-Church of the Divine Flame-

[A post-Grand War era religion, worshiping the concept of Divine Flames.

Its origins can be traced back to Lake Fyrun’s namesake.]

Much like the previous morning, I was woken up early by Oroske, and around the same time as well. He dragged me, still only half-awake, out into the city.

“I noticed your group didn’t really go see the city at all,” he explained on the way out, “So I figured I could show you around before everyone wakes up. Maybe get some training in as well.” I was still exhausted from the past couple days of constant walking, I had no idea how Oroske was in the mood to train, nor how he had the energy to do so. That said, I was interested in seeing more of the city. Being much smaller than Al’din, I figured we could probably explore most of the interesting sights in a single day.

He led me down the main road, occasionally checking down the side paths, as though looking for something. We walked in silence as I dragged my feet, still waking up. Finally, pretty close to the edge of the town, Oroske spoke up. “Huh, coulda sworn it was closer to the inn, it’s just over here.” He pointed down a path that led North, towards the lake, and once again resumed his usual stride.

The path winded around and between buildings as it went down the hill, but from the start and from almost every angle, a church was in view. From the top of the hill it looked quite small, but finally standing in front of it, it towered over us. It was probably the tallest building in the city.

We wandered inside the dilapidated church. Rows of dusty wooden pews formed two columns, giving the patrons of the church a not quite comfortable place to sit and see the front altar. The walls were adorned with stained glass and oil paintings, all of which depicted various flames in different scenarios. One of the windows depicted a scene I had heard about the day before. A strike of lightning hitting a body of water, and that water subsequently catching flame. The only other one I could piece together the story of was one that showed a dead person, who after being engulfed by flames, was resurrected.

“What is this place?” I wondered out loud.

Oroske took a seat on one of the pews and gestured for me to sit as well. I was reluctant to sit on such a dusty surface, worrying about how dirty my cloak would get. “This is the home of the Church of the Divine Flame, which until a couple hundred years ago was probably the most prominent religion in the region.”

“Religion?”

“Yep, religion. Most people these days don’t really subscribe to any sort of religion, largely due to the Guardians’ influence, as well as their promises for the future. But following the Grand War, religions that opposed the Guardians were being founded left and right. Even now, some people occasionally band together and form another one. This one was created shortly after the lake caught fire. According to the church’s records and doctrine, the founder was presented a vision, and through that vision a prophecy was born. This prophecy went directly against the Guardian Naen’s prophecy about the chosen members of the Clans.”

He pointed at the central glass feature behind the altar. The top half depicted a tower being razed by flames, surrounded by a broken half-circle of light. The circle was made whole on the bottom half, forming a halo of golden light. The tower was also inverted, and given the appearance of being made whole again.

“The prophecy stated a divine flame, the one the church is named after, would sprout from this lake, and at the height of conflict, the flame would engulf the world. The flame would purify the world, and usher in another era of peace.”

“Combined with Naen’s prophecy, another interpretation is offered,” a feminine voice echoed through the chamber, coming from the front door. Oroske and I turned around to see a young girl with deep blue hair and fiery red eyes leaning against the doorframe. “Your prophecy about the Half-Demons birthing ‘chosen ones’ refers to defeating the Calamities, and thus saving the world from certain destruction. This church later began to believe that the same Divine Flame that would purify the world would be the force that destroys the Calamities. And, perhaps, that would be how the world becomes purified. After this new interpretation became a common belief amongst members of the church, Naen and the Guardians did everything they could to bury the belief, and tried to remove the church from our history. Apparently they don’t like people challenging their authority and prophecies very much.”

While finishing her speech, she began walking towards us, and stood next to our pew by the time she finished. Her gaze never left the large glass window. “Of course, who knows why they acted the way they did, or even if that interpretation is correct.” She finished with a shrug, finally breaking her stare, and meeting my eyes with hers. Her eyes held an emotion I couldn’t figure out. A mix between pain and passion, perhaps.

“Well, you certainly know more than most,” Oroske laughed. “And whom might we have the pleasure of meeting?”

She suddenly got flustered and lost her composure for a moment, regaining her confidence with a clear of her throat. “My name is Sentem Ur’anum. My family has been this chapel’s caretakers for many generations.”

“Ur’anum, eh?” Oroske muttered, staring at her hair, “Well, no matter. I suppose it only makes sense that someone has been taking care of this place, it would have fallen apart ages ago if not.” There was a long pause as Oroske considered his next question. “Does your family still worship here? Or just take care of it?”

She nodded, “My grandmother and I do, against my parents’ wishes. My father is especially against the church, likely due to his affiliation with the Guardians. But growing up, my grandmother taught me about the church. I’m not devout like she is, but it’s nice to believe in something other than the Guardians’ plans, isn’t it?”

