Thorin anxiously tapped his foot as he waited to be let in the Council hall, two weeks already had passed since the incident in the Narín Village, and he still couldn't take the destruction of the village out of his head.
By his side, Julius wasn't faring any better, as a loyal believer, he had a sense of devotion towards the Overseer Council as they were the highest authority of the Chruch of the Sun God.
-" O'Bright One, please let everything go smoothly." Julius paced up and down the hallway. " What will they ask of us? I can't imagine why would the Overseer Council summon us."
-" Isn't clear that they want to talk about that kid?" Thorin didn't know the details about the kid's origin, but, he knew that this would be an important matter.
-" Maybe they will promote us? Julius always dreamed of rising to the ranks of the clergy, so the sudden summoning by the Council raised his hopes.
Thorin gave his companion an odd look, Julius was already an Arch-Bishop, an authority that even kings had to show respect to, and he still wished to gain even more power.
-" Do you hunger for power know no limits?" Thorin closed his eyes as the little patience he had left for Julius vanished, Thorin had met many power-hungry people in his time in the military, and every one of them showed themselves as untrustworthy and scheming.
Julius was bothered by Thorin's comment, however, before he could rebuke him, the giant stone door at the end of the hallway opened and two rows of bronze-masked men exited.
-" The Overseer Council is summoning Inquisitor Thorin, and Arch Bishop Julius into the Ilumated Hall." A man with a gold mask took the position in front of the bronze-masked group and announced.
Julius and Thorin gulped simultaneously, the Illuminated Hall, where the Overseer Council congregated, was the holiest place in the religion of the God of the Sun, and for them to be able to enter it was no small matter.
The duo hastily got up and entered the hall, not wanting to make the Council wait any longer. As they entered the Illuminated Hall, a blinding light assaulted their eyes.
Julius halted his steps and covered his eyes with his hand, on the other side, Thorin continued forward as he squinted his eyes hoping to get used to the new environment.
It didn't take too long for Thorin's vision to recover, and he was left astonished as he saw the grandiose sight of the Illuminated Hall. Golden carvings filled the entire room, giving the hall a majestic aura.
Julius noticed that Thorin had left him behind and continued forward, his sight took a little longer to recover, however, he also had the same reaction as Thorin as he finally sighted the great hall.
Julius and Thorin were lost for words as they observed the esoteric carvings on the walls of the Hall. On the left side, the caving of two big circles, one that emanated golden light, and the other absorbed it, made the first parts of the mural. Besides it, there was a carving of the same two circles splitting into various parts.
The two of them had an eerie feeling as they observed this part of the mural, it was as if the mural told ancient truths that no mere mortal should know. Julius's head began to throb and he felt that he couldn't look to the left mural any longer.
Thorin, however, continued to study the mural and soon moved on to the third section. In the third section, the two circles were divided into eight pieces each, seven of which had triangle shapes, and the final piece was made up of the circle's center, creating a second, albeit smaller, circle.
As his headache grew stronger, Thorin gritted his teeth and continued observing the mural's last sections. The ending part of the left mural was composed of the sun, a strange eye, and fourteen beings, each of those beings having a symbol inscribed on the triangles above their heads, unlike the other two symbols.
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The sun was the craving in the uppermost part of the mural, and just under it were seven of the fourteen beings, the first one of them was a giant made of stone and metal, and the symbol inside the triangle above him was a wheel.
The second being was a serpent with six large wings spread open, his symbol on the triangle being an eye with two interlocked keys, next to him was a human female with hair so long that it reached her feet, the symbol engraved on the triangle above her head was a budding flower.
Thorin finally reached his limit and closed his eyes to rest, only to be startled by a loud cough.
-"Cof, Cof... Quite the sight ain't it?" A Loud voice rang inside the Illuminated Hall. " I understand your curiosity, after all, I also found myself staring endlessly at those murals my first time seeing them, yet, there is a matter more pressing right now, so I need your complete attention."
Thorin awkwardly turned and faced the center of the hall, where a majestic altar stood. Sitting atop the altar were five men, each of them wearing a robe with a golden sun embroidered on it.
-" I apologize for the lack of respect, Oh bright ones." THorin's quickly apologized to the man, as he wasn't someone he could afford to offend.
-" There is no need for you to apologize, after all, anyone would be drawn to those murals." Another one of the men up the altar spoke. " You can study the murals another day, we need haste in resolving this matter."
Julius's eyes began to glimmer in excitement as he heard the man, he too was interested in the murals, but, what made him even more excited was the hidden meaning of the man's speech.
For them to study the mural another day, they had to have access to the Illuminated Hall, and only a few people at the top of the Sun God Chruch could enter this place.
