Ember Gun

   Prologue to a new future

  The windows were pushed open by the strong wind, and the crackling noises continued, as if countless hands were beating vigorously. Under this strange feeling, the cold chill poured into the room, causing the candlelight to sway violently.

  The sky and the earth are gray. The endless rainstorm fell from the tumbling dark clouds, violently hitting the harbor, the sea, and the ships. The waves continued to surge, bringing the sea water to the deck.

The precipitation in this rainy season is much more intense than in previous years. Above this remote Rendona port, the outside world is like going through a doomsday, the anchor chain is tightened, and countless ships are Like a floating leaf, it's being swept and pushed at will.

  However, the harsh conditions outside could hardly affect everything inside the ship. In the dimness, the flashing fire light reflected the cruel silhouettes of people's faces.

  The old man raised his head slightly and looked at the end of the long table, the customer who felt a little disturbed.

He is wearing a cold and dark mask, on which the traces are painted with brilliant gold, like a perfect handicraft. To distinguish his intelligence.

   "It's been a long time, Cardinal Miguel."

   There was a vague noise under the mask, and he greeted the old man at the end of the long table.

   "Master Lawrence?"

  Migle asked suspiciously. Although the contact had been made in advance for this meeting, the familiar Lawrence in his memory would not wear a mask. He was puzzled about the true identity under the mask.

"it's me."

   "Then why not take off the mask?"

   "Under the mask, it's just another mask."

  Lawrence avoided Miguel’s question. In fact, no one knew of Lawrence’s face after he was born, except for the epidemic doctor. It was also after that, wherever he went, he put on a mask.

   "Then, if you don't want to take off the mask, what can you prove yourself?"

Miguel was full of vigilance. The exiles he led had been chased by the new pope. In order to counterattack the new pope, he needed the "Apocalypse" that could change the situation, so he sent Shermans. Arrive in Old Dunling.

But a few days ago, he got the news of Shermans’ death from a secret channel. After that, according to the information Shermans got, Lawrence had died before the birthday of God. At war.

  If Lawrence had died long ago, who was the masked man in front of him? If he really was Lawrence, how did he fake his death?

  Miguel was extremely vigilant, and Lawrence was one of the culprits that caused the night of the Holy Promenade, not to mention that he himself was a demon hunter.

  Lawrence fell silent, turned his head, and looked out the window, the end of the storm.

With his arrival here, the epidemic doctor’s action should have begun. Under Lawrence’s layout, whether it is Shermans or the Protestant Order, they are all controlled by Lawrence. The letter written in secret blood relies on The information is poor, and everyone is easy to play with.

  Presumably, there has been a local war in the Black Mountain Hospital at this moment, and everything is developing according to my own expectations.

   "Proof? This kind of thing is too simple."

   Lawrence said, taking out something from under the dark robe, and then placing it on the long table.

In the silence, only the sound of wind and rain outside the window was left in the room, and then a heavy gasp sounded. Miguel stared at the book in front of Lawrence, her pupils tightening a little bit, until she changed from calm to calm. Fanatic and horrified.

  It is a book, a very simple book. The skin is wrapped in a leather-like material. The overall look is very old, just like a cultural relic that has just been mined from an excavation site.

  Migle can only sit in place and look at it from a distance. More details are hard to distinguish.

  "This...this is..."

""Revelation"."

   Lawrence's voice under the mask was chaotic of steel, sounding like a machine, dull and restless.

  "Don’t doubt its true or false, although you have never seen "Revelation", but your inner feelings will not deceive you, right?"

Lawrence's voice reverberated in his ears, but Miguel didn't reply. His calm face had long been slightly distorted, as if something evil was placed in front of him, and it was firmly caught his eyeballs. , Making it difficult for him to look away.

  At the same time, all sorts of weird feelings floated in my heart, as if something sticky and greasy was churning in my stomach, and my cold invisible hand was stroking my spine little by little.

  The dark side of his heart was constantly magnified at this moment, and Miguel did not notice, his heartbeat has accelerated involuntarily, and with the beast-like gasp, sweat covered his forehead.

   "Take... put it away."

  The old man tried his best to move his sight aside. Lawrence was right. This is the "Revelation."

The gospel church does not protect the "Revelation" strictly, because it is a terrible source of erosion, with powerful memetic pollution, mortals face it, just like Miguel, will be lured into madness. Even a strong-willed demon hunter will be killed by the cursed knowledge while reading it.

  Its nature is the best defense, but Lawrence did not know how to seize the past.

  "So, what are you going to do, Lawrence? I'm just a humble exile. To you who owns the Apocalypse, we exiles have no value."

   Although Miguel yearns for this power, he has a clear understanding of the status quo, and he knows that he is worthless to Lawrence.

  He didn’t even have any desire to **** the Apocalypse. Faced with this demon hunter who was once the headmaster, Miguel knew the power of Lawrence far more than others.

  Miguel may be able to order the believers who still believe in him, but those who are mortal believers are not threatening in front of the demon hunters and will only be slaughtered at will like livestock.

   "No, Miguel, you still have some value, otherwise you won't live to this day."

  Lawrence was not in a hurry to reveal his purpose, the gaze under the mask seemed to see through Miguel's heart.

   "And you are also looking forward to something, right? Otherwise you won't come to see me in person, so dangerous to me."

  Migle was silent for a while, during which there was only the sound of the storm outside the window, but soon a hoarse laughter sounded, Migle put away the panic and panic on his face, and looked squarely at the masked man in front of him.

