Chapter 1631 1631: Ancient Cave Paintings
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Through Silvia’s {Mini Sun} Spell, which was of the Sunlight/Light Element Category that she could now conjure thanks to her bond with Khepri, giving her a strong Talent over Sunlight and Light Elemental Magic, the group was able to illuminate the interior of the Cave of Records, finding out the “records” left behind by the people of the Oasis Tribe.
The moment they stepped inside the cave, the first thing they saw were beautiful paintings depicting a jungle, made out of various tones of green, some had even painted beds of colorful flowers everywhere of many colors.
There, in the middle of these flowers and tropical trees, there was a large lake, the Oasis, of blue color and shining brightly. And surrounding this oasis, small tribal paintings of people were there, moving around, some even revering something.
Yes, something above the oasis, a giant woman, she was stark naked, painted completely blue, and surrounded by flowing water.
She had long hair made of water, and big, shiny green colored eyes, she looked motherly, her body was depicted very curvy and beautiful, with very large breasts, very wide hips, and even a slightly big belly.
She held a compassionate, lovely smile on her face, but also, there was another darker painting at her side, made of dark blue color, showing her more serious expression, showing the duality of the lady.
“That’s… Woah, that’s kind of erotic for a painting…” Justicio looked at the naked woman, biting his lips a bit. “H-Holy shit…”
He had never seen something quite like this, paintings could also be erotic!
“E-Erotic?” Agua asked in disbelief. “Justicio! This is the Oasis Spirit, please be more respectful. This is a painting my mother and the shamans did of her long ago.”
“W-Wait, she looks like that?!” Silvia asked.
“Yeah!” Agua nodded.
“S-She doesn’t wear clothes?” Aquarina was also kind of surprised.
“No…? Why would spirits wear clothes?” Agua asked. “Her body is graceful and divine, majestic and motherly. She’s the mother of the life that comes from the Oasis.”
“I-I see…” Aquarina gulped saliva. “Damn she got… Um, she’s beautiful.”
She could hardly stop staring at the beautifully detailed bosom of the Spirit…
Now she kind of wanted to see her for herself.
“Okay, that’s just the beginning though, look!”
Agua pointed further into the cave as they made their way inside.
There, paintings of various animals and beasts appeared, of giant rhinoceros beetles of large draconic creatures, serpents, and many beasts.
There were feathered, winged wyverns, sky eels, and even aquatic serpents and other monsters and beasts that made their home of the jungles and the oasis.
It showed them moving on their own, but also interconnected through colorful threads, they were all part of a huge cycle showed as a circle, interconnected with various colors and runes into the center of the oasis, where the people and the spirit were.
“It’s beautiful…” Silvia smiled in awe.
“There’s more over there! It’s near endless!” Agua said.
They kept walking, seeing all kinds of paintings, the painting of children, of parents, of pregnant women, and also of houses and inventions.
There was a section where people painted their beloved ones that were gone from this world, with names written on top of them.
They looked calm and happy, living together in the “afterlife”, somewhere else.
They seemed surrounded by waves of water and spirits of the oasis, this was perhaps how the Oasis people saw the afterlife, a place with a lot of water.
“And this is where I paint my stuff…”
Agua walked towards a further left corner, showing her friends her paintings. She usually painted butterflies, fish, and also colorful conch.
There was also another painting with three people in it.
“Wow Agua, you’re so talented… Seeing all these paintings yours are among the best!” Silvia said.
“Yeah, she does it pretty well, they almost look real,” Justicio nodded. “The colors are so bright…”
“You sure like animals and shells, don’t you?” giggled Aquarina.
“Y-Yeah… You think so?” Agua wondered. “Ah, I’m so happy…”
Agua felt embarrassed as she smiled a bit.
“Who are those three though?” Pyuku finally talked after only looking around on his own for a while. Sometimes he was so silent it scared them when he finally talked. “Is that you and your mom?”
“O-Oh!” Agua muttered, feeling embarrassed. “Y-Yeah… It’s me and mom, I painted this one five years ago I think.”
“It’s nice!” Aquarina smiled. “Who’s the third?”
“That’s… my dad…” Agua looked at the painting, gently caressing it with her hand.
Everyone fell silent for a moment, as Agua looked at her father’s painting.
“I made this painting of my entire family so they would never disappear…” She said. “In our tribe, it is believed that anything we paint in these walls, will never disappear from the world. Even if people pass away, they’ll continue existing within these walls, in the afterlife we’ve crafted with our efforts.”
She looked at her father and then at her friends.
“So I painted dad… So he would never disappear, nor would he ever get forgotten,” she said. “Now he will be here with us forever… For many years in the future, even when mom and I pass away… We’ll continue here, together as a family.”
Aquarina and her friends nodded, smiling a bit as well.
“That’s nice…” Pyuku nodded. “I was wondering… could you let us paint there as well?”
“P-Pyuku! This is something from her tribe, don’t ask such a thing!” Aquarina got a bit upset, fearing Pyuku would have ended offending Agua by accident.
“No, it’s fine…” Agua said, taking out some things from her leather pouch. “In fact, I wanted to bring you here so we could paint something here! Something small for now, we can revisit the cave later too… Mom said it was okay.”
She took out several bottles full of dried paint made using materials from plants, stones, and wood, and added some water magic into them, mixing them until they became liquid again.
“I got some brushes here as well! Do you want to?”
Aquarina and her friends glanced at one another and nodded.
“Of course!”
They didn’t even hesitate.
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