The implosion sounded like a bolt of lightning had struck from below.
Inside the main prayer room, the floor was blasted into pieces. Giant blocks of marble soared through the air, striking through both walls and windows.
The sound of the shattering glass and multiple stone collisions was ear splitting!
The nuns, priests, guards, homeless and everyone else inside the church were violently thrown about. Not once but multiple times!
Screams in terror erupted from every place both inside and outside.
Even the carriage horses neighed in alarm and tried to break away.
-----
Father Demetri hadn't managed to even rise to his feet when the tunnel around him abruptly collapsed, crushing him to death.
Several royal knights and priests who had been searching for the Pope also lost their lives when the ground beneath them exploded upward.
Those who were not killed by the rock fragments which slammed into them, died upon impact after falling further below.
------
In front of the statue of the Goddess was a large and deep hole.
Many of the priests who were praying for salvation were swallowed up by the opening floor.
Their wails of terror carried on for ages before they finally hit the lowest region.
Which happened to the be the Pope's demonic chamber.
The ones who'd scrambled back in time were crying whilst tending to their injuries.
Both the royal knights and clergymen were in full panic now.
Goddess Katara's tears was now a broken dam, flowing out of both her face and her body, no longer just from her eyes.
The crash of the waterfall was even more deafening!
"We are being punished!" A priest wept, clutching himself. "We have erred in some way and the Goddess is punishing us!"
-------
Back at the imperial palace, Father Demetri's faction had arrived.
A group of 30 men who entered the council room and informed the king about the developments.
Robert was furious upon learning that the Pope had vanished. Panic soared within him.
If the Pope had fled to avoid accountability, as one of Father Demetri's priests had implied, then that could only mean something horribly wrong had been done!
Not only was he wrong about the witch's curse, but there may be more he was hiding about what was actually taking place.
If the unholy Pope had run away than who could they turn to?
The Saintess?
But Helena had already admitted to him that she couldn't do anything to help Alexander.
Was Elysium doomed?
Gritting his teeth, Robert struggled to think of a solution. He refused to watch his kingdom go to shambles all because of a dead witch and a cowardly Pope.
Pacing back and forth, a sudden idea entered his mind. As much as he hated to call on his arrogant sister for help, he simply had no choice.
The Pope was missing, his son was dying, countless nobles were dying and the Saintess could not heal anyone!
Robert beckoned at one of his personal knights. "Send a raven to Imperium. Inform my queen sister of the circumstances and request her to immediately send Aura Wielders to help us!"
The knight bowed and ran off.
Slumping his weary body onto his ornate chair, the king rubbed his tired eyes. He could not fathom what was going wrong. He had some knowledge on demonic magic, but he had never heard of a case where a curse could impact an entire kingdom like this.
To the extent that neither the Pope nor the Saintess could combat it. Could it be that they.....
Dismissing his outrageous thoughts, he brought the dead witch's face to the forefront of his mind.
Why is Felicia doing this to us? Why is the Goddess not doing anything to save us?
His painful thoughts and the loud murmurs amongst the royal council members and guards were abruptly cut off when the doors were thrown open once more.
One of the palace knights that had been sent to the church had returned.
And he looked decidedly worse for wear.
"Your Majesty!
The king shot to his feet.
The room fell silent.
The knight walked forward with a limp. "Your Highness, there was an earth shake at the cathedral! The ground in front of the statue of the Goddess exploded and collapsed! Twelve royal knights, sixteen priests, nine nuns and an unknown number of visiting vagrants and civilians have been killed!"
"What!?"
"Oh goddess!"
"Why?!"
"What is happening?!"
The room was in an even greater uproar.
"What of the Pope?! Have you located the Pope?!" The king thundered.
"Unfortunately not, your highness. Nearly all the knights were searching the underground chamber when the earth shake happened. We need more men to shift through the rubble and retrieve the bodies!" The knight replied, falling to his knees.
The king now felt more fear than anger.
He internally cursed at the Pope once more.
"Ready the carriages! We are all heading to the church this instant!"
----------
Back at the cathedral, the death toll was rising!
The damages were extensive. Not a single area of the church was unscathed. The entire structure had cracked and the building looked like it was soon to collapse.
It appeared as if a raging windstorm had blown through, not just an earth shake.
The devastation was especially bad in the prayer hall. Broken glass and stone strewn about everywhere.
After carefully climbing down the massive hole, some brave priests and the two remaining knights looked through the rubble.
The opening was broad in some places and steep in others.
One had to be mindful of every step.
Three had already fallen to their deaths.
And the sound of the impact was lost amongst the bloody waterfall. Just an echoing scream that faded away.
Most of the priests were too scared to go near waterfall, worried it might be poisonous.
Everyone standing above were spooked by the hole which seemed to go down forever.
The dark abyss combined with the red water made it look too much like an entrance into a hellish pit!
Difficult thoughts and speculations ran through the minds of the surviving priests. They started to wonder if the Goddess was sending them a message that was more than what the Pope had claimed.
Where was the Pope?
Had been underground too?
Was he also crushed by the stone?
The last thought made them more scared than the sight before them. How could they possibly deal with the witch's curse without the Holy Father? Would the Saintess be able to provide them with a solution?
But the Saintess had only just come of age. She was still learning to utilize her holy powers.
To whom do we turn to now?
The Goddess has not helped us, only warned us.
But why?
Why hasn't Goddess Kartara intervened when her faithful subjects are at the mercy of a demonic curse?
Have we missed something? Is our assessment of this disaster incorrect?