The Greatest Female Astrologer

A black passageway, with stairs leading down, appeared!

"It worked!" Freyr exclaimed, jumping down from the sword handle with a grin.

As he had suspected, the rusty door was merely a decoy! The real secret lay in the floor passage. Anyone who missed the clue about the Big Dipper could break down the door and still find nothing.

Freyr approached the narrow passage, just wide enough for one person to squeeze through. It was pitch black inside. He lit another candle and tossed it in, revealing that the steps below were not deep, leading to a hidden room about eight or nine feet down.

Freyr didn't descend immediately. He sat at the passage entrance, waiting and watching for any signs of danger. Seeing none, he carefully made his way down the stairs.

This was an enclosed room, surrounded by stone walls with no windows. Along both sides were rows of metal cabinets, all of which had rusted locks. In the center stood a massive stone table.

The table was about waist-high to Freyr and engraved with many intricate and difficult-to-understand symbols. At its center was a large arc, surrounded by depictions of stars.

Freyr studied it for a while, feeling at a loss. He then abandoned the table's patterns and began searching the iron cabinets.

All the cabinets were locked, and due to their age, the locks had likely rusted shut. Freyr struggled for a long time, growing increasingly frustrated, until he finally found an unlocked drawer and let out a cheer.

It was the only unlocked drawer in the entire cabinet!

Inside, a stone box lay quietly.

The box bore the Russell family crest on its surface!

Freyr hefted the box with some effort, then sat on the floor and carefully opened it. Inside was a roll of parchment.

The parchment was densely covered with writing. As Freyr unrolled it, a hexagonal green crystal fell out.

Freyr patiently lit his third candle and began to read the parchment...

"To the esteemed recipient:

Dear reader, you must be a descendant of the Russell family. The first thing you need to know is that this letter is from your ancestor. I am Natalie, the wife of the seventh head of the Russell family and an astrologer."

Freyr was surprised by the opening lines.

An astrologer, Natalie?

Freyr knew well that in the history of the Russell family, there had been a peculiar head of the family deeply interested in astrology, who even married a female astrologer. The family castle where Freyr now stood had a tall white tower, built specifically by that head for his astrologer wife to observe the night sky.

He hadn't expected the letter to be from that very astrologer wife!

He continued reading.

"...As you read this letter, understand that what lies ahead is a venture fraught with great risk. You may be opening a door that has been forbidden for countless ages, leading to a realm of humanly untouchable taboos.

This is also the culmination of my life's research.

If you are ready for the adventure, take the gemstone enclosed with this letter. Search the stone table in the room carefully, and you will find a slot. Insert the gemstone, and you will gain the full extent of the knowledge I left behind. To ensure that this information does not fall into the wrong hands, activating it requires the blood of a Russell family descendant. Drop your blood on the gemstone, and the Russell bloodline will guide you to the information I've left."

At the end of the letter, there was another line of text:

"May the great Russell family prosper. Because of my husband, I deeply love this family!

Your ancestor, Natalie Russell"

Freyr finished reading in one go, feeling deeply moved.

According to family history, Natalie Russell (her name became Russell after marrying into the family) was a name he remembered well.

She was the wife of the seventh head of the family, a renowned master astrologer, highly respected in her field. Freyr's mentor, the scholar Aaron, also an astrologer, had often mentioned her with great reverence during his year and a half of teaching Freyr. He had occasionally remarked that Natalie was perhaps the finest astrologer in the empire in the past two hundred years.

What impressed Freyr most about her wasn't just her astrological prowess but another reason.

The records showed that this great astrologer was also a woman deeply in love with her husband.

The seventh head of the Russell family had a short lifespan, passing away around the age of fifty. Natalie, a woman of profound love, committed suicide three days after her husband's death in the tall white tower he had built for her.

Before her death, she engraved a phrase in the tower:

"Because of love, we shall live forever."

This poignant inscription had etched the memory of Natalie, a prominent figure in family history, into Freyr's mind.

"The constellations in the night sky, the positions of the stars, are filled with infinite mysteries. Their positions undergo peculiar changes over time, which have always been considered divine hints bestowed upon humanity. People often think astrologers are merely those who study these divine riddles. But this is entirely wrong!

The stars themselves contain immense power, far greater than the massive storms, raging floods, and towering flames we witness! They are so powerful that they even make me question their origin. Can such formidable power really be the creation of deities?

Moreover, these stars seem to have been hanging in the sky since ancient times, long before our known history. They might even predate the creation of our world!

So, are these stars truly the creations of deities? According to all the books and religious texts we can find, the most consistent explanation is: 'The stars are ornaments placed in the sky by the deities when they created this world, meant to embellish the night sky. The deities adjust their positions according to their whims and the world's changes, and these changes serve as messages to humanity.'

Indeed, these texts suggest that the stars were created along with our world, as decorations for the night sky. But is this really true?