Chapter 42 Chapter 13 Frontier

border. the edge of the world.Snow covered the peaks and pine forests, and the river shimmered in the middle of the land, flowing through rolling pastures, bustling cities, and vast forests that gave way to tall grass waves.The grass gradually thinned, and after that, there was nothing but an open space, only the sand dunes that were constantly moving by the wind.Beyond the sand dunes hangs the mist of the afterlife, and it is the Watcher who is forever staring at this mist with his blind stone eyes. These condemned people have been magically turned into stone statues, but there is still life in the frozen body.The watchmen were thirty feet high, and there was a distance of twenty feet between men and women.Almost all of them are catalyst saints.The punishment for a mage is exile to the afterlife, and it is too dangerous to allow a powerful mage to remain in this world, even in congealed form.But the humble Catalyst Saints are a different story, and when it was decided that there should be guards on the frontier, it seemed like the most suitable and fitting position offered to them.

What are these silent people, some of whom have stood there for centuries amidst the flying, stinging sand, watching?What would they do if they saw something emerging from the drifting fog?Nobody knows.The answer has long been forgotten.Beyond the mist is the realm of the afterlife—the realm of death, and no one has ever returned from that realm. The Far Lands lie to the east of Simharon, the land where the sun first shines when the sun rises.As the morning sun rose, the sun was the matte gray of a pearl, and it shone behind curtains of fog such that not even the fireballs of the sky could burn out.Then, like a ghost, the sun, with its pale, cold radiance, loomed dimly on the horizon where the mist and the clear blue sky separated.When the rising sun finally casts off the realm of the dead, its light rushes forth, and falls joyfully to the earth below, to bring a new day to all beings of Simharon.

And that was the moment, when the first bright rays of the morning sun fell to the earth, and Joram's flesh would become stone. So in the gray morning light, the participants and witnesses of this solemn ceremony gradually gathered on the sand dunes.Twenty-five catalyst saints were needed to give the executioner the power of life to complete the punishment of transformation, and this group of men and women arrived first.While it is usual to call for saints from various parts of Simharon to represent the congregation, this trial was too hasty, and the catalyst saints were all from the holy mountain.Many of the younger generation have never seen this ceremony, and most of the older generation have forgotten it.The catalyst saints who were selected to participate in the ceremony were all drowsy, and walked unsteadily from the transmission corridor to the sandy ground. Many of them were still holding books in their hands, learning the various steps of the ceremony in a hurry.

Next came the executioner.A powerful mage and one of the top figures in Dukexis, he is a sorcerer of the Catalyst Saints.He only works for them, not only in charge of the safety of the holy mountain, but also shoulders responsibilities like this.His black robes turned to the gray of judgment on this occasion.The executioner came out of the portal silently, alone, his face covered by a hood.The Catalyst Saints looked at him unhappily, avoided him, and hurried out of his way.He paid no attention to them at all.With his hands folded in his wide sleeves, he looked like a stone statue standing in the sand, maybe he was practicing the complex spell he was going to cast in his mind, maybe he was gathering the great mental and physical strength needed to cast the spell.

Then two Dukes came out from the teleportation corridor, escorting a man and a girl.If the man didn't have a tired and forbearing face, he would have shown an aristocratic temperament, and the girl seemed to be on the verge of collapse.The girl broke away from the wizard and stuck to her father.Seeing the stone statues of the guardians, she wept with grief.Her father held her with his arms, otherwise she might fall and never get up again. Several catalyst saints shook their heads, while several older saints wanted to step forward to give her Emin's comfort and blessing.But the young lady turned her back on them as she did Duke Xis, buried her head in her father's chest, and refused to look at them.

