prelude
The Church of the Sacred Light, the iron fist that keeps the Empire in control of its people. Keeping the everyman in place. The Church's laws acting as the foundation of the Empire's government. Its dogma keeping them in fear. The Church and the Monarch a marriage that has ruled the people's lives for hundreds of years. And when there is a threat to this communion the elite holy Knights, The Shining Blades fight it back. The most powerful in battle and the most devout to the faith of the Shining Blades was Zion.
Threats like The Evil warlock Zoloumbur, whose immoral, and outlawed dark magic was more powerful than anything that had been seen in the Land for generations. His army of orcs, trolls, giants, and other uncivilized races combined with the masses of vile creatures he summoned from the flames of Phloghetous themselves had been laying to waste the outer villages for months. He set out to take over the Empire in the name of his dark lord, and he had almost succeeded, until the day he meet Zion and the Shining Blades on the Field of battle. It was Zion that brought the warlock to his fate, but not without a price. Many of Zion's brothers were killed, His most prized shield destroyed during the battle, his sword, as legendary as he was, lost.
It is the night after the decisive battle. The sheep rest knowing that their borderline tyrannical and theocratic government has kept them safe once again, not a free thought in their minds. Yet, a new threat is about to bring life into an old dark power in the name of shaking the status-quo, with hopes of toppling the antiquated way of life, all the while bringing the self-righteous to their knees.
CHAPTER 1
He went into the tavern, not to drink, for the consumption of alcohol was frowned on by the church, and forbidden for the Shining Blades. He was not even there to interact with the other patrons, for he would not be caught dead interacting with drunkards, but he was there just to be around the everyman, to be alone, without being lonely. He ordered a large glass of milk and sat down at an empty table.
He scanned the room; the tavern was crowded, but he only took notice of one. A woman with long raven hair. A perfect black, she had a tall cup of expensive Elven wine in her hand that matched her bold blood-red lips. He could not tell much of her figure, her dark clothes were not form-fitting and bedsides, he was a Shining Blade, staring at a woman's body was below him. What he could notice were piercing ice blue eyes. Chilling blue eyes that were looking right at him. He became uncomfortable. Nervous, he cleared his throat as he fidgeted in his creaky wooden chair. She got up from her table and began to move towards him like a hungry lioness that just found its next meal.
Without a word she pulled out a chair from the table at which the knight was sitting and sat down, wine still in hand. From a distance he thought her hair was black as a raven's feather, but up close he noticed the hints of dark blue, which only served to increase the beauty of those eyes. Blue like crystal waters, the kind of waters that on a hot day you just wanted to strip and dive into. Her ample bosom was fully covered, not a bit of skin was showing, but that did not stop the weary warrior from gazing at them. She softly cleared her throat. He thought she would be offended, but she was smirking.
He tried to speak to her "Uh. Greetings. I am, ahh."
"Zion the pure," she interrupted "Zion the Brave, Evil's Bane, Guardian of Justice. Protector of the Light. And now 'The Warlock Slayer" her voice thick with false admiration "Tell me, how do you keep all those ridicules titles straight?" She asked with a cruel smirk on her wine stained lips.
"I...I... I have earned them." finally recovering from the daze that her beauty had left him in, now that he felt her attacking his honor "For each title there is a story of heroism and bravery." She was disinterested, and once again cut him off.
"Mmhm, that's nice. Answer me this Zion the pure, is it true that The Shining Blades take vows of chastity?" her foot brushing the inside of his leg.
"Um, ahh. Y..yes. It is." why was he stammering, he thought to himself, he knew the answer to that question.
"How dreadfully dull." she replied with a look on her face that he could not read.
"Dull? My life has meaning, joy, and fulfillment. And I have accomplished all that without ever touching a woman." he stated proudly.
"So you do it with each other then?"
Of course not!" he exclaimed, insulted. "How outrageous! Have you come here just to insult me?"
"Perhaps."
Her demeanor went from playful, amused, and smug to something far more serious and sinister. "Oh yes, I know your organization's position, and I know how it has used its 'Shining Blades' to punish the innocent, and even ending the lives of some, just for loving someone." Her finer circled around the edge of her glass.
"It's unnatural."
"Oh trust me, there are more unnatural things that are far more dangerous for you to be worried about. Have you ever heard of The Sisterhood of Winter'?" she asked taking a sip.
"They were a group of sorceresses before the Golden Era of the Church of Light started, they were man hating, they sought to bring and rule a matriarchal society with the power of their darkest of magic."
"Silly boy, they didn't hate men. They just felt them inferior."
