“Now, come this way.”
“Mm.”
Guided by Father Robert, Rowy headed inside the main hall. And the other priests slowly followed behind him. They all had their faces covered with white cloth, which was said to be for blocking impurities. Though he didn’t quite understand how cloth could block that.
‘…But how do they see ahead?’
Rowy, who had tilted his head, followed Father Robert again. Following him for quite a while like that, soon stairs leading underground appeared.
“There’s a basement here?”
Elysion Temple was a small temple consisting of several small single-story buildings gathered together. Yet who would have thought there was such a spacious area underground? Rowy looked around with interested eyes.
“The stairs are steep, so watch your step.”
“Mm.”
Father Robert, who had warned the distracted Rowy, slowly descended the stairs. Step by step, as they went down like that, a massive underground space revealed itself before Rowy. On the walls, all kinds of sacred language was densely written, and on the floor, a giant formation was drawn.
The priests led Rowy, who was looking around, to the very center of the formation. There stood a stone altar, and perhaps because of the upcoming ritual, a fluffy pillow was also placed on top of it.
“A pillow…”
…Honestly, it was a bit funny. Rowy tried hard to hold back his laughter.
“You can lie down here.”
Whether aware of Rowy’s amusement or not, Father Robert’s voice was endlessly solemn. Rowy lay down properly on the altar with an awkward expression from holding back laughter. Well, a pillow might be necessary. This exorcism ritual thing…
“Now, are you ready to sleep?”
“Mm.”
Since they said it uses dreams.
“……”
Blink, blink. Rowy, lying on the altar, blinked awkwardly. He’d been lying there for quite a while, but nothing happened. Rowy slightly lifted his head.
“What should I do? Close my eyes and sleep?”
“You just need to stay still. Then God will guide you.”
…I asked because nothing’s happening while I’m staying still. Rowy grumbled inwardly. As if reading Rowy’s thoughts, soon the priests began to recite prayers in small voices. Even Father Rainer, who was in the middle of his vow of silence, was making sounds now.
Rowy listened to the prayer in a daze. Though Rowy could now read sacred language to some extent, it was still difficult to properly understand the content just by listening like this. Still, Rowy tried his best to interpret the prayer haltingly. So, Elion…
.
.
.
Flash, suddenly his eyes opened. Rowy blinked at the sudden situation, assessing the circumstances.
‘What happened? I was definitely…’
I was definitely listening to the prayer? Rowy rubbed his eyes. Still, the scenery before his eyes didn’t change. So… Rowy was now in a forest. It was a place where a small path wound between dark-colored trees. At the somehow familiar scene, Rowy tilted his head.
‘Hmm, it’s a familiar place… but I can’t quite remember where.’
After looking around for a moment, Rowy soon began walking along the path. If he kept moving, he’d find something.
‘When the ritual begins, the believer will dream.’
‘What? Fall asleep?’
‘Dreams are a passage to God.’
‘Huh?’
…He didn’t know what they were talking about, but seeing how he woke up in a dream like this, something seemed to be progressing.
“Oh?”
How long had he walked like that—soon Rowy realized where this was.
‘This is… the Imperial Academy.’
To be precise, it was the small forest on the edge of the Imperial Academy. Since it had been several years since he’d seen it, it took a bit of time to recognize.
‘Why did this place appear in my dream? This is somewhere I’ve only been a few times.’
This nameless forest wasn’t a restricted area, but since it bordered the Academy’s barrier, almost no one came and went here. Yet the reason Rowy remembered this place was…
‘That’s right? Why did I come here?’
Rowy tilted his head. However, the Rowy in the dream, who had started moving on his own at some point, seemed to know the way well and just kept moving forward.
‘In my memory, if you go this way, you should reach the barrier.’
Indeed, it was as Rowy remembered. At the end of the path, Rowy encountered the Academy barrier. Rowy looked at the barrier he was seeing after a long time with interested eyes.
This barrier with a double structure, where white and blue magic power rose from the ground to the sky and another invisible magic power wrapped around it, was the essence of ancient magic that had existed since before the Empire was founded.
Ancient magic was much more solid and meticulous than modern magic like this, and some mages evaluated its complex formula structure as an inefficient method. However, Rowy liked the ancient ways. Because the formulas built up layer by layer contained their aspirations.
‘Looking at things like this, the theory that ancient magic was a kind of prayer toward God might be right.’
Stop. Rowy’s steps, which had been approaching the barrier while thinking various thoughts, halted. …Because someone was standing in front of the barrier. Rowy, who had encountered a living person for the first time in this strange dream, tensed up.
‘What should I do? Should I acknowledge them?’
While Rowy was pondering what to do like that, as if noticing that Rowy had perceived them, soon that person turned to look at Rowy.
“……”
The woman with long silver hair hanging down and wearing an old-fashioned dress was certainly someone he was meeting for the first time. However… she was also someone Rowy knew all too well. Princess Estelia stood there.
‘Mom suddenly appears here?’
Of course, Rowy didn’t fall into tremendous emotion even seeing his dead mother alive and moving. Because Rowy clearly recognized that all of this was happening during the exorcism ritual. That’s why the first question that arose was this.
‘Did I miss the Academy and Mom? I don’t think so.’
Why, don’t they say dreams show what you’ve kept deep in your heart for a long time? Even while thinking various thoughts, the Rowy in the dream didn’t stop walking. Like that, at some point, the two were walking the path together.
“……”
The feeling of walking with his dead mother was really strange. He had grown this much, yet Mom was still the young woman from the portrait.
‘No, I think I was smaller before.’
Before? Had I seen her before? No, that can’t be. She’s the woman who died when I was born. However, before his thoughts could deepen further, Princess Estelia, who had been walking looking only ahead, slowly turned her body toward Rowy.
At that, Rowy also stopped walking and raised his head to look at his mother. Their eyes met. And at that moment, Rowy’s face hardened stiffly. Because Princess Estelia’s two eyes that met his… were just black without any whites. Just like the demon drawn in the prayer room.
“Huk!”
Rowy jumped up in shock.
“Huk, huk.”
“Are you alright?”
His breathing was rough. The Head Priest approached and patted Rowy’s chest. Rowy irritably swatted that hand away and sat up.
“What is this? This is the exorcism ritual?”
Rowy’s sharp voice filled the space.
“Believer.”
“Don’t touch me!”
The Head Priest carefully reached out his hand again to the agitated Rowy. However, Rowy couldn’t quite calm down. The priests, who had exchanged glances with each other, began to lay Rowy back down on the altar.
“Let go! Won’t you let go?”
“The ritual isn’t finished yet.”
“I don’t need this ritual!”
Rowy screamed and struggled. However, he couldn’t escape from the priests’ strong hands. A blue flame flickered momentarily in Rowy’s eyes.
“Let go!”
Boom…! Massive magic power filled the space, and the priests were all pushed back against the walls at once.
“Believer!”
Rowy, who had looked back at the priests with cold eyes for a moment, vanished into thin air in an instant.
* * *
At the massive magic power that shook the entire temple, Van hurriedly ran to the underground altar. However, by the time Van arrived, Rowy had already disappeared.
“What happened!”
“Commander.”
The priests’ expressions weren’t good. Seeing those faces, Van hesitated.
“…Don’t tell me, the exorcism failed?”
“……”
The Head Priest closed his eyes. Father Alex, who was supporting the Head Priest from the side, nodded with a grave expression.
“…Yes.”
The thing they’d feared had finally… Van clenched his fists tightly.
“Then where did my master go?”
“…He suddenly disappeared using magic.”
Having heard that much, Van immediately turned and ran out.
