472 Elder Gin (1/2)
Raven and the stranger at his room stared at each other.
The situation was tense. Raven's instincts kicked in and yelled that this man was dangerous, yet it also tells him that this guys doesn't mean him any harm. It was weird but Raven knew that he could rely on his instincts.
The stranger was an old man with a bald head and a long white beard which was adorned by black laces swirling around them. It would appear as if the man was sleeping while standing due to his eyelids shut at all times, yet Raven could tell that he doesn't need them open to see things clearly. The erosion of time was visible on his visage through wrinkles, bent back, old fashioned robes and a wooden cane.
But even though this old man appear weak and frail, his presence screamed otherwise. Raven was no fool. Anyone who survived long enough in this sect, is someone who shouldn't be called 'weak' nor 'frail'.
”Very promising…” The old man's hoarse voice rang on Raven's ears, causing him to shiver.
Raven felt…vulnerable. For the first time in a long while, he felt exposed. Very much so.
It was as if this old man can see everything he's hiding plus more. He can't say that liked the feeling but he was helpless against it.
”I thought I was going to meet yet another potential failure, but…” The old man smiled serenely before continuing: ”You're not bad at all, uh…what was it again, right, Vendrick is it?”
”Yes, Elder. But I prefer Raven personally.” He replied while doing a curt bow. The old man's cryptic words were starting to make sense to him, in fact he could even guess why this man was here.
”Raven it is.” The old man helped himself and sat down to a nearby chair. And although his eyes were closed, his gaze never left Raven at all.
”Oh dear me, I haven't even introduced myself yet.” The old man chuckled, he cleared his throat and said: ”My name is Gin. It is nice meeting you, Young Raven.”
”The feeling is mutual Elder Gin.” Raven replied, giving out another salute to the old man.
”Sit, sit.” The old man seems to be pleased by how Raven carried himself, he asked the young man to sit down, to which Raven complied. ”Well, how is it? What are your first impressions about the sect?”
Raven was a bit surprised but answered nonetheless: ”It wasn't like how I imagined it to be. Specially after hearing Senior Brother's words about the summarized history of our sect.”
”Right? After all, who would've expected to be thrown directly onto hell upon your first arrival?” The old man let out a hearty chuckle.
”One devil...” The old man stated, ”One strong, extremely powerful and villainous devil, was all it took to threated the very existence of the Divine Realm itself. Such a matter might be unbelievable, but the longer you remain here, the more you'll feel the sheer horror of that one devil's power.”
”Even so, it was barely enough to keep that devil's power.” The old man used a severe tone as he stated this, ”Even with Mount Olympus as the seal, its vile power leaks and reeks pure evil. So much so that another seal was created in order to prevent its corruption of lives.”
”That patching seal, is called the Devil Emperor's Pagoda.” The old man dropped yet another shocking revelation to Raven.
Although the young man has many questions, he didn't interrupt the old man and just waited for him to speak.
”The Devil Emperor's Pagoda is created to contain the monstrosities that are leaking from the spatial rend, which size was almost as big as the Mount Olympus itself. That spatial rend was the result of the Devil God trying to break from its imprisonment by producing large amounts of Devils to do its bidding.”
”The location of the pagoda is at the center of Tartarus.” The old man stated, he then used his cane to draw some images in order for Raven to understand his point.