Sylvester followed the two in while keeping his senses sharp. As he had expected, the Blue Leaves building was in the middle of the towering skyscrapers. The building was not a skyscraper, however. It looked more like a simple block-like structure with over a dozen floors.
The entrance of the building alone was many meters high, and the moment they walked into it, Sylvester felt the airiness. The ceiling was so high that he could swear he noticed a few birds flying. It was possible, however, as the gigantic hall spanned the entire floor area, and plenty of small ponds, trees, and bushes decorated the marble-laden floor. The area bustled with armored city guards, and other staffers busied themselves—from Beastkins to dwarves or more.
They walked over to what seemed like an elevator, a gigantic one at that. And in all likelihood, it was operated by some slaves placed somewhere, turning the wheels.
As they entered, a short rabbit Beastkin was waiting inside, positioned before several levers. Once the Beastkin was informed which floor they needed to go to, the relevant lever was pulled, and the elevator moved.
'Electricity can solve this so easily.' Sylvester greatly felt the need for innovation, even more so when he knew that it was already achievable. Jinn had already discovered a steam turbine and electricity, after all.
But for now, he focused and silently heard Avanss and Queen Delimira talking. The woman gave off the scent of anxiety, hope, and happiness all together. She certainly seemed like an intelligent person, but not a fake person. Her interaction with Avanss seemed genuine. And after listening to them, Sylvester believed that Avanss had known the woman since childhood. Although, it was unknown how old the woman was.
After they arrived on the floor, Avanss took the luggage from Sylvester. "You can go back using the stairs."
Sylvester got a hint from that. The aim was to go below the surface level. The elevators were clearly not going to take him there, so the staircase was the only option.
He silently watched the two disappear from his view and quickly reached the staircase. He was currently on the tenth floor, so in no time, he arrived at the ground. However, the staircase didn't lead him further down. There was only a single door to exit and enter the giant hall.
Bam!
"Time to clean the staircase… So much work." A young elf entered the staircase area with a broom and a bucket in his hands. He ignored Sylvester and simply started sweeping while whistling. It all looked odd since the work was beneath an elf.
Pat!
But just then, a rolled piece of paper fell from the elf's pocket. The elven man noticed it and merely kicked it aside, dismissing it as trash.
Sylvester took the cue and immediately picked it up. He unrolled the paper and noticed the designs. 'It's the blueprint of the building.'
"Argh… enough cleaning for today." The elven man picked up his stuff and left just as quickly as he appeared.
Alone, Sylvester looked at the blueprint and found the location to enter the underground levels of the building. Apparently, it was accessible by only one of the five elevators, but there was also one hidden pathway from the staircase. It started from the second floor, where, other than the door to exit the stairway area, there was a different smaller door to enter the hidden ladder.
He hurried up and opened the second door. It led to a very tight walkway with nothing but walls on its sides. At the end of it was a latch on the floor. Opening it, Sylvester found a deep hole with no end in sight—it was complete darkness.
But as he noticed the ladder connected on one side of the wall going down, he descended and closed the latch above him. He used his light magic to illuminate one of his hands while climbing down.
'Such a tight space—this was clearly not built for species other than human-sized ones.' Sylvester deduced from its size.
He continued to descend no matter what, following the map's instructions. He didn't know what he was going to find at the bottom, but at that point, he just wanted to be done with it so Saint Scepter couldn't raise any objection to him taking the throne.
It was much easier to go down on the long wooden ladder. On occasions, he simply slid down by holding the sides and removing his feet from individual steps. Deeper and further—he went down countless floors. His light didn't help much since it was a very narrow space.
"...Come to Ka'Zul… Ha ha ha…"
"Ka'Zul?" Sylvester abruptly exclaimed as a voice brushed past his ears like a breeze. "The God of Goblins?"
Abruptly, a strange golden flash appeared in Sylvester's eyes, and his speed increased as he headed down.
"...Fast… come to your death…"
Sylvester went faster. "I'm coming, Ka'Zul… I have a lot of goblin-related things I need to talk to you about… and if you're somehow alive… unalive you."
