The City of Marronligar

When the temple of Marunliga was built, the religious order had actually shown signs of decline, and the grand ceremony when the temple was completed also carried some signs of struggling to support the facade.Of course, there were hundreds of years before I was born, and I can only find relevant records from the documents collected in the Silver Bay Tower.

The relics of Saint Roland were brought to Marenlica later.What is intriguing is that the transfer of the holy relics is not so much to spread the glory of the order, but rather to preserve the precious heritage in the only surviving archdiocese, so that the remaining believers can have a spiritual sustenance.

——Miscellaneous Notes of Silver Bay Tower: The Rise and Fall of the Order

How beautiful and lovely the red rose on the coffin is, how bleak and desolate the ancient temple it lives in.And under the shadow of the sacred artifact and the catastrophe, the huge contrast between the two seems justifiable.

But just when Samuel and Hagrid withdrew their hands from touching the rose, a strange phenomenon appeared in front of their eyes: the rose was fading its bright color quickly, and the soft petals and leaves were hardening rapidly, and it was unexpectedly in the two A delicate stone flower formed in front of her.

The stone flower still maintains the shape of a rose, but it is a "creation of God" that no skilled craftsman can replicate by human power.The slender flowers and leaves are covered with fine cracks, and I am afraid that they can no longer withstand a little rough touch.

"Rose of the Heart of Stone" lives up to its name.

"Did you see it just now?" Samuel murmured. "Those pictures, the experience of Roland and Solti, and the petrification of this rose."

Hagrid nodded solemnly: "Yes. This time, I also saw the 'apparition from the past'."

Samuel corrected Hagrid's statement: "It's not the phantom, but their memory, and the story that this temple has witnessed." He raised his head and looked up at the daytime aurora that never moved above the sinkhole. "They are not just distant legends. The sacred artifacts, ancient temples, and methods to end the catastrophe do exist. We have finally confirmed this."

Hagrid quietly watched Samuel's profile, and found that apart from relief, there was more regret and sadness in his empty eyes.

Samuel took a deep breath of the cold air, and his usually steady voice trembled slightly due to excitement: "Hagrid, the remains of Saint Roland seem to be stored in the shrine of Maren Riga."

"Yes." The judge looked at the coffin under Stone Heart Rose again, and couldn't help but think of the farewell scene between Roland and Solti that he had just seen. "Who would have thought that he still had such thoughts in his heart."

"Saints are people too." Samuel sighed softly. "There should be such a rose beside him."

Hagrid shook his head helplessly: "Originally there were. But as early as 200 years before his remains were brought to Maren Riga, the rose had been petrified and shattered, and this is how the 'Rose of the Heart of Stone' came into existence. name."

After Roland's death, the mysterious stone heart rose became a symbol, so that people basically didn't ask whether this flower really existed.

"And my ancestors, Solti, and them are buried here," Samuel stood in front of Solti's coffin and looked around, and saw rows of black coffins like monuments, for Logmar, who was isolated from the world. Guarding the peace that no one can touch. "They are the tomb-keepers of the ancient temple, our unknown harbingers."

Without saying a word, Hagrid took two steps back, knelt down on one knee, and solemnly bowed his head to the grave guards in front of him.

This is the first time he has paid the highest respect to a member of the Torresso family as a warrior of the Order.

The two walked out of the array of coffins and approached the altar at the end of the temple.

There is a stone desk near the altar, and on the seat in front of the desk sits a dead bone in a robe.After the torment of time, the black robe has long been as dilapidated as the books and letters on the desk, but Samuel can still identify the identity of the deceased from the shape of the clothes and the accessories that fell aside—this is the ancient Rogmag. The last gravekeeper of the temple.

Falling rocks blocked the way out of the temple, so that he could not wait for the next successor to bury him.

And more than seven centuries after the cemetery's lonely death, Torreso's current patriarch and order heretics finally walked into the temple and held a belated funeral for him, allowing the nameless tomb keeper People sleep in coffins.

It took Hagrid and Samuel some work to move the keeper's bones into the empty coffin intact.They folded the gravekeeper's hands in front of his chest, making his departure seem more peaceful.

After closing the coffin lid, Hagrid said to Samuel, "We can't do any sacrificial ceremony here. But you are the patriarch, so it's okay to read a eulogy for him on behalf of the Torresso family."

Samuel recovered and nodded: "Then please be a witness on behalf of the church, just like when the temple was built." He gave Hagrid a grateful look. "Thank you for willing to do this for my ancestors."

Hagrid answered succinctly, "It's all about duty."

Samuel understood that Hagrid did this not out of condescending sympathy and pity, but out of respect.At this moment, in front of the holy victim, the various festivals between them are not so important.

