’I am just being overly cautious... how could the priest write anything but the truth when his empire has fallen, and he was starved to death with other refugees... what other reason could drive him to write lies, knowing that they might never be read or picked up by someone like us after eons? It just doesn’t make sense,’ Levi murmured inwardly as the wind kept blowing his hair.
’Boy... always trust your instinct, no matter how foolish it sounds... those with sharp instincts survive the longest, not the ones with great intelligence,’ The Titan advised with a stern voice, ’Your brain can let you down, but your gut? Seldom.’
Hearing this, Levi’s heart skipped a beat. His gut feeling, which had been slipping away, was reawakened. Levi was one of those people who trusted their rationality, intelligence, and facts for decision-making.
He rarely decided based on emotions since he knew that such decisions almost always came back to bite him in the ass... just like how he took down Demetris with his rifle, exposing it.
After listening to The Titan’s advice, he understood that sometimes... all he had were his instincts, and if he started doubting them because there was no evidence to clear his doubts, he would definitely get caught blind-sided one day in the future.
’You’re right... something is definitely off about the letter, and I am going to figure it out.’
This time, Levi didn’t question his gut feeling anymore. He brought out the letter and used an aetheric barrier to shield it from the wind, allowing him to read it without damage.
As he read it again, the content was the same... nothing written in particular caught his attention to relieve the bad feeling that was gnawing at the back of his mind.
Nevertheless, Levi kept reading it over and over again, mumbling under his breath, "What am I missing? Just what? Nothing stands ou... wait."
Suddenly, Levi’s finger that was tracing over the words halted the moment he read the part about the Dawn Phoenix betraying them for the sake of ascendance and fulfilling the fabled Glorious Evolution...
"He wrote she got her hands on the Sun Amulet and desired to use it as the main ingredient for its final evolution... when she failed, she went on a rampage and unleashed the Ashfall Plague... and that their beloved Pharaoh Azhukar had stood against it with the rest of their brave warriors. This is exactly the same scene that was painted on the wall hiding the refugee sanctuary..."
Levi’s expression turned serious, recalling the exact details he saw on the mural. That’s where he found the plot hole... the burning question that made him incapable of trusting the priest’s words 100%.
"The Dawn Phoenix painted on the mural didn’t show any sign of an evolution failure... The Glorious Evolution is told to be the most difficult evolution a person would dare to attempt. It has a 99% death rate, and even the surviving 1% emerge with a mutated monstrous form. If the priest and his people were the ones painting the mural to deliver the message of their history, they would have painted her in her failed form... a disgusting abomination, not in its respected form. They called her a traitor... the harbinger of their empire’s destruction... where is the hate? Where is the anger?"
Levi’s heartbeat kept increasing rapidly as he read the letter again, but this time... he didn’t envision a distressed priest writing in despair and hope for someone to save their empire.
No, no, no...
The tone switched in his mind, and so did the vision. The Harmonic Spine started painting the dark world around him from his imagination, bringing him back to the same chamber.
As the words slipped through his lips, they resounded in his mind in a tone of someone who had bad intentions from the very beginning.
A madman writing whatever was needed... begging, offering riches, everything... for a single goal.
Levi’s heart stopped for a split second. In that brief moment, his spiritual eyes met the eyes of the priest, who was hunched in the corner of the chamber. Then, his despairing expression twisted into a crazed grin, widening from ear to ear.
That’s when he saw him utter word by word: "Kill the Dawn Phoenix and destroy the Sun Amulet."
Ka-thump.
Levi’s heartbeat returned, but his face was as pale as a sheet of paper.
"Vyra, go faster! Faster!!"
***
On the other side... ten minutes before, at the depth of the Pyramid of Dawn.
Arthur, Nurah, Tyrese, Evangeline, and the rest of the exploration squads had all gathered at the throne chamber. They immediately felt the change in atmosphere as it had gotten hotter and drier, like they had stepped into a furnace.
"Woaa... this place is massive."
Arthur whistled as he gazed in awe at the ceiling stretched high above, disappearing into the shadows, while thin rays of the ring slipped through small openings near the top, lighting up parts of the room in gold.
There were rows of thick stone pillars lined up on both sides of the hall. Each one was carved with symbols and flame patterns, showing scenes from the Ashora Empire’s glorious past before the collapse.
Between the pillars stood large statues of phoenixes, their wings raised halfway, eyes made of orange gems that glimmered like fire when light touched them.
"This place has truly been preserved better than anything else in the empire..."
Shia commented as her eyes traced along the walls, which were covered with carvings of phoenixes rising into the sun, their feathers painted with faded red and gold.
Yet soon, her eyes and everyone else’s were drawn to the throne on the far end of the chamber. It was shaped like open phoenix wings, made of dark stone with golden edges. Although it was old and cracked, it still gave off a regal presence.
"Wait. is that..."
Suddenly, everyone noticed a small phoenix, no bigger than a hawk, resting in the middle of the throne. They were too far, which made it almost blend into the chair since they shared the same colors.
But the moment they looked closely, it was there... tucked in, slumbering in silence. Its orange feathers looked like living flames, dancing gently with each breath it took.
"The Sun Amulet! The letter was right!"
Arthur swiftly pointed his finger at a yellowish sunflower-like necklace... it was hanging around its neck, shining every once in a while.
"Keep your voice down." Jojo elbowed him, her expression solemn. "It might be small, but it’s still a World Ender Classified Beast... if it retains even 1% of its strength, we might not make it out alive."
Hearing this, everyone’s expressions grew tense, realizing Jojo was right. The phoenix might look harmless, but they couldn’t afford to test that theory... not when it was the last living trace of the Ashora Empire, keeping its light alive through the ages. It had survived the plague, the Shadow Dimension’s corruption, and even countless eons of merciless time.
"What do we do now?" Arthur wondered, keeping his voice low.
"Well, it’s your Sun Amulet... go collect it."
Evangeline said calmly as she rested against the yellowish wall, the corruption somehow failing to taint the throne chamber. The rest of her team did the same, giving Arthur and the girls unbothered looks. The stunt they pulled to keep them away from the treasury was still fresh in their minds. Not because they wanted the treasures, but because they doubted their character.
"Ponytail, we still owe your team for saving us... so, we have your back whatever your decision is," Tyrese said calmly with his arms crossed.
Mira, Blake, and the rest of his teammates weren’t pleased with his decision as they were still holding a grudge for being kept away from the treasury... and now that they were in the throne chamber and found no treasures in sight, it was even worse.
Yet, none of them dared to go against Tyrese’s order.
"What do you think?"
Arthur had no interest in making a decision on his own. He involved the girls, but they were also doubtful about what to do next. Levi had told them to wait for him in the pyramid, but not what to do if they found the Sun Amulet.
"I say we wait for Levi... we can’t wake up the phoenix without him," Shia said calmly, "What if our situation turns for the worse? Jasmine is nearby, but not him... and he already gave us permission to use the dimensional gate. If he isn’t nearby, he’ll be trapped here."
"I agree... we wait," Nurah nodded in support, and so did Jojo.
"Can we afford to wait?" Mira shared calmly, "We don’t know when dawn will arrive, and I don’t know about you, but I would rather not be here at dawn if the plague was real."
"She’s got a point..." Tyrese admitted, his gaze drifting toward the ceiling. "We don’t even know if we’ve got hours or just minutes left... this planet’s sense of time isn’t anything like ours."