The Central Church of Solis Votorrade sat snuggly at the base of a massive cliff, or at least, the bottom floors of it had. Over the many years since its creation, devotees had carved the cliffside into extensions of the main church. Holes of smoothly carved or magically shaped stone splattered across the vast cliffside, each connecting to the rest through a system of tunnels, also carved or shaped by magic.
The stone itself was nothing special, but the clear difference in texture between the dull stone and the magically smoothed stone that emanated a few reaches past the hole, when reflected by the suns, created such a sight of dazzling light that it had inspired others to attempt similar housing elsewhere, but the skill required to do as the Church of Solis came up short. The church seemed to have had the blessing of Solis themselves as the dazzling lights from the smoothed stone remained unique to the church.
Offices or rooms of worship sat revealed to the open public, only a magic seal to prevent wind or the elements from disturbing the contents inside. Religious officials hustled from room to room, carrying texts or documents, some commoners followed officials to different rooms for meetings or consultations.
Above all this, one office sat above the rest, no other near its place merely meters from the top of the cliff. This room was reserved for the head of the religion, the Avatar of the God Solis. It was merely a title, as the practice of having an avatar had not been needed for some 50 odd cycles by this point. The title itself had been passed from the last avatar. Now, it remains but a title carried by the current holder, Solm at a spry age of 63. Still in his prime, Solm has run the church as his God demands of him.
Following on blind faith, Solm has followed his god down many paths fraught with peril or credulity, but he has always been led through any and all tribulations thus far. Through the wars with the monsters and shadow creatures, through the cut throat politics with the royal families, Solm has followed faithfully and came to the result his god desired each and every time.
With Solis's blessing, all is good. Solm shuffled through his paperwork as he started to wrap up for the day. The suns were starting to crest the horizon as he turned in his chair. Looking down from his seat, he watched the thousands of people bustling about the city like ants. May Solis shine and protect he thought to himself. He knew Solis to be a kind and benevolent god, and often prayed for the flock he was entrusted.
It was often that Solm prayed for his people. It was less often his god responded directly.
My child of light, I shine and protect, but I require your touch to spread my protection. A darkness grows in the distance. You must prepare a crusade.
Solm's eyes widened as he heard his god in his mind, the warm tones of their many overlapping voices in unison ringing through his person. The sensations echoed as Solm knew his god's gaze remained to watch his response.
Solm fell from his chair to his knees, eyes staring directly at the two suns now half fallen below the horizon, ignorant to the fact that his knees broke through the seal protecting his office from the winds, hanging a fingers stride over the ridge as his voice spoke in a confident whisper. "Your radiance guides, your light protects." The reverence in his voice was clear to any who would hear him.
The warmth that spread through his body flared for a moment, his gods satisfaction made known before the presence quickly faded, leaving Solm chilled as he knelt, watching faithfully as the two suns finally drifted below the horizon, the office Solm remained in the last to be touched by the days last rays of light. Solm remained knelt until he saw day pass from twilight to night, moving only once he saw the stars shine. When he stood, he did so with conviction.
His god warned him of a darkness that grew. They tasked him with preparing a crusade. Solm knew not what this darkness was, but he would have it eradicated by his gods order.
-
Zanrick woke briefly from his undead slumber, his awareness barely tipping above sleep as his magic stirred. Mana drifted from his coffin and spread to the corpses that littered his underground tomb, stirring them from their eternal slumber to resume guard. It took mere moments before all under his control moved once more, resuming their tasks to prepare properly for their masters reawakening.
Zanrick let his minions do as they did while he let his consciousness drift off again. Whatever had triggered his reawakening had been small, barely a blip, but it had stirred him. He might as well get up and stretch his bones. It has been nearly 300 years of sleeping. He was about due for a walk, even if he was still unable to leave.
-
Bontus cackled as his cultists scrambled around the room, each carrying various body parts from corpses of all kinds. The large room he watched over was filled with tables of cultists scrambling to build their undead abominations. "This year's Body Building Contest is turning out to be a real freakfest, ma'lord." Bontus turned his head slightly to the one speaking to him, eyes still watching the various tables of different teams fighting over parts. One had just stabbed another in the throat over a lizardman's leg. Bontus grinned maniacly as he watched with glee.
"It really is. I'm delighted to see such enthusiasm for the games this year." Bontus started pacing around the upper ring that reached around the room, allowing viewers to watch from above as the bodies started to come together.
The one that spoke previously nodded and smiled with him. "Yes, the fact that the last 3 teams will be used in the final rounds as materials seems to have persuaded them all to do their best." The dark joy in his voice was clear.
Bontus only nodded, his interest enthralled in the carnage that started breaking out amongst the tables as someone had found that another team had stolen their parts.
-
Xaktrix the IV sat on his throne, his golden mane streaking with Grey, violet eyes heavy with exhaustion as they gazed out the windows, watching the sky fill with stars. Xaktrix listened to his Council rattle on about their politics, his disinterest hidden by his mask of professional neutrality. They had talked around this topic a number of times. The cults had been acting up again, graverobbing incidents happening to all sorts of people's all through his land. It happened each year, but this year had been more significant. For some reason, the number of graverobbings had doubled from the previous years.
Xaktrix knew how he would handle it, but his cowardice counsel has stopped him before. How they had managed to stronghold his own authority baffled him, but he understood why. If he did it his way, many of his people would die only to fuel the cults. He understood that the counsel wished to deal with a cult in a way to reduce numbers, as they have said about twenty times in this conversation alone, but all seemed stumped on how to actually go about it.
"We need the paladins of the church! Their holy magic destroys the undead with ease. If we had them, we could prevent infections and cease any spreading of necromantic magic." One counselor proclaimed for the third time.
Xaktrix sighed and stated bluntly. "For the last time Raymond, the church will not intervene unless we have conclusive proof of undead. Unless we are attacked, the church will not move."
Several councilors grumbled about the church, upset with the fact that their civilians had to be attacked and possibly killed before the church would react.
"If the church was more proactive. Damn blinders protect their 'flock' but hesitates to protect those not their own." Another councilor grumbled, barely audible to most.
Xaktrix acted as though he did not catch the grumble as he continued. "As nobles, it is our responsibility to protect our people. Increase watches and increase security for every settlement. We will find these cultists and present proof to the church if we must and convince them to move to assist us in exterminating this plague on our lands." The lion growled out the last bit, letting his own frustration bleed through and ending any complaints or follow ups as he ended the meeting for the night.
-
Simon walked home slowly, enjoying the night time air and clear skies. He had seen the stars many nights before, but he was always fascinated with them. He liked watching them twinkle their secrets at him, peeking for far off distances he somehow knew he couldn't comprehend.
His mind raced with the rules of Adventurers and Villains and how the other children played. Most of the day was filled with stories of previous matches and the stories they made up to go along with them. Simon had ended up listening for most of the day and echoes of those stories rang in his mind as he walked.
He reveled in the fact he had made friends so easily. He didn't quite know what he would pick for his choices, and planned to try multiple, but he thought of a better idea. He could ask his mother about what fighting styles he should try. She been an adventurer for a few years while she traveled with him, even if she was only iron ranked, she had some experience she could share.
With happy thoughts, Simon smiled as he slowly made his way home to sleep for the night before his training started in the morning.