Chapter 451 (2/2)

“Let’s land outside and knock on the front door. If they stop us, however…” Everyone else nodded at his words.

Randidly was cursing inwardly. Because he suddenly wondered whether this would be as easy as he wanted. Was the Creature really here…? Because if this was another strange diversion built by the Creature, and he just came in and killed the people here on his hunch…

But his eyes wandered up to the strange seashell thing, and it was hard for Randidly to believe that this was just a simple decoration. Of course, it could be a trap, because the closer they got to it, the clearer it was that this thing was extremely dangerous. Around its apex, Aether spiraled in a whirlpool, sucked into one of the upper openings of it. At the opening, they was a sharp protuberance, spanning almost the entirety of the diameter towards the other side of the opening, perhaps going 85% of the distance. It almost looked like a shark’s fin.

As the Aether was sucked past this, the oddly serrated shark's fin caused it to… almost scream. There was a dull noise in the air that Randidly could now sense, like the shadow of a cloud on the ground, or the prickle of an oncoming headache. It was slightly beyond both his and Lucretia’s understand of Aether, what was happening here, but it set both of them on high alert.

They alighted on the ground, the 10 of them, then the couple thousand Death Cultists landed behind them, chittering excitedly to each other, looking around. The city was surrounded by a low wall, only about 3 meters high, nothing that would pose any real threat to even Rose.

Expecting the worst, Randidly walked towards the tall wooden door that had a road drapped from it like a beard, leading into the maw of the beast. To his surprise, when they approached, the door opened, and Randidly stopped short, his eyes narrowing.

Eight men in robes hurried out, unrolling a carpet, and then bowing to the black carpet they produced. Then, a man in a grey jumpsuit walked out and surveyed their group with keen eyes. He seemed to take them all in with only a second long glance, but Randidly was relatively amused to see the man glance back at them, specifically at Randidly’s bare feet, as if shocked.

For good measure, he wiggled his toes and grinned. The man sneered at him, raising his chin until he seemed to be staring almost directly upwards.

“You have the honor to be addressed by the immaculate Zith, greatest, and most giving among us, having led her chosen people promisedpromise land.”

A woman then walked out from the doors, in a brilliant white dress, that seemed to drip pearls from its hems and sleeves. She was not beautiful, but she was pretty, with a sharp, pointed face, and high, arching brows. Randidly didn’t fail to notice that as she appeared, guards up on a small rampart above the wall, holding bows and javelins, stood, gazing down over them all with a disapproving air. Almost 300, and just those they could see.

As the woman exited, the door slowly closed behind her, until it was only open a crack, but through that gap, Randidly had seen heavier troops, with weapons in had that were made to hack and break. His lips twitched farther upward, his nose flaring, as he sensed the approaching battle.

But first…

He considered the woman again, and then began clenching his fists so hard that the bones of his fingers popped. They had been warned about this, they had been told about her identity, btu that was from Aratta, the broken and ripped apart Wild Rider, so Randidly hadn’t thought too deeply about what it would mean that she was here, the villain in the story of the Death Cultists.

Or what that meant for his culpability for what she had to go through to get here. Her eyes were bright, and somewhat yellow, which Randidly didn’t remember, and her hair had darkened to a warm and refined chestnut. She wasn’t smiling, but she was inspecting Randidly with the same intensity that he was looking at her.

“Coward,” The head Grey Death Cultist hissed.

Her face twitched, and she shook her head, slowly, sadly.

Before they could get off track any further, Randidly spoke, his voice raw. “Is such an entrance...really necessary?”

Her smile was bitter, and when Gemma replied, her voice was just as raw. “If I hadn’t found small ways to amuse myself… I expect I would be slightly mad, living to the ripe old age of 408. Far, far beyond what a human should be forced to suffer through. Don’t you agree?”