Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 611 Has the ceremony begun?
The 66-meter-high White Sea Sacrifice Tower is located in the cemetery on the outskirts of Nereids. It is not only the resting place of countless heroic souls, but also the resting place of the city's founder, the legendary sea hero Nereids. The hero's tomb cannot be found in the fantasy cemetery where Cecilia flowers bloom, but the White Sea Sacrifice Tower itself is his greatest monument, and the Sea Altar on the top of the tower is the most solemn sacrificial place in the entire Azure Sea Mirror, because it is not only related to the history and legends of the mirror elves, but also to express today's thoughts to an ancient existence buried deep under the rocks.

The Stone Crab God, Petrod of the Sea, was once the mount of Nereids and also his closest companion. They had fought together in the five seas and four oceans, and worked together to kill the sea monsters that were causing chaos here, and personally laid the first cornerstone of the city. Afterwards, the hero fell asleep and was buried under the sea of ​​flowers. Petrod of the Sea followed his last wish before his death and became the guardian of this city. For thousands of years, he watched the hero's descendants cultivate fields, build houses, graze livestock, and domesticate sea beasts here...

But he is too old. Even for a deep-sea monster with a long lifespan, he is too old to enter another mausoleum built for him and rest with his former master and friends.

He had no feelings about his own death, and thought that leaving now might be a good choice, but his friend's request had not yet been fulfilled, and these young children still needed his protection. For this reason, he did not allow himself to be called by the underworld too early, so he sealed his body, silenced his soul, and fell into a long sleep, in order to maintain his life in this way, until the day when his friend's descendants no longer needed him.

During the long time after he fell into sleep, he was awakened several times. Sometimes he was attacked by powerful enemies, and sometimes he encountered overwhelming storms and waves... But the ancient Stone Crab God fulfilled his mission and promise well, guarding the city of Nereids safe and sound, and became a pearl that never dims under the blue sky and sea.

During the period of Queen Amyra's reign, the Mirror of the Azure Sea was basically in a calm state. There were no large-scale conflicts or events that could threaten the Nereids. Therefore, the queen never saw the true appearance of the guardian with her own eyes. The obsidian mountain where the city is located is just its shell after its residual heat was extinguished.

But now she stood at the highest position of the sea altar, watching the deep-sea priests wearing white robes and holding scepters arranged in three embedded circles on the altar. At the center of the circle, which was also the main seat of the altar, stood a young man with long white hair. The white robe he wore was not decorated with gorgeous patterns and dazzling gold edges like other deep-sea priests. On the contrary, it was clean and simple to the extreme; the scepter in his hand was not inlaid with gems or pearls, but just an ordinary wooden staff. However, even with such an ordinary appearance, people could still feel a sense of awe and it was difficult to look directly at him.

He is another powerful demigod in the city of Nereids, Sandro, the high priest of the priest group and also the youngest high priest in the city's history. He enjoys a high reputation among the people. If Queen Amyra is loved by all her subjects, then he is respected by all her subjects.

At this time, the chief priest was standing quietly at the main seat of the altar, his eyes were tightly closed, his face was serious, as if he would not be affected by any external things and would not affect the following soul summoning ceremony. The expressions on the faces of the other deep-sea priests who were serving as assistant priests were basically the same as his. Some of them were so nervous that their facial skin became stiffer than ice and they could not make any expression.

Awakening Lord Petrod of the Sea of ​​Stone Crabs was an extremely solemn matter, and even required the invitation of the king to watch the ceremony and the high priest to preside over the ceremony. For these deep-sea priests, it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Therefore, it was normal for them to have such a reaction.

On the outermost side of the circular altar, there is a small altar at intervals, on which obsidian rocks are enshrined. In fact, they are fragments peeled off from the shell of the Sea Petrod, and are also the main fuel for the sea flame. It is not impossible to make fire under the sea. In fact, fire is more important to the mirror elves than to people on the ground, because they originally came from the ground. Even with the help of underwater breathing and deep sea adaptation, they still cannot fully adapt to the deep sea environment. The fire can help them find the warmth hidden in their memories, dispel the thick darkness, process indigestible raw food into cooked food, and also intimidate those sea monsters that have never seen fire. It has played a vital role in the history of the mirror elves in the deep sea.

Each mirror elf city-state or country has mastered at least one sea flame processing and burning technique. For the mirror elves of Nereids City, it is the "obsidian flame" that uses the shell fragments of the Stone Crab God. But at this time, the obsidian fragments on the altar have not been ignited, because the time for the soul summoning ceremony has not yet arrived.

Petrod of the Sea of ​​Stone Crab God does not need any complicated rituals to please himself, but the mirror elves who worship him as a god will formulate the rules and meaning of the rituals themselves, and use this method to show their respect and worship. This should be the nature of civilized races. Not only do the mirror elves in the sea do this, but the believers on the ground have engraved it into their instincts. In the ritual of summoning spirits defined by the oldest royal court priest group, the best time to hold the ceremony should be the dark night within a day. Converted to the timetable of people on the ground, it refers to the time from 0:00 to 1:00 in the morning. The moon in the sky is about to sink but has not sunk, the remaining stars in the sky are about to hide but have not hidden, and everything in the sea is waiting for rebirth after extinction. This echoes the meaning of the Stone Crab God waking up from a long sleep and returning to the world.

Therefore, the summoning ceremony has another name, called the Ceremony of the Obscure Night.

As time went by, although the changes in the moonlight and starlight on the sea could not be seen at the bottom of the deep sea, the mirror elves had long learned to perceive the changes in time through the laws of the rising and falling tides of the sea. The high priest Sandro was the best among them. He had controlled time to the point of being very accurate. When the slender hands of the brass wall clock on the wall in the goblin's deep sleeping hotel clicked and overlapped at midnight, he opened his eyes at the same time on the main seat of the sea altar and announced lightly: "The ceremony begins."

So, the deep-sea priests who served as assistant priests started to move at the same time, stepping in a rhythmic pace, causing the three circles embedded inside and outside to slowly move, the corners of the white priest robes fluttering, and the visible sea water flowed along the trajectory of their patrol, rolling up one small whirlpool after another. When each deep-sea priest passed the altar, he would slightly tilt the scepter in his hand and aim the top of the scepter at the obsidian fragment on the altar.

At the same time, the origin stones on their bodies began to emit light, as faint as fireflies, and the low humming sound seemed to be calling for something, stirring up an even more turbulent echo from the sea, which crashed like a tide against an ancient coast, echoing from the past to the present.

That is the blood magic of the mirror elves, the talent they are proud of, and the resonance between them and the ocean.

The ritual to awaken the spirit of Lord Petrod of the Sea of ​​Stone Crabs does not require ornate rituals, cadenced tones, or flashy dances... it only requires resonance. Through the resonance of the Origin Stone, one can call upon the heart of the great god, tune into his spirit, and play the rhythm of his soul. Then, one can pass on one's most sincere prayers and the most sincere aspirations.

So, the fire began to burn.

There was a ball of faint blue fire burning on each altar, and it became stronger and brighter, until it swallowed up all the light in the deep sea and turned into straight beams of light that shot up into the sky, as if to penetrate the surface of the sea and reach into the distance beyond the sight and reachability.

In the cemetery where the hero sleeps, Cecilia flowers are blooming everywhere, and cold white tombstones stand in the mysterious and cold sea of ​​flowers, as if calling for someone's soul to wake up. At the bottom of the deep sea, under the mist, in the deepest part of the fantasy sea of ​​flowers, the 66-meter-high white tower of the sea sacrifice exudes a gorgeous and bright brilliance like the stars, and at this moment, it shines like a hazy moon.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)