A Tale of Forgotten Gods

Chapter 115: Tower of Light

Murphy leaned against the carriage as the footsteps of the horse echoed, mixed with the dragging noise of the wheel.

Keeping Murphy’s cold act, he looked around and saw the crowd walking around. In a while, a large exit of the Ciradyl appeared, and the carriage moved out of it. Mo Fei took a brief glance at Ciradyl, remembering Lin and Zhuo. He fixed his fedora with his one hand and turned his focus back to the pathway ahead.

The cabman moved forward. The vast pathway stretched ahead, and around the roadsides were trees.

He stared at the driver for a while, then finally asked. ”Pal, how long will it take?”

The cabman pulled the reins of the horse and answered without turning his head back. ”It’ll take a few hours.”

”Is there any shop to buy something to eat?”

The cabman slowed down the horse and glanced back. ”I don’t usually stop it, but if you are facing hunger, then I know a shop nearby; wait for it, sir.”

Murphy nodded and looked at a building, his thoughts shifting back to Lin’s injured hand, even though he knew authority would heal it, yet he still found his mind racing with multiple thoughts of her welfare. He remembered Zhuo’s face too, it was tired and sleepy, he must be tired after what had happened.

He stared as the buildings moved out of his sight. His face held no emotions; his expression still unreadable.

In a few minutes, the carriage slowed down near a shop. Murphy jumped out of the carriage and walked toward the shop. Many types of foods were put in showcases, like Chelsea buns, hot cross buns, hot baked apples, pie, and mash, etc.

After paying, he bought a few Chelsea buns and two pies and mash.

He returned to the carriage and gestured to start it.

The cabman nodded as the horse’s neigh shattered the peace of the marketplace, causing a dog to startle as it ran forward.

Murphy picked up a Chelsea bun from the paper bag and took a bite of the sweet bun, chewing it as he put his other hand on the bag and softly called out. ”Kiyori, are you hungry?”

After a slight pause, her voice came. ”I’ve stopped near a mountain, I’m sure I’d need good energy to walk.”

”I bought some, I’ll send it, so eat it.”

The food in the paper bag disappeared from Mo Fei’s hand. A moment later, through the spirit world, it appeared in Kiyori’s hand. She caught it, the unfamiliar weight surprising her as she slowly looked inside the paper bag.

”What is this?” She muttered. Inside were soft, sweet-smelling buns and a strange pie filled with meat and mashed potatoes.

Kikyo’s nose twitched. The fox child peered from inside the bag Mo Fei had bought for her, his eyes slightly wide. ”Is that food? How did it come here?”

”It is strange looking.” Kiyori picked up a Chelsea bun. It was sticky and glazed. She sniffed it, and a sweet smell hit her. ”What is this though?”

”That thing is called Chelsea Bun. Just eat it, that’s really good.”

”You eat strange things there.”

”You aren’t the one to say that who only eat rice and fish every day.”

Kiyori huffed but took a bite and chewed slowly, savoring the unfamiliar flavor. ”I don’t like to eat fish, they are alive too, but I don’t have any better options to keep my health.”

”Animals are eaten just about in my time; I’d not say that I didn’t.”

”I still feel guilty nonetheless.” She took another bite and said again. ”This is sweet; I liked it more than I thought.”

”I told you, that’s only strange-looking for you.”

She gave a pie to Kikyo, who grabbed it and bit it with his fangs. His eyes closed as if enjoying the taste.

On the carriage. Murphy watched Ciradyl disappear behind the door, his hand unconsciously tightening on the fedora’s brim, and a small smile hidden behind his cold act came out, even with that identity.

It had been a few hours since he left Ciradyl, he passed through the last district as finally the last gateway opened up into a large path. He looked back over his shoulder and turned again.

The carriage ran through the open path, rushing toward an abandoned place.

Within thirty minutes, the carriage stopped near a pillar where it was written. ”The City of Light.”

Murphy jumped from the carriage and gave the money to the cabman, who gave him a nod with his hat slightly lifted up, then the cabman turned his horse quickly and walked away hurriedly.

Ahead, the City of Light loomed with large pillars and no roof built around.

The street was filled with debris and wooden chunks. The buildings that lined the streets were almost decayed, and houses were broken and their windows shattered.

The city’s streets were unusually arranged in concentric circles radiating from a central point. Some streets were crafted in a T shape, while some were in a triangle that connected the T junction.

Each ring of streets seemed designed for different purposes: commerce, residence, administration, and ceremony.

Murphy walked forward, his footsteps finally giving the city a sound.

His eyes laid on the gothic towers and buildings, which were now overtaken by the vines.

