Chapter 193 43. Kane's Choice, Malekith (as in the title)
"Nothing strange happened? Is this also a kind of change? Is it so magical?" Darkus walked into Malekith's room He was in a trance in the Black Tower Courtyard. He was a little unbelievable. On the way back, no powerful force came out to cause trouble, and it was so close to the Chaos Wasteland and the wind of magic was so strong.
The team's journey from Grond back to Nagarund was uneventful. They did not encounter any interceptions by bandits, mercenaries, or troops. They did not encounter any ambush after entering Nagarund, and they arrived safely. .
Darkus first went to the lower level of the Black Tower to take a comfortable bath, and then went to the throne room to meet Malekith. There was no need for him to show his embarrassment to Malekith. Perhaps it would be better to be more decent. Like an elf of Nagaryth. He didn't splice together the Extinguishing Phoenix Binding Curse because he didn't know what would happen next. It was beyond the scope of the outline for him. He was worried that after the splicing was completed, he would suddenly become happy with fire. Who knows who has no brains? Autistic people can do incredible things.
The ghostly appearance of the spicy chicken shreds after being burned by Asuryan's holy fire can make Morathi cry. Darkos doesn't want to follow his footsteps. One spicy chicken shreds is enough in this world.
The heroic and handsome face turned into a piece of blackened rotten flesh, with bones and blood-red tendons tangled together in a mess, and the pointed ears turned into only a little visible cartilage. Hair? What is hair? His hands also became mangled and bleeding continuously. His whole body was in severe pain and numbness. Everywhere was a burning flame. There were bursts of harsh breathing sounds in his throat. Every breath seemed to be going into his trachea and The lungs are filled with fire, and the slightest movement of air is like a knife cutting the spicy shredded chicken.
His eyes were even more terrifying. A spark of magic power appeared in Malajisi's pupils. The fire grew bigger and bigger, and finally turned his eyes into two pits burning with flames, and behind the flames Deep down, there was a bit of blood-red color as thin as the tip of a needle. There was only interlacing light and darkness in front of him, silence and screams echoed in his ears, and his thoughts seemed to be swallowed up by the flames again and again. The indescribable pain made Malajishui lose consciousness countless times, and he soon He hoped that he could remain unconscious for as long as possible, but it was of no use at all. The reduced pain soon made him wake up again, without any relief at all. Every minute and every second was painful for him. .
The amazing thing is that Spicy Chicken Shreds actually endured the pain by relying on his own willpower and gradually got better, turning into Malekith again. Maybe it's because he was Asurayan's chosen one, right?
Darkus would not show the Binding Curse to Malekith, because it would most likely evoke some bad memories of Malekith. Maybe the Midnight Armor burned even redder after seeing the Binding Curse. After all, The Asuryan Holy Fire in Malekith's body is still burning, and maybe Malekith will give him the whole good fruit by then.
Malekith held the dragon armor and looked at it in the pitch-black throne room, while Darkus told him the story echoing on the dragon armor.
"My father! He is a hero! He used his own life and sprinkled his blood on Kane's altar to win victory and save the world." Malekith said after listening to the story After a long time, he slowly put the dragon armor into the box and then said, "My dear Darkus, do you know what I am most proud of?" "
Let me guess? My Majesty, are you rejecting Kane?" Of course Darkus knew what Malekith was asking. The two of them were chatting around the topic of Kane, so it must be Kane. It couldn't be Malekith who was so angry. Use magic to try to break the maelstrom, right? He said cooperatingly, he felt like a jester now, this feeling was so fucked up.
"Yes!" Malekith's laughing voice echoed in the throne room.
Perhaps because they hadn't seen each other for a long time, Malekith then rambled on about that story. At that time, he was still in Esso Talarian in the old world and was preparing to take the dragon ship Indragnir to Chaos. adventure into the wasteland, but Alandrian did not follow, but remained there to rule as a prince. Facts have proved that Alandrian's governance is indeed effective. When the civil war broke out, Alandrian led the colonial army back to Ulthuan to fight. The number of troops was five hundred thousand! (Half a million! From page 473 of the novel "The Legend of the Shadow King", Alandrian appears, GW Mathematics just has fun watching it).
