0027 Inheritances and Dungeons

 

The entire underground salon and corridors lit up with bluish green light emanating from the bodies of the Envoys and the Watchers, as all the would-be soldiers drew their swords and pointed them at Lucius.

^"Fuck!"^.

Lucius was startled, but he preferred to try to keep a serious appearance and stood with his hands up, showing surrender, and beside him, Sara, Jeffrey and Maycon shrank in fear at the thought of a possible attack.

Even Jenany was startled by the hostility shown by the men of the church, as for the two Fathers, they stopped for a few seconds to analyze the information the young man had said.

It was obvious to both of them that he was being sarcastic to them, but still, his body was healed, and the young man barely appears to be a Rank D.

^"So, if he can self-heal at this level barely being a Rank D, does it mean that Inheritance is related to healing?"^.

Alcione asked herself an internal question, but Alberto's eyes seemed to glow with greed and for a moment, he was lost in his own illusions.

^"A healing Inheritance!
If I take any evidence or studies that show that this is a healing Inheritance...
... The rewards will be immense! healing Inheritance is the most useful type of Inheritance for the church...
... I really won a lot this time!"^.

*"You are idiots?
I just told you I got cured and you guys point weapons at me like I'm dangerous?
What are you afraid of? That I will cure you all to death?"*.

Lucius began to feel an inexplicable rage as he watched all the hostility and possible threat to his life, so he tried to put more pressure on the greedy mind of the Father who was looking at him like he was a gold mine, his voice was like a growl, and feeling insulted, some would-be soldiers rushed forward to strike Lucius.

*"Everyone stop!"*. *"Wait!"*.

Both Fathers shouted to stop their men advancing, causing everyone to calm down and relieving the tension in the place, the young people were relieved, Lucius berated himself for acting rashly, but in the end, his bet seemed to have paid off when Father Alberto stopped in front of him.

*"Is it really an Inheritance related to healing?"*.

*"You don't have to believe my words...
... My body, isn't it already evidence? Or is there another way I can do this without the Inheritance?"*.

Calming down a bit, Lucius bet a little safer this time, trying to avoid giving answers and having the Father fill in the informational gaps with his own imagination.

*"Hey, is it really a healing Inheritance? I never went there..."*.

Maycon looked at Sara with a strange expression, Jeffrey approached the two and whispered his question curiously, causing Sara and Maycon to look at him not knowing what to say.

Alcione had accumulated knowledge from many books he read, many of the books banned by the church, he knew how skills involving healing were mostly meager or low Rank, and interested in the matter, he watched Lucius and his friends, as well as listening intently to every word Lucius said.

In fact, there was still one last Inheritance option that involved healing, but that last type of Inheritance for a long time didn't exist anymore, not even in the old books he read, there were details about it, so he just ruled out that possibility for now.

*"Very good! If you behave well and help me retrieve any information about this healing Inheritance, I can offer you protection...
... What do you say about this?"*.

*"No need to ask sir Father...
... For you, I will go to church every Mondays!"*.

Alberto listened to the first part of Lucius' answer with a big smile, but the second part made him freeze his face.

^"What's this 'I will go to church every Mondays' shit?"^.

Not only did Father Alberto not understand, no one in the underground understood, Sara covered her face with her hands, she spent some time with Lucius, and understood that sometimes he said something without any notion, and not only that, she realized how sarcastic he acted most of the time, he was crazy.

*"If you want to be accepted by the church, we can study this later, after getting the Inheritance information...
... Let's stop wasting time, you come with me now...
... Let's keep walking!"*.

^"There's definitely something wrong with this boy!"^.

Thomas' friends found Lucius strange being taken by Father Alberto, Father Alberto may be blinded by the rewards, but Father Alcione plunged into deep reflection trying to analyze what was wrong with the young man, he navigated through all the memories he received about Thomas.

Then the walk continued down the corridor.

The silence was broken by the clatter of footsteps and boots, and the darkness was pushed aside by the torchlight, the entire walk taking a little over an hour in this monotonous setting, with no one speaking a single word.

*"Sir Father Alcione, what could you say about an Inheritance?"*.

Jenany who couldn't stand the silence any longer and curiosity decided to ask her question, but because of boredom, her voice ended up being much louder than it should have been, the loud voice not only took Alcione out of her thoughts, but also made Alberto, who was at the end of the group, hear her question.

