Chapter 92: The Prophecy
Close to the Dark Mountain Range, the silver-robed great priest Ilia was standing on a rock, looking down at the few heretics kneeling on the ground.
The rage of the great priest was horrible. The huge rock started to crack from his dark power.
"Who can tell me... what the hell happened?!" Ilia was shouting like a wounded beast.
They suffered a great loss tonight. The power of Argent Horn in the duchy was almost annihilated. The number of the members who survived was less than ten, including a level five dark knight, Dragan, two high priests, three ordinary priests and an ordinary dark knight.
Years of Ilia’s hard work were ruined overnight. Now his body was covered by a layer of black fire with a strong smell of sulphur. As the silver hood slipped down, Ilia’s face was revealed.
There were two goat horns on his head, and his eyes were bloody red. The knights and the priests kneeling in front of him didn’t dare to look up.
After a while, Ilia calmed himself down and put the hood on again. Then, he asked, "Who can tell me... why the Church and House Violet were there tonight?"
"The so-called Professor... he was escaping from the Church tonight and somehow he found the underground palace. That’s what I know," answered Dragan carefully.
After a moment of silence, Ilia shouted again, "Then who’s that bloody Professor?!"
"The night watcher said that this Professor might come from the Continental Congress of Magic," answered Dragan, "Actually, we got the news that Professor was gonna meet a sorcerer apprentice somewhere in the Black Forest. Since it was very far from us..."
"You f***king idiots!" Ilia almost wanted to tear Dragan into pieces.
Knowing that he said something stupid, Dragan lowered his head and dared not contradict the great priest. In Dragan’s mind, it was just impossible for them to block the whole Black Forest and drive all the people in the forest away.
"Professor... he did this on purpose." Gnashing his teeth, Ilia said slowly, "Killing two birds with one stone, even without getting any blood on his own hands. But why he did this..."
"But I thought the Congress of Magic was on our side..." asked a level five priest with confusion.
"Internal conflict is everywhere," sneered Ilia.
Then Ilia turned around and started to pray to the Great Master of Argent, seeking for the revelation from his God.
All the followers started to pray as well.
A black shadow came out from Ilia’s silver robe and gradually covered all of them.
In the darkness, all the followers present heard a deep voice in their mind, but only Ilia could understand the message.
Soon the shadow disappeared and Ilia stood up. He raised his right hand high and said to all the followers, "The Great Master of Argent assured me that despite the setback we suffered tonight, we’ll still be able to accomplish the task, and build the great realm for our true God on the ground."
"May you walk on the ground, as you walk in your realm," responded the other followers in an encouraged way.
"The Great Master also showed me a prophecy: ‘A falling star has brought the chaos. The throne of fate has lost its master. The nonbeliever who walks in light and darkness will make his debut’."
"What does it mean?" asked Dragan, "It’s like a poem..."
"The devil sullied Aalto. We cannot see it clearly." Ilia shook his head.
Fate and time were the hardest to understand. Even the greatest prophet was like an ordinary person when facing a huge mountain, and all he or she could see was only a very small part of it.
...
Lucien slept very well last night. He woke up with the pleasant twitter of birds around eight in the morning.
The ball ended very late. Many people were still in their beds. Thus, no one urged Lucien to go for breakfast.
It was the first time Lucien enjoyed such nice and soft blankets since he crossed over to this world, thus it took Lucien more than half an hour to actually get up and get dressed.
When Lucien was walking downstairs, a maid came to him and smiled, "Good morning, Mr. Evans, what do you want to have for breakfast?"
"Bread, cheese sausage... with milk, please," answered Lucien. He ordered a rich breakfast since he had a pretty good work out last night.
"Sure." The maid nodded, "You’d like to have the breakfast in the dining room or your own room, sir?"
Lucien glanced at the dining room downstairs and saw Rhine was sitting there.
"Dining room, thank you."
When Lucien entered the dining room, Rhine was sending a piece of rare-cooked steak into his mouth.
"Morning, Lucien!" greeted Rhine, "You really should try the steak, very juicy."
Lucien took an opposite seat and said to the maid, "A steak for me, please. Medium."
Then Lucien turned to Rhine and smiled, "Good breakfast starts a good day."
"Also a perfect supplement for a good work out," said Rhine meaningfully.
"Evans, Yvette is like a beast." A young noble man was sitting beside them. He laughed a bit, but had clearly misunderstood their conversation.
"Come on, Albay. I didn’t do anything last night." Lucien was introduced to this young man last night by Felicia, "I hurt my ankle."
"I see. No wonder..." Albay laughed even harder, "No wonder Yvette went for hunting very early this morning and she looked angry. Good for you, Lucien."
The breakfast was pleasant. Seeing that Rhine almost finished his food, Lucien asked hurriedly, "Can you tell me where it is... the dream like place that you mentioned to me last night?"
"Since it’s as beautiful as paradise, I’ll tell you the location after you can hold your own concert, as an award." Rhine smiled in a cunning way. To him, it was very interesting to see Lucien’s growth.
After Rhine left, Albay asked Lucien curiously, "Where is that place you were talking about?"
"I don’t know. He won’t tell me right now," answered Lucien, shrugging his shoulders.
What he knew was that his life had better go back to normal, at least for a period of time, to meet Rhine’s requirement as soon as possible. Firstly, Lucien had to abandon the pseudonym Professor.
Finishing his breakfast, Lucien saw a sleepy Felicia coming downstairs. He greeted, "Good morning, Felicia."
"Morning, Lucien. How’s your ankle?" asked her.
"It’s fine now," answered Lucien. "I’m sorry, Felicia. I’m afraid I cannot go hunting today. I have to go now to deal with some of my personal stuff."
"What happened?" Felicia asked with concern.
"Sorry, but I have to keep it a secret, Felicia," Lucien put on a slightly awkward look, "since it has something to do with the princess."
"Sure, Lucien." Felicia was a bit surprised for a moment, "I’ll send a coach for you."
Getting on the coach, Lucien asked the coachman to go to Lord Venn’s manor first.