Chapter 604 – Silent Dream.

“There he is. Get ready and remember what I told you.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Ivan nodded slightly as the door to the assembly hall began to open. The nobles around him turned their attention toward the entrance, with one exception: his wife. The duchess’s daughter-in-law lingered a step behind the others, as if her status were beneath theirs. Her gaze fixed on the great door in the distance, but soon it drifted to the sides where other eyes were waiting to meet hers.

‘It is time…’

She thought while taking a small step backward. The nobles standing nearby were too absorbed by the duke’s entrance to notice her slipping away. Even her husband Ivan, who seemed captivated by her beauty, did not turn his head. His focus remained on his father, the overlord of the island and the man who dictated the fate of everyone who lived there.

She turned and drifted into the dim corridors of the Valerian Manor. Each stride was unnervingly precise, as if she glided along the floor rather than walked upon it. The guards stationed nearby gave no sign of noticing her presence, as though their eyes refused to acknowledge her passage along the walls. She moved faster now, her skirts brushing the stone walls, her breath steady and measured. Yet her heart pounded with dark excitement. This was her moment to rise, her only chance to prove to the others that she belonged in her position.

“Your Priestess commands you to come forth. The time has come to prove your worth.”

From the shadows, something began to emerge. The stone walls shifted in unnatural ways, bending like cloth. Occult symbols flickered faintly across the surface before a figure pulled itself free of the rock.

“Arch Priestess. We come to serve the abyss.”

The voice was low and rasping, neither wholly male nor female. It unsettled the air, but more disturbing still was the fact that it was not alone. More shadows appeared, peeling away from the castle walls as if they had lingered there for ages. Their forms were concealed beneath dark robes and masks fashioned with twisting tentacles, each bearing a single large eye at the center.

The woman, once known only as Ivan’s meek wife, lifted her chin as the first robed figure bowed before her. The veil that had hidden her features slipped to the floor, revealing a cruel smile. Her bright violet eyes gleamed as her gown shifted and reshaped into the garb of a cultist, the vestments of one who served the god of the abyss.

Her gown shifted as if alive, transforming into flowing abyssal robes. What had once been lace and finery became heavy fabric etched with faint, shifting symbols. The patterns twisted into eyes that opened and blinked across her sleeves. A mantle of shadow draped over her shoulders, fastened by living tentacles that writhed in silence.

At her waist, cords of black thread bound the garment, pulsing faintly like veins. For a brief moment, her face was bare, but then a mask slid into place over her eyes. From beneath it, an unsettling violet glow radiated, pulsing in rhythm with her voice each time she spoke.

From her presence alone, the chamber grew colder, as though the abyss itself had seeped into the world through her very robes. The robed figures bent low before the woman, their voices joining in a whispered chorus that slithered across the stone corridors like snakes:

“For the Abyss, we bleed. For the Abyss, we serve. All is for the everlasting dream.”

Her smile deepened as she watched their loyalty to the abyss and to the glorious one. She raised a pale hand, and the whispers fell silent. Only the fading rays of the setting sun remained, casting long shadows across the cultists’ masks.

“Do you have the secret relics?”

She addressed one of the cloaked men, the first to step forward. His mask was different from the rest, marked with three eyes instead of one.

“Yes, Arch Priestess.”

The man straightened and drew a small obelisk from within his robe. Its power was still dormant, yet the occult runes glowed faintly, ready to awaken. Though small, it radiated a strange force. He was not the only one. Soon many others revealed the same relics, each identical to the first.

“Well done. The Duke is a powerful man. Even weakened, he may still find a way to escape the grand dream world. Follow the plan. Place the relics at the agreed locations and wait for my signal.”

“As you wish, Arch Priestess.”

The grin never left her face. At last, it was time to prove her worth. Everything depended on this day, yet failure was not something she allowed herself to consider. Either she would succeed or she would perish. In her mind, the lord of the abyss would never let her die a useless death. And if she did, it would be by his will, for through him the endless dream they longed for would one day come to pass.

The masked cultists soon faded away, their shadowy forms slipping into the walls. The nobles were too busy cheering for the Duke to notice what was about to unfold.

“Truly pathetic.”

She whispered to herself as she made her way back to the grand hall. Not a single person paid her any attention. Everything was proceeding with ease, and she knew the years spent trapped in this cesspool of nobility were about to end. After today, she would finally be free. Free from the role of the beautiful, silent wife, free from Ivan, free from his fool of a mother.

“They will all become one with the abyss. Once this island belongs to us, my place on the council will be secured, and I will at last ascend. Oh, what a glorious day.”

The woman cackled, her laughter echoing through the chamber. She did not care if the nobles heard her. This was her moment. With one of the secret relics clutched in her hand, she had nothing to fear. She stepped forward at a slow, deliberate pace before speaking again.

“Truly disgusting.”

The hall fell silent. Her words slid through the vast chamber like venom, silencing even the duke and freezing the nobles in place. Faces shifted from shock to confusion. Some shrank back instinctively, while others swelled with outrage at the audacity of a woman speaking so boldly in the duke’s presence.

“What is the meaning of this? Someone remove her at once!”

Ivan’s mother leaned in and whispered to the nobles nearby. One of them gave a sharp nod. Many did not recognize the woman in her new attire, but she did. A man stepped forward, reaching to seize the intruder’s wrist. Just as his fingers were about to close around her, he was struck.

A tentacle burst from her shadowed cloak, lashing out and hurling him against the stone wall with a heavy crack. The man’s eyes rolled back as he crumpled to the floor, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Gasps tore through the chamber. Some nobles stumbled back while others shrieked, their composure shattering like glass. A few guards surged forward, their blades flashing in the chandelier’s glow as a heavy darkness settled over the hall.

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“Pathetic.”

The Arch Priestess did not flinch. She stood tall, her blindfolded gaze sweeping across the room. She was intoxicated by their fear, and her voice rang out to silence everyone.

“Pathetic creatures. You strut in your wealth, drown yourselves in wine, and call it power. But what are you really? Fattened lambs waiting for the butcher. You disgust me. Yet do not despair, for once you embrace the gifts of the Lord, you will all be saved.”

The nobles broke free of their trance and raised their voices in protest. Guards lunged forward with swords ready. In answer, she lifted her hand. The small obelisk she held blazed with light, runes spiraling across its surface. A strange hum shook the very bones of those present before bursting outward in a pulse of unseen force.

*THRUM.*

The wave slammed through the hall like a thunderclap, resonating with multiple sound waves that came from other directions. Nobles froze mid-breath, crystal goblets trembling in their hands, mouths parted in half-formed cries. Guards halted mid-strike, their blades hovering just short of her robes, every muscle bound by invisible chains. Even the Duke stiffened, his proud stance crumbling as he collapsed to the floor.

The silence that followed was suffocating. Only the faint sound of the obelisk lingered, resonating through the chamber like the heartbeat of some vast, unseen creature.

“Good. That is better.”