Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun, 18th day

The world seemed to stop still as the news of the new alliance between Iabrun and Solaria spread to every corner of the world, the talons of the new alliance sinking into each country. For those in Iabrun and Solaria, they rejoiced, no one would wish to actively go to war. For the people in the surrounding countries, they trembled, no one would wish to have either of the two superpowers lay their eyes upon them. Some with positions in the government walked down the streets of their respective cities ashen-faced, this alliance was a truly global shift in geopolitics, and they didn’t know what it would bode for their own nations. The regular citizens, on the other hand, while disheartened and fearful, carried on with their duties normally. The announcement of the new alliance shook the world enough to cover up all the relatively minor occurrences.

The amount of Naga’s dead in Solaria was swept under the rug, as easily as it occurred. The minor disease spreading in Gawain was still not note-worthy enough to make national news, and the suicide of a Parliament member in Solaria didn’t matter. In this chaos, Celestine and her Archbishops met face to face, “You’re going to do it now?”, the fox-demon asked her superior. Celestine looked around the meeting room they were in, five of the five regular seats were taken with all the Archbishops. They looked joyous, even Batos and Regin who didn’t show many expressions, had smiles on their faces. “Yes, plan 62-H is done. Thanks to Batos and Regin, we can finally get rid of that minister.”, she said and proceeded to smile upon the two. “It’s a shame Myanar couldn’t be on our side, oh well, it’s fine. My little cutie got it done quite well.”, Joan said out loud.

“Don’t play with the kid too much, will you?”, Teser replied while laughing, “You have that nasty habit.”, he continued on. Celestine sighed and didn’t think much of it, “I need all of you to be with me for this.” The five nodded, “Well, have you prepared everything?”, Celestine asked and Samuel nodded accordingly. “The minister is there, the people and the systems to spread it to every corner of the country are there as well.”, he said and smiled. “Good, we shouldn’t leave the people waiting, let’s go.”, she said and teleported herself along with everyone else to the platform. It was in the city of Helios, raised up in the center of the entire city, and upon it stood the five Archbishops, along with Pope Celestine in their robes. The surrounding chatter quieted down upon the arrival of the people, and every head there turned to look up at the platform. Most eyes were ones of admiration and reverence, with only a select few being neutral or hostile. They were called into the capital only two days ago, citing a nationwide response to the recent Naga deaths that occurred nationwide. “Hello, fellow citizens of this great nation. May I personally congratulate all of you who attended my address to the nation, and to those that could not make it, it is a shame to not see your beaming faces here.”, Celestine started and amplified her voice.

The area was silent, despite it having uncountable amounts of people there listening to the address. Those not there listened to live streams of it, and that was spread to every corner of the world. Arianna, in Iabrun, took her time fixing her hair while watching the address, “Let’s see what you have to say.”, she muttered to herself. In the village bordering the lines of Gawain and Iabrun, a tiny Wyrm and his Hiddle friend named Tiflis were still there. They sat there, watching the address themselves in a tiny home where a single woman lived, she took care of their needs. Mike in the capital sat by himself in his tiny home and stared at the screen, intently watching the events unfold with the address. Aiken and his friend Aelia were there, underground of the Church in Solaria, listening to what the Pope had to say. Nicholas and Alexander, along with so many more, listened to every word that she uttered.

“It is on this day that I, the Pope, make my fifth address to the entire nation, and it is deplorable that it has to be about this. Our nation is still relatively young compared to those we border, or even those we allied with. Solaria and Iabrun are now bound together in this alliance for the foreseeable future, and it pains me to see the appalling killings occur on such a momentous and celebratory day as the one where we announced the joyous alliance. Solaria is a young nation, and like a young nation, our people are filled with the spirit of youth, the spirit of youth that was there since our finding over one thousand years ago. We, especially me, stand on the shoulders of past giants to make this nation the best it possibly can be, and I promised this six years ago when I became Pope.”, Celestine said without showing any signs of fatigue.

“You all must have fond memories of my predecessor before me, Adam, and I have tried my utter best to fill his shoes as the guiding helm of our nation. So, it pains me to see this horrible tragedy occur under my watch. It pains every single one of us in the Church, down to the very last member, to see these sorts of acts carried out discriminately and aimed towards a single race. You Naga, standing in the crowd now, must not feel very safe, and my heart is with you. I could not sleep for days because I knew that there was the perpetrator of these acts still poisoning our youthful country with their bleak objectives.”, a single tear rolled out of her left eye that was not missed by the crowd. Her voice was shaking a bit, fully conveying the anger and sadness in her eyes as she talked.

