Chapter 783 — The Trap Deep in Memory
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"Likely not mental-image interference alone," the Everslumber priest responded. "I cannot reach the monitoring team in the rear—likely, beyond the misalignment and interference of perception, our entire minds have been shifted into some deeper confinement... This town is alive. It even has the capacity to devise such an exquisite and sinister trap against us."
"This (Oldernan profanity) place!" the Netherworld priest Magnum swore. "In any case, let us calibrate our minds first. Whatever we are trapped in, at the very least we must see clearly what is holding us..."
Listening to that familiar booming voice rattle on, the Everslumber priest merely said coolly, "While you were shouting those vulgar words, I was already doing so."
He gathered his scattered consciousness, concentrated his somewhat distorted thoughts, and in this chaotic, unbalanced ocean of spirit, little by little re-sketched the twisted cognition of self.
Boundless mist gathered around him, and the outlines of many familiar yet strange things surfaced within that fog. Yuri felt his mind sinking ever deeper into memory and consciousness. Gradually the fog that had vexed eye and ear dispersed, and at last a concentrated, "real" scene appeared once more before his eyes.
He stood within an ancient and gloomy castle, within the castle's library.
Set into stone walls centuries old were magic crystals that gave off a dim yellow glow; classical "Tricker"-style columns stretched away in his line of sight, the stone pillars supporting a high vault of brick and stone whose intricate, mysterious murals and heraldic emblems were coated in a layer of black ash, as though they had already merged with the darkness beyond the castle.
Between the columns and the walls, between the gloomy vault and the rough flagstone floor, stood row upon row of heavy oak bookshelves and brass lamp posts whose tops gave off a bright yellow light.
Clad in a white robe, Yuri wandered quietly through this gloomy, ancient castle, strolling among bookshelves that seemed capable of drowning a man.
"Calibrating one's mind... truly no pleasant thing."
The Everslumber priest murmured softly to himself as he walked deeper along those bookshelves that had already weathered and faded in memory, yet now stood vividly restored.
This came from the memory he had buried deep, and also the memory he could not forget.
He passed a black bookshelf, and between its two supports a wooden door was bizarrely set. As Yuri walked past the door, it opened of its own accord, light bursting forth from within and revealing the scene on the other side—
A boy in a luxurious riding coat ran through a bright castle, anxious servants and maids at his heels, an aged steward standing not far off, panting and helpless.
Yuri's gaze did not shift. He merely walked quietly past, leaving the door behind him.
The next bookshelf, the next door...
The youth rode on horseback, threading lightly along the manor's paths; unknown birds started up from the roadside, and servants in red and blue smocks followed close by.
The youth, somewhat older now, sat in the library, smiling as he read those costly tomes and classics, the old steward standing quietly to one side with a placid smile.
People came and went within the castle; a middle-aged noble couple, their features already blurred, stood frowning in the courtyard.
Someone was reading aloud the decree of His Imperial Majesty; someone was discussing the dark clouds over Oldernan; someone was discussing the plots and strife within the Obsidian Palace; someone was whispering the name of Prince Luoyan Augustus; someone was speaking of the madness and obsessiveness of the Augustus family; someone was speaking of the fallen old imperial capital, and of the curse that had spread among the imperial family after its fall.