Unlike the church deacons, Mars didn’t pressure Konnor to be as fast as possible to reach their destination. It was nice to walk at his own pace. However, that didn’t change the maze-like design of the inner-sanctum; there were so many turns and doors that he was sure that without a guide, he would be lost in a couple of turns.

Without the pressure he looked at the walls, but there was nothing to find on them, barely any form of decoration. In a matter of time, they arrived at a specific wooden door as there were no other doors in sight. Mars politely opened a door and allowed his friend to pass first, then it was his turn and gently closed the door.

Konnor was quick to find the differences. Unlike those empty training grounds, their new room was filled with bookshelves of all sizes, filled to the brim with colorful books organized in an unknown manner, but there was a pattern in the color arrangement. A couple of small tables with wooden chairs arranged in straight lines and a single desk placed at the front. There was no window like the other rooms, but it had more illumination crystals spread all over the walls and the roof.

“Good morning!” A very youthful kid jumped in front of him, breaking him away from his thoughts.

“Hi?” He awkwardly waved his hand to greet in kind, his own eyes lost in the little boy’s big brown eyes, who couldn’t be older than eleven years.

The sun-kissed kid was dressed just like his friend, with the exception that he wore a wide white cap that covered most of his head, besides a few strands of black hair sticking out from the sides.

He had a toothy grin on his face, showing off a pair of fangs, and ran off towards the older priest, revealing a long slim black tail with a white tip coming out from his backside, frantically moving side to side.

Konnor immediately recognized the slender tail, only felis had such smooth and slender tails. Impossible for him to not recognize one as he had seen a lot of them back home, but that didn’t shake the surprise of finding a beastfolk as a member of the church since he had only seen human priests, but it was never too late to learn new things.

“Ah, so you are the new initiate?” Mars asked.

“Of course!” The kid gave a quick bow, his hand reaching to hold his cap, threatening to fall off his head.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Tahir!” He happily answered, trying to remain in one place as he was practically jumping on the spot.

“Very well Tahir, take a seat.” Mars pointed at the empty desk, which the kid ran off to, and pulled the chair back before taking a sit. The young felis showed his eagerness to learn as he pulled out a parchment of papers, books and a small pointy object Konnor couldn’t recognize at first glance.

What he could recognize was his friend’s hand gesture for him to also take a seat on one of the many available desks, which he did with no complaints.

Mars, on the other hand, walked towards the back of the room and stood in front of the largest bookshelf, leaning closer to read the titles from the book covers as fast as he could. Eventually, he pulled out a stack of books, which he took back to the front and dropped them into his own desk.

The priest stood proudly in front of his two new students. “You should understand by now that we founded the Varomor Empire on the principles of uniting all the races of our world thousands of years ago to put up a united front against the forces of the World Eater. This single event marks the end of the First Era.”

The name ringed many bells inside the chosen boy’s head, causing him to raise his right hand and indirectly interrupt his friend’s lecture, “Mars, occasionally you mentioned this World Eater back home but never explained it to me in detail. What exactly is it?”

A curiosity that he finally found the perfect opportunity to solve.

The priest looked at his friend for a moment and then turned to the felis kid who also had the same interest in the answer as he leaned closer before releasing a sigh, “Is not a secret if that was what you were wondering, but neither is information we want to spread far and wide across the Empire, is better for everyone interest to remain relatively ignorant about the subject.”

Tahir raised his hand for his turn to speak, “After some thinking, I too know little about this World Eater. The communal school only mentioned it as a bad entity and our beloved gods protect us from it.”

“Like I mentioned before, Is better if the population remains relatively ignorant, “Mars paused and bit his lip as he looked at both students eagerly waiting for him, “The reality is that the World Eater is slowly consuming our world as we speak.”

“What?” both students shouted as they jumped from their chairs.

Mars immediately rushed between the two and grabbed their shoulders to push them down to their respective chairs, an easy feat, as both were more shocked about the news than opposed to any resistance to his strength.

“Please do not misunderstand! That entity doesn’t literally eat our world, but corrupts and drains the land. It uses the Demon King as its avatar. When we have the chance to visit the Frontier, you will see the difference between our Empire’s beautiful green lands and the barren rocky desserts now referred to as the badlands.”

