Chapter 540
It was impossibly large, filling a significant portion of the chamber. Flesh-toned, but with veins that pulsed with a faint, internal light, like slow-moving lava. It breathed, a shallow, rhythmic expansion and contraction that created the heavy, metallic scent in the air. Tendrils, thick as tree trunks, extended from its bulk, disappearing into the surrounding rock. It was utterly, sickeningly alien.
Rattan stumbled to a halt, his breath catching in his throat. His mind, trained in neat categories of flora and fauna, struggled to process the monstrous entity before him. This wasn’t a creature; it was... something else. It looked like an organ, magnified to grotesque proportions, yet alive with a disturbing, slow vitality.
"This is the ’Mother’," Vellok said, his voice quiet, devoid of his usual dry amusement. "The source of all goblins, our sign of existence."
Rattan tore his gaze from the pulsating horror to Vellok, his face pale. "The... the Mother? What... what is it?"
Vellok stepped closer to the grotesque organ, placing a hand lightly on one of its pulsing tendrils. "It is the fruit of our ancestors’ desperate ambition. The engine of our people’s grand deception." He turned to face Rattan, his eyes, usually sharp and knowing, now held a deep, ancient sorrow. "You asked about our history, Rattan. It begins here. With theft. And a lie so profound, it has reshaped an entire world."
Rattan could hardly keep his mouth opened as he tried to take in what he was hearing, fear overtook him as he realized how much danger he was in if his real identity was exposed.
"Why are you showing me this, Your Grace?" Rattan’s voice, though hushed, carried a tremor of unease as he looked at Vellok.
Vellok turned, his expression grave. "Your noble actions, Rattan, and the very reasons behind them, have been twisted by Kaelen. They are now being used to tear down everything we have painstakingly built, to undermine the very existence of our race."
Before Rattan could formulate a response, Vellok raised a hand, a silent command for patience. "I will tell you the true history of our people. Only then will you truly understand the depth of the Empire’s care for each and every one of its citizens, and the profound reasons behind our every action."