-primarch-

image [https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]

The deafening noise of splintering wood echoed through the narrow alleys and streets.

I stepped out from my bunker-like position into the main roadway, and was swarmed by all assortment of knights and attendants.

“Primarch Karina, I beg of you,” a helmeted knight pleaded, “remain behind cover until the Assault team makes contact and ensures the area ahead is clear.”

Steadfastly, I continued down the road and made my way to the now opened—though, mostly destroyed—make-shift gatehouse marking the last of the terrible internment ‘camps’ put together by the Renaultians.

A blue-haired woman was sitting atop the structure, looking up at the sky, seemingly distracted. Her feet dangled over the ruined gateway.

“Dame Ikuye,” I called up, then bowed reverently, “How progresses the rescue efforts?”

“Who—Oh, the head priest lady! Got tired of being hassled by those followers of yours?”

Though she did not currently appear so, I knew this woman before me was actually a divine messenger of the Goddesses, sent down to ease the burden of war for the Empress.

She was of a celestial race called the Alaetüs, and according to the Seeker dossiers I’ve received they’re suspected to be the ones referred to as First of the Gods in older scripture—contrary to what we’ve believed before; that those passages had referred to the human-like race we called Noblebourne.

I glanced back at the small gathering of attendants quite a few paces behind me, noting that a number of them had remained behind.

It seems I will need to redouble my efforts at training quality retainers. Those who would hide away at a time like this will do the Empress no good.

“It is partially as you have said, but primarily I am ill at ease sitting back when I know there are those who have suffered greatly just ahead.”

“Hmmm,” the warrior maiden took a moment to consider me, “Ah, yeah, Tomin and Strea are securing my sister’s people with those Seeker knights. I can’t help out, as you know.”

She seemed distraught, but I understood why. Her overwhelming divine aura was too much for the emaciated prisoners within the camps. No matter how great her desire to do good was, she could not assist past removing the stain on this earth that was the scum of Rena.

“Is Knight Jeffreys accomplishing another task?” I asked.

“Jeffreys!” Dame Ikuye exclaimed, snapping her fingers in excitement, “Why is he so hard to remember…? Anyways, no, he’s with them all as well.”

I thanked her for the update and continued into the camp.

It seemed that many of the Renaultian forces had decided to surrender here too—in the aftermath of the Empress’ divine spellcasting, many of their commanders and high-ranking officers had been vaporized into dust.

Not that I had a perfect headcount at a glance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if our catch exceeded a few hundred soldiers.

They were bound with rope or cloth and made to kneel along the walls of their own prison.

Eventually, I happened upon some knights escorting the inhabitants of the camp: citizens and soldiers of our former Vanixian Republic.

Sickly looking people who appeared to be one strong wind away from withering away, they were barely clothed and struggled to even walk.

The denizens of Axio who hadn’t been fortunate enough to escape that terrible night.

A vile taste took hold of my tongue, drawing my attention back to the present moment, and I realized I had drawn blood. I’d bitten my inner cheek in frustration.

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I gently removed a small crystal orb from its pouch along my waist and began to weave magicka through my body towards my hand.

“Shining light of the Goddess, shield those who have suffered unjustly! In hands divine, embolden their lives, Fortitude!”

Golden light spilled out from my focusing-crystal and gently enveloped the Vanixian prisoners.

Though the spell wouldn’t do anything to heal their wounds, it would lessen the pain and aid in their comfort until we could get them fed, washed, and clothed properly. Our healers would see to their non-critical injuries then.

“Primarch Karina!” an auburn-haired man in red and black armor called out to me. He was one of the Empress’ trusted followers and Dame Ikuye’s companion, Waystrider Aleksi Tomin.

“Blessings of the Goddess upon you, Sir Aleksi.” I greeted him.

He briefly saluted me in a militaristic way and ushered me away from the soldiers.

