The Sun - Lord of Mysteries (fanfiction)

Chapter 77: Expedition

Venus.

"How are they?" Aucuses asked with concern.

"They are fine." Lilith answered, removing her hands from their foreheads. "However, since they were completely under influence of desire, they probably have very little memory of the whole incident. But I could restore it."

"No." Aucuses said, shaking his head. "Let it be. It's better to be safe than sorry."

By saying this, Aucuses knew, he was contradicting himself. After all, he was going to show them the great old ones. But this was only under his protection and where the power of the outer gods cannot expand. Here, however, the authority of the mother tree of desire descended through the corpse of the ancient god. So, even if the influence has now been expelled, there is still a significant risk present.

Lilith nodded in understanding. She looked at the Angels who were lying unconscious on the ground and said. "They should wake up soon." Then she got up and turned to Aucuses. "I'll wait for you at the crater." She excused herself with a serious expression.

Aucuses nodded and watched her disappear into the volcano's scorched crater. Then he saw his angels slowing down, their bodies shaking as their closed eyes opened in confusion and bewilderment.

He sighed and waited for them to get a hold of themselves...

_____________

In the crater, Lilith walked through the ashes of the roses. She bent down and picked up a red petal from the ashes. Her eyes were slightly reminiscent of the past as she gazed at the petal of the hand.

The petal suddenly flew from her hand as a gust of wind erupted behind her. She turned to see Aucuses standing beside her, arms folded and eyes narrowed.

Aucuses has already persuaded his angels to continue their scientific expedition. He didn't make up an excuse or a story to hide what happened. He just told them they would find everything eventually.

Yes, he is still going show them. This incident only amounted to strengthen his resolve about it. He cannot always protect his angels from the dangers of the cosmos. It was too close this time. They would have been corrupted by the divine slut were it not for the blessings, Aucuses and Lilith gave them before embarking on this journey. They need to know the whole truth so that incidents like before don't happen again.

His angels were still confused about everything, but they resume their journey under his stren words. He also altered reality to change the last focal point into the volcano in the nearby plain so that they come back to the crater.

Inside the crater, Aucuses approached Lilith and stopped right in front of her. His body inches from hers, a solemn atmosphere filled the entire crater.

"Ombella, did you know it before?" Aucuses asked her, his golden eyes staring into her red eyes.

Lilith was unaffected by his intense gaze. She calmly walked away from him, then she replied. "No, I didn't expect Kvastrir's corpse to be on Venus. War was chaotic at that time and I was just a subordinate god back then. So I didn't know much about the consequences of the war."

"But weren't you Aurmir's wife?" Aucuses asked, suppressing the anger that burned in his heart. God knows how excruciating it is for him to keep up with her act, even in situations like this.

Lilith suddenly laughed. "Wife?. No, I was far from that. To him I was nothing more than his slave or tool of reproduction for his glorious race ... " Her laughter died away with the last words, leaving them in an eerie silence.

Aucuses asked worriedly. "Sorry if I said something ..."

"No, it's okay." Lilith cut him off, turned to him and gave him a weak smile. "I've already come to terms with all my past." She continued after she recovered and calmed down. "That War. Aurmir didn't say much about it after returning to the castle. However, he looked frightened, as if he had seen something terrible. He was also badly injured and corrupted by the crimson moonlight. He went into solitude for long time after the war...."

Aucuses listened while ignoring her magnificent acting.

"Do you know Lilith, the Sanguine ancestor?" He asked the most important question. "I heard she was the one who killed Kvastrir and Flegrea."

"Lilith..." Lilith murmured, her eyes distant. She seemed to be recollecting the past. Finally, she looked at Aucuses and said.

"Just after the war I heard a rumour. While I'm not sure if it's true, this is all I know about situation of Lilith during the war. She said to have gone completely mad during the war, not even caring about her own life." She concluded succinctly.

Aucuses eyebrows rose when he heard it. He didn't fully believe her words, but the doubt of whether she knew the corpse of ancient god was here on venus disappeared after hearing her words.

"Amanises and others contacted me." Lilith said, and her face turned solemn. "They want know everything that happened here."

"I'll tell brief them when we get back to Earth." Aucuses said, pulling a brown book out of space and throwing it at Lilith. "Read the last pages of the book."

Lilith grabbed the book and opened it after hearing him. She was going through the first pages filled with formulas of the 22 paths, and the hermit path was complete in the book.

She spared a glance before turning to the final pages, each page until the last the words becoming distorted and twisted.

Her expression grew heavy as her grip on the book tightened when she saw what was written on the last page of the book.

"Inextinguishable Ravings... the blatherer from the infinite void...the originator of all sounds...the one who plays the symphony of apocalypse that heralds the end of everything..."

The honorific name of a great old one was presented to her.

"When did you get this?" Lilith asked, taking a breath to calm the surging feelings in her heart.

"Just before our journey to Moses Ascetic Order." Aucuses replied and approached her. "This outer god tried to establish a connection with the earth through knowledge."

The brown book is the one he created back when he went to save Diana from the Hermit's Uniqueness.

"Why didn't you tell this to others sooner?" Lilith asked, glaring at him.

"Well..." Aucuses shrugged his shoulders. "I'm showing you now..."

