Veronica opened her eyes, feeling that her consciousness was still in a vague state, and then she realized that something was pressing on her arm.
When she lowered her head, she found that she was sleeping on Soshiyang!
"how come--"
She looked around and saw that she was still in the boat, but the flute player and the boatman had disappeared, and the boat was drifting quietly on an unfamiliar body of water.
Veronica carefully recalled her recent memories. One of them was rowing a boat and the other was playing the flute. They didn't say a word, so she didn't have the chance to ask her questions. Then she fell asleep in a daze -
—
Confused, she raised her head and found that the sun in the sky had also disappeared, replaced by a nine-round crescent moon, and dots of starlight sprinkled on the water, as if countless tiny flying insects were swimming.
Veronica looked around hesitantly, trying to determine where she was, but in vain.
Then she checked Soshyan's condition again, and it was almost the same as before. Although it did not continue to deteriorate, he was still unconscious.
Veronica still remembered something Soshyan told her before. There was a primarch in the empire who was also injured by his fallen brother. He was cursed and fell into a coma. He could only be placed in a stasis field by his descendants.
He is under strict protection, and therefore has become the only "alive" Primarch in the Empire with a confirmed whereabouts.
He is the Primarch of the Thirteenth Legion and Lord of Macragge, Robert Guilliman.
It can be seen that even these existences, which are said to be the most powerful force in mankind, are not completely indestructible, not to mention that Soshiyang is not the original body.
"Those two people have already left, and they don't seem to want to follow."
A small voice suddenly sounded next to Veronica, which immediately made her alert.
"Who? Who's talking?"
"I, the great Lord of Hosts! Golden Amnak!"
"Amnak?"
Veronica hesitated for a moment and immediately remembered the origin of this name.
"Chief of Slaanesh!"
"I am the Lord of Hosts! Not a chief! Now I am a free being!"
"Um?"
Veronica frowned, but she didn't find anything around her, and there was no aura of demons. However, the other party was actually having a conversation with her, and it didn't look like she was hallucinating.
Suddenly, she noticed the golden ring on Soshyan's hand. If she remembered correctly, Soshyan didn't seem to have this ring before.
So she tentatively stretched out her hand and poked the ring.
"It's you?"
"Hmph! Damn Ada, you actually touched my noble body! If it had been before-"
"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll throw you into the water!"
As soon as Veronica said these words, the other party's shouts suddenly dropped.
"How could a Slaanesh demon be in Soshiyang's ring without any demonic aura... How did you meet Soshiyang?"
"I have no obligation to tell you, let your lover tell you himself."
Amnak, who had never been angry with Ada, replied angrily. Veronica didn't say much and stretched out her hand to take the ring off Soshyan's hand.
"Then just go into the water and wait."
"Oh, don't, don't, don't—"
"Speak quickly before my patience runs out."
In desperation, Amnak had to tell a series of events surrounding his encounter with Soshyan, including being chased by the great demon Slaanesh.
After listening, Veronica nodded thoughtfully.
"I see, you actually have something to do with Gray Marrow..."
Then she changed the topic.
"Do you know who those two people are?"
"this--"
"Stop hesitating!"
"It's not that I didn't say it! My senses were blocked as soon as that person appeared. However, I heard Soshyan's previous conversation with Talos. They seemed to have encountered that existence on their way to Comoros through the webway.
, its name should be called The Bewitcher, maybe... I guess, it may be related to the Lord of Humanity."
"Then do you know where this is?"
"I don't know either, but it feels...as if this is a closed space."
"Enclosed space?"
Veronica looked around, except for the calm water surface and the diffuse fog, with no boundaries at all.
"Does not look like."
Not long after she finished speaking, Veronica noticed that the boat was slowly approaching the shore.
At a glance, there is a large forest on the shore of the lake. Some trees simply grow beside the lake, with their roots deeply rooted in the water.
Veronica thought for a moment and decided to go ashore to take a look, but she was worried about leaving Soshyan alone in the boat, and then her eyes shifted to the trees.
She summoned the Heart of Avalon and recited the spells that appeared in her mind not long ago. As a green light merged into a tree, the lake began to ripple.
The water plants by the lake were swaying slightly in the night wind, and the sound was like a whisper.
Soon, the tree started to move. A face made of twisted bark appeared in the center of the trunk, changing constantly. Its hands were rough claws that cracked the wood. The vines fluttered in the wind like long hair, with knots on it.
Rich berries and sharp leaves.
When the tree man raised his legs and moved forward, slight waves arose on the entire lake.
It came to the boat and stretched out its arms to hug Soshiyang. Many delicate branches stretched out at the same time, turning its hands into a soft hammock.
Veronica then stepped out of the boat, walking on the water with her glass slippers towards the land. The tree man followed her silently, while the boat she had been on disappeared into smoke.
Not long after walking, she saw the remains of a stone arch, which was made of moss-covered rocks and seemed to be dedicated to some forgotten god or something else.
But now everything has disappeared, and the fragmented arches and flat stones underfoot have become proof of its existence.
Continuing to walk in, a tall round stone tower stands, as if it is reaching out to the stars in the night sky.
"Where is this place...?"
Veronica walked to a broken stone tablet and waved her hand to wipe away the attachments on it, but she only saw a unique symbol composed of circles and squares.
At first she did not recognize these symbols, but soon she recalled that she had seen rubbings of such symbols in Ark's ancient library, which represented an ancient and mysterious ethnic group.
"Old Saint!?"
Realizing that this was probably the relic of an ancient saint, Veronica began to climb up the winding rough stone steps. At this time, she seemed to be attracted by an indescribable thing.
A calling? An impulse?
She couldn't explain it, she only knew that something or something else was waiting for her.
Soon she reached the entrance of the stone tower, but was blocked by a door.
She tried pushing with the strength of her arms, but the giant bluestone door didn't move at all, and even her psychic powers had no effect.
So Veronica turned aside and saw a disk composed of ten rings of different sizes, with incomprehensible symbols engraved on it, and a polygonal groove in the middle.
Veronica knew that this was the mechanism that opened the door, but she had no clue because she had only seen the symbols of the ancient saints but did not understand them.
"Hey, there's something on Soshyan's body. It seems to be given to him by the incarnation of Kane. Take a look."
Amnak's words reminded Veronica, and she hurriedly groped around Soshyan's body, and soon found the polygonal stone in her belt.
Looking at the symbols on the disk, she compared it with the disk on the wall, immediately placed the stone in the disk, and then the disk rotated to the correct position.
The door that had been silent for countless years slowly rose, revealing a dark space, like a lightless void.