Darkest Hour

Beneath the mountains, deep underground.

A young man of twenty-seven, Isaiah Dief, was advancing through the ranks of the Brotherhood of Stonemasons, able to endure and move forward in spite of the darkness of the cavern, the high temperatures, and the noxious gases that were unfit for human respiration.

This was all thanks to the master of his destiny, the evil god 'Statue in the River', or 'The Immovable One'.

This mysterious evil entity has survived from the ancient times to the present day without a clear name, and there are those who believe that it is not an indigenous deity of the Throne World, but rather an extraterrestrial being that has traveled across the stars.

In any case, after experiencing betrayal and torture, the desperate who joined the Brotherhood of Stonemasons were blessed or cursed by it, and their bodies and minds were supernaturally altered, gradually transforming into rocks just like those 'petrified' victims.

Although Dief complained, he didn't dare to raise any objections, because the 'Brotherhood of Stonemasons' that had been transformed into was not a gentle and kind mutual aid organization, but a terrorist organization that spread panic through terrorist attacks, spread despair through panic, and nourished faith in the Evil God through despair. In such an organization, any manager would not be a virtuous person.

Especially their captain Ted, a strong middle-aged man who had almost completely transformed into some kind of evil rock sculpture, his face always taut, his throat always silent, and the only moments he resembled a living thing were when he went berserk with rage.

Dief, who had seen that scene, preferred Ted to be a real stone statue.

After traveling some distance through the harsh conditions, they came to the end of their journey, a 'snake's nest'.

Ted's heavy frame trampled mercilessly over the snakes that were in his path leaving a trail of slimy footprints, his eyes were able to see in the absence of light so he was sure that the robed monsters in front of him were the object of this transaction.

He bellowed out, "Followers of the Serpent God, I have brought what you asked for! Where is the thing I want?"

This earthquake-like roar caused all the surrounding vipers to panic and flee in all directions, while the bloated figures advanced towards him with a swiftness that did not match their appearance.

When Ted saw them rushing towards him, he didn't say a second word, he just clenched his fists and opened his body like a bow stretched to its limit, ready to give the other party a head-on blow.

However, to his disappointment, the other party didn't really attack him, but slowly stopped at a distance of more than ten meters away from him and threw a not-so-large bundle at him.

Although Ted was suspicious that the contents of the bundle might be dangerous, he was so self-assured of his power and blessed by the gods that he was unafraid, and simply caught the flying bundle with one hand and threw it to the young man beside him for inspection.

That young man happened to be Dief, he took the package, after opening it, inside was a 'stone statue in the river' statue of a god, he gently stroked the lines carved by special tools on it with his hand, felt the surging divine power inside, and was sure that this was a statue of a god from the underground world.

Seeing that there was no problem with the item, Ted similarly threw the goods he had brought to these monsters from the underground world in front of him, and then turned around with his 'brothers' and left. Even for the cultists, coming into contact with these monsters from the underground world was not a pleasant thing to do.

The followers of the Serpent God didn't make things difficult for them, they just watched them leave from where they were, and then used a spell to block off the passageway, only to reopen it many years in the future.

The highest-ranking elder among them stepped forward, cupping the chunk of flesh that Ted had placed on the ground, his torso slithering and crawling to a spherical statue placed in the center of the 'Serpent's Nest', and tremblingly offering it as a sacrifice.

Suddenly, an unspeakable and terrifying pressure descended upon the monsters, and one by one, they prostrated themselves on the ground, awaiting the descent of the divine will.

Didn't know how long it took, but the elder was the first to straighten up from the ground, the chunks of meat it held in its hands had disappeared, and he was oblivious to it.

The gods had taken their offerings and a new kind would soon be born, hissing odd language quietly drifted through the cavern as the monsters discussed what kind of kind the gods would mold from this never-before-seen material.

The mystery was soon revealed as a half-human, half-snake creature emerged from a snake's cavern to the side of the idol and said, "My name is Yarmmuty, and many of my heir, the venom turns flesh to stone."

Her serpent-like half crawled on the ground and came to the elders, commanding, "The sun god's dependent is in the mountains, and the father god wants us to capture him and offer him as a sacrifice."

The elders obeyed God's command, "Wherever there is a snake in the mountain there are our eyes, so he cannot escape."

Meanwhile, after William had had that psychic dream, he knew that he had more than likely attracted the attention of Iensius, and while the deity would not stoop to deal with him personally, those cultists hiding underground were afraid that they would soon be pouring in to deal with him.

But that was exactly what he wanted.

Serving lambs and bullocks could get the deity's attention, but only by serving these living heretics could he be blessed by the deity.

Especially since this time the vocational legacy he wanted didn't come from Polynesius, but from Elinchus, the god of hope and sunrise.

"Those who believe in me may meet with despair, but the sun rises as usual."

He muttered one of this 'Lady of Hope's' most famous aphorisms, just in time to be heard by the puppeteer Mathilde, who asked curiously, "Is this a new teaching from His Majesty Polynesius? I haven't heard it before."

William shook his head and said, "Majestic deities do not utter lukewarm words, this is the teachings of Her Majesty Elinchus, recorded in the 'Nine Chapters of the Sunrise Mysteries', which is a relatively rare book of theology."

The second half of the sentence he didn't say was: during the world-class event of 'Darkest Hour', this lady became an extremely popular god, and the sacred texts spread everywhere with it. She was also elevated from the god of sunrise to the god of hope and sunrise.

Mathilde spat out her tongue, not daring to comment on a god, and said timidly, "I'm sorry, it was my slip of the tongue."

William shook his head and said, "The lady is a generous god and doesn't care about small offenses, but please don't let there be a next time."

Mathiel nodded and suddenly asked again, "It is said that the great Her Majesty Elinchus ascended to godhood in the Phoenix region, you hired us to go around the mountains, you are not going to look for the legendary place of ascension, are you?"

William shook his head and explained, "The Church has spent countless hours and wealth over thousands of years without finding the ruins close at hand, so why would I be able to find it there with just myself and the help of the four of you? I just recently made some money and wanted to examine the raw materials available nearby."