With This Treasure, I Summon Primordial Weapons
Chapter 29: Eternal Flame

Chapter 29: Eternal Flame

There was a sliver of hesitation before Godric stepped into the small chamber.

His eyes swept every inch of it, cataloguing everything with the kind of overcaution that came from treating each detail like it might matter for his life.

Using Torr’s summoned ability, he duplicated his sword and wedged it between the door and its frame, keeping it from closing all the way.

He’d read enough stories to know what happened to people who wandered into places they shouldn’t. The door was always the first thing to go.

Next, he scanned the space around the purple flame, checking for traps.

Strangely, there didn’t seem to be any.

The air inside was dry, drier than anything from the damp city outside. It was an odd kind of dry, one that had nothing to do with heat, despite the torches lining every wall. It felt like it came from the chamber’s pristine white bricks themselves, though Godric couldn’t have explained why he felt that connection.

He moved a few steps further and noticed a small plaque set beside the altar where the flame burned.

The words on it made no sense at first glance. The alphabet didn’t resemble anything from back home.

Then, right in front of him, the letters shifted, and the text resolved into something he could actually read.

***

When the Dark City is consumed by the eternal flame, when its walls are nothing, its gates are memory, when neither crow nor crown may find a place to rest, and the wind carries away the very name of its ruin—

Then, and only then, shall the bound walk free. The cursed road shall open, the forgotten horizon shall be remembered, and the hollow ones shall—

Until that hour, let—

***

Godric blinked, then read it two more times, making sure he hadn’t missed anything.

Parts of it were unreadable. What he could piece together was written in a tongue vague enough that even the coherent parts resisted forming a whole picture.

The parts that did make sense mentioned an eternal flame, one meant to consume a place called the Dark City.

Two images immediately came to mind. One was the ruined city outside, and the second was the purple flame only a few feet away from where he stood.

The city out there had always looked like something had melted its walls down to nothing. But if this was supposed to be the Dark City, the prophecy hadn’t come true yet.

Many of its walls were still standing.

Then a thought settled in his mind.

’Could this be tied to the dungeon gate’s objective?’

If it was, the way out might have just landed at his feet.

The only problem was the eternal flame itself.

Godric looked around the room again. White flame flickered steadily from the torches along the walls. His gaze drifted back to the small purple flame in front of him.

It had to be here for a reason.

But how could something no bigger than a candle flame burn down an entire city?

Two more steps brought Godric close enough to reach the purple flame, if he wished to.

He watched it for nearly a minute, noting how the flame didn’t flicker as much as it danced in a slow, steady rhythm.

Still, seeing it up close, Godric couldn’t help but feel like the flame before him was nothing more than a reminder of something that had once been.

He slightly leaned forward and reached out, but before his fingers could brush against the flame, he instinctively pulled back, then turned around.

With a single glance across the room, he moved toward a corner of the room where a small, empty cupboard-like object stood.

He picked it up with both hands and carried it toward the flame before slowly pushing it against the purple flame.

The cupboard, however, never even got near, as its structure melted into liquid-like material before the flame.

Godric kept pushing until only a small piece remained.

He let it drop to the ground, a faint sound of it clattering across the stone floor echoed across the chamber.

’Good thing I didn’t touch it.’

A flame that emitted no heat, yet melted anything it came close to, and a prophecy he had no idea the meaning of.

He could see why Daren would be interested in this place. He could also see why someone as ruthless as him could never get his hands on something like this.

But if he wanted it so badly, why didn’t the leader of the human settlement just take it?

There was something missing, an answer Godric didn’t even know the question to.

Guessing an answer was hard enough, guessing a question was straight up impossible.

Still, Godric couldn’t just leave this place behind like this.

Looking at the purple flame for a moment longer, an idea struck him.

It was far from being the wisest or safest option, but it was all he had in the moment.

He looked down at the weapon in his hand.

The Primordial Sword.

A weapon that, as far as he knew, could deflect just about anything.

Then his gaze lifted to the flame again.

And a fire that could melt anything it touched.

It was almost as if the two were natural enemies.

He took a cautious, almost hesitant step and slowly brought the tip of his blade closer to the flame.

Nothing happened at first. Then a strange vibration ran through the sword, followed by a sudden pressure pushing back against him, like the flame itself was resisting.

Godric gritted his teeth and pushed harder, hard enough to close the last inch, and—

Poof!

He blinked.

The second the blade touched the purple flame, it scattered, then went out, disappearing completely.

A long moment of nothingness passed as Godric stared at the spot where the flame had been.

Then, after a pause so delayed it felt like the system itself was trying to torture him, a notification rang in Godric’s head.

[Conditions Met.]

[Ability Acquired: Eternal Flame.]

[Duration: 24 Hours.]