It is said that our forebears once hunted the sky lords, the dragons of yore. There was a being, of whom the old tales refer to simply as the ‘Hero,’ who taught us of the dragon lore. According to the stories, it was he who taught us how to kill them. But the price of making a great winged one fall was great, for with every dragon slain, countless human lives were lost.

- In Search of the Dragons, by Captain Fiorella Haldane.

I was struck with no small amount of astonishment to find that the Crows and Ravens had melded seamlessly together. A remarkable unity of purpose prevailed among them, and duties were shared with an admirable sense of fairness. The pragmatic and hardworking nature of these caravan people left little room for complaint or argument.

However, with a larger group now, the pace of the journey inevitably slowed down. Nevertheless, Laes steadfastly reassured me that we remained on schedule. Our next destination, the Rump, was a collection of hills that promised refuge from the merciless deluge of the Weeping. There we would wait out the rains before we would brave the treacherous expanse of the Whispering Wastes along the Green Road.

And so we continued on our journey. I devoted much of my free time to honing my magical and martial skills. Observing Kidu and Larynda's training, and occasionally joining in, I gleaned further knowledge on foot spear techniques, which resulted in an improvement of my Polearms skill.

The boy Dumuzi, Catalina’s get, would also sometimes come and observe. Kidu, if he was feeling particularly spiteful, would sometimes pit him against Larynda. I almost felt sorry for her at times, as the boy was quick and strong and would come in fresh.

Cordelia taught me the rudiments of swordsmanship, and though the Azag-Gishban differed from her magical longsword, the fundamental principles of wielding a long, sharp metal blade remained the same. Drilling me incessantly, she instilled in me the significance of proper footwork for sword and shield combat. This, I slowly began to understand, formed the foundation of nearly all martial skill disciplines. It felt like learning the first steps of a dance, in a way at least. Though not yet an expert, I felt I had gained greater insight into the complexities of combat and more importantly a new skill, Swords.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Practicing with my new weapon, I grew to appreciate the utility of the Sword-hammer. Though not magical, it was still well-crafted, and provided me with an answer for both armored and unarmored opponents. I would still, however, need to acquire better ranged weapons than my throwing daggers. Apart from their limited range, equipping my new plate gauntlets would make them inordinately difficult to use.

Cordelia was pleasant on the eyes, and in the breaks, she would sit close to me. I would ask her about her life before she joined the Church and the Knightly Order of the Penitent Heart. If you could filter out her ramblings about her faith, she was actually rather pleasant to talk to. She spoke of her father’s land in Aranthia, and how she played with her doting brothers as a child. Her family had always known that the touch of Avaria lay heavily upon her, and encouraged her in all things having to do with faith and spirituality.

When I sought out further details as to why I was being sought by the church, she deflected, instead telling me that she had always known that her highest calling was to serve me, the Herald of Avaria. No matter how hard I persisted, it was simply too difficult to wring out the details of the machinations of the Church. I concluded that she was either disinterested or simply ignorant of the organization’s inner workings.

Instead, she spoke of how, in recent years, she had grown to doubt herself, to doubt her faith, only to have it renewed when she witnessed my holy light. I was finally able to press the question, searching for the root of the matter.

The Kingdom of Aranthia held their holiest of rites, under the command of Cardinal Mauros, in an attempt to bring forth the Herald of Avaria into the world. The Herald was believed to be the harbinger of a new age of prosperity and peace for those who held the faith, or would come as a righteous judge to purge the world of evil.

From Cordelia's lips, I discovered that many in the Church viewed Cardinal Mauros as being too consumed with worldly and mundane affairs, neglecting many of his more-spiritual duties. This led Cordelia to suspect that the Cardinal had undertaken the summoning ritual for less than righteous reasons, resulting in the Herald being sent to a far-off land as punishment for his spiritual worldliness. In the woman’s eyes, I was divinity incarnate, and she was willing to do anything for me.

With that in mind, I extracted a solemn vow from her to keep my true identity a secret, convincing her that it was Avaria's will that I should experience the world as a mortal man, to understand their struggles and pass Her judgment accordingly. My ploy worked flawlessly, and the zealous Cordelia was now mine to command as I truly wished.

Not wanting to get caught up in the power struggles or the machinations of the church, I decided it best that I avoid Aranthia and other members of the Church for the time being.