Chapter 151: Book 3: Rituals
Guard takes point as he leads us down the stairwell of the building, his metal feet clanking against the concrete. It's the only sound in the otherwise eerily silent Empty City, and the way it echoes along the stairs is... admittedly a little unnerving. It doesn't help that the colorless nature of our surroundings makes everything unnaturally dim. Guard's core is the only real source of light, but its prismatic colors don't make a difference in the gloomy, corrupted corridors we find ourselves in.
Even with that source of light, I find myself having to channel Firmament into my eyes to make things out more clearly. Just me, though: apparently, both Guard and Ahkelios can see in the dark just fine. It's a good thing I picked this trick up from Tarin, or I'd be doing a lot more stumbling through the dark right now.
At least I have that Interface notice to distract me. I glance at it again, trying to figure out what it means. Ritual stages, and five of them in total...
More than that, there's something about this that's different from most of the notifications the Interface has given me. For one thing, it's rare for me to even get a hint about the rewards I might receive from an Interface event. I'm pretty sure this is the first time it's directly mentioned a reward for completing something, and even then, it's being frustratingly vague about it.
Ritual stages may reveal more about your connection with your Firmament.
Most Interface rewards come in the form of Inspirations, credits, or skills. I can't decide if the offer to just reveal something is tantalizing or worrying, and more to the point, there's something about the timing of this notification that bothers me.
Or maybe it's the way it's set up. It feels convenient, but more than that, it feels... familiar.
"Ritual stages, huh?" Ahkelios says. He's been silent for a while, hopping along the stairwell to try to scout out anything that might lie ahead, but now he's joined me on my shoulder once more.
I glance at him. "You know something about them?"