Chapter 253: 019 – Desolation
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"Let's not play the game where you act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Lirian said quickly, he knew that the mayor would deny the truth so he leaked a little of his killing intent in his words to pressure him.
"You know a very dumb person would think you generous, but anyone with a little brains would find it very suspicious for someone like yourself to invite a complete stranger into your home," Lirian said coldly, "As if that stranger were family," Lirian added with a grin.
The mayors eyes widened, earlier he was surprised but now he was completely shocked, his entire ploy to get Lirian to enter his home and get close to one of his daughters was seen through before he could even put any of his plans into motion.
"It's a desperate move, which makes me wonder, what's got you so worried, and it's not some group of bandit orcs, no, what ever you're going to ask me is something that has had you worried for a while," Lirian said not giving the mayor any chance to breathe.
The mayor looked around hesitantly, he knew there was no getting out of this now, he complained internally at his bad luck, the one time he needed a dumb and strong adventure to come around he ended up with a smart one.
"Very well," the mayor nodded, "But this requires privacy," he said indicating for Lirian to follow him out of the inn, since the jig was up the mayor thought that it would serve him better to say the truth, he felt like his hope would not be realised but if he said nothing it was likely that Lirian would not even help with the potential orc problem.
The mayor watched as Lirian grabbed his simple walking cane and started tapping it against the ground and followed after him while matching his pace, even his footsteps didn't resembled someone who had just drank 20 mugs of ale.
A few minutes later they walked down the main road of the village and into the house of the mayor, the mayor's wife and his two daughters greeted Lirian with vigour when he entered, but they quickly excused themselves and went upstairs to the mayor's study.
As soon as they got in the mayor chased his wife and daughters away, before shutting the door and turning to Lirian and offering him a seat.
"I apologise for the secrecy, but I can't let anyone know about this or there will be a lot of panic in the village," the mayor said apologetically.
"A few years ago you might have heard the rumours about the…" the mayor paused as if hesitant to speak any further, and he had lowered his tone as he said the words as if afraid the walls would hear him, "The Desolation!" he uttered in terror.
"The desolation?" Lirian said in surprise, back in the empire there were hundreds of thousands of stories about the desolations, according to the stories all kinds of mutations of creatures would emerge from these places and bring chaos to entire worlds.
There were a few hundred known desolations and the creatures from the desolations all held a strange type of power, not to mention that the creatures were far stronger than most cultivators, usually it would take teams of cultivators with a cultivation that was much higher than the creatures in order to kill them.
Even second accord cultivators could not fight them on equal footing, it not for the creature's lack of intelligence, they would likely be a the most powerful existences in the universe.
Lirian was extremely shocked to hear the name desolation come up on this world, and even more so to hear it come out of the mouth of some backward village mayor, but he quickly reeled in his surprise, the naming was likely just a coincidence, but based on the mayors terrified tone it was something the people considered extremely terrifying.
"What about the desolation?" Lirian asked plainly and the mayor looked at him in fright as if unable to process how Lirian was able to speak the word desolation without shuddering.
"Just a few years ago when all those rumours started to spread about the great prophet Ivar prophesising its reopening," the mayor said with a cold shudder.
"Go on," Lirian said nodding his head as all this was known to him, and already he could make out a key difference between the desolation here and the real desolation that existed in the universe, those places were always open, there was no such thing as a desolation that could open and close.
The desolations were marked of as forbidden zones since the time of Quaria, after the guardians provoked the black dragon of despair and Arthur Pendragon had to act to take it down, no one dared to stick their nose into the desolations.
The mayor nodded at Lirian's beckoning and continued, "For the past few months, riders have been sent down from Proge and up from Riverfall, they've been speaking to the mayors of all the main villagers and asking us to spread the word to all villages nearby,"
"They don't know when it could be a few months or even a few years, they aren't certain, but they are saying the same thing, the desolation will reopen and the black tide of infernals will come marching with it," the mayor said with a shudder.
