“Good morning, Hope!”

“Good morning!”

“Good morning,” Aelene responded with a smile as she walked through the streets of Alarna. The High Priest had instructed her to go outside and let people see her for at least an hour every day, ideally in the morning, when everyone was getting ready to start their day or already on their way to work. That’s why she had made it her daily routine to walk to the southern gate and back to the temple first thing in the morning.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning,” she said for what felt like the hundredth time that morning alone, and with every greeting, it became more difficult to keep up the smile. She was supposed to be the embodiment of the gods’ love for the people, a ray of sunshine that washed away all the citizens’ worries, but each morning, when she returned to the temple, she would need at least an hour to recharge. She was not made for regular social interactions on this scale. However, since this was the only part of her new job that tired her out this much, she was able to bear it. She also understood that, as mundane as walking up and down a street may seem, this was an important job that gave the people hope, and that was a big part of the temple’s agenda.

Hundreds of years ago, when the first Mad Ones appeared, a small group of people had banded together to protect the town. Before queens, kings, and priests even existed, and before anyone knew the name Alarna Rager, this group rose up to lead this newly formed village. Eventually, they formed the temple, an institution aiming to improve the lives of their people. Not only by protecting them, but also by providing guidance, education, and medical care. The fields which their continued research put them at the top of. Of course, all of this happened in accordance with the will of the gods, proven by the fact that no follower of them had ever become Mad. They could proudly proclaim that their path was the right one. Their heyday could only last so long, however.

Years after the establishment of the temple, a young woman managed to convince the people that the gods didn’t truly care about them or their lives. The gods rarely showed themselves, and even when they did, they didn’t seem to do anything of importance in the eyes of the common folk. At that point, they had also gone a few years without any Mad Ones appearing, and younger people in particular, who didn’t remember the days when the ritual platform had first been discovered, were wishing for a future where the temple didn’t control every aspect of their everyday lives. What started as a small movement that was belittled by the temple’s leaders, became a tidal wave in the blink of an eye.

After the crowning of Queen Alarna Rager I, one of her first actions had been to disband the temple’s forces and putting the responsibility of protecting the town in the hands of the people. The Fighters were happy to finally have more agency, although they had essentially just traded one leader who told them to patrol the town for another.

The queen took more and more jobs from the temple and formed dedicated departments, putting normal citizens at the top of each one, until the temple was left with only the jobs of providing basic education and administering the Calling rituals. This had been a dark time for the pious followers of the gods, who still believed in their cause. However, when Mad Callings once again made an appearance, the queen’s words were finally put into question, and the temple rose from its ashes.

A new, young High Priest took the reins and gathered enough people around him to stand against the queen once again. However, he was aiming to not repeat the mistakes that had been made before. He understood the wishes of the people and the errors of his predecessor, and he suggested letting the citizens have a say in their future, while tightening control just a little bit. Eventually, the queen was forced to agree, when the outcry over Mad Ones and beast attacks became too much. After this harmonious alliance had been struck, life returned to normal. From time to time, the balance of power shifted slightly in one direction or another, but never to a point where one group took full control again.

Many people didn’t know this part of history, because the royals had done a good job of promoting The History of Alarna as the one book detailing everything one would need to know about the town. However, that book, while not including any lies, conveniently excluded how the queen had doomed her people, and how only the temple had been able to save the day. No matter what the priests tried though, they had never managed to convince the citizens of this truth, and that only following the gods would bring true peace. There were still beast attacks, but the people valued their perceived freedom more than their lives, and they didn’t want to fall back under the umbrella of the temple.

Over the past two weeks, Aelene had thought about the temple’s history a lot, and how, with the current situation in town, there might be a chance for them to finally make Alarna a better place again. The temple’s own history books proved that they could do better. While the temple at least being part of the leadership was holding the cursed Mad Calling at bay, beast attacks were still a major problem. When the temple was first formed, there had been barely any beast attacks, and every time a beast did appear, the temple’s guards had been able to repel them. Not unlike today, when the town’s guards were barely able to harm them anymore.

The priests were frustrated that people ignored their wisdom and their gods’ teachings. That for so many years nobody had listened to them about how life could be better. But there was hope. Aelene couldn’t help but notice that no more beasts had gotten into town after she had become a divine messenger, with more and more people finally becoming believers again. The gods must have been watching, and they must have liked what they saw. In her eyes, they were finally on the right path again, and in light of what they might gain, this little bit of discomfort she had to endure was not even worth mentioning. She would continue to do her part.

***

Tomar eventually returned from escorting Reurig and we kept discussing our next steps. He appeared to not only be ready to go through with this idea of liberating the people anymore, he really wanted it. The current plan was half baked, however. They would’ve tried to gradually spread the rumor that the temple was deceiving the town’s citizens, to shake people’s beliefs, and then position themselves as the ones who could make true on the temple’s promises for real. It wasn’t a terrible plan, but it would’ve been difficult to pull off, and if they had to individually explain to every person what the benefits were, you would never get anywhere.

