《Annihilation's Impact》Chapter 11 : Symbol of Return
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From the action within the Forbidden Palace, the impact was far greater than just the change of geography, the world had fallen into the state of mass panic, only the handful of the extraordinary people knew the cause of the catastrophe, even less so the myth of the untraceable era.
The four weren't aware of the uprising of the outer world, as the separation of the Forbidden Palace was too perfect, they only felt that the magical force in the air increased overwhelmingly, and the ground shook lightly, there were no things that could escape the protection of the palace, the space they were in was virtually an isolated dimension.
Without any worry, the Blood Emperor and the rest decided to wait patiently for the ritual to do its work, even if they didn't wait, with their knowledge, they couldn't do anything anyway.
"Friend, is there any records about this ritual?"
The emperor turned to his friend, only to see him fascinated by the work of the magical ritual.
"Nothing, not even the record during the Dark Era that I have, as you could guess, this should be even before the Ancient Era. Anyway, I will go check on your daughter, it would be bad if anything happens to her."
Having said that, he walked toward the pale face princess, doing the necessary checkup.
After the checkup was completed, the mage quickly pulled out his worn out notebook, writing down all the experience, for future reference.
The Blood Emperor smiled helplessly, that old man was still his friend, after all, he never changed, still strived for greater power, but never wanted the authority.
Maybe in his eyes, politic was powerless against strength.
The emperor calmed his wandering mind, putting this thought in the back of his head, and waited, waited for the emissary of hope to arrive.
Before long, the princess woke up again, but she never spoke a single word, she just sat there, she must still process what just happen, after numerous fainted.
The princess passionately consoled his sister, thus, everyone was minding their own business, creating a perfect distance between all of them, isolating themselves from each other.
The prince and the princess, the mage, and the emperor, completely submerged in their intention.
Time became meaningless when one didn't pay attention.
Without anyone noticed, the ruin magically regained its previous state, as if time reversed itself, the plants gradually shrank themselves into the crack in the walls, the floating remnants of crystals constantly reformed themselves into other flawless crystals.
The ruin slowly recovered its majestic atmosphere, as time unfolded the secret of the past, revealing the heavenly palace that once stood above the firmament, the golden platform could be seen floating at the middle of the palace, lifting the huge crystal that blocked all outsider from viewing the mystery within.
The four regained their own mind, they somehow became absented-mind, but the scene before them was no longer a ruin, but an exalted sanctuary, used to worship the highest god, praying for his descended on the mortal plane.
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Things that triggered their attention wasn't the otherworldly decoration nor was it the imposing aura of the sanctuary, those things were the distorted and faded silhouette of humans, they could be seen but couldn't be touch, they also didn't pay any attention to the four.
"The Echo of the Past."
The Mage uttered absented-mindedly, the Echo of the Past was the phenomenon when the powerful one's action remained where it was, never to cease away, forever repeating itself.
Only those who could bend reality can leave their Echo, only those with the same standing as gods could do so.
But at this very moment, huge amounts of Echo could be seen, shockingly, prayed and bowed down toward the floating platform, revered the entity within as their creator.
The four were stiff, they didn't dare to breathe loudly, afraid of the Echo, but after time passed, they gradually began to survey their surrounding, only to discover that they were still any the same place, just that the ruin restore itself to its peak state.
Only the mage noticed the impossible phenomenon around them, there was no magical aura emitted from the Echo, none could be detected, it was as if they never existed at all.
Then, the unthinkable solution struck him, these godlike individuals' power was too great, those who were vastly inferior to them couldn't possibly grasp their incomprehensible might, but, if they were godly powerful, then, who was the entity in the crystal they worshipped?
He decided that they must not act carelessly, they must be respectful at all time they spent in here, so, he naturally told his old friend, the emperor, about this logical hypothesis.
"Let us keep a safe distance between us and the Echo, also, pay special attention to the shrine."
The Blood Emperor called his two descendants and informed all of them about the discoveries.
After their plan had been put to use, they all separately tried to find clues from the repeated scene before them.
The Blood Emperor was the first person to notice this weird Echo, it did not pray nor did it bow down toward the shine, it just stood there, gazing at them, observing their every move.
Wait, how did the Echo react to them?
The emperor was startled, he swiftly notified his friend and descendants, they all retreated slowly while observing the Echo attentively, not daring to brink even once.
The Echo lifted its hand, indicating the four to follow it as it turned around and walked toward the floating shine.
With the emperor at the head spear, they walked behind the Echo, but, they kept some respectful distance from him, the Echo escorted them to the floating shine.
As soon as the emperor got near the shine, every Echo in the sanctuary all kneeled downed at once, chanting the inconceivable mantra.
