A great calamity had struck the Holy Empire. As a consequence of some rather strange events, it all happened even sooner than anticipated. Who would have expected that the one they sought out to save them, the Hero, that he would be the one to strike this decisive blow?
An overwhelming cloud of gloom and misery hung thick above the Holy Capital. Worse, their guiding light, the Holy Emperor himself, was dead! The Clergy needed the replacement and soon, yet none of the appointed heirs stepped forward; everyone had a syndrome of cold feet. Perhaps they were afraid of being assassinated just like the Emperor was, or perhaps they didn’t want to be blamed for what would eventually happen – the fall of the Empire. In other words, the Chaos remained deeply entrenched within the capital of the Holy Empire. It was hard to find hope… and the Giant 'Enemy' Spider was getting closer by the day. Yes, the Holy Empire still needed to deal with that threat, and without a Hero all seemed lost. Despair took the hearts of the people.
That was the obvious, however, a certain less visible phenomenon was taking place in the HolyLight Cathedral. It set roots right at the end of the summoning ritual. At that time, a lot of magic was condensed at a single spot, then a portal was created, and then a soul pulled through. Such things were fickle and less predictable than you might think. An obscene amount of magic destabilised the space, no, the very fabric of reality. The immediate result was the summoning of the Hero, which was completed without a hitch, however, there was an unforeseen result as well.
The fabric of reality was already thin at that point and then the use of Chaos and Divine magic had disrupted it even further. To cut this longwinded explanation short – the wild mixture of mana and magic birthed a peculiar entity, or rather an embodiment of concepts, a new deity, a godling, or whatever you want to call it. But anyway, as all concepts should, it already had a name, it was the Dark Flame (A concept born from the Dark magic spell by the same name, Dark Flame). And to be more precise, it wasn’t exactly born here and now, it only gained its proper divinity at this very moment. Well to be even more precise, it was attempting to usurp an already present spot. So whose spot did it attempt to take? – It was rather obvious!
There was a concept of the Holy Light, but also a concept of the Dark Flame. The two didn’t want, or rather, couldn’t exist in the same place and at the same time; not for long that is. While the battle raged things were in precarious imbalance, the surviving godling would be decided by the outcome of the battle. It was only natural that the Dark Flame would be snuffled out and stripped of its budding divinity if the Spider King lost, it would only make sense, and the opposite was also true. Since we know about the outcome let's skip forward to a few days after the battle.
Ignorant and unaware, the pious gathered inside the HolyLight Cathedral. They were here to consecrate the ashes of their Holy Emperor and also to say goodbye to all the recently perished, after all, the cursed Implode Core took a great number of innocent lives. Oblivious to the new ‘owner’ of the cathedral they brought no less than a thousand of HolyLight Candles. One by one they lit the candles and joined in a mass prayer. It was a silent prayer where you kneeled and put your hands together. They weren’t speaking it out loud, but all of the gathered were wishing for salvation, both for the recently perished and for still living; but mostly for the still-living.
‘Save us from the calamity.’
‘I don’t want to die.’
‘Protect me and my children.’
‘Give us light.’
They were praying to the Holy Light, but that deity had been superseded by another, by the Dark Flame. Yet, much like a deity should, it still listened to their prayers. The godling liked to be prayed to, and like all deities it wanted to have followers, so it was happy in a sense. However, it had to let the pious know of the recent changes. After all, it's name wasn’t the Holy Light it was the Dark Flame now!
At the whim of the godling, the light dimmed inside the cathedral, it got unnaturally dark and very quickly. The pious, while fervent in their prayer, didn’t notice the change straight away. Not until all light coming from the HolyLight Candles were flickered off and all at once. The gathered froze at the sudden change, the entirety of the nearby surroundings were plunged into supernatural darkness. It was still midday, and the cathedral windows were huge and open, but not a single sunray reached the pious. It was as if they were cast into the deepest and darkest abyss. You would expect screams and shouts born from fright, but instead, there was only deadly silence.
