Chapter 17 - Rentom Diagram

Chapter 17 - Rentom Diagram

The residents outside were alarmed by the sudden sound of bells clanging from the tower. They converged towards the tower unkempt and with traces of sleep in their bodies, and were shocked to see that the water of the moat was shining a bright silver light. But their surprise turned to worry when they saw the water level on the moat was visibly decreasing. Only half of the moat remains and by the looks of it, it was still decreasing in volume every minute that passed.

The moat was one of their sources of river foods, and if it dries their lives would surely be affected.

The guardians inside were no better than them. They were not just worried about the rentom diagram that could eradicate all the human beings in the Flynosa kingdom, it was also the fact that their very purpose of staying in the tower, for thousands of years, was going to be for nothing.

Even if they stopped the rantiio, the loss of silver water had already caused them irreparable damage.

They just stared helplessly at the rantiio who was still consuming silver water to supply its processes.

“Will this be the end of us?” Rashrei solemnly asked the other guardians while she sat on her knees looking glumly at the receding water.

No one answered her.

They also knew it. They knew their lives were at stake.

While they sat and stood there with hopeless feelings, the rantiio flashed a bright light and the water being sucked to the rantiio flowed and even rumbled faster.

New more lines, symbols and shapes appeared in the rentom diagram.

A new field of diagrams was starting to manifest above them. Many new symbols and holograms of obtuse figures and letters started to appear midair.

Noticing the new symbols, Rashrei gave a start. “What is this? This… this is a different diag-”

Before she could even finish her sentence a bright light flashed again and at the same time the medallion in their necks also shone.

A new information flowed to their brain and their expressions turned a little bit brighter than before.

“The tower is helping us!” Nadana exclaimed, joy evident in her voice.

Despite the good news and the new instructions given by the tower. Rashrei was still puzzled by it. “Is it so weird? Eight people still have to sacrifice their soul for this. Why? This seems strange”

Her concerns had grounds too, anything with eight is always a matter of worry for them.

“Think about it later,” the silent black figure said, “Assist the rentom diagram quickly, we don’t have much time.”

They then hustled around the hall picking objects and books, writing complicated figures on special parchment, and putting it in the rentom diagram.

Their synchronized movements flowed through the hall and a new version of the rentom diagram was now being made by their intervention.

Almost 75% of the rentom diagram was finished and all they had to do was wait for the rantiio to mitigate it.

What they were doing now was tweaking the already made diagram and changing the structures and purpose in it by adding new materials that would interfere with the whole diagram, rewriting its programs inside.

They were halfway done when suddenly, a black renisas appeared out of nowhere. Before anyone could react, it had already entered the rantiio.

Nothing changed for a moment but then the once bright rentom diagram, tinged with green and blue light, had now been smothered with dark renisas in some areas. This dark renisas wiggled around the diagram, changing some connected lines and adding symbols to the diagram.

A look of horror and panic immediately appeared on everyone’s faces.

The dark renisas was eliminating all the changes they had made. Worse, it was reinforcing the original diagram form.

Nadana couldn’t help buckling down on her knees while she pointed at the dark renisas. “Why is it here?! How is that even possible?”

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Ghonuy was also shocked seeing it, “It should only appear when the successor is here. It already killed ours!”

Then a hopeful thought crossed Rashrei’s mind. “No, we might be wrong.” she said with a hopeful voice. “This could also mean that the successor was still alive.”

The others also realize this. If the black renisas appeared here it only means it was trying to get to the successor.

“And now it’s killing it again.” the silent guardian grimly stated to them. But his voice changed to hopeful the next second. “Don’t worry. The tower would not want the successor to die. Wait for its instructions.”

Just like he said, their medallions started to light up and new information flashed to their minds again.

The original diagram was supposed to kill all of the people living in this kingdom. The renisas of the tower might not be enough for it to really exterminate all of these people but a significant portion of them might end up getting their souls or rentom destroyed.

They really did not care about the humans, but these humans may give birth to the successor. So they needed them to survive.

But with their modifications a while ago, it did change the diagram according to the tower’s instructions. It would lessen the amount of death into eight people. But that was what made it strange and it did not sit well with them.