Instead, I proposed a few other ideas. One aspect that had made convincing people easy for us in the past, which Berla and Reurig could attest to, was seeing us out here in the Wildlands for themselves. We had discussed before how you couldn’t go around taking people on walks outside the walls for days, but there were groups who ventured out of town on a regular basis. For one, there was the camp for the workers not far from here, who were accompanied by a squad of guards every day. But there were also farms north of town, though I hadn’t seen them myself yet.

The farming area in town had apparently not been enough to produce enough food for everyone anymore at some point, and they had simply extended it past the walls. Being a “Wildlands farmer” was said to be safer than being a lumberjack, because they had erected a provisional wooden wall, while they were still in the process of extending the town’s stone wall. Additionally, the fields were right next to Alarna, and beasts could be spotted from a distance. If necessary, additional guards could be sent out immediately.

Finally, there was the caravan. In a week’s time, merchants and guards would travel from Alarna to Cerus, and even though they were short on Fighters, they would have to make this trip, or they might run out of items they regularly bought at the monthly market, like blue stones. An absolutely vital resource. Thinking about it... cutting off the blue stone supply would be a great way to become a saint to the people, since we can produce water without stones... though that might be a little crass. And it would mean a lot of work.

On the temple side of things, we would have to undermine what they were currently doing. They positioned themselves as the people’s saviors, but it was really just a smokescreen. Out here, the people were still in mortal danger, and transporting a water source into town made for good PR, but I was certain that it hadn’t been brought there by the gods, which presumably meant that anyone could do it with the right approach.

Since Gean was nowhere to be found for some reason, I figured a good first step might be to approach the workers. Both in terms of checking how the guards and people would react to us and for a potential demonstration. I didn’t have any statistics on how often they were attacked, but I had heard that the guards were usually able to fend off the beasts. To me, this indicated that attacks did occur at least semi-regularly, which would always be a potential danger. With us out here, however, we would basically be able to guarantee their safety. If they let us, that is.

There was nobody in our group who wasn’t considered a criminal at this point, with Lilana probably being the one with the least tainted reputation. She had also escaped from the temple, not the authorities. If the two organizations didn’t work together closely, a guard might be inclined to listen to our made up story of the temple wanting to suppress Lilana’s fake-angel-Calling. And if things went sideways, we would “only” have to deal with one squad. That might not be ideal, but it wouldn’t be the first time, and we had more than enough space to escape out here. Especially since the guards wouldn’t be able to hunt us, as they would have to keep guarding the workers.

If we could get this one group of people on our side, it would be a good start for our campaign. They would be able to believably attest to us surviving out here, and that we were able to keep the beasts away. We could even hand out refreshments. Their life would become easier and much safer, and rumors of what we were doing would spread among their families, friends, and colleagues. Of course this wouldn’t be without risk though.

Reports of our activities would inevitably reach the king, even if the guards didn’t report it outright. However, even in that case, I believed us to be in a good position. Not only had Lilana not done anything to really harm the town’s citizens yet, she was a young woman with a good story, and she had escaped the temple. I couldn’t imagine that the king wouldn’t see the value in that. Turning the temple’s current campaign on its head should be pretty viable with such a resource. Staying entirely independent would be preferable, but if working with the king for a little bit before we overthrew him was the worst case, I could handle it.

Though I knew that it wasn’t actually the worst case. That would be getting caught and interrogated once again. And since the temple was gaining power right now, they might even bring us right back there. I didn’t know whether anyone had truly noticed my stone-less script usage, but I had to assume that they would finally increase security. They killed anyone who was dangerous or unable to do their job, so something like a straitjacket might not exist yet, but if they wanted to, they would find a way to prevent me from using my hands. If that happened, I wouldn’t be able to get out on my own anymore.

Thinking about it with some optimism, however, the plan might very well work. We would start at the worker camp and demonstrate what we had to offer to them. Since they could see it for themselves, believing it wouldn’t be an issue. They would then tell those closest to them, and the word would spread. Afterwards, we could target the caravan next week. They were in a similar situation to the workers, just on a different scale. More citizens, more guards, and more exposure to the Wildlands and its beasts. I must’ve been nerve wracking for them to stay out not only during the day, but also at night. They would be crazy not to appreciate some help with this problem.

With that foundation laid out, we would slowly build up a following, and if another faction had a problem with what we were doing, they would be seen as the bad guys, which would only further our agenda. After all, we would be the ones protecting the citizens. I also already knew that the king was careful. He wasn’t the type to publicly demonize me, just like he didn’t appear to act against the temple right now. He wanted to stay in power, and he knew that he needed the citizens’ goodwill for that. Should we reach this point, I was guessing that he would try to make a deal with us, and Berla, who knew the king, agreed with my assessment.

I explained my thoughts to the others, and their responses were pretty positive. There were a few worries about me getting caught, tortured, and killed, but aside from that, it seemed like a decent plan in our current situation.

By this point, we had talked for a while already, and Tomar and Berla started preparing a rabbit that Tomar had managed to catch on his way back to camp for breakfast. Meanwhile, I stepped away for a moment, to talk to Lilana at her request. I had been in great spirits, until I heard what she wanted to talk about.

‘Please leave my body and let me go,’ she said decisively.