Review Response Time!
2sidez & Samecoin: Yeah he did. I'm glad you two like it! don't forget to let me know if any of the characters really catch your eye! If you happen to really identify with one (or just want to see more) just yell or throw things and I'll see if I can write a separate story!
Shon: You didn't have a story, so I couldn't review back:(
Oh well. Thank you so much for reviewing, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Read on! And before you ask, YES I think the Hokuten are corrupt (who wasn't?) and are EEEEEVIL. So there you go. There will be definitely some Hokuten+ stories, though. Also, I apologize profusely for my long absence. College isn't very easy, heh.
The Priest
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"It is not customary to bring blades into a church of god, my sons."
"This is no longer a church of god, false priest. You forget why we have come."
"You have not told me why you have come, or to what reason you call me false priest."
"You know why Cardinal Draclau has sent us. You are a sinner, but sinners are not stupid."
"The Holy Stone story. Aye, I know that well enough. Draclau ordered me to teach the story, to tell of our 'efforts' and I refused."
"And so he has ordered us to deliver your sentence immediately, as well as to your village."
"The cardinal is drunk with power, my son… Please, listen to me."
"I will not, false priest."
The smell of brimstone filled the air inside the charred and burning church. The heat was enormous, though it was truly only the roof that was on fire, so far. He would not have let these men enter with their weapons, so they had loosed fire arrows into the roof, forcing Father Walker to open the doors to these three men. One was obviously a knight, while the other two were powerful mages of the dark arts.
"You are making a grave mistake. Threatening the lives of my charges will not gain you any leeway with my departure."
"We threaten nothing priest. All we have to offer are promises, as we know of no other way to act. No lies, no untruths."
"As of yet, I see no reason to trust those who would follow a man with greed as a bible."
Sergeant Valiu nodded his red-bearded helmed head lightly, gesturing off in the distance. There was a sensation of commotion outside the churches' doors, and unseen hands in the night thrust poor Meda into the aisle. Valiu reached down to the six-year-old girl, pulling her up by the back of her shirt. Her yelps of pain from the cutting fabric into her neck and crying did not deter him from speaking to the now-stunned priest of the burning church.
"This girl is one of the twelve remaining people in this Neanderthal pit you call a town. My men have taken care of the rest, and are rapidly searching for the others. This girl's parents are dead, and you know she has quite a large chance of being unshriven. Though she is a child, she will nonetheless go to hell. We were to kill her quickly, but your uncooperativeness has forced us to try stronger methods of persuasion. You possess powers that few others do, Father. My men and mages could not hope to bring you down. That is why we ask you to submit to a simple beheading, rather than see the slow death of a girl who deserves a fast one, and a battle that could very well injure us."
"I... Meda... you… you demons… let her go."
This statement was punctuated loudly by a rafter, falling from the ceiling to the floor. It was good foresight that the priest had commissioned a friend of his to render his home magically fire resistant... it would have been better to fireproof it.
"We will not, Father Walker. She has been the victim of your teachings, and they have already begun to rot her mind. Killing her is a mercy. Still, we would rather do it quickly, rather than call her any undue suffering. We offer you this choice, Father."
Walker put a hand to his bald head as he bowed it solemnly, knowing full well that the knight was not joking. Indeed, the two mages looked as stalwart as he, beneath their wide straw hats. In truth, he did not believe that the three were here for him… nor his town. He had found something. Something the church wanted to have. On a chain around his neck... perhaps he could give it, to save... at least a few people, if not him.
"You... Draclau sent you for the stone. Games aside, that is why you are here."
"Perhaps. Is this to say that you, indeed, have one of these rare things?"
"I do... You propose a bargain, in which case I lose either way out... But mayhap I could suggest another. Let go of Meda. You may prevent her from leaving, but at least let her down..."
The squirming girl was dropped to the floor, possibly bruising her knee as Valiu crossed his armored hands. With a cry of terror, the Father was now clutched, tears darkening what was remaining bright in his soot-stained robes.
