People burning on stakes and screaming as they are beheaded or tortured, buildings crumbling in fire, demons with horns laughing and drinking blood joyfully while sitting on piles of corpses, a scene of absolute chaos unraveling under a bloody red sky. A girl suddenly appears in front of them all and the demons all kneel, lowering their head in front of their queen, their goddess.

“You will be my messengers in this puny world! Spread my name by bringing death to them all! BURN, KILL, SLAUGHTER, THAT IS MY COMMAND!!!”

“Kyaaa!!!”

On the first floor of the smithy, a girl’s frightened scream resounds loudly.

“What?!!! Who is there?!!”

Hithindil appears as soon as Seraphin screamed, holding a two-handed hammer big enough to smash a building with a single strike. His muscular upper body is revealed as he is not wearing any shirts.

“N-nothing, daddy. I just had a bad dream.”

“Oh, my sweet little gem…”

How much time has it been since she ever called him daddy? Hithindil couldn’t remember. The joy from hearing that word made his heart jump. As he can’t restrain himself, he throws down his hammer and jumps on his daughter.

Seeing a massive shadow coming on her, Seraphin only had a moment to look up and see her father fall on her.

THUMP!

Right before he lands, Seraphin manages to place her foot on her father’s crying face, preventing him from completely landing on her.

“What are you doing?!!!”

“Sob…Sob…You called me Daddy after such a long time! What did you want me to do?!”

Hithindil’s tears start to flow, even more, wetting Seraphin’s foot.

“Arghh!! Stop it, you are being gross!”

Pushing with all her strength, she manages to push her heavy father away and stands up.

She comes down from the bed and walks out of the room, throwing a ferocious glare at her father before leaving.

‘I hope that nothing bad will happen.’

Seeing her trembling daughter walking, Hithindil could only hope that her dream was just a dream. After all, it could only be a bad omen to have a bad dream on the day of the Glorias Fera.

‘Oh great Cald’h. Please protect her from harm.’

***

Two hours later, in the church of fire, Seraphin still couldn’t calm down. The words she heard in her dreams, the things she saw, everything was playing over and over in her mind, making her sweat under her hood.

“Children, are you ready?”

While she was lost in her thoughts, a male priest brings an end to the frivolous discussion that was going on. After that, ten priests finally enter the church in a single file and spread themselves in front of the children. The people in the church look at them with admiration. They are the ones in charge of the Glorias Fera.

“Remember that the great CALD’H is unconditionally kind and bountiful. He will always give you what you need. So, don’t be too disappointed if your blessing is not the one you hoped for.”

The male priest addressing the students turns and advances toward the hundreds of people gathered in the church.

“On this day, folks, let us pray to our Great Lord, he who each year, grants us strength and makes our hearts burn with the fire of life.”

The whole cathedral became silent as those words. Everybody lowers his head and stays with his hands raised towards the sky for almost ten minutes.

“And now, students, you who have decided to become the kindle of our great Lord’s fire. Advance.”

The students start to move in front of the ten priests waiting in front of them. Each of the priests holds a crystal ball in one hand while the other is free. When they reach them, they kneel and after the priest finishes his prayer, they touch the crystal orb that the priest is holding in his hand. A shining light then appears, determining the rate of the blessing and the type. The shinier and colorful it is, the more powerful is the blessing.

As for the color, there is a myriad of colors that could be appearing but the priests have enough experience to discern exactly what type of magic it is. After all, there is only three types of magic that exist in this world: elemental magic which allows one to use the different elements, spirit magic which requires you to form a contract with a spirit, and summoning magic which lets you control elements in a different way.

“C-grade elemental magic. May your fire burns and enlightens the world.”

“I shall become a kindle worthy of the great LORD’s fire.”

And the student finally takes off his hood, revealing his face to the world. That is the Glorias Fera.

***

“Even Deloil didn’t get an A-grade blessing?! Damn, this year is cursed.”

“D-grade summoning magic. May your fire burn and enlighten the world.”

Five minutes after the beginning of the ceremony, more than half of the students have received their blessings but none got an A-grade blessing, let alone an S one.

As the number of students keep diminishing, Seraphin’s condition became more and more unstable. She is now shaking like a leaf to the wind and sweating bullets. She doesn’t know why but something bad is going to happen to her. She can feel it.

“Child, it is your turn.”

Suddenly, a priest speaks to her, she is the last one, together with another one who is already walking ahead of her. As she advances, her dream keeps repeating and repeating in her head, making her more and more fidgety. When she reaches the priest, her trembling hand could hardly touch the orb after the prayer. Mustering all the courage she could, she finally touches it. At the same time, the person who went ahead of her, also touches the orb. The whole church is then illuminated by a golden light, so bright that the people inside had to cover their eyes.

“S…S- grade blessing.”

“Someone got a S-grade blessing…”

“Incredible…”

People were fixated on the student who just got the legendary blessing. Everybody was dying to know his or her identity when finally, the priest spoke, breaking the somehow awkward silence among the students and the other priests.

“A-grade elemental and spirit magic. May your fire burn and enlighten the world.”

“What?!!!”

Before anybody could say anything, the student in front of the priest reacted, removing her hood with fury. Her blonde hair was then revealed, together with her beautiful face. Pink eyes, a small and pointy nose, curved light red lips, pointy ears: Silphanie Durant. One of the best students among Tirames academy's first-year students and the official rival of Seraphin.

“That should obviously be an S-grade blessing! Can’t you even do your work properly?!!”

“Child, this orb is an absolute instrument bestowed to us by the high servants of Cald’h themselves. Errors are impossible with it.”

“Then check again!”

Silphanie touches the orb again before the priest could do anything and the same phenomenon happened.

“Are you now satisfied?”

The priest says as he is glaring at her. Silphanie doesn’t say anything and turns around. Not even waiting for the priest to finish her ceremony, she just goes and enters through the line made by the other students, though most of them just move and let her pass like a queen.

“Child.”

While everyone was focused on Silphanie, almost nobody noticed that somebody was touching an orb but nothing happened. That is, until the priest finally spoke, breaking the atmosphere created by Silphanie’s blessing ceremony.

“You have received no blessing. The great Lord doesn’t favor you it seems.”

At that moment, the whole church went silent. It was the first time in all the history of Tirames that somebody didn’t receive a blessing.