The First Pope - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The rain was a downpour under a sky thick with black clouds. On the muddy mountain path, dozens of people hurried through the darkness, braving the storm. Raindrops the size of pebbles slammed into the ground, splashing mud everywhere and making their already tattered robes even filthier.
The ground beneath their feet was slippery and difficult to traverse, and the rain lashing their faces obscured their vision. The already short procession soon lost a third of its number.
The silver-haired girl in the middle of the group glanced back. The night was dense, and those who had collapsed into the mud pits seemed to have been swallowed by the darkness, their outlines barely visible.
A chill seeped through her clothes from the cold rain. The silver-haired girl raised a hand to her arm, keenly aware of several gazes fixed upon her. She subtly turned her head to observe and realized they weren't looking at her, but at her clothes.
The silver-haired girl wore a moon-white robe and a pair of silver boots. Despite the torrential rain and splashing mud, her clothes and boots remained pristine, as eye-catching as her long, silver hair in the darkness, drawing everyone's attention.
The silver-haired girl frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping the ground. She spotted a person lying face down nearby, their body stiff and face pale. They looked like they had stopped breathing.
She quickened her pace, bent down, and stripped the tattered black robe from the corpse. Ignoring the sour stench emanating from it, she wrapped it haphazardly around herself and pulled up the damp hood, leaving only her eyes exposed.
The mountain path twisted and turned. After what felt like an eternity, the people at the front finally found a cave where they could temporarily shelter from the rain. The silver-haired girl followed the crowd toward it. Amidst the thunder and lightning, a faint cry caught her attention.
The girl followed the sound and saw a little girl, about four or five years old, sitting in the mud, her face blue from crying.
The stream of people flowed past the little girl and into the cave; no one stopped. The silver-haired girl watched the child, who was getting closer. After a moment's hesitation, she bent down, picked her up, and ducked into the cave.
The cave was spacious but damp, yet it was a far better environment than outside. The silver-haired girl carried the child to an empty spot and sat down.
At four or five, a child could recognize people. The moment the girl set her down, the child ran off crying toward a certain spot. The silver-haired girl looked up and saw the child run to a pale, gaunt woman, hugging her legs and sobbing loudly. But the woman just stared at the ground with a numb expression, showing no intention of comforting her.
The silver-haired girl lowered her gaze slightly. The light in the cave was dim. She leaned back, hiding herself in the darkness.
Most animals wouldn't abandon their young in a crisis. It seemed this world was not just dangerous, but exceptionally cruel.
As the silver-haired girl was lost in thought, hidden in the shadows, a strange voice suddenly sounded in her ear. "Stone Town, Number 127... Cynthia?"
Hearing the name "Cynthia," the girl instinctively turned her head. A petite, black-robed girl stood behind her, looking down at a wooden tag on her waist. The girl raised a hand to touch the tag, which had appeared at some point, and sized up the black-robed girl, a sense of vigilance rising within her.
This person's eyes were cold but not lifeless, completely different from the others in the cave who were like walking corpses, exuding numbness and despair.
The silver-haired girl let go of the wooden tag and nodded at the black-robed girl. "Hello, my name is Cynthia, from Stone Town," she said in a low voice. As for what "Number 127" meant, she hadn't figured that out yet, so she simply ignored it.
"Chelsea." The black-robed girl stared impassively at Cynthia's golden eyes before her gaze drifted away under Cynthia's questioning look.
She stood beside Cynthia with no intention of leaving.
To Cynthia, a "normal" person like Chelsea was even more dangerous than the numb ones. She knew the latter were fleeing to survive, but she had no idea if Chelsea was following this group for the same reason.
There was an underground river in the cave. Perhaps because of the heavy rain outside, the water level was rising quickly, and soon it had submerged their calves.
Cynthia was staring at the murky water, lost in thought, when a sudden cry pulled her wandering mind back. She looked up and saw an ice coffin floating on the river's surface, her eyes flickering slightly.
