Whispering Verse

In the cave below [Black Night Temple], there are hidden walls and the passage leading to the sealed butterfly tomb. They are all in the hidden space at the innermost part of the cave. Therefore, Shade does not have to worry about whether he has entered the tomb or not. Discovered by the ring magicians arranged by the church here.

And when he walked out from behind the hidden wall with four gems, he found that someone was already waiting for him in the dark corridor.

"Shadow!"

The ball of light suspended next to the seventeen-year-old girl illuminated her beautiful face. Iluna seemed to have been waiting here for a long time. She was very satisfied to see the surprised expression on Shade's face:

"Did I come fast enough? After receiving the news, I knew you must have new arrangements. After the big earthquake, I applied to perform a mission outside the city, and then I found a reason to come here by myself. Anyway, under the circumstances tonight , it is reasonable for anyone to suddenly disappear for a period of time.”

"It's really fast, but there are a lot of weird things outside the city tonight. I think we still need to confirm each other's identities."

Shade suggested.

"Very reasonable."

Iluna said in a good mood:

"How about asking a question that only we know?"

"Well, at the end of the New Year, the pair of gloves you knitted yourself gave me, what special materials were mixed in?"

"What I gave was a scarf, not gloves, with my hair in it."

Iluna was a little embarrassed, and then asked Shade:

"Where is the most beautiful part of our fortune teller friend?"

"Of course those purple eyes."

Shade said without thinking, and then saw Iluna snickering. His originally nervous and slightly depressed mood was slightly relieved by this little joke, so he waved to Iluna:

"Then let's go."

Green gems represent spring, red gems represent summer, gold gems represent autumn, and white gems represent winter.

The gems of the four seasons were inlaid by Shade on the stone wall at the end of the passage that blocked the two people's progress. When the last gemstone also enters its position, the four colored gemstones emit soft light together. In those lights, the stone wall fluctuated like an illusion, and then melted away bit by bit.

What was displayed in front of Shade and Eluna was the long and narrow tomb corridor steps leading deeper into the ground. This is the first time the cemetery has been opened since it was sealed following Mr Lyman's death.

If you are an ordinary person, you still need to consider the oxygen problem underground, but Shade and Iluna don't need to worry so much.

"Let's go."

Shade said to Iluna.

Although this is a veritable fifth-era relic, Mr. Lyman’s cemetery is not an exaggerated underground complex. After formally entering the tomb corridor through the gate, I walked forward for more than thirty steps and arrived at the double stone door at the end.

The two stone doors are inscribed with Fifth Age characters, and are decorated with patterns of butterflies and flowers. Mr. Lyman's epitaph is engraved here, and Shade has seen these contents in "The Butterfly Family: My Life", but Iluna discovered something strange:

"This is not only the cemetery of Mr. Lyman, but also the burial place of three butterfly girls?"

"Is such that."

Shade nodded, knowing what Iluna wanted to ask:

"Those butterfly girls are the dependents of the old god [Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterflies]. It stands to reason that their lifespan should far exceed the lifespan of Mr. Lyman, an ordinary man in the fifth era. And according to the description on the epitaph and what I learned from the memoir According to what I saw in the film, the cemetery was closed after Mr. Lyman’s death, and they were buried here at the same time.”

"Could it be that because of love, they voluntarily entered the cemetery to accompany Mr. Lyman's body?"

Iluna asked in disbelief, while Shade shook his head:

"I don't know either, but there will probably be an answer next."

The gate with the epitaph engraved on it should be regarded as the real gate of the cemetery. But this door did not have a unique lock, so Shade pushed it open with a little force.

There are still steps going down behind the door, and the walls on both sides are no longer monotonous stone bricks. They are painted with some more abstract patterns of various butterflies. Shade and Iluna did not go down immediately. Shade frowned and looked into the deeper darkness:

"There is an illusion. If we enter like this, we will probably fall directly into a passage that will never end."

"It's normal for cemeteries to have defenses."

Iluna commented, taking out a silver metal piece from her pocket:

"The church has a special way to break illusions. Let me try it first."

She activated the talisman with her own spirit, and then threw it forward. The metal piece clinked on the downward steps, and then emitted a bright light.

This light directly illuminated the murals on both sides of the wall. The abstract butterfly pattern, which was originally severely peeled off in color, actually moved under the light of the spell.

But instead of relaxing, Iluna became serious:

"It seems that the standard equipment still doesn't work."