And with them, both the young people and the men of the church made less noise with their steps, in an attempt to listen to the Father's explanations, however, before Alcione puts her thoughts in place to answer the girl, Father Alberto's voice can be heard from behind.

*"Inheritance is a place where heretics keep their heresy rituals, as well as their heretical skills and spells..."*.

Alberto was curt and perfunctory in his reply, but even so he felt proud once more when he saw the admiring gaze of his followers next to him.

*"I've read in ancient texts that Inheritance can have other names, depending on the situation it finds itself in...
... For example, Inheritance itself gets its name when a people or a culture keeps its customs and teachings within it, Inheritances always have one or more owners, just as they are always protected by men, beasts, traps or anything unimaginable...
... The other name is called the Dungeon...
... An Inheritance is called a Dungeon when it loses its owner, and is abandoned for decades or centuries, its animals, beasts or residents lose control, perhaps because of food shortages or because there is no one to take care of...
... In addition, the passage of a Dungeon can cause these residents or beasts to come out of them to hunt or gather what they lack within it...
... In general, Dungeons are always a problem for places where you have a hidden entrance..."*.

Alcione, as a real scholar, gave a highly detailed explanation, recounting information that would only be obtained in old and forgotten books, and with each new information offered by him, the more Alberto's face grew red with rage, while Jenany became more and more anxious to enter such a place.

*"... And finally, some ancient scholars even speculated that a Inheritance or Dungeon could be the size of an entire world...
... I can't tell how real or fake this is, but that's what I read..."*.

^"The size of a world huh!"^.

Listening intently, Lucius made his own speculations about the information the Father had said, and the part about the size of an Inheritance or Dungeon made him consider other, more daring ideas.

But as soon as Father Alcione finished his explanation, they reached the end of the corridor that made room for another large salon, and after another few dozen seconds, everyone was analyzing the salon.

In the center of the salon everyone could locate a peculiar phenomenon, several black lines danced in a circular space appearing and disappearing, the two Fathers immediately recognized the Inheritance's entrance, Lucius stopped nearby, surveying the phenomenon with interest.

*"Sir Father, is this not similar to the Chaos Gate that you mentioned to us earlier?"*.

One of the Watchers of the group approached and looked curiously as well, noting the similarities with the Chaos Gate described by Father Alberto a few hours ago, he couldn't help but ask, just like he asked the last time.

*"Yes, everyone says that, but no one can explain why..."*.

Father Alberto was already angry at having his pride wounded by Father Alcione, and now, admitting he didn't know something and giving a scholar like old Alcione the chance to gain more prestige among his men made him want to punch the Watcher in the face beside him.

But this time, Father Alcione didn't say anything, apparently he doesn't know anything about it either, and looking at Alcione discreetly, Alberto felt relieved and his expression softened a little.

*"So... Me and my friends go first?"*.

Lucius had no idea how this worked, but he thought maybe Sara might know, as she wanted to use the entrance first to warn her faction, but in reality he was very curious to know what the other side was like, and if he could take the others with him, at least part of his plan would work.

*"Wait, let's rest for a few minutes before entering..."*.

*"Sara, what is Thomas doing?"*.

*"I don't know, but I think he's trying to take advantage of the opportunities he sees...
... At least I think that's it..."*.

*"Sorry, but doesn't it look like Thomas is a little out of his mind?
I mean, he's always serious and straight...
... But in the midst of this situation, doesn't he seem very comfortable?"*.

The trio got together once more, Maycon wanted to know what Thomas was doing, Sara tried to guess a little bit of what Lucius was up to, but in the end she just gave up, and this time, Jeffrey noticed how different Thomas looked, and with his questions, the three of them stopped to look at Thomas from the other side.

*"Jenany girl, try to get closer more of this group...
... Talk to them, try to make some friends with them..."*.

*"Yes sir Father!"*.

Alcione and Jenany were a little further away from the trio, Alcione wanted to interact more with them, but she knew they wouldn't let it, and since Jenany had gotten a more lively integration with them earlier, he decided to encourage her to make friends with them, to try to bond with them later.

Jenany heard the priest, and with joy she ran to close to the three, making Alcione smooth his beard as she watched the lively girl, he noticed that from the moment the things she considered supernatural happened, she changed from scared and quiet, to excited and proactive.