"..."
The whispering voice of the so-called Goblin God didn't echo in Sylvester's ears anymore. But he kept going fast and eventually reached the bottom. He jumped away from the ladder and looked behind himself.
It was utterly dark, so Sylvester illuminated his entire body like a beacon and looked around. The place seemed massive, to say the least, but also rundown. It felt like an old ruin of some building, as the floor was laden with brick tiles that were now out of place due to overgrown weeds. There were also pillars lining the sides, reaching as high as the ceiling—where his light couldn't reach either.
"Where are you, Ka'Zul?" Sylvester called out for the voice to return. However, there was no response. "Did I scare you? I'm going to kill all of your children soon enough—you abominations, enemies of progress, deniers of evolution!"
'Strange, it didn't come back even with provocation.' Sylvester wondered if the voice was even real.
So he continued his exploration and walked deeper into the gigantic ruins. There were nothing but broken pieces of walls and debris littering the area; some noises from rats were also audible.
'What's so secretive about this place?' Sylvester wondered and remembered the words of the Shadow Knight. 'There should be a tree bluer than the sea.'
So he walked around, turning into the enormous hallways occasionally. Other than stones and blocked pathways, he found nothing. Since the blueprints were new, they revealed nothing about the underground area.
"Chonky… do you smell anything? I can smell… rotten cabbages… It's like Ethyl Mercaptan." Sylvester asked his trusted partner, perched on his shoulder.
Miraj raised his little nose and sniffed. "Yuck… What's this? It's like a fart, but ten times worse…"
Sylvester chuckled and followed the scent instead. He blasted through blocked passages and simply followed the direction of the smell. He didn't keep track of how many minutes he spent, but with no care, he just went closer and closer.
BOOM!
At last, Sylvester kicked away another blockage of rubble in the way and emerged from the dust. But this time, instead of finding darkness, he was captivated by the beauty. Right before him was a gigantic hall, and in the middle was what he was looking for—a tree bluer than the sea.
"So shiny!" Miraj chirped.
Yes, it was a large tree with leaves that glowed a pale blue, so bright that it illuminated the vicinity. It also emitted the scent that Sylvester had been following all that time. But beyond that, a skeleton of a man sat under the shadow of the three, almost covered in fallen leaves.
"What's all this?" Sylvester didn't dare act carelessly and carefully observed everything. He noticed there was another hint of blue light that emitted from the ground—the light created a circle around the tree as if it was a protective measure.
"Chonky, you stay here." Sylvester placed Miraj on the ground. "If this is a protective shield, it can harm us with any kind of magic. You'll be my backup in case anything happens to me."
"Understood, Maxy." Miraj seriously nodded.
Carefully, Sylvester stepped closer to the circle and tried to sense the air. 'No scent of death or anything negative. This skeleton also seems… human?'
Sensing no issues, Sylvester stepped onto the illuminated blue circle on the ground. His elven armor didn't seem to react with it, nor did he feel any opposing force trying to repel him. So he took another step in and felt the blue light engulf him.
'It's… soothing despite the rotten smell.' Sylvester inched closer to the skeleton of the man.
"I came here for this?" Sylvester couldn't understand the value of going through all that trouble. "This blue tree? Or this skeleton?"
He carefully observed the skeleton and found nothing on it. Then he looked at the tree and immediately noticed some words carved on it. But once he read them, he quickly retracted his previous comments.
"Desmond was here." Sylvester read the carved words and connected the dots. "Pope Jarl Desmond? The man whose death started the thousand-year war…"
Crack!
Abruptly, the air turned freezing, and Sylvester could even feel it in his bones. It was a feeling he had sensed many times, one that used to terrify him before but now only confused him.
"Yes… This is I." The voice came from beside Sylvester as the ghostly, hovering figure, shrouded in black robes, appeared there, looking at the skeleton under the tree.
[A/N: See The Tree]
Thank you for reading. Gifts and GT votes are highly appreciated.
