-------------------------------------------------Western Isles-------------------------------------------------
On the shores of an island that once held a bustling city just a smoldering ruin now remained. Just outside the ruin, five mages in Church of Radiance blue Invoker robes surrounded a peculiar object that looked very similar to a telescope on a tripod. Three were channeling their mana into the object while another aimed it at an island visible on the horizon. The fifth and last of them was busy channeling their mana into an opaque shell enclosing all five and their equipment.
Suddenly the man steering the telescope fell to his knees and retched. “It’s a mage of the 8th.” His confused companions looked at him, confused why he would throw up, before his next words chilled them to the bone. “And it has no potential for natural growth. It’s a humonculous.”
Gasps resounded among the four as two more fell to their knees and retched while a fourth looked shocked and asked aloud “So someone actually made this thing? It's not a naturally occurring monster? Who…..who could do this?” All five could feel their sense of reality beginning to crack.
As mages of the fifth, they believed themselves to be nearing the peak of humanity, but just now they had discovered there was someone on earth who was able to make mages of the 8th level!
The mage holding up the concealment barrier who had been silent until now spoke. “We need to get this information back to the Church as soon as possible.”
All the Invokers whether still on their knees retching or on their feet with pale faces nodded. “Yes let’s prepare the boat to le-”
“It found me.” Suddenly the mage of the fifth steering the telescope announced with a deadpan tone.
Time seemed to freeze for all five mages as they all had the same realization flash inside their heads. “We’re dead.”
The mage maintaining the barrier took charge breaking open the concealment bubble now that it was useless before starting to cast a new formation. “Quickly help me send back this information to the church before that thing reaches us.” His now desperate voice cried out.
Three other mages returned from their dazes as they began helping the first mage in sending back the information. The one remaining mage remained in a daze, her eyes glazing over as if she had already died, terrified in the face of death such a certain death her mind was already shutting down.
Seconds passed before a sense of pressure began building all around the mages, making the air feel denser. Even breathing became more difficult as the weight pressing down on them from above continued to build. The pressure finally peaked as a massive blue ugly creature launched itself from beneath the water surrounding the island. Its massive form surging towards the Church mages. But before it could reach them a blast of golden energy emerged between all four active mages shooting off into the horizon leaving behind a set of satisfied smirks on the faces of the four mages before they were immediately obliterated in a single sweep of the monster's claws.
The last survivor of the church group. The woman who had frozen in the face of death abruptly returned to her senses as if waking out of a dream to find a young bashful looking girl with blue hair walking towards her.
The little girl picked up the confused woman of the church before carrying her away as she strolled back into the water from the shore. Carrying the Invoker the same way one would carry a princess.
-------------------------------------------------Western Isles-------------------------------------------------
In the Western Isles, a stern looking Bastian stood at the fore of Roarke's ship looking out at the once peaceful coastal port standing before him which was now draped in black flames. As the wails of the unlucky residents serenaded his ears Bastian couldn’t help but feel uneasy as if he was missing out on something important.
Pushing the extraneous thought out of his mind Bastian finished his work reducing any living creature, building, or resource on the island before him to dust. Master’s shadow flames spell truly is a wonder Bastian allowed himself an idle thought to praise his Creator before turning around and walking back to his cabin under the gaping faces of the crew members who watched the man they had believed to be a friendly covert noble kill thousands of Islanders in as much time as it took them to shit.
Captain Roarke although stunned was preoccupied thanking the high heavens he had chosen to immediately throw himself at the feet of this terrifying man during their first meeting not long ago. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if he had tried to bargain with the man about revealing his identity or if he had attempted to kidnap him for ransom as he had once pondered. Shivering Roarke worked to dissolve the thought away hoping to erase any trace of the idea that had once crossed his mind.
As Bastian opened the door to the captain’s cabin he called out. “Captain Roarke do set sail for the next island soon. We are on a bit of a timetable after all.” The gentleman-like tone which had once seemed soothing to the crew now appeared horribly misplaced coming from a man who had just finished butchering an entire port town.
“Of course my Lord. Men set sail for Bartuga!” Roarke gave the order as his men and even the noble Davim, rushed into their work as if their life depended on it. After all who would dare believe it didn’t?
---------------------------------Church of Radiance's Holy City of Solis---------------------------------
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Back at the church the woman wearing blue robes sat by herself as a beam of white light emerged from the wall and directly entered her mind burning three words into her mind. Monster humonculous 8. Mallory felt shocked to her core. Soon messengers were running throughout the Holy City of Solis as members of the Nine were awakened from their slumber for yet another emergency meeting.
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A young boy with blonde hair wearing fully golden armor stepped into the Nine’s council room trying his best to remain steadfast despite the pressure he felt emanating from each of the Nine’s gaze.
“Brian Heartsweep.” A man in orange spoke first. “We’ve called you to assign your next task.”
Brian upon hearing he was to be given an assignment, fell to one knee with his head bowed. “Ask and it shall be done, your holiness’.” Holding no illusions about acting out. These were the Nine Pillars! Some were even suspected of being mages of the 9th! Brian would have to be stupid to do anything other than follow their instructions with fervor. Besides, Brian had always been a member of the church, even as a child and wanted nothing more than to help grow and protect his faith. This would be a great opportunity. At least that’s what he kept telling himself, but Brian couldn’t help feeling uneasy after all he knew it was no run-of-the-mill mission if it's being assigned by all of the Nine Pillars personally.
