for a long time. But in the front of the hall, behind the altar, the place where the statue of the holy symbol of the god should have been placed was empty, without anything.
But Joshua knew very well that this was not what Yingying meant by weirdness, because he also felt that since he entered, there was a strange force surrounding his body, which seemed to welcome him and seemed to guide him. .
Faintly, Joshua could even hear a voice echoing in his ears.
"Just move forward."
Unable to answer his maid's question for the time being, the soldier who was also confused could only say: "Although it is a memory from a very young age, the impression is very deep. I am sure that this is the right place, but I don't know where the problem is."
So the two of them walked slowly forward.
While walking, Joshua could clearly feel that this church was filled with a strange energy that rejected any power that did not meet the conditions. Even the ubiquitous elements and magic were completely imprisoned. , unable to form spells.
Forbidden Demon Realm.
Even in his previous life, Joshua rarely encountered this kind of situation. Except for some natural dead magic areas, he had basically never seen magic that was suppressed to such an inert state.
But the forbidden magic area in this church is different from those dead magic areas in extreme environments. The magic here is not so much suppressed as it is sealed. It is not that they cannot form spells, but that they cannot form freely. Spells.
As long as the conditions are met.
As the distance gets closer, you can feel that this suppressed power is gradually getting stronger, and the source of that power is the square altar made of silver metal.
Arriving in front of the altar, Joshua subconsciously looked at the center of it. According to the religious rules of the Strife Continent, when there are believers praying, the altar should be filled with sacrifices to the gods. When no one is around, there should be offerings to the gods. The holy symbol of the god should be placed there. In short, it must not be left empty no matter what.
But there is nothing in this altar, neither the sacrifices nor the holy emblem are anywhere to be seen, there is only a concave mark that looks like a handprint.
"...could it be?"
Looking at his hand, Joshua did not hesitate for long. He simply pressed his hand into the groove of the altar, and then wanted to see what the reaction would be.
And as if he sensed the arrival of his long-awaited target, a gray-blue light lit up from the bottom of the altar. It spread quickly like ripples, sweeping across Joshua's body in an instant, and even followed him. Firefly behind him was no exception, and was also scanned by this light.
"Bloodline confirmation... Direct bloodline of the Radcliffe family, possessing a divine machine contract, and meeting the conditions."
The voice that had been surrounding Joshua's ears finally became clearly audible, and a thought was transmitted from the altar, carrying a large amount of information into Joshua's mind: "Grant permission, the channel is opened."
"Origined from fire, born from steel, wisdom is immortal and order lasts forever."
Along with the trembling of time and space and the ancient praises, the originally sealed magic power began to become active, and a faint blue door slowly emerged above the altar silently. It could be vaguely seen that there was a piece of magic behind it. The black earth, with countless stone tombstones erected in it.
Around each tombstone, there is a weapon stuck upside down on the ground. Among them are knives and guns. Almost all weapons used by humans can be found in them. They look extremely dilapidated, and each one has been damaged. Great damage.
"...I see, I asked why I didn't see it outside. I clearly remembered that it was adjacent to this small church, but there was nothing around it."
Staring at the slowly expanding space-time gate, Joshua, who understood all the information through the thoughts in the altar, whispered: "It turns out it is here, it is actually here... No wonder the divine machine and the seal have been guarding the secret for so many years. None of them were discovered…”
With this sigh, the Radcliffe family cemetery, hidden in the narrow passage of time and space, completely appeared before his eyes.
I've been a little stuck lately, and the chapter I owed a few days ago will probably have to wait a while...
(End of chapter)