“Of course, I found out who the person was. The entirety of the resources of the Church was sent out, the Naga under me could not sleep as long as there was no justice, and so I could not either.”, she said and then looked at the minister, who was a woman aged to be thirty at most, and the chains binding her. “To my shock and horror, the perpetrator was the Minister. The minister we trusted, that we liked and that we trusted to protect us, she was the one to order the people under her to kill your friends, your family, and your loved ones.” Celestine sighed and looked at her, who was silent and staring at the floor, “I wished to execute them immediately, but this country is fair, and since the Naga were the most affected by her, they should decide.”

The people were silent, they stared at the Naga in the ground, who had eyes filled with fury at the minister. Arianna in Iabrun raised her eyebrows and smiled, “Nice smoke and mirrors, though, I do wonder what Isaac is doing now.” Her mind wandered back to the Naga who yelled at her in the school, he hadn’t done anything to her yet, though. The Wyrm and Tiflis had already fallen asleep, they were still young and didn’t care too much about the politics involved. Mike still stared at the screen intently, wishing to know what the end would be, he wasn’t the most invested in politics, but it was an interesting scenario. “Kill her.”, said one, and that started a tide of bloodlust, moving from person to person and overtaking the minds of every person there. The person that started it was unknown, but those two words changed the calm and silent atmosphere into one of lusting for the death of the very same Minister they voted for two years earlier.

Celestine still looked solemn as she slowly walked towards the Minister, who by now looked at her in the eyes. “Kill me.”, she said, and Celestine obliged, chopping off her head without any fanfare. Celestine then looked out at the crowd, “This is what happens to those that dare to go against the Solarian people, my people.” She smiled and teleported off, along with her fellow Archbishops, they were now back in their meeting room. “One thing down, all we need to do is set up an emergency vote and make sure my candidate wins.”, Celestine said and then looked at her Archbishops. “Samuel, set it up.”, she said, and he nodded. “Joan and Teser, you two have complete autonomy on what you wish to do until the end of the month. Batos, Regin, you two have to go and keep tabs on a few parliament members, make sure they aren’t too upset. Other than that, you two also have full autonomy. Samuel, after you’re done, stay in Helios, but other than that, you can do anything you wish.”

Celestine then proceeded to teleport out of the room and into the one for L0S-23, and he was already in the shape of Vim Rhodes. “Ohoho, if it isn’t the monster Pope? Are you here to talk? Perhaps take me up on my offer?”, he asked relentlessly. Celestine sighed and said nothing, instead, she only drew up some of her blood in a formation and teleported away. Vim, the Quill, looked around and didn’t utter anything nor have a change in his smiling expression, instead, sitting down and looking at the blood formation on the floor; Celestine drew it up in order to house him, to strengthen the seal. He morphed back into an innocuous-looking quill, laying down upon the floor.

Meanwhile, Aiken and Aelia were both talking with one another. “Why did they kill her!?”, Aiken yelled out and Aelia, in the usual calm voice he displayed, said, “Because the Pope willed for it.” Aiken sighed and sat back down, “Is that it? Can we justify killing by just saying we were following orders?” He stood back up and started to pace back and forth in the small room, Aelia was still calm and took a sip of water; his signature armor was off at the moment. “Do not worry about it, Aiken, you’re better off not knowing the reasons behind any of this.”, he said and Aiken responded, “Why? Because the reasons are even more horrible?”

Aelia didn’t say anything as he stood up and went towards Aiken, “Look at me, I am saying this out of the goodness of my heart, you are better off not knowing.” Aelia sighed and looked around, “I’m not even supposed to be telling you this, but no one, not even the priest above us, is free of sin.” Aiken yelled out, “Yes! YES, I killed a man for a reason I don’t even KNOW. All I get told is that he opposed us? Opposed us in what?” Aiken was now pacing more, to and fro, about the entire room. “I killed a man, you killed a CHILD, Aelia. A CHILD”, he yelled out. Aelia sighed and looked around, “It wasn’t the first.”, Aiken looked at him incredulously, “You think that makes it BETTER!?”

