“The Great Church of Light was built between 12 and 25 AS, and is known as the biggest place of worship of the Light Goddess Selina in the western part of Mainland. The marble for the structure was imported from the Great Quarries of Dendrin, some 300 miles away, while the stone was reused from an old church nearby that fell during the Razing of the West. The structure was built to contain several adjoining rooms to serve the Royal Family and the Clergy. It is now used for every major ceremony and Holy Service to the patron Goddess in the Kingdom.”
–The Great Pantheon and their patronage, Sir Renald Lewin, Great Mage of The High Council, 770 AS
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“Shall we, Lord Kreshorok?” The Prince gestured towards the exit of this room, his face trying to reassemble a notion of coherence and indifference towards me. That is something vastly easier said than done when facing someone like me. 'And I should know, I faced people like myself.'
“Please, just Cerolus, we are going to be a family before long. It will only be appropriate. Besides, I rank lower than you in our respective families. Just Cerolus will be fine." My politeness could have maybe mistaken for friendliness, but the man in front of me should do much more to deserve that title. Perhaps with time if he would show humility and respect when it is due. "And yes, let us commence, we are already late, and it is unsightly to be late to your own wedding after all. What would the people think, that their Princess is marrying an uncivilised brute?”
“Indeed… Cerolus,” his efforts at coming to terms with our current relations could be described as commendable. “Everybody is waiting, let us not waste any more time.”
We left the room with an entourage of armed guards trailing us. It would be so easy to make them fall lifelessly on the floor, a flick of a thumb and Greater Darkness Magic. 'No, stop it, we’ve stopped the War, they are here for nothing but a formality.'
The walls of the Church felt cold to the touch as I grazed the occasional wall we passed, a refreshing difference from the outside, as the temperature slowly moves towards its yearly peak. We moved through what I could discern to be the main corridor of the Church, my horns having plenty of free space below the ceiling. More guards waited ahead, it would appear that everyone is already present and awaiting my arrival. 'Well, at least we get the pleasure of making a grand entrance.'
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“Open the door!” The guards yielded and I walked ahead of the Demon to take my seat next to my father's. Speaking of, he had not arrived yet. 'What he will have to say about our newest member of the family?'
The Hall was filled with various nobles from our Kingdom, and several from the nearby countries. This would be the first marriage between a Human and a Demon in our recorded history; it would be surprising if it wasn't the biggest thing happening currently in the country, if not the World itself. I turned back to see what the Demon was doing and noticed him standing in front of the door, still largely covered from everyone’s view. 'Is he waiting for something? Or is it possible that he is… shy?'
It would be peculiar that a person who oozed confidence on their entire way here appeared to possess even a hint of apprehension. The Demon glanced around the room with those black eyes, not betraying a hint of emotion whatsoever. There was something mystical about them. 'Something extremely welcoming...'
I caught myself in a pointless train of thought and recoiled briefly, only to see that my father was entering the Grand Hall as well. He had yet to notice the visage of our visitor, but the Demon was poised to make his entrance anyway. 'Let us behold what wonders we shall be present for today.'
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“Do it.” I ground the words through my teeth. Kozzok was always ready for everything, and we had already agreed on a suitable entrance for this matter. The Altar was empty, so the bride would be the last to join. 'I guess it is kind of fitting, I’ve read that many Human girls dream of their wedding days, but this little princess doesn’t have a knight on a white horse waiting for her.'
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Kozzok stepped ahead and proceeded with the announcement. It was explained to me as a custom and these lands, and the suitable guests such as ourselves could only be jovial to oblige. “May I present His Highness Lord Cerolus Kreshorok of the Royal Kreshorok Family of Dralarag. He comes today in good spirits to marry the Second Princess of the Leonia Kingdom, for the prosperity of both our countries.”
