These words had been the pri motivators of Damon’s philosophy, his life. It was these words that had tied him to the Unknown God.
He had known that the words he found written in the stone under the roots of the ancient tree had to have been written by soone.
What Damon wanted to know was this. Was it fate, or random chance, or perhaps the machinations of the Unknown God.
All Damon could think about was the cruel realization that choice was an illusion and the Unknown God was a god of fate. All things were driven by fate, even the idea of choice.
Amadeus did not say any more. He had said all that needed to be said. This was all he could say about Mugu, as for how he beca the Wicked Prophet and the first demon.
"Mugu lured the world and Lysithara with the goal of achieving Akasha."
He did not know more than that. Amadeus had left Lysithara when the outsiders first appeared. He wanted to test his horizons and grow as much as Mugu had. During that ti, he shared so of the knowledge of summoning and assisted in summoning outsiders all across the world.
This had been a mistake because the mont enough of them had arrived and they had gained physical vessels, they showed their true colors.
Their relationship with the outsiders was complicated. These were higher ranked entities, but they were not a monolith. The outsiders had many varieties. So seed alien and wrong. So seed divine. So seed demonic. So carried strange artifacts and dressed weirdly.
They did not get along with each other, and so of them were enemies long before coming here.
What they could agree on was one thing, and that was their objective.
"At the ti, I did not know what it was," Amadeus added one last ti to Damon, standing up from his bone chair as it vanished.
"Of all things, what I cannot seem to forget was their disdain. They looked down on everyone and everything except Mugu. For whatever reason, he was not viewed with as much disdain. It was almost as if they viewed him as an equal. Why would they not. After all, he was the Prophet of the Unknown God."
Seras and Damon glanced at each other as the lich walked away into the canopy of trees. With each step, he faded slightly, as if he were worn and tired.
His voice echoed through the evil forest.
"The knowledge you have shared with is interesting. I pray we never et again."
On the table, he left the box for Damon along with so pieces of parchnt.
Damon took the box, inspecting it while his heart filled with thoughts of Mugu.
"I wonder what his life was like."
As soon as he said that, the box reacted to the subconscious wish he had muttered. It shattered, turned into black ash, and then liquefied into a tattoo on Damon’s wrist.
He was taken aback by how fast it had happened.
"Ah, damn it. That was not what I wanted to wish for."
He understood it was not a magical wish. If it were, Amadeus would have just used it to wish for infinite knowledge. He might even have achieved Akasha.
Absolute knowledge of all kinds of magic.
Seras flipped through the parchnt he had left.
"It is a map and a rough outline of the dangers and monsters in the area."
Renata helped her flip through more of them. Her face paled slightly.
"This does not make our journey easier. It only ans we know our likelihood of death."
Damon’s ears perked up when he heard death. He removed his gaze from the small tattoo on his wrist. It was not doing anything anyway.
His gaze crossed to the rest of the large trees.
"We need to get going then."
Seras nodded slowly, knowing they were in for a lot of trouble.
"I will share this with those who have an affinity for this type of work. It should also be useful for our scouts, although I might have to prevent any further scouting. Better to keep the expedition force together."
He nodded at her slowly. That was a valid line of reasoning. Seras had experience with these things. If anyone could take an expedition force in and out of the evil forest, it was her.
Half an hour later, they were ready to set out.
Everyone was on a nocturnal stag, and Damon had been given a new one. They were slightly freaked out by the lich but were still grateful they did not have to fight it.
He could feel their admiring eyes and hear their words, calling him a very learned man.
Damon did not mind the praise as long as they kept what they learned secret.
As for the condition he set on the oath scroll.
Should the person in the scroll intend to reveal the secret, then their heart would explode and their soul would die, as long as they had mories or records of the events of that day.
The loophole was simple. Die or erase your mories of that day.
Damon reached the Hungry Ground first. It was a dark patch of soil that seed just the sa as the rest of the forest, yet there were strange black roots growing upward from the trees. It was hard to notice them due to how the forest was always filled with strange plants.
This could be lethal to weaker people, but at the third class and above it was an inconvenience at most. Small injuries, rashes, or hallucinations depending on the variety. In extre cases, instant death.
You could never be too safe with places like this.
With Deathless acting to kill him and nothing happening so far, Damon was careful.
Seras caught up, and her nocturnal stag moved past him. As soon as it stepped on the ground, the earth wobbled as if it were semi liquid like water.
The earth was pitch black and soft like wet ash.
Damon stepped off his stag and touched the ground. Footprints sank deeper than they should. The ground felt warm, like living flesh. He wondered if it would bleed if he cut it.
Damon took a deep breath. It was safe, as safe as could be in the evil forest, and mounted his stag, following the exact path as everyone.
As soon as it took three steps into the area, the whole stag and Damon were pulled into the soil.
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