Oroske laughed heartily, “It certainly is. I’m sure we have different reasons, but I find it difficult to trust them sometimes.” Sentem agreed silently, and I got the feeling neither of them wanted to elaborate their reasons. Which annoyed me, and made me feel left out.

“Well, I’ll let you two be,” Sentem cleared the silence, “Just wanted to see who was paying a visit since I saw you two approach from my house.” She waved goodbye and walked out the door.

Once she was gone, I asked Oroske, “Why don’t you trust the Guardians?”

“There’s a lot that goes into why, but I’ll tell you the key points,” he said, his tone suggesting he fully expected the question to come up. “First off, they’re generally kind of shady, don’t you think? You’ve met Naen once, what were your impressions of him?”

“He seemed friendly enough, but also confident and exacting. I didn’t really see much of him, so it’s hard to say.”

“Good observations for the short time you saw him. Though, his friendliness is almost entirely a front. The truth is, he’s very cold, unless he sees usefulness in you. I’ve witnessed first hand what happens when that usefulness runs out…” Oroske seemed to shudder at the memory. “All of the Guardians are twisted in similar ways, at least, all the ones I’ve met.

“The second point is one you probably won't witness yourself for a long while, but there have been times where they’ve gotten in the way of our work. A couple years ago, Rel, the red cloak, and I were working together in the Royal City, the Human Realm capital. It was a pretty high-profile job, one that required a lot of planning and groundwork. And it required that things went according to plan. The day of the plan’s execution however, a couple Guardians showed up and prevented us from accomplishing our task. They completely halted, and even canceled our operation. One of them even almost killed Rel. I say almost, but they just straight up did. He had to get revived later on. Since then, Rel’s personal relationship with the city’s government, and by extension the realm’s government, has been strained. I’m sure they had good reason to get in the way, probably in the super-long term, but in the short term, there and then, it caused a whole lot of pain for a whole lot of people.”

Oroske’s face remained still and emotionless, but I could see anger in his eyes and feel it emanating from him. “They’d really do that? Prevent us from doing our job?” I asked.

“They would. That’s not the only time it’s happened either.”

“But why?”

“Who knows, aside from maybe them. If you asked they’d probably tell you something like ‘it’s for the good of the future.’” There was a brief moment of silence before Oroske stood up and changed the subject, “Well, there’s still more of the city to see, if you’d like to.”

“Sure!”

We left the chapel and began wandering around the city. Mostly due to time, we didn’t really stop at any points of interest, and more so just looked around. The city’s layout was maze-like in comparison to Al’din, Tsumi’din, and the City of Towers. Those three cities all had very organized streets, but Fyrun’s streets were all over the place. Different lengths and widths, which streets were main streets and which were side streets were difficult to predict at times. If Oroske wasn’t there, I probably would have gotten lost really easily.

We finally came back to the inn, probably two hours after we had left, and found Ranfa and Nadred waiting for us, with a few of our human companions tagging along. They were speaking to the Inn’s proprietor.

“Oroske, we’ve got bad news,” Ranfa greeted us grimly as we approached.

“What’s going on?” Oroske asked.

“Apparently the bridge across the canyon is out,” Ranfa explained, then gestured for the proprietress to explain.

“I’m terribly sorry,” the older lady began, “We meant to tell you yesterday but had forgotten. The bridge that crosses the canyon to Sanctis was destroyed a few weeks ago. There’s been a reconstruction effort going on since then, but we have not received word that it was finished in time. I’m afraid you’ll have to take another route.”

“Hmm,” Oroske thought to himself, chin in hand. “Has Raen been informed?”

“Informed about what?” Raen asked as he walked out of the inn, adjusting his collar. Oroske relayed the information, and Raen copied the pose Oroske was in when he first came out. “That is a problem. There is the possibility it’s been repaired, and for some reason the information hasn’t made its way here yet. I propose we make way for the bridge and inspect it ourselves. What say you, Oroske?”

“I think it’s worth a shot. There’s a small village there, correct? Perhaps while we’re there we can hold a forum for the people who couldn’t make it here.” Oroske’s response came quickly.

“There is, yes,” Raen confirmed with a nod, “I think that would be a good idea.” He turned to address the rest of the group, who were filing out of the inn, most of them half asleep. “Alright, everybody, we’ve got a couple hours before we need to leave. The bridge leading across the valley is likely still out of service. Regardless, we’re gonna head there and hold a forum. If it’s out, we’ll be coming back here for the night, otherwise, we’ll spend the night in Sanctis as per the original plan. So go buy all the supplies we’ll need for the journey, and reconvene here in about two or so hours.” He made sure that would be ok with the innkeep, and we started splitting into groups.