Why eight? They wanted to ask the tower but they knew it would not answer them. If it is seven or nine, they might not be this apprehensive. It could be thousand or ten thousand but it just had to be eight of all the possible numbers.

Eight was a sacred number for them, and for many reasons. They felt there was more to this. They felt that they were being led on by something they did not know.

Despite their worries, they still removed the quartz medallion from their necks while all of the eight of them simultaneously walked towards the eight main water channels of the rantiio.

On the eight sides of the hall, eight major controlling centers were created as parts of the rentom diagram.

When everyone was in their positions they put the medallions towards the center points. They then put together their hands on their respective center points and activate their renisas.

Yellow and green renisas shone on the eight sides of the diagram. Their renisas converged with the diagram and the edges of the diagram turn to their own renisas’s colors.

The dark renisas inside squiggle as if on guard against the new renisas in the diagram field.

Determined gazes stared intently at the dark parts of rentom diagram. They let their renisas flowed inside the parts where the dark renisas converged and tried to take over control of these sections. But contrary to their expectation, the black renisas only resisted for a moment and it started to dissipate. But before they could breathe out, the diagram that was 75% complete a while ago had now changed instantly to be near completed.

Reading the diagram gave them a shock, it had reversed their modifications again. Now it had made the diagram to its original purpose, to kill all the humans in the kingdom regardless of how many the tower could kill.

They only had a few seconds left before the rentom diagram was completed. They were tricked by the dark renisas.

With grim realization, they already know what to do. The tower had already instructed them of repercussions if ever an error occurred.

They looked at each other’s face and without hesitation bared their rentom—their very souls—towards the rentom diagram.

“If we have to sacrifice ourselves, then we have to,” Rashrei said with determination. She looked at the other seven figures with bitter sweet smile on her face. “If the successor is alive. Let the God of Birds guide their flight!”

“Let the God of Birds guide their flight!” the others repeated before a huge field of renisas filled the room.

Intense colors of yellow and green flashed to the room, dancing in sync with the rentom diagram.

They pushed through the already made diagrams and covered it purposely with their rentoms. Even if the dark renisas controlled the diagram in the last minute to shed its real diagram, it did not hold any power to resist the forceful takeover of the souls of the tower’s guardians that had been living for thousands of years.

There were no more fitting components for a rentom diagram than the rentoms of powerful beings. With the conscious help of the tower, and the tower’s own energy from the moat, it quickly acquiesced to the forceful coverup of the diagram and followed the final prompts in it.

Only a minute passed and all of the tower’s gruardians crumpled to the floor unmoving.

The diagram was completed. They didn’t have to do anything anymore, the tower knew what to do next.

The water on the moat outside the tower was slowly siphoned into the ranttio till all anyone could see from outside was the dry moat bed and the various debris and moat creatures left by the sudden loss of water.

The last of the channels’ waters were being slowly siphoned out by the rantiio.

When the last drop was completely siphoned, the rantiio pulsed and the tower above released a wave towards the whole land of Flynosa.

*****

The unconscious hooded man slowly woke up from where he passed out on the floor.

He sat himself up slowly and checked his surroundings.

He looked at the dried rantiio then towards the crumpled figures of creatures he once knew.

The diagram was completed, though it was a bit different from what he intended, he did not care. He had faced so many dissapointments and drawbacks that now he already factored it as a part of life. Despite the failure today, he knew it still served purpose for some of his plans.

A look of sadness passed in his face and he steered his gaze away from the crumpled bodies. “Why do you all even bother?” he whispered to the now quiet room.

He just wanted to kill all of the citizens of this kingdom. And if the tower couldn't do it, then he would do it with his own hands.

He looked at the crumpled bodies again and offered a goodbye to them.

“This world is going to end anyway. You all know that. At least now, you won’t be able to see its end.”

He stared at the door of the hall and started stumbling towards it.

When he reached the doorway, he stopped and rest his body on it. “Goodbye old friend,” he mumbled to the tower.

The tower just stood there, lifeless and unresponsive, just like the block of stone people in the kingdom have deemed it to be.

Maybe it was also a type of prophecy, that the tower of legends the people thought to be fake, had finally become one.