Tower of Heaven

The dragon didn't hesitate to tell its story. In fact, after being imprisoned for so long, it was more than happy to speak.

In order to keep the torture he endured at a level he could endure, he pretended to be a lesser draconic being without intelligence. It got him this far, but he was still on the verge of breaking.

His story was one of greed. Though it was a rarer story, it was also something that happened many times in the world. All humans had the same thoughts and same desires at their cores, after all.

[Evidently, they wanted to tame me. No, they wanted to domesticate me and turn me into a breeder for inferior wyverns that they could use in battle.]

As expected, he was a young dragon who had not yet received a true name. He was called "Ruru" by his friends and family. It was a pet name for a young dragon, but it was the only thing like a name he had.

One day, he became curious about the world outside of their dwelling. He only wanted to take a peek outside, but it turned into something more than that. He enjoyed an entire day in the wild, interacting with nature and its blessings until he was enamored.

He stayed for another day, and another day, and another. Eventually, his energy as a young dragon was completely drained. Thinking it was fine as long as he found a cave and not wanting to be scolded when he returned home, he looked for a decent place and went to sleep.

The problem was the difference in a dragon's perception of time. Just as they could stay up for days, weeks, and months without any sleep, when they slept, they would gather the energy to be used for a very long period of time.

It wasn't a nap, but hibernation.

Ruru didn't realize that the other beings in the world saw the time that he spent asleep through a very different lens. A blink of an eye to him was more than enough time for them.

His residual aura spread into his surroundings and nourished the forest and the wildlife. At a certain point, humans became interested in the area and investigated. This happened while he was asleep, so it could only really be inferred.

In the end, they found him. While he was slumbering, his consciousness was completely hidden, making him unable to sense their actions as they moved him into this tomb and chained him to the ground.

He only abruptly awoke when they started to tear his wings apart. He thrashed around and tried to attack them, only to find that the qi in the air didn't respond to his call.

They had taken their precautions, so he had no choice but to struggle fruitlessly as they made it impossible for him to fly.

From then on, his torture began. They tried to break his spirit in every way they knew how. At the same time, they had an artifact that oozed a twisted holy energy. It latched onto his mind and blurred his perception of reality, lulling him into submission.

They had to keep him alive, so they had to feed him. Rather than providing meat, they chose to bring in humans from their city. Not wanting to die, Ruru had no choice but to eat them, ignoring their cries and acting like he did not know what their words meant.

Ruru was worn down both physically and mentally. He felt that in a few more days or weeks, he would either die or have his spirit broken.

[That is when you came.]

As he told the story, Atlas made sure to shatter his chains and free him. Obviously, he wasn't going to keep the young dragon imprisoned.

"I will help you find a way out of this place, but first, I must solve the mystery I came here to investigate," Atlas said, informing the dragon.

"The artifact you said they used to control you; is it in this place?"

Ruru was a bit hesitant, but he nodded, deciding to trust his savior.

[It is there. You will be able to find it if you walk into the room hidden behind that wall.]

"Alright. Then, please watch the surroundings and alert me if you see anyone. Do not worry. You do not need to fight. I will do all of the work."

With a nod and those words, Atlas moved to the location Ruru pointed out. As he said, displayed on a pedestal was a silver and white shield with ornate red engravings etched into its surface. It emanated a clean white light that made it seem holier than anything around it.

'This artifact…as Ruru said, the holy energy within is certainly twisted.'

He didn't know what kind of qi it was, but calling it holy was almost a sin. It was an imposter pretending to be holy when it was darker than even the deepest shadows.

'And this pedestal is also an artifact. This terminal…connects it to another artifact, and this formation is a very simple yet exquisitely complex projection array. Is it putting the image of the Sacred Relic in another place?'

It was confusing for a second, but after some thinking, Atlas was able to understand it.

'This tomb was created by those people who kidnapped Ruru, then. It is a cover for their activities, and the matter of excavating the tomb is just a ruse. If not, then this tomb already existed, but there was nothing of note inside of it. Its internals were manufactured in order to give those involved in the projects here a justified reason to be seen going in and out of the tomb. If that is the case, then this projector should lead to the tomb's "main room." That is where the rest of them will end up fighting.'

Would they clash for the sake of the Sacred Relic, or would they realize that it was fake?

'No, they will definitely clash for it.'

Unless they could somehow discover the secrets of this tomb that were hidden far, far below where any of them were, then it was impossible for them to realize they were being tricked until they actually tried to take hold of the relic.

'And at that point, it will be too late.'

With Ruru's story, Atlas was able to confirm that the matter of the Sacred Relic was mostly unrelated to the matter of the Death Relic. At least, the Sacred Relic wasn't going to turn into the Death Relic.

'However, to say that the Sacred Relic is completely uninvolved is wrong. After all, this twisted energy…'

His eyes opened wide as he followed a flow of energy only visible in his eyes. It was a mixture of black, white, and gold, and it flowed like a stream into a wall on one side of the chamber.

'There is something behind that wall.'

[Intrinsic Foresight]

He used it to find the "handle" that opened this door. It required a "key" made by qi that was inserted into the door in a specific flow. Atlas was able to mirror the flow quite easily, opening the door to reveal what was on the other side.

Well, the first thing to be revealed was the stench that flooded into the chamber.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Atlas almost coughed and gagged. If he hadn't isolated his nose with qi in time, it would have been much less bearable.

'Right…'

That was indeed a factor in Ruru's story, wasn't it?

Up until now, believing in false rumors, the officials of this city had been feeding Ruru only human sacrifices.

Ruru ate because Ruru had to eat, but he didn't actually want to eat the humans. He only ate until he was satiated, and then he left the rest in order to leave his victims with at least portions of a corpse to be buried.

It could be called his own way of apologizing for what he did in his desperate state.

Then, where did those corpses go?

Ruru was young and didn't think so far, but those corpses were never going to make it back to their families. They were being hidden away from the world so they would never be found.

They were being hidden behind the very hidden door that Atlas just opened.