Gun of Ashes

This is a construction beyond the current capabilities of human technology. The new Pope finds it hard to imagine who built it, and even suggests it might be something natural, with humanity merely altering its foundation.

He continued his descent, and discomfort rose from within. The prolonged darkness tested his sanity, with countless negative emotions breeding in the shadows, subtly perturbing the new Pope until he heard a strange whimpering in the darkness.

Just below him, in that profound darkness, some creature emitted a low sound, and the sounds multiplied. They sensed the presence of the living and awakened from their slumber, pleading hungrily for blood.

The new Pope could hear it, like a grotesque symphony, with broken organs and maggots making noise, as carrion creatures sucked at fresh blood.

At last, the staircase ended, with no more stairs leading further down. On the final step lay a mottled, blood-stained chain, which the new Pope grasped with one hand as he looked below.

There lay a darkness impenetrable by lamplight, an unknown known to none.

”Every visit is a test…”

The new Pope couldn’t help but murmur, even he hesitated at this moment until he mustered the courage and leapt into that darkness.

The fall wasn’t long, just a split second, with a drop of only three or four meters, yet this distance alone filled the new Pope with dread.

There lies a grey area between the worlds of life and death, the edge of life and death. This long journey traversed the brink of Hell, and with the new Pope’s leap over this brief gap, he arrived at ”Hell.”

All around was still the impenetrable darkness, the air laden with a strong stench, the cold temperature akin to the polar North, with breath crystalizing into frosty mist.

The ground beneath his feet was soft and sticky, and then he seemed to step into a water pool. Despite the cold temperature, the liquid hadn’t frozen, and by the lamplight, he realized it was scarlet blood. Looking to the darkness, the blood stretched across his entire view, as if thousands had died here whose blood had yet to dry.

The new Pope seemed unfazed by all this, having been here before, and loudly exclaimed.

”I’m here!”

No one answered him, yet the fragmented, grotesque sounds in the darkness grew denser.

The new Pope understood; he just slept too deeply, too hard to wake. Blinding white light shone from beneath the steel mask, and he drew from his waist the Nail Sword, lightly slicing his wrist, allowing the blood to merge into the pool beneath. As Secret Blood ignited Purifying Flame beside him.

The pallid light illuminated this filthy world, where within the scarlet blood soaked nauseating fleshy organs, some still emitting slight warmth, stirring slowly, as if still alive. And there were many such things, grotesque and malformed bodies, severed limbs, and heads, barely discernible amidst the hazy darkness a more enormous thing, too massive for even the firelight to fully illuminate.

Here lay the bottom of the Well of Ascension, with no specific name within the Evangelical Church’s records, perhaps once named but deliberately forgotten.

The beautiful ascends while the foul descends. Here gather the filth of nearly a millennium of the Evangelical Church, forgotten in this place, yet even after so long, they had not entirely died.

With the living’s arrival, more grotesque things awakened, something moved beneath the blood, slowly rising, barely discernible as humanoid, seemingly once human. They tried to stand, but their flesh had bonded with the ground… No, that wasn’t the ground, but flesh too, the entire bottom of the well seemingly filled by a massive organism, making the new Pope’s position feel like it was within its digestive tract.

They struggled, though long dead, their flesh still brimming with life, countless hands waving, like some abhorrent horror ritual, but the new Pope paid them no mind, continuing forward.

In the darkness, he was the sole light, countless eyes watched him intently, perhaps when the flame extinguished, those anomalous creatures would swarm.

Countless voices resounded, the new Pope couldn’t understand their whimperings, but he grasped their meanings.

[A living one… a living one...]

[Fresh blood, fresh meat...]

[How long, how long since last feeding...]

[The light! Light!]

[So dazzling, so alluring...]

The new Pope drew a deep breath, as the corrosive intensity here at the well’s bottom had reached an unbearable degree, perhaps in the next second he’d lose his sanity, yet he clenched his teeth, persevering.

He clutched the chain tightly, in this darkness unable to be illuminated, it’s his credential back to the surface.

”So you’ve come…”

Suddenly a voice echoed from the front, a genuine human voice.

The new Pope knew who it was, striding directly toward it, his wrist-wound still bleeding, Secret Blood ignited Purifying Flames, gradually burning away the darkness.

The darkness was expelled, revealing the appearance of that person... who barely resembled a human. His upper body’s flesh was extremely withered, skin cracked like bark, clinging tightly to bones, with limbs branch-thin. Due to the demise of flesh, over years his bones had petrified and fused together.

The new Pope was not surprised he’d become like this, gazing at his chilling skull, it looked like an emaciated skull shrouded in a layer of human skin, eye sockets deeply sunken with darkness below.

”How have you been all these years?”

The new Pope asked him like an old friend, and he answered very calmly.

”How else? Can’t die, can’t truly live…”

He seemed to laugh, his laughter hoarse and intermittent.

”That makes me truly happy.”

Hearing this, the new Pope seemed overjoyed, raising his hand, letting his blood fall to the ground, fresh blood, powerful blood.

The moment of calm broke, that man immediately knelt, greedily drinking the new Pope’s blood, as if it were divine delicacy.

Watching his ridiculous appearance, the new Pope shook his head, staunching the blood, and removed his mask.

”Honestly, only facing you can I remove this mask without concern.”

He lit a cigarette, illuminating the face long concealed.

It was a face only a devil in nightmares would have, nose and lips utterly shriveled, desiccated, yet beneath the dry skin sinister scarlet flesh softly writhed, gums and teeth fully exposed, trailing down the neck. This grotesque life and death extended to his chest, a heartbeat like war drums thudded within the decaying wood.

Yet amidst such abhorrence, a pair of clear eyes were set within the twisted flesh, emitting a faint white light, devoid of any emotion.

A cigarette was quickly finished, the blood on the ground long lapped clean, and the two maintained an eerie silence, until that man lifted his head to gaze at the abominable face and softly asked.

”What is it you want?”

”Information, Lorenzo de’ Medici’s information.”

The new Pope tossed aside the cigarette butt, looking down at the man.

”He’s dead, isn’t he? What information from the dead?” he said.

”But what if he isn’t dead? Your Excellency.” the new Pope stated.

Hearing ”Your Excellency”, that man’s body tensed suddenly, then began to quiver violently, he seemed to turn mad, gone was the submissive demeanor, he laughed and cried, his gaunt body bellowing.

”How dare you!”

But what greeted him was the descending Nail Sword, the new Pope thrust the blade down along his withered chest, pinning it into the ground, making him bow to the new Pope.

”So pitiful…”

The new Pope said with a laugh, thoroughly enjoying the torment. Having lived at the well’s bottom for so long, pain could no longer perturb him, but mental humiliation could make him feel rage, which was good.

”I’m in a hurry, so what is Lorenzo de’ Medici up to?”

The new Pope looked at the former Pope, who did nothing on the Night of the Holy Arrival, faced with Sainy Loter’s interrogation, he laughed and cried like a lunatic.

”I don’t know…”

The old Pope murmured, no matter how Sainy Loter twisted the blade, bringing whatever pain, he only repeated this phrase.

”I don’t know.”

Just like many years ago, when Sainy Loter questioned him then, he repeated ceaselessly.

”I don’t know.”