"This river leads outside. The ice coffin must have floated in from the Slade Sea Region," Chelsea explained simply, thinking Cynthia was frightened by the sight.
The ice coffin was crystal clear and emitted a faint chill. A few brave individuals approached, wanting to open it, but the moment their hands touched it, they were frozen into blocks of ice. Without even a scream, they fell into the river, their bodies carried away by the current.
The gruesome fate of these few successfully deterred the others. Everyone lowered their heads, and the deathly silence continued to spread through the cave.
Seeing the ice coffin's power, Chelsea's interest was piqued. She walked over to it, bent down, and observed it carefully. The coffin was so clear that she could see it was completely empty inside.
When Cynthia saw Chelsea approach, she averted her gaze from the ice coffin, not at all surprised that those who touched it were frozen to death.
The reason... was, of course, that she had already seen this happen once before.
Cynthia stared into the darkness, her eyes narrowing with a profound look. She had lost count of how many times she had staked out in the polar regions to photograph polar bear cubs, but this time she had unexpectedly gotten lost and even encountered a blizzard. Trapped for days and nights, she thought she was done for, but fate played a joke on her, transmigrating her to this strange continent.
Though, it was probably not a very friendly joke.
When she transmigrated a day ago, she had awoken from that very ice coffin. The first thing she saw was the scene of several humans being frozen to death while fighting over it.
The wooden tag on her waist and the identity she had borrowed came from one of those poor, frozen girls.
After she arrived, her mind was a complete blank regarding this new body and this strange continent. Besides the bizarre ice coffin, she also had a stone on her person-a plain, unremarkable stone with no special features.
Cynthia looked down, her right hand slowly emerging from her wide sleeve. In her palm lay a white, ordinary-looking stone that emitted a faint white glow in the darkness.
A strange world, an unknown identity, a stone of unknown purpose. Cynthia raised a hand to rub her brow. The coolness of her fingers cleared her slightly chaotic thoughts.
No matter what, she had to survive first. From her initial observations, it wasn't just the environment that was harsh; there had to be another reason why these people were so numb and desperate.
The full extent of the ice coffin's power was still unknown. Chelsea observed it from a distance for a while before walking back to Cynthia's side, lost in thought. Seeing her return, Cynthia put the stone away.
"I wonder when this storm will stop," Cynthia said softly, turning to look toward the cave entrance.
Chelsea leaned against a rock and sat down, closing her eyes to rest. "It will stop after dawn."
Cynthia glanced at Chelsea, then discreetly looked away, continuing the conversation naturally. "That's great news. Once it stops, we can go out and find some food."
In this entire cave, Cynthia felt that only she and Chelsea were like living people.
Just as Chelsea had said, the storm outside stopped at dawn. The water in the cave had risen past their knees. Faint rays of sunlight shone in from outside, dispelling some of the darkness within.
At the sight of sunlight, a flicker of life finally returned to the faces of the people in the cave. They silently got up and walked outside.
Cynthia followed the crowd. She had covered her long silver hair with her hood and deliberately smeared some mud on her fair face. With her head down, she no longer stood out so much in the crowd.
After the storm, the area outside the cave was a mess. Chelsea stood on a relatively clean rock, her brown eyes following Cynthia as she listened to the whispers coming from behind her.
"...Golden eyes..." A sallow, skinny man hunched over, secretly glancing at Cynthia out of the corner of his eye. He spoke in a hoarse voice to the man and woman gathered around him. "I heard the Silver Knights say that those nobles like women with golden eyes."
"We can't escape... The Silver Knights will find us soon."
"If we capture her and offer her to those nobles, maybe we can become Silver Knights too."
"If we keep running, we'll either die of exhaustion or starvation."
They now had their freedom, but it only brought them closer to death. The shadow loomed over them, unchanging no matter where they went.
Under the fear of death, any decision could be made in a second. Cynthia was still searching through the messy bushes for any edible wild fruit, unaware that she had already been targeted.
"There are no wild fruits here." Chelsea jumped down from the rock, walked over to Cynthia, and handed her a red fruit. "I'm leaving," she said faintly. "Do you want to come with me?"
