The great sun temple,

Hespetia.

The city of Hespetia was one of the holiest cities. It was a pilgrimage site for many worshipers of the sun god, Exnor. According to people’s belief, he was the King of all gods. Hence, there was a huge temple established in this city in his honor. Thousands of devotees flood in and out on a daily basis. During the festivities, it's even more packed than ever.

But today something seemed to be happening and the whole city was in a state of hysteria.

The temple gongs echoed throughout the city. This gongs were especially used to summon all the high priest under the direct orders from the archpriest to the great hall.

This was an urgent summons and the high priests were a bit anxious about it. Usually, the gongs were used when the city was under attack or when the archpriest foresees a calamity approaching.

After they rung the gongs, the city went under lockdown. Many of devotees were forced to leave the great temple and thousands of devotees waiting in the line were told to turn back. Although, this didn’t sit well with the waiting devotees as they started rebelling.

In the hallway, one man seemed to be rushing his way to the great hall. He was bald and in his late fifties along with oval rimmed spectacles. The man wore a traditional priest robe and wore a necklace and bracelet made of beads.

He was Solomon Giuda, one of the thirteen high priests. He was on his way to answer the archpriest’s urgent summons. He was worried and sweating bullets as he meekly hurried to the great hall.

‘I wonder what does the Archpriest want to tell us this time. I don’t think the city’s under attack, so it has to be his foresight,’ wondered Solomon.

He reached the temple gate where two holy guards guarded the entrance gate. The holy guards wore a full body shining armor with long spears. They were the ones in charge of protecting the city as well as the one who forced out the devotees out from the temple. Now, most of the soldiers were controlling the angry mob.

After they saw Solomon, they immediately opened the temple gates and let him through.

The great hall was located under the basement of the temple. This was where the high priest and the archpriest hold their meetings.

Solomon passed through the shrine altar into the hallway. He then rushed down the spiral stairs which and leads to the great hall. After walking down the stairs for some minutes he reached the basement floor.

There were another pair of guards posted outside the great hall entrance who opened the door for Solomon to enter. The guards closed the doors soon after he entered. Solomon was out of his breath as he stopped right on the entrance to catch his breath.

The great hall was the same as the name implies. It was a huge hall with white marble floor tiles along with intricate designs on it. There were candle lamps hanged on the walls that lit the hall. But the most eye-catching thing was the big chandelier hanging in the center by the ceiling.

“How long do you want to keep master waiting? Hurry and take your seat!”, one of the high priests exclaimed, “Everyone’s here except for you, Solomon.”

All the other high priest had already reached the hall and taken their respective seats except for Solomon who was late. The high priests were seated on the floor on square pillows.

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Solomon rushed to his seat and bowed his head to the archpriest who was seated on his high seat,

“I apologize for my tardiness, master.”

The archpriest was a very old and feeble looking man. He had a very long beard that reached down to the floor. He wore a simple white silk long robes. His eye pupils were greyed. He had lost his vision when he was young in exchange for the power of clairvoyance. His seat was on a high platform where he could see a good view of the hall.

The archpriest raised his hand,

“No worries my child. We still have to wait for a few more guests to arrive before we begin the meeting.” said the Archpriest. He had a very weak and feeble voice but it reverberated throughout the hall. There was a certain magical object which amplified the old man’s voice. It looked like a green orb thing that floated around the archpriest's mouth. It was a magical device.

But one of the 13 high priests asked,

“What? More guests-”

Just when the hall door flung opened.

Three armed soldiers entered the great hall.

These three soldiers were equipped with some flashy looking armors,

“Pardon our tardiness but here we are.”, said the female soldier. She was Arnia Gospel, one of the captains of the holy knight squad. She was wearing her battle armor with her infamous sword called ‘The Peacekeeper’ which she carried on her back. It was a powerful broad butcher sword which had some devastating magical attributes. Despite her terrifying prowess on the battlefield, Arnia was a very gorgeous woman. She had sapphire gems like beautiful eyes and blonde silky hair which she kept uptied all the time.

“Why are the three captains here? Don’t you know, this is the great hall where only a priest of high stature is allowed? This is no place for barbarous brutes such as yourself.”, said one of the high priest angrily.

Hearing that the guy standing next to Arnia stepped forward,

“Oh, how about this barbarous brute tear down this place to the ground if you don't stop whining in the next few seconds,” he said as he stared back at that high priest with menacing aura.

The high priest was terrified and quickly pursed his mouth.

This arrogant soldier was also a squad captain of the holy knights, Segan the menace.

He had long a long messy hair and a short beard. His eyes looked dead as if he has not been sleeping for quite a while. He was wearing a dark purple armor with gold carvings. It also had magical rubies that boosted the armor’s enhancement.

Arnia unsheathed her huge sword and blocked Segan’s path,

“That’s enough, Segan. Apologize at once.”, said Arnia as she glared at Segan.

“Come on, Arnia! Are you going to take that insult on the face? This is how they treat us, after all, we do for them.” complained back Segan.

“With your current action, you are proving them right. So back down, at once.”, she replied back while glaring at him.

Segan than turned towards the third soldier,

“Come on, Freed! Don’t you agree with me?” asked Segan.

The third person along with them was Freed Glint who also was a squad captain like Arnia and Segan. Unlike the other two captains, he wore light black armor made of leather along with a black mask that covered his mouth.

To Segan’s question, Freed looked the other way and ignored him.

“Come on, don't ignore me like that! You are hurting my feelings man.”, said Segan as he let a sigh, “Fine. I’m sorry. There you happy now, Arnia.”

Arnia placed back her sword in her sheath,

“Good.”, she then faced the council of the high priest, “I apologize for the rude behavior of my colleague. We were summoned here by the request of the Lord archpriest himself. We didn’t mean to offend the council of the high priest in any manner.”

The high priests started to mumble among themselves about the actions of the archpriest. No one other than the priest had entered the great hall. It was supposed to be the hall where the divine preachings of gods discussed. Hence, it was much preposterous of an idea to let a soldier enter such divine hall who was burdened with the sin of killing enemies on the battlefield.

The archpriest tapped his staff on the floor and all the priests fell quiet. He regained everyone's attention,

“A great calamity has approached our world as we speak. If nothing’s done then our world will fall to ruins on the hands of the angry gods. We must work out together to prevent this disaster from happening at all cost. I would require the faith of all the kingdoms and if that means to bend the rules, so be it.”