Solsday, 19th of Febrinna, 5662 AE, 468th Year of the 5th Era
The halls of the village’s church were filled with the voices of the choir and the congregation singing hymns as the stone walls of the building did well to reverberate the choral singing without the use of modern technology, only relying on traditional acoustics to strengthen and create a mystical presence. The singing was accompanied by the playing of a mighty pipe organ built into the walls of the church. The beauty of the atmosphere was only added by the bright morning sun’s light shining and permeating through the beautifully illuminated stained-glass windows.
For as long as he stayed under Alfred’s roof, Charles had made a point to attend the church service each Sunday that he could both to appease Alfred as well as prevent any build up of rumors about his faith that may arise from the villagers should he not be spotted to attend service regularly. At best they would think him an impious lout, at worst, perhaps a secret atheist, or heaven forbid - a catholic. Charles had personally long wrestled with his own personal faith ever since he was awakened for the first time in the modern world and coming to gripes that there were many other heretics, heathens, and the like that were resurrected along with him as well as all the discoveries made by modern science and the development of the doctrines of his own Roman Catholic Church that he did not necessarily wholeheartedly agree with. New councils proclaiming ‘new’ doctrines which the church had claimed as merely ‘revealing what had always been true’.
All of these developments didn’t go so far as to push Charles to the point of atheism or outright protestantism, but it did do much to soften his stance in turn towards such doctrinal differences. While at the academy, he kept up his obligations as a Roman catholic and submitted himself to all the new councils of the Roman Church, he would be lying if he said he was whole-heartedly convinced of the fact that there was no salvation outside the Roman Catholic church, at the very least when it came to those with valid baptisms who deserved to be named ‘Christian’ by virtue of that baptism.
With all that being said, even more so in this entirely new world where there existed an entirely parallel religion of Christianity with doctrines and teachings that were nearly identical to the faith that existed on Earth. Besides the books that Alfred had provided him, Charles also made it a habit to put aside some time everyday to read Orbis’s version of Sacred Scripture. He was even more shocked that the contents of it were nearly the exact same on most parts with verses paralleling Earth’s bible nearly verbatim, but of course there were other completely new chapters and verses that dealt with this world’s existence of magic as something almost completely divorced from ideas of satan-worship, mana being a sort of divine resource on its own like any other form of matter. But despite all that, the liturgies and theology that had developed in this world were still analogous to the development of Church History on Earth.
But still, even with all of this apparent, Charles could not deny the fact that it was still technically a different world and he technically didn’t have any obligations to fulfill his minimum mass attendance in this world since there were literally no Roman Catholic churches here at all and frankly, equating the world’s Church of Sanctum as the Roman Catholic church would cause a slew of its own issues. But at the same time, it was difficult for him to justify to himself to not attend any form of worship in this world as the God that they worshiped, the liturgies that they practiced, and the theologies that they held to were too similar to things he himself held as true.
With all of that being said, Charles had decided for himself that - at least for his time in the current world of Orbis - he would be a man who embraced the tenets of the Protestant Reformation. It was enough justification for him that technically speaking no church here had true apostolic succession from that on Earth, but the fact that the reformation of the church of Feldonia were led by its highest clerical officials with legitimate apostolic succession - at least as far as Orbis was concerned - he would be a schismatic at worst.
All this mental gymnastics Charles was wrestling with in his mind was solely for him to justify himself participating in Holy Communion within this current church. That coupled with the fact that he was to be adopted into the Protestant Royal Dynasty of Lamellarouge, it wouldn’t hurt to ingratiate himself into the ecclesiastical authority that prevailed in the realm.
As Charles was enjoying the choral chanting of the hymns by the choir, the offertory was taking place as the celebrant of the service, the Reverend Thomas Hardhelm, had placed the Host and Chalice upon the altar as the deacons next to him swayed the thuribles around as the smoke of the incense floated up towards the ceiling, filling the air with its scent. Charles had placed a couple of copper coins into the collection plate that was being passed around. Some could call him cheap, but seeing as how he didn’t have a clear and stable source of income as of yet, he had to make do with not spending too much on things that were ceremonial like this.
As the collection had gone around the congregation of the Morning Service session, the people continued to sing a hymn until the Reverend father faced towards the altar while holding up the communion host and began saying his prayer to which everyone bowed their heads in reverence.
“It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God!” The Priest had said, his eyes focused towards the host he was holding in front of a great stained glass window of the Redeemer Himself in his Ascension towards Heaven “Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying…”
The congregants answered, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts: Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”
After that, most everyone who was strong enough in the church proceeded to kneel as they folded their hands and kept their heads bowed. Alfred, who was sitting next to me at the front pew, merely bowed his head as he held down his body upon his seat to prevent any imbalance that could make him fall off.
Reverend Thomas continued, “All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.”
Reverend Thomas placed back the chalice and the host to the altar as he lay both his hands upon the tabernacle and the goblet of wine as he said the words of consecration, “For in the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ Likewise, after supper, he took the cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink ye all of this; for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins. Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.’”