Lirian frowned deeply, at the mention of the infernals, in this language it had many meanings and to his understanding of what the mayors was saying, the word infernal was the same as saying abomination, which was one of the common names used for creatures born from a desolation in the empire.
"So, if I'm guessing correctly you want me to stay here to protect your village, in the event of an infernal attacking your village?" Lirian asked, he did find it strange after all no one knew his real ability here so why would the mayor would put so much faith in him, a cultivator that he knew nothing about.
The mayor's eye's widened in horror at the thought of an infernal reaching this place, if such a thing were to happen, then not even Mr Cassy would be able to do anything.
"No, no," the mayor said hurriedly, "Even if the creatures make it here it won't happen for many years," he explained.
"But the runners from the major towns have informed us that half of the elites and all the reserve troops are being mobilised, and any sell sword with any skill will be paid handsomely to join the armies,"
"The humans and orcs will create a joint battle front at the Tower Guard fortress in the south to fight back the infernals, if things are anything like the last time, then it could be centuries before the desolation is closed," the mayor said in a fearful voice.
Then he turned to Lirian, "While all the soldiers are gone, the roads will become dangerous with bandits and eventually the villages will be targeted, before long some of the dark groups will start targeting the towns and cities, just like in the old days when the last desolation came," the mayor said with fearful eyes.
"Good Sir, I'm just trying to keep my village safe from unwanted trouble, if I'm able to say that we have two cultivators protecting us, it is likely that no one would dare to even think about causing any trouble," the mayor explained in a pleading tone.
It had been so long since the last desolation, but the stories were still told and made people feel fear, the mayor himself had some journals from a distant ancestor who lived during the last desolation.
His father would read to him some of the stories when he was a boy, those stories were enough to make him have nightmares through the night, but they were just the tip of the iceberg when he grew up he didn't read many of the stories.
But after the rumours about the great prophet Ivar's prophecy, he like many others searched for all the old stories he could find, and in the process he found the journal that his father used to read to him.
As it turned out those stories that made him wet the bed in fright, were the nicer stories, his ancestor used to be a powerful soldier, he attained the rank of adapt, and wrote his own personal accounts of every time he faced an infernal.
There was once a time when his ancestor, witnessed an entire city with millions of people get turned into a wasteland over the course of a few hours as the black tide rushed through destroying the buildings with ease and swallowing living people whole.
There was one infernal that devoured an entire mountain and all its inhabitants in the blink of an eye, if not for one of the heavenly emperors arriving to slay it, his ancestor would have died on that day.
Just the thought of an infernal, filled him with so much dread, if such a creature arrived here what could anyone do, their only fortune would be that they wouldn't even know how they died.
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"Let's not play the game where you act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Lirian said quickly, he knew that the mayor would deny the truth so he leaked a little of his killing intent in his words to pressure him.
"You know a very dumb person would think you generous, but anyone with a little brains would find it very suspicious for someone like yourself to invite a complete stranger into your home," Lirian said coldly, "As if that stranger were family," Lirian added with a grin.
The mayors eyes widened, earlier he was surprised but now he was completely shocked, his entire ploy to get Lirian to enter his home and get close to one of his daughters was seen through before he could even put any of his plans into motion.
"It's a desperate move, which makes me wonder, what's got you so worried, and it's not some group of bandit orcs, no, what ever you're going to ask me is something that has had you worried for a while," Lirian said not giving the mayor any chance to breathe.
The mayor looked around hesitantly, he knew there was no getting out of this now, he complained internally at his bad luck, the one time he needed a dumb and strong adventure to come around he ended up with a smart one.
"Very well," the mayor nodded, "But this requires privacy," he said indicating for Lirian to follow him out of the inn, since the jig was up the mayor thought that it would serve him better to say the truth, he felt like his hope would not be realised but if he said nothing it was likely that Lirian would not even help with the potential orc problem.
