Chapter 1312 Ancient Mural

Chapter 1312 Ancient Mural

Sunny remained silent for a while, looking at the broken pillar. Eventually, he turned to Ananke and asked in a hesitant tone:

"What is this?"

The young priestess approached the mass of dark stone and bowed her head. After a few moments of reverent silence, she straightened and looked at him with a proud smile. "It is one of the greatest relics of Weave, my Lord. This column was brought into the Tomb of Ariel by my elders, and then carried all the way here after their exile. It depicts the deeds of Weaver, from birth to the bestowal of the Nightmare Spell to my people."

Her smile dimmed. "...However, as you can see, the column has been severely damaged over the ages. Now, only this one image remains."

Sunny frowned and stared at chains wrapped around the titanic gate. For whatever reason, just looking at them made him feel deeply uncomfortable. "But what is its meaning?" His voice was full of both curiosity and apprehension. Ananke stepped closer to the broken pillar and studied the ancient engraving for a few moments in solemn silence. Then, she said in a melodious tone:

"This is a fragment of the mural that tells the story of one of Weaver's greatest deeds. The story of how the wandering daemon braved the eternal abyss."

The frown on Sunny's face deepened. He briefly glanced at Nephis and said:

"The... eternal abyss? Do you mean the primordial void?"

The young priestess nodded. "Yes. After the gods sealed the void, Weaver was the only one who managed to enter it. Or, rather, the only one of those who had entered it who managed to return alive. At least that is what the legends say."

The young priestess laughed. "How would mortals like us know? Some legends say that the Demon of Fate wanted to gain knowledge of the origin of the gods. Others say that it was Weaver's own origin that they sought to uncover. Perhaps it was both."

Sunny stared at her for a moment. '...Perhaps the two are one and the same.'

Ananke shook her head. "Whatever it was that Weaver had learned in the abyss... is not that important, really. What matters more is that witnessing the eternal void gave the Demon of Fate the first reason to create the Nightmare Spell — that is what we, its priests, believe. So while this mural does not depict the inception of the Nightmare Spell, it does depict the inception of the idea of it. Which is why the remains of this column is the greatest relic of Weave."

Sunny tilted his head.

'What? What does the eternal void have to do with the Nightmare Spell? That's the first time I'm hearing about this.'

Wasn't Ananke contradicting herself? Before, she had said that the purpose of the Nightmare Spell was to give living beings a chance to save themselves from the annihilation of the Doom War. But then again, she was a priestess, and religious beliefs were rarely bound by reason. Contradictions were par for the course, and for the same reason, Sunny had to take everything Ananke said with a grain of salt. Still... there could be some truth to what she said. The young priestess bowed to the broken pillar again, then walked away with light steps.

"My Lord, my Lady... come! I will show you the rest of the temple."

Sunny and Nephis exchanged a glance, both pondering the meaning of the ancient mural. Neither of them knew what to make of it, so they followed Ananke in silence. Soon, the three of them settled for sleep. Tired after the long journey and the forlorn eeriness of Weave, Sunny fell into the embrace of dreams almost instantly. ...That night, he saw a nightmare. In the nightmare, Sunny was a spider with one of his eight legs broken off. He was crawling across the stone floor, consumed by fear.

Behind him, broken chains were falling down with a deafening clangor, and a titanic door stood wide open, its dark maw hiding indescribable horror.

Sunny crawled and crawled, but no matter how he strained himself, the horrifying gate was only drew closer.