Chapter 552 - 498: The Red Tower (1/2)

”Arthur Bilgart… who are you and why are you in my dreams?”

Zodiak laid on the sofa, his eyes facing the ceiling, unable to close them or think about anything else other than what he heard a few hours ago. He sat up, retrieved his journal and was about to write but couldn't, his fingers refused to obey him as if some sort of mystical force was stopping him from writing about his death and yesterday's events.

…

Claud told them about many things about this planet and how the world functions. They were sent from the 5th era to the Era of Beginning, or so it was called by everyone. Unlike in the future, the inhabitants of Serenity didn't discover any lives outside of the planets despite many desperate tries. Their technology was advanced enough to explore the space for a limited amount of time but all they could find was meteors and planets utterly void of any life.

The scientist spoke about this society, in which a government rules over the citizens and, unlike the future, it's not the strongest who rule. There's a council of officials and scientists who manage everything. Furthermore, Magic is prohibited anywhere on Serenity and anyone caught experimenting or wielding it is sentenced to death, immediately.

Apparently, some hundred years ago, there was a faction of mages who decided to resist the current system and caused a lot of damage, slaughtered thousands and experimented on innocents and this caused almost everyone to hate the word 'magic' and anything related to it.

In the end, this mage faction was obliterated and the few survivors went hiding. Up to this day, the government is still searching for their remains and finishing them one by one. This was part of the reason Claud was hiding his ability, which can be regarded as magic and this will lead to his execution. He was part of said council though he rarely attends it and is usually busy with his experiments. His wife highly praised his intelligence and talked about his innovative inventions.

In fact, Angel was an alchemist but wasn't as famous as her husband, she just had a small shop which sold miscellaneous things.

The next morning, Claud acted a bit different, hysterical even. It was his silver-haired wife who, after several bitter attempts, managed to calm him down and explained to the guests that it's a normal thing for him whenever he dreams about those called disasters.

This time, however, he repeatedly spoke about the disasters and set out to warn the council, sure that the time of doom is upon them.

As for Zodiak and Aneirin, they ventured outside, trying to locate the treasure that supposedly was at the bottom of the well. It was a talisman that belonged to an ancient being and, from what Aneirin persistently said, can help increase Zodiak's control over Dark Magic. This Talisman belongs to the first person who picks it and enters their body, feeding off the energy in the owner's surroundings and converting it to whatever the user wants.

”Where do you think it can be?”

While licking a gigantic lollipop, the troubadour asked his not-so-talkative companion.

”It could be anywhere.”-Zodiak

”Nop. Since the well guided us here, it should be near. I trust my explorer's sense.”

”We weren't guided here but summoned.”

Zodiak correct the bard but the latter retorted

”Hm I wonder about that.”

****

”Ahhhh you're so cute!”

Saly pinged little Ragnar's cheeks, her tail wagging happily. She was baby-sitting this newborn baby, who was usually quiet and very rarely cried. Jackob is busy some important matters related to the sect so she volunteered to take care of his son.