Bersetia stared at the god in front of her. She stared at the vast forests and fertile valleys that sheltered the Silver Elves until three thousand years ago. The god was regarded as the supreme being by the Druil. She had never thought that she would one day stand in front of Him like this, facing Him directly. As a priestess of the Druil who had abandoned her faith, she came to a place closer to the God of Nature than any devout priest.
And at this distance, what she could see was far beyond the devout believers, and even beyond the ancient priests who had lived for more than three thousand years.
It was ironic: those who did not believe in Him could see Him, and those who were not devout could understand Him.
This reminded her of many years ago, when her father abdicated and handed over the authority of the throne and the title of the highest priestess of the Druil to her.
"You are the first leader of the empire who has not been blindfolded by devotion. Your eyes may be able to see further than all of us."
"I understand." Bersetia lowered her head and said to Amoun solemnly. "I will do as you wish. Of course, no one will know that you are still alive."
Amoun nodded, and then there was a moment of silence. Finally, his eyes fell on Bersetia again. In the holy light, there was a hint of expectation in his eyes. "Go and do what you should do, Silver Queen."
Bersetia bowed respectfully, then took a step back and came to Gwen. Gwen nodded to the two gods of the past. "Then I will send her back first. Let's talk later."
The visitor left, and the courtyard shrouded in darkness and chaos returned to calm. The two gods of the past seemed to have their own thoughts. They were silent for a few minutes. Finally, it was Mirmina who broke the silence first. "I thought you would mention the grandmother of the 'Queen'. She was the last priestess when you left three thousand years ago. It is rare to see an old friend again. Shouldn't we talk about the past?"
"At first, I did want to know how Costina Morningstar spent her last days. But after hearing about the way the Silver Elves live today, I realized that the past is the past," Amoun said slowly. "And even without asking, I can now guess what Costina went through. She was once my priestess and one of the closest mortals to me. But she laid the foundation for the secularization of the elven court, suppressing the activities of the fundamentalists, and allowing Bersetia's father to grow up in an environment free from the influence of fundamentalism. For a devout priestess, every decision she made in her old age was painful.
"So, I don't need to, and shouldn't, inquire about her later years from her descendants. Some things don't need to be mentioned repeatedly."
"Sigh, sometimes you look quite slow, but sometimes you hit the nail on the head." Mirmina sighed. "But this is good for you and the elves."
As she spoke, the Goddess of Magic turned her gaze to the magic network terminal not far away. The projection crystal above the device lit up, and a clear holographic image appeared above the device. "What do you want to see? I won't fight with you today. "
"Find the 'Sound of the Forest' channel. I haven't heard the elves' singing for a long time."
…
Gwen and Bersetia walked side by side in the corridor of the upper level of the Defiant Fortress. In this area that was gradually approaching the surface, the airflow from the ventilation holes seemed to be fresh and dry. The bright and constant light from the magic crystal wall lamps on both sides exuded a warm texture, calming Bersetia's somewhat turbulent thoughts gradually.
"You look like you have a lot on your mind." Gwen's voice suddenly came from the side, interrupting Bersetia's thoughts. "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm just wondering how far you have come on this road." The Silver Queen stopped and looked into the distance. The spacious and bright corridor stretched out in her vision. The wisdom of the ancient Kingdom of Gondor and the modern successors gathered in front of her eyes. The laboratories and busy staff reminded the elven ruler of how many secrets were operating in the depths of this facility. "I thought you only had some secret knowledge about the gods. At most, you had excavated some ancient relics like the Eternal Slate and developed the framework of the 'Theocratic Council.' I thought my guess was bold enough, but everything here is completely beyond my expectations.
"The Defiant Plan, the fortress in the Realm of Looming Shadow, the relics of the gods, and even the gods themselves, and more than one. No wonder you can come up with so many advanced things. You have come so far on this road."
Gwen laughed. "Just some secret knowledge and ancient relics are not enough for me to develop the framework of the Theocratic Council. Your previous guess is indeed too conservative. But then again, is that all you're thinking about? "
Bersetia was silent. The most shocking scene of not long ago appeared in her mind. The metal wreckage that firmly nailed the God of Nature to the ground appeared in her mind, and the horrifying picture of the god's scars appeared in her mind. After this picture, she thought of the fall of the god of war and Tarlonde's doomsday battle. After half a minute of silence, she finally spoke her true thoughts. "… There has never been a savior, right?"
Gwen nodded. "We can only rely on ourselves. Our gods and we can only be our own saviors."
Bersetia did not say anything. She just turned around and walked forward silently. Gwen did not say anything. He just walked quietly beside the Silver Queen. The two walked until they were near the exit of the Defiant Fortress. Bersetia suddenly said, "When can you arrange for me to go to Solin's Giant Tree?"
"Anytime. If you are pressed for time, we can go there tomorrow. Now there is an air flight between Cecil City and Solin Fortress. You can go there and back in a day. "
"Tomorrow then." Bersetia nodded. "I haven't seen Bertilla for a long time. I don't know how much she still remembers. By the way, does she know your … 'identity'? "
"Yes," Gwen said casually. "She knew about the 'extraterrestrial wanderers' a long time ago. I think in her mind, I should be 'half a brother to Gwen' — just like I am 'half an uncle to Gwen' to you."
Bersetia couldn't help but smile. Then, she shook her head and muttered to herself, "Seven hundred years have passed. In the end, we're still on the same path. That's good."
…
In the Cathedral of Holy Light near the center of Cecil City, Veronica finished her long meditation. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the soft holy light in her field of vision flowing like water. The flowing holy light gradually gathered around her, forming a constant and stable 'force field'. Then, it stopped obediently.
