Chapter 1118 — The Threat at the Margins

Not far away, several artisans in work clothes were busy carrying equipment and new furniture into an empty room; two technicians in the white robes of researchers stood at the doorway chatting with Wright, who was in everyday dress; and a young acolyte, hammer and nails in hand, was solemnly nailing a new nameplate to the doorframe on one side.

Virodai walked toward them, her eyes falling on the nameplate the young acolyte had just nailed up. On that dark black board were two rows of clear, sharp words: Church of Yaochen, Headquarters; Theological Knowledge Repository.

In the corner of the nameplate was marked the emblem of the Theocratic Council: an open book, an eye looking down from above the book, and between the eye and the book two crossed daggers — symbols of the liberation of divine authority, the return of knowledge and reason, and the necessary means and resolve for cutting the chains.

"Virodai," Wright had noticed the figure approaching. The burly leader of the church turned at once, a commanding smile on his face. "Come and see the church's new facility — this is the Theocratic Council's office in the church. Afterward we will set up a dedicated research group here to study the earliest versions of the scriptures of Holy Light and to compile and summarize all the historical material concerning the Church of Yaochen. This is the sort of thing you should be a great help with."

"Good day, Great Patriarch," Virodai greeted him with a smile, coming to a stop at the doorway. She saw that the spacious room within already held many bookshelves, long tables, chairs, and a platform prepared specially for a Weave terminal, while on the farthest wall hung a large emblem of the Theocratic Council. Her gaze lingered on that emblem for a long while before she drew it back and gave Wright a slight nod. "Of course. I would be glad to help."

The age of Defiance is over, this leader of the Defiers from the ancient Gondo era sighed inwardly.

Seven hundred years ago, hidden beneath the earth, she had not seen the banner of the Gondo Empire fall; seven hundred years later, wandering through the world of humans, she had not seen the Defiance Project formally concluded either. But standing here, watching the emblem of the Theocratic Council raised before her eyes, she could not help thinking it all the same — the age of Defiance is over.

Yet she felt no regret at this, for it was not an ending that meant extinction — a new banner had been raised, and a new company of the brave were striving for a brighter future.

The reborn Theocratic Council would take up the legacy of the Defiance Project; standing on the foundations laid by their predecessors, they had already gone farther and seen wider. If the Defiance Project of the Gondo era had been the hysterical resistance thrown up in haste by desperate people suddenly confronted with a dark truth, then the Theocratic Council of today was an undertaking begun only after long deliberation, having taken up that legacy.

It would be more rational, more rigorous, and would win broader support — and it was more likely to succeed.

Virodai's only regret was that so many had not lived to see this day — the Defiers of old, and the Ophelia copies consumed in one iteration after another, one upload and download after another.

Wright's voice sounded beside her then, rousing Virodai from her brief distraction: "By the way, are you still going to attend the bishops' meeting at the church afterward?"

"I am going to see His Majesty today," Virodai shook her head. "Sorry — you will have to go yourself."

"Oh, that is fine, I can go on my own," Wright laughed. That smile, seemingly rough but in truth sincere, made people relax in spite of themselves (though now and then it gave those unaccustomed to it a different sort of tension). "You have looked a little preoccupied these past few days — I will handle things on the church side. You go and attend to your own business."

Virodaya's brow furrowed at once, instinctively: had her own emotions already leaked to the point of being perceptible to the outside world? It seemed the personality matrix still required adjustment...

...

After escorting Belantia back to the Autumn Palace, Gao Yang returned to his study. But when he pushed the door open and stepped inside, he saw a figure already standing in the room, as though she had been waiting for him a long while: Virodaya, holding her platinum-white scepter and clad in her nun's vestments.

Those entitled to enter his study without announcement were exceedingly few, and the leader of the Defiants from the Gondor era was one of them.

"Virodaya?" Gao Yang regarded the "Saint Princess" — that holy aura about her, that gentle smile she always wore — with some surprise. "You have business with me?"

"Your Majesty," Virodaya turned to face Gao Yang, and upon that face, always so serene and unruffled, there now rested a rare solemnity, "I wish to speak with you about the Gondor Wasteland."

Gao Yang was on his way to the high-backed chair behind his desk; at these words his steps halted at once. From her tone he caught something out of the ordinary: "The Gondor Wasteland? Why bring this up so suddenly?"

"I suspect that some force is stirring deep within the Gondor Wasteland — and that they pose a grave threat to the world outside."

Gao Song's expression turned grave: "A force? What kind of force?"

"Do you recall the intelligence mentioned in the files of the Congregation of the End of All Things that were seized from the Sorein Catacombs?" Virodaya looked into Gao Song's eyes. "Those records stated that two branches of the Congregation of the End of All Things were active in the world — one carrying out the 'False God's Body' project in the human world beyond the Great Wall, the other hidden away in the Gondor Wasteland, engaged in intelligence gathering, data support, and other seemingly peripheral activities..."

"Of course I know," Gao Shao nodded firmly. In truth, even without the files seized from the Sorein Catacombs, he knew that a remnant faction of the Congregation of the End of All Things lurked in the Wasteland — he had even dealt with this force personally, and had learned a great deal of intelligence about them from Bei Yila. "From what I understand... these cultists hidden in the Wasteland operate in extreme secrecy. Even the Congregation of Eternal Silence outside cannot be certain what these 'brethren' are actually doing. The Empire has attempted certain measures, but with the polluted zones of the Wasteland blocking the way, even knowing they exist, we have been powerless to act against them."

"Perhaps you ought to think of something now," Virodaya said gravely.