Chapter 454 - The Shrine of Lady Light

Made some good major progress on the outline the last few days! Appreciate the wait. I ran into a situation where I had a bunch of decisions

Made some good major progress on the outline the last few days! Appreciate the wait. I ran into a situation where I had a bunch of decisions I needed to make that laid the groundwork for the next three books and there were a few too many things I hadn't answered yet. Pretty much sorted now so I'm aiming to be back to standard release times this Saturday.

“Stay with your parties and search every corner,” Count Daston commanded, his voice carrying through the hall before the open vault. “Prince Kassius must be here somewhere. Keep your eyes open for any tracks or trickery he may have left behind.”

The various groups began to split off, fanning out among the rows of shelves and displays of all sorts of artifacts. Before Hump could proceed, the count pulled him aside along with a few others.

“You’re familiar with the seal,” he said. “If Kassius isn’t in here, he must have found a chamber connected to this one. Find it.” He turned to the steward. “You, steward, bring any curators you have here.”

“They are already with Prince Kassius,” the man said, still staring at the empty vault in shock. “I don’t understand where they could have gone.”

“He could have created a portal of some sort,” Wizard Otto said. “There’s plenty of ways to do it.”

“Not so many in a place with as many enchantments over it as this one,” Wizard Aldric said. “Though Anthony might be able to do it. He was a powerful wizard even before he turned.”

Hump recalled the gruesome display of Warlock Anthony’s in Sheercliff, when he had carved open the body of one of his own men to turn his very flesh into a portal for the rest of his force to escape. Such a display of blood magic was something Hump hadn’t even heard in stories.

“Don’t suppose Lady Kaisura might know where to start?” Hump asked. “Might save us some time.”

“Not even she knows the true location,” Daston replied grimly. “The knowledge was locked away for a reason.”

Hump sighed. “Figured as much.”

“I know where we can start,” High Priest Alagthar said. “It may not be the true seal, but I can show you all to the Seal of Elenvine that we have protected here for so long, even if it is not real.”

All of them looked at the man. Prince Gregory strode over from where he’d been waiting. “You mean to tell me you know where it is and haven’t informed us already?”

“You would not know this, Prince, but I was once one of the keepers of the seal.”

“Gods give me strength,” Prince Gregory snapped. “Why do you only tell us now?”

“You must understand, there are rules that must be followed,” the High Priest said. “It is my job to know, but not to tell. Surely it is clear that even royal blood does not mean loyalty. My duties to the Pantheon must come first. It is only now that the time is right.”

“Now that the enemy are inside our gates,” Prince Gregory said.

“Yes.”

“There isn’t time for this, Prince,” Count Daston said with barely restrained impatience. “Show us to the seal, Alagthar. Quickly.”

Hump and his party followed the high priest, weaving their way through the vast chamber. His eyes wandered a little too long a a few of the artifacts sealed in shimmering glass. With everyone’s focus elsewhere, who would notice if he just swiped one? He could practically feel the magic calling to him.

“Don’t even think about it,” Celaine whispered, her breath in his ear.

“Whatever are you talking about, dear?” Hump replied with a grin.

Celaine gave him a look that could strip paint from steel. He responded with his most innocent smile, but there was no doubt that she saw through it.

As his attention returned ahead, they soon past a familiar object resting in a display case and Hump paused. It was the amulet he had recovered from the gorger’s lair in the Remnant Realm, pried from the neck of the dead goddess.

The one that had a very angry god yelling in his mind when he’d picked it up.

Alagthar led them to a sealed stone door in the rear wall of the vault.  The priest called upon his blessings and pulled on a essence stone fixture on the wall. There was a click, and the stone around it shimmered and faded, revealing an entrance to a small antechamber beyond. The room was scorched and bloodstained. Though the bodies had long been cleared, the stink of violence still lingered.

“This was the Shrine of Lady Light,” Alagthar said softly. “It was defiled by Tobias Godfrey after his betrayal.” His voice was laced with venom as he said the traitor Chosen’s name.

They stepped through the threshold and into the narrow chamber. At the far end stood a shattered altar, the remains of once-glowing glyphs faintly embedded in the cracked stone. Jagged fragments of the replica Seal of Elenvine lay strewn across the ground, catching the glow of their light spells like dying embers. Hump could feel the divinity in the air even now—warm against his skin, yet at the same time… unsettling.

Bud slowly advanced, eyes scanning the blood-streaked walls and scorched floor. He drew a long, heavy breath. “So much bloodshed in a such a holy place.” He shook his head. “This is truly terrible.”

“Any idea what we’re looking for?” Count Daston asked the High Priest.

“No, Count,” Alagthar said. “If there is another chamber, I do not know of it. Much of my life was dedicated to this place. It must be well hidden if it’s here.”

Hump felt a pang of pity for the saddened man but turned his gaze away, roaming the space, taking in the room’s eerie reverence and ruin. Runes carved in ancient script marked the floor and walls. Gilded portraits hung in even lines—kings, saints, Chosen, and gods, their painted gazes lifeless beneath a layer of dust. Behind the altar was a towering statue of Lady Light, or what remained of her. Her marble face had been crudely gouged out until no features remained.

“Look what they did to her,” Alagthar whispered, voice thick with grief. “They desecrated the Lady herself.”

