The catacomb beneath the church extended to seemingly infinite lengths. It was all very impressive to Morris. With a lantern in one hand and his axe in the other he explored further.
Other than a few barrels that were knocked on the ground and the cobwebs clinging to the ceiling there wasn't much of anything else. It was horribly quiet, the only sound coming from Morris's boots as he walked slowly.
A coffin, the transport kind. The coffin was a form of transport in East Balam that stemmed from tradition. Morris walked through the deep darkness with a racing heart, he took deep breaths while trying to relax by thinking about the Primordial Light that watched over him. Praying to Death never worked, so as a last ditch effort he prayed to an unknown entity.
A door came into view, there was a hole near the knob probably formed by a human punching through it. Morris walked up to it and slowly twisted the knob...
When the door finally opened he extended his lantern to illuminate the dark room. There was a table with a few notes on it and to the right of the table was a shelf with an assortment of empty vials.
The notes though caught his attention quickly. Morris walked up to them and took a peek.
"June 2nd 1349: Today we got a report of a stowaway who got onto our island, he called himself father Marco. He hitched a ride on our supply boat and sneaked here, he calls himself a devout believer of death but I still don't trust him. There's something off about him."
"June 4th 1349: Father Marco has been staying in our village for two days now, he's staying with old Lucas down by the creek. The old man was kind enough to let him stay in his house. Now that's not all, I found out something about father Marco that the others don't know about. He's a wanted man from the Sonia sea, 2,000 pounds for his head."
"June 8th 1349: The people in the village have been very welcoming, they already accepted Marco as one of their own. In a way it's wholesome but I still don't trust him."
"June 12th 1349: Today father Marco decided to give a speech about death. It was mesmerising. In all my years as a priest I've never heard something so captivating."
"June 13th 1349: Today me and father Marco had a talk about our religion, we talked about how we were when we were younger. The times when we were more optimistic, this conversation made me happy."
Morris grabbed the next page without much thinking and more reading.
"June 17th 1349: On the 17th day of each month our village has a little tradition where we sacrifice a sheep to death as an offering. After the sacrifice we all get together and enjoy a hearty meal. It's a day where we can be ourselves. Father Marco was pretty surpised but adapted quickly, he basically talked to everyone in the village! Except that boy Morris, on the 17th that boy always dissapears off to somewhere. Apparently he goes to the shore and gazes out at the sea."
There was a flicker in Morris's eyes as he kept reading.
"That boy is far too young for such things! He should be thinking about getting off this island and exploring the world and having fun. There's not much to offer out here, and our women aren't the prettiest too."
Wet spots began forming on the paper.
"June 24th 1349: The Silent One. That was the name he whispered to me, and i saw him. The most beautiful man, no, God to grace our lives. Father Marco explained how he was a Prophet of this god, I used our only sealed artifact to check if he was lying or not... he was telling the truth."
Father Garret... the only priest on this island. He and a few others are responsible for building our village 53 years ago. Now everyone is gone.
Morris began reminiscing over the past, he never had many friends but he always wanted to be an astronomer when he grew up. He wanted to know what was beyond this world, out in the cosmos.
"June 28th 1349: Father Marco has been seeing Mrs Lottie Byrne lately-"
Morris crumpled the paper in his hand and swiftly turned around leaving the place. After walking for about a minute he came into another room, a large stone door engraved into the wall. It was completely destroyed and inside was a dead person, their body had already completely decomposed. There in the middle was a pedestal with a astrolabe on it. Its looked like an normal astrolabe, the only thing that stood out was the strange Rete.
Morris was curious and wanted to grab it, but then he saw the corpse holding a notebook. Slowly he bent down and picked it up, flipping it open in his hands.
"Codename 3-1358, a strange looking astrolabe. It allows the holder to decipher the language of stars, giving them a basic understanding of astronomy aswell. With it you can aquire knowledge from the cosmos, It can also be used for divination. The downside is that it has to be locked away in a tight and preferably sound proof place. It has shown living characteristics by praying some sort of evil god from the cosmos possibly. "
What a coincidence...
A strange coincidence at that.
"Human..."
A mechanical voice came from the astrolabe on the pedestal. Morris jumped slightly and after he settled down he approached the mystical astrolabe.
"How can you talk? What even are you?"
3-1356 went silent for a few seconds as though it was thinking about it's next words.
"You don't know? How can you not- i see, so they have finally fallen. But how were you the only one who survived-"
It cut off again and began rotating. It let out a long hmmm before stopping.
"With my help, we might be able to get out of this predicament. Just pick me up and- oh, don't forget to seal me away inside something. You wouldn't want to hear me when i-"
Fortunately Morris already had a bag around his waist so he grabbed the astrolabe without hesitation and stuffed it inside, but then he pulled it back out with a question in mind.
"Could you help me find some potion ingredients? I mean can you point me to them?"
The astrolabe began rotating and the mechanical voice answered Morris.
"And here i thought you were illiterate in mysticism. Of course i can-"