Chapter 1059: Section 1060: Primeval Flame
“Last time I was here, I sensed the fleeting presence of the Primeval Flame, and I wasn’t sure if it was just an illusion, Master Greerwu, shall we go in and have a look?”
Greerwu hesitated for a moment but then nodded. Previously, he had felt nothing special here, but now upon returning to the Hunting Museum, there was an inexplicable feeling… Greerwu felt as if his flames were more lively than before, as if they were eagerly anticipating something.
With this strange feeling, Greerwu and Tandin stepped into the Hunting Museum.
They crossed the cold, black and white checkered floor, where candlelight flickered weak and dim. Greerwu even felt a chill breeze that made the flames on his body flicker like dying embers about to extinguish.
Tandin frowned, the atmosphere of the Hunting Museum was too desolate and chilling, not at all like an environment that would nurture the Primeval Flame.
It was Tandin who had suggested coming here, but at this moment, he couldn’t help but ask himself: Is there really a Primeval Flame here?
On the contrary, it was Greerwu, who had initially been adamant that there was no trace of Primeval Flame here, yet now his round eyes had turned into inverted triangles due to his furrowed brows, repeatedly muttering, “This place is very strange.”
He had a kind of premonition that this might be the place where Aoluxiya was searching for the Primeval Flame.
Yet, as a descendant of the Pattern tribe, Greerwu strangely couldn’t sense the presence of the Primeval Flame at all, as if his inner premonition was nothing more than a joke.
“Is anyone there?” Tandin called into the empty hall, receiving only his echo in response, with no one to answer.
“Let’s go check the inner court.” Greerwu listened intently and faintly heard whispers coming from the direction of the inner court.
The further they walked, the more distinct the murmuring sound became, as if countless people were whispering in his ear, like crazed shouts, desperate whispers, and malevolent curses.
Greerwu shuddered all over, suddenly feeling reluctant to move forward.
“Master, what’s wrong?” Tandin looked over, puzzled. It was Greerwu who had suggested moving forward, so why had he stopped now?
“Don’t you hear it?” Greerwu was shaking like a sieve, unable to stop trembling. The falling embers hissed as they touched the ground, producing a brief burst of smoke before being completely extinguished. “Those voices, can’t you hear them?”
“What voices?” Tandin said solemnly, “Master, I haven’t heard any sound. If you feel something is off, perhaps we should withdraw for now?”
Greerwu shook his head but said nothing, continuing to tremble as he moved forward, though his steps were much smaller.
If Angel were here, he would probably remark in surprise that this mischievous child could actually be scared too.
Seeing that his young master had no intention of retreating, Tandin hesitated for a moment but still followed.
All the way, Greerwu was troubled by whispers that were pitiful, despairing, or mad. Before every step, he felt as though a terrifying Nightmare with a ferocious smile might appear in front of him, yet everything remained calm when they arrived at the Exhibition Hall of the inner court.
Standing at the entrance of the Exhibition Hall, Tandin asked, “Master Greerwu, are you alright?”
Greerwu gazed into the pitch-black doorway of the Exhibition Hall. He could sense that the whispers lingering around his ears were emanating from within.
“We’re going in.” Greerwu ignored the concern in Butler Tandin’s eyes and walked into the Exhibition Hall on his own.
The Hunted Specimens in the Exhibition Hall naturally didn’t scare a fledgling demon of fire.
While Butler Tandin was scanning the Exhibition Hall for anything out of place, Greerwu approached a painting alone. Planting his tail firmly on the ground, he tried hard to push his body upwards, until he could see the burning flame in the painting at eye level.
Greerwu looked at the flame and felt an odd familiarity.
After confirming there was no danger within the Exhibition Hall, Tandin joined Greerwu’s side. As he arrived next to Greerwu, he unexpectedly saw a mist clouding Greerwu’s eyes, who was staring unwaveringly at the painting on the wall.
Tandin saw nothing special about the painting.
He observed carefully; the painting was rather ordinary, its only distinction was the flame amidst the dark background, which was painted with great realism.
“Master, there’s a door beside us, should we have a look?”
Greerwu didn’t respond to Tandin, instead pointing at the flame in the painting, “The whispers are coming from the flame…”
The emotion was saddening, as if the flame was burying some special sentiment.
Tandin looked at that flame, still hearing no sound, nor sensing anything unusual. Hesitating, he extended his dark hand, with embers at the tips, and touched the flame in the painting.
Hiss—
Smoke arose, and Tandin swiftly withdrew his fingers.
As a fire attendant demon, Tandin felt a burning pain when his fingers touched the painting? A fire demon scorched by fire would be the joke of any other demon if they heard it.
Yet the fact remained.
As Tandin wondered what was happening, Greerwu suddenly exclaimed, “The painting changed!”
Tandin looked up and saw that the flame in the center of the painting, set against the dark backdrop, began to multiply. In a brief moment, the central flame completely covered the darkness; originally, the darkness occupied more than eighty percent of the painting, but now the flame seemed to challenge it for supremacy.
“Why has the flame in the painting suddenly multiplied?”
While Tandin was still puzzled, Greerwu suddenly spoke with an excited tone, “I feel it, the presence of Primeval Flame, right within this painting!”
Greerwu’s words stunned Tandin. The Primeval Flame they had been searching for was in the painting?
As Tandin wondered what exactly was going on with the painting, another change occurred; in the center of the painting, where the flames burned brightest, a ripple suddenly formed.
As the ripple appeared, the flames on Greerwu’s body seemed to resonate with some frequency, and a series of images drilled into Greerwu’s mind.
All these images were of flames or, rather, of flames under the night sky within the painting. However, they were not simply flames. The flames enveloped various objects being scorched: indigenous people who had just given birth, lying in bed panting; Half-Blood Demons with dog-like lower limbs; creatures domesticated by the Indigenous People; tree demons from the Abyss; and Magical Creatures drawn by the fire…
All these beings were being scorched by the flames, letting out pitiful screams accompanied by sorrowful melodies.
Suddenly, Greerwu realized that the whispers it had been constantly hearing were perhaps the lingering echoes of these creatures that were burned to death.
At this moment, when Greerwu looked at the painting on the wall, it no longer felt that it merely depicted darkness and flames.
Hidden within this painting was much more information, only buried beneath the night sky and destroyed by the flames.