The leading Echo shifted its sight to the Blood Emperor, it distorted face smiled faintly, with a hint of bitterness presented in the smile, it spoke one sentence before kneeled down on the ground like the rest of its kind, praying and chanting the mantra, waiting for their god to descend.
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The gigantic crystal on the floating platform shone faintly, it absorbed the magical power formed by the mantra, many small cracks appeared on its surface, multi-colours light could be seen leaking out from the inside.
A flash of light entered the four's soul, transferring the unknown sentences into their head, the mage was the first to realise that it was the mantra that the Echo was chanting.
The four then continued to chant the mantra endlessly, slowly losing the sense of time, their conscious gradually faded away, becoming like the Echo, only the distorted silhouette remained.
The crystal slowly cracked open its shell, the limitless light flew out of the rifts, revealing the scenery of the past.
The mythical tree that all life stemmed from, the World Tree was at the centre of the vision, a beautiful maiden was resting beside the imposing tree, her smooth skin was flawless, making her like the snow on the field of grass, but, on her face was a hint of determination and sadness, she slowly closed her eyes, her mortal shell slowly disintegrated away, her life extinguished.
Along with her end, the World Tree also withered, accompanied by her death, a voice from the sky resounded, it was filled with vengeance and madness, but alas, it also died down.
Leaving behind was the aftermath of the war, the two figures stood beside her grave, the unspeakable vow had been made, and the vision ended.
Unfortunately, nobody was there to observe such a grand vision, it was destinated to never be revealed to the rest of the world, forever became the forgotten legend.
After the vision ended, the four regained their awareness, the crystal was about to be unsealed, the imposing aura flooded the palace, every living thing in the palace immediately kneeled down and awaited the order of their king.
An old figure stepped out of the broken crystal.
And the world went silent.
...
Within the Memorial Graveyard, the everlasting marble coffin was stationed at the centre of the graveyard, along with many statues of historical figures, many types of vines could be seen all around the yard, but despite the old appearance of the building, the statues and the marble coffin had no dust on them, they were as splendid as the first time they were created.
The sparkle that resembled the stars could be seen forming around the graveyard, behind the marble coffin was a majestic tree shaped pillar, it was the main pillar that supported the entire underground graveyard.
With a slight trembled, the great coffin shook and the radiance glowing butterflies flew out of the gap of the coffin, as the coffin slowly opened, the vines and dyed plants regained their virality, the flowers blossomed and the graveyard became a garden, many spiritual creatures appeared and ran around the garden.
After the marble opened, the inside was only specks of dust, an ancient ring and a beautiful crown, there was no living being in there, the marble coffin slowly closed down, and the garden lost its colour, returning to its former self, the Memorial Graveyard.
...
"Your Majesty, we have arrived at the Forsaken Tomb."
The succubus was the only one who remained in the carriage with her superior, the skinless demon and the floating eyeball were to remain at the capital, they needed to maintain order and suppressed the rebels for their monarch.
The monarch only nodded his head, he wasn't much of a schemer, but with many capable servants under him, he could get rid of his weakness and control almost all of Hell, if not for those Undying and their impossible magic of the death.
That was why they needed the treasures within the tomb.
When they had arrived, the seal at the entrance of the Forsaken Tomb had already broken, the monarch knew that it broke on its own, nothing would be able to do it other than the forgotten formation of the past.
When they arrived at the gigantic Door of Judgement, the door had already started to crumble into ruin, many of their attendants were scared out of their mind, the special aura that the door emitted was the bane of the demon.
A whisper entered into the monarch head, telling him to open the door, the monarch unknowingly lost control of himself, he suddenly walked toward the door, as his soul was damaged by the aura of the Judgement, his footsteps never stopped, he pushed only the door and the Door of Judgement crumbled into pieces.
With his weakening self and clouded mind, the monarch continued to walk into the hall, the succubus also came to his side, helping him stabilised himself, she still didn't know that her monarch was manipulated.
Suddenly, the faint sounds of chains being broke could be heard within the tomb.
The Demon Monarch had already kneeled in front of the dark vault, many remnants of shattered formations and runes scattered in front of the vault, the succubus had already collapsed onto herself, shaking, her eyes were filled with blood, she muttered something unknown to other, her mind focused on the whisper of the entity behind the vault.
And the vault opened, brought with sounds of scream and chant, the world lost its colour, the river of time stopped its movement, all evil waited silently, welcoming his return.
A black mess of darkness walked out, it gazed at the kneeled monarch and the mindless succubus.
It shot itself into the monarch's soul, corrupting his soul and took his physical body as its own, it used a moment to absorbed the memory of its body, after learning everything, it smiled lightly.
"I have returned."
The succubus slowly stood up, her blood-filled eyes turned into completed black, she walked toward the remaining attendants, hoping to sacrifice them to her new master, to help him regain his power.
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