Esperanza stilled every muscle that comprised her current feline form when she felt the thrum of power that emanated from the altar at the center of the temple. She watched as an eerie, otherworldly glow suffused the stone ring set atop the structure, and further “bled” over to the hole in its center, forming what was practically a screen of glowing mana suspended in the air.
The concentration of mana was massive. Far more than what Esperanza herself or any member of her group could manage. In fact, she doubted that even the fourth tier demon shaman she saw could have powered that on their own. Most likely the mana was gathered together from the thirty third tier [Clerics] while the fourth tier [Shaman] supplemented and directed them with their own mana.
As Esperanza watched, the screen of glowing mana spread over the ring-shaped structure, gaining a uniform shade over the entire thing instead of being concentrated over the hole in the center. From there, she felt more than witnessed how the mana seemed to connect itself to multiple distant locations far beyond her perception.
Then a voice started to emanate from the altar, a sound that made Esperanza think that someone attempted to make a group of keening dogs howl to the melody of songs that would not look out of place in a church’s choir’s repertoire.
For a couple of minutes, the keening melody grew more clear to her hearing, despite not growing louder. It was more as if the sound itself was being carried further away while retaining its clarity and volume, likely by magical means. Then the tune started to slow down, the volume decreased, the intensity lessened, like a song reaching its end.
It was then that the voice echoed out from the altar.
“Heed the words of Znehctyi, my brethren. Heed the flow and ebb of the coming waves.”
The voice had an ethereal, otherworldly quality to it, especially with the way it seemed to echo from every direction at once, including from inside one’s head. Even from the distance Esperanza heard it clearly, and while she was at first alarmed, after a few moments she realized that the feel of the mana in the air was something familiar to her, a feeling she often felt herself.
One she felt every time she had her weekly chat with Oldies. When she communed with the Old Gods in whatever dimension they are hidden in.
That alone told her several things. For one, the voice probably came from the demon god himself, or one of their servants at least. It likely came from a realm not dissimilar to where Oldies lurked, at the very least. The only difference was where her conversations with Oldies basically happened in her head, the demon god had enough power to actually send their voice over to Ephemera proper, though it took a pretty exhausting ritual to do so, judging from how most of the demon [Clerics] were slumped with fatigue.
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Out of the thirty [Clerics] a good half just slumped down where they were seated, looking like corpses if not for the slight undulations of their breathing, likely fainted on the spot. Out of the remaining half, most fell flat on their backs, their mouths wide open, panting as they breathed, as if they had been through a grueling physical exercise just now. The remaining few were the ones who were able to keep their composure, even if their breathing similarly became heavier.
Even the [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile] was not spared, the demon’s hands visibly trembling from time to time, and his breathing notably more rapid than before, even if he strived to present no outward signs of his fatigue. Then again, it made some sense. It must have been much harder to create a communication link directly to the world compared to one that only went to one person’s mind.
From what Esperanza could see and her instinctual knowledge about mana, the connections the altar had with wherever else it was connected to had the function of transportation, so it was probable that the broadcast, or the voice of the demon god she was hearing, was being simultaneously heard by many others in multiple places.
Now that she thought about it, she recalled seeing a similar altar-like structure in the temple back in Langeboug, a well-cared one, if much smaller in scale. If her guess was right and those served as receivers for the broadcasting source that was the large altar in the temple, then that was probably how the demons proselytized to their populace.
Using the direct voice of their gods.
That would definitely be more than enough to keep the populace under control even if the demons did not station shamans in every town. After all, such a direct connection would inspire faith far better than mere preaching. When she considered the tribal past of the demons where they were divided into many different tribes, such rituals also make some sense, perhaps as something a strong tribe would perform and “share” the results with weaker tribes under their rule.
As a bonus it would also double as an affirmation of their right to rule straight from the gods themselves.
Esperanza kept her ears open as she listened to the message from the demon god. The fact that her language skill allowed her to understand both the demon and human tongues helped her greatly with that, though most of the content of the broadcast – she decided to just call it that for ease – was mostly the voice preaching to the demons.
It also encouraged their “brave warriors” fighting the “despicable” humans and exhorted them to cleanse their “taint” from Ephemera, promising that their souls would be welcomed in the bliss of the afterlife should they lose their lives pursuing such a noble endeavour.
All in all, it was nothing outside her expectations. Preaching to maintain the faith, promising a blessing in the afterlife, all things she had heard and seen even in her previous world. Perhaps religions everywhere were the same, in some manner. If not for the different language and topics the way the voice preached even reminded her somewhat of the priest from the church she and her mother used to go to.
Near the end, however, the voice mentioned something that made her frown.
It encouraged its brethren in the east to keep searching for the “heretics”, which Esperanza very well knew referred to people who worshiped Oldies like her group. The voice called for another hunt until the few survivors of the failed hunt – the very same hunt that resulted in most of Navef’s populace dying – were found and killed. It was clear that the present gods truly have no plan to tolerate any vestiges of the Old Gods if they could.
Fortunately most of those survivors should be far enough away, safe in Agur-Bas, which was well-hidden in the wilderness, with a few still traveling with Esperanza. Had they attempted to seek refuge closer to Navef, they might well have been found and killed by now. Oldies’ guidance had saved them from such a fate, which she was glad for.