Chapter 969 — The Beginning of a Shift
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 4
"High Priest, it is a rare thing for you to set foot in the Council headquarters in person rather than simply sending me word through the Omega network," said Anqian, several implant components on his head flickering with faint flowing light, his voice reverberating through the whole hall via the amplification devices. "Is there some important matter you must convey in person?"
"The god is resting. He has issued a decree: the inspection tour of the two ancient continents, Kaldor and Mor, is cancelled for this century. The Wayfarer team as originally designated is to be disbanded on the spot and await orders in Talund."
"Why?" Anqian could not help asking.
"There is no why," Hragor said mildly. "Carry it out."
Anqian's gaze settled on Hragor. After several seconds of watching, he withdrew his eyes and said in a low voice: "...I understand."
Yet the High Dragon Priest, having delivered the "divine oracle," did not leave, but remained standing quietly where he was.
"Is there something else?" Anqian could not help asking.
"A second matter—"
Hragor said mildly, then drew from his robes a small talisman—wrought of some unknown metal, its silver-white surface drifting with specks of faint light, yet seeming to have no substance at all; its edges kept flickering into a hazy semi-transparency. It all but floated above the dragon priest's hand, and rather than an object existing in the real world, it resembled a "projection" dragged by some force out of another time and space.
The instant he saw that talisman, Anqian's breath involuntarily skipped half a beat; and the next second, he saw Hragor crush that "talisman projection," poised between the real and the unreal, without the slightest hesitation.
"Hragor! You—" the Speaker could not help crying out. His upper body swayed, the countless conduits and cables attached to him clattering, and even the crystal drapes around the hall, displaying every manner of data, instantly rippled with countless disordered waves.
"The second matter," Hragor repeated, the fragments of the talisman in his hand dispersing bit by bit into the air, "is this: for the next three minutes, we are both outside the god's sight."
The last fragments of the talisman dissolved utterly into the air.
Anqian sat high upon the Mind Throne that was his, motionless as a statue, watching Hragor standing below.
For the first time in more than a million years, he felt his heart pounding again.