The Villain's Story

Chapter 835: Message.

Alan coursed through the city with steady steps, analyzing everything with [Dragon Eyes], although much of it was still obscured, the similarities with his dreams were there.

The materials of the buildings and their shapes, they were the same as they would have been in the dream if they weren't broken. The churches, the inns, and all the other shops. Although one glaring difference was the size.

The city was small, much smaller than the area he had traversed in his dreams, or rather, ran for his life in. The architecture may have been the same, but the proportions were wrong.

He assumed the same type of magic in the mansion was cast in the city, but he was unsure, as [Dragon Eyes] was severely limited here. Furthermore, the floor here was actual solid obsidian, which was somehow suitable for walking.

It wasn't the viscous black liquid like in his dreams, where his willpower determined if he was going to drown or not.

'Did the city flood during the battle?'

There was no doubt of it, the Black Sea was made of nothing but the most concentrated darkness mana, during the battle between Valus and Aranus, the entire world would have been severely affected.

The city flooding was the first thing to happen, followed by the destruction of the world. Alan had spawned in the dream during these two events. But there was something else Alan was curious about.

'There it is.'

Alan entered one of the numerous churches in the city, and was presented with the same sight as his dreams. Rows upon rows of benches made of dark stone before a statue of the Dragon of Darkness, Valus. There wasn't anything else in the church. It was bleak, and the darkness was barely being held back by the candles along the walls.

Not a single soul was present inside the church, probably because this one was on the outskirts of the city.

Alan took a deep breath as he approached the statue of Valus at the very end, this one was different than the one at the city square. Albeit crafted from the same glorious materials, it didn't share the depiction of the First Kings of the dark species.

Rather, this one held a tablet containing a message.

'Seek the light, and the light will seek you.

Accept the darkness, and the darkness will accept you.

Light is within Darkness, Darkness is within Light.'

It wasn't the same message he saw during his dreams. It didn't have any information about the Phoenix, and neither did it mention Ariel and her creation of death.

Alan was still in the dark about that... How does one create death? He assumed Ariel had merely possessed the attribute of death... But there was too much he didn't know.

'Ugh, I can just ask later.'

He shook himself off those thoughts. It wasn't the time for them yet, he had more pressing matters at hand.

He needed any clues to pass through the Sea of Black and meet with Valus, and his gut was telling him that the message on the tablet held them.

But it wasn't enough. It was too vague, and Alan needed more. He was hungry for much more.

He left the church on the outskirts and entered the very next one he found, closer to the heart of the city.

The interior was exactly the same, but the message on the tablet was different.

'The sea is treacherous, yet it is calm.

The light is faint, but it is bright.

The darkness is vast, but it is hollow.'

Another cryptic message, it seemed as if every church held a tablet with a different message. Noting it down in his notebook, Alan left the church and went to every single one he found.

There were a total of six different churches from the dock to the center of the city, and the messages within them held the clues to passing the trial. Alan just knew it, his instincts were telling him just that.

But damn... The messages were strange.

'The darkness will swallow you, it is fierce, unrelenting, and overpowering.

The light will guide you, but get too close, and it will burn you.'

'Darkness begets Light, And Light begets darkness.

Beware.'

'Within the brightest day, lays the darkest night. And beyond the darkest night, lays the brightest day!'

These were the messages within the tablets of the five churches he had visited, and he had noted them all down, wanting to think them over when he was back at the mansion.

And now, only one remained. Before going into the main church, Alan had visited all the churches he could find in the city, but there were no tablets to be found among them.

Only the ones leading to the docks, towards the sea of darkness held them, messages for the pilgrim embarking on his pilgrimage to Valus.

The others merely held. Alan noticed something when he visited these churches and it was that they were the ones where the worshipers gathered en masse. The ones in the direction of the docks barely had anyone in them.

But the one in the center was different, just a few meters away from the city square, the most magnificent church lay.

Columns upon columns of black stone, and gates of obsidian as large as hills. A church so grand and mighty Alan wondered how he had missed it when he first arrived in this world.

Entire groups of people were leaving and entering the church, and Alan had to struggle to get inside, getting pushed left and right despite his massive frame.

'Finally!'

The moment he had entered, it was tranquil, hardly anything like the outside... Where swarms and swarms of people were present.

The interior was massive, and incredibly bright as well, a stark contrast to the theme of the entire world. Believers were seated on the benches, deep in prayer, but the benches at the edges were fuller than the ones close to the center.

And this one was different, much different than any other church. Alan could feel the mana in here come alive, it was at such an amazing concetration that he, as a dragon, had to do his utmost best to keep himself from being drowned in it.

A thin smile appeared on his lips, as he embarked towards the center, making his way through the believers.

'Alright, let's do this.'

He was going to meet that damn dragon that held all truths no matter what, and find out what he was exactly.