23 Agents of Shield (2/2)
The door behind me slid close and blocked our escape path.
”Um, guys,” I called to their retreating backs.
”It's alright, Dean,” Aura insisted. She waited for me while the others went further in to follow the shieldmaiden. ”There are no enemies here. Only knowledge.”
The hallway was long and narrow. It was all white stone on one side and an intricate stone sculpture on the other depicting a story I'd seen once before, but I couldn't place where I'd seen it. Whoever carved it separated the wall sculptures into panels showing a different scene in each like a comic book read from right to left.
”What is this about?” I asked, curious.
”This is the 'Tale of the Lost Monarch' which tells the story of the last and greatest of the fairy kings,” Aura pointed to the first panel in the line. ”This speaks of his birth, when the great high-priestess, Mab, brought him to life by mixing the blood of a fallen human king into the body of one of her fairy followers.”
It was a pretty graphic scene that I wasn't sure I could do justice describing. There was a fairy with twin horns on her head standing over a seated fairy with her legs parted apart like she was about to give birth. A pool of what I assumed was blood flowed out of her and mixed with the pool of blood underneath the corpse of the dead man beside her. And from his open chest, a babe with long ears sprung forth.
The writing underneath the sculpture was in primordial script but in a language I didn't understand.
”Is this a different dialect?” I asked Aura. ”I don't recognize it.”
”You only speak common,” Aura explained. ”This is Elvish... the oldest of the fairy languages.”
”What does it say?” I asked while thinking I needed to learn the other fairy languages at some point.
”The passage of great strife gives birth to a blessed life,” Aura translated.
The panels after the first one were similar depictions of blood and gore, from decapitations of his enemies to the impaling of his wives, it was certifiably disturbing to look at. And I wondered if this great king wasn't just a tyrant with a bloated ego and a very bloody reign.
The last panel on the wall before we reached the entryway to the hall beyond was empty, and I had to ask why it was left like this.
”The successor hasn't been chosen yet,” Aura answered with a glint of something akin to hope clinging to her eyes as she stared at the wall. ”Shall we?”
The wide, round hall we walked into was no place of worship like I'd ever seen. Unless you counted a sports stadium a place to commune with the heavens which some people do. Don't get me wrong, the high ceiling and wide windows on the walls certainly gave it a cathedral-type kind of vibe. Only, there was no altar at the end or wooden pews for people to sit and pray in. In their place were several rectangular training mats at intervals along both sides of the hall, and it looked like a martial arts tournament was taking place in this huge space. That was clear from the many shieldmaidens trouncing the supplicants who'd come seeking knowledge or blessing.
It was Luca who asked the question that was also on my mind, ”What is going on here?”
The shieldmaiden who guided us to this place responded with, ”This is the hall of prayers where supplicants come to show they are worthy of the priestess' gifts through a test of strength.”
”So~~o, everyone in the Fayne is a battle freak,” I sighed.
”Why are we here again?” Luca asked this question while racing an eyebrow at me. It was a promise of another lecture later.
”To get my master's iron-forged arcane focus blessed of impurities, why else would you want to subject yourself to this tor— uh... I mean bountiful experience,” Zarz explained quickly.
I was pretty sure he was about to say torture.
”Tell me, which of you seeks our blessing?” the green-eyed shieldmaiden asked us.
Everyone turned their heads at me. Even Aura, who looked at me encouragingly like an older sister taking her kid brother to daycare. Edo had a smile playing on his lips whileVarda was giving me the thumbs up. Raz was shaking his head apologetically. Luca just looked exasperated.
I sighed before I raised my hand. ”I'm your guy…”
”Is this your first time to seek aid from the righteous path?” the shieldmaiden asked.
I nodded as I found it difficult to speak while there was a lump of regret lodged in my throat.
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click visiting.
”Very well...” the shieldmaiden looked dejected like it saddened her to hear I was a noob to all of this worshipping. ”As you are a novice, it is only appropriate that you spar with one of our novice sisters as well on your path to true enlightenment.”
I didn't complain. I was all for the easy setting to enlightenment. Then I saw the new shieldmaiden the green-eyed one called for.
She'd been standing at attention by one of the other mats playing referee to another supplicant and shieldmaiden sparring when our guide called her.
She was a human girl in the same white robe and silver armor as our guide. But there was no chord of vines on her waist. Instead, she wore a thick brown leather belt with a sword scabbard attached to its side. There was a round wooden shield strapped on her back as well.
As she approached us, this brown-haired girl with fair skin and sea-green eyes looked at me with a hint of recognition showing on her face. I was the same way. I'd recognized her too. It was the girl who disappeared on her fourteenth birthday two years before Luca. It was Ty's crush, Ashley Johnson.