Chapter 362: A link to the past
To start with the reason this even happened The attack back then was the first time this world suffered a serious invasion by the Phageid, since then it has happened once more, around five hundred years ago. And it will surely happen again, relatively soon. Optimistically, we might have about forty years, Jennifer explained seriously, completely losing her accent.
So they attack every five hundred years? Saria asked.
Does it have anything to do with the True Solstice from the trial? Ive been calling it an eclipse because it looked like that but the solstice shouldnt be an eclipse
Sadly it is not that easy to predict exactly when they come. At best we will know two or three years in advance, but it will happen on the summer solstice, when the sun is furthest from us; when Suns influence is at its weakest.
Wait To clarify, they attack on the solstice because Sun is weaker at that time of year? Sofia asked.
Yeah, Jennifer casually confirmed, At any other time, Sun would be able to prevent them from reaching us, but her power to affect our planet varies greatly depending on the distance of the actual Sun. In fact, even during the solstice, she would be able to stop them, she does just that every year, actually. Sun is the entire reason we havent been overrun yet. The elves in general are slaughtering Phageid any chance they get.
This is looking like a bigger issue than I even thought it might be Sofia commented.
That lich you spoke about seemed to take them pretty seriously, Saria chimed in, I asked Zephir but apparently he was told by the older Dragons to worry about growing stronger before bringing that up again
And theyre right, this issue is something for the old folks like me to deal with. The system is also always bolstering its forces to be able to fight back. Im explainin so that ya can understand how it goes but yer a bit too young to help.
So If Sun is able to prevent them from attacking every solstice, how did they still manage to invade twice? Sofia asked.
Because, twice now, something massive in space has eclipsed the sun during the solstice for a few minutes. Its truly gigantic, larger than our planet itself, and yet we can barely perceive its presence when it draws close, and can only really know exactly where it is when its hiding the sun.
Some kind of big planet hidden in the void? I can see how it might be hard to keep track of, just finding our planet from the sun wasnt easy despite how bright and colorful it was, wouldnt have known where it was or how it looked without Aphenoreth pointing it out.
And we have no idea about what it could be? Saria asked.
Absolutely none. No one even noticed its presence the first time, from what Ive heard, and everyones attention was turned to the sudden invasion, Jennifer confirmed.
Sofia asked another question, From what youre saying it sounds like they attacked everywhere at once. Were there more than one Alphageid?
Several of those, a few bigger ones, and countless smaller, Jennifer answered, And to continue on the subject of the thing in space, we noticed it when it came again last time, because a lot of the higher level people were expecting the attack. The Phageid did not attack cities on their second attack, they targeted the systems towers. A few of them fell and had to be rebuilt since.
As I suspected.
Who knew Scripture would want to build his church right on top of a pit full of undead, right? As if he had been planning something for a long while Something relating to a certain Recessed
Was that the same Oracle who is still in charge? Sofia asked.
Still tha same guy, far as I know, never care much for him. Think he failed a trial, stuck at level 299 or 349 if my memorys correc. Think his name was Jeffrey?
The name made Sofias blood run cold. It was like a sudden hit in the back of the head.
No
No no no.
No no no no no.
Absolutely not.
Jeffrey.
Like
Orphanage Director Jeffrey???
Surely not. Not so obvious. He wouldnt even bother changing his name?
No, that cant be right.
I saw his dead body right in his office! He was just
WAS IT HIS BODY?
Sofia are you alright? Sarias worried voice brought Sofia out of her stupor.