The wind howled in the city as the sky slowly shifted into a cloudy atmosphere. It was covered with dark, stormy clouds that slowly turned crimson as blue lightning began to roar in the sky above.

Murphy kept walking, trying to find the tower of light in the vast city. Just then, as he looked at the sky, his gaze found something... a large architecture that reached for the sky.

He moved through the pathways, reaching toward the entrance of the tower. In just a few minutes, he reached there and stopped at the door. The tower had cracks running all over the stones; it was slightly tilted as if it could fall anytime.

He looked at the large board where the history of the tower was written: ”The City of Light’s third king, he who clothed the city in gladness and made it a divine dwelling place for the Holy, sought to build a ladder unto the heavens so that feet of dirt and clay might tread upon the threshold of the stars. But the gods never answered with a blessing. In that hour, the great sovereign despaired for mankind, believing the divine to be utterly distant... and on the final day, as the spire pierced the white mist of renown... ’He’ answered.”

Murphy paused for a moment. The tower that was built to gaze on Gods...

”’He’ was divine, ’He’ was great, ’He’ was exalted, and ’He’ was majestic, the all-knowing God, the Almighty God. ’He’ was the light that fell upon the city, how bitter a tragedy that the emperor, Andronicus the Great, could not endure his countenance. ’His’ gaze was bright, too blinding for the eyes of flesh to behold. ’He’ commanded that building should cease, decreeing. ’Look not to the firmament, for no heaven awaits you there.’ Yet, in ’His’ mercy, ’He’ bestowed ’His’ gaze upon us, a perpetual covenant that was to keep the city under ’His’ watchful eyes. Emperor Andronicus proclaimed his victory, declaring his faith had triumphed. On that morn, a new sun dawned in the city that was when the sovereign named it... the City of Light.”

Murphy’s expression turned grim as he continued reading it, each word gave him goosebumps as if he was hearing a divine history that humans never deserved. Although, the history of the city was crafted on the stone, yet there was nothing which said the reason of the downfall.

”And yet, the Almighty whispered his true name into the hearts of men, we were blessed to spread the glory. ’He’ told us ’His’ name... the Lightless. How shallow is the well of human wisdom when we thought it was an irony.”

Murphy read the words quietly: who was the Lightless... where was ’He’ now? Could it be that even Gods die? Where was ’His’ body now?

He looked at the ladder. Murphy stepped forward, but the moment his boot touched the dust inside the tower, the howling wind outside died instantly, and a heavy silence occurred.

”A monument to human foolishness.” He adjusted his fedora, his eyes tracking the spiral staircase that coiled upward into the dark of the tower’s peak. ”They built a ladder to see Gods was already idiotic. They forgot that things living in the heights do not like to be stared at.”

The air grew colder with every step. The blue lightning outside flashed through the cracks in the stone walls, casting long, distorted shadows. There were no statues of angels or benevolent entities here.

Instead, the walls were carved with relief sculptures of men with hollow eyes, their hands raised to a blank, carved circle in the ceiling... the symbol of the Lightless. A crescent moon-looking smile held by strings and two circular-like opposite U with a feather hiding half of the right eye.

Murphy stared at the symbol of the Lightless. His focus shifted to the ladder ahead as he finally took the next steps.

His boots echoing with a thock-thock sound as he reached an open area where a broken statue was scattered. Around it were various objects, and then he looked at the wall where there was a small crack, and from inside it, a faint orange light came. But when his gaze fell on it, the light instantly turned purple, and the whole chamber groaned.

That was when the dimension cracked.

A large tear opened in the air, and from the hole, a black ink fell on the ground.

Murphy braced himself up as his boots slid back over the gritty stone.

The black ink on the ground spread up, bubbles erupted upward, defying gravity, and turned into thick tendrils that reached toward the tear in the dimension.

Then, the air thickened; its color shifted to dark purple. From the hole, a horrific screech echoed through the chamber.

Through the dimensional tear, a massive shadow loomed inside, blocking out what little light remained. From the darkness of the rift, a creature’s crimson eyes appeared. It looked less like an animal and more like a nightmare torn straight from a ruined world.

Two large, shadow-draped appendages, which were tipped with two glowing red spikes like ghostly fingers slammed into the stone frame of the rift. The claw-hair shifted forward violently, almost as if pulling the rift tear open even further. The gravity in the room instantly shifted.

Pieces of the broken statue and wooden chunks from the floor began to float into the air, slowly drifting toward the sky.

The creature leaned its head forward and looked outside the portal, its gaze locking directly onto Murphy.