The New Civilization of Witches

Chapter 84: The Truth Behind Hermes

Bishop Mayne followed a circular staircase leading to the earth.

The staircase, with a depth of at least four times that of the cathedral's tallest tower and a diameter of about twenty feet, is built in a natural doline and leads directly to the sprawling and strategic castle.

The beginning of the staircase is well illuminated by skylights that pass through the tall dome window above, giving the stone walls a cool, rotating color.

But when following the steps, the stairs quickly darkened, as if fusing the walls into one.

But after a while in the middle of the stairs, the reflection of blue light could be seen, and the deeper, the brighter it became.

So even without the torch, they would never fall into a pitch-black predicament.

At the foot of the stairs, a path firmly attached to the stone wall meanders around the dark hole.

The road was cut from granite, formed by many rectangular pieces three fingers thick. The path was wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

One end of each piece of granite was plugged into a stone wall while the other end was in the air.

To prevent accidental falls, there is a wooden fence post connected with a rope on the side of the hole..

Mayne did not count the number of steps he took. In the end, the numbers were too many, but he knew that pinning every piece of stone was a difficult task.

Masons hired by the Church had to lean on a piece of rope to hang while they made a deep hole in the hard rock.

After that, they had to insert the granite plate into the hole.

Each action had to be taken with extreme caution as any rope that slipped or broke caused it to fall to the bottom, which befell more than three hundred people.

If the Church Cathedral on the surface is a symbol of the church's unyielding spirit, then the hidden castle on the Hermes plateau is the true core of the Church.

A piece of God's Vengeance Stone was embedded at the edge of each step, and a guard was placed at each hundredth step.

For the last line of defense, there was even a squadron of God Punishment Army that was always ready to face attacks from intruders.

Many bags of sand and gravel were buried between the Cathedral and the underground castle. This was just in case every defensive line in the Holy City failed.

If every important person is evacuated, the whale can start a trap and bury everything under a deep layer of sand and gravel.

Although it wasn't Mayne's first visit to the underground castle, the feeling of walking in the air still made her feel dizzy.

Especially after some time, he would always have the illusion of falling. So he was a little relieved when he finally had solid ground again under his feet.

At the bottom of the sinkhole was a large white stone disc, with a surface as smooth as a mirror.

While standing on it, one could even clearly see its own shadow. Through cleverly designed construction, the,

the light entering through the window inside the dome is reflected in such a way that it hits the millstone directly.

Thanks to this, even without lighting the torch, the bottom of the doline is never dark. When they reach the base of the doline, they will find that the sun is colorless.

Once reflected by the grindstone, the light will be blue, but when looking up, the blue light will make the sinkhole shine in a cool color.

But when taking a closer look, one would find that there were countless dust particles flying upwards, like little creatures recorded in ancient books.

The holes within the mountain walls were caves formed by nature, and the church simply opened its entrance, to further expand and build the castle of Hermes.

But thanks to these holes that extend in all directions, air can flow freely, so the air at the base of the doline does not feel rotten or stifling.

When Mayne stepped through the door to the main area of the castle, she was suddenly surrounded by a powerful defensive force.

There are five soldiers named Hakim, who guard each entrance –

Judges are the most loyal soldiers in the Church, once they are accepted into this group and begin their work, the,

they would forever stay in the castle, never being able to return to the surface. In fact, only he and the pope could enter and then exit the castle, he said,

even the two archbishops Heather and Tayfun were not allowed to enter here. But even Mayne had no idea how many channels the castle had.

In addition to the main channel that leads south, there are many side branches that move away from the main branch,

Some are used by the Church, while others are sealed. He had heard, that during the construction of the castle,

some craftsmen get lost into channels that are not marked as safe, which causes them to get lost, never being able to find their way back.

The vertical main channel leads directly to the depth of the mountain, about every three hundred feet (about 100 meters), Mayne must pass through the checkpoint.

He knew that the Church used each segment between two checkpoints for different tasks.

The outermost area was used as a residence for the warriors who had to stay their entire lives inside the castle.

The second segment is used as an archive, for the storage of instruments, and fragments of ancient books.

The third section is the prison area, where prisoners are placed who are not allowed to see the light anymore …

including innocent people. After passing the third checkpoint, Mayne stopped. Further inside, was the secret area of the castle.

All the research and discovery materials of the Church came from this place, and without the Pope's permission, no one was allowed to enter.

Since he became Archbishop three years ago, he had only stepped into this area once before. As Mayne walked closer, he took the left path.

After walking for a while, the path was ended by a door, with a box-high plate on it that read

"Splisters!"

Mayne nodded to the guards and ordered,

"Open the door."

Behind the corridor door continued, there were burning torches hanging on the wall, like tiny sparks of light within the sea of darkness, continuing all the way to the end.

On both sides of the street there were many wooden doors and in the middle of each door hung a plate with a number on it.

One of the Judges who followed Mayne raised a torch to light the surroundings. While walking down the channel, Mayne saw all the numbers on the plate.

When he finally saw the number 35 speckled on the plate, he stopped and took out the key from one of his pockets and put it into the keyhole, turning it lightly.

At the bottom of the doline, the sound of the key opening is very loud, and the echo can be heard even at the end of the channel.

As if it was a signal beacon, suddenly many cries sounded through the door, there were calls from both men and women.

While listening carefully, Mayne could understand some of them!

"Save me quickly!"

"Help me!"

"Please kill me!" and similar.

But Mayne was not moved by that cry.

He simply ordered the guard standing beside the door to immediately close it after he entered the room, leaving a chaos of screams outside.

Behind the iron fence, the bishop saw an old man sitting on his bed – maybe he was not too old, he was not too old,

but now her hair had turned white, and her face was covered by wrinkles. His beard looked like he had not taken care of for a long time, almost reaching his neck.

Since he had not seen the sun for a long time, his skin had become extremely pale, and his hands and feet were as thin as bamboo.

Mayne glanced at the food plate behind the rail, which seemed to have not been touched, noting this, she sighed,

“You must treat yourself better, the Church does not lack food.

And his food was even made according to the standards of a king, except for his wine. Even fish, it was a first-class Cod that came from Bluewater Port.

You must be familiar with the taste, right His Majesty King of Wimbledon?”