The Three Ancient Tomes

3Tomes — The Three Ancient Tomes
(as illustrated by Yuri)

These three ancient tomes contain extremely powerful and forbidden magic, even able to warp the very fabric of existence. They were carefully kept by the Vatican to protect their secrets from the world.

History[]

"Ten years ago, three ancient tomes were stolen from the Vatican...Because each one has the power to warp the very fabric of existence, the books have been widely sought after over the years, and many tragedies resulted from that search..." ~ Yuri

The three ancient tomes are mystical books full of dangerous and life-threatening rituals that can send the world to oblivion if successful. The three books were held in the Vatican library under lock-and-key by order of the Pope himself, but one night all three books were stolen. The Vatican panicked, so they sent their best two exorcists to retrieve them: Fathers Morris Elliot and James O' Flaherty.

At first the two traveled side-by-side to find the three books, but once Morris Elliot had a daughter, they worked separately though still remained in contact with each other. The last letter James sent to Morris said he was fresh on the trail in finding the Émigré Manuscript in Wales, though by unlikely fate, the man in possession of the document was James' old friend Patrick. No other letters came, but even without James, Morris eventually found the name of the man who stole the three tomes: Roger Bacon. However, Morris realized that he wasn't powerful enough to take on the warlock by himself, so he arranged for a contact with a man called Cardinal Albert Simon who was said to be equal in power to Roger Bacon.

In reality, Albert Simon, under the guise of his former teacher, Roger Bacon, was the man who stole the ancient tomes from the Vatican. Meeting with Father Elliot under his assumed name, Albert murdered Elliot to prevent him from further interference. Albert sold the Emigre Manuscript to a man named Jack who was living in London with his infirm mother. Albert then left for Asia where he delivered the Pulse Tract to the warlock Dehuai under the intention that Dehuai would complete the Reverse Demon's Gate Invocation to follow up on work Dehuai attempted and failed fifteen years prior.

Albert Simon then used the Codex of Lurie raise the Neameto Float and summon the Other-God to destroy the world and create it anew, as his vision of a new Eden, untainted by the wickedness of man. However, his plans were thwarted by Yuri and company. Fearful that others would try to use the ancient books, Yuri and the real Roger Bacon then hid the Émigré Manuscript deep within the Neam Ruins, and the Pulse Tract, and the R'lyeh Text (Codex of Lurie) at undisclosed locations.

The Pulse Tract[]

"The first is the Pulse Tract. With it one can command the earth veins in order to wake an ancient god."

"The Pulse Tract, which incarnates a god from the soul of the Earth..." ~ Yuri

First featured in Shadow Hearts, and mentioned in Shadow Hearts: Covenant. This book contains the rites for the Reverse Demon's Gate Invocation, which summons the Tengaiou/Seraphic Radiance/Dark Seraphim from the soul of the earth. This ritual is similar to the Demon's Gate Invocation (which fooled Zhuzhen, Zhongyun and Xifa into thinking it was), which also summons an earth spirit. However, it is of increased magnitude.

It requires the other four guardian-gods (the Black Tortoise, the Red Phoenix, the Blue Dragon and the White Tiger) to be blocked off, and also requires a channel for immense energy (ie. Alice).

The Seraphic Radiance has the physical form of an unearthly woman with enormous red wings, and runes tattooed upon her body. However, it is a being without emotion, or what can be defined as the individual self-awareness of a sentient being. The Seraphic Radiance is really pure energy, with power equivalent to that of a god. It is called the Spirit of Bronze and considered a guardian deity of the earth, but when summoned will destroy everything in its path.

To halt its destruction, Yuri attempts to fuse with it and control it. Being only a human, however, he is overwhelmed by its power and driven into madness. His soul would have been consumed entirely had the spirit of his father not sealed it up within his soul, while Alice brought his consciousness back into the real world.

The Seraphic Radiance remains sealed within Yuri until he defeats it and is able to control its power. It is available as an ultimate fusion to be acquired on the side in both SH and SH:C (having to be required due to being sealed by the curse at the beginning of SH:C). Until then it hibernates in Yuri's soul, under Jinpachiro/Ben Hyuga's careful watch.

The R'lyeh Text (Codex of Lurie)[]

"It tells how to summon the 'Other God'...An omnipotent god from the far reaches of space..."

"...The R'lyeh Text, with the power to summon a god from beyond the stars..." ~ Yuri

First featured in Shadow Hearts (where it was translated as the Codex of Lurie), and mentioned in Shadow Hearts: Covenant. It is hinted to be of extraterrestrial origin, and is closely tied to Nemeton, one of the many places on Earth that contain a build-up of mysterious energy, like ley lines or nerve points of the planet.

According to Roger, "one of the legacies left behind by beings who visited this planet long ago" is an artificial, alien construction that lies beneath Nemeton Monastery - a "neam", or "float" in the ancient tongue of Ebi. It originates from an alien home world that lies in the M72 nebula, approximately 4,800,000 light-years from Earth.

Like the Valorization, the ritual detailed in the R'lyeh Text also requires a channel of great power (in this case, Albert used Koudelka as his key). This energy is then used to release the float from deep within Nemeton, where it acts as a celestial homing device for the extraterrestrial beings. These aliens are of such massive stature that they would be considered gods by puny humans.

After Albert raises the float, one such being does indeed zero in on the structure and comes to destroy the Earth. With the help of Roger's greatest invention, the Instantaneous Matter Transporter, Yuri and co. are teleported to the float in outer space to defeat the alien Meta-god.

The Émigré Manuscript[]

Main article: Émigré Manuscript

The last of the three tomes, it is the only one to be featured in all the series, and is often the source of much of the strife and woe in the games. It possess the power to bring back the dead from beyond the grave.

Trivia[]

The book of R'lyeh derives from H.P. Lovecraft's stories. R'lyeh is supposed to an ancient sunken city, inside of which an alien God sleeps, awaiting for his foretold resurrection. H.P. Lovecraft's work is much seen in all Shadow Hearts games, while Lovecraft himself stars in Shadow Hearts: From the New World as a friendly NPC.