Chapter 37: Curse (2)

“We here.” 

 

Said Kang as they arrived at a slow flowing river and next to it, stretching upwards laid an old city’s ruins on both of it’s banks. The city itself was surprisingly clean of overgrown vegetation, the buildings made from stone still standing, some were only rubbles but those that the gorillas frequented were in good shape and over the river two stone bridges still stood in good condition, making it easy to cross over the wide river.

 

On the opposite side stood a giant cathedral, still standing firmly, defying the countless years and it may have helped that the gorillas kept their neighborhood clean and proper. Ren could see the south portal of the cathedral, it’s rose windows long gone, broken in who knows when and only the frame remained, while the decoration on it’s walls and arches showed the erosion of time, most of the small carvings already were unrecognizable. It’s two, giant, almost 20 meters tall spires on the west portal still stood, but their coverings at the top were missing most of their pieces. 

 

“It’s a pretty serene place.” said Isha, surprised as a lot of gorillas came towards them, looking at them curiously but clearly keeping their guards up. 

 

Seeing how Kang is the one who brought them here, the tribe, that counted around 80 apes, were more accepting then if they would have arrived separately.

 

“Yeah,” nodded Zern “it’s calm and feels peaceful, especially with the sound of the gently rushing river.”

 

“Only their eyes carry much pain…” sighed Anya, completely sympathizing with the female gorillas, seeing their expressions that showed just as much emotion as a human would. 

 

“Hey… you okay?” whispered Leinor, who stood beside Ren, holding her by the shoulders “Ren?”

 

Soon the others noticed something was wrong with her. As soon as she stepped near the village her steps became wobbly, then froze up, her breathing sped up and she was soaked in perspiration.

 

“What’s wrong?” rushed up Anya too, checking her forehead, fearing the curse was real and it affected her daughter which would be disastrous 

 

“Nothing…” gulped Ren, trying to regain her footing “Don’t any of you feel it?”

 

Seeing nobody reacted and only looked at eachother clueless, even Kang and Shaman became curious what’s going on.

 

“You were right.” straightened up, revolving her energies to revitalize herself as Leinor unconditionally pumped his own strength inside her, stroking her back gently as Ren looked at Shaman “This place is cursed.”

 

“See? I told you.” smiled triumphantly 

 

“Ren…” asked Anya with concern but she just shook her head 

 

“It’s not like what you think. If you move out you will be fine.” turned towards Kang who immediately tried to say it did not work before, but Ren only continued “You need to recuperate for a decade or so. But you will be fine. Your souls are damaged but not so much, it won’t heal if you keep out from here. Give it another few hundred years and you too will get to a point where you start to show the symptoms the young ones did and then die. It would be too late to move by then.”

 

“Why… youngs… die?” asked Kang, mulling over her words 

 

“They have weak souls, not cultivated yet. Same with the babies, before their souls could settle in their bodies it gets destroyed… and to that all of your females’ souls are damaged, it’s like trying to hold water in a colander. Won’t work.”

 

“What about you? And the others? We should leave.” urged Anya 

 

“How do know little human?” asked Kang with a serious expression 

 

“She always had special sensing abilities.” commented Leinor

 

“Yeah, Master came up with a whole new cultivation system by herself. Questioning her wouldn’t-” answered Poli with an annoyed voice but Ren just raised her hand 

 

“A few days or weeks won’t affect us.” said to her mother before turning towards Kang “It takes years to take effect. The worst part is… the souls here won’t just be destroyed. They are broken down then… consumed.”

 

“Consumed?” asked Shaman with surprise “By who? Or what?”

 

“I felt a presence under us.” said, taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, as her small mouth moved around, like if someone tastes a fine wine before gulping a little and continuing speaking “There is a dead god under us.”

 

Her words were quiet and calm, especially after she reopened her eyes that showed a collected and indifferent expression but deep within question marks floated around continuously as this was something she never thought would happen or she would come across.

 

“A god?” whispered Feynor, furrowing his brows as others mulled over her word.

 

At first most of them wanted to dismiss it, as wild imagination, especially as they did not feel anything amiss, only Leinor was standing behind her, holding her shoulders, supporting her with a small smile, reassuring her, he believes all that she says. 

 

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“What do you mean by a dead god?” asked Feynor “This is not the first time you mention gods, as you did the same when we discovered the first demon crystal.”

 

“I studied… a lot of legendaries.” explained Ren after thinking a little “Old ones, from the dawn of mankind, back from even the ancient days from where little as no record remains, up to ten thousand years ago…” said, choosing her words carefully as she wouldn’t want to try to explain that this is her second life, or maybe who knows how many she had before, just not retaining her memories like now. 

 

“We have a whole library at home.” smiled Anya “Ren always asked us to bring books, she ate them up like candies.”

 

“I remember my father mentioned that General Xendar borrowed copies of the oldest reliquias to bring home.” giggled Leinor, musing at Ren as nobody saw her as a bookworm, only he knew, most of the time they relaxed, lying next to each other Ren always held a book in her hands.