Lilith momentarily ignored his attitude given the importance of the situation. Her heart filled with unease when a horrible guess flashed through her mind.

"So the great old ones are starting to extend their power to Earth ..."

That's why she was so solemn. Unlike the way the mother goddess of depravity extended her power into the barrier, which was planned by her for a long time.

But the situation in Venus and the brown book is fundamentally different, as it indicates something that the gods themselves fear.

"Yes." Aucuses nodded and pointed to the ashes of the roses. "But, we don't have worry about the outer gods, except Mother Goddess of Depravity and the Mother Tree of Desire. "Their" pathways are on Earth. "They" can influence our home more through it."

Mother Tree of Desire is a tricky existence. "She" might be considered more threatening to many than the Mother Goddess of Depravity.

He was sure of it, due to the "Desire" authority held by Mother Tree of Desire. Desire is an essential and integral part of Humanity and "She" has freaking control over it. This was what makes "Her" so dangerous, because even angels can easily be influenced by their own desire and corrupted by "Her". When it comes to influencing and corrupting others, "Her" authority gives her a huge advantage over many other authorities.

Aucuses guessed, this was why the gods should have been powerless to prevent the influence of Mother Tree of Desire from spreading across the southern continent in the 5th Age of the original timeline. "Her" prowess is clearly demonstrated by the fact that she has managed to corrupt a king of angels and a god of "Her" pathways successfully. "She" should have already begun to slowly take control of "Her" lost pathways in the original timeline.

Lilith walked ahead and looked at the sun. Then, she asked with a weak sigh. "The barrier is weakening, isn't it?"

"Indeed." Aucuses nodded and didn't hide it. "The barrier is slowly weakening. If I'm not mistaken, it started with the fall of the Creator. It will soon break. It may take a few millennia, but it is already inevitable at this point."

When he had finished, a heavy atmosphere took hold of them.

Lilith gazed up at the sky, her heart racing as she considered the future. She was expecting it, because nothing in the universe is eternal. However, when she considered the mother goddess of depravity, whom she would have to confront in the future, she felt her own bleak future.

Aucuses looked at her. He could immediately sense her concerns by just looking into her eyes.

He walked over and joined her to stare at the sky. There was a moment of silence and heaviness between them before he chuckled.

"If that bitch really dares to enter earth after the barrier is broken. I'll kick her out like I did last time."

Lilith laughed when she heard him. Her eyes sparkled with memories of that battle. Her heart was suddenly filled with strange feelings as she looked at Aucuses.

She somewhat envious the confidence of Aucuses; she wishes she had it, the confidence to curse a pillar in their faces....

"Come on ..." Aucuses said with a sigh, seeing that he was still silent. "Let's go back to Voyager. I'll make you a cup of coffee."

"I'd love that." Lilith finally said, her smile brightening at the prospect of coffee made by Aucuses.

They began to walk through the valley, illuminated by the twilight. The Voyager was parked nearby, a steep mountain at the end of the valley.

"Where are your angels? Are they back?"

"Oh, the expedition is still in progress."

"You still let them?"

"I made them continue it."

"..."

The twilight of the sun shone on their figures as they continued their journey to Voyager.

Meanwhile, Diana, Lucas and Blaise were far away from the valley, making final preparations for the scan.

"It's enough." Diana said as she began to float off the ground, then she assumed a sitting position in the air.

"Do you want a hand?" Lucas asked, checking the equipment one last time.

"No." Diana shook her head. "Get away from me now."

Lucas and Blaise walked away from her, but their attention was still solely on her.

Diana began. She used her "Knowledge" authority and connected to the equipment in front of her.

In an instant, her perception expanded and began to cover all of Venus. Meanwhile, all devices at the focal points around Venus glowed with purple light. The lights started to extend out from each device to connect to nearby devices.

Buzz!

Soon, the entire planet of Venus was bathed in violet light. From space, Venus was covered in a giant formation with points of light at every focal point on the planet.

Diana floated with light purple steaks emanating from her figure. The lights converged above her head and transformed into a pair of eyes containing countless resplendent stars.

A formless ray of light shot out from the pair of starry eyes, illuminating all of Venus.

The entire planet became illusory and ethereal, as if everything temporarily transformed into a block of basic information under the power of violet light.

The light that illuminated all of Venus almost immediately converged back into starry eyes, returning Venus to its previous form.

The starry eyes then dimmed as the converging light recorded and brought back a ton of knowledge about Venus.

The starry eyes eventually morphed into a journey that fell into Diana's hands. The diary contained all the information recorded on Venus.

Diana landed and flipped through the book almost immediately. She also looked worn down from doing such feet.

""Are you okay?"" Lucas and Blaise in unison, much to the dismay of the other.

"I'm just a little tired." Diana smiled in response. "Let's return to Voyager. I can't stand this planet any longer."

Blaise and Lucas nodded in agreement. Then, using authority of knowledge, they teleported all of the equipment back to them and made their way back to voyager.

When they reached Voyager, they saw their lord waiting for them.

"Do you want to stop at mercury?" Aucuses asked, his hands folded and his eyes fixed on them.

"No." They answered in unison, much to each other's surprise.

"I expected that." Aucuses chuckled: "Then let's go straight to our final destination, the 'Sun'."