Aelia looked up at him with his brown eyes, “It comes with the job, what did you expect, huh? That it would be sunshine and rainbows?” Aiken looked at him again, staring deep into Aelia’s brown eyes, “I didn’t think we would be directly killing those who oppose the Church, or blatantly lying to the public. Look at the bout of spewing bullshit she just said.” Aelia now looked a bit annoyed, “That is the Pope, you do not talk about her like this.” Aiken sighed and sat back down, “What can I even say? Should I tell everyone the Church is lying?” Aelia, for the first time in the entire conversation, developed a dangerous glint in his eyes, one not missed by Aiken. “The Church has ways to… suppress those that speak against it.”, Aelia said, and Aiken got the message pretty quickly. He walked around and said, “I need some time to think to myself

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“Okay, I’ll still be here if you need me.”, Aelia said and turned around to go put his armor back on. Aiken walked out of the door and looked around from place to place, he knew that he couldn’t directly go against the Church, but… does he even want to go against it? He remembered the Naga, Dr. Avel, Myanar’s face, and most importantly, one of the symbols of the church herself, Archbishop Joan play with a dead body. She was a monster, he realized, but then again, they were all monsters, he thought to himself, so was it any surprise she would be any different? No, of course, it wouldn’t, and as he was walking up the stairs thinking to himself, he bumped into someone.

When he looked up, his eyes drew their gaze to the red, yellow, and orange fox ears and moved along to the pupils of the person he saw, Archbishop Joan. He immediately went to a knee, “Hehe, no need for that, just stand up.”, she said in a sweet voice, perfectly designed to seduce anyone who heard it. Her pupils were mesmerizing, they were a blend of red, yellow, and orange that mixed together in an otherworldly pattern, Aiken couldn’t help but draw his gaze towards them instinctively. “I heard all of your grievances, and they’re understandable, do you want to talk about them?”, she said while gesturing to a room, and he obliged quickly. Inside, the two sat down facing each other, “Here, let me tell you why you killed Myanar. He was a rapist, he raped three women that day, the day you met him. He, of course, fooled you, after all, he was a cunning manipulator, but there’s clear evidence.” Aiken looked up at her suspiciously, “And why should I believe you?”, her smile didn’t lessen with his questioning gaze, and she pulled out a document.

“Here, it is not from the Church, but instead the official police force. I know you don’t trust us, so here, a source not affiliated in any way with us.”, she said and handed the dossier over to Aiken, who promptly opened it. Inside it was written testimony, along with pictures of physical evidence for the crimes, “Does it make you feel any better that who you killed was a piece of human garbage?”, she asked him and Aiken took a deep breath. “Honestly…, yes, it does.”, he said, feeling conflicted over his own answer, on one hand, the man was garbage, but did he deserve to die without due process? That was a question for lawyers, not someone like him, so he decided to answer with what he personally, morally, felt was right. “I just have a question, was it right to kill those Naga?”, he asked her while putting down the dossier.

“That question carries some nuance, so let me put it this way. What do you think would happen if we allowed the Naga to rebel?”, she replied. Aiken said, “What?”, feeling very confused by the whole situation. Joan sighed and said, “What do you think would have happened were the Naga to rebel?” Aiken didn't say anything, but realized the answer immediately, “They would be put down immediately?”, he asked, stuttering over part of his words. “Yeah. So what does it matter if it's now, or then? And then, they can kill others, so why not?”

Aiken didn't say anything, but he still felt like something was wrong about it, the Naga kid kept flashing past his mind. He wouldn't have died then, or perhaps it would never have happened? “You can go now.”, she said and Aiken didn't wish to stay there any longer, so he did and left the room. His mind flitted from idea to idea, and ended on, “Should I become an Archbishop?” He didn't know what he should feel like, or what to do, but that one idea stuck in his mind. Back in the room, Joan sat and looked around, Teser who was invisible cropped up and sat down in the room, picking up the dossier. “I knew someone was there.”, she said while looking at her fellow Archbishop.

Teser sighed and said, “A fake dossier? Really, all that effort just for one guy? Myanar didn't do enough wrong to deserve this.” Joan shrugged her shoulders and said, “I was always good at making stuff up, it's just fun to play with rookies. Besides, we have the rest of the month to do whatever we want, I can have some liberties.” Teser smiled and said, “You got that right, the longest break we had since forever. What do you want to do?” Joan thought a bit and said, “Well, we can always do that.”, while biting her lip and undressing. Teser stood up, and locked the door, “Yes, we can always do that.”, he said.

Aelia sighed and thought about the conversation he had with Aiken, he stroked the curves of his armor as he thought about it. This armor was old, given to him by his parents, and he wore it ever since; Aelia knew that it was childish, in a way, but it provided him with an unparalleled sense of comfort. He was also smart enough to know that he wasn’t smart in conversations, or particularly good at social situations, “By the Sun, what would the Pope do if she were here?”

The Pope, Celestine, at the moment was standing in a lush grassland directly south of the capital of Helios. The breeze rushed past her black hair, and she thought about the past month, Israfil stood out in her mind the most. The fun she had with her only real friends, the Archbishops, just thinking of them warmed her dark heart. It was one of the few pieces of real joy that she had in her life, that and the Eternal Sun. She went on one knee and started to pray, an act that reminded her of the times she did it when she was only six years old. Her memory shifted away from what she was saying and doing, which was muscle memory by now, and instead, turned to her childhood.