Malekith said to Alandrian: "Don't worry, I and my "shade" will disappear from your eyes soon. When I am gone, you can enjoy the sunshine and warmth. If it is true as you said , my shadow will cover the sky when I come back!" After that, they parted ways, and when they met again, Malekith had turned into spicy chicken shreds. He did not choose to go directly north, but to return his good mother to Nagaryth first. The Indragnir was the first dragon ship, built for Malekith by Prince Altherin of Lothern. , in Morath's words: "It is a ship that carries the dreams of our people!", and facts have proven that this is indeed the case. The speed of the dragon ship was unparalleled. With the arrival of strong winds from the sea, it took only thirty days to reach the northern island of Ulthuan from Esso Talarian.
The islands stood out from the sea like stone spiers, protecting the coastline of the kingdoms of Nagaryth and Charyth from the waves caused by the north winds. There were no pirates in those days. Among them is an island much larger than the other islands. It is located on the westernmost side of all the islands, the Isle of Blight, where Kane's temple is located.
Morathi understood this very well. She played with the Midnight Stone and looked south to the island. The sea was full of rough waves and thick fog. Malekith walked to her side and looked there too.
"Do you remember my father?" Malekith asked.
"Yes, more than a thousand years ago, he rode Indragnir here and died after he came here. He has now become a legend. Even if today's young people will be amazed by what he did, they still can't do it." It's just half-doubtful. Even I only knew the legendary hero, not Aenarion. Because when I met him, he had already drawn the Sword of Khaine, and he was being blessed by Asuryan. I don't know what his time was like. He left nothing behind except you and the Midnight Stone."
Malekith didn't speak, he just stood there and looked at the dark and cold rock.
"No, he left something else!" Malekith said suddenly.
"What? What do you mean?" Morathi asked.
"No one has been here since my father sent the Sword of Khaine back here. His and Indragnir's bodies must still be on that island. We should find them and return them to Tal Al'ri Grams, let alone the princes of various kingdoms, even Barshana will have to kneel before the remains of the first Phoenix King. The savior must get a tomb comparable to Asuryan's pyramid, Indragnir His dragon bones will become the symbol of the tomb, I will inherit his dragon armor, and the people will see me. As the son of Aenarion, I am the reincarnation of the first Phoenix King!" "Is
this the 'timing' you are talking about? Then you will come back to Nagaris with me now?" Morathi said excitedly.
"No, I want to find my father first!"
Malekith called a sailor and asked him to prepare the boat, and then he jumped onto the boat very excitedly.
Morathi stood by the boat and saw Malekith smiling as she had not seen for a long time, as happy as a child.
The fifteen sailors on the boat turned the boat south and sailed to the southeastern end of the Withered Island, where the wind and waves were smallest. They soon found a small piece of coast. The sailors secured the boat, but Malekith did not Regardless of the sailors, they jumped ashore on their own. In fact, all the sailors were reluctant to go to this seemingly unlucky place.
This small island is indeed as its name suggests. There is no life, not even any weeds or insects. There are scattered black rocks everywhere. At this time, the wind has weakened, and Malekith has no mark. A good route or goal was just to keep wandering around the island, walking towards what he thought was the west part of the island, the higher area where he believed his father's body was. He climbed up one hillside after another, and suddenly found that he had been walking here all afternoon, and the sun was about to set. Although he scorned the superstition of the sailors, he did not want to wander around the island when night came.
Malekith looked at the valley carefully, looking for anything that might be metal or bone, but found nothing. The shadows of dusk were getting heavier and heavier, and he felt a little discouraged. Just as he was planning to go back to the ship and come back tomorrow. While doing this, a strange thought suddenly appeared in his mind!
There was no sound, no sign, but as if an invisible hand pushed Malekith to keep going south, as if he knew someone was waiting for him there, the force grew stronger and stronger. A strange melody gradually formed in his mind. He glanced at the sunset, turned south, and followed this strange force.
Soon, Malekith came to the center of the Withered Island. It was very vast and flat. The jagged black rocks standing upright were covered with red patterns. The dark ground was as smooth as marble. There was a There was a huge red rock with something glowing on it. He knew this was the Temple of Cain. He looked around and did not find the remains of his father, but it was here that his father returned the Sword of Kane. When he thought of the sword, a faint and distant voice appeared in his ears, and he He looked at the flashing place. The more he looked there, the clearer the sound became. It was a scream of pain and fear, mixed with the sound of metal collision, and his heart began to beat rapidly. , the surrounding stones were like limbs with exposed blood vessels, and those red lines sprayed an unstoppable sea of blood. His heart was beating harder and louder, like a craftsman wielding a hammer.