The man in orange nodded in approval at Brian’s outward behavior before continuing. “On the eastern continent, there is a man known as the Fire Emperor who has recently managed to carve out a territory through repeated conquests.”
Brian kept his head down as he listened but he couldn't help but guess what his job would be. Hunt down the Fire Emperor. Even Brian had heard of the infamous man, known for making all his prisoners of war battle each other to the death to determine who would be allowed to be set free. It was even said the battle maniac would purposely give poor orders to his troops at the start of a battle to force them into unnecessarily precarious positions. Supposedly he said it was to allow them “the important experience of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.”
With this information it seemed clear to Brian his assignment would be to lead a revolution against the despicable warlord.
“You’re mission is to go to the Flame Emperor as an emissary and do whatever you can to draw him closer to the church.” The Orange Pillar announced.
“Huh?” Brian couldn’t help himself letting out a gasp as it felt like someone had poured cold water on him.
A woman in blue robes who Brian knew was Pillar Mallory chuckled upon seeing his reaction. She spoke in a sweet voice unbefitting her visible age. “Although the character of the Flame Emperor is in question, his abilities are not. Hopefully, your efforts will help in guiding him towards the light. With more and more forces of darkness beginning to appear we Pillars of the Nine believe it may be a sign the Dawn of a New Age has finally come. So of course we’ll need as many allies as we can gather. Wherever we can find them and whoever they may be as long as they fight beside us we will accept them. No matter what we must do all we can to ensure the Church of Radiance will flourish during the transition.”
Brian couldn’t stop himself from gaping as he heard the words coming from Pillar Mallory. A new age! Eras are always changed in oceans of blood. The church had been the dominant force for this era but if a new one came too soon it wasn’t a sure bet the church would be able to survive. After all anyone and everyone who had a grievance with the Church would band together and strike once an opportunity was revealed for them to do so.
Mallory watching Brian’s mind racing in circles sent him a helping hand. “So knowing your mission do you Sir Brian Heartsweep accept it?” She asked in a challenging tone no Paladin could shy away from and still call themselves a man.
Broken out of his daze Brian responded with renewed vigor making it seem like his previous indecisiveness was nothing but an illusion. “Yes your holiness. I will carry out this task with all my might.”
“Good, go now and take a battalion of young soldiers with you. The Flame Emperor requested for promising soldiers to be given as a gift for his support and given his reputation none of us feel that it's worth upsetting him over something so trivial.” The man with orange robes finished with a rather cold tone.
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After Brian was escorted out of the councilroom their previous topic of conversation returned as the Red Pillar who had been silent in front of Brian resumed the talk.
“With regards to these “Forces of Corruption” as we’ve decided to call them, we need to put more of our resources into testing their true strength. Heartsweep, the teams we’ve sent to the Empire of Hervelle, and the Western Isles aren’t enough.”
The Yellow Pillar responded. “Agreed, any organization which can create a homonculus that’s a mage of the 8th must have an endless amount of resources and talent. But we’ve only begun to pick up on these agents of corruption within the past few years implying they just recently began to pick up in activity. Had they truly been lying dormant for so long to deceive us? We shouldn’t ignore there’s also the possibility Mallory’s Invokers were incorrect in their assessment which I personally find more likely than a homunculus being a Mage of the 8th. Either way, we should not cower and face these hidden opponents with our full might.”
Mallory in her blue robes spoke out in argument. “The fact five Invoker Mages of the 5th died sending such a rushed report should serve to verify their information alone. We must also remember our observations have shown at least two separate growing networks of unknown agents spreading rapidly throughout the central continent. Despite their awareness of some of our own agents they have spent far more resources combating each other than targeting our members. The information points to an internal struggle we got lucky enough to stumble upon otherwise the two forces working hand in hand may have managed to slit a few of our throats before we even knew this corruption existed in the first place. I think we should have a more balanced approach to avoid drawing these forces full attention onto us. If we have two rabid dogs fighting each other why be so eager to get between them? That's the approach the Sage of the Kiolites seems to have taken.”
The Orange Pillar stood up to refute. “Ignoring the Sage who's being reclusive as always, even if there is an internal conflict the attention these "agents of corruption" have shown towards us is minimal at best nonexistent at worst. This mentality only makes sense if they truly believe our Church isn’t worth a second glance. I don’t believe they even see us as a competitor and that to me is the scariest part. Even separated these two goliath organizations of corruption still see their victory over us as already being assumed!” The man was getting worked up as spit began to fly from his mouth as he finished his words.
The man with golden robes at the head of the table spoke out silencing their debate. “Either way we won’t sit by and do nothing. We’ll move assets to more aggressively move our own network of agents and allow us to get a better sense of what these “Forces of Corruption” really are. In the meantime, all of us need to use whatever influence we have to draw more powerful allies to our side. Just like Flame Emperor Arden, there are many more powerful individuals in the world unaligned and independent, but this threat of an unknown group may be just the thing needed to convince them to step out and stand alongside us. For now, this will be our plan moving forward. “ He finished with a firm tone.
The other eight Pillars nodded their heads acknowledging the man's words which left no room for discussion.
Mallory let out a breath as she began to think to herself. She had a lot of work to do.