The mayor watched as Lirian grabbed his simple walking cane and started tapping it against the ground and followed after him while matching his pace, even his footsteps didn't resembled someone who had just drank 20 mugs of ale.
A few minutes later they walked down the main road of the village and into the house of the mayor, the mayor's wife and his two daughters greeted Lirian with vigour when he entered, but they quickly excused themselves and went upstairs to the mayor's study.
As soon as they got in the mayor chased his wife and daughters away, before shutting the door and turning to Lirian and offering him a seat.
"I apologise for the secrecy, but I can't let anyone know about this or there will be a lot of panic in the village," the mayor said apologetically.
"A few years ago you might have heard the rumours about the…" the mayor paused as if hesitant to speak any further, and he had lowered his tone as he said the words as if afraid the walls would hear him, "The Desolation!" he uttered in terror.
"The desolation?" Lirian said in surprise, back in the empire there were hundreds of thousands of stories about the desolations, according to the stories all kinds of mutations of creatures would emerge from these places and bring chaos to entire worlds.
There were a few hundred known desolations and the creatures from the desolations all held a strange type of power, not to mention that the creatures were far stronger than most cultivators, usually it would take teams of cultivators with a cultivation that was much higher than the creatures in order to kill them.
Even second accord cultivators could not fight them on equal footing, it not for the creature's lack of intelligence, they would likely be a the most powerful existences in the universe.
Lirian was extremely shocked to hear the name desolation come up on this world, and even more so to hear it come out of the mouth of some backward village mayor, but he quickly reeled in his surprise, the naming was likely just a coincidence, but based on the mayors terrified tone it was something the people considered extremely terrifying.
"What about the desolation?" Lirian asked plainly and the mayor looked at him in fright as if unable to process how Lirian was able to speak the word desolation without shuddering.
"Just a few years ago when all those rumours started to spread about the great prophet Ivar prophesising its reopening," the mayor said with a cold shudder.
"Go on," Lirian said nodding his head as all this was known to him, and already he could make out a key difference between the desolation here and the real desolation that existed in the universe, those places were always open, there was no such thing as a desolation that could open and close.
The desolations were marked of as forbidden zones since the time of Quaria, after the guardians provoked the black dragon of despair and Arthur Pendragon had to act to take it down, no one dared to stick their nose into the desolations.
The mayor nodded at Lirian's beckoning and continued, "For the past few months, riders have been sent down from Proge and up from Riverfall, they've been speaking to the mayors of all the main villagers and asking us to spread the word to all villages nearby,"
"They don't know when it could be a few months or even a few years, they aren't certain, but they are saying the same thing, the desolation will reopen and the black tide of infernals will come marching with it," the mayor said with a shudder.
Lirian frowned deeply, at the mention of the infernals, in this language it had many meanings and to his understanding of what the mayors was saying, the word infernal was the same as saying abomination, which was one of the common names used for creatures born from a desolation in the empire.
"So, if I'm guessing correctly you want me to stay here to protect your village, in the event of an infernal attacking your village?" Lirian asked, he did find it strange after all no one knew his real ability here so why would the mayor would put so much faith in him, a cultivator that he knew nothing about.
The mayor's eye's widened in horror at the thought of an infernal reaching this place, if such a thing were to happen, then not even Mr Cassy would be able to do anything.
"No, no," the mayor said hurriedly, "Even if the creatures make it here it won't happen for many years," he explained.
"But the runners from the major towns have informed us that half of the elites and all the reserve troops are being mobilised, and any sell sword with any skill will be paid handsomely to join the armies,"
"The humans and orcs will create a joint battle front at the Tower Guard fortress in the south to fight back the infernals, if things are anything like the last time, then it could be centuries before the desolation is closed," the mayor said in a fearful voice.
Then he turned to Lirian, "While all the soldiers are gone, the roads will become dangerous with bandits and eventually the villages will be targeted, before long some of the dark groups will start targeting the towns and cities, just like in the old days when the last desolation came," the mayor said with fearful eyes.