From the scattered fragments of memory she did have, of which her parents were not a part of, she remembered that at age three, she memorized the prayer. At age four, she memorized how to do the prayer, and at age five, had perfected the entirety of the prayer. Her birthplace, a village in the hinterlands of Solaria, somewhere deep in its countryside, was nothing extraordinary; yet, it birthed her, perhaps the most extraordinary thing. She always held fond memories of it, despite what “they” did to her, and what they tried to do to her; Celestine’s memory of that place was far too strong. After finishing her prayer, she stood up and looked around the grassy area, noticing that the breeze had stopped entirely. She had acute senses and noticed it immediately, and as quickly as when she first noticed it, she struck up a shield around her.

It was just in time because she felt a force collide greatly with the pure black shield she generated, and it crumpled the surface of the shield. She retracted it almost instantly and manifested a pure black orb from her pure black robes, ebony tendrils of black rushed to the attacker who tried to hurt her. She looked around and saw the perpetrator, a Naga by the name of Guahe who she had already known before. “Why attack me? You know you can’t beat me, it is pointless. Your revolution is dead.”, she said and looked at him, who was the true mastermind behind the entire rebellion. “Perhaps, perhaps not, but I will still try, or so help me Sun.”, he said and looked upon the blazing Sun in the sky. Celestine frowned and replied, “Do not use his name.”, to which he only laughed and rushed at her.

His nimble body weaved through all the tendrils that were originating from the ground to catch him, his tail of pure white scales crashed into a jet black tendril and destroyed it instantly. He made it to Celestine’s body and punched it, causing it to vanish in a cloud of black mist. “Where are you hiding?”, he muttered and rose into the air, using the surrounding elements in order to start creating a hurricane. As soon as he rose, another body of Celestine rushed up from the ground and stared at his body lazily. “Worthless.”, was what he heard, and then an extra-thick tendril made its way to him, it crashed upon his white scales and drew a drop of his thick, red blood. Guahe laughed and replied with his own tendril, this one of pure air, and it stopped Celestine’s in its tracks. “Do you have anything other than those tendrils? It is rather boring to just see you use tentacles.”, he said, while still preparing for the hurricane.

Celestine sighed and continued on by attacking with a barrage of black tentacles, it had been a long time since anyone meaningful has fought against her; she had gotten lazy with her attacks, resorting to the same basic barrage. Guahe, who knew this, had already prepared countermeasures upon countermeasures to go against her. He pulled out a small artifact and dropped it to the ground, the small bead did so, and the tendrils stopped in their tracks. Celestine frowned and realized that her mana source was being tampered with. She had not felt this feeling in a long time and looked at him more seriously now, the tendrils stopped and formed themselves into clones of the original body. Guahe laughed and laughed in the air, “Finally, you’re getting serious.”

Celestine stopped every attack and chained tendrils of her thick, dark mana between every clone, Guahe saw this and escaped accordingly, teleporting away instantly. Celestine stopped and looked at the spot where he teleported away, noticing that there was still a large amount of mana there. She sent one of her clones to the area, only for it to encounter nothing there, and much to her surprise, Guahe actually teleported away. It was a double trick, Celestine first believed that he simply became invisible and faked teleporting away to strike her; Guahe, in reality, did teleport away but left large amounts of his mana there to fool her for a split second. In that split second of realization, Guahe launched a barrage of his own air knives, each one striking a clone and causing it to disperse in a cloud of black mist.

None of them spilled blood, Celestine’s real body was away, and observing the battlefield in another area, she sprung into action and wrapped Guahe’s real body with chains of dark mana. His pure white scales started to bleed into the black chains, slowly converting them from a midnight black to pure white. “I finally got you to use some of your power.”, Guahe laughed and broke free from the chains before truly teleporting away, he wasn’t stupid and didn’t wish to die on Solarian soil. Celestine frowned and dispelled all her magic, she would have to go all out the next time they fought, then. She looked up at the sky and noticed that the Sun seemed to be scorching onto the Earth, as if in a fury over something. Arianna in Iabrun squinted her eyes at the Sun and frowned, the Emperor of Iabrun — George VI — looked in the sky and laughed uproariously. The Wyrm was woken up when he felt a stinging on his back, and Mike felt that the air turned just a bit hotter. He sighed and went back to searching for tickets for a train. Every powerful person in the world knew that something had annoyed the Sun in Solaria. The world continued as normal, setting the Sun on the day and patiently waiting for the start of a new day, with new events, and new people.