Chapter 101: Ch139. Black Nest - 3 (Vena)
Kurt scratched his chin, perplexed by his familiar’s reaction.
He looked at Groth, and gently stroked his ear.
"Don’t even think I would do something like that to any of you, okay?"
Groth whined lightly.
Kurt walked from one side of the huge door to the other, looking for some symbol that could explain what kind of blood sacrifice that thing might require to open.
Until his eyes fell on an almost faded inscription on the stone, beneath which was a carving of a hand in low relief.
The indentation wasn’t in the shape of a human hand, but Kurt could understand that it was where a palm should be placed.
The carving appeared to have markings for three fingers, and was somewhat larger in size than a human hand.
There was also a discoloration in that part of the stone, which seemed not to have been caused by the harsh weather inside the Nest.
No.
That discoloration could only have been caused by old blood.
A bluish blood, strangely inhuman.
And hundreds of years old.
At least as far as Kurt could imagine.
Anything older than that could be so much more powerful or evolved that Kurt was completely unable to conceive.
Kurt thought deeply.
He looked at his weapons, from them to his hands, and back again, and then he made the decision.
In a quick, fluid movement, Kurt drew a line with one of the blades of his [MOON SHADOW] on his right hand.
Blood began to ooze from the cut. Not enough for the cut to be considered a critical wound.
But enough to mark that stone so deeply, that there was no way there was any mistake in releasing that second lock.
Kurt walked to the location of the indentation, and placed his palm over it.
As soon as his skin touched the stone, Kurt felt as if not only his blood had come into contact with that stone.
He felt as if his own vitality was being absorbed.
Kurt was feeling little by little weaker, and the seconds that followed the very welcome sound of the second set of locks being released felt like an eternity of pain and weakness.
When Kurt finally heard the series of locks moving inside the door, and removed his hand from the notch, he staggered back, and had to be held back by the bipedal form of his familiar, Groth, so he wouldn’t fall backwards into the door. cold floor of that cave.
"Holy shit..." Kurt said, panting. "What is trapped behind that door, that someone would need to be WEAKENED, to be able to open it...?"
Kurt didn’t need much more to find out, though.
A few moments after the sound of the locks fell silent, another sound, of a third series of locks, echoed throughout that part of the cave.
And after falling silent, the door began to move, opening from the middle to its edges, little by little, slowly.
’Come in, Kurt Blake.’ The female voice sounded again. Louder this time. ’I’ll explain everything to you, but I don’t have much time, so please hurry.’
Kurt didn’t even have the strength to frown, so he used everything he had left to stagger into the room.
And what awaited Kurt, on the other side of the door, was beyond any of his dreams.
Even the most insane and absurd ones.
It was a circular gallery, so large that it could have been the home of a giant from mythology.
Greenish torches placed at an interval of fifteen or twenty meters, illuminated the entire place with a sick, nauseating light.
There were also statues of Beasts placed further inside the gallery, all in an attacking position, but of different shapes and species.
There were Lizardmen, Minotaurs, giant Insects, and even snakes similar to the one Kurt had faced as soon as he entered the Nest.
The walls also had peculiarities.
They didn’t seem to need to be lit by torches.
They glowed with an iridescent light, also greenish.
And the light came from inscriptions in a language Kurt didn’t know.
They looked like runic letters, forming series upon series of words.
Phrases that crossed the walls of that stone dome, starting at the base of that circular wall, and continuing through endless lines, rising to the center of the stone dome, high up.
Kurt felt like he was in a sacred place.
Almost ritualistic.
And when he looked further into the center of the gallery, his blood ran cold in his veins.
There was a structure, also circular, made of stone, similar to an altar, from which four tall pillars were erected.
And from the four pillars, chains came out and stretched to the center of the altar.
And in that center, a viperine figure, with a humanoid torso, and lower parts resembling the tail of an enormous serpent, lay trapped.
The chains pierced his wrists and his tail.
And although his face was very beautiful, he expressed pain that was inconceivable to Kurt.
Whoever she was, the creature was trapped for a reason.
And Kurt wasn’t there to free her.
Was he?
"Ahhh... Kurt Blake..." The viperine creature hissed. "I’ve been waiting for you for so... So long..."
"Who... Who are you?" Kurt asked, struggling to regain his energy.
[YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED VENA, THE FOREST QUEEN]
"My name is Vena, and I am the queen of the forest that exists outside these stone walls."
Kurt’s lips curved upwards in a sneer.
"I’m sorry, but... If you’re the queen of the forest outside... Why are you chained in this gallery?"
The queen’s lips also curved upwards, in a grimace similar to Kurt’s.
"You are quite perceptive, child. But, unfortunately, this is the truth. And I do not come to beg you to release me, after all, it still seems that I am designated as one of your enemies, by what you call... System. "
Kurt’s eyes widened.
How did she know about the system?
How many other creatures like that could know something that, as far as Kurt imagined, only he knew?
But before Kurt could express his perplexity in the form of a question, the system announced in his mind.
[THE TITLE - KING’S RESPECT - IS ACTIVE]
And Kurt was stunned when he realized that the system’s voice wasn’t just echoing in his mind, there.
It sounded throughout the stone gallery.
"I hope this satisfies your curiosity as to whether or not I am indeed the ruler of the forest outside." Vena smiled, friendly, at Kurt. "It’s good to see you too, Groth. It’s hard to imagine you as a tamed king, but my last moments will not be spent getting used to it." Vena continued, tilting her head towards the Direwolf who supported Kurt on his shoulders. "Arias... I feel your presence, but at the same time, it seems like you’re far away... Are you hiding from me?"
From Kurt’s shadow, an extremely loud reptilian growl echoed, and the shadow seemed to bubble, as if it were a viscous liquid.
And for an instant, Vena saw the paw of a huge dragon come out.
"Ah, kept in the shadow of his master and best friend?" Vena laughed, delighted. "I never imagined I would see you again, after you decided to become this human’s partner... I missed you so much..."
"Wait..." Kurt interrupted the queen. "You talk about things I don’t understand. How do you know my family? How do you know who I am? What place is this? Why has this type of Nest never appeared before in post-Calamity human history?"
Vena sighed.
"There are so many questions, I fear I won’t be able to answer them all. Do you see my blood flowing through these chains? This means that my lifespan is quickly running out. And so I’m going to give you some answers that you’re looking for, but I fear I won’t be able to answer all your doubts."
Kurt was silent for a few moments, pondering.
He took a deep breath, and his voice echoed through the stone gallery.
"What will happen if I free you?"
"You can trust me, and take a chance. Or you can simply ask, and allow me to answer." Vena said.
"If you give me a concrete answer, perhaps we can have a better result for your predicament."
Vena sighed again, thinking, and then, a pained groan echoed through her throat, due to the chains that pierced through her limbs.
"If you free me, I can find a way to heal, and then I’ll have more time to answer your questions."
"Do you intend to try to hurt me, because I am too weak to open this door?"
Kurt activated his [POLYGRAPH] skill, and waited for the queen’s response.
But Vena didn’t wait even half a second to respond.
"No."
It took slightly longer than Kurt expected, for the skill to take effect, but after long seconds of waiting, the system’s voice echoed again through the stone walls.
