Ciel looked back at Ferry only to find her already moving to the trunk.
With that, they began slowly making their way up.
The climb before them was a daunting one, but Ciel was in excellent shape.
At least, he thought he was…
The tree had many grooves so large that they could practically walk up them.
However, the incline remained steep, causing them to still move up on all fours—at least for Ciel.
Meanwhile, Ferry simply walked up it like it was a ramp.
Her speed wasn’t too fast, but he still had to strain himself to keep up.
As they climbed, Ciel decided to continue asking questions.
After all, they had only multiplied as he plummeted down… whatever this place was.
Between breaths he asked, “So what do we need to look out for in this place?”
Ferry sighed.
“Everything.”
…Of course we do.
“Anything in particular?”
Ferry pointed outwards, away from the tree.
“If you see anything out there, our lives are already over. We can do our best to hide, but if we can see them, they have already seen us.”
Ciel tried his best to keep a straight face as Ferry continued.
Looking back at the tree, she added, “This is a cosmic pillar, or at the very least an imitation of one. A place no human has any business of being on, Insighted or not.”
Maybe it’s not worth finding out more, Ciel thought as he clenched his jaw.
Everything she says makes it worse!
He stopped talking, and they climbed in silence again.
The leaves rustled as he passed by them, but the rest were completely still.
There was no wind here, and no other signs of movement.
This should’ve comforted Ciel, but it only served to make him more anxious.
To him, the overwhelming silence was just as bad as the constant voices in the first room.
Throughout the climb, he stayed right behind Ferry, watching her every move.
If she was worried about their situation in any way, Ciel had no way of knowing.
Her steps remained composed, with hardly any wasted movement.
She seemed perfectly content with this alien environment, too
Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore.
“You mentioned things appearing out there, but what if something appears on this tree?”
“If it comes from above, it might be manageable. If it comes from below… Well, we’ll deal with what we can,” Ferry answered without looking back.
Ciel sighed inwardly.
There was very little she gained from telling him any of this.
He was clearly out of his league here.
In fact, he was probably more of a liability than anything.
He didn’t want to stay any longer than he had to.
“Let’s say we do find this thing you’re looking for. Will that help us leave? Or is there some other way to get out of this place?”
“No, it won’t help us now. You can’t leave, at least not here. Waking up should set you back to the starting room the next time you dream, but who knows when that will happen.” New chapters come out on novelping(.)com first.
Ciel didn’t appreciate the lack of an exit, but he was grateful there was a time limit, even if he didn’t know how long it was.
The two climbed steadily, using branches and leaves as steps towards a goal Ciel still didn’t know.
Eventually, Ciel found himself struggling to complete the same motions over and over.
Somehow Ferry noticed it despite never turning around.
She stopped and asked him in a solemn tone, “Do you need a break?”
Ciel gave her a dumbfounded look.
“…No, I c-can ke-ep going.” He wasn’t very convincing, as he gasped for breath between words.
Ferry looked at him for a little longer before sitting down, her legs dangling over the edge.
“Let’s take a break. We have a long way to go.”
Slightly embarrassed, Ciel sat down as well, pointedly keeping his distance.
Once he did, Ferry immediately scooted closer to him, staying silent as she stared at him.
Ciel shifted uncomfortably for a few seconds, and then asked in a tentative tone, “Have I really met you before? In this dream?”
This made Ferry finally look away, turning to look at the branches below them.
“Even for me, it’s hard to remember when we first met.”
Even for her?
Is it the same memory loss I have in this dream, or is that what she wants me to think?
As he opened his mouth again, Ferry suddenly grabbed his shoulder, and pointed at one of the branches she had been looking at.
“Look over there.”
Ciel looked down too, but only saw the same scenery as every else: a sprawling set of branches with vibrant leaves sprouting on top of them.
Before he could ask what she meant, Ferry dropped down to the branch she had pointed at, easily landing at least 10 meters below.
