Prologue: The Wheels of Change

The night was silent and eerie as Priest Voranus checked the hallways of the church. Now, in the middle of the night, there was no one about in the large holy building that stood here, and even though it was supposed to be a holy building, at night it felt like one of the most haunted places Horatio had ever walked in his life. The emptiness of the church was rather unsettling, especially when you wandered around in it alone at night. Voranus quietly cursed his partner, Titus, under his breath for falling sick of all days.

Horatio always wondered why the cardinals, the higher echelons of the people who ran the church, always ordered the priests and priestesses under their command to roam the dark, cold hallways of the church at night, mostly only with a small torch to keep them company. It was not as if anybody was actually going to sneak inside and cause trouble in any way. If that even occurred, there were guards and knights of the Pronteran Army patrolling the city every day. If there were any intruders, they would be spotted and the area alerted to the intruders presence.

Voranus felt like some kind of swordsman doing guard duties. He hated it in a way. He was a priest, and what priests do at night was sleep in their beds, not walking around here in the middle of the night doing troublesome chores of keeping an eye of the place. The cardinals always said this built character, but Voranus felt that the cardinals sounded like they were afraid of something. If so, they should just ask the soldiers in the army to patrol the inner church at night.

Walking to the main altar, he took a look around with whatever light he had in the lamp he carried. His eyes scanned the entire place before he decided nothing was wrong before heading off. He made his way off to the back stages of the altar, just a few seconds too early to catch what was about to happen there.

As the light of his lamp got swallowed in the darkness as he left the place, silence and darkness surrounded the place. Then, there was a purple spark at the entrance where the large, wooden doors stood. It happened in a flash, then once more, a silent bright coloured light that was thankfully soundless. More flashes were emitted, increasing in frequency, before a bright line was traced along the door. A purple coloured line was drawn in a circle, about 6 feet in diameter. As soon as the circle was formed, the structure of the door seem to bend out of shape, distorting in a space warp. And from this space warp out stepped a figure.

The newcomer snapped its fingers and in an instant, the warp gate disappeared as there was no more use for it now, having served its purpose by allowing the newcomer to enter through the door as if it was merely thin air. Moving stealthily and quietly with the lithe of a hunter, the newcomer moved along the corridors of the church, guiding its way along the place by memory to reach its target.

There were no priests or priestesses around the place to challenge the intruder, so the person made its way along the church without a hitch. Scouring along the side walls, the intruder reached a small pathway that was closed with a door. The person pushed the door and it opened, like the person remembered.

This lead to the main monastery where most of the people who serve the church stayed and slept. The bottom level was where most of the lower ranking people slept, like acolytes and priests and monks. The intruder had no interest in these people. Within a second on entering, the intruder was already making its way along the stairs to the higher areas of the monastery.

Even though it was dark, the intruder was able to guide its way along the dark corridors and steps of the place, as if it could see in the night. There were open areas, like balconies and arches where it allowed the moons light to cast at least a bit of illumination, but tonight, the night was a black as ink, the moon blocked out by a whole large group of clouds.

Finally, the intruder reached the top level of the monastery. Walking slowly now to the left, the intruder stood outside a finely, furnished door. Soft, calming snores could be heard from the inside. Smiling, the intruder retrieved a small key from the pocket of its clothes. Inserting the key into the key slot and turning it opened the door, and quietly the intruder went in.

The door lead to a singular room that was marvelously fashioned. There were tapestries of gold linings that hung on the walls, and a whole collection of antique and rare specimens of beasts and weapons. There was a richly coloured oak desk at the end where a singular candle stood to light the room in a soft, orange glow. Next to the desk was a bed where an old man slept.

Wasting no time, the intruder took a stride forward, crossing the room in one large step, and roughly placed a hand hard upon the old man's mouth. Rudely awakened, the old man tried to get his bearings as he felt a strong pressure being applied to his face, preventing him from talking. The old man gave a muted gasp as he spotted the intruder bearing down on him, the face sinister and full of malicious intent. It was a face he feared to see.

" I could have easily killed you in your sleep, old man, but I'm not that lenient unlike my sister whom you failed to spare," a dark voice hissed. Unknowingly, the old man pissed in his pants, but neither party took notice and it was of no consequence, although the intruder would later laugh at the pitiful man when he was done with him.

Raising the other arm and in it held what looked like a blade, the intruder said " Prepare to receive judgment, sinner!"

Writer's note: It has been some time since I've posted up anything, since I was busy settling my stuff for university. I probably won't be able to update as frequently as usual since I really 'NEED' to study now, but heck...

Ragnarok Online (RO) was the first, and probably will be the last and only, online game I ever played, possibly due to the fact that I like the character design (japanese manga style). It has been, apparently, some time since I last played, as I stopped playing when they started charging for it (I'm a stingy poker...sue me). Anyway, I still fancy it, and I probably would play it if it was free. I decided to write a story on RO after reading Crimson Twilight: Dusk and Crimson Midnight: Midnight, by Tom Valor, and due credit must be given to him. Do read his fic, it's really good.

My story will be heavily influenced by other materials, especially Dungeons & Dragons and Warcraft, where I might add elements from those features into Ragnarok. Of course, My knowledge of the RO Universe is rusty at best, so I will be using other topics and designs to explain my story, or it may be part of the story and the way I'd like to tell it. I just chose RO as the setting.