That was because each and every person felt it. They felt something more than them, they felt the air tinged with the aura of divinity. They’ve experienced something a few mortals ever did.
“Be not afraid.” A spidery voice chirped inside their heads. “…” It paused giving the mortals time to accustom, then it continued. “You pray for light? I will provide.” It chirped with authority.
With those words, the HolyLight Candles began to change. The pristine whine wax turned to vivid blue, the perfectly straight shaft twisted and bent into a crooked shape, and sometimes one candle morphed into two smaller candles but gnarled and misshapen. The change was quick and a real marvel of magical transmutation, but because of the oppressive darkness the pious weren’t able to observe it.
“Let there be light!” The entity chirped.
All thousand of the candles burst with the purple flame. True to its word, the godling gave them light, but more accurately it gave them Darkvision. The candles burned cold and emitted almost no actual light at all, however, everyone could see without a problem.
“You pray for protection? I will provide.” It chirped again. “You pray for salvation? I will provide.” It said with confidence. “My pious non-spiders, what is it you fear so much?” It asked sensing their terror.
Needless to say, they were afraid of the one speaking with them at this very moment; the divine aura was thick and heavy. However, not a single one of them felt any hostility coming from it. The deity's words rang genuine and true.
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A brave soul looked up directly at the peculiar flame hovering in the middle of the cathedral, it was there at the same spot where the summoning portal had appeared a few days ago. Of course, there was a fear that the brave one was looking and hearing some sort of evil manifestation or even a demon, but by this point… who even cared?
“Deity…” He began.
“Dark Flame.” A stern chirp corrected.
“Dark Flame,” he nodded with resolve. “We fear the calamity, we fear the spiders. Can you really save us?”
“…” The deity paused and showed everyone with its poorly controlled aura of confusion.
The Dark Flame was surprised by those words. Very surprised. Its very concept, its ideals, its divine seed, its very essence was born from spidery thoughts and prayers. Yes, it is a divine concept that was first conceived not here in the now not-so-holy Cathedral, but in the Spidery Temple of the Aurelian Capital. Admittedly, it was confusing, yes, but the Dark Flame could only be born here in the Holy Capital, in a place saturated with divinity. It could only exist by usurping a spot from another deity. But enough of that, the deity’s confusion was because the spiders were just very good guys. What did these mortals even do to earn their spidery spite?
“Do not be afraid of spiders.” The Dark Flame chirped simply.
“But…” The brave man had something to say.
“Do not be afraid. If you believe in the Dark Flame, in my ideals, there is no reason for the spiders to harm you.”
“Is that… Is that so?” The brave man asked somewhat unsure.
“It is so. Why would my followers, be they spiders or non-spiders, fight each other?” It spoke out rhetorically. “And, I’ll always protect my followers!” it said with pride.
“…” The brave man had no answer. Actually, he had even more questions now.
The divine aura grew a shade or two in thickness. “I know mere words are never enough. Now, let me pick a worthy soul.” It scanned and probed the room for a worthy soul. “Ah, you!” the godling found its quarry.
A burly man began to glow in purple. “Eh? Huh? What is happening to me?” He shot up from kneeling and was looking at his glowing hand.
“You’ve already embraced my ideals, Warrior. Diligent, devoted and hardworking, as well as honourable and loyal to the bitter end.” The Dark Flame showered the burly man with praise. “Moreover, you possess the Monster System already, which makes things a lot easier for me. [Dark Ascension]!!!”
“Eh? Huh?” The warrior repeated even more bewildered this time. His eyes darted as if reading some invisible text. “Yes. Yes, I accept!” He exploded in brilliant purple.
The divine magic acted quickly, the Warrior was transformed into something else. He grew taller and his old battle scars healed entirely. He was now a being known as a Fallen Imperial, but more precisely as a BlackGuard variant.
“Wow, my stats doubled!” He sounded happy at the changes.
“Human, the spiders should now see you as a friend.”
