Chronicles of Espiria Season 2
Episode 10.1 – Mercy in Rustport
Written by the Dude
Emily Freeman was out in the fields surrounding Rustport picking mushrooms to sell in town. Mold, mildew, and other fungi seemed to be all that could grow in the vicinity of Rustport, as if the corruption of the city poisoned even the soil surrounding it. While Emily harvested the mushrooms, she thought she heard an odd noise. She paused to briefly investigate the noise, but seeing nothing out of place, she soon returned to her work. This proved to be a mistake; moments later, she found herself bound, gagged, and blindfolded as she was dragged away from Rustport.
Eventually, her bindings were removed and she found herself at the feet of a Hypogean ogre, a commander of a small elite ogre force. The ogre snorted in Emily's face as he looked her over, then turned to his lieutenant.
"Are all the people of Rustport this pathetic?" the commander asked his lieutenant in the Hypogean tongue.
"Some have a bit more strength and will put up a fight, but very few have considerable strength. Rustport will be an easy target."
Though frightened, Emily had enough presence of mind to look around for a way of escape while the commander and his lieutenant conversed. She noticed a Rustport guard tied up in a corner, possibly tortured for information, but nothing else of value. All the exits were well guarded by heavily armed ogres; nothing short of Commander Hogan's battalion or General Estrilda's special forces would break through.
"Another stronghold for the hoard, with me as its governor!" the commander said triumphantly.
The commander laughed heartily as he lifted Emily by the collar of her dress. He looked her over another moment, then snorted again as he tossed her unceremoniously onto what appeared to be a cot.
"Make the necessary preparations!" the commander ordered his lieutenant. "We march at dusk!"
The lieutenant turned and left. Emily could tell from the commander's expression what he had in store for her; seeing this, she panicked and froze, closing her eyes and bracing for what she feared was inevitable. She nearly began to cry as she heard the commander draw closer, chuckling to himself as he licked his lips.
The next moment, however, she heard the sound of metal passing through flesh, smelled the scent of burning meat, felt a warm fluid splash on her face, heard the thud of a dead body hitting the ground. Moments later, she heard the roar of seemingly every ogre in the camp, as well as their stomping as they ran toward...something. For the next few moments, she heard the sound of metal clanging against metal, of flesh being rent asunder, of the pained cries of ogres cut short. She imagined Commander Hogan's forces, against all logic, somehow coming to her rescue, risking all to save her life; still, she dared not open her eyes to confirm her imaginings.
Finally, all fell silent, and Emily plucked up the courage to look around. The ogres were all dead, their bodies scattered across the floor, many in pieces. The one left standing, though, was not Commander Hogan, but a woman clad in white, blood stained armor, holding a pair of blades that glowed with a holy fire. The Hypogean blood that stained her armor and weapons was quickly burned away by this fire, leaving the woman glowing with a holy light.
"Athalia!" Emily whispered reverentially.
Emily was quick to roll off the cot and fall prostrate before the Harbinger of Justice. Athalia was aware of the presence of the two humans; neither Emily's act of humility, nor the guard's expression of fear, escaped her notice. She turned first to Emily and examined her heart.
Emily was married to an accountant in Rustport by the name of Aaron, with whom she had mothered two children. However, Aaron was not her first husband, but her second. Her first husband, a merchant in Ranhorn named Nicholas, cast her aside because he suspected her of infidelity. And as it happens, he was right.
Adultery. Emily was a liar and a temptress. She broke the sacred oaths she made before Nicholas and before the Celestials on her wedding day, choosing instead to satisfy her carnal lusts with another man. There was no telling how this corruption would taint the daughter she had with Nicholas.
Athalia's eyes burned against her for a moment, until she looked deeper. Following the divorce, Emily repented of her sin and swore from that day forward to follow the path of Dura. Emily's body would forever bear the stain of her sin, but her soul now bore the indelible mark of the Twins; she would still slip from Dura's path now and again, but she would forever be considered by the Twins a faithful servant of Dura. Athalia had no claim against her.
"Rise, Emily." Athalia commanded.
Emily stood before Athalia, still being careful to avert her gaze from Athalia's face.
"Take your family and leave Rustport at once. It is no place for a servant of almighty Dura."
"Of course, Athalia!" Emily said as she bowed again. "Thank you!"
Emily ran from the Hypogean camp as quickly as her legs would allow, looking back once with a grateful smile at Athalia. Athalia, in turn, watched Emily leave on her way back to Rustport, hopeful that she and her family would heed her command. Athalia wanted dearly to raze the city to the ground in punishment for all the sin that it tolerated and even encouraged; indeed, she considered allowing the Hypogeans to do it for her as a form of poetic justice. She ultimately decided against it, first because she knew that ridding the Hypogeans from the ruined city would be much more effort than destroying them in their temporary camp; second, because of people like Emily. Few in Rustport still bent their knee to Dura and her ways, but those that did were still numerous enough to convince Athalia to stay her hand. It was not the first time that a small, faithful minority prevented the destruction of the majority.
