Chapter 14: 14 – Cathedral

Ruith and Vaeri fell onto a cold and hard stone floor. 

“Ugh…”

They both stayed for a moment on their hands and knees, their sense of balance completely gone and stomach churning. It was only after a few minutes that they were able to recover.

The two stood, still feeling a bit unsteady on their feet. 

In front of them, was the inside of a massive cathedral. Rows of pews covered in thick dust stretched towards what was probably the exit, though it was hard to tell due to the massive dark green vines covering it.

Thick stone pillars with intricate designs connected to the ceiling, which was covered in colored glass. sunlight poured in through the windows, casting rays that highlighted the dust floating in the air.

“What the hell is this?” Ruith said with a bewildered expression on his face.

The entire interior of the cathedral was covered in vines, some small but others several times the thickness of Ruith’s body. They had gone straight through the walls, piles of rubble laying near them.

The windows on the walls were shattered, glass replaced with masses of green.

“How is this possible? We were just in that cavern, I’ve never heard of teleportation in the Bastion…” Ruith was completely confused, turning to Vaeri.

“Where do you think we are? There’s no place like this in the Bastion.”

Vaeri was looking equally as confused as him. “No idea. at least we got out of that cave system I guess?”

“Well in any case, let’s look around. This place seems to be safe.”

“Wait, Ruith look…”

The boy turned back to her, and she was staring at the gate. It looked the exact same as the one they went through, except it was dark and lifeless one again. 

“We can just put our mana into it again, right?” Ruith walked back over, placing a hand on the cold stone of the structure.

And nothing happened. He frowned in confusion, placing his other hand on it. 

“Uh, that isn’t good.” 

“What? Is something wrong?” Vaeri also walked over, placing a hand on the stone. Her mana stayed in her core, the gate seeming to completely lose its previous effect.

The two of them stood there for a moment, pondering their situation. Yes they had gotten out of the caves, but now they were in an even more unfamiliar area, and their way back was not functioning.

“Maybe the gate is damaged?” Ruith thought out loud, beginning to inspect every inch of the gate. But other than being covered in dust, it was utterly flawless.

“Well, let’s look around now. Maybe there’s something in here,” Vaeri began walking down the few stairs and headed towards the pews. Ruith noticed that there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

He joined her, looking through the rows for anything of interest.

“ACHOO! Ugh.” Ruith kept sneezing, he didn’t even know how it was possible for this much dust to be in one place. Just how long had it taken for it all to build up?

Finally, he noticed something laying on one of the seats. It was rectangular in shape and dust covered it completely. Ruith grabbed it, brushing the dust off which revealed a light brown covered book. He read the faded title on the book.

Holy Bible

“...”

The boy stared at the words with wide eyes. This meant that this place must have been created by mankind. He had suspected that, but this confirmed it. However, there was no place in the Bastion like this.

“Vaeri! Come over here,” Ruith yelled. She quickly walked over to him with a curious expression on her face.

“Yeah?”

“Look at this.”

Vaeri took the book from his hands, reading the title. She opened the book, which let out a cracking sound as it did so. The pages were stiff and stained, but the words were readable. It was indeed a human bible.

“So where do you think we are? This place was obviously abandoned by other humans,” Ruith questioned.

“Well, I have a theory. You know that there were three other Bastions that were destroyed, right?”

Ruith nodded. “So you think that we were just transported to one of the Fallen Bastions by that gate?”

“Yeah, but of course there’s the chance that this is from before the Voidborne. However, I think this building would be in much worse condition if that were the case.”

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“So we are definitely far from the Bastion then,” Ruith closed his eyes in thought, but then they shot open. “Wait so if this is one of the Fallen Bastions, then wouldn’t the Voidborne that destroyed it still be here?”

His words were hurried, slight panic evident. They currently had no idea how to get back, the gate not working. If that monster was here…

“Don’t worry, the last Bastion before ours fell over 150 years ago. That creature wouldn’t linger here all that time…I think.”

“Well the ‘I think’ part doesn’t help, but you’re right. There’s no reason it would stay in a destroyed city all this time. Not like we have any other option than being here anyway,” Ruith looked with contempt at the gate.

“Let’s get out of here now, it’s pointless to waste any more time here,” Vaeri put the book down and began walking towards what she presumed was the exit, gesturing for Ruith to follow.

At the exit, they encountered a problem. They had briefly seen it after first coming through the gate, but up close it was worse than they had imagined. 

Extremely thick vines ran across the entire front wall. Each of them dwarfed Ruith in size.

“Shit. Uh, try using the dagger,” He suggested to Vaeri.

She slashed at a vine.

CLANG!

The dagger bounced off as though it had hit solid stone.

“What the fuck?”

She tried again, this time striking with her full power.

CLANG!

The exact same result.

“Well, that could be a problem…what about the walls?” Ruith gave her another suggestion, and she decided to try.

She walked over to a part of one of the side walls not covered in vines, letting out a half-hearted strike. It didn’t even leave a scratch.

The two of them stood next to each other, thinking about what they could possibly do. The windows on the side were also covered, and there was literally no way they could climb up to the ones on top.

“Wait, Ruith you can just control the vines with your ability!” Vaeri exclaimed after a few minutes. Why had they not thought of this sooner?!

“Shit, that’s right!” Ruith immediately went to the massive vines at the front again. Their size was far more than he could control even with his red core, but he should at least be able to move them a little bit.

He placed his right hand on the hard surface, and let mana flow down his arm and into the huge vine. He saw the plant’s mana within, and went to manipulate it with his own.

“Wait, what the h-”

Before he could even react, the foreign mana moved. It slammed into his own mana, completely forcing it out. And then it went straight towards the area where Ruith’s hand was placed…and went into it.

CRACK!

“AGH! SHIT!”

Ruith fell to the ground, blinding pain radiated from his entire right arm. His own mana core had almost instantly gotten rid of that strange foreign mana, but the damage had already been done. Instead of him manipulating the vine, it had manipulated him. It forced every single muscle in his right arm to contract wildly, shattering the bones of his arm and tearing muscles. His arm now hung limp at his side, unnaturally flexible due to the amount of breaks.

“Ugh, what even…” He could barely talk, the pain only getting worse as his mana worked to rearrange and heal everything.

“Ruith, what happened?!” Vaeri rushed over to his side and looked at his arm which seemed slightly off.

The boy held up a hand, trying to ignore the pain. Finally, after almost twenty minutes, the feeling subsided. All the fragments of bone were in their correct places. Luckily his mana didn’t have to regenerate anything or it would have taken far longer. Now he just had to wait for the pieces to fully merge together.

He stood up, beginning to explain to Vaeri.

“The mana inside of that thing isn’t like others. It fought back against mine, and I’m definitely not used to that so I wasn’t prepared. I think I’ll be able to manipulate it now that I know…”

“The mana of a plant fighting back? I’ve never heard of that…” Vaeri knit her eyebrows together, wondering how that was possible. Plants did not have a strong will or a consciousness, so how could their mana retaliate against something?

Ruith went right back over to the vine, instead placing his left hand on it this time. He knew what the foreign mana would try to do, and he was confident his will was stronger than a mere plant’s.

90% of his mana vanished, surging out from his palm.

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