The red fruit wasn't very large. Cynthia lowered her head and sniffed it; it smelled a bit like an apple. She held the fruit but didn't eat it right away, instead politely declining Chelsea's offer. "We might not be going the same way."
She simply felt that Chelsea's invitation had an ulterior motive.
Chelsea stared at her and said expressionlessly, "You might regret it."
Cynthia rubbed the fruit and smiled in thanks. "Thank you for the food."
Chelsea shook her head. She pulled her hood down slightly, turned, and left, her figure quickly disappearing into the dense woods.
Cynthia memorized the direction Chelsea had gone, then turned back toward the cave. Although she was starving, she still didn't eat the fruit Chelsea had given her.
The weather in this world was unpredictable. The sun had been shining just a moment ago, but now the sky was once again overcast. Cynthia wanted to go back to the cave to get some information out of someone, but just as she reached the entrance, a small figure ran out and bumped into her leg.
Cynthia reached out to steady the little girl. The girl's mother walked over and stammered, "Th-thank you for before."
"I-I didn't mean to leave her behind. She fell and couldn't keep up."
She seemed extremely nervous, her eyes darting around as she spoke. Not far from them, four or five people were staring in their direction. Their faces were grim from hunger and weakness, their expressions exceptionally gloomy.
Cynthia's gaze shifted between the mother and the group of people nearby. She grew vigilant but showed no sign of it on her face. Like these numb and somber people, she silently shook her head, affecting an unwillingness to talk.
The little girl was very hungry. Seeing the fruit in Cynthia's hand, she dazedly reached for it. Her mother saw her and rushed to stop her, but her posture looked more like she was trying to snatch the fruit from Cynthia's hand.
The little girl was too close. Worried about knocking her over, Cynthia didn't move her hand much, and the mother grabbed it.
The cold, rough hand on the back of hers was unpleasant. Cynthia frowned, about to shake her off, but a sudden flash of images and sounds in her mind made her arm freeze for a second.
The fruit fell to the ground. The mother let go of Cynthia and pounced on it, devouring it in a few bites.
The commotion had attracted a lot of attention. Noticing more and more eyes on her, Cynthia instinctively lowered her head, pulling her hood down to hide her eyes.
Cynthia stared at her own hand, dazed. Footsteps were cautiously approaching her. Her eyes flickered. After a moment of contemplation, she walked over and helped the mother up. Changing her earlier silence, she said in a low voice, "I saw some more wild fruits over there, but I can't pick them by myself. Can you help me?"
The mother was stunned for a moment, subconsciously glancing at the few people who had been lingering nearby. Then she nodded hastily. "O-okay, okay, let's go now."
Cynthia smiled, her long, fair fingers inconspicuously taking the woman's hand. A series of images once again appeared in her mind, along with a somewhat unclear conversation.
"Take the golden-eyed woman to Stone Town and offer her to those nobles..."
"We can become Silver Knights too..."
"If we're caught and taken back, we'll definitely be killed. We have to capture this golden-eyed person..."
Golden eyes... nobles... Silver Knights... Cynthia didn't have time to ponder how these images and sounds had suddenly appeared in her mind. From these few lines of dialogue, she only knew that her current situation was rather dire.
She led the woman into the woods, followed by several others. Cynthia glanced sideways at the figures hiding behind them, her expression calm.
After the storm, the ground was covered in fallen leaves. The deeper they went, the stronger the smell of decay became. The woman was timid and didn't dare to go any further. "L-let's just stay here," she said, her voice trembling. "If we go any deeper, we might run into monsters."
They had already seen many decaying corpses along the way, both human and monster.
After she spoke, she stopped and turned to see if her companions had caught up, but before she could, a sharp pain struck the back of her head. Her vision went black, and she collapsed.
Cynthia casually tossed aside the weapon she had picked up from the ground. Catching sight of the dark figures closing in on her, she frowned and changed direction, trying to shake them off.
