20th December 1190
(A few hours after Alicent's and Anastasia's departure.)
"A nice view, isn't it?"
"It's um... quite beautiful."
At the back of the two-person carrige, Anastasia and Alicent sat down, they were both looking outside the window.
A city in the distance came into their view.
The girl hummed and nodded in affirmation. "Look, you can see Grunard right there."
Her index finger pointed at the walled city in the distance, which could still be seen from tens of kilometers away.
To the city's side was the large port that led to the Elven Sea on the west.
"There, the sheep in the distance," Alicent said as his finger pointed to the sheep grazing in the grasslands. "I can't believe we have travelled this far."
"Everything looks so small, the half hour it takes to get from Grunard to the house looks so short from here." Alicent continued.
Never having seen the peaceful beauty of the north as the emperor, he was mesmerized, for a moment he remembered all the wars fought in this land, all the blood shed three centuries ago.
It all seemed so meaningless to him, now.
This should be my first time visiting Snofel, even as Aegis, I had never set foot in these sides of the mountains. He thought as he continued looking at the amazing view.
He seems quite happy now, perhaps he enjoys such calm and serene views...Anastasia observed the teen, a small smile unknowingly forming on her face.
Alicent suddenly turned back, his eyes meeting hers. Startled, she looked to the other side, her face reddening, pretending like it never happened.
"What is the place we are right now called?" He asked her. She slowly turned towards him, her face still quite pink.
"Umm... I think it's called the viewpoint, the region is called Hanged Cliff, I think..." Looking down, she said.
"Hanged? What an awful name for a place so beautiful?" He again gazed back outside the window.
"They used to hang the soldiers of The Tyrant Oppressor in protest here 300 years ago."
"Is that true?"
He became sad again... He's such a kind soul. Anastasia thought inwardly.
"Yes, the Tyrant was an evil king." She said, Alicent sighed. "You seemed to be interested in him... I, um, I saw you were reading about him a few days ago."
"... I believe he is misunderstood." Raising his head, he told her.
She was confused. Ever since she was little, she had been told about the evilness of the emperor by everyone.
His tales of being a sorcerer who could decimate city walls and flatten hills.
There were also tales of his cowardice.
How he was scared of the mountains, how he was scared of the Goddess of harvest who guarded Snofel.
"Perhaps you weren't aware of this, but before the Tyrant, Emperor Aegis had started the Conquest, the empire was just a small kingdom near the southern swamps." He told her, a small smile crept up his lips.
"It wasn't called the Leos empire, it was just a small kingdom. One of the only ones who believed in the Lord of light, a god who wasn't evil."
Anastasia nodded in understanding.
The entire continent used to be filled with believers of evil gods; there were human sacrifices and rituals that demanded blood. The Tyrant did completely remove them... Anastasa thought.
"The tyrant used to believe in an ideology, one people, one nation, and one leader. It means that as long as the entire continent is one, under a single nation with a single leader, only then could it flourish." He finished.
"I've... never heard of this." Anastasia was out of words.
It feels like what I've heard all these years was not the full story, There's not only black or white after all; there are also bits of grey in between. She thought.
"There are always two sides to a story."
She nodded.
"I understand... not everything is inherently good or bad, right? Just like how the emperor had his reasons for his actions."
"That's right,"
Alicent turned his head back to the outside.
Some time passed.
"The road ahead is closed." They heard the carrige driver say as the horses slowed down and the carrige stopped.
"Closed?" Alicent repeated. "What happened to the road?"
He popped his head out of the window to look at the sign before the carrige.
"Landslide ahead, Diversion->"
Isn't this a little too familiar? The landslides weren't troublesome in previous years. He put a hand up to his chin. This wasn't a normal occurrence. Especially since the last time his road was blocked by a landslide, he encountered two pachers.
The dream I had earlier today was odd. Was it trying to warn me about something?
The god hung on the cross at the center of the dark cathedral, the world in the void, his shadowy visage.
Dreams signified one's mental state, and the dream he had was too odd to be a normal dream, one connected to the supernatural. The coincidental landslide that blocked his road just as he was coming to Snofel.
Someone's, No, Something's trying to lead me somewhere, the direction of the diversion, probably. What will happen if I go there? Will I suffer terribly from the consequences, or discover the mysteries surrounding the dreams and the supernatural?
From the way this path is headed, it goes from around a small hill over there in the distance. He gazed at the small hill covered with coniferous trees in the distance.
I am still accompanied by Anastasia, while I could go and investigate the road, she might be in danger, and we are in the middle of nowhere right now.
The church... this place, the hanged cliff...
Something clicked in his mind.
"This place is the Hanged Cliff, right?" He asked Anastasia.
She nodded in response.
"Was there a town or city somewhere around here, perhaps... A religious town or city? A site of pilgrimage?" Alicent asked her.
"Not that I'm aware of, perhaps mister driver has a clue. " She glanced at the carrige driver who had southern features.
"...Now that I do remember it... There I heard tales about a few ruins, towards that diversion too." The driver said in a southern accent, looking back. "You lad, are quite knowledgeable about history, aren't ya?"
Allicent chuckled, "No, just got a habit to read books, that's all."
So there are indeed some ruins, perhaps a cathedral among many things.
He had a bad gut feeling about this, as if his instincts were warning him about the ruins.
"It's evening," Alicent said. He looked to the road that crossed through a section of the coniferous forest. "It will be dangerous to travel on that road when it turns dark."
"You're right, lad." The carrige driver said as he got out of his seat. He was going to untie the horses.
"Is it safe to spend the night near a dense forest like this?" Anastasia said, her voice filled with skepticism.
"It will be fine," Alicent told her as he got out of the carrige as well. It was important to light a small fire when it got dark to maintain visibility as well as fend off animals.
It feels like fate itself has destined me to those ruins, the coincidental meeting with Anastasia in the forest, the dream this morning, and the landslide here, making us turn to the road towards those ruins...