"Good Sir, I'm just trying to keep my village safe from unwanted trouble, if I'm able to say that we have two cultivators protecting us, it is likely that no one would dare to even think about causing any trouble," the mayor explained in a pleading tone.
It had been so long since the last desolation, but the stories were still told and made people feel fear, the mayor himself had some journals from a distant ancestor who lived during the last desolation.
His father would read to him some of the stories when he was a boy, those stories were enough to make him have nightmares through the night, but they were just the tip of the iceberg when he grew up he didn't read many of the stories.
But after the rumours about the great prophet Ivar's prophecy, he like many others searched for all the old stories he could find, and in the process he found the journal that his father used to read to him.
As it turned out those stories that made him wet the bed in fright, were the nicer stories, his ancestor used to be a powerful soldier, he attained the rank of adapt, and wrote his own personal accounts of every time he faced an infernal.
There was once a time when his ancestor, witnessed an entire city with millions of people get turned into a wasteland over the course of a few hours as the black tide rushed through destroying the buildings with ease and swallowing living people whole.
There was one infernal that devoured an entire mountain and all its inhabitants in the blink of an eye, if not for one of the heavenly emperors arriving to slay it, his ancestor would have died on that day.
Just the thought of an infernal, filled him with so much dread, if such a creature arrived here what could anyone do, their only fortune would be that they wouldn't even know how they died.
"Let's not play the game where you act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Lirian said quickly, he knew that the mayor would deny the truth so he leaked a little of his killing intent in his words to pressure him."You know a very dumb person would think you generous, but anyone with a little brains would find it very suspicious for someone like yourself to invite a complete stranger into your home," Lirian said coldly, "As if that stranger were family," Lirian added with a grin.The mayors eyes widened, earlier he was surprised but now he was completely shocked, his entire ploy to get Lirian to enter his home and get close to one of his daughters was seen through before he could even put any of his plans into motion."It's a desperate move, which makes me wonder, what's got you so worried, and it's not some group of bandit orcs, no, what ever you're going to ask me is something that has had you worried for a while," Lirian said not giving the mayor any chance to breathe.The mayor looked around hesitantly, he knew there was no getting out of this now, he complained internally at his bad luck, the one time he needed a dumb and strong adventure to come around he ended up with a smart one."Very well," the mayor nodded, "But this requires privacy," he said indicating for Lirian to follow him out of the inn, since the jig was up the mayor thought that it would serve him better to say the truth, he felt like his hope would not be realised but if he said nothing it was likely that Lirian would not even help with the potential orc problem.The mayor watched as Lirian grabbed his simple walking cane and started tapping it against the ground and followed after him while matching his pace, even his footsteps didn't resembled someone who had just drank 20 mugs of ale.A few minutes later they walked down the main road of the village and into the house of the mayor, the mayor's wife and his two daughters greeted Lirian with vigour when he entered, but they quickly excused themselves and went upstairs to the mayor's study.As soon as they got in the mayor chased his wife and daughters away, before shutting the door and turning to Lirian and offering him a seat."I apologise for the secrecy, but I can't let anyone know about this or there will be a lot of panic in the village," the mayor said apologetically."A few years ago you might have heard the rumours about the" the mayor paused as if hesitant to speak any further, and he had lowered his tone as he said the words as if afraid the walls would hear him, "The Desolation!" he uttered in terror."The desolation?" Lirian said in surprise, back in the empire there were hundreds of thousands of stories about the desolations, according to the stories all kinds of mutations of creatures would emerge from these places and bring chaos to entire worlds.There were a few hundred known desolations and the creatures from the desolations all held a strange type of power, not to mention that the creatures were far stronger than most cultivators, usually it would take teams of cultivators with a cultivation that was much higher than the creatures in order to kill them.Even second accord cultivators could not fight them on equal footing, it not for the creature's lack of intelligence, they would likely be a the most powerful existences in the universe.Lirian was extremely