“Against all evils, foul, heretical, or supernatural:


    We shall stand firm.


    Against what corrupts the worlds, that dims the light of hope:


    We shall stand firm.


    Against the darkness the rises, encroaches and gnaws:


    We shall stand firm.


    To protect, to serve, to save the weak from sin:


    We shall stand firm.


    In the name of the Goddess we serve, and in the stars which we find strength. For against all odds:


    We shall stand forever, under the guiding light of the Astralis. “


    - Prayer of the Wounded Martyr, Order of the Argent Curia


    <hr><hr>


    They were getting further away from the battlefield. The village was left disorganised mess as traitors and loyalist legionaries fought amongst themselves and the crow masked cultists. Aryana felt herself getting more fatigued, the very act of trying to maintain her composure whilst being kidnapped taking its toll on her body. I can’t hold on for much longer, but what else could I do? Her resolve however, was still wavering, leaving her uncertain in how she wanted to proceed. She could struggle against the scholar, but in doing so would likely find herself on the wrong end of his ire. Yet, if she allowed it to take her away, then she might have just doomed herself to a fate worse than death. That left the question of how to struggle against it. Whatever she did, it needed to be decisive.


    She felt the creature squeeze down on her and her body groaning as her bones fought desperately to maintain their form against the scholar’s weight. Pain and fear rocked her mind in equal measure, but a tiny sliver of her mind felt something different. A deep, searing pain that felt much like heartburn that tugged deep within her. It was as if something had been stabbed and pierced deep into her body, her breath stolen right out of her lungs. No, no, I need to get out, I need to break free. How? How? How? How?


    Her spirit waned further when they rounded another street corner, the sounds of fighting now well behind them. Crap, any further and there’s no chance I can get away. Think idiot, think! I-I don’t wanna die… and Sophie, right, for Sophie. She grit her teeth and tried to take another bite into the monster only to be viciously slammed against the wall of a house. She felt a sickening crack from the impact and her head slammed backwards and lolling forward as she nearly lost consciousness.


    “R-r-r-rat.” The scholar thing snarled, its mouth snout flashing bloodied teeth as it held her with one arm, “Y-y-you ruined, everything!” It roared and squeezed.


    Aryana felt the sudden pressure and struggled to gasp for air, wordlessly trying to scream. She felt her muscles slowly failing, the weakness spreading even further throughout her as what little consciousness left began fading. She tried desperately to pry off its one meaty hand but found little purchase, her fingers barely scraping off any muscly flesh to matter. It was perhaps added humiliation that she smelled the sickeningly bitter and metallic smell of iron and pus coated with a faint scent of alcohol. Let… let… ugh… me… Her eyes widened as the moment of her demise drew nearer, the image of a guiding spirit shining down from above as the sun gently kissed her cheek. The warmth felt unnaturally hot even as her failing body grew colder, an ethereal caress that both nourished and drained her in equal measure. Warm… so… warm… warm?! Magick! I can use magick!


    With great effort she clenched one hand into the creature’s flesh, only successfully griping the top of a tough fleshy muscle. This''ll be enough. I’ll take you with me, beast. Spirits… guide… my… spark. She prayed for salvation, for anything to heed her cries as she faintly traced the pattern in her mind. She was hopeful for a moment, almost excited despite being at death’s door. She felt the welling up of energy, the same feeling she always had when she called upon her spark. Yet, to her dismay, she felt it waver, fizzle out almost, and at once, what little hope she had faded. Damn…


    “Why are you even taking her alive? Finish her off already.” A ragged voice announced.


    Aryana weakly looked over and saw the Captain, wounded and bleeding but still standing. How dare. The scholar thing growled and squeezed her harder, her throat now collapsing in on itself. But she was incensed, the sight of the traitor leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Throwing one last effort, she drew whatever she had left and called upon the spirits for aid, channeling both her fear and anger at the traitor''s survival. The power coursed through her and she focused it onto her finger tips, one last ditch attempt to push through.


    There was a moment of fear, silence and doubt as the scholar thing continued to choke her, her consciousness growing dim. Then, it happened like a flash. From a tiny spark, the alcohol that covered the creature and herself erupted into an inferno, the fire spreading over the creature’s entire form