Torreso's patriarch straightened his clothes, lightly pressed the coffin that had just been closed with his left hand, and nodded slightly with his eyes closed.

"I, Samuel Solaris Torreso, the current patriarch of the Torreso family—"

Hagrid also solemnly reported his full name and title: "Hagrid Uzerin Sauron, Chief Inquisitor of the Order."

"——Here in the Temple of Logmar, we commemorate the 23 gravekeepers since the saint Solti."

"And Saint Roland," Hagrid added.

"Your task of guarding the Temple of Logmar has been completed. We will take over your work, inherit your will, and take the sacred artifact 'Bone of the River'..."

Samuel's words stopped abruptly - he had doubts about what to do next.

He opened his eyes and stared straight at the altar and murals not far away: "Hagrid, do you still remember the memory of Roland and Solti we saw just now? She mentioned the nature of the sacred vessel and said That is not a miracle, but the source of catastrophe."

Hagrid's expression also suddenly turned cold: "Ah, of course I remember."

"If that's the case, I can't let you take the holy artifact anyway." Samuel's tone was firm. "Even if it's against the order of your order."

Hagrid sneered: "Up to now, do you think I'm just obsessed with 'bringing back the Hallows'?"

Holding the hilt of his sword, he walked towards the altar with Samuel.

"Your friend the explorer said that he thinks the religious order is bound to decline, even if the sacred artifacts are recovered, the result will be the same."

Samuel was stunned: "Huta still said these things to you... If the first officer hadn't been in charge, he would always be outspoken."

Hagrid showed an unexpected calmness: "Maybe he is right. The reason why the religious order is full of obsession with the sacred artifact is precisely because it is dying and needs a dose of strong medicine to continue its life. But now we know , it is not a rational decision to take the holy artifact from here."

During the cataclysm of Logmar, the Torresso family died with less than a quarter of the population remaining, and the soldiers of the order guarding the place also suffered heavy casualties.The long time has prevented future generations from getting rid of the layers of mist above the truth, and instead took the sacred artifact "Bone of the Great River" as a signpost on the road to salvation.

The last tomb keeper left research notes accumulated over the past dynasties on the case.It's a pity that those papers are too fragile, they will be turned into ashes immediately when touched; the ink on the parchment has long been mottled, and Samuel can only make out the fragments of words written in ancient characters with difficulty.

So, Samuel and Hagrid turned their eyes back to the altar.

On the altar are the sacred vessels sought after by the Order and the Torresso family.A piece of snake bone less than two feet long, with a broken church flag under it.

However, unlike the white and flawless snake bones picked up by Roland and Solti on the ancient battlefield, the "Bone of the Great River" in front of them is blackened and scarred, just like the stone heart rose on Solti's coffin Cracked and cracked, every crevice drank with old blood—presumably the blood of the Torresso gravekeepers.

They have been unable to distinguish whether the sacred artifact was corrupted by blood, or the blood revealed the original appearance of the sacred artifact.

When Samuel tried to touch the sacred artifact, out of trust in Samuel's intuition and judgment, Hagrid did not stop him, but tried his best to hide his worries in his heart.

Perhaps this time, like those two pioneers, they will be infinitely close to the root of the catastrophe.

The moment he touched the snake bone, Samuel felt the power of resonance again.The past and present of the Logmar Temple overlapped in the space of consciousness, and the huge murals in front of him gradually became clear.

Samuel finally understands what is painted on it: it is a giant snake that hides its figure behind everything in the world and spirals up towards the sinkhole, a snake of the world that runs through time and life.

At the bottom of the picture, fire, lightning, and floods are attached to the tail of the snake. The naked "people" and the beasts who were also involved in the disaster survived in a hellish situation-this is the ancient era before human beings became the primates of all things.

Later, the giant snake was hidden by the curling fireworks, and simple houses and farmland began to appear on the screen. Human beings bid farewell to the barbaric era and took the first step towards civilization.

Later, the crowd in the picture split into two sides.A group of people surrounded the "god" on the high platform, and the halo behind the god was a man-made thing pushed up by countless believers; another group put on armor and picked up a long sword, and the smoke in the village became The smoke of the battlefield.

People learned faith and also learned war.

In the middle of the screen is the prosperous urban scene of the capital of the empire, marking the peak of the civilization of the Kuno continent.And in the corner of the gorgeous picture scroll, snakes are entangled with human bones and rusted weapons, and floods and glaciers are approaching cities and farmland little by little.

On top of prosperity, endless wars tore apart those beautiful and peaceful pictures one by one.Ownerless steeds trod over wailing refugees, ruined palaces burst into flames, desperate refugees fell to the Lightless, and ragged gravediggers dragged the plague dead into their graves.Man-made disasters have surpassed natural disasters and become the most terrible disaster in front of people.

