Chapter 84: Spiritual Tree (1/2)
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You have learned Despair Aura!
Your Intimidation skill has been incorporated!
Despair Aura has leveled up! x2
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Pronos suddenly jumped in fright to the opposite side of the room as a black thin aura appeared around Rakna. The little snake almost thought he was going to get a heart attack. He looked back at his therian friend from a distance and could still feel as if something was looming over his head and whispering in his ears while pressing a knife against his throat.
”Oh,” Rakna exclaimed when he saw that and Pronos deadpanned at him. He looked at himself and the pitch-black aura around him. He squinted and tried to activate his regular aura on top of it. It instantly turned into a mix of cold cyan and black. ”Hm, good to know. Though, this thing will be troublesome if it even affects allies.”
[If I may, Despair Aura is an intent and emotion-fueled skill. It is in the realm of possibility to spare certain people from it as long as you consciously establish that they're no danger to you.]
”I see,” he followed Alexa's advice and exhaled as he tried to focus on 'who Pronos was' and easily enough, the pressure on the little snake nearly vanished as if it was never there.
Pronos hissed in relief and carefully made his way back. He jumped on the seat next to Rakna and curiously looked at the fluctuating black and blue aura. He could still feel some amount of coercion but it wasn't hostile.
At the same time, Rakna's ears twitched as the sound of footsteps echoed. He instantly powered down his auras and looked at the staircase where three people had emerged. One of them was predictably Gray but the other two perplexed him.
The first one was a woman with short straight blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a completely white attire and sported a Christian cross around her neck. She had a soft smile on her face that emitted nothing but compassion. But he could tell by her scent that she was annoyed.
In fact, this irritation seemed to be directed at the second unknown individual next to her. It was a middle-aged man with sharp features and mellow brown eyes. He wore a black and red garb that made him look like a priest. Just like the woman, he also had a cross hanging from his neck.
However, the cross was beyond weird. If anything, Rakna would describe it as a satanic symbol more than anything else. This cross had eight branches with four of them forming a diagonal cross on top of the regular Christian one. It seemed to be made of wood with a very dark shade and was attached with a thin chain. But the most abnormal thing about it was the silver skull.
At the center point where the branches met laid a small silver skull with a very faint red glow in its eye sockets. Rakna couldn't help but shiver at this alien symbol but for some reason, it also felt somewhat familiar to him.
There was also the problem of his new ability to smell emotions. For one, he could easily smell the simple emotions coming from both the woman and Gray but the other man was different. He had no way of describing the scent he gave off, but the first thing that came to his mind was emptiness; a bottomless pit.
”Oh? Is this the young man responsible for finding the tomb?” The woman asked when she spotted Rakna in the lounge room. Her scent had gained a faint hint of curiosity and respect.
”Yes, his name is Rakna Xiorra. Throne of Glory's latest recruit,” Gray said as he led the way toward the couches near said recruit. ”By the way, I heard from Vegas that you went out with your foxy today, did you have fun?” He asked with a grin.
Rakna huffed. ”Moderately.”
Gray cackled. ”More seriously, how you're holding up?”
”Fine, all things considered,” Rakna said as he flexed his arm. ”I still have a headache and I'll probably need some time before I can move freely, but most of my injuries are healed.”
”Great! I assume you don't mind if they ask you a few questions then, right?” The clown said as he waved at the two people following him.
”And they are?” Rakna retorted.
When Gray was about to introduce them, the priest raised his hand to stop him, ”Let me. My name is O'Gram Hei. I'm a Cardinal hailing from the Basilica of Eternal Night.”
'Eternal Night? Again?' Rakna thought. ”Are you a group of people capable of using Aeter then?”
”Unfortunately, no. We merely worship the God of Eternal Night. We do have some Aeter wielders in our ranks but that is not what defines our members. We would be quite short-handed if that were the case, considering the rarity of Aeter users.”
”I see…” He muttered then turned toward the other person.
She smiled at him when he looked at her. ”Nice to meet you, my name is Angela Frey. I'm a dean and unofficial priestess from the Christian Church.”
”So, even Christianity is here…” Now, this truly puzzled Rakna. ”How? Shouldn't it be a religion from Earth? It's the same for you Clown; you seem to have some knowledge of Earth's culture.”
”Ah, right, I forgot you were new to the System,” Gray uttered. ”You're both wrong and correct. Let's see… Have you ever heard of the Spiritual Tree?”
Rakna scowled. ”Like, the World Tree?”
”No, that would be Yggdrasil,” O'Gram intervened. ”How about this instead? Do you know of the collective consciousness?”
”I have heard of the concept.”
”Then, that will make it easier. The Spiritual Tree is the root of the collective consciousness which freely spreads across all worlds and dimensions. Beliefs, ideas, dreams; all of it goes through the Spiritual Tree and shapes the world.”
Gray nodded. ”Why do you think the Dreorins, while globally called differently from Earth, have the same individual designations that you know of? Monsters like kobolds, goblins, orcs, slimes were fictional beings in your world. They were undeniably imagined by someone at some point but the question is; how did it happen?”
”You see, the Spiritual Tree makes sure that the world stays 'consistent'. If a sentient being thinks of something that is already registered inside the collective consciousness, then they will name it accordingly after receiving inspiration from the Tree itself without them even realizing it. That is why, while the Earth has indeed come up with their own culture, it is not necessarily unique.”
”That does make sense…” Rakna recalled everything he saw until now. Slimes, dinosaurs, golems, beast-men, elves, and even mundane things such as gold, animals, and plants. All of those were at some point the fruit of human imagination or research, for either their appellation of portrayal, but it would be conceited to say that the Earth was somehow the origin of their existence.
”But what is the first instance? Is it possible to know which planet or world changed the records of the Spiritual Tree? For instance, the first humans, the first elves, the first monsters, or gods?”
Gray shrugged. ”That, I don't know. The universe is ever-expanding anyway. I don't even want to think about how hard that would be.”
”But anyhow, we're getting out of topic,” Angela said and everyone looked at her. ”Rakna Xiorra, we are here to ask about your… encounter. Your AI told us it was an Abyss Téras by the name of Verias. We would like you to give us more details of what happened.”
”Can I ask why?” Rakna replied whilst frowning at the two devout people. ”More specifically, why would you two need to know?”
”I can answer that,” O'Gram said. ”Our Basilica and the Church are two of the most influential organizations in the System and our nemesis is the Abyss. Being a gathering of both the terrors of nature, the Téra, and the creatures of the night, Vampires, they are our archenemy.”
”Indeed,” Angela nodded. ”I do not know of what the Church exactly was on your planet, but it's a fact that vampires, among others, are one of our biggest enemies.”
Rakna raised an eyebrow. ”Well, as far as I know, vampires do not exist on Earth. However, it is a not well-known fact that the more convoluted legends originated from a certain disease. A disease that made one's skin paler and over-sensitive to sunlight.”
Angela was first confused by his intention in saying that but it quickly turned into a wince when he continued.
”The Church branded them as malevolent for their suffering. They were seen as people that would sleep in the dark because that was their only way to shield themselves from the light of the sun and hide from scorn. They would be fearful of onions because they had properties that worsened their illness' symptoms. They would be scared of the Christian Cross because that meant that the inquisition was nearby and might burn them or spike them.”