After saying a few more prayers followed by the congregation, Father Thomas faced us once more and said another prayer as he raised his hands with the chalice and communion plate stretched towards the congrefation, “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen!”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
And with that, one by one, the people got out of the pews to receive the eucharist. Charles had helped move Alfred onto his wheelchair as he pushed him forward towards the celebrant and the deacons as they administered the Holy Eucharist towards the approaching congregation. Charles was not used to receiving the Eucharist with his hand despite the church at the academy using the Novus Ordo mass, and so he fumbled a bit as he kept switching my hands over the other in order to see which hand it was best to hold Christ’s body in. Seeing Charles’ confused state, the old priest merely chuckled before he dipped the eucharist into the chalice and placed it onto his hand as he said, “The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserves thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving. The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful…”
As Charles ate the eucharist and took a sip from the small chalice, he made the sign of the cross before he returned to his seat next to Alfred and Rosie. Soon enough, after all the people in the church had been administered with the eucharist, Father Thomas moved on to close the Sunday Service with a prayer. After the prayer, he lifted up his hands towards us and what he did next reminded Charles once more that he was clearly not on Earth despite all the familiarity. As the palms of his hands faced towards the congregation, they began to glow bright and shine a white-golden hue as it felt as if every bone in their bodies and every fiber of their being had been refreshed and rejuvinated. Charles knew it was probably a relatively common magic taught amongst the clergy, but all of this really added towards the sacredness of the ceremony. All this to say, Charles couldn’t even begin to imagine how the mass and liturgy in this world’s equivalent of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches would be. If the famously modest and humble protestants could show such a superb liturgy, what more then the liturgy of some of the most traditional and grand old churches.
Regardless of Charles’ surprise, Reverend Thomas continued as he said the final blessings while motioning the sign of the cross towards the congregation, “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.”
“Amen!” Everyone responded.
“Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.”
“Thanks be to God!” Everyone responded once more as mass was officially over and soon after everyone started dispersing and heading back towards each of their homes. It was Solsday, the Lord’s Day, and a day of rest for the majority of the people in the Realm, including Charles. Alfred always made it a point to give Sundays off to Charles as he too needed time to rest and recuperate. This particular Sunday was to be no exception.
The church was located at the north-end of the village but since it was a village, it wasn’t too distant from the Village’s main office building which was by design placed in a strategic location to be able to be easily reached from any part of the Village. It only took a relaxing stroll of about fifteen minutes for Charles to return to the main office building with Alfred and Rosie. As they entered the building, Rosie immediately went off to start preparing the dishes that would be cooked for afternoon lunch. Charles had offered to help Rosie with the chores but she insisted that it was fine and that he should look to rest instead.
With that being said, Charles relented before he re-entered the main hall of the building where Alfred was already seated once more in front of his desk as he went through some of the files that were stacked up on it. Even though Alfred gave everyone else a day off, it felt as if he gave it to everyone else but himself. Seeing this, Charles couldn’t help but sigh as he approached the desk.
“You know, Alfred, you should learn to give yourself a break as well…” Charles said as she inspected what the old man was looking at which elicited a scoff and a chuckle.
“Oh please, let me keep my mind sharp whilst I still have it. Any more idleness from my own mind will have it grow stiff and prone to senility and you wouldn’t want that now, would you?”
“I suppose not.”
“Besides… a letter had just arrived for you from the Ashfell guild.” as Alfred said that, he held up a sealed envelope towards me. I could see that the seal upon the envelope was that of a rampant guardant griffon holding a sword which I knew to be the symbol of the adventurer’s association of Feldonia. As Chalres grabbed the letter, he carefully opened the seal to read its contents. He could already tell from the seal that it was most probably sent to him from the Guild at Ashfell, i.e. from its Branchmaster Sir James Hunt. Charles began to read the letter aloud as he voiced out the most important contents of the letter.
“‘Dear Charles, Hero of Dansville and Fellow-Vanquisher of the Malcanis Cult, I hope this letter finds you in good health…’ et cetera et cetera. ‘I am well glad to inform you that preparations have been put in place to officially induct yourself among the ranks of the Realm’s finest adventurers. When this letter reaches you, I hope you would be well prepared to head over to Ashfall with haste to confirm your position officially as the newest member of our guild… Due to the martial prowess you have personally displayed, I had personally dismissed the requirements of testing that is usually required for a prospective adventurer to take in order to be given their rank.
On the matter regarding the spoils and plunder from the subjugation of the Malcanis Cult, we had finished tallying up the official numbers and have set aside your spoils for you and have deposited it within the confines of the Association’s treasury for you to claim. With all that being said, I can only say once more that your presence within Ashfall would be required for the official ceremony. This letter is coated with the Guild’s personal seal and will act as my own personal letter of recommendation so that provided you have this letter on your person, you will not be required to go through our usual security measures and would only be required to hand this letter for confirmation with our guild’s receptionist.
All this to say, I look forward to seeing you once more, young Master Charles. May the Lord keep you always and may you brighten the future of Feldonia and all of Archior with it.
Sincerely, James Hunt, Branchmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild in Ashfall.”
As Charles had finished reading he saw that Alfred had smiled as he folded his hands on top of his stomach as he was reclining on his chair as usual. It looked to Charles that the old man had a tinge of pride on his face. Charles had been somewhat excited by the fact that he was to be accepted into the Adventurer’s guild by such an esteemed measure of circumstance. A special invite, so to speak. What excited him even more so than all that was the matter of his previous quest’s rewards which he was very stoked to receive.
“So, with that being said, do I have your leave to make way to Ashfell?” Charles asked the old man with a wide grin.
“You can make your preparations after you have your lunch, Charlie. It would do you no good to leave on an empty stomach. Besides, I will be assigning a guide to come along with you to Ashfell. While the town isn’t located too far from here, being connected by a major road, since you’re new, you’d still be better off with a proper guide.” Alfred gave his answer “Besides, I have a letter I will write to Hunt in preparation for our departure to the Capital for Emperor’s Day. That is still our current most important short-term goal, understood?”
“Loud and clear, sir.” Charles said as he gave a half serious salute.
“Good. Now go out and find Jasper for me as I set all of this up for you so we can get you a horse as well. Though I know you’d probably be able to run faster than any horse we have, it would still be wiser to preserve as much of your strength and mana as you possibly can.”
And with that, Chalres nodded in agreement as he headed out to look for Alfred’s most trusted second in this village. Much preparation needed to be done in the following days and Charles was practically giddy at the thought that a new adventure might be on the horizon.