   "I begin to believe that you are Lawrence."

This was a dangerous meeting. As the leader of the exiles, Miguel knew the value of his head, but even so, he came, and saw the damned Lawrence and ventured into this dangerous place. middle.

   "What do you want from me? Lawrence."

   Miguel asked.

   Facing Miguel’s question, Lawrence was not eager to answer, but said something else.

   "You know, during the time when I owned the "Revelation", I spent a lot of money to barely obtain a very small part of the knowledge."

"for example?"

  Migle was attracted by Lawrence’s words.

Although he was once a cardinal, but in the final analysis he is just a mortal and does not have the ability to read "Revelation". Even if he sees the book from a distance, he can deeply feel the influence of erosion. a feeling of.

  There are many prerequisites for the evangelical church to read the Book of Revelation, but the ultimate goal is to stay sensible until he passes on the information he understands.

  After the information dying caused by the night of Saint Lin, the demon hunters who are resistant to erosion are the most suitable readers.

   "For example... such as the book itself."

   Surprisingly, Lawrence brought the topic to the "Apocalypse" itself.

   "People are chasing the knowledge contained in this book, but they have never cared about the peculiarities of this book itself."

  Finger gently stroked the rough surface of the book, and the elapsed time left scars and marks one after another. The bumps and convexities were so clear to the touch, like a miniature mountain.

  "This is made of human skin, Miguel, the entire "Revelation" is made of human skin."

  This is the words that ordinary people will tremble when they hear it, but in front of the two old monsters, Lawrence and Miguel, who have lived for an unknown period of time, such information is usually not good, and it can't touch anyone's nerves.

   "So? It's just made of human skin. We have done far more cruel things than this." Miguel responded.

  "Don’t worry, listen to me...This is a story you are familiar with, but during this period of time, I have a whim and have a new explanation."

  Lawrence continued. This is a story that was pieced together in his mind, a secret story.

"Remember the origins of "Revelation" and "Gospel"? In that dark age when demons were rampant, those who could not bear to fear got the oracle and marched toward the north. After not knowing how many years, they went from that far away. In the land, the knowledge bestowed by God is brought back.

  They established the gospel church and became the first saints. "

   "Of course I know, what on earth do you want to say?"

  Migle's eyes are still full of doubts. As the cardinal, he doesn't know how many times he has heard this story, and he almost feels deeply into his heart.

  Lawrence became silent first. He recalled everything he encountered the Silent Man when he dived into the Temple of Silence. What he vaguely felt, an imperceptible thread that connected these suspicious groups one after another.

  "Then have you ever wondered why the "Apocalypse" they brought back was made of human skin?"

  Lawrence's gaze fell on the plain "Revelation", as if he was not affected by erosion, and the pupils under the mask were extremely clear.

  "If it is said that God used human skin to write these taboo knowledge, can this prove that the so-called ‘God’ really exists?

  Or what did the first saints find and use human skin to record these things?

  Does it mean that the "Revelation" in front of us is just a copy of something? "

   "These are just myths!"

  Miguel did not know why, he was actually terrified by Lawrence's simple and crazy conjecture, as if something evil was coming, he sternly rebuked Lawrence and interrupted his words.

  Lawrence was not angry, but he seemed to be inspired by Miguel, with a strange joy in his voice.

   "Yes, all these are just myths, but who first told such myths? And what proves the authenticity of this myth, isn't it right before our eyes?"

   There was a trembling laughter under the dark mask.

"Look, Miguel, you don't believe in any gods, do you? Otherwise, you won't say anything is just a myth. You know very well that these things are just deceptive things...then leave those embellishments behind. Whitewashing with faith, what is the original "truth" of the "myth"?"

  He gently stroked the "Apocalypse", the rainstorm outside the window became more intense, the gust of wind made the whole ship tremble violently, and the feeling inside was more intense, as if the whole world was about to collapse.

   "All of this does not appear out of thin air. All of this should have a root, the origin of mythology, the origin of the "Revelation", and our origin."

  Lawrence raised his head, the two looked at each other, and Miguel could see that blazing fireworks were slowly rising in the dark abyss under the mask.

"Miguel, the "Revelation", the gospel church, and the secret blood of me are the most perfect proof of all this. Somewhere in this world, in mythology, in the north where the saints have been enlightened. , There is the source of all this."

The icy cold wind swept into the room with icy rain, and the burning candles were extinguished one by one at this moment, plunged into the endless darkness. In the darkness, Migle looked at Lawrence blankly. He was surprised now. His calmness, or maybe those bad performances just now were just his disguise.

  Migl asked in the dark.

  "Why are you doing this? Lawrence, obviously you already have the supreme power, you can form a new demon hunting sect at any time, and secretly rule the people, why should you stubbornly pursue these things that have long been forgotten?"

why?

   Yeah, why? He is so unscrupulous, so cruel and crazy.

This is because……

   "Because I see the future, Miguel.

  A very distant future, a terrible future, a future where everyone will die. "

"so what?"

  Lawrence's words stagnated, for some reason he suddenly remembered the face of the old man, perhaps it was because the two had a disagreement at that time, and finally took a different path.

  Nostalgia only paused for a moment, the face under the mask showed a smile, and the corners of his mouth were almost torn apart, like a ghost in a nightmare.

   "So I want to save the world, Miguel."

  The man stood up, grabbed "Revelation" and pressed it on his chest.

   "Change this... desperate future."

  (End of this chapter)