shocked to hear the name desolation come up on this world, and even more so to hear it come out of the mouth of some backward village mayor, but he quickly reeled in his surprise, the naming was likely just a coincidence, but based on the mayors terrified tone it was something the people considered extremely terrifying."What about the desolation?" Lirian asked plainly and the mayor looked at him in fright as if unable to process how Lirian was able to speak the word desolation without shuddering."Just a few years ago when all those rumours started to spread about the great prophet Ivar prophesising its reopening," the mayor said with a cold shudder."Go on," Lirian said nodding his head as all this was known to him, and already he could make out a key difference between the desolation here and the real desolation that existed in the universe, those places were always open, there was no such thing as a desolation that could open and close.The desolations were marked of as forbidden zones since the time of Quaria, after the guardians provoked the black dragon of despair and Arthur Pendragon had to act to take it down, no one dared to stick their nose into the desolations.The mayor nodded at Lirian's beckoning and continued, "For the past few months, riders have been sent down from Proge and up from Riverfall, they've been speaking to the mayors of all the main villagers and asking us to spread the word to all villages nearby,""They don't know when it could be a few months or even a few years, they aren't certain, but they are saying the same thing, the desolation will reopen and the black tide of infernals will come marching with it," the mayor said with a shudder.Lirian frowned deeply, at the mention of the infernals, in this language it had many meanings and to his understanding of what the mayors was saying, the word infernal was the same as saying abomination, which was one of the common names used for creatures born from a desolation in the empire."So, if I'm guessing correctly you want me to stay here to protect your village, in the event of an infernal attacking your village?" Lirian asked, he did find it strange after all no one knew his real ability here so why would the mayor would put so much faith in him, a cultivator that he knew nothing about.The mayor's eye's widened in horror at the thought of an infernal reaching this place, if such a thing were to happen, then not even Mr Cassy would be able to do anything."No, no," the mayor said hurriedly, "Even if the creatures make it here it won't happen for many years," he explained."But the runners from the major towns have informed us that half of the elites and all the reserve troops are being mobilised, and any sell sword with any skill will be paid handsomely to join the armies,""The humans and orcs will create a joint battle front at the Tower Guard fortress in the south to fight back the infernals, if things are anything like the last time, then it could be centuries before the desolation is closed," the mayor said in a fearful voice.Then he turned to Lirian, "While all the soldiers are gone, the roads will become dangerous with bandits and eventually the villages will be targeted, before long some of the dark groups will start targeting the towns and cities, just like in the old days when the last desolation came," the mayor said with fearful eyes."Good Sir, I'm just trying to keep my village safe from unwanted trouble, if I'm able to say that we have two cultivators protecting us, it is likely that no one would dare to even think about causing any trouble," the mayor explained in a pleading tone.It had been so long since the last desolation, but the stories were still told and made people feel fear, the mayor himself had some journals from a distant ancestor who lived during the last desolation.His father would read to him some of the stories when he was a boy, those stories were enough to make him have nightmares through the night, but they were just the tip of the iceberg when he grew up he didn't read many of the stories.But after the rumours about the great prophet Ivar's prophecy, he like many others searched for all the old stories he could find, and in the process he found the journal that his father used to read to him.As it turned out those stories that made him wet the bed in fright, were the nicer stories, his ancestor used to be a powerful soldier, he attained the rank of adapt, and wrote his own personal accounts of every time he faced an infernal.There was once a time when his ancestor, witnessed an entire city with millions of people get turned into a wasteland over the course of a few hours as the black tide rushed through destroying the buildings with ease and swallowing living people whole.There was one infernal that devoured an entire mountain and all its inhabitants in the blink of an eye, if not for one of the heavenly emperors arriving to slay it, his ancestor would have died on that day.Just the thought of an infernal, filled him with so much dread, if such a creature arrived here what could anyone do, their only fortune would be that they wouldn't even know how they died.
