Year 155 of the Mason calendar.
Seven Fishermen Village, Liadheim, St Mason's Empire.
A dozen clerics and cavalrymen galloped down the dirt road, raising smoke and dust that covered the sky. The clerics were wrapped head to toe in white veils and white robes, while the soldiers were heavily armed and armored.
Doors of the houses were closed and people hid inside, fearing that the soldiers were coming for them. It was only when they stopped in front of the crumbling brick house of the Keyas that most of the villagers get relieved.
A cleric seemed like the leader waved his hand on his horse and several cavalrymen quickly dismounted, kicking open the door of the house and dragging a middle-aged man from inside. The man struggled as he shouted, "Let me go! Let me go!" The cavalrymen and the clergy were as deaf as if they were completely indifferent.
The man's wife and son followed him out of the house. The wife bit her lip to keep quiet, her trembling hands clutching her son's arm to prevent him from running to his father. The early-teen boy could not free himself from his mother's grip and could only do his best to glare angrily at the cleric in charge, shouting, "Let go of my father!"
The tall and chubby cleric gave the boy a sidelong glance and let out a small sneer. A stream of air puffed out of his nostrils, slightly blowing the white veil that covered his mouth and nose. He turned his head to a female cleric and said, "Sister Flynn, read the Imperial Decree."
The female cleric known as Flynn stepped forward, pulled a roll of parchment from her bosom and unfolded it, facing the man's family and read aloud.
"Emergency Imperial Decree No. 318. Recently, demonic creatures have been appearing frequently in Liadheim, endangering the people. According to the research conducted by the Naudisu Seminary, people who come into contact with demonic creatures will have their minds disturbed and gradually become demonized, eventually turning into demons. In order to protect the people and eradicate the demons, His Majesty has decreed that all people must not come into contact with demons, and that those who come into contact with demons must be brought to Naudisu to be judged and treated, and their homes will be fully purified and the area around their homes will be sealed off for six hundred feet, with no one or animal allowed to enter or leave to prevent the spread."
She folded the parchment and looked with vacant eyes at the man under the soldiers' control, "Clem Keyas, you were seen to have had contact with a demonic creature early this morning, do you admit it?"
"It was the creature that came out of nowhere to attack my sheep! I killed the demon thing to protect my sheep. I didn’t know anything about this prohibition before! Is it wrong trying to protect my personal property?" Clem questioned loudly.
"Where are those sheep of yours?" Flynn asked rhetorically, with a frown.
Clem suddenly realized the intentions of the female cleric and turned to his wife and children, shouting, "Quick! Quickly! Let all the sheep go! Go!”
The mother still froze and just slightly let go of her hand as the boy darted into the house, ran through the house and out of the back door.
The fat cleric waved his hand again. Several clerics and cavalrymen simultaneously spurred their mounts and galloped towards the back of the house.
The boy had just opened the door to the sheepfold when he was yanked from the ground by a cavalryman and flung out. The boy fell heavily to the ground. His left arm bent in three sections at an extremely odd angle, and he nearly lost consciousness from the pain. He screamed and struggled to his feet, seeing the door of the sheepfold he had sacrificed his life to open had been slammed shut again by a cavalryman, and not a single sheep had managed to escape.
The fat cleric rode slowly over. He took one glance at the sheepfold, then at the boy’s broken arm, and let out another sneer.
He turned to the cavalry captain and said, "Look, captain, there are at least thirty sheep. I don't know which of the unlucky ones have seen that creature with their owners in the morning, or perhaps all of them, we can't take that chance."
The cavalry captain smiled fawningly, "Pastor, what do you mean?"
The fat cleric was somewhat displeased with the sluggish captain and said with a grimace, "If we rely on the strength of just a few of our brothers and sisters to purify these animals, oh, and this broken house, there is no telling how long it will take. Captain, do you have any faster way?"
The captain's mouth widened, "I understand, Pastor. Just leave the dirty work to us, as long as you think of us when you get highly promoted.”
The fat cleric patted the mark of the Holy Hammer emblazoned on his breastplate, "Don't worry! You will not be forgotten."
The boy's mother had come running by this time and was holding the injured boy at a loss for words. The cavalry captain shouted at her, "Hey, where's all your firewood and hay for the sheep?"
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The woman was too frightened to answer his question.
The captain looked at the boy, “Hey kid, you answer me."
The boy knew what they were up to and gritted his teeth without saying a word, his boundless anger making him almost forget the pain of the broken bon.
“You little brat, do you think I won't find it if you don't tell me?" The cavalry captain was clearly enraged by the boy.
He ordered his men, "Go and find all the dry wood and hay in their house, and take all the furnitures and chop them up for firewood!"
Several soldiers quickly found what the captain wanted. Large bales of hay, piles of firewood and chopped up tables, chairs and cupboards were divided into two piles, one in the sheepfold and one in the house.
Clem was also brought to the back of the house at this point and watched the soldiers' actions with nothing to do but yell and scream.The cavalry captain glanced at the chattering man in disgust and looked back to the leader cleric, "Pastor, shall we begin?"