-" Shall we begin?" As the man spoke, a large group of masked men entered the hall from a door behind the altar, and one of them was holding the baby that Thorin and Julius found.
-" I, Pope Alexander Hester, declare the commencement of this Diet," The man seated at the highest part of the altar struck his scepter on the ground as he spoke. " The Agenda of this Diet: The future of the Sun God Chruch."
As the man's voice faded, an eerie silence overtook the hall. Thorin noticed how the atmosphere suddenly became somber, and unexpectedly, he began to worry about the kid's future.
-" We can't let this —" The left-most Cadirnal gave a slight pause as he looked with a mixture of fear and disgust at the little kid lying in an ornated cradle in the center of the hall. " We can't let this thing go around freely, I won't speak about killing it, as it would be a sacrilege, but, I suggest that we banish him to the Sun Garden."
The man's speech caused a flurry of emotions in the others present at the altar, two of them had an outrageous look on their face, as they didn't believe what the man was saying, while Pope Alexander and the right-most cardinal showed a pensive look.
-" Presporeus! This kid is a blessing sent by the sun! He should be raised as a Holy man!" Cederic, one of the Cardinals shouted in anger.
-" Mathias! Don't think that we don't know what you are doing, just because this kid isn't from one of the Royal families, it doesn't mean that we should dispatch him." Arnegisel, the third Cardinal added as Cederic finished.
-" This isn't about his lineage, his power is way too volatile, what if he lost control here? You heard the report, a village of 5 thousand people was erased in less than a day!"
-"So what? Send any of the Golden Suns to a random village and see how long it takes for them to destroy it!" Cederic continued to press Mathias, as he found the thought of banishing a Sun Blessed to be outrageous.
Leger, the last Cardinal, who remained silent for the entire time finally spoke up. -" Mathias isn't without reason. this kid isn't something that we can't control easily, What if he rebels against our control? This may be our last chance to deal with him without heavy losses."
Arnegisel and Cederic became lost for words as they knew that this was true, yet, they didn't want to concede the argument. After a few seconds of thinking Cederic finally found a response,
-" The same is true for every one of the Golden Suns, did you forget about the Shadow Kingdom incident? An Entire country was destroyed, and I didn't see anyone suggesting banishing the Golden Suns."
Alexander, the pope, nodded as he felt that Cederic made sense. -" That is true, curtailing anyone with so much power like the golden suns is bound to be a troublesome matter, but, it doesn't mean that we should give up on them."
Mathias and Leger's faces turned dark as Alexander sided with Cederic, however, before they could speak up, the pope continued.
-" But, the power of this kid isn't just in the Golden Sun Realm, it's something way larger than that. I don't ever remember a Golden Sun causing this much damage the first time that their power awakened."
-" Past the Golden Sun Realm? Isn't this ludicrous? What is this thing even?" Leger's gaze trembled as he pondered about the kid's origin.
-" He is the Messiah! He came to bring us to a new age, he will restore the glory of the Sun!" Arnegisel preached with fervor, his adoration for the kid visible in his eyes.
-" Bahh! Messiah? Don't speak nonsense. This kid will be our fall." Leger oddly looked at Arnegisel, while they were all devotees of the Sun God, most of the higher echelons of the Sun God Chruch saw the Sun blessed as mere weapons, and nothing more.
Leger and Arnegisel's discussion grew more heated until Alexander finally had to intervene.
-" Enough! This is the Illuminated Hall, don't tarnish this sacred ground with your petty squabbles." Alexander sighed as he felt indecisive. " The Sun God's domain is in peril, internal strife is plaguing every corner of our realm, and as if this wasn't enough, the Eastern tribes are uniting....." Alexander looked defeated, each passing day their enemies grew stronger, while their own forces were destroying themselves.
Alexander was still deep in thought when he noticed that the sunlight that emanated from the Illuminated Hall ceiling began forming a swirl that descended into the newborn forehead.
THorin, Julius, the cardinals, and even Alexander watched the scene speechless, they were all seasoned warriors and sorcerers, so magic and extraordinary scenes were common to them, yet, they all could sense a tinge of divinity from that light as if the Sun God himself had come to bless the small child.
The Hall was filled with the sound of surprised gasps as the phenomenon ended, Thorin felt the urge to check the kid's state, but, as he was in front of the pope and his cardinals he remained still.
-" What are you guys doing? Bring me that kid!" A flurry of emotions assaulted Alexander as he observed the kid, it was clear to him that this was a divine message.
Julius quickly grabbed the kid and brought him to Alexander, who in turn examined him.
Alexander gently caressed a sun symbol on the newborn forehead. " This is a message from the heavens! It's clear to me the path we must take!." Alexander struck his scepter on the ground again as he raised the baby.