The brave man looked at the ex-warrior in disbelief, something impossible transpired right infront of the entire congregation; he had witnessed a miracle. “How… What about me? I mean the rest of us?”
“Follow my ideals and you too shall be Ascended.” The deity said so growing twice the size in flame. “Actually, as a show of my goodwill, let me bless all of you, my pious non-spiders. [Multicast], [Bless].” The Dark Flame used a fraction of its newly gained divinity to bestow them with a temporary blessing.
It was a minor blessing only, but it did wonders on the tired and fatigued bodies of the pious. Vigour filled their blood and the colour returned to their faces.
“Praise be, Dark Flame.” A woman uttered.
“Praise be!” A desperate man added.
“No,” The Dark Flame willed to correct. “Thank me with the words of ‘Arach Dominis’. Say Arach Dominis.”
“Arach Dominis.” The congregation repeated.
The flame burned contently at those two spidery words.
…
Not just in the cathedral but everywhere in the Holy Empire, and all at once, the HolyLight Candles changed into DarkFlame Candles. This was the first sign of a much larger series of changes in the Empire.
While the fragmented remainders of the Clergy recognised it for what it was – the dark corruption of their holy deity. Aside from destroying the twisted candles, there was very little they could do about the whole thing. Moreover, the desecrated cathedral remained standing for a rather simple reason, everyone feared even greater calamity if they challenged this new but very hands-down deity. The same went for the misguided pious of the Dark Flame since fighting between each other clearly wasn’t the solution here.
And anyway, what could a mortal do against the deity? Deities were concepts embodying powerful ideals, normally they didn’t have flesh bodies or anything like that. Even if they pulverised every single brick of the cathedral and slaughtered the misguided pious, the Dark Flame would continue burning in that same place it was conceived. The best course of action was to discourage people from praying to it. Yet it was difficult to achieve because desperate people always sought salvation, and those in dire need always latched onto whatever promised them that safety…
Moreover, the Dark Flame, unlike the previous inhabitant of the cathedral, was strangely willing to bestow its blessing on its followers. And just like so, the ranks of desperate and curious swelled seemingly overnight. Heresy would normally be spoken in hushed whispers, however, the fallen people of the Empire practically shouted blasphemy in open streets:
“The Dark Flame will protect us.”
“It has given us light in this Darkness, it has given us true sight.”
“The Dark Flame will guide us. It will bring us to salvation.”
“Come join the sermon! Everyone, please come.”
“If we want to survive. All of us need to be Blessed!”
“Brothers and sisters, come to the DarkFlame Cathedral. Let’s Assend together.”
There was that, but also there was more:
“The spiders aren't our enemy. They are the saviours!”
“You have nothing to fear, we, the followers of the Dark Flame, will welcome them as friends.”
“Yes! They are coming here not to punish, but to save us!”
“Join us in the cathedral, let's pray for our salvation!”
“Yes, yes! You must join the Monster System!”
“So it may be, Arach Dominis!!!”
To a more grounded observer, all of this must sound like a complete drivel, yet the followers were surprisingly successful in their recruitment drive. And seemingly in less than a week, one god was completely superseded by another. Interestingly, even the old Clergy jumped ship in the end.
Just a while ago, everyone was dreading the arrival of the Giant ‘Enemy’ Spider, but now they were fervently praying for that day. The entire capital, every single soul who could see the truth, the people who hadn't fled the capital and stood firm in their noble beliefs, all of them were preparing for its spidery arrival. They made a huge hole in the otherwise formidable imperial wall so that it could fit better. They cleared the imperial plaza and made a huge nest so that it could rest after its long journey. They gathered large quantities of food to throw a huge feast for the spider. They cleared the imperial vault of everything nice and shiny so that the crafters and smiths had enough material for the blessed spider’s welcoming gift; a super-massive jewellery piece. They gathered dancers, singers, and other entertainers to throw a show for the spider.
Everyone was looking forward to it. Everyone was pitching in…
Everyone was desperate...
The spider…
Had to be appeased!!!