Warhammer: Return of the Dragon

Chapter 19 The Sanctuary of Ardaeus
Located in the Temple of Ardaeus in the Annuli Mountains, Masno is leading people to stand firm here. This is the center of Caledon's defense in the Annuli Mountains. He has brought a newly trained team of more than a week ago Yue's troops are stationed here.

The Temple of Ardaeus was built before the period of the dragon tamer. As the god of fire in the Sasarai pantheon, Ardaeus was not welcomed by Azul, and he even served as the Phoenix King in Isis. During the period, many thoughtful princes bewitched to demolish the temple, and when this idea reached the ears of Prince Caledon at that time.

According to the records circulating now, Prince Caledor at that time took ten dragon princes riding giant dragons to the Phoenix King's Court on the grounds of admonishing the Phoenix King. The relationship between Ledo and other countries had dropped to a freezing point, and it was only when the Eternal Queen, the spiritual leader of Asur, came forward that they eased up a little.

As a secretly excluded religious group, the priests of Ardaeus built a strong fortress for their temple to prevent the interference of monsters on the mountain and at the same time prevent the entry of interested people.

The Sanctuary of Ardaeus is also in a very embarrassing situation in Caledor. As the ruler of the kingdom, the prince cannot openly support the worship of the Saisaray pantheon, but Ardaeus is very important in the culture of Caledor. Importantly, the flame on the dragon fire lance was formed with the help of the priests of Ardaeus.

Imrik's destination is here. He intends to restart the people in the Temple of Ardaeus and let them assist the Church of Vaal in maintaining the temperature of the volcano in the Dragon's Back Mountains.

But the high priest of Ardaeus has never seen it himself, but he has a little understanding of the high priest based on the teachings of the former prince. He is a person who is cold and passionate. Against enemies, he greets their heads with his flaming great axe.

The giant dragon keeps flying under the green light of Mothrib. For the creatures that have lived here for thousands of years, Minasnil has already turned Caledor and the surrounding area into his own hunting ground. He is very familiar with every region, and as a powerful existence at the top of the world's food chain, he can completely shield the influence of the evil moon and soar in the sky.

The person who operated the Eagle Claw Ballista on the city wall noticed this huge dragon, looked around, and found this legendary Shining Star Dragon that can only be seen in legends, and was immediately attracted by it. As the dragon descended to the flying height, the person who saw it was the current Prince Caledon.

Regardless of those defending on the city wall, let Minasnil go directly to the open space in front of the temple. Imric needs to meet the high priest Ardaeus, and Masno will take over the defense here. Minasnil will assist him if necessary.

After landing, Imrik jumped off the dragon's back and asked Minasnil to stroll around first. If he felt nothing to do, he went to support the city defense, and then turned his head to look at the temple.

The bottom of the temple is made of marble, but above it is a dome made of obsidian. The overall shape looks like a black flame that is burning. The eight stone pillars in front of the temple are also polished by a whole piece of giant obsidian. Well, generally speaking, obsidian has a lot of magic power in it. When this amount of giant obsidian gathers together, it should be said that it has become a vortex of the wind of magic. The wind still maintains a normal concentration.

I didn't pay much attention to the structure of this temple. This visit was also greeted in advance. There were already two people in black robes in front of the door to greet me, and they walked up to me, "His Royal Highness, the high priest is already in the holy hall. Waiting in the palace for a long time."

Nodding to let them lead the way, most of the people in the temple are Caledonians, so they naturally know their identities.

Because of martial arts, many people in Kaledo even secretly built altars in some places to worship the god of blood hands Kane and the lord of the blade Edreze. In the basement of the Dragon Palace, there is a lord of the blade altar.

The former prince and the former Imrik also prayed from time to time, hoping that the Lord of Blades could guide the lance to penetrate the enemy's heart smoothly on the battlefield. I have never been there before, and now my idea is to avoid contacting these gods , try not to touch.

Following the two guides, Imrik soon arrived at the position of High Priest Ardaeus. A huge brazier was burning with intense flames, without any fuel underneath, as if rising out of thin air.

In front of the brazier, there was a person in similar clothes to them kneeling and praying. Imrik could feel the scorching breath from the flames from far away, but the person in front of the brazier didn't seem to have any effect.

After bringing Imrik to the sanctuary, the two bowed and retreated. The protection of Prince Caledor was the guarantee that the sanctuary could still exist in Ulthuan.

The Caledonians have this habit. They have a good attitude towards the inside, but they maintain a consistent arrogance when they are outside. Even if it is the worship of gods that is banned in other kingdoms, the Dragon Prince dares to resist.

Not in a hurry to communicate with the high priest, Imrik could feel something watching him, from the flames, from the obsidian murals on the walls of the sanctuary, and even from the high priest kneeling and praying, just holding the star Rifle waited for a moment.

The high priest's prayer was also over. He prostrated himself and saluted the flame, then turned to look at Imrik, but did not salute. As the representative of the gods, he is qualified to communicate with Imrik on an equal footing. "Welcome to visit, Caledor's Dragon Prince, Dragon Lord, I don't know what brought you to this forgotten place."

Looking at the High Priest of Ardaeus, unlike Asur's blond hair, he has long black hair of Nagareth blood, and most of the left side of his face is a scar after being burned by the flame, as if the flame is burning Red eyes, when speaking, there is a sparkle smell in the mouth, this is a God's Chosen One, and the level of blessing is not low.

Knowing that this exchange was not only with him personally, but also with Ardaeus, Imrik knew to be cautious, "4000 years ago, the monarch of Caledon, the ancestor of the Conqueror, Imrik, communicated with the Church of Ardaeus Make a covenant, promising that as long as the dragon and the dragon prince remain, the fire of Ardaeus will burn in the land of Ulthuan."

Hearing Imric mention the covenant, the high priest nodded slightly. This is indeed the case, and the covenant regulations are more than that. If Caledon needs the support of the Church of Ardaeus, then they have to provide unconditional help.

Because Caledon had three Phoenix Kings, if he had too much contact with the religious groups of the Sasarai pantheon, he would inevitably be over-interpreted by the princes of various countries with their own thoughts, so that the previous Dragon Prince would not take the initiative to contact, but also I won't let other people make up their minds here, so that the Church of Ardaeus has hardly fulfilled their obligations.

Seeing the high priest's nod, Imrik continued, "According to the agreement at the time, the Church of Ardaeus needed to help Caledor when he was in danger. This time I came to find you to fulfill this task."

But the high priest felt that this matter was a bit strange. He frowned and listened to Imrik's words. The destruction of Du Luqi's maritime hegemony can only be said to be a good situation.

(End of this chapter)