Lord Shadow



The mountain, veiled in the shroud of night, reverberated with eerie sounds that sent shivers down the spine of the uninitiated. 

The relentless howling of creatures beyond the veil of darkness seemed to be a titanic wolf, its voice resonating like a lament from another realm.

Intermittently, a thunderous roar pierced the night, echoing through the vast labyrinthine chambers of the mountain. 

It was the Minotaur, a monstrous denizen of the mountain, confined beneath its rocky prison by the indomitable power of the Seven Warlords.

Amidst these primal cries, the wind whispered its own eerie melody as it raced through the jagged peaks and twisted passages of Mount Parnassus. 

Its cutting sound sliced through the stillness, a haunting symphony that only those who had chosen to reside amidst the mountain's mysteries could truly call familiar. 

To these inhabitants, such eerie nocturnal serenades were the lullabies of their rugged lives, a part of the very essence of the surroundings of this mountains. 

Right now, inside a temple, on the top of Mount Parnassus, there is a man kneeling in front of a woman who is bathed is a majestic aura. 

This man is Antonius and he is kneeling in front of the One-Eyed Oracle Erika. Sometimes he would look at her and there is worries on his face. 

He looks at Erika and he could see her veins popping up and he wanted to tell her to take it easy but he knows that it is not his place to say that, so he did not say anything

And there is silence in the temple for around fifteen minutes. Antonius did not get up and he simply waited. 

He wanted to say something to Erika, maybe, to ask her to take it easy maybe to ask her to rest....but the words did not come out and he sighed. 

Erika, seated beneath the sheltering canopy of a towering tree, radiated an aura that transcended the earthly realm. 

Her presence, like an ethereal beacon, extended its influence skyward, casting ripples across the ground below.

Within the temple's diverse chambers, one held a unique design—a chamber with an open sky ceiling. 

Stepping within, looking at the design of this particular chamber one could feel the embrace of the limitless heavens that enveloped all who ventured inside. 

The sensation is akin to being cradled within the very bosom of the sky itself.

The feeling of being chased by the wind, and feeling the touch of heaven

The chamber, a perfect circle, bore an open ceiling that invited the elements to partake in its sanctity. 

When the heavens wept, the chamber bathed in the tender caress of falling raindrops. 

When the sun reigned supreme, its radiant beams refracted and danced within the chamber, lending their brilliance to neighbouring sanctuaries.

This space is a marriage of Earth and Heaven, where the terrestrial and the celestial coalesced in harmonious unity.

A slice of Earth, a slice of Heaven. 

And when it is night like this, with clear skies and twinkling shining star in the heavens, the chamber transformed into a realm of enchantment. 

The moon, a luminous guardian in the inky firmament, bestowed its ethereal glow upon the temple.

Bathed in its silver radiance, the chamber became an otherworldly sanctuary, hauntingly beautiful in its celestial embrace.

Antonius praised it once when he was here. 

Erika designed this place. Not far away from this Temple, there is even a man-made waterfall.

It falls from a thirteen feet high peak, and the water is clear like the blue of sky and giant eagles and griffins would fly around the peaks in the afternoon and sleep in the flat peaks on the night. 

Magical, beautiful, tantalizing. That is what he felt each time he comes to the temple. 

There is a reason why this particular chamber has such a different design from the other chamber. 

It is because there is a tree. This tree is tall and is around fifteen meters tall that it make people feel wonder when they see such tree.

This tree growth is shocking to other people that watch it. 

It was just planted a week ago and now it has reached fifteen meters tall. 

There is many branches and on each branch there is a fruit.

This fruit has variety of colours., Sometimes it is red mixed with blue, sometimes it is orange mixed with pink and others it had other different kind of combination of colours. 

And it emanates an aura of Time. 

Around the base of this extraordinary tree, the very fabric of space itself seemed to warp and ripple at times. 

It was as if the surrounding environment momentarily transformed into a sheet of paper being crumpled and then swiftly smoothed out again. 

This peculiar phenomenon added an element of enchantment to the already mystical atmosphere.

Erika had a particular affinity for this tree and the space it inhabited. It was here that she crafted her unique concoctions, harnessing the tree's arcane energies to infuse her drinks with a touch of the extraordinary.

And now, she cut the skin of the tree and from the cut, a blue clear sap come out from the cut. 

She take one of the glasses around her and put the glass near the cut as the sap drip into the glass. 

If one did not know that it came from this tree, it almost seems like the sap is a clear blue water 

It is the bluest colour one could see. 

She did not yet answer Antonius question. But Antonius knows Erika. And so, he is patient. Because he knows, Erika always has meanings in her actions. 

He waited. 

And she waited. 

And then the glass is full. And she drinks the sap. Finished drinking it, she brought something out of her sleeve. 

A paper. And she hold it out and Antonius took the paper. 

And when he touches the paper, a word appear. 

"Inkwell"

Antonius took a second before he ask

"A codename?"

Erika nodded. 

There is silence between them. Erika then took a knife beside her and then make a cut on 

"there is a tube and this tube is connected to some chute" 

Antonius did not understand why Eriak suddenly said something about a tube and a chute but he knows better than to interrupt so he just keep listening. 

"This channel of tube is very magical. When someone wanted to send a message, one would throw the message into one of these chutes in another country, or in another continent, and the message would arrive in a secret building. Of course, right now, that channel is outdated but during that time, no one could break through this channel and it is one of the most secure channels to trade secrets" 

Erika smiles and then she made a sound with her mouth

"Tting!" 

She muttered like the sound of a bell, like the sound of something hitting a metal tube. And Erika eyes which is clear just now suddenly turns cloudy, and Antonius knows that she is seeing through the Veil again. 

And she is in a trance. Right now, Antonius sees her and look at her but Erika right now is probably in that moment, the moment that she is seeing right now 

And she is unconsciously recreating it

That sound of a bell that comes from her mouth probably reflect the vision that she is seeing right now

She might be hearing a sound of ringing and imitate it. 

Antonius look around and he could see that there is the herb tea that she always drinks is there and he heaved  a sigh of relief. Sometimes, when she looks through time, there are times that such act bring heavy taxation to the body.

In such cases, the herb tea would alleviate the fatigue

"That building was in Ankara" she mutters and Antonius keep listening

"There is a dark room. The room is large. And inside that large and dark room, there is an old man"

She paused for a second and she laughs

"He has quite the life story. Old but strong. He survives all of those young people and manage to find a job even after the Fall."

Right now, Antonius is sure that Erika is telling the story of Inkwell. This is one of Erika method.

When she gave a task to Antonius, especially when the task involves  a person, usually Erika would do this kind of tracing past and present method.

It is so that he would have enough information about the person he is about to meet. 

"there is an event in his life that made him think of running away. It was a day like any other for him. Messages came and he relayed them. However, that day, a message came and it is from that message that seeds of doubt began planted in his heart about his organization strength"

"At that time, he has wrinkly skin, a weakened body and he wears a monocle glass that could see through things and detect lies and abnormalities. His back is a little hunched" And Erika laughed a bit. 

Antonius had long ignored the laughter of Erika when she is in trance. It is impossible to know why she laughed and whether she laughs or because the vision she saw is laughing and she is imitating it.

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