Athalia thought back to a time long ago. She had not been a Celestial very long, not in view of eternity. Annih was still loyal to his sister, and the Hypogeans did not yet exist. Still, no demon was ever necessary to lead Dura's children to rebel against her. Brother turned against brother, friends betrayed each other, neighbors plotted against one another, as they drifted ever further from Dura's path. Dura looked upon the evil that the world had fallen into with sadness and anger; Athalia saw no difference between these people and those who had murdered her family, except that now she viewed the destructive sin of the world on a global scale. She looked forward to dealing out the punishment they so richly deserved; she awaited only the permission of Dura, who thus far had only let her reap the worst of the sinners.
"How long must I wait before you allow me to do as you made me to do?" Athalia asked. "These people spurn your name endlessly, inventing new ways to sin every day! Even their good deeds are rendered evil by the darkness in their hearts! Let me bring justice back to this world! Let me remind them of the respect they once had for you, and the penalty for denying that respect!"
Dura looked down on the world again, ready to pronounce judgment, when a pleasing aroma wafted past her nose. Her sadness and anger turned to joy in an instant, while Athalia was just annoyed; it was the prayer of one of her children. Dura sought out the source of the prayer, eventually finding an old man full of grief over the loss of his neighbor's son in a gang war.
"Heavenly mother, have mercy on us! We have transgressed your laws and deserve the blade of your servant Athalia! I beg for your mercy on those like Nathaniel, who have had no chance to sin against you!"
Dura listened intently to the man, sharing his grief and offering her comfort. Athalia, reading his heart, saw a man who, in his younger days, had cheated his fellow iron miners out of enough money in crooked games of chance to retire on. Though he walked in Dura's ways now, Athalia saw no reason for Dura to bend her ear to such a liar and a cheat.
"I know, Athalia," Dura said. "I see what he did in his more foolish days, the same as you. I also see that he has repented of his sinful path and now follows in my ways. He is a good and faithful servant."
"Then I will spare him, but let me have the rest!"
"One day, perhaps, my daughter; today, I shall hear this man's prayer and give my children one final chance to return to me."
The sun had set on Espiria and the stars were beginning to appear in the night sky. Dura scooped up a handful of starlight before it fell to the ground and meticulously shaped it like clay into the forms of two children, a brother and sister. Once she was satisfied, she breathed on the lifeless forms; moments later, the two children breathed their first breaths of life as their eyes fluttered open. Athalia was curious how these two children were meant to serve Dura's purpose, but she remained silent and watched as they stood up and began to float a hand length above the ground.
"Your names are Elijah and Lailah." Dura said to her new creations, indicating the boy first, then the girl. "Your minds and souls are bonded; you know each others' thoughts and feel each others' emotions."
Elijah and Lailah hugged each other as they said to Dura, "Thank you, Mother."
Dura smiled. "I have made you two for a very special purpose. The people in the world below have forgotten my decrees, and that has brought them to lives of sadness and misery. I have made you to remind them of my decrees and bring them back to my path for them."
"What are your decrees for them?" Elijah asked.
Dura breathed on the two children again; instantly, they knew Dura's decrees as intimately as Dura herself. With a nod to each other, Elijah and Lailah rode down to Espiria on the same starlight from which they were formed.
"Two children to lead them all from their lives of sin?" Athalia asked, meaning no disrespect. "Do you think they will succeed?"
"They must, or the people of Espiria will be yours."
It took many years for the work of the two divine children, together known as the Twins, to bear fruit, but they did eventually guide Espiria from the brink of judgment and back onto Dura's path. Despite Dura's best efforts, Athalia never grew to like the Twins; but she did respect them and made pacts with them, establishing rules about who Athalia could reap and who she must spare.
Emily Freeman was a faithful servant of Dura; despite her dark past, Athalia had to spare her. But the same could not be said of the guard bound and gagged in the corner of the camp. This man, named Marcus Williamson, had served as a guard of Rustport for a little over a year, and, just like the other guards of Rustport, had used his position of authority and responsibility to obtain certain...favors from the citizenry. While the abuse of his position would be enough to condemn him, he was also guilty of contacting the Hypogean ogres that she had just dispatched. Hoping to gain certain favors from the ogres, he betrayed the people of Rustport and offered the ogres whatever information about the city they wanted. The fact that the ogres betrayed him in turn did not sponge away his guilt.
"Marcus Williamson, you stand guilty of grievous crimes against almighty Dura!"