“I must warn you,” he started with a distressed look, “the state of this camp is much worse than the others. I mean no offense toward you or to disregard your willpower, but I cannot let you enter without at least warning you beforehand.”

I accepted his warning with grace and thanked him, though, as I made my way through the gutted remains of the structures used to make the encampment, I regretted not taking his warning a little more seriously.

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It took the greater part of an hour for me to collect myself. The state of this camp was hellish—almost indescribable.

In one workshop basement-turned-prison cell, rotting remains had been laid out in a corner by the occupants because the Renaultians couldn’t be bothered to attend to prisoners who passed under their grueling conditions. Those bodies had turned undead, likely from their justifiable hateful grudges. After being alerted by a group of prisoners, rather than dealing with them humanely, the Renaultian gendarme barricaded the basement, condemning the remaining prisoners to a horrible death and fueling the creation of more undead.

There were buildings containing evidence that prisoners were being tortured for entertainment. Flayed skin and bloodied tools were left out on display, as if the guards in charge were proudly showing off their trophies.

A pit had been dug into the earth beneath torn-up floorboards in one house. It had been used to send prisoners to their deaths against starved dogs.

Once we had returned to the forward camp set up in the Maarin district, I asked my attendants to gather the available clergy members who’d accompanied me to Axio.

I struggled to contain the seething anger that had taken hold over my emotions, and by the time everyone I was waiting for had gathered I was about to explode, “These heinous crimes committed against our people by our enemies cannot stand without retribution!”

My voice rang out over the camp, garnering more attention than I intended. But I continued, “Any armed members of the Renaultian gendarme and their Maarin co-conspirators are henceforth declared to be heretics against humanity and our Goddesses.”

This declaration caused a stir among the crowd that gathered. Paladins of the Church would know right away what it meant to be a heretic according to our doctrine. Many of the imperial laws which protected a person’s rights would be revoked.

To those uninitiated, it surely didn’t sound like a good thing—but I wanted there to be no confusion or misinterpretation to my words.

So, I clarified it so no such misunderstanding would occur, “The slaying of heretics shall not be considered as murder in the eyes of the Goddesses, just as the removal of pests in your storeroom wouldn’t be a crime. You need not give them quarter from this moment forward.”

The plaza was awash in hushed whispers.

A knight in an armored officer’s uniform raised a hand hesitantly, and I nodded in acknowledgment.

“Is that decision shared with the Seekers and the Commander’s Order of knights as well?”

“I'm certain Lady Vynn and I will see eye-to-eye on this. We're both devout servants of the Goddesses and Her Imperial Divinity. And, of course, Commander Adaemus’ faith in our Goddess is unwavering. I will amend the Church’s stance on this matter if I find them to be unaligned, but I do not foresee that to be the case.”

Another hand slowly rose up from the crowd and a wavering voice came from a man dressed in well-worn robes marked with patterns of an Axian clergy Magister, “Primarch, If you could please clarify who you are referring to as ‘Her Imperial Divinity’? Is the current position of the Church that there is royalty elevated in status amongst the Gods?”

I didn’t recognize the man, but that could be due to his current state or perhaps he served more closely to the Primarchs. I looked over the crowd and noticed a number of withered faces belonging to the forsaken residents of Axio.

“Much has happened during the time you suffered. The Church has recovered documents from the old imperial city of Tolin, as well as other discoveries hidden beneath the basilica, that proved a fundamental lapse in our doctrine. Those of you whose faith may have wavered or members of the clergy whom we have been apart from, I urge you to seek out the Church members serving here with the Crimson Seekers.”

I turned back to the Magister who’d asked about the Empress, “The eldest daughter of the deceased Regent-Lord, Airis Vanixi, has inherited the Vanixian Empire by birthright and assumed the title of Empress. Under the guidance of the Goddess Capricorn, Her Imperial Divinity has ascended to her right place as the daughter of the Goddess Virgo! I have seen her divine title as a Goddess myself and solemnly preach her true gospel!”