Sunny felt a shiver run down his spine as he took in the fourth mural. Unlike the previous murals, which had been detailed and preserved relatively well, this one had clearly suffered decades, if not centuries, of erosion. Huge portions of plaster had cracked or fallen entirely, leaving vast gaps where nothing could be discerned. Only roughly a third of the original mural remained intact, yet even that was enough to strike terror into the hearts of anyone standing before it.
The scene opened with the Golden Flame, though it was dimmer than on the first mural and riddled with cracks. Black threads of corruption had begun to spread through it, but the Flame was still strong enough to hold them at bay. Sunny's eyes narrowed as he studied the damaged imagery. Somewhere amid the decay, a crimson seed had fallen through the gaps in the golden net, landing beside the Flame. Its presence was almost imperceptible, yet its significance radiated in the mural's fractured storytelling.
The middle portion of the mural was missing entirely, leaving an abrupt jump forward. The Flame, now depicted as bursting upward with immense force, exploded into a cascade of sparks. From these sparks, nine figures emerged, each radiating a light rivaling the original seven embers, some even brighter. Yet the birth of these figures exacted a heavy toll: the Flame itself was mortally wounded, reduced to the dim, struggling glow seen in the second mural.
Sunny stepped closer, his face pale as he examined the figures, each one distinct and incomprehensibly powerful:
The First Figure: A radiant giant, whose head stretched into the sky, towering over a swirling rainbow sea that reflected every color and even churned out strange forms of life. Behind him trailed a shadow with five heads, while a sun blazed at the back of his halo. Storms and lightning encircled him in a divine storm, and in his hands rested a towering structure of books, brass eyes embedded across it, without eyelids or pupils.
The Second Figure: A cloaked entity in black, within which a flickering, bluish-black door twisted in and out of existence. The door formed a massive vortex, where every gust of wind, droplet, and ray of light was composed of three strange and bizarre types of worms. Smooth tentacles inscribed with strange patterns extended from the vortex, trailing endlessly, incomprehensible and chaotic.
The Third Figure: A triad of partially fused bodies. On the right, a purely female figure in a sacred white robe, her milky hands ethereal, and a head with two female faces that could rotate freely. Both faces had black hair and blue eyes, while at the end of each strand of hair was an open eyeball. The left was a half-male, half-female body, featuring a head composed of a female face, a chaotic vortex face, and a male face, holding a charred banner. The center was a purely male figure, adorned with long, blood-red hair and iron-black eyes, a dragon motif etched between his brows.
The Fourth Figure: A massive female form in layered black robes, an iron crown upon her head and a thin veil obscuring her features. Her body sparkled faintly with points of starlight, pale wings extended from her back, and two short dark-furred arms clutched a dusk-orange greatsword and a black scythe. Her exposed forearms and hands glimmered like sculpted jade, cradling an illusory book coiled with feathered serpents.
The Fifth Figure: A chaotic conglomeration of civilizations, gears, runes, numbers, and glyphs, constantly evolving or disintegrating. Small pockets of order emerged briefly, but the overall impression was of unrelenting chaos and madness.
The Sixth Figure: A flowing, metallic serpent of mercury, its head and tail indistinguishable, shifting continuously. The serpent's body was inscribed with prophecies, probabilities, and cryptic numbers, suggesting manipulation of fate itself.
The Seventh Figure: A pitch-black shadow seething with malevolence. Blood-red roses bloomed along its body, intertwined with black vines and thorned chains that bound it tightly. Its eyes burned with endless depravity and bloodlust, exuding raw malice.
The Eighth Figure: A towering brass pillar inscribed with sentences in pure white. The area immediately surrounding it radiated perfect order and control, yet its shadow twisted irregularly beneath, spreading like a wave of entropy, the presence of chaos.
The Ninth Figure: A woman of stunning beauty, her long brown hair shimmering like fresh silk, her scarlet eyes piercing. Yet her form was horrifying: her body entirely composed of stacked female reproductive organs, shrouded in a thick scarlet fog that obscured the details. Her beauty and grotesqueness existed simultaneously, a contradiction that unsettled Sunny deeply.
Sunny exhaled slowly, unable to look away. "Nine?" he muttered, voice tight. "How could there be nine more Gods? Teacher Julius and the Academy had nothing on this, how could nine entire Gods slip through our attention?"
Cassie's hand flew to her mouth, her tone barely a whisper. "How… how could something like this exist? How could anyone depict it?"
Nephis remained silent for a moment, her sharp grey eyes studying the mural with an intensity that belied her composed exterior. "I don't believe it."
Sunny and Cassie looked at her in confusion, leading her to expand her declaration. "Sunny was right: how could nine Gods have existed yet left not a single rumour or hint of their presence across the entire Dream Realm? It doesn't make sense, it just isn't natural. So, whoever drew these murals is either an artists trying to expand their creativity, or a blasphemer who is trying to defile the actual Gods."
"And regardless of which one it is, it still means nothing to us. The Gods are dead, the Dream Realm is dead, and if these nine really were Divine, then they are probably dead too."
Nephis' blunt reasoning successfuly shook Sunny from his revelery, and he nodded slowly, feeling the weight of her words. "But still, this is an awful amount of time and energy to put into a simple prank, right? And why would they put it here, in the bottom of the city catacombs?"
Nephis's lips pressed into a thin line, and she spoke quietly but firmly. "I don't know. But there is still one more mural to get through."
Cassie exhaled, "I hope it's simpler than the other four, and not as badly damaged."
Sunny's gaze lingered on the ninth figure, the beautiful yet grotesque woman, before shifting onwards.