Chapter 306 — Communication and Exposure
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
Static crackled in bursts from the magical communication device, but Berna paid it no mind. She waited patiently with a smile for a few seconds, and then a hoarse, low voice came through the device, like dry branches scraping together:
"Today's wasteland is as dull as every day past, Pontiff Beyira. Why have you suddenly contacted us through the dark bridge?"
"I wanted to confirm the situation at the outposts," said Beyira—publicly known as Berna, in truth a mid-level leader of the cult—in a flat tone. "You should already know that those blind monsters attacked the borders of both Typhon and Ansu at the same time."
"...'This side' of the Wall is all under control. Accidents beyond the Wall are none of our concern, Your Eminence."
Beyira gave a soft scoff, clearly less than satisfied with the answer. "Mutated individuals with rudimentary intelligence and formidable spellcasting ability have appeared among the aberrations. Why was none of this mentioned in the earlier reports?"
The voice on the other end of the device fell silent for a moment, then the crackling returned. "...We have not observed the kind of mutants you describe."
Beyira's delicate brows drew together slightly; she was even less pleased with this reply. "Do you think I would fabricate something like this? Even the humans outside the Wall have now sighted entirely new mutant monsters. Do you truly know nothing?"
"Pontiff Beyira, do not question the loyalty of the 'Sacrificers.' We do not know what these mutants you speak of are, but we will investigate. If it is all true, then it can only mean those monsters are undergoing mutations never observed before. In the face of such change, patience until the investigation concludes is the wisest course."
"I will wait," Beyira said, her expression cold and stiff, "but I am running short on patience."
"Patience, patience. We have been patient for seven hundred years. Nothing can affect our plan now..."
The noise and the voices from the communication device gradually faded together. Beyira knew the dark bridge was reaching its limit, and that the illegal signal bleed in the channel would soon be noticed by the Silver Empire's mages. So before the connection cut out entirely, she hurried to say: "The elves will soon notice activity along the Great Wall. Our channel will be reset, modified according to the second contingency..."
The sky was covered in filthy clouds like a mire, and the restless chaotic magic within them spawned ceaseless lightning. The howling wind carried toxic gases and radioactive dust. All things withered and perished in this lethal environment, or else mutated and twisted—even the earth, regarded as the foundation of all things, had been reduced by corrosive magical energy to a wasteland of scorch marks. This was a place where life had been extinguished.
Yet still some "things" moved about in this lifeless land.
In the arcane-scorched region of the Gondo Wasteland, a "forest" was slowly creeping.
Pitch-black, twisted branches grew unchecked in the corrupted magic, sparse and messy gray-white leaves clinging to their tips. Pale or blood-red crystalline growths pierced the bark of these plants, embedded like inlays amid the horrifyingly twisted limbs. No naturalist in the world could identify the species or name of these "trees"; even in the most absurd and outlandish scrolls devoted to depicting the Black Forest, no one had ever painted "trees" of such bizarre form—and especially not trees that rattled and swayed their branches, walking on dense mats of roots. That went far beyond the impoverished human imagination.