My small step forward echoed through the room as I passed Kozzok while removing my helmet. Hiding my face to my future wife would be a rather unwelcome behaviour, one that is frowned upon in the entirety of Dralarag. The helmet found a resting spot in Kozzok’s hands and I strolled forward with slow steps, letting each one resonate through the Hall. The sound was enchanting, and I could simply lose myself in the cadence, but nevertheless, I pressed towards the Altar. It didn’t really seem different from Churches of Kreshorok, barring any Sacrificial Altars and depictions of flame on the wall. It was, however, a lot brighter, the place being the biggest Church to the Light Goddess. I set my sight on the Priest in front of me, who would perform the wedding ceremony. The fear coming from the people surrounding me was palpable, as I revelled in the trepidation that the crowd tried to contain. What six months ago was their greatest enemy, now stood in front of them in broad daylight, and they had no way to escape this predicament. I turned around, taking in the stares and flabbergasted faces of the crowd below me. 'Truly, Humans could be a pitiable bunch. But maybe not all of them are like that.'
“Greetings, Humans. It is a great pleasure to meet all of you here today. Let this be a beginning of a new chapter of history, as we end a war and open an era of peace. It is quite lovely to see so many people interested in seeing my unsightly visage, and a great honour to be joining a royal family of a Kingdom. Now, shall we call for my beautiful bride?”
Sound magic was not my forte, but one could learn to amplify his own voice throughout the years of practice. I tried to reach that perfect pitch where the ground was just about to shake and the glass windows were ready to crack. 'A perfect display of power over these lowly beings, and a perfect start to somebody’s perfect day. Mine of course.'
“I COME HERE BEFORE YOU TO TAKE YOU AWAY, MY PROMISED BRIDE, IF I HAVE TO FIGHT YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY FOR YOUR HAND, I WILL DO SO, IF I HAVE TO RAVAGE THROUGH EVERYONE PRESENT, I WILL NOT HESITATE, AND IF YOU DO NOT WANT ME, WELL, TOO BAD, BECAUSE YOU WILL COME, WHETHER IT IS YOUR WISH OR NOT.”
'I may have gone a little overboard with that.' I let out a chuckle as the guards didn’t appear to like my announcement, glaring daggers, or more appropriately, spears, at me. The crowd of what I can assume to be useless nobles was deathly silent, with a perfect depiction of shock on their pale faces. 'Do these people even tan?'
I turned to face the Prince and the rest his family. The old one appeared to be the king. 'Oh, he looks a bit mad.' I’d call the precise emotion furious.
“Have no worries, this is a standard opening to a Demonic wedding ceremony. Well, normally you’d actually have to fight the bride’s brother or father for her hand, but that would become… messy rather quickly. So, where is my wife-to-be?"
Kozzok stood in a corner of the Hall. I was not entirely sure if he tried to make himself invisible or prepared himself to perform an assassination, as I’ve had him do both of these at several weddings already, but we hadn’t made such plans for today. 'Apprehensive as usual, a truly great servant to have.'
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The Demon was either stupid, overconfident, or extremely powerful to do what he did just now. Nobody had ever promised to 'battle every member of the bride’s family' to get her hand. I concede that combat did happen centuries ago, but something in the back of my mind was nudging that he would actually try to kill someone should that occur. In any case, after that display of, let’s call it power, for now, my father seemed most likely to lose every bit of sensible thought, and my brother and I would be following shortly behind. 'But let’s try to behave civilised. Mother had always said that a wedding is just a different kind of war. And we are starting to lose this one.'
I did have to admit that if he wanted a showy entrance, he certainly pulled it off; I have barely seen most of these nobles shut up my entire life, and he managed to do it in mere minutes. 'Respect where respect is due.'
I turned towards a guard next to me and tried to lower my voice as much as possible. After this, however, me yelling would be considered a whisper. “I’m entirely certain that my dear sister Sophia has heard this grand entrance, but just go up and call for her to make sure. Let’s begin with this before it devolves into simple charades.”
Nodding, the guard left my side and exited through the side door.
'Dear Goddess, what blasted thing did we agree to in that treaty?'