CHAPTER 1 - A DIVINE MESSAGE
CHAPTER 1 - A DIVINE MESSAGE
From high above, the goddess Minerva watched the world below. A feeling of fatigue and yet restlessness clouded her mind. The Black Mage was gaining power, bringing more minions into his vile folds, and twisting the creatures into horribly evil mutations of their former selves. With the list of dependable allies becoming increasingly thin, The Goddess of Creation had finally decided it was time she intervened.
She could feel the tides of despair from the hearts and minds of the people of Ossyria, realizing over time that she herself was quickly becoming a relic of the past. As evil as Black Mage was, a chilling draft blew into the goddess's tower alerting her of another evil, possibly even greater than The Black Mage himself. Could it be The Mage had found a way to increase his already apocalyptic power? Following the direction the wind came from, she spied a cloud of dark foreboding far beyond the western seas of Victoria Island. With a stroke across her harp, she summoned one of her most loyal angels to her side.
"You summoned my goddess?" a youthful yet mature voice replied, kneeling low to the ground and bowing his head of white hair.
"Aye, I have." Minerva answered, standing by the window with her neatly braided golden hair held in place by a circlet of gold.
"The time has come for the Divine Order to openly oppose the darkness." She announced assertively turning to face him.
"Shall I prepare a legion of angels for war?" the angel asked seriously, shifting his wings in anticipation as he stood from his kneeling position and held his arms behind him.
"No, I don't think the situation has deteriorated as such just yet." Minerva answered.
"What of those living within Ossyria? Are they not able to defend against the forces of the Black mage?" the angel asked with a slight edge in his voice.
"I fear they are steadily failing: The Knights of the Empress and Explorers are losing strength, the Resistance within Edelstein is within the epicenter of The Black Wings, and the Heroes have yet to gain their full strength." Minerva answered with tears hanging on her words as she walked back to her throne and stood before it.
"Then give the word my goddess; I and my legion shall meet the darkness and drive it from this world!" the angel pulled out a sharp shiny golden arrow.
"No Novas, stay your legion; war would only cause this world to decay all the faster. I want you to deliver a message to Grendel: a powerful sage living within Ellinia." Reaching to a small chest beside her throne, Minerva pulled an old golden symbol of the church from it, holding it out to Novas.
"There is something more, isn't there goddess?" he asked, looking up to meet her eyes.
"Aye Novas, but time grows short for it draws nearer by the moment. Tell Grendel that the time has come for the Divine Order to openly defy the darkness and take this hallowed symbol to the cathedral: it is time to reverse the decay plaguing this land." The goddess concluded as she closed her eyes seeing the reality of upcoming battles.
Novas nodded in acknowledgement taking the symbol. He swiftly flew from the Goddess tower passing by Orbis at lightning speed through the afternoon sky leaving a strong gale in his wake. Ships were back and forth from Victoria Island and Orbis were constantly taking evasive routes to avoid balrogs waiting for merchant ships to plunder and destroy. They were monsters one would not take lightly.
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"Goddess of my fathers, hear my prayer. I come to you humbly in search of your guidance that I may show those your love and kindness…" A young woman in white robes prayed, piously sitting on a mat. Near her, two other similarly dressed peers busied themselves studying old history books and prophesy scrolls of Ossyria.
As she prayed, the young woman suddenly felt as if she were flying, her neatly gathered golden hair flying in the wind behind her. In a flash, she found herself in a tower with a marble floor housing a statue of the goddess Minerva in the center of a fountain making the young cleric stare in awe.
"Why do you pray so hard Amelia my child?" an ethereal voice asked, making the young cleric jump in surprise, realizing that the voice had spoken in her mind.
"I-I feel a duty to my goddess." Amelia answered, searching to see where the voice had come from.
"Fear not child. Following me should not be out of duty alone." the voice answered, sounding as though it echoed for a moment or two despite being in her mind.
"It's not! I want to repay you for saving me." Amelia said as a light breeze began to blow, caressing the white silky curtains into a playful frenzy.
"Is that truly how you feel child?" the voice asked calmly.
"Yes! Without the Holy Order my family would have fallen into darkness" Amelia answered, feeling drawn to the day bed where a dove sat, eyeing her curiously as she neared.
"The Holy Order is waning Amelia, I am waning." the voice replied as it began to fade.
"No! It can't be! You're a goddess!" Amelia said with conviction, looking around more desperately to find the person speaking.
"Even a goddess such as I has limitations; but you can share my blessings with those who still believe." the voice said as the dove continued to watch Amelia.
"I will goddess, I don't ever want to see…" Amelia's comment was cut short when a sudden rumbling in the tower broke her concentration. The dove flew out the window in haste as other voices around her began fading into existence waking her from her vision.
"Amelia! Wake up!" A red headed girl shouted, shaking her quite hard as a young man with dark brown hair ran to the window where sounds of battle could be heard swelling into existence.
"Sister Kara, what's wrong?" Amelia asked as they quickly joined him to see a fire ball had struck one of the trees, catching it on fire and damaging some of the nearby huts.
"Not again… it can't be!" Amelia whispered in horror.