"Thank y-"
"Your proposition, Father."
"Yes... I give you the Holy Stone, and willingly go to the guillotine... but only if my remaining villagers are spared, and you find a good home for Meda. I will agree on no other terms. These people are without sin… as hard a group of workers you will ever find… they have love for one another."
"You realize, even holding the urchin as you do now, that you are in no position to bargain."
"And yet you seem content to allow me to do so, while you stand with a pair of well-learned mages, I've no doubt, as well as you yourself protected."
"...I-"
One of the shadowed faces leaned forwards, whispering into the knight's ear… something urgent.
"...Yes, yes, you are right. I agree, Priest... where is the Holy Stone?"
"I have it on my person... may the tainted king have you."
"Thank you. Eben, take the stone from the man."
A mage stepped forwards, one hand held out. The stone... the Tainted King was slipped off from around the Priest's neck and into his waiting grip. Once pocketed, the mage stepped back into his original position, beside Valiu. The knight clapped once, seemingly ecstatic behind his heavy moustache.
"Good, good... We have what we want. Unfortunately, I believe that your bartering has come late... you no longer have a flock to protect, Father. I do hope you understand. My squad is very thorough. My Sergeant here, Jeil, is quite telepathic. What a release it is, to not have to deal with battlefield runners... they die quite often."
"Priest though I am, I ask God that you all burn in Hell for this..."
"That is enough. Eben, the girl."
It was over in a moment, though perhaps even dying Balbanes could have felt the backlash of the power. They called the spell Death, one which no man could have without spending quite a considerable time learning... though, once taken, had a horrid power. Screams of the dead sounded, for mere seconds... and Meda was limp, her pale form hitting the floor next to the horrified Father Walker. His face turned back, vision swimming with anger and sorrow, as Valiu gestured to the other mage, Jeil, to do the same with the priest. How the man could even stand, was a miracle... one whole day of knights beating on his door, and now this... everyone was dead... And he had just watched poor Meda fall victim to... Dead. Meda was dead. Everyone was dead now.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Jeil was the first to run, as the white-robed elderly mage raised his hands to the sky, uttering prayers of anger. Eben followed suit, spotting his brothers' panic. Valiu, however, remained still, unaware that his bodyguards had run off with the stone. What power could truly pierce his armor? He was quite certain that his shell could easily counter it. But still Walker continued, his hands glowing with a power greater than many could even hope to muster.
Many accounts of the story have been told, and the two mages themselves have told plenty more versions of the death of their commanding officer. Only a few facts are true, however. Sometime around twelve o' clock at night, a blinding white spear of utter brilliance spiked down from the sky and hit the village's church. Shortly after, it collapsed. Investigators found the body of a man in untouched armor, charred nearly to total ash and held together by coincidence. Under much more rubble was the crouched and crushed body of an elderly man, in robes that were once white. Under him was the untouched body of a small girl in a ragged dress, dead but untouched. Noone can say what it was… neither the cause of her death, nor the cause of the knight's death.
One year later (the nearby villages feared it to be haunted, and would be proven right soon), the town was suddenly overridden with undead, ghosts and skeletons. They were reported to be carrying out rotten bodies, body parts, and various items of value. Two days later, they were gone as well, every house ransacked.
Perhaps this is an urban legend, told and re-told again to the point that many of the facts are askew, or do not fit quite right... but many people still tell of a graveyard, out in the middle of a forest, where flowers surround gravestones and the open clearing seems almost blessed by the heavens merely for existing. Skeletons lie in the open air, some carrying shovels, chisels, hammers or wearing capes that emblazon insignia of nations long gone, and oft-forgotten. The graves' names (in ancient, forgotten and unreadable script) are carved not by living hands, perfectly chiseled with no fault, as if by men who know naught but patience, upon grey marble slabs that appear otherworldly, only half-there. They are all clumped together, not a grave off by itself.