Mars’ hasty explanation put the felis initiate heart at ease, and his friend’s curiosity grew even more after the initial shock. He grew intrigued by the concept of the same land and different worlds. His curiosity whispered to him to visit the frontier before Viridis, yet he still wanted to meet the elves more than anything and finally make sure if the rumors spoke the truth or not.

“If I recall correctly, the Empire established the frontier after the Second Monster invasion, with the help of every single state.” Tahir commented with a finger under his chin.

“You are indeed correct Tahir, all the remaining states and provinces worked together to build The Colossus and the Merrygrog line. And since their successful establishment, the reach of the World Eater hasn’t spread ever since.” The priest explained with his gaze, looking at the roof with a smile.

“So we are in danger of ceasing to exist?” Konnor asked. The idea of impending doom wasn’t very appealing or, better said, it was a very scary thought that slowly gnawed at your sanity.

Mars’ gaze locked with his friends’ and let out another sigh, “Like I said before, anybody who ask will know the truth but we don’t want people to fall into despair if they were to learn the full extent of this reality because if they do, the World Eater can take the chance to plant diabolical whisper inside their head and take hold of them with wicked promises, this has caused the birth of multiple cults across the Empire, especially inside the city state of Odral.”

“The sacred scriptures demand divine punishments to the heretics who knowingly mingle with the ruinous powers!” The felis kid loudly recited one of the many scriptures of the trinity church with resolve while his eyes burned with eagerness to enact divine retribution.

Sentiment didn’t go unnoticed by the other priest who shared the same view, “Exactly, this is the reason the Trinity Church established the Purity of Will, members of our faith, with a death oath to protect and punish those wicked….”

Konnor intentionally coughed out loud a couple of times to grab everyone’s attention, “Aren’t we supposed to be learning about the other races?”

Both members of the trinity church looked at each other as the realization struck them. Tahir buried his head between his arms while Mars forced a smile on his lips, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks.

“My apologies, I got carried away.” The young teacher returned to his desk and picked up a book and skimmed through the pages until he found a specific one that contained exactly what he was looking for to finally start his lesson.

“In the Varomor Empire, there are five races and I will name them in order according to the size of each respective population: The Humans, the beastfolk, the orcs, the dwarves and the elves.”

“The only time I saw a dwarf was when a traveling merchant caravan arrived at Marigo.” Konnor’s comment earned Tahir’s curiosity as he turned to look at him with his head tilted.

“Well, only the capital has a diverse population. For example, humans and beastfolk only inhabit our town. If we go to the mountain villages in the east, the population only comprises dwarves and a peculiar group of beastfolk.” The young teacher’s reply made his friend think about that particular village and how different it would look compared to his home. There was such uncertainty that he would only get an answer from firsthand experience, he mentally added that zone for a future visit.

“Another example, Tahir. Where do you come from?”

The young felis cleared his throat. “I’m from Northern Uslvania! My town is called Syrin and is right next to the sea!”

Konnor was a bit surprised to learn that Tahir was also part of Ulsvania but that surprise died down as he remembered Ulsvania was the largest of the Empire states. However, he wondered about the sea, as he had heard the beauty of a blue ocean and the natural sound of the waves crashing against the coast along the warm sands of the beach.

“Magnificent! So who lived in your coastal town?” Mars clapped his hands.

Tahir looked away as he scratched his head. “Beside my kin, there are Orcs and humans, but those are very few. I think the only humans I saw were brothers who owned a small bakery.”

Mars happily nodded and turned to his friend. “As you can see, it is very important to learn about all the races. Nobody wants you to visit another town and cause a public scandal by accident for not knowing anything about them.”

Konnor dropped his shoulders and let out a long sigh in defeat. He could no longer escape or pretend anything to get out or reduce this long due sentence. He could only stay put on his desk and start learning for once, but at least he wouldn’t be alone in his endeavor, since the little felis seemed to be good company and keen to help him along the way.

“So let’s begin with one of the biggest achievements of the Church, the Orcs missions.”