Ciel blinked a few times, then scampered to the trunk, taking a much slower and safer route.
By the time he got down, Ferry was kneeling down, staring intently at a specific area.
Ciel glanced over her shoulder, but still didn’t know what she was looking at.
Thankfully, she gave him an explanation this time.
“Something’s written on the bark here.”
Ciel squinted for a few seconds to finally notice a pattern in the gnarled markings of the ancient wood.
These random lines are writing?
Ciel found that hard to believe.
He knew every language on Earth, and whatever those scratches were, they weren’t one of them.
Sure there were only three in total, but that was still all of them.
He didn’t expect an answer, but he still asked anyways, “So what does it say?”
Ferry didn’t respond immediately, focusing intently on the branch.
After another minute she translated, “It says, ‘Hail the twin saints of… Fertility… and Virility, for they will…”
She fell silent for another minute before shaking her head.
She placed her finger on the penultimate symbol.
“I can’t figure out what this says, but the last symbol signifies ‘the world'”
“Hail the twin saints of fertility and virility, for they will… blank the world.” Ciel completed the sentence with a contemplative expression. Read this novel at novelping . com for the best experience.
That unknown symbol can change the entire meaning.
They could save the world, destroy it, end it, or rebuild it.
Basing it off their titles alone, I’d be inclined to believe in the positive.
Sadly with no other information, this was just wistful thinking.
Ciel decided to focus on what could be translated instead.
“A saint? As in those famous figures from the Church?”
Their were many famous saints during Leichren’s history, far too many to keep count.
They were typically the most prominent members of the Church of Fire, and were known for their piety, influence, and Insight.
Technically, not all saints were Insighted, but Ciel found it hard to believe one would earn that title without being at least Master rank.
“It could be, but I’ve never heard of these specific titles in any of the four churches.
More importantly, it says they’re going to do something to the world.
Our imaginations would naturally lean towards the more drastic ideas.
Words like save or destroy, but in reality, it’d probably be something tamer.
I can’t imagine anyone bar Transcendents holding that much power.
Ciel frowned—and not because she had basically read his mind.
“How can you read this anyways? I’ve never seen or heard of this language in any of the four sanctuaries.”
“Languages are fluid systems,” Ferry explained.
“The ones that exist now haven’t always existed, and the ones that exist now won’t exist in the future. I first discovered remnants of it in Leichren, actually. I studied it extensively and connected it to the modern Allowayen language. Of course, my understanding isn’t complete, as you can tell.”
Ciel raised his eyebrows.
She made it sound so easy, so why didn’t he know about this?
Were there really languages just sitting around, waiting to be rediscovered?
He was interested in learning more, but he realized that now wasn’t the best time.
“Why did someone write this in the first place, and when?
“The writing is still in perfect condition, as if it was just etched into the bark seconds ago,” Ferry commented.
“However, this doesn’t tell us anything about how much time has past, since this place is practically frozen in time. There’s no way for it to naturally wear down.”
Ciel studied the symbols again, extending his finger to trace them.
He followed the jagged lines from start to finish, feeling each protrusion and blemish in the bark.
“This might seem strange, but I have a feeling there probably recent.” He deliberated for a moment before adding, “This is one big tree, and you mentioned that there’s danger all around, which means there’s something scurrying up and down this place, right?”
Seeing that Ferry didn’t correct him, Ciel grew more confident with his theory.
“While the tree and the environment around it might not erode the carving, something else living on it could.”
Even they could mess it up, just by passing through.
It made sense that overtime, anything that moved across it would inevitably ruin it, if enough time passed.
However, the symbols were still fresh, meaning that not enough time passed for them to be damaged at all.
“This mean there’s others on this tree, writing down religious phrases. I understand that this place could make people a little desperate, but I don’t think that someone would write something like this in hopes of divine intervention.”
Of course, Ciel had no way of proving this.
People would resort to anything, if they were desperate enough.
However, this phrase did not look like an act of desperation.
It looked more like a proclamation.