***Year 27, 1st era, day thirty of the Third Quarter (seven years later)***

-City of Uri-

*Speaker Gorn*

Gorn felt his age more than ever before, it had not crept on him so much as suddenly struck him a few years back. A squire from the Paladin order had to accompany him wherever he went now, helping him walk and move as he tried to go about his duties. Many times, the Paladins, even nobles and citizens, had expressed concern for his health and suggested that he retire. Gorn did not have the heart to explain that the oaths he had taken would not allow him to do that.

He thought back to his own world… Gorn had been a criminal, the worst of the worst for years and decades… If there was a crime he had not committed, he had not heard of it yet. He was caught and slated for execution when the Grace of the Words fell on him, those Words gave him a revelation and as was traditional for when the Gods directly interfered in the world, he was pardoned for his crimes and brought into the Church.

But that pardon did not mean he was free from his sins.

“Speaker Gorn,” there was a knock at the doorway of his small apartment in Uri, he had refused larger quarters on principle. “May I come in?”

Gorn recognized the voice and smiled as he invited the Paladin in, “Steven, my son! I am so sorry that I could not make it to your raising ceremony… Age has made me frail.”

“Nonsense, you are healthy as ever!” Steven laughed, and Gorn smiled, appreciating the sentiment in those words. Steven had come to be a good friend of Gorn, and as far as he was concerned, a true ally of justice and peace.

“What brings you here today?” His squire attendant helped Gorn shuffle over to a chair and carefully sat him down.

“I was thinking…” Steven hesitated, well, he was still so young. “I never really thanked you for what you did for me.”

“You never needed to,” Gorn smiled gently. “It was the Gods who brought you to my attention, and your own strength that brought your opportunity to fruition.”

“You can’t brush me off this time,” Steven laughed. “Do me one more favor and let me give you a proper thanks!”

“Haha!” The laughter caused Gorn to have a coughing fit, and his squire went to bring him a glass of water. After he had a drink to clear his throat and thanked the squire, he bade Steven to continue. Gorn could not deny him the opportunity when he asked like that.

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“When you spoke to me all those years ago,” Steven said quietly. “I did not understand what those words meant. I thought that sin and crime and punishment could only land on one party, that my crime was more punishment than my father’s crime was worth.”

Gorn remembered that time, remembered the scarred and unhappy young man consumed by his own guilt while at the same time knowing there was nothing else he could have done. It was a paradox that few people could easily escape.

“You told me that I had lived in sin, yet committed none, it was not something I could believe at the time…” Steven’s eyes unfocused as he thought back to that time, but they did not have the darkness someone would expect from a man thinking on such painful memories. “I learned that sin feeds on those who are weak, and that everyone is. It feeds and it spreads from person to person, society to society, and system to system. The one who commited sin is the one who began it all, and all others are living in the sin that person birthed. It is in some ways just as corrupting as committing sin yourself, and in some ways worse, because you are caught in darkness and lose the ability to see where it went wrong.”

Gorn nodded, “darkness and sin can conceal and obfuscate the correct path, it is not a sin to be unable to see in that darkness. We are only human, and no human can see through that alone.”

“You guided me through that, and allowed me to see the way to redemption.” Steven said seriously, “You gave me the strength to break that cycle of sin and darkness, and to break that cycle for others. I was able to spread virtue and heal the wounds and scars that sin leave. You took me from hating myself to having a duty I am proud to fulfill. Thank you, Speaker Gorn, for all you have done for me and others.”

“Steven,” Gorn said slowly. “I was once the originator of sins. A man who was not touched by sin, but turned himself over to it and sowwed it about me as a farmer sows seeds. The Gods spoke to me, and their Words changed my life. The Gods themselves intervened in my life, and I cannot help think it was because they knew I would be summoned here. I deserve no thanks, because everything I have done is my punishment and my redemption.”

*Church Historian in “Origins of the Church,” found in the Church’s secret archives*

The last member of the order to meet with the Speaker before he passed on was the soon-to-be Cardinal Steven. He personally tested the Orb and confirmed that the guidance of the Speaker will be with the Church forever. However, that guidance was to be kept a secret from the masses after the incident that happened later.

Thinking that the Orb could be used to achieve immortality, some of the priests in Uri’s chapel conspired with certain nobles and underworld figures that culminated in an assault on the chapel by a mixed group of noble soldiers, mercenaries, and a few of the squires from the Paladin order.

With most of the Paladins on the front lines against the demons, the Church’s forces were overwhelmed and for the first time in the Church’s history, the Cardinals themselves fought in battle. Six out of the seven Cardinals fell that day, including Cardinal Steven whose last heroic stand before the Orb has survived to this day as an example of justice, duty, and sacrifice.

However, what happened to those who made it to the relic’s chamber remains a mystery. The Orb was untouched, and the invaders were never found. Cardinals later asked the Speaker what occurred that day, but were refused an answer. The only conclusion this scribe can reach is that the Speaker is not without the ability to touch this world if he must.

Praise be to the Words, for we shall never be without our founders guidance.