The Record of Unusual Creatures

Bonia was a short, little girl, and completely different from the Witch of Fire Hao Ren had imagined. She had long brown hair, which was braided with colored silk threads, and she was wearing a dark red robe that was too large for her. The little girl hid behind the adults as she watched Vivian and Hao Ren's actions with her big, shiny eyes. When Gezer called her out, she greeted Vivian. She was not at all like a saintess in the normal sense.     

"Bonia was chosen as saintess last year," the elder of the Fire tribe, a middle-aged man who looked like a warrior, explained a little embarrassedly. "The last saintess died all of a sudden, so Bonia did not even have time to learn the knowledge of the mantra and the ritual. She was rushed to take the role. However, she has no problem in terms of her belief of the goddess and her talents as a saintess. She will be able to be your guide."     

Vivian looked curiously at the shy little girl. The little girl's eyes met with hers, and she said in a soft voice, "Goddess, praise-praise to you and your coming to the earth... The earth fears—"     

She sounded like she was about to cry at any moment.     

"Take us to the witch's burial site," Vivian said directly, stopping the little girl from feeling nervous. "Others do not need to follow."     

No one objected Vivian's order. Gezer retreated with the warriors of the Fire tribe. Hao Ren overheard the tribal people's conversations as they left. They were talking about the coming of the goddess and how Gezer arrived instantaneously from the Wind tribe's settlement. The tribal men left Bonia alone there. She looked at Vivian nervously and raised her finger, pointing at the root of the Heaven's Pillar. "There. It's far. You must enter the Pillar of Eternity."     

The Heaven's Pillar was so huge that there was an aerial root as large as a mountain range. A small hole as large as a tunnel was in the trunk. The Fire tribe lived at the foot of the giant tree, but relatively speaking, their territory was no wider than an ant colony under a tree. The "temple" that Bonia referred to was a sacred place of the tribe in the center of the Heaven's Pillar. How far was it from the nearest root to the center of the trunk?     

Not very far, just a dozen kilometers.     

The miraculous plants that the First Born created were so magnificent and amazing.     

Hao Ren took Bonia and drove directly towards the sacred place.     

This Heaven's Pillar was similar to the one they passed through earlier; it was hollow. They entered through a triangular opening in the root of the trunk, arriving at a vast, dark space. But the difference was, there were human activities there because it was the base of the Fire tribe. There were torches placed on the ground inside the giant tree, and there was a path that led straight to the center of the trunk. At the end of the track, Hao Ren could see the so-called "temple." Unlike the other temples he had seen, the construction of the building before his eyes was much more basic than he thought. It was a house of worship made out of wood and stones, mimicking Dorasil's pyramids—it was not magnificent or stylish.     

Of course, even then, it was still much better than the tribal yurts outside.     

"The witch and the saintess of 400 years ago were buried behind the temple." Bonia seemed to feel a lot more at ease there. She began to show Vivian around. "It's quiet here. The warriors only come here during the ceremony."     

Lily looked up at the darkness above; she was sure that the surface of planet Inferno was right above her head. "Wouldn't things that fall from above hit the temple down here?"     

Bonia paused for a while and whispered, "Sometimes… things will fall here."     

Lily almost broke out in a cold sweat. "Isn't that dangerous?"     

Bonia did not turn a hair, as though she had never thought about the problem. "The goddess is looking after us. No problem."     

Lily found it incredible. "What if it hits you? You could die!"     

"That... will be the will of the goddess. If I die, I will be with the goddess," Bonia said. She quickly glanced up at Vivian. "Isn't that so?"     

Vivian was already freaking out from looking at the darkness hanging above her head, much more so when it came to protecting others. But before Bonia, she could only nod her head and say, "I will look after you. But I still suggest that you refrain from coming into the trunk anymore. If you must, you can hold the ritual outside. This pillar leads to the surface. If something falls, it will not be as simple as creating a bump on your head."     

Bonia just nodded her head repeatedly, but it made people wonder if she had understood what Vivian said. Bonia later took them to see the witch's grave.     

The graveyard was a large space surrounded by round stones behind the "temple". There were piles of rocks neatly arranged on the ground. There was nothing special about the rocks, but each pile had a stone column erected on top as a headstone. The headstones had simple information such as the name of the deceased written in hieroglyphic symbols. The body of the witch from Earth, who explored the inside layer of Inferno and lived an extraordinary life, was resting in that graveyard. Her grave shared the space with others, and there was nothing special about it.     

Bonia pointed at the witch's grave, where there was only a simple sentence on her headstone: "Witch, friend, and foreigner, this is where you lie; may your soul return to your homeworld in your dreams."     

"That's it," Bonia said, bending slightly over the headstone in front. She made some complicated and strange gestures with her hands to perform a simple prayer.     

Vivian looked curiously at the graves around her. "Do all these graves belong to the saintesses of the Fire tribe?"     

Bonia nodded her head. "Yup."     

"Your tribe allowed a foreigner, possibly a 'cursed' foreigner, to be buried in the same graveyard with the saintesses?" Hessiana cut in. "Your people don't see it as a taboo?"     

"The saintess back then allowed it. Legend has it that the saintess and the witch were good friends. They were curing the black-spot plague together," said Bonia who suddenly glanced at Vivian nervously. "Is-Is it wrong?"     

Vivian quickly waved her hand. "Oh no, no. It's fine, it's fine."     

"Besides the grave, what else did the witch leave behind?" Hao Ren was not satisfied with just seeing a grave. "Any relics, messages, or legends? Or did you guys bury everything together with her?"     

While he spoke, he glanced at Lily instinctively as if to tell her that she had better get ready to dig should the relics of the witch be in the grave. After all, she was a tunneling expert. Lily understood what that glance meant. She tucked away her claws and hid behind Nangong Wuyue. "Don't you look at me! Digging a hole isn't the same as digging a grave!"     

Fortunately, it turned out that the relics were not in the grave. As Hao Ren expected, people who fell into the place would invariably want to leave something behind so that those who came after them would be able to find their bodies. The witch left many things behind and entrusted them to her tribal friends.     

Bonia brought them into the temple, which was mainly just a stone building. She found some old parchment scrolls and slates with inscriptions, as well as other bits and pieces from an old stone box. "These are the items that the witch left behind."     

It was a treasure box; its contents were what Hao Ren was after. Vivian could not wait to examine the relics. She saw scrolls and scraps of paper made of black goatskin, ritual knives carved from obsidian, glass bottles that used to contain potions, pieces of cloth, and a pair of special old gloves, which witches wore when they made herbal soups. These things were undoubtedly from Earth. She even found an eight-century-old coin. Her eyes were on stalks, staring at the rusted little metal coin. "It's been 10,000 years; this is the first time I've ever found money in a grave…"     

Hao Ren smacked the coin off Vivian's hand. "Knock it off; it's not something you've just found on the street, it's a relic."     

"It's almost the same thing," Vivian said. "I used to dig graves but I never found money."     

"Ahem, ahem." Hao Ren immediately steered away from the topic by saying, "Hey, let's look at these parchments."