Suddenly, a strange roar, somewhat like a beast's, echoed through the forest, followed by several blood-curdling screams. Cynthia paused, looking up at Chelsea, who had emerged from behind a tree. "What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.
She had deliberately chosen the opposite direction from Chelsea to make her escape.
Chelsea seemed not to hear Cynthia's question. She pointed behind Cynthia and said expressionlessly, "I saved you."
Cynthia turned around. The people with ill intentions had been killed by a "beast," which was actually a rather large rabbit.
The rabbit hopped toward Chelsea, dissolving into a gray mist midway through the air.
It was the first time Cynthia had seen something like magic. She raised a hand to her chin, not frightened at all, but asked with interest, "Is this some kind of magic?"
"It's Witchcraft," Chelsea said, gesturing with her eyes for Cynthia to follow. "It would be dangerous for you to go back. Do you want to come with me now?"
Knowing she was seen as a lamb for the slaughter, there was no way Cynthia would go back. She followed behind Chelsea, trying to get information from her. "Do you know where they wanted to take me?"
"Stone Town. A troop of Silver Knights is stationed there, guarding the blood slaves captured for the Vampires." Chelsea turned to look at Cynthia's eyes. "You are a God's Descendant. Your blood is highly favored by the Vampires."
Chelsea's two short sentences contained a massive amount of information. Cynthia took a moment to process it, her eyes downcast. She wanted to ask Chelsea for more details, but then she thought of the wooden tag on her waist and swallowed the questions on the tip of her tongue.
The identity she had taken belonged to a girl from Stone Town. Asking too many questions might make Chelsea suspicious.
But in reality, Chelsea had already seen through Cynthia's disguise. "The slave tags of the God Race don't look like that."
Besides, the blood of the God Race was highly prized by the Vampires. Any captured member of the God Race would be heavily guarded, with no chance of escape.
Chelsea had known from the beginning that Cynthia's tag was fake.
Seeing that Chelsea had seen through her, Cynthia wasn't flustered at all. Instead, she smiled. "Is that so? I'll keep that in mind for next time."
She tossed the useless tag away, raised a hand to touch her eyes, and asked thoughtfully, "Is the God Race rare?"
Those people had referred to her as the "golden-eyed woman," and Chelsea had observed her eyes more than once. It seemed this eye color might be a characteristic of the God Race on this continent.
God Race... It sounded powerful, but from Chelsea's comment that their blood was favored by Vampires, Cynthia felt that reality was probably not as wonderful as she imagined.
Chelsea didn't seem to care much about what Cynthia was thinking. She answered while looking for a path, "You're the first member of the God Race I've ever seen."
They walked further and further into remote territory. The mist in the forest dampened their hair. Cynthia observed their surroundings and frowned. "Where are you trying to go?"
Chelsea paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I want to get out."
"Out?" Cynthia blinked. "But we're going deeper and deeper."
Chelsea looked at her silently.
Cynthia scanned the area, recalled the route they had taken, and pointed in a direction. "I think we should go this way."
Chelsea didn't speak, but her eyes indicated for Cynthia to lead the way.
With Cynthia guiding them, they soon walked out of the forest. Chelsea stood at the edge of the woods, took out a map from a Space Gem, and studied it intently.
Cynthia leaned against a tree with her arms crossed, using the dim light to carefully size up Chelsea. Compared to the tattered black robe she was wearing, Chelsea's own black, understated cloak seemed exceptionally luxurious.
And... Cynthia's gaze shifted down to Chelsea's waist. She had just seen her pull a map out of thin air.
"Where are you going next?" Cynthia asked.
Cynthia was deliberately drawing a line between them, but Chelsea seemed to disagree. Without looking up, she replied faintly, "We are going to Stone Town."
Cynthia froze. "Oh?"
She straightened up, asking warily, "You're going to Stone Town too?" Those people had just been trying to take her to that very place to offer her to the nobles.
Chelsea looked up at her and gave a faint "mm."
Cynthia: "..."
She felt as if she had just escaped the wolf's den only to fall into the tiger's mouth.
Comments
Post a Comment