The fat cleric said with impatience, "Sister Flynn, go help them. Get it over with and don't waste any more of my time."
Several soldiers took out the wine jug they had with them and spilled the wine on the two flammable piles. Flynn and several other clerics stepped forward and channeled the Power of the Sky one after another. A holy dazzling white light flashed in their hands, turning into a fiery spear of light that shot at the flammable objects.
Two flames rose into the air and licked the fence of the sheepfold and the beams top of the brick building.
The sheep in the sheepfold felt the heat of the flames and retreated to a corner that had not yet caught fire. But soon the fences were all on fire, and some of the sheep caught a spark and burst into flames immediately. It began to run wildly, scaring the other sheep into running blindly with it, and more and more of them began to catch fire.
The Keyas family, who had nothing to live for, depended on the sheep, whose lives were way too more important to them than their dilapidated house.
The screams and hisses of the sheep and the Keyas family were heard, but the clergy and soldiers remained deaf.
The boy broke free from his mother once more, ran to the water barrel and fetched water with his healthy right arm, stumbled to the sheepfold and poured a bucket of water over a burning sheep with all his strength.
He ran to the water barrel and fetched another bucket of water driven by anger, but the pain in his left arm caused him to lose his balance suddenly and fall to the ground with the bucket.
The mother ran immediately to the boy and tried to help him up, but the boy pushed her away and said, "Don't worry about me! Go save the sheep!"
The mother hesitated for a moment, then picked up the empty bucket and ran to the water barrel.
The fat cleric, who had been watching coldly, sneered out of his nostrils again, "Humph! Don’t let her get in the way!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, several soldiers stepped forward immediately, snatched the bucket of water from the mother's hand and threw it far away, followed by controlling her as well.
The bucket fell to the ground, water gurgling out like the bleeding hearts of the Keyas.
They just gave up struggling, stopped even screaming, and watched the interior of the brick house had been completely filled with flames and more and more sheep were on fire.
But the boy hadn't given up.
He struggled to his feet, reached into the water barrel with his right hand and held out a handful of water, stumbling towards the sheepfold.
The water spilled all the way to the ground, but he kept running as if the sheep would be saved if he could just get there.
A soldier came to stop him and grabbed him from behind. But he broke free out of the soldier and kept running forward, holding the water in his hands.
Another soldier stood in front of him to block his way, reaching out to grab him. But he twisted nimbly, the soldier failed to catch him and he kept running forward, holding the water in his hands.
A cleric shot a spear of light that struck his path forward, stirring up smoke and fire that tried to block his way. But he kept running forward while his feet was on the burning ground as if he had not found it,.
At that moment, the boy felt the world had gone silent. All that remained in his mind was one thought, “I would save these sheep.”
Closer and closer to the sheepfold, there was nothing left to stop him.
Suddenly, deep in his mind, he heard a voice calling him. At the same time, he felt a powerful yet gentle force begin to move through his body.
With all his might, he threw the few remaining drops of water in the palm of his right hand at the nearest sheep.
A miracle just happened.
The drops of water turned into a falling rain in the air, dousing the flames within a ten-foot square and saving the lives of three sheep.
Create Water? The fat cleric's heart tightened and he said to the cavalry captain, “Go get him, alive!”
The boy was also startled by the rain he had caused. He was quickly surrounded by the captain and several soldiers, two of whom stepped forward and grabbed him easily.
The boy began to struggle as he heard the voice again deep in his mind, and he closed his eyes, doing his best to let the force burst outward his body.
He suddenly opened his eyes and found a myriad of weeds and vines sprouting out of the ground around him. As if sentient, they entangled the soldiers' legs and arms, pulling hard to free the boy from their bonds and then trapping the soldiers, making them unable to move.
The boy ran out of the vines area and immediately ran again towards the water barrel. Clem suddenly shouted to him, “Essa, Listen to me! Leave the sheep alone! Don't mind us either! Run! Just run!"
The boy's mind was struck shortly and he instantly understood the current situation.
He mounted a horse belonging to a soldier and galloped down without a backward glance.
The fat cleric had to step in and dispel the magical plants. But with this delay, the boy had already run a long way away.
The fat man stomped his foot on his horse in hatred: “Chase him down! Get him back by all means!"
“Yes Pastor!" The cavalry captain immediately mounted on his horse and galloped down to the boy with a few of his men. He muttered in his heart, “Shit! The bootlicking to the cleric is totally a basket case.”
Flynn looked to the Keyas and asked, “Pastor, what about them?"
"Purge them! Now! When you writing the report, just say they have been demonized and bringing them back to Naudisu would endanger the Seminary, so we purify them on the spot." With a disgusted look at the house and sheepfold, which were already on the verge of being burnt down, he left alone.
Flynn made a gesture to the soldiers controlling the Keyas. They thrust out their lances and the couple both fell to the ground. Their blood staining the grey and yellow ground black.
The sheep that had been saved by the boy rushed out and scattered in all directions while the fence was completely burnt down.
The soldiers and clergy looked at the fat cleric who had already left and no one wanted to chase the sheep, watching them disappearing from sight.