The sound in Malekith's ears turned into a shrill howl, but he didn't think the sound was harsh. He approached the temple step by step. In the end, like his father, he stood blankly in that bloody place.
The object in the center of the rock shone in front of Malekith, like a sword, an axe, or a spear. Finally, it revealed an image, which was a scepter with a spherical end inlaid with gems. He was a little confused for a moment, because this was not a weapon, just a decorative scepter.
Suddenly, Malekith understood something. This scepter could turn the entire Ulthuan into his own weapon. He did not need a sword or a spear to fight like his father, as long as he picked up this scepter. With Kane's scepter, no one can resist him. He will control all the armies and rule his people as he pleases. Visions appeared before his eyes. He killed Balshanar and sacrificed his body to Khaine. He became the chosen one of the God of Murder. He would share the world with Khaine, whether it was beastmen or greenskins. , their piles of corpses stretched tens of thousands of meters long.
Malekith laughed strangely. He saw human villages being burned to the ground, and both men and women being slaughtered. The elves conquered the world like a flood. His empire was the entire world, covered by the sacrificial flames. Sunshine himself sat on a huge throne made of skulls, surrounded by rivers and seas of blood.
"No!!!" Malekith shouted violently. He struggled to look away from the scepter and fell to the ground with force.
Malekith lay like this for a long time, with his eyes closed, his heart still beating wildly, and his breathing rapid and heavy. He didn't open his eyes until he slowly calmed down. He shook his head and seemed to be awake. There was no blood or fire, only the sounds of the surrounding stones and the sea breeze. The day was about to end, and Kane's temple was bathed in orange sunshine. Malekith stood up and staggered away from here. He did not dare to look back at the scepter, and at the same time he knew in his heart that his father could not Found, he gathered his willpower and walked back to the boat, not once looking back at the temple.
When he returned to the Indragnir, he ordered the captain to sail north at full speed until the Blighted Island was out of sight.
The dragon ship continued to sail and came to the route on the western coast of Ulthuan. Malekith did not find his father, so he did not want to set foot on the land of Ulthuan.
Malekith did not return to Nagaryth. What was funny was that he threw Morathi directly to a merchant ship returning to Ulthuan from the east. Although Morathi was annoyed, Morathi was sent away by him. , Morathi lost his temper and cursed and cursed all the way.
Although the reward was high, the merchant captain had never seen such a scene before, and he called Soverin too little!
Darkus stood there and was about to fall asleep. He also felt bored. He could even recite it backwards because this was the third time he heard this story. Malekith was like a boring old man with dementia, always chattering with him about past stories, but he couldn't tell Malekith to shut up, right? Pointing at Malekith's nose and scolding him angrily, it's not because of his strength and status, but because he still has that good virtue of respecting the elderly and caring for the young! This virtue is as precious as diamonds to Drudge, and he can only echo it like a compliment, and occasionally ask a few questions to express confusion and confusion.
"My lord, I'm a little curious about what happens next?"
"That's a ridiculous political trick!" Malekith's laughter echoed in the throne room again, and he knew what Darkus was asking.
Malekith began to ramble again. From his birth to now, he has lived almost 6,500 years (at the end of ET, Malekith's age was 6,986, accurate!). He has many stories, but no one can tell him. He just shared it.
At that time Malekith went to Hal Gancy for a very special secret meeting.
It was a choice that upset Malekith even more, tortured by the screams of the Cainites, the constant drumming, and the smell of burning guts. The first sound cut through his nerves like a broken blade, the second was too monotonous and made him question time and sanity, and the third was too much of a reminder of his physical condition.
Malekith could only endure it all in silence, as he endured the eternal agony.
The Temple of Cain at Hal Gonthy is a sacrificial pit of black pillars, topped by a dome upon which hangs a mass of rotting organs and black ashen bones, which are simmered in sacrificial fires and a thousand braziers Wavering in the rising heat. In layout, the temple is very similar to the ancient ruins on the Blighted Isle.
Malekith could barely feel the heat as he stood there. He wondered out of boredom whether the open side of the temple layout would be more practical? rather than symbolically. This thought amused him, and he could only continue to watch the ceremony continue in boredom.
Hal Gonthy Like every other city in Naggaroth and any settlement with a temple to Khaine, the witch-elves are celebrating the Night of the Dead (7 days at the earliest in the military book). Caine cultists prowl the streets and rooftops looking for victims. In the past, only those found outside their homes would become victims, but as the millennia passed and generations of druchi became wise to the danger, now to satisfy their bloody demands, the Cainites Breaking into buildings without hesitation, wails of grief throughout the city and the clash of weapons marks the success or failure of the quest.
