Chapter 86: Awakening

When Shard awoke from his long slumber, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. The ceiling was not white, instead, it featured brightly colored and austere religious murals.

He gazed at the painting of the saint preaching to believers by the riverside, but before he could utter an exclamation like "unfamiliar ceiling," a voice came from the side:

"You're awake?"

"Priest Augustus?"

Turning his head, he saw the priest sitting in a wrought iron chair by the bed holding a newspaper, dressed in the white robe of the clergy. Not far behind him was the wall adorned with brass-colored gas pipes and insulated steam pipes climbing up it, with the gas pipes connected to a gas lamp emitting a warm glow on the wall.

The style of the gas lamp was very religious, with a naked man raising both arms high, the light radiating out from between his arms.

With the aid of this light, Shard saw that the newspaper in the priest's hands was the Tobesk City Evening Post.