 

“Hehe, you even stole some for me~ Anyway… let me explain. Note that, most of this is just… my conjecture.” said, looking around herself, but she knew this was the truth as this was how in her previous live, she, or then a he, climbed to godhood “Back in the old days, there were cultivators but not as many as now. If now one out of ten people has an affinity to cultivate, back then it was one in ten million. Or worse. The air lacked the energy that now is filling up everything. Back then only those born special could cultivate that's why there are legends and legendary heroes. Those truly existed and were cultivators. If you check their feats and compare them to nowadays, you can see the similarities.”

 

“Then how did they cultivate?” asked Feynor, completely engrossed in her story, excitedly following her thought process 

 

“As I said, only those who were born special had any chance. Like…” thought back to her previous life’s hazy, very distant memories, but the others only thought she was thinking up an example which was true in a way “Like having a body that could consume heat and convert it to energy. Then every heat source, be it fire, lava or just the burning sun would supply it with energy. Still it wouldn’t be easy as the amount needed to cultivate is enormous yet small. I mean… take in too much and you die. Take in too little, it’s uneffective. Figuring out the always changing amount needed is hard work and even those special may fail to cultivate successfully in the long run. Maybe he would need to consume such a quantity he would turn the place around him into a frozen death land or just freeze his enemies into icicles as he absorbs their body heat, killing them. You get the gist of it.” smiled at the others “Still, as this process would repeat itself, the user’s ability, body, strengthens and forms a crystal. Similar to what demonfolk have in their brains.”

 

“This why you found it? You knew what you are looking for!” said Feynor, surprised 

 

“It was a guess. I had my theories and it proved to be right. Still, it has differences. Especially in power levels. Or why would we call them gods and why wouldn’t the demons trample us with ease?” giggled while Shaman just rolled his eyes, yet he was listening intently, crouching down, scribbling away on a rough skin with a kind of charcoal pencil 

 

“You little say, human god dead, under us feet? Eat us?” murmured Kang, cracking his knuckles  

 

“Let me finish. When those… “heroes” back then formed their cores, it came from their special bodies. They formed it depending on their abilities carrying a different attribute every time… if you check the old stories about the so-called gods, they vary and were prevalent for a few centuries before being replaced by other “gods”.”

 

“I see…” spoke up Feynor “You say those stories tell the life of a cultivator until their death?”

 

“Yes. How long can a Harmony realm expert live? We don’t know yet as they are a new thing, no? Nobody knows if they can live a few thousand years or eternally. But I wouldn't put my money on the latter. Same goes to the old heroes. They weren’t gods, just powerful cultivators, living for centuries. Their energy core supplemented them with power and a long life. Probably they had even different… classes of cores. Some  may call themselves gods or demigods back then. Parading around mortals, enjoying the power over them.”

 

“But what about the gods mentioned in the diary? Or the one which is worshiped back in our Empire by the mortals?” asked Zern after a long silence “If I remember correctly they were popular even before the Calamity that changed everything.”

 

“That is what I would call “gods”. The others I mentioned were only strong cultivators in their times.” smiled Ren “But they are not gods because they are omnipotent, but because their crystal reached a level, through cultivating and through sheer lucky encounters, where it reached equilibrium. That’s what I call God Crystal.”

 

“You mentioned that name. Can you explain it?” looked at her Feynor with clear amusement in his eyes

 

“Take it as a perfect core. One that not just consumes energy or converts energy, but also produces it. It can keep the host alive for all eternity. Sustaining his body, healing it and also powering him when he needs it. A being that is not just strong but does not age? Does not change? Now that I could call a God as he will be there, even when all the strong cultivators die by old age. Of course this is all only my theory, only that, I have a strong feeling I am right~” giggled innocently, putting on a smile, making them realize what she was talking about until now, did not have any concrete proof.

 

The only ones who still looked at her with a deeply shocked and thinking expression were Shaman, Feynor and Anya, while Leinor’s eyes were completely peaceful as the others just took it as a nice, legendary tale that was interesting to think about. 

 

“This not say why young die. Explain human.” came Kang before her, sitting down so he would be more closer to Ren’s small face 

 

“How do you kill a god? If my theory is correct,” started to speak again, gathering her thoughts first “destroy the God Core. Any other option… would only be… fake death.” 

 

“Fake?” blinked Kang trying to understand her words 

 

“Yup. As long as his or her core is intact, it can gather energy and rebuild. Even if the whole body is destroyed, it can regrow. The other option is to destroy the soul of a God. But wouldn’t it be linked with the core? What if he hides inside his core? Even a damaged soul can regenerate given enough time... And with a God Core, time is of no importance.”

 

“Wait…” blinked Shaman, realizing what she was implying “You say that a dead god’s soul is down below us, consuming theirs to rebuild its own?”

 

“Something like that. But it’s just my theory. We need to find it to see if I’m right or just spewing bullshit.” grinned cheekily

 

Kang watched her with a serious expression before placing his giant hand on her head.

 

“You smart. You right, I’ll protect. You cure my tribe, I’ll serve. Help us.”

 

“Ahaha, that is why we came, no? Let’s go, let us check that cathedral! I felt an overwhelming presence from there when I arrived at the proximity.” said while looking at the old church while the others suddenly felt if the whole city was not as peaceful as before only, her thoughts were already swirling in her head.

“What’s going on… there were no more true gods back then… and I never felt this presence. But I can’t be mistaken… I felt it clearly… but I never met a sixth… but this resonance is the same feeling we felt when we were near each other… damn it.”

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