The sorcerers who accompanied the two arrived led them out onto the sand, beside a clearing which had been hastily marked.As soon as the lady saw the mark—the wheel with nine banners—she fainted.Someone hurried to summon a Zeldalar. The cardinal arrived next, and it was only when he walked out of the teleportation corridor that he remembered to change the silver-trimmed white robe he wore in office into the silver-trimmed gray robe in judgment.The cardinal approached several young catalyst saints, who bowed humbly to him.The cardinal glanced at the fog that was slowly lighting up, and frowned.He could be overheard angrily complaining that they were running behind schedule.He gathered twenty-five members of the order and asked them to form a ring around the wheel mark.When the saints stood in positions that satisfied him and everyone had turned their robes to ashes, the cardinal saluted the executioner, and the executioner walked slowly and solemnly to his place in the middle of the circle.

everything's ready.The cardinal sent a message to the Holy Mountain through the teleportation corridor, and then, after a breathless wait, the teleportation corridor opened.Everyone thought the bishop was coming, and everyone turned their heads, looking nervously at the exit.But it was only Zeldalla who looked after the young lady.It was a little distracting.The young lady was given some tonic, and stood up after a while.There was no blood on her pale face. The catalyst saints in a circle were uneasy for a while, and the cardinal frowned, noting the most dishonest ones.But their patience paid off.The portal opened again, opening a hole that was empty.

Everyone gasped.The most unexpected thing happened. The one who walked out of the teleportation corridor was the emperor.When everyone was terrified, the entrance of the cave trembled, and the queen also appeared.She sat on a chair with snow-white wings, and her eyes looked straight into the afterlife.Many people whispered eagerly afterward (after her death had been officially announced) about things like remembering her body, not her.The two came alone, without any guards, and the emperor hung above the sand, looking around expectantly. The cardinal was dumbfounded, and the catalyst saints looked at each other in panic.This even caught the attention of the young lady, who looked up at the royal couple - especially the dead empress - and then quickly averted her eyes and shuddered.Only the executioner remained unmoved, with his hooded head still facing forward, his eyes hidden in the shadows fixed on the human ring.

Finally, the cardinal walked away from the circle of catalyst saints and walked hesitantly towards the emperor, though he didn't know what to do.Fortunately, at this moment, the teleportation corridor opened again.There appeared the Bishop of Vanya and the Dikonduke, their red and scarlet robes like blood spattered on the snow-white sand. When the two saw the emperor and his wife, they took a rather obvious step back. "What is he doing here?" Bishop Vanya whispered, casting an angry glance at Prince Xavier. "I don't know." The sorcerer replied coldly, and also glanced at Bishop Vanya. "Maybe he needs a little fun."

"The walls of the Holy Mountain have eyes and ears as well as a mouthpiece," said the bishop angrily, blushing at the clear suspicion in Dikonduke's eyes. "He already knew the truth." For a moment Xavier seemed to lose his well-known poise, much to the Bishop's satisfaction. He approached Van Ya and whispered, "If that young man speaks out, if he lets these people know in front of the emperor—" "He won't." Van Ya interrupted him.He pursed his lips smugly, and looked sideways at Lord Samuels and his daughter, who stood forgotten behind the ring of saints.

Xavier understood the bishop's intention and heaved a sigh of relief. "Does that young man know she's here?" "No idea. We hope the shock of seeing her will shut him up. If he wants to speak out, that catalyst saint, Father Saryon, will warn him that the lady will suffer for it." "Hmm," was the wizard's only answer.But the sound had ominous omens.The bishop had to think of the hissing snake, warning its victim when it attacked.But there was no time for further elaboration, and it was their duty to come forward and pay homage to their sovereign and his late wife. Of course, now a royal grandstand has to be created for the emperor and empress to sit.Bishop Vanya and Dikonduke will also sit here with the cardinal. The three originally planned to stand on the edge of the circle of catalyst saints and watch the execution be carried out quickly. It's not possible now.Several Dukes were summoned to build a stand with the assistance of the Cardinal himself, since the power of the Catalyst Saints present could not be used.The cardinal unhappily bestowed the power of life on several sorcerers. The delay in execution annoyed him, and the fog grew brighter with each passing second. But a few wizards completed their work quite efficiently. With a word and a gesture, the stands were formed.The air clumps into hundreds of soft cushions, silk canopies fall from the sky like wayward clouds, and the Emperor, Empress, Bishop, that Dikonduke, and others are soon settled.They sat in front of the ring of saints and had a very good view of the executioner and the wheel marks in the sand.Behind them, the mists of the world's borders billowed in the morning light. The cardinal took a deep breath and hurriedly motioned to bring the prisoner.