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Grendel the Old sat pouring over an ancient tome while his disciples of magic trained just outside the village. He chuckled to himself when he casually looked up and in a bright flash of light and sat face to face with one of the goddess's angels making his jump slightly from the sudden appearance.
"Fear not Grendel, for I have been sent by the goddess to deliver a message to you." the angel smiled benevolently as he held his hand forward in a friendly gesture.
"What do I owe this honor to be graced by such a divine presence?" Grendel replied humbly, bowing low to the ground.
"Do not bow to me, for I am simply a messenger. Our Goddess has decided that it is time for the Holy Order to openly defy the darkness and reveal the location to the Staff of Angels as well as the Sword of Judgment." Grendel's demeanor turned serious as he stood realizing what he already knew; that the world's crisis was about to become dire.
"I've studied passages about the sacred relics, but the records are very vague. Supposedly the church has documents hidden within the secret chambers of the Cathedral in Amoria, but they are forbidden to just about everyone." Grendel replied as he picked up another book flipping through its pages for answers.
"A chosen Paladin and Bishop together can open the door to the catacombs beneath the cathedral; until then the door remains sealed by an ancient holy circle that came long ago before even you: The Overseers. This was done to keep these relics falling into evil hands." the angel explained.
"This isn't the first time I have ever heard of the Overseers, who were they?" Grendel asked, looking up from the book he held.
"Even I am not privy to such knowledge, but time grows short for another evil is rising. Tell the members of the Church they must begin purging the darkness from the world and take some of the responsibility in balancing the scales. How many of your pupils have decided to take the divine path?" the angel asked with a sense of anxiety.
"The numbers are dwindling... my elemental wizards are plenty, but my clerics…" Grendel paused for a moment almost revealing his eyes to the angel from under his hat.
"I'm lucky to get one, maybe two out of twenty these days." Grendel nodded soberly realizing the statistics sounded much worse when uttered aloud. Grendel knew he couldn't sway his pupil's choices one way or another. It was true, Ice & Lightning and Fire & Poison wizards were in high demand as well; but the choice of magic study was a personal one. Grendel was an exception to the rule, being a master sage of all three!
"People of Ossyria are losing faith while many have their hearts focused on wealth and power." the angel nodded.
"Yes, I know. I suspect the reason for this is because they are either unwilling or unable to resist the temptations of the world." Grendel said sadly.
"I fear the Goddess grows weak as even the faithful become faithless. People over the generations have forgotten that she even exists" the angel continued. Grendel nodded until both of them heard a steady swell of screams and explosions coming from outside.
"Heed me!" Grendel shouted as his staff flew to his hands and he quickly teleported outside of his study with the angel appearing beside him, taking a moment to assess the situation.
"Hey! Are you going to help us or what?! Balrogs are attacking us!" Wing snarled seeing as a flock of Balrogs descended on Ellinia. The Fairies of Ellinia began to panic as did the beginning magicians as they scrambled trying to hide for cover. A group of Ice & Lightning and Fire & Posions Wizards were already preparing to fight. Only a few Clerics remained in Ellinia preparing to heal the injured and pray to their Goddess for her protection.
"The Black Mage sends his envoy." The angel said nonchalantly as Grendel smirked under his long beard, pulling his hat lower over his eyes.
"Then let us not disappoint him." Grendel smiled, preparing himself for battle. The angel held his hands in a drawing stance as a bright white bow with a golden arrow appeared in his hands. Wing flew above the Canopy of the Forest counting the Balrogs.
"There are too many…" Wing breathed as he quickly flew down, trying to avoid being hit by stray bolts of lightning and plumes of flames.
"Grendel! Th-th-there are countless Balrogs!" he called, flying down to Grendal, firing off little sparks of his own magic to hold off what he could. But Grendel's calm demeanor didn't appease Wing as he fluttered around with his wand. As he cast his spells, he noted on the north side of the village another of the creatures stepped into their boarders, only this one wore skeleton-like armor.
"A Crimson! Will our fairy magic and the magic of you and your students be enough to hold them off?!" Wing shouted over the noise of battle.
"Calm down Wing, help is on the way..." Mar said calmly as she joined them, holding up her hands and blocking an incoming ball of dark energy.
"From where?!" Wing demanded unable to see Grendel's invisible divine guest, Mar being ranked among the few that could.
"How many of our wizards has Luvar approved?" Grendel quickly asked Mar as he cast a strong fire explosion spell obliterating a handful of incoming balrog to ashes.
"I'm not sure, this past week only a few passed. A couple Ice & Lightning and a couple Fire & Poison, but no new clerics" Mar finished spinning her hands around each other before shoving them away from her and launching the powerful blast of Plasma she had gathered.
"Find the clerics we have! We'll need them today!" Grendel shouted over the noise of explosions. He closed his eyes and gripped his staff tightly as he quietly began chanting giving cover to Mar as she left. A fireball flew at them, but was deflected by an invisible force field that bent the air around them Grendel summoned dissipating the fireball it into embers.
"Get ready to move Wing." Grendel strained as his head begun to shake. He struggled to maintain the barrier, while trying to counter with powerful effective spells and minimize the casualties.