The unfortunate victims were dragged screaming up the steps of the temple, their bodies bleeding from dozens of wounds, leaving a trail of blood on the blood-red marble. Heliben and the Death Witches stood in a small circle next to a pool of blood engraved with runes. There was a fire burning beneath the pool of blood, and a growing pool of blood was bubbling and boiling.
The victims were carried to the altar, their arteries splayed open, and the bright red fluid spilled into channels carved in the stone and flowed into the dungeons beneath the temple, where slaves labored with cloth and buckets to contain the spilled blood. Pass upward. The Death Witches utter shrill prayers to the Murder Lord, pouring bloody wine into cauldrons for them to drink.
Incredibly, the victim did not die from this bleeding, but remained in a staggering state aided by the temple's magic.
The cold executioners were waiting for their victims, their execution knives already covered in blood. Each victim was terminated with a single blow, and low-level followers of Khaine pounced on the corpse. These followers tore out the victims' hearts and threw them into the sacred flames. Others fought for the heads, which were burned. Charred and gilded as trophies. The rest of the corpses were dragged away by whip-scarred slaves and sent to corresponding workshops, where they were broken down into ingredients used in the Cain cult's narcotics and poisons, and the remaining organs and body parts were illegally sold. go.
This continued throughout the night of the dead until just before dawn, when the blood pools were almost full. Helibon and the Death Witches stepped onto the steps made of bone and muscle, bathed in the hot blood, and laughed and played like children in a pond.
Malekith observed carefully, and with the help of the steel ring on his forehead, his orange eyes could see the magical wind combined with the blood pool through rituals and sacrifices. Flows into the blood, stimulates vitality, and is delivered to Heliben's body.
As the first rays of dawn broke through the open face of the temple, Heliben emerged, her pale skin bronzed by the morning light. She is very delicate, youthful, with thick and shiny hair, and well-proportioned limbs and facial features.
There was a special reason why Malekith came to Hal Gonthy on this night. His mother's Joy Cult was growing again, luring the Druchi into the court and army of Naggaroth. For the most part, the Cult of Joy is harmless, but he's never content to let his mother have free rein, so he must send a message to remind his mother: He knows his mother's tricks!
As the last Death Witch emerged from the pool of blood to reveal her limp, blood-soaked body, Malekith suddenly had an idea. He staggered through the temple, stretching his will and letting Asuryan's holy fire flow from him. Burning in the cracks of his armor, he now bears an uncanny resemblance to the statue of Khaine in the temple.
"You know I am your lord!" Malekith intoned, ascending the steps and standing before the King of Murder. He opened his arms to imitate Kane's posture, and the palms of his palms were also burning with fire. "Now you also know that I am the incarnation of Kane. In me, Kane puts his power into the mortal realm so that he can lead you on your journey." On the march to death."
Helen was in the best and wisest mood at this time of the year. She looked at the person she had served with a strange expression (don't think too much, maid). When she looked at She hid her disgust well as Malekith stepped into the pool of blood.
The thick blood tumbled under the heat of Malekith's body, bursting and splattering to the edge of the pool. He crouched down, letting his head sink beneath the blood, feeling the winds of magic crawling over his armor. He grasped the threads of the magical winds and poured his magic back along their channels.
The outside of the blood pool began to glow, and the runes became brighter and brighter until they shone with ruddy energy, covering the temple in blood-red light. Under the gaze of Heliben and the gathered Khaine cultists, Malekith rose from the blood, and the blood condensed on his armor. He turned his orange eyes to Heliben.
In that moment of both displeasure and submission, Heliburn forced herself to one knee and bowed her head, prompting the other Cainites to do the same.
"Spread the word throughout the world! Celebrate and thank the mighty Lord of Murder for giving us his son. We are blessed and we will bare our blades in his name, as the Incarnation expresses his will. Blessed Horse Rekis, the eternal incarnation of Kane!" Heliben chanted in unison while holding back her nausea.
Malekith radiated his magical energy, shattering the burning blood on his armor with a burst of fire.
At this point, laughter erupted again in the throne room, and Darkus also burst out laughing. He felt it was so humorous and funny that he couldn't help but imagine Heliben's expression at that time.
(End of chapter)