While he was talking, those strange-looking butterflies had already "flyed" out of the mural. They did not attack the two people standing in front of the tomb door, but flapped their wings and completely blocked the dark passage.

Iluna still wanted to try, but Shade stopped her:

"let me try."

He took out the silver flute stuck in his waist. It was a divine creation [Butterfly Summoning Flute]. It was obtained from St. Perry's Cemetery and was a gift from the Fifth Era.

Shade doesn't actually know how to play the flute, but at least he can play the flute no problem. The effect of playing this flute is to summon butterflies depending on the spirit consumed, and in the end it can even summon Helen and Grace.

But when faced with the illusion of butterflies guarding the cemetery, when the flute sounded, the abstract butterflies returned to the wall. At the same time, in the deep tunnel leading deeper into the ground, the air was strangely distorted. Shade and Iluna heard a sound like a paper bag being punctured at the same time, and then the illusion was lifted.

"Since Sister St. Perry said that Mr. Lyman left a gift for me in his cemetery, I don't think Mr. Lyman would deliberately embarrass me."

Shade said.

Continuing downward, after walking through 33 steps, the narrow corridor suddenly opened up. But this is not a tomb but a church. On the left and right of the church are the holy emblems of the old god [Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly] and the true god [Old Man with the Lamp] respectively.

Even now in the Sixth Age, there are similar structures in the underground tombs of the natives of Randall Valley, so Shade and Iluna only took a brief look at them before continuing to walk deeper underground.

During this period, another earthquake occurred, and the shaking of the earthquake was felt more underground than on the ground. Fortunately, this underground cemetery is extremely strong. Even though the earthquake was strong, dust did not even fall on the ceiling above the cemetery corridor.

After passing the church in the cemetery, the main tomb of the cemetery is connected behind it.

The main tomb chamber is also partitioned by a double stone door, and on the stone door here are engraved portraits of Mr. Lyman himself and three girls with butterfly wings behind their backs.

After opening the door, there is a square tomb, with a huge sarcophagus placed in the center of the tomb. Judging from the size of the sarcophagus, it was definitely not a person buried inside.

What is very surprising is that the tomb is not completely dark. There are brightly colored murals on the walls of the tomb. From a bird's-eye view, the murals depict various butterflies flying in the large underground cavity. Each butterfly on the mural is emitting a shimmering light. Although the light of one individual butterfly is very weak, the combined shimmering light is enough to provide illumination.

There are the most butterflies in the center of the mural above the tomb. The soft light shines on the sarcophagus from above. It is indeed a good choice to sleep here.

"It's so simple for us to come here?"

Iluna seemed to be worried about a trap and did not dare to walk in directly, but Shade walked in directly:

"What do you think there will be here? Ancient evil spirits or gargoyles guarding it? This is just a cemetery. He is ready to welcome the arrival of my old friend."

Shade came to the huge sarcophagus. In front of the sarcophagus was a stone tablet. On the stone tablet were written the names of Mr. Lyman and the three butterfly girls.

As for the sarcophagus, the style looks relatively simple, with butterfly-like patterns engraved on all five sides.

Shade did not disturb Mr. Lyman's sleep. He bent down to read the stone slab in front of the sarcophagus, and then informed Iluna, who was not very good at ancient Chinese, of the content:

"The doubt has been solved. The three relatives of the gods passed away together with Mr. Lyman."

"What's the meaning?"

Iluna asked with some confusion, while Shade wiped the dust on the surface of the stone tablet with his sleeve:

"Voluntarily following Mr. Lyman to leave [Worm Cave] is equivalent to giving up one's long life. This is a special contract, you can understand it as a love contract. From now on, the dependents of the three old gods will My soul is bound to Mr. Lyman’s soul. When one party dies or one party changes their mind, this primitive, ancient and not very binding contract will cause both parties who signed the contract to die together."

Shade paused and added:

"The butterfly girls had the power to break free of the contract, but they didn't. The person who made this stone tablet seems to be the son of Mr. Lyman and one of the ladies. He wrote everything down."

"Death for love?"

Iluna was slightly shocked, but also showed respect.

"It shouldn't be considered a suicide, it can only be regarded as his death. They also felt that they should leave. After all, they entered the normal material world just to accompany him. After Mr. Lyman died, they had no reason to stay. .”

"Is this love?"

The seventeen-year-old girl murmured to herself, while Shade, who was squatting in front of the stone monument, thought about Stone Oxenfurt and Haila Oxenfurt.