Oroske said he wanted to do some training with me, so I’d be in the group with Raen and Kared again. Raen was eager to watch, saying it would be a good opportunity to see how we do our training. He chose a few of his guys to come with, Terib and Dyn’ya, as well as Dyn’ya’s brother Elrik. The others that would be in our group this time were among the last for me to meet.

Raen sent Terib and the others to go procure supplies with Kared as their escort, and the Dyn’ya siblings would come watch my training.

Oroske led us a fair way out, a good distance away from any buildings, in the direction of Lake Fyrun.

“You’ve been doing well with magic and swordplay, Kuro,” Oroske started, pulling out a large sword from his Demon Sheath, plunging it into the ground and resting his hands on it. “But we’ve been neglecting your Energy Manipulation capabilities. You’ve got a fair amount of talent with the sword, and you’re very capable with magic, thanks to your versatile pass-throughs. But I would say your real strength lies in Energy Manipulation.”

“Really?” I questioned him as our companions sat down on the grass. “How else could I use Energy Manipulation beyond Demon Sheath and Acceleration?”

“Well, there’s lots of ways. Most of them you’ll find just by experimenting with the technique, but I can show you a couple to start off with.” He began his explanation. “First off, try summoning a weapon from your Demon Sheath.”

I did as he said. I’d gotten really used to using Demon Sheath, and no longer needed to draw out the full length of my weapon, instead ‘throwing’ the energy out with a flick of my wrist. My mentor and his peers were still miles ahead of me however, it seemed like they didn’t even need to move their hands at all to use it. As I sent the energy out, however, it felt like the commands weren’t received, and I felt the energy jolt back against my palm. I looked down and sure enough my weapon wasn’t there. I tried again, paying closer attention this time. Sure enough, I felt the same feedback, and my weapon didn’t come, as though something was interfering. I focused my vision so that I could see the energy, and saw a solid sphere of it swirling around my hands. When I tried to summon my weapon a third time, it flashed briefly right as the feedback hit my hand.

“Do you understand it?” Oroske asked from where he stood, having not moved even slightly the entire time.

“Somehow you’re able to block my Demon Sheath. That’s really annoying.” I said, shaking my hand, trying to get the energy sphere to leave. I didn’t have any luck, and it stayed stuck.

“Correct. You can use the energy to block other people’s manipulation techniques. Against most Humans it’s not particularly useful, but if you’re up against a Demon or Half-Demon, or one of the few Humans who have learned to use Energy Manipulation, it’s a good skill to have.” The lecture had begun in earnest. “It’s main downside is that you can only use it before they’ve activated their technique. Well, that, and it requires a lot of concentration to keep it active. But that does mean the best time for it is before combat begins. It can throw your opponent off and grant you an easy opening to start with.”

Oroske pulled his weapon out of the ground and sent it back in his sheath. “While you can practice on yourself, I think it’d be beneficial to get some practice on an actual target. I’ll count down from ten before I pull out my weapon, see if you can successfully block it in that time.” He raised a hand above his head, and said he’d summon it in that hand.

He began counting almost immediately. I had to think quickly. I finally thought of the command that I felt would successfully block it when he reached three seconds. And sent out the command as though I were throwing a dart, aimed directly at his hand. I kept in mind what he said about concentration, and did my best to keep the command in mind. I saw the sphere appear around his hand right as he said “one.” The sphere flashed briefly and he smiled.

“Good job, you managed to get it,” he applauded me, “Just in the nick of time, too. Now, to show you the next thing.” He told me to make sure I’m focusing so I can see the energy, and if I broke concentration on the command to re-apply it. I did break concentration in my joy that I got it in time, so I had to send it back over. He demonstrated the block still worked once, before taking his other hand to where the sphere was. The energy flashed, and the sphere suddenly shattered, once again sending the same feedback from earlier back to me. He then summoned his weapon once again.

“The lesson here,” he began again, sticking the sword back into the ground, “is that blocks and other methods of interference can be blocked and broken themselves. In a battle between two people who use Energy Manipulation, you must be able to block any sort of interference that comes your way, while also being able to attempt to block your opponent’s techniques.

“Of course, a battle where the combatants only use Energy Manipulation would generally only happen if they agree on that as a rule. In almost every combat situation, magic or swordplay will be the primary method of battle. Either way however, it’s just as important to have a good grasp on offensive and defensive Energy Manipulation techniques, as it is to have the same for swordplay and magic techniques.”

He decided to show me a few more techniques. By that I mean he used a few other techniques on me, and told me to try and figure them out for myself. Through this I learned it’s entirely possible to use Energy Manipulation as a weapon, literally and figuratively. One technique he showed me was forming a sword out of the energy, which didn’t cut, but was very effective at stunning. Another was using the energy to grab and move around objects and people, though that one was really hard to use properly.

We continued training for a while longer, until Kared came to gather up the groups, the rest of our entourage in tow. We cleaned up, and began our journey towards the bridge.