stjorthotic Chapter 131 The Forgotten Gods
Chapter 131 The Forgotten Gods
Chapter 131 The Forgotten Gods
"When the last believer who recited his name died alone in the long night, the names of those gods were forgotten in the river of time. The records about them faded on parchment and eventually disappeared, as if they had never existed in this world."
"When you speak their names to the dusty altar and pray to the endless void, what will answer you?"
"It is silence, an endless silence."
"But please don't mistake the silence of the gods for their death. Gods don't die; they are merely asleep—"
They are as ancient as the ether that constitutes this world; hundreds of centuries are but a fleeting moment to those beings. They have enough patience to wait for mortals to call upon those forgotten names once more.
"Yes, in every storm, we find the teeth of the Devourer; in every mystery, we see the handwriting of the Hoarder; when you gaze at the shadow of the night, the dark eyes of the Shadow One also gaze at your soul—"
"They will not perish, for they are part of this world, as real as the wind, the fire, the continent, and the sea."
"Accept your fate, mortal, or destruction awaits you."
The Old Gospel
Author: [Taboo]
ha?
In the world of meditation, Geb looked at the Book of Sand and scratched his head.
Even such a powerful Book of Sand has things that are not shown to you?
The six evil gods are opposed to the righteous and great Oubak. Twelve hundred years ago, the prophet Oubak led thirteen knights in an uprising against the wizards who ruled this land.
The Arken-Opha Empire
Of course, although it was called an empire, it was actually a loose alliance of city-states.
The wizard lords enslaved the people through magic, resorting to extreme methods in their quest to uncover its secrets, even resorting to sacrifices in their research. The people's needs were completely ignored—but when O'Bak stood up, his call to arms was met with overwhelming support. The wizards soon discovered that even these docile lambs possessed sharp horns.
During the decades-long war, the wizards were ultimately defeated and driven out of the land.
What was cleared from this land was not only things related to magic, but also all kinds of beliefs—from the fairies in the lake to the ancestral spirits of the mountain people. Anything that people had statues of and worshipped was labeled "heretic" and thrown into the fire to be burned to ashes.
The most influential of these is the belief in the Six Evil Gods.
Geb awoke from his meditation.
"So, do you know what these are now?" Dulin asked as he approached the goblin, who had woken up.
Geb did not answer the dwarf, but stood up, looked at the six discs on the floor in front of him, and stroked his chin.
Just over ten minutes ago, Dulin led his team to this room—at the far end of the room was a tightly closed stone door, on which was inscribed an ancient saying:
"DonumOblitis"
Gebu looked it up in the Book of Sand: Donum means to give, to present, or to offer; Obliitis means to be forgotten.
Offering a gift to the forgotten?
Combined with the six discs with symbols engraved on them lined up on the ground, it can perhaps be interpreted as placing gifts on each of the six discs.
Then open the door?
Through the search in the Great Book Cave, Gebu discovered that the word Oblitis, in general context, specifically refers to a forgotten god—an ancient belief and evil god worshipped by the followers of Obac in this land.
The Six Evil Gods.
Yes, travelers are one of them.
Gebu looked at his dimensional bag, and the face of that annoying elf uncle flashed before his eyes.
"You're everywhere," Geb thought to himself.
This manticore had inadvertently stumbled into a temple worshipping an evil god; no wonder it possessed such strange strength. The goblin grew increasingly terrified. What if the manticore hadn't actually entered by accident?
He wanted to tie up the kobold again and interrogate him, but Tutu was now under Soton's control and had become a bargaining chip for the beastmen, making it difficult for Gebu to act.
He turned his attention back to the six discs—six plates, six gifts, six evil gods.
But which plate corresponds to which evil god? It wasn't written out.
Six Evil Gods:
[Devourer]
[The Resentful]
hoarders
The Mocker
[Shadowbringer]
[Traveler]
These names are the code names of the Six Evil Gods; their real names are not recorded. Even the Book of Sand contains no related documents.
No, it's not that I can't find it, it's that it won't tell me. Geb thought. Records of these evil gods have been erased by some strange force, and every time I get close to the truth, a gust of wind blows the words written in the sand away.
Sigh, this book really is church stuff. When it comes to crucial moments, it's still restricted by the church.
Based on the information available, Gebu knew that each of the six evil gods represented a negative aspect of the world or the human soul. For example, the Devourer represented the wrath of nature, while the Wraith represented human madness and passion.
Therefore, you should cater to their preferences.
Geb used his wizard's hand to brush away the dust from the disc, revealing an incised inscription on the stone slab.
They were written in the words of ancient sages. Gebu called Dulin over to help him transcribe the symbols, then meditated for half an hour, translating them word by word, memorizing them, and then returning to reality to copy them onto paper.
After doing all this, Gebu showed the lines of text to Dulin. The swordswoman also came over, glanced at it, and decisively gave up.
"—You guys handle this, I'm getting dizzy from all these words."
"Who called you?" Gebu retorted. "Go over there and keep an eye on those—"
Before he could finish speaking, the goblin felt a huge shadow loom over him. He instinctively jumped forward and looked back to see Thorton standing behind him.
"You scared me to death—what do you want to do? Are you going to back out?"
"I want to open that door just like you, goblin," the half-deer said expressionlessly. "If we're going to cooperate, sharing information is the most basic consensus we need to reach."
Geb thought about it. This guy had some exposure to magic, so showing it to him wouldn't hurt.
Thinking this, Gebu recited the first riddle: "I bleed, nor do I sleep, formless and without body, yet I wear the garments of death. The king cannot command me to stop, nor will I pity the tears of children—I never utter my name, yet everything I pass by will never forget my existence."
Death? That was the first thing that came to mind. But the word "death" was already in the puzzle. It was unlikely he would spoil the ending for himself.
It sounds like a destructive force, shapeless yet incredibly powerful, unstoppable and relentless.
"SylvanyrshalVirelen," the half-deer whispered.
"What?"
"Nature's Wrath." Thordon switched to Common. "Have you ever experienced a blizzard? At the edge of the Immortal Forest, black clouds rolled down from the World's Ridge, the entire world was swallowed by a white storm—"
"The Devourer," Geb murmured. "In your culture, is there any god or being that corresponds to such destructive power?"
In the Onsal faith, the embodiment of nature's wrath is the father of the oak tree—Silvann "ithus".
"In dwarven culture, a similar being is called an Ortom, a stone spirit that controls earthquakes and volcanic eruptions," Dulin interjected.
"All the goblins know is Magnubier—everything is Magnubier's will, from wind and rain to gambling away all their money," Gob muttered. Compared to that, the goblin culture was really too backward.
After the people of different races finished sharing their cultures, they all looked at the only human in the group, Dove.
"Huh? I—I don't know?" The swordswoman stared blankly, completely bewildered, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Are there any other gods besides Obak?"
Good grief, humans and goblins are on the same level!