A man walked out of the side room on the second floor.
This is an old man in his twilight years.
He was wearing a pitch-black robe, a pitch-black turban on his face, and a conical hat on his head.
His entire body was wrapped in black, revealing only a pair of gray eyes and a withered hand holding a golden staff.
Maria II turned around, looked at the old man, and bowed: "Hello, High Priest!"
"Your Majesty, I see the trouble in your heart."
The high priest walked to the desk and placed the golden staff on it. He waved to Maria II and said, "Come, sit down. I need to tell you something."
Maria II was stunned for a moment. The half of the Great Prophecy in her hand was given to her by the high priest, but the high priest did not teach her anything.
All the predictions she made over the years actually came from this half of the Great Prophecy.
There are both words and pictures in it. She needs to understand the words, figure out the meaning of the pictures, and then meditate. In meditation, she can see the connection between the words and pictures, and then make the so-called predictions.
The text in this great prophecy is not European, and no one knows what kind of text it is, but Maria II can understand it without any instruction.
That was twelve years ago.
The first time she entered this small wooden building, she seemed to be guided by some unknown god. She took out this dusty book from a corner of the bookshelf, and then read it in this small wooden building for three days and three nights.
It was also from that time that she became the disciple of the high priest in the eyes of others.
The high priest was dressed like this twelve years ago, and he still is today.
But the vitality in those eyes faded away, and those hands became like dead wood in winter.
"Sixteen years ago, Frankie launched a spectacular sailing campaign."
Maria II sat opposite the high priest. The high priest seemed to recall the past. He pondered for a moment and said:
"I was twenty-six years old that year. As the most outstanding disciple of the Franchi Church... Of course, the Pope at the time was also my uncle. On behalf of the Church, I participated in the first ocean voyage in Franchi's history."
“Without a nautical chart, no one knows where the end of the ocean lies.”
"We sailed across the vast ocean for a full year, enduring thunderstorms and plagues... Many died along the way, and many wanted to give up, but thanks to my persistence, the fleet continued to move forward."
"I don't know why I was so persistent. Now that I think about it, maybe it was my longing for a new world."
"We journeyed north, enduring unimaginable hardships. Finally, we reached despair. We were out of ammunition and food. We...we began to eat the corpses of our companions in order to survive."
Maria II suddenly widened her beautiful blue eyes and looked at the high priest in disbelief. The high priest's veil moved slightly, and it was unclear whether he was laughing at himself or sighing deeply.
“When we set out, we had a total of 16 ships, but a year later, only the last one I was on was left.”
"When we set out, there were a total of 2,372 people on the sixteen ships. A year later... on the ship I was on, only 37 people were still able to move."
"When another comrade fell... the thirty-seven of us gathered around him, waiting for him to take his last breath... Fresher meat tastes better... Fresher blood tastes better... I still remember his terrified face and his last words."
"He said...don't eat him."
"But we still ate him."
"Perhaps he brought us luck. The next day, we saw land... Actually, it wasn't land, but an ice field that stretched as far as the eye could see."
"It was good to be able to stand on the ice field. We supported each other and set foot on the ice field. We tried every possible way to hunt the animals on the ice field."
"We finally survived."
"Then... I suggested we go to the other side of the ice sheet. So we began our long journey... which lasted over a hundred days."
"The wind and snow were getting stronger and colder, and another of our companions fell down, so we decided to give up."
"But just when we made the decision to give up..."
The high priest suddenly raised his head, and a bright light suddenly appeared in his deathly gray eyes.
After a moment, he added, "God is guiding us!"
"The next day, the wind died down, the snow stopped... and a vast green prairie appeared before us, as if by some miracle!"
"On that vast grassland, there is a magnificent temple."
"It stands there majestically, as if it were the center of heaven and earth!"
"We went to the temple... We stood at the temple's door... We knelt devoutly... We pushed open the golden door."
"There is a light in the door..."
“So we all became blind.”
"We became even more terrified, and we all knelt before the light... After an unknown amount of time, we regained our sight. The light had vanished, and the temple was filled with the soft glow of night-shining pearls."
"We thought we were blessed by God, but when we looked at each other, we found..."
The high priest took off the veil that he had never taken off for more than ten years. Maria II was so frightened that she screamed and covered her mouth.
What she saw was a horrible face with almost no flesh and blood, just skin clinging to the bones!
"This is God's punishment for desecrating the temple!"
"We fled the temple in panic, but at the moment of escape, I saw this book on the table opposite."
"I couldn't stop the greed in my heart, so I took the book away."
"It took us another two years, but we finally made it back to Frankie... and there were only three of us left!"
"I spent those two years reading this book, but I couldn't understand it."
"After we came back, we presented the chart to the Pope, and I became a high priest."
"I spent another full year reading it, but still couldn't understand it. I thought this must be God's will, this was God's words, not something mortals could peek into. So I put it away until that autumn three years ago when you walked in and took out this book..."
Maria II then realized that it was not that the high priest did not teach him, but that the high priest had no idea what was written in the book.
"Now that we have the nautical chart, have we sent more people to the temple?"
"Of course there are, but no one has ever been able to return. Therefore, the Vatican declared that place a forbidden area, and no one is allowed to go there again."
Maria II was a little confused because this book of prophecy was only half a book!
So before the high priest and his men went to the temple, had someone already been there?
The man took the second half...which didn't seem to make sense, because he could have taken the whole thing.
She suddenly remembered the last page of the half-book. She walked over, took out the book again, and turned to the last page...
"What did you find?"
"The words on the last page are newer, and the font is different. It seems like they were added later, especially the content..."
The high priest immediately leaned forward and asked nervously, "What's written?"
"I left quietly,
Just as I came quietly.
I waved to you gently,
Farewell to the clouds in the west.
..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