Everyone sat scattered, everyone wanted to get some rest as no one knew what they might find on the other side, but most expected to carry many things of value back to the camp.

**************************************************

*"Who is the representative of this group?"*.

*"It's me your excellency! Please call me Vinicius."*.

The knight approached the group that came from the other world, looking for their representative, Vinicius, who was eager to try to get closer to these people, was happy to see the knight, and ran to answer him politely.

The knight looked at the blue-eyed man, and felt the strangeness in him, he looked ordinary, but he had a beauty and charisma that would make him easy to be accepted by others, least if he was in the social environment, because now, in the middle of an important mission, evaluating the man only served to know the potential risks he would bring to the execution of the mission.

*"Can you lead these people smoothly?
We're just finishing picking up some of these weird things and we'll be heading back to camp soon, and you all have to come with us..."*.

*"Don't worry sir...
... They will follow me with no problem, just let me know if you need anything, I can ask them, and they will listen."*.

*"If it's what you say... Just let them know we're leaving in a few minutes..."*.

*"Yes sir!"*.

With a wide smile, Vinicius left the knight's side and went towards the group that was now talking in a more relaxed way, after an hour or two, their fears and anxieties eased, and everyone believed they were safe, just as they believed in Vinicius as the man who would protect them in the name of god.

The knight observed Vinicius walking towards the group, he was a Watcher, and one of his missions was to analyze and study these people, learning anything that was useful to prevent unforeseen events or help at specific times, and by the interaction this man has shown with others, he will be useful in controlling the group.

But despite everything, they were speaking in an unknown language so that the Watcher could understand them, and that would make his mission very difficult, and with that he sighed and continued there watching these people.

"Chosen people! It's time for us to get out of here...
... The god's warrior gave me the information that in a few minutes we will be visiting his camp...
... Faithfuls of the Exalted, it seems that the kingdom of god is threatened by evil forces!
But still, the Exalted sent his warriors to fetch us, after slaying all those metis in our group!".

"Triumph to the Exalted!". "Triumph to the Exalted!".

People gathered once more around Vinicius and knelt to listen to his message, and with his few sentences, people were already delirious with joy knowing that the Exalted god protects them even when his kingdom is in danger.

"We won't keep god's warriors waiting and we won't delay their path!
We never know when a door of hell will open and its demons will appear to chase us just like those impure we saw screaming!
Chosen people! Get ready to leave!".

"Triumph to the Exalted!".

The shouts of glory attracted the attention of everyone around the shed, and as much as the Watcher did not understand the language spoken by the group of strangers, one thing was undeniable, what he saw was a group fervent in faith, but a faith that was not in their church Sigredio, nor in their god Diore, and this was quickly noted on a thick sheet that the Watcher used to organize his report.

The group of teenagers got up from the floor already bored of staying in the place, Nathan heard the news from Vinicius with concern, he will be separated from Lucius, and wouldn't know how to let him know where he was going, but somehow Nathan felt relieved with this.

^"Sorry Lucius, I've given you a lot of trouble during my life...
... I know we promised each other to try to escape this and venture into this strange world...
... But my mom's choices are now problems just mine and hers, I hope you can find Alex...
... Goodbye..."^.

Nathan took one last look at the underground entrance, it's been almost two hours since Lucius walked in there with the others, and to him, it looked like Lucius wouldn't be back anytime soon, so he preferred to apologize and move on trying to escape on his own, even if your mother didn't want to go.

**************************************************

*"Rest is over!
It doesn't matter if it's an Inheritance, or if there's any possibility that it's a Dungeon...
... There can always be some danger...
... But don't worry men! A healing Inheritance must be one of the safest to invade!"*.

Father Alberto comforted his men who were already prepared to enter the Inheritance, in fact, they were not worried about any dangers, everyone was on the lookout for possible rewards as usual, but still, Alberto wouldn't fail to present himself as a leader of the Inheritance raid without a motivational speech to register in the reports.

Rewards, pride and fame, Alberto's eyes were burning with greed, and beside him, Lucius smiled, for him, it would be so much easier to fool a person totally lost in greed.

*"I will activate the entry!
Prepare yourselves!"*.

Father Alberto approached and raised his hands to the phenomenon, the black streaks began to stir in the air, and in a short time they all flew at great speed towards the same direction, the center.

 

Thanks for reading!

The next chapter will be out on May 4th!
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