Hump slipped away from the group and gathered quietly with his party. “If I were an ancient king trying to hide a magical seal beneath a fake chamber,” Hump said, “I’m not sure the replica chamber is where I’d put it.”

“Well, that’s not very helpful,” Emilia said.

“I have a few ideas,” Dylan said, stepping forward and casting his eyes along the walls. “My master told me often of her time searching ancient places for artifacts. If there’s another chamber, it’ll be hidden in plain sight. These old vaults were often built on misdirection. The deeper layers were meant to be invisible—especially to those who thought they’d already reached the end. This is the most secure location in the vault. If nobody knows of the existence of a second Seal of Elenvine, it makes sense that it would be connected to here.”

“I can sort of follow that logic,” Hump said. “I suppose we might as well look it over.”

“What are you doing?” Alagthar snapped, alarmed.

Hump looked up to see Celaine who had wormed her way behind the statue of Lady Lightm crouched and examining the pace.

“Get out of there, girl,” the High Priest snarled. “This is a sacred chamber. Holy ground! You can’t go pawing at it like a common burglar.”

Celaine’s brow furrowed in concentration as she brushed dust aside with her hand. “It’s here. See the way the dust is gathered into piles and craped at. The floor here’s been disturbed while the rest of the room is nearly spotless.”

She pressed her palms against the base of the wall, testing the seams for movement.

“I’ve walked this chamber countless times…” Alagthar began, but his voice faltered.

Hump joined her, scanning the statue with his Spirit Sight. Threads of light shimmered faintly—divinity, but no sign of an enchantment at work. At least, not one he could see.

Bud hung back, casting a wary glance at the high priest. “Maybe we should wait a minute.”

“No,” Count Daston said, joining the search. “We haven’t a moment to spare. Secrets have already slowed us down too much. If more people had known about the seals, maybe we could’ve saved the ones that were lost. We’re not letting this one fall too.”

He instructed his men to check the nearby walls for anything that might activate a hidden doorway. Chosen and wizards tested the wall, running their hands over it or using blessings in the hunt.

Hump turned to Celaine. “Anything?”

“Not a lever or latch,” she said. “And it feels too simple for something so important.”

Hump frowned, his eyes focusing on the divine nature of the statue. “High Priest Alagthar, you said that this is a holy room, correct?”

“It was crafted in the Lady’s own image,” Alagthar said quietly. “Her touch sanctified it millennia ago. It stands in her likeness, imbued with her will. There are no places more holy.”

“Try invoking her,” Hump said. “Use your blessings or something. If it was created by the gods, maybe it needs more than just a hand on stone.”

“Try it, Alagthar,” Count Daston ordered. Everyone else, stand clear.”

Alagthar approached the statue hesitantly. He rested a hand on the cold stone and closed his eyes.

“Oh, illustrious Light,” he said, “grant us passage into your sanctuary, that we may guard your holy work.”

For a long moment, nothing happened. Silence pressed down on them like a held breath.

Then came the sound—a soft click, followed by the low grind of shifting stone.

Hump turned sharply as the statue slowly rotated, revealing a staircase spiraling down into a chamber lit by clean, white light. The air that wafted out was dry and untouched, and beneath it all was something else. Something deeper. Power welling from below and lighting the way.

“By the Light, how could I have been so blind for all these years?” High Priest Alagthar said.

“We walk the path of the gods,” Bud declared, his voice uplifted. “That is why, High Priest. It is now—in our time of need—that the gods illuminate our path forward. Lady Light walks with us today.”

Alagthar looked at him, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips. A little of the grief was gone from his eyes, replaced with something Hump never liked to see in Chosen—Hope… or manic fanaticism. Sometimes the two were difficult to distinguish.

“That looks like the right way if I’ve ever seen one,” Dylan said.

Staring into the light, Hump couldn’t help the ominous feeling that came over him. “It looks a little too right.”

“Proceed with caution,” Daston ordered. “I’ll go first. Who here is best with traps?”

Celaine and Wizard Otto raised their hands.

They descended the stairs two at a time, deactivating their light spells as they were unnecessary in the bright passage. But no traps sprang forth, no enchantments stirred. The descent ended in a doorway carved with concentric runes. They passed through into a circular antechamber. Twelve doors lined the white stone walls, spaced evenly and marked with distinct carvings above. One bore a sword, another a flowering vine, a third the shape of a rising sun. Symbols of gods, kingdoms, elements and all manner of things were carved into the stone in a tapestry.

And upon a few of the doors was a jagged cross, carved out haphazardly as if with a knife—Kassius has likely done that.

Bud looked around, confusion setting into his features. “How did Kassius get in here if Lady Light must be beseeched?”

Hump gave his friend a pained look. “He wouldn’t need to be.”

Count Daston came to a stop behind Hump. “Gods help us if you’re implying what I think you are.”

“What?” Bud asked.

Hump swallowed nervously. “If a Chosen of Lady Light is required for access, then it’s possible Godfrey is already here.”

“Or there are other traitor Chosen,” Emilia said. “Do not forget, it the steward said he arrived with Lord Veln and had a document signed by the treasurer. There may be others involved. More importantly perhaps,” she approached one of the doors and pointed at the cross, “I don’t think Kassius has found the seal yet. He’s crossing off doors. He’s still searching.” She started walking, tapping the crosses on the doors as she went until she came to one that was unmarked. “Most likely, we’ll find him in here.”