At the top of the screen, everything returns to the beginning of the story.Earthquake, sky fire, tsunami, ice, human beings, like other animals, can only survive in catastrophe.He stretched out his arms, trying to grab the dead branches protruding from the cliff, but his legs were entangled by vines made of flesh and blood, and survival became out of reach.

And the snake of the world looks down on the reincarnation of history coldly, as if the life and death of all things have nothing to do with it.Those indifferent eyes looked down on the Temple too, down on Hagrid and Samuel who stood before it.

Samuel felt like he was looking into the eyes of the world snake.

Contrary to Samuel's own expectations, at this moment, he didn't feel any fear—he was standing here, touching the blood-soaked and bruised bones of the great river, only one step away from the final decision.

Samuel lowered his head, stared at the snake bone, and said softly: "Solti once talked to the world snake through the 'Bone of the Great River'. I will repeat this process and obtain the truth of the catastrophe from it."

Now, he is standing here as the patriarch of Torreso, trying every means to fulfill the ancient long-cherished wish of the family, and those thoughts of weakness, hesitation, and self-abandonment are all thrown away.

But in Hagrid's eyes, he suddenly changed from "temporary ally" and "eternal enemy" back to "Samuel".

Hagrid thought he finally understood the emotions that surged through Roland's heart when he and Solti were separated.

At this critical moment, the judge, who has always been unreasonable, just said calmly: "No matter what the result is, I will respect your decision."

It never occurred to Samuel that Hagrid would say such things to himself.But there is no doubt that Hagrid's clear attitude gave Samuel more courage.

As far as Solti and Roland knew, the sacred artifact "Bone of the Great River" was exactly the bones of the "World Snake".After the death of the last gravekeeper of the ancient temple, it left the restraint and harmony of Torresso's blood, and then woke up from centuries of sleep, using the power of nature to bring disasters to people again and again.

There is only one way to talk to the sacred artifact like Solti.

Blood still oozes from wounds cut before entering the temple.Samuel untied the bandage with one hand, allowing fresh Torresso's blood to pour on the long-dried holy vessel again.The bright red blood drops covered the old blood, seeping into the cracks of the snake bones little by little, as if it was a metaphor for Samuel's reunion with the dead ancestors.

There were bursts of thunder above the tiankeng, and lightning tore apart the daytime aurora that had been frozen over Logmar for more than [-] years, and also illuminated the huge mural full of wordless prophecies.The cold eyes of the world snake in the painting seemed to blink for a moment, and the vertical pupils shone with a cold light, like the sharp teeth of a beast, the ice of the extreme north, or the butcher's knife of the executioner.

It is condescendingly examining people who are trying to be on the same level as "God".

An old, wandering voice sounded in the temple.

"It has been four years and 720 days in 83 since the last 'gravekeeper' talked to me. However, this is just a moment for me."

Hagrid looked around, but couldn't find the source of the sound, and the blood-drunk snake bone lay quietly on the altar.

Samuel knew that this was the World Serpent talking to them.

For the Torresso family, the World Serpent is their god, to be long worshiped with devotion and pure respect.But now, Samuel has given up his belief, and looks at the snake eyes in the painting with a posture of a bystander rather than a believer: "You...are you the snake of the world?"

The old voice was mixed with an erratic smile: "God, the supreme lord, the world snake, the doomsday judge... I have had countless names in different lands, different eras, and different people. Of course you can follow Your own thoughts call me."

Samuel stared at the snake on the mural: "We can't see your entity except for the 'Bone of the Great River'."

"I don't need an entity, and that snake bone is just a bridge and a mouthpiece connecting me with this world."

Hagrid clenched the hilt of his sword, and asked in a deep voice, "Are you a god or a demon?"

The world snake's laughter was deep and long: "Poor child, how can there be a god in this world? It's just that people need a god. I'm just a concept, a phenomenon, and the incarnation of a set of rules. I have no consciousness, no emotions, no emotions Sorrow and joy, there are only responsibilities that you cannot understand. Of course, I cannot understand you either."

Samuel observed Hagrid's expression, fearing that he would fall into the vortex of collapse of faith due to the answer of the world snake.

But Hagrid was very calm: "But you are talking to us."

"Conversation doesn't mean understanding, child. I just answer every question I have, and I won't lie or hide." World Snake spoke slowly like an old man addicted to memories. "Whether you will appear, when you will appear, and how to dispose of this microphone called the 'Hallowed Artifact' has nothing to do with me. Anyway, it's all the same."

The author has something to say: Consecration/EchoofthePast - MarvinKopp