The bald man now stood in front of Ardent and the lord. Both lowered their heads in respect; “This is a surprise… Head priest..” The lord said in a calm tone while raising his head at a steady pace. The bald man smiled, “It’s all the God's land… and I’m nothing but a God's messenger… I go whenever and wherever he desires..” He added with a slightly snarky expression. The lord’s brows expanded the moment the priest’s words escaped his lips, “So I suppose there is some message you need to convey?...To us?” The lord said in a somewhat concerned and curious tone. “Indeed..” The priest said while raising his right hand. Recognizing the gesture, one of the knights that had arrived with him, walked ahead while holding something in a green box.
Arion’s uneasiness grew further as he followed the green box moving towards the white marble dome. He couldn’t hold his curiosity any longer and turned towards his mother; “Who are these people?” he asked in a restless voice. The Baroness looked up at his eyes, “He is the head priest of Prakasa; the God of light. The knights with him are the seven pillars of light, their job is to protect the priest.” The Baroness replied in an apparently calm tone. But her holding Arion’s arm tightly and the look in her eyes unsettled Arion quite a bit. He noticed the priest holding the green box and decided to hold his questioning a bit.
The priest touched the box with his head and whispered something. To Arion’s surprise, all three of his family members immediately lowered their heads, almost appearing in sync with the priest. Just as the box was opened;
[HUM!]
A bright flash of light appeared out of it. The light felt warmer than anything Arion had felt. Its brightness was so intense that he was forced to turn his head away. The back of his head; facing the light, kept getting hotter and hotter as the desire to sprint in the opposite direction began making its way inside Arion’s heart. Suddenly, the box was closed, making the intense light suddenly disappear. Arion widely opened his eyes and immediately turned back. To his shock, not a single person other than him appeared bothered by the light even in the slightest. The moment Arion’s gaze met with the priest, it made his skin crawl.
The priest handed over the box to the green knight standing beside him, while keeping eye contact with Arion. He began speaking while his gaze became more and more unbearable for Arion, “...A golden apple has grown on the divine tree. It means-”
“A God’s descent,” the lord finished the priest’s sentence in a heavy voice. The words he just had spoken felt unbelievable to himself as his heart kept racing faster and faster. “The light god to be precise.” The priest said with a condescending smile on his face. “Why bring this news to us? Shouldn’t you head to the capital first?” The lord said in a slightly loud voice, in an attempt to take the priest's attention away from Arion. But the priest didn’t answer him; he began walking towards Arion.
“Head priest…” The lord uttered as he attempted to walk behind him. But just as he took one step ahead, he heard two swords colliding. Glancing to his left, he found Sir Eonard’s silver sword pressing against the golden-hilted sword of the green knight. “What are you doing, knight? No one is allowed to interrupt the knights of the temple,” the knight in the green armor said in an enraged tone while trying to push his sword further. “You can’t pull a sword on the lord, not till I’m here,” Sir Eonard said while pushing the knight back with a single push of his sword. The eyes visible inside the green helmet were clearly enraged, but Sir Eonard stayed calm and pointed his sword in front of the knight.
“You might change your opinion,” the priest said, smiling wickedly at Arion. Arion’s instinct screamed at him to run with all his might, but the thought of his mother right behind him overpowered this desire. “How old did you say the boy was?” The priest asked while signaling to one knight still standing at the place they had first arrived at. Arion’s heart felt as if it would burst out of his chest as it kept thumping harder and harder.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The same uneasiness as when the box first appeared returned, this time much more intense as the knight brought a small golden bottle and handed it to the priest. The moment the lid opened, Arion’s body got covered in goosebumps. He began shaking uncontrollably as a single emotion overwhelmed his being – utter fear. Arion instinctively brought his hands forward to cover his face as the priest dipped his fingers in the water inside the bottle and sprayed it over Arion.
“AAAAARGH!” A painful scream almost tore apart Arion’s throat as an intense burning sensation appeared from the six droplets that fell on his arms. Without realizing what he was doing, he sprinted in a direction away from the priest as fast as he could. “ARION!!” The baroness exclaimed with all her heart as a fountain of tears flooded her eyes immediately. The lord and Ardent were too stunned to say anything. The only reaction the lord could muster up was sprinting towards his wife.
Amidst all the mind-numbing chaos his family was going through, the lord noticed the priest grinning while staring at the back of Arion running away. “Capture him,” he said while giving the bottle back to the green knight beside him.The lord’s white knights awaited his order while the green knights were running after Arion. The lord still kept thinking rationally. In order to avoid any further conflict, he concluded he couldn’t stop the knights from capturing Arion or a fight would break out. Instead, he turned towards the priest. “What are you doing, Head Priest?” He asked while doing his absolute best to control his rage. While in his peripheral vision, Arion was captured by the knights and was getting dragged towards the six pillars.
With a satisfied grin, the priest looked at the lord and replied, “Oh Lord of the Phoenix Land… YOUR SON IS A HELLSPAWN!” The priest exclaimed at the top of his lungs, while the knight under the white marble dome rang the bell three times. Within moments of the metallic sound appearing, the previously dispersed crowd began reforming.
His words fell like thunder over the family. “But, but Arion hasn’t shown any signs of that before? He is just a normal human,” The lord desperately said while shaking his head in utter disbelief. “Oh? So your pathetic self will teach ME how to evaluate for demonification? Explain that then,” the priest’s sudden change of tone surprised the lord. The priest continued with a grin, “Demons can’t bear a single drop of holy water on their skin. They get burned, just like that filthy hellspawn.”
“STOP CALLING HIM THAT!” Ardent exclaimed with sheer rage echoing in his voice while running towards the priest. Faster than his eyes could perceive, the green knight beside the priest jumped in front of Ardent and punched him in the abdomen. The blow threw Ardent more than a meter away and forced the air out of his body. Coughing and then gasping for air, Ardent kept shaking with intense pain engulfing his mind. To him, the single punch from the knight felt like a boulder crushing his internal organs. “ARDENT!” Both the lord and baroness exclaimed while rushing towards Ardent. The baroness supported Arden’s head on her lap, while the lord rubbed his back. The priest wasn’t least bit interested in the family’s endeavors. He cleared his throat, “DID YOU CITIZENS HEAR ME CORRECTLY?” The priest said loudly with his arms wide open. He kept smiling at Arion, who was as confused as terrified. “According to the will of the god of light… Prakasa… This family shall go through divine judgment.” The priest finished with words that sent chills down the lord’s spine.
Sir Eonard still had his sword unsheathed, his ears ignored everything that was said, and his mind was solely focused on the lord. He stepped ahead with the intention of fighting against the green knights. The twelve white knights also unsheathed their swords, causing a metallic ring to echo throughout the place in harmony. Before anyone could move even a single inch further, a bright white beam of light fell from the sky directly above the priest.Following that, a strange unseen power froze the twelve knights and Sir Eonard. His blue eyes glared at the priest while his sword almost vibrated due to his rage. But all of his anger was futile, as he couldn’t move a single inch even after desperately trying.
“Now…. as the messenger of the gods… I shall bestow you the judgment of the gods.” The priest said while smiling at the lord, who himself was frozen in place due to the same unseen power, along with the baroness and Ardent. Meanwhile, Arion had lost all strength in his body following the bright light’s appearance. He lay on the floor, desperately staring at his family with tear-filled eyes. The next few moments felt like a horrifying nightmare, as knights slowly moved behind the lord, the baroness, and Ardent. Arion’s spine froze with fear as he saw three swords being raised above his family’s heads.
[End of chapter: 3]