"… The efficiency has improved further. This means that the 'interception' and 'redirection' of the God of Holy Light are progressing smoothly. The effect is obvious. No signs of backlash have been found. Good sign."
Veronica whispered a few words as if she was talking to herself. At the same time, she stood up from the cushion. She glanced at the empty prayer room and heard some movement in the corridor outside. She tidied up her slightly wrinkled nun's robe, held the platinum scepter in her hand, and left the room. She came to the corridor leading to the inner area of the cathedral.
Not far away, a few craftsmen in work clothes were busy moving some equipment and new furniture into an empty room. Two technicians in white robes were standing at the door of the room, chatting with Wright, who was in casual clothes. A young attendant was holding a hammer and nails in his hand, solemnly nailing a new door plate on one side of the door frame.
Veronica walked over and her eyes fell on the door plate that the young attendant had just nailed. On the dark wooden board, there were two rows of clear and sharp words: Headquarters of the Church of Holy Light; Theological Knowledge Base.
At the corner of the door plate was the logo of the Theocratic Council: an open book with an overlooking eye above the book, and two crossed daggers between the eye and the book. They symbolized the liberation of the divine right, the return of knowledge and reason, and the necessary means and determination to cut off the chains.
"Veronica." Wright noticed the figure coming over. The burly church leader immediately turned his head with a rather imposing smile on his face. "Come and see the new facility of the church. This is the office of the Theocratic Council in the cathedral. After that, we will set up a special research team to study the earliest version of the Holy Light scriptures here and summarize all the historical information about the Church of Holy Light. You should be of great help in this kind of thing. "
"Good day, Grand Patriarch." Veronica smiled and greeted him. She stood at the door of the room and saw that the spacious space inside had many bookshelves, long tables, chairs, and a platform specially prepared for the magic network terminal. On the wall in the deepest part of the room hung the large logo of the Theocratic Council. Her eyes could not help but stay on the logo for a long time, then she looked away and nodded gently to Wright. "Of course, I'm happy to help."
The age of disobedience is over. The leader of the disobedience from the ancient Gondor era sighed softly in his heart.
Seven hundred years ago, hiding underground, she did not see the fall of the Kingdom of Gondor's flag. Today, seven hundred years later, wandering in the human world, she did not see the official end of the disobedience project. But standing here, looking at the logo of the Theocratic Council hanging in front of her eyes, she still could not help but think of this sentence — the age of disobedience is over.
But she did not feel regret, because this was not the end of the decline — a new flag had been raised, and a new group of brave people were seeking a brighter future.
The new Theocratic Council would take over the legacy of the disobedience project and stand on the foundation of their predecessors. They had gone further and seen more. If the disobedience project of the Gondor era was a hysterical resistance by a group of desperate people who suddenly faced the dark truth, then the Theocratic Council today was a business started after careful consideration after taking over the legacy.
It would be more rational, more rigorous, and more likely to be successful.
The only regret Veronica had was that too many people did not live to see the arrival of this day, including the disobedients of the past and the copies of Ophilia that were consumed in the iterations, uploads, and downloads.
At this time, Wright's voice rang, waking Veronica from her brief daze. "By the way, are you going to the church to attend the bishops' meeting?"
"I'm going to see His Majesty today." Veronica shook her head. "Sorry, you have to go by yourself."
"Oh, it's okay. I'll go by myself." Leit smiled. His seemingly rough but sincere smile could make people relax involuntarily (of course, it would also bring another sense of tension to people who were not familiar with him). "You seem to have a lot on your mind these days. I'll take care of the church. You should go and do your own thing."
Veronica immediately frowned. Had her emotions leaked to the point where the outside world could detect it? It seemed that her personality model still needed to be adjusted.
…
After sending Bersetia back to the Autumn Palace, Gwen returned to his study. When he pushed the door open, he saw a figure standing in the room, as if she had been waiting for him for a long time. It was Veronica, holding a platinum scepter and wearing a nun's robe.
There were very few people who were qualified to enter his study without notice, and the leader of the disobedients from the Gondor era was one of them.
"Veronica?" Gawain looked at this "Saintess Princess" who had a holy aura and a gentle smile on her face in surprise. "You're looking for me?"
"Your Majesty." Veronica turned to Gwen. There was a rare trace of solemnity on her usually calm face. "I want to talk to you about the Gondor wasteland."
Gawain, who was walking towards the armchair behind his desk, stopped in his tracks when he heard this. He could sense something unusual from the other party's tone. "The Gondor Wastelands? Why do you suddenly want to talk about this? "
"I suspect that there is a force stirring in the depths of the Gondor wasteland. And they are a great threat to the outside world."
Gwen's face turned serious. "A force? What kind of force? "
"Do you remember the information mentioned in the dossier of the Doom Society found in the Solin Palace?" Veronica looked into Gwen's eyes. "It mentioned that there are two forces of the Doom Society active in the world. One of them is carrying out the 'Body of the False God' project in the human world outside the Great Wall. The other is hiding in the Gondor wasteland, carrying out information gathering, data support and other seemingly marginal activities …"
"Of course I know." Gwen nodded. In fact, even without the dossier in the Solin Palace, he knew that there were some 'remnants' of the Doom Society hiding in the wasteland. He had even dealt with this force personally, and learned a lot about them from Bertilla. "As far as I know … these cultists hiding in the wasteland are very secretive. Even the Doom Cultists outside are not sure what their 'compatriots' are doing. The Empire has tried to do something about it, but due to the wasteland's contamination, even if we know of their existence, we can't do anything about it."
"Maybe you should think of something." Veronica said solemnly.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
