There were no torches within the central secret area, because of this his vision suddenly darkened and only after a moment for him to adapt did he see a narrow passage appear in front of his eyes. The channels roof and walls have been fully covered with cast iron, and both sided of it were inlaid with fluorescent stones. These strange stones were a type of the God’s Stone of Retaliation, and after soaking in demonic beast blood they began to emit a green fluorescence.
Reaching the end of the channel a cage appeared in front of him. After entering the cage, the guards activated the mechanism and it started to go downwards. The chain above their heads issued a crunching sound, which seemed to be especially ear-piercing within the narrow channel. Accompanied by this cacophony of sounds, the cage slowly sank into a hole in the ground, then suddenly Mayne’s eyes were flooded with light.
An extremely spacious underground area suddenly appeared before his eyes.
No matter how often he had seen this scene, he would always be shocked by it anew, giving birth to a feeling of insignificance from his heart.
In accordance with common sense, buried so deeply underground, the cave should have been dark, pitch-dark. But here, the entire cave was illuminated by the light coming from the God’s Stone of Retaliation. The God’s Stone of Retaliation were spread over the whole cave, rising from the ground and forming several stalagmites like crystal flowers. Even the smallest stalagmites were so thick that it was nearly impossible for as many as ten grown men to encircle it. While the highest stalagmite almost reached the apex of the cave, even higher than the Hermes’ Cathedral’s Tower.
Their colors were also all differently having almost nothing in common with each other, the densest stalagmites of God’s Stone of Retaliation were lavender, while the ones at the edge had changed from a dark blue to a light green. The smaller ones were even white, while the seemingly only recently emerged stalagmites had a near transparent body. The lavender colored God’s Stone of Retaliation were the stones shining the brightest, especially the stalagmite which surpassed even the Cathedral’s tower. Its brightness came close to the that of the full moon, making it possible to see the end of the cave without the help of a torch, but also allowing one to just faintly be able to see the ground.
Under the influence of such a large concentration of the God’s Stone of Retaliation, the inside of the mountains could be regarded as being a magic free area. The God’s Stone of Retaliation that were sold by the Church had all been mined from this place.
The space within the cave was large enough to accommodate five or six of Hermes’ basilicas, and down here they had indeed built an exact replica of the cathedral that was above ground, called the Pantheon. But the temple looked much older than the one that was on the top of the mountain. From high up in the air, Mayne could see a black iron gate in the mountain wall behind the temple. It led to the entrance standing at the foot of Hermes connecting it with the Old Holy City. So in a sense, this ancient building could be called the actual core of the Church, it has already existed long before the New Holy City had been established.
The cage took a quarter-hour to reach the ground. When Mayne could finally walk out of the cage, he straightened his robes and followed the messenger to the temple.
The conversion ceremony would be held in a hall of the temple.
Stepping into the hall, the light surrounding the Archbishop was no longer a cold blue-lavender but was instead an orange that was created by thousands of burning candles. Overhead there hung a three-tiered tower-like chandelier, and candle holders had been placed all around the hall. Looking at them through devote eyes they seemed like countless shaking stars. Thanks to all of the flames, the chilliness had been completely dispersed from the cave.
The man standing in the middle of the two conversion tables was the Supreme Pontiff of the Church, Pope O’Brien. He wore an eye-catching red-gold robe with gold-colored gemstones on his head and at the moment was carefully checking the conversion equipment, and finishing the last bit of preparations for the ceremony.
“Your Holiness,” standing before O’Brian, Mayne immediately kneeled down in worship and kissing the pope’s fingers.
“Get up, son.” the pope slowly responded with a hoarse voice. “Besides the guards, no one else is here, there is no need for elaborate rituals.”
