Chapter Twenty-Six: The Ritual of Failure
Among the three Amazonian clans, the Chant tribe is in charge of all the rituals and ceremonies that have been handed down from ancient times, including the various rituals to the Storm Goddess.
One of these rituals is an annual ritual that has been practiced by the chanting tribe since antiquity, and the purpose of the ritual is to allow the priests to try to communicate with the goddess of the storm.
During the ceremony, a high priest leads six priests to offer a basin of seawater taken from the depths of the Twin Seas to the center of the altar, and all the priests in turn drip blood into the stone basin filled with seawater as a medium to communicate with the gods.
The high priest then offers the tribute and begins to pray, while the other six priests gather around the altar, kneel on the ground, and follow the high priest in prayer.
For thousands of years, this ritual has never been interrupted, even when the Howorth Islands were invaded by giants, but never once has the ritual received a response from the Storm Goddess.
However, during a recent ritual ceremony, the high priest Angie led the priesthood to receive a very vague "oracle" during the prayer.
A shallow layer of mist suddenly appeared over the stone basin filled with seawater, and at the same time, billowing white water vapor flowed out of the stone basin, and soon the entire altar was covered inside.
The High Priestess of the ritual, Angie, inhaled the shallow fog and entered a state of misty illusion, in which she seemed to hear hollow echoes from the depths of the Twin Seas.
The voice flowed into her head, and a line of writing was imprinted on her consciousness - "I will return!" My Messenger will contact you with your loyalty, and I will be your Patron Saint once again! ”
After receiving this statement, Angie immediately reported the matter to Fina, the storm queen of the Singing Clan, who felt that it was not appropriate for the other two tribes to know about this matter for the time being, so as not to cause a backlash from the other tribes.
At the same time, she also hopes that the Chanting tribe will be the greatest contributor to the return of the Storm Goddess, so that she can use the power of the Goddess to completely bring the other two tribes under her command.
She will be the only "Queen of the Storm" for the entire Amazon family!
So, Fina concealed the disturbances caused by the ritual, and secretly instructed the High Priestess Angie to continue to contact the Storm Goddess and find a way to find the Goddess's messenger.
According to ancient texts, the goddess's most trusted servants were the giant blades of the sea who had slaughtered the Amazons, so both Fina and Angie believed that the messenger of the Storm Goddess should be a sea giant.
High Priestess Angie had been trying to contact the Storm Goddess's messenger ever since the ritual ended, eventually repurposing the ritual on a stormy night when she heard the terrifying and strange howls of the sea giants.
The sea giant's voice beat rhythmically against the high priestess's soul, and she found that she could understand the giant's roar, and understood what the giant meant.
It is asking for sacrifices and announcing that it will land west of the Howorth Islands in four days, bringing news to all Amazon tribes that Storm Goddess is about to be resurrected.
The sea giant made Angie its spokesperson and prepared Angie to serve food for it to enjoy once it landed.
It's going to eat people!
However, even with such a terrifying request, Fina, who was blinded by the sense of honor of being the first person to welcome the goddess's return, still agreed.
She asked Angie to select the "youngest, strongest, and tastiest" males from the tribe, a total of 200, to be offered to the "messenger" when he landed.
However, now that all the sacrifices were ready, the "messenger" suddenly lost news.
It should have been on the westernmost reef of the Howorth Islands the previous night, but the priesthood led by Angie waited there for a whole day and a night, but not even a single hair had been reached.
Annoyed and anxious by the "messenger", Fina, who had been released by the "messenger", ordered Angie to prepare to start using the ritual to contact the Storm Goddess again, but this time, the Storm Goddess never responded to them.
Both the goddess and the messenger have completely lost all traces, as if everything that happened not long ago was just a hallucination of the high priest Angie.
If it weren't for the fact that the Storm Goddess's words had never faded in the High Priest's mind, I'm afraid that even Angie herself would have thought that she had been overworked lately, so much so that she had illusions during the ritual.
Having lost all news about the goddess and the messenger, Storm Queen Fina and her high priest were left to scurry around like headless flies, and they tried all the rituals about the goddess that had been handed down from ancient times, but still could not get any response from the abyss.
Not long before Xue Hua and the others arrived in Youkesen, High Priestess Anji had just completed a savage living sacrifice, slaughtering five "male animals" like cattle, and pouring their blood mixed with brains into a stone basin containing the water of the abyss.
The High Priest and her priestly body smeared the disgusting mixture on their bodies after prayer in an attempt to strengthen their connection with the Goddess.
This barbaric and horrific ritual comes from the earliest Amazon sacrifice rituals, which were abolished back in that era due to their bloody and brutal methods.
And even after this anti-human ritual, Angie still hasn't been able to get any follow-up information about the Storm Goddess and the Emissary, much to her frustration and confusion for both her and her master.
In the secret room on the second floor of the Elder's cabin, Fina was listening intently to the high priest's report on the previous ritual, and when she heard that the ritual had no effect in the end, she couldn't help but frown in annoyance.
"The Goddess is no longer answering you, High Priest! Should you give me an explanation? ”
"Female... Your Majesty, the Goddess is definitely real! The oracle she gave me is still engraved in my mind to this day......"
"Engraved in your mind? Are you asking me to dig out your brain and verify it?! ”
Fina leaned forward slightly, a gentle smile on her face.
"No... It's not like that......" Angie was frightened by Fina's expression, she knew from the time soon she first started serving the queen that if the queen was angry with you, then you would at least have a chance to save yourself, but if she started to laugh at you with tenderness and affection... Then you can prepare to write a will......
"One last chance, High Priest, there are many people in your priesthood who are eyeing your position......
Seeing Angie's trembling appearance, Fina leaned back in the chair with satisfaction, and she gently stroked the spear on the arm of the wicker chair with her right hand, her tone with careless indifference and calm cruelty.
"I... I see, Her Majesty Queen Fina, I will not disappoint you again......"