One day, while the army of Nuista was marching to attack the city of Blovik, the soldiers were ambushed by the soldiers of the Blovik Empire. As usual, the soldiers were captured and taken into captivity. However, these soldiers did not kill them right away. Instead, they kept them alive for three days. During that period, the soldiers were subjected to terrible tortures, such as having their skin peeled off and their bones crushed.

After three days, the Grand Master ordered them to throw captured soldiers down into the well in the underground chamber. The soldiers screamed loudly, begging for mercy and forgiveness. But none of them were ever seen again. They were sacrificed for the sake of protecting the city, but would later reveal that they were sacrificed, including the citizens of the Blovik Empire for the god they believed, which turned out to be nothing more than a fake.

This incident caused great fear and panic among the citizens of the empire. Many fled from the city. A few who remained behind hid themselves deep beneath the ground where they lived their lives in hiding.

The city of Blovik was left alone for several years.

Some time passed since then when the king of the country of Nuista was going through a difficult period. Some of the refugees who fled were from the Blovik Empire. It has been four years since the incident occurred at Blovik. When the king's advisors asked him again if he wanted to go ahead with invading the city, the king said no.

A little bit of time passed, and the king began to have doubts as he received some reports of a new religion that appeared in Blovik."

The king was very interested in hearing more about this. The king called a meeting with his ministers, and together they decided to send an elite squad to investigate it. They knew it would be dangerous. If anything should happen to any of them, it would cause the king a lot of trouble.

Thus, the King of Nuista ordered that if it was too dangerous, they have to retreat. They set off to investigate the mysterious religion in Blovik. After a long journey, they arrived at Blovik. There were people walking around outside and inside the walls of the city, so the soldiers disguised themselves and entered the city.

They continued to walk along the street until they came to the place where the city wall met the road. They stopped just outside the gate. Outside, a group of priests were praying. Inside the city wall, there were many temples. On the ground lay a large number of dead bodies.

The soldiers approached slowly so as not to attract attention. The men saw that most of the dead bodies belonged to priests. In addition, they saw the body of the Grand Master of the city, lying on the ground near the altar.

As the soldiers watched, one of the priests raised a dagger high above his head and stabbed it into the Grand Master's chest. Blood gushed out, splashing against the floor, soaking the robes of the priests, and falling on the dead man's face. The priest thrust the knife again and again until finally he removed the heart and placed it into a bowl. The bowl was filled with blood, and the priest sprinkled it over the head of the Grand Master.

Then the Grand Master's mouth opened, and words started coming out of it. The words seemed to be spoken in Blovik language, though the soldiers couldn't understand them. So, they waited quietly and listened attentively to every word that came out of the Grand Master's mouth.

"I am the Grand Master of this city," he said, "and I will give you life if you accept my power and worship me. Accept me as your master, and live forever."

Many of the priests stood up and cried out:

"We will serve you!"

In response, the Grand Master said:

"You must drink blood and eat flesh; you must sacrifice yourself and offer yourselves to me; you must take all the pain and suffering for myself; you must die for me, and I shall save you."

At this, the priests fell down on the ground, screaming in agony. One after another, they died, each one taking part in the ritual offered to the Grand Master.

The soldiers could do nothing but watch. They were afraid that if they tried to interfere or even leave the scene, they would also fall under the spell of the Grand Master.

Finally, only two priests were left, and they looked like ordinary people. However, the soldiers knew that they had taken part in the ritual. As they gazed upon these two, they realized that they weren't ordinary human beings.

One of them spoke. He said, "We are now going to serve you."

The other replied, "Yes, we are going to serve you, Grand Master."

Then they both knelt before the Grand Master.

"Good! Now we can begin our service."

With that, they drank the bowl full of blood and ate the heart, which made the disguised soldiers who were watching silently frown in disgust. But they could think of nothing else to do than continue to watch, as the two priests continued their gruesome service to the Grand Master.

After a while, the Grand Master took out a golden box from which he drew forth a jeweled crown. He put it on the heads of the two remaining priests and pronounced:

"Now you are my priests, and I will rule this city. You must obey me completely."

He gave the two priests a ring, saying, "Put this on your finger, and you shall always be able to speak the truth." Then he told them to lead the army against Blovik.

This time, one of the elite squad of Nuista that was silently watching the whole ceremony, wanted to intervene but was stopped by their captain. The captain was afraid that if anyone interfered, they would all become victims of the spell cast over them. So they stayed silent and watched the spectacle.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

When the two priests had disappeared into the city, the soldiers moved forward, hoping to find something useful in the temple. They searched everywhere, but they found no evidence whatsoever that the priests were hiding anything valuable. All they discovered was a secret entrance leading underground. They followed it through a narrow passage and then came to a door with iron bars. The captain lifted them and let the soldiers enter the building.

There they found a room full of dead bodies, all dressed in black robes. They recognized some of them as being those whom they had seen praying outside the city walls. Many others had been killed inside the church. There were piles of bones and skulls.

It turned out that the Grand Master had used magic to compel all the inhabitants of the city to attend mass, at which he preached.

Thus, the squad decided to return to Nuista about this and not engage directly with the Grand Master. It would be dangerous to be under the control of his spell.

So the soldiers returned to Nuista. Before long, however, more reports arrived, telling how the Grand Master had begun to raise an army to attack the Nuista country.

The king sent an expeditionary force to defeat him. After many days of fighting, the Blovik Empire fell into ruins once again, but the Grand Master was nowhere to be found.

However, this time, the king did not mobilize his elite squad. he instead mobilizes his own shadow guards. The king had ordered his own guards to find the Grand Master and capture him once and for all, but if the Grand Master would resist, he would be killed on the spot. This was the order given to the squad.

Days passed by as the shadow guards tried to track down the Grand Master's trail. One day, as they advanced toward the city, however, they heard news that the Grand Master had fled to a certain village, where he lived secretly. They went there, and they found that the village had been transformed into a fortress and that the Grand Master had set up his headquarters in the castle.

The shadow guards attacked the castle at nighttime, but when they tried to find the Grand Master, they found out he escaped again.

The captain of the shadow guards decided he'll be the one to pursue him along with one other, while the rest will be arrested and find other associates of the Grand Master. And so, the captain pursued him through the forest, trying to catch him in the open fields so they could kill him. They were able to find him and had a fight, but the Grand Master found a way to escape again.

However, the captain of the shadow guards was able to leave a wound on the Grand Master and left a trail of blood. The captain followed it and soon found a cave. Inside, he saw the Grand Master lying wounded.

The Grand Master cried out: "I have done what I was supposed to do, and now I am ready to die!"

As he lay on the ground, the captain approached him with his sword drawn, intending to stab him through the heart.

When the captain thrusts his sword, a bright light suddenly filled the cave. As the light grew brighter, the captain was blinded and stepped back, releasing his hold of the sword. When he regained his sight, he found himself standing next to the Grand Master's body.

He called for his subordinate to bring his body back to the castle, and will be exhibited as an example to those who will again worship his cult.

And so the Grand Master was finally destroyed. The Nuista country had spread the news of the fall of the Grand Master's death and awareness of the cult. Whoever is suspected of worshipping them, will report it to the Nuista country stationed at Blovik and will be executed.

***

Valens kept quiet after listening to the shadow's story. After a few moments of silence, Val spoke, "So, Nuista was the name of Clareo before."

"Yes," the shadow replied.

Valens added, "If we take into account the several kingdoms that invaded the Blovik Empire before..."

"That means, Blovik Empire is located in the south?"

"Yes."

Val frowned at the shadow's confirmation and although minutes had passed, the general in front of him was patiently waiting for him to talk.

He looked at the general with a serious expression and said, "Sir, I think I know where the Blovik Empire is located."

The general put down his cup of tea on the table, and asked, "Where?"

"South."

The general stared at the young man blankly, then looked around the room, then stood up and walked over to the window and leaned against the frame. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply like someone just awakened from sleep. He opened his eyes and looked at the boy and asked, "I am wondering, how did you know all of this information?"

"Well..." Valens started, then hesitated.

"Don't worry," the general said gently, looking straight at him, "it can't hurt to tell me everything. So, let us hear it."

Val was about to say something when the shadow talked in his mind. It said, "You can tell him that you saw images and symbols when you first awakened your ability. We can't trust him about my existence."

Valens nodded silently, then said, "Sir, when I first awakened my ability, there were...symbols and images that appeared in my mind."

The general listened quietly until he finished, then turned away and looked outside the window. He sighed heavily and muttered, "So, they are really real? Then what happened?"

"They disappeared after a few days and I didn't see any more after that. But later on, I saw the same symbol again when...we first had our mission."

The general turned back to the youth and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"No, sir," answered Valens.

The general sat down beside him and said, "Thank you very much."

"It's nothing," said Valens, getting up to go.

"Wait a minute," said the general, "I know I said earlier that this will be between us. Do your brothers know about this?"

"What I have told them was only I saw images and symbols, but I did not also expect that it will be related to our missions."

The general looked at him sternly and said, "Are you saying you lied to them?"

Valens lowered his head. "No, Sir, I'm not lying. I just don't have the time yet to tell them about this."

"Then when will you tell them?"

"When things settle down, perhaps."

The general shook his head. "There's no settling down with your line of work Valens."

The general stood up and went to the door. Before leaving, he placed a hand on Valens' shoulder and said, "Try telling them right away. You'll find that they won't care at all about the truth, but rather be happy to know you trusted them with your secret."

The general left the room without another word, closing the door behind him.

After the general left, Val was left in the general's office alone. The boy stood by the table and pondered about the general's words. His brothers might not care if he revealed more about his ability but he knew he couldn't tell them now. It would affect their lives too much, and it wasn't fair to burden them with such a thing.

Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. It was Exeo. "Come in," said Valens.

Exeo entered and stood in front of Valens. He was holding a bundle of letters tied together with string. He was surprised to see that Val was the one inside and not the general. He looked at Val as if trying to read him, but Val simply stood there, staring at the floor.

Exeo took out the letter he carried and placed it on top of the general's desk. He noticed that Val just silently stood by the wall, so he said, "What did you talk about with the general?"

Val remained silent and still standing where he was. After minutes of silence, Val said, "I...I need to tell you and big brother Ember something."

Exeo looked at him suspiciously.

"Do you remember the day when I first awakened my ability?"

"Yeah. Is it related to that?"

Val nodded and added, "I didn't tell you everything."

Exeo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I haven't told you the truth," Valens admitted.

He continued, "Because I was afraid to tell you, but now I know for sure. I need to tell you and big brother Ember about this because it's related to our missions."

Exeo raised his eyebrows, looking confused. "Our missions?"

"Yes."

Exeo sighed but had a gentle expression on his face. He patted Val's head and said, "Well, if it's really important, then I'll have to get Ember and we'll have to go back to the manor for now to talk."

Valens nodded.

"Alright, then let's go get Ember."