The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Though Angelica did not really elaborate, Hao Ren could still guess the condition of the ancient sage.

First of all, the ancient sage was not a human, no doubt about it. And he was still alive, but in bad shape.

The ancient sage was the highest existence in Twilight Capital. Human beings living here regarded it as a god. During the early days of Twilight Capital, the ancient sage was still healthy and was indeed the supreme ruler of the city. But that situation did not remain for long. The ancient sage might have made some sacrifice when he established Twilight Capital. This sacrifice had drained his vitality and his ability to govern the city. According to Wendell, the ancient sage no longer had direct involvement in the governing affairs of the city 1,500 years ago and stopped contacting the outside world one thousand years ago. It was during that time that the Iron Throne was closed for the ordinary people.

Five hundred years ago, the ancient sage began to gradually lose the ability to communicate.

Today, he should have been unable to speak, move, and express himself. Ordinary people could not communicate with him at all. Only the caregivers, who inherited a mysterious ancient bloodline, could still use some kind of telepathic method listening to his voice. But such communication was kind of chaotic. In Angelica’s words, it was like sleep talking.

A king like this could not rule his kingdom. So after the closure of the Iron Throne, the ruling power was in the hand of the Steam Assembly, which did not disappoint in discharging their duty. Though conservative and stubborn, the Steam Assembly was diligent from top to bottom and able to keep the city alive until this day.

For many years, the ancient sage was in a state of suspended animation, relying on a fragile mental connection to communicate with his caregivers, but he had never had any sign of real wakefulness. Today, his mental activity suddenly spiked. He instructed the caregiver, through spiritual communication, to bring the travelers from outside the Twilight Shroud to him.

At that time, Hao Ren and his team were already in a fight with the Twilight Guards. In fact, it was this bluster that caught the attention of the ancient sage.

The ancient sage did not fully wake up, but could only “talk” to the caregiver. Though the caregivers were highly respected by people, they could not intervene in the governance of the city. They also had no time to contact the Steam Assembly and explain the situation to them. So after an urgent meeting, the caregivers were divided into two groups; one group went to the upper city to convey the will of the ancient sage, while another group had gone to meet Hao Ren and his team.

“You knew we were coming?” Hao Ren looked at Angelica with surprise. “We had been keeping our plan secret.”

“We were just following orders. The ancient sage was watching you.” Angelica smiled and nodded to Wendell. “Although I don’t know why, this old gentleman has also heard the voice of the ancient sage, who saw you coming through his eyes.”

Wendell confirmed this proudly. Hao Ren suddenly became curious about this old man: he was only an ordinary human, how was he getting in touch with the ancient sage who was living deep down at the bottom?

They had walked past several blocks of building down the street. Hao Ren noticed that there were fewer buildings in the area, especially the small and medium-sized houses, and more of neatly built stone buildings. As they made another turn, the street before them opened up. A solemn stone building appeared before their eyes.

This was a pyramid-shaped stone fortress, layered with black and gray slabs, though without decoration, it still exuded a kind of solemnness. A large square surrounding the fort might have been an important meeting place in Twilight Capital, but now it was empty and silent.

At the top of the pyramid fortress, a pale gold light column broke through the darkness and shone into the stacked-up city.

Hao Ren looked at this stone fortress, which looked familiar to him; it reminded him of the Golden Palace of Odin in the Garden of Asgard.

“This is the sanctuary of the Iron Throne,” Angelica said, pointing to a door at the bottom of the pyramidal building. “The door is over there, please come with me.”

The stone fortress was not as magnificent as imagined. In fact, as the residence of the ancient sage, the interior of this building was just too shabby in Hao Ren’s opinion. The walls of the stone corridor were bare, the ground was paved with old stone slabs. No sculptures or murals along the way. The only decorations were the steam lamps embedded in the walls. These lamps were illuminating the sanctuary as bright as daylight.

Along the way, Hao Ren also saw the other caregivers; men and women, dressed in the same way as Angelica, even their temperaments were similar: quiet, gentle, and almost no emotions. This peculiar commonality could be the result of living for years in the sanctuary.

The caregivers already knew the arrival of the visitors. They nodded slightly when they met Hao Ren, some stood on the sidewalks and bowed as a sign of respect. But they said not a word. Only two young caregivers had a short conversation with Angelica.

The caregiver brought them to a hexagonal hall.

They finally met the mysterious ancient sage and saw for themselves the condition of him.

The hall was full of pipes and cables. These bright lines extended out from the six stone steps around the arena and ran all way to the metal platform in the center of the hall. There was a large crystal on the platform. Inside the crystal was the Iron Throne and sitting on the black metal-cast throne was a thin, twisted old man.

Without knowing beforehand, Hao Ren would have thought that the person was dead.

The old man was as thin as a skeleton, and his skin was as gray as death. Under his skin was nothing but bones. Tubes were all over his body while a metal bracket held his head in place as cables from the Iron Throne underneath him were connected to his temples and the back of his head.

Judging from the blindfold eye mask of the ancient sage, Hao Ren had already guessed his identity.

When Vivian saw the ancient sage, she was not surprised at all. “Odin, it’s you.”

“So this is what it is all about,” Hao Ren said as the penny dropped. Who could accomplish this except him, Odin, the king of the gods, who went missing from the plains of Vigrid?

Wendell was emotional. He did not even notice that Vivian had called the ancient sage by his name. The old man knelt down and kissed every slab on the floor. “Oh, the sage! The Lightseekers have found a paradise. Light is still shining on the land of Asgard!”

Odin, sitting on the Iron Throne, did not respond. He remained silent. It looks like he had really lost the ability to communicate. Hao Ren turned to look at Angelica. “Has he been like this all this while?”

“He has been like this since the first I saw him.” Angelica nodded lightly.

“What should we do next?”

“I don’t know,” said Angelica. “I was just following order to bring you here. The will of the ancient sage is unreadable.”

Vivian suddenly spoke up. “I know what to do. Hao Ren, give me your Gungnir.”

Though Hao Ren did not know why she asked for the spear, he still took the Gungnir out from his dimensional pocket and handed it to Vivian. Vivian chanted a few words at the spear before placing it on the platform under the Iron Throne.

Almost immediately, the crystal that contained Odin glowed.

“Actually, I was just trying. I didn’t expect it would work,” Vivian explained. “Asgardians have a high degree of spiritual power and a good understanding of the way of the soul. The strong among them would inject part of their soul and power into the article that would stay with them forever as a backup. The Gungnir was broken into three pieces, but the mechanism inside it is still running. So, I guess the sealed power is still inside,” she said.

“You mean he could recover?” Hao Ren was very optimistic.

A weak and old voice was suddenly heard. “Unfortunately, I can’t.”

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