It was currently high noon, they were traveling on foot. The was not much to see out here in Thal, looking back the city had already disappeared and yet it appeared as though they were nowhere near their destination.
The old man hummed a tune, he had his cane over his shoulder. Walking upright without a care in the world, no one would believe him if he said to them that this grandpa was one of the top 3 strongest people in the world.
Although he was enjoy the walk, he couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched. At the same time his ears would pick up distant sounds as if someone was calling his name or screaming it, all of this happened and the old man had clearly noticed his strange actions yet did not ask him a thing.
"why have you not asked me the question on your mind?"
Neil asked curious of the old man's answer, the old man gave him a side eye and continued humming his tune. He was well aware of the old man's tendencies so he dared not to speak, as not to disrupt him.
"Will you answer me truthfully? If not, then there is no point asking."
Marcus responded after a few minutes, Neil shook his head and decided not to pursue the conversation any further.
The road they were using was oftenly used by merchants, and soon enough ruins began appearing once every 20 minutes. Crumbled down structures from long ago were the pride of Thal, the only sad part was that they rarely allowed visitors into their country or else they would have been making a lot of money from the tourists who would be thrilled to come and check out their ruins.
"i have often wondered why didn't gods put an end themselves to the Conspiracy, yes we have all learned about the Devouring darkness but then if that thing truly exists."
The old man spoke in a neutral tone, his words touching on the topics he had once asked himself.
"And most importantly why had they not descended on the day of your brother's ceremony, I have been fighting the Conspiracy for over 45 years and I can tell you without batting an eye that whatever that thing was it wasn't a Conspirer."
The mentioning of the events that happened brought him great grief, the pain of losing someone was still fresh and he doubted he could truly heal. To live in a world where Kyle did not exist was hard, the reality that had been forced upon him was wrong and yet he could not do anything about.
"Learning that there are enemies of such a level got me thinking, why are our powers capped? The limits of our growth always placed us at a level where we can deal with the high ranking Conspiracy but now we know that these powers that puts us at the pinnacle of the world are also nothing in front true strength. "
Old man Marcus stopped and turned to him:
"I fear that this world has little time left, and the gods are too distant to care. We need a fail safe, a way to preserve the human race."
Neil did not understand why the old man, was telling him such things. Yet he could not deny the truth in his words, the gods? What gods? The only proof of the existence of Gods were the twelve Systems.
Humans truly knew little of what was happening. The conspiracy boasted an impressive amount of power to be able to take over the world yet they chose to infiltrate and attack treating human lives as mock battles.
"But why are you telling me all of this?"
Neil asked, he was a powerless individual too small to have any sort of influence on the world. Although he was well aware of the situation there was nothing he could do about it.
"I need you to become my weapon, someone as unassuming as yourself and generally harmless to system bearers is the only one who can turn the fate of this world around."
Neil followed the old man's line of sight and his eyes widened, out there in the distance a silhoute of a cathedral appeared. Which was surprising because this particular cathedral was rumored to be the first ever cathedral built for the gods, for a structure that is supposed to be thousand of years old it was still well preserved.
"The Grand cathedral."
The structure was enormous even from afar, it's towering spires threating to pierce the heavens. What made this place so legendary was the fact that it is written that this is the place where the Gods once descended, and it is also where the twelve systems were made and gifted to the champions of humanity.
"We have arrived."
The old man continued onward with Neil trailing closely behind him, his mind was slowly trying to make sense of everything. The old man had clearly said he was taking him go the place where the bathe between the twelve champions and the invading conspiracy ended.
Did the battle concluded at the cathedral? He shook his head, at the very least he was getting a free tour to a place of great historical importance. The birth place of the Systems and the beginning of an era.
After 30 minutes of Walking they arrived at the Grand cathedral, up close the structure was even more impressive. The land around it was barren, it gave off an eerie feeling that he couldnt help shake off.
"Watch your step boy this is holy ground."
The old man winked at him and headed for the cathedral, the colossal doors swung open as if they were anticipating their arrival. A dense pressure descended upon them before retracting as quickly as it appeared, soon afterwards the sound of footsteps approaching came from inside the cathedral.
Seeing the old man's relaxed expression placed him at ease, from the cathedral came a young woman dressed in clergyman's attire. She had short wheat colored hair, bronze eyes and soft smile on her face, she looked like an angel.
"Greetings, father and to you Lord Neil."
Neil's eyes widened as he thhrew the old man a questioning gaze, the old man dismissed his gaze and responded to the young woman with a smile.
"Daughter, you look strong."
Neil was frozen and forgot to greet the young woman, Marcus elbowed him in the stomach and glared at him.
"oof - right, right Greetings to you lady - uh?"
He responded with a forced smile yet stopping midway because he did not know how to address the young woman
"Sister Elowen Thal, I am the only child of General Marcus Thal."
For a moment his mind froze, The old man had a child? If his was made public the world would go crazy, Thal was a very secretive nation after all.
" pleased to make your acquaintance. "
Neil rssponded after a moment, the young lady nodded and kept her eyes on him with a small smile. Feeling uncomfortable he turned to Marcus who quickly cleared his throat,
"shall we?" he asked
"Yes, follow me." she turned around and went inside the cathedral.
The cathedral's interior was even more impressive,
"I am quite sure you have so many questions, and I assure you will get all the answers you need."
Neil spoke nothing and simply followed behind the sister, such a grand monument in the middle of nowhere and he was pretty sure it was not used to house the devotees. So what was in this eerily beautiful place, the moment they arrived at the cathedral the uncertain feeling he had had disappeared but that was not the pressing issue here.
[System Online.]
[Framework note: Deceit lies at the foundation.]
The mechanical voice whispered in his ear and the text carved themselves in his eyes, causing him to nearly stumble. The old man shot him a look but spoke nothing instead it was the sister who spoke:
"Careful now, the radiance can be blinding."
They continued on their way in silence, they went to a secluded part of the cathedral, and behind a bookshelf a small metal door with a scanner for eye and finger.
The sister scanned her eye and finger on the scanner, and then:
" Access granted, Welcome Sister Elowen."
Neil already had his suspicions about the place but now it appears as though they were slowly accumulating, there was no one in sight although the place was really vast yet the place was spotless which meant there people who took care of the place somewhere.
The door led them down a staircase, the were oil lamps on the wall illuminating the path. The walked down the stairs until they reached a wooden door, sister Elowen turned to them and smiled
"Welcome to the underworld."
She opened the door, and the sight that met Neil was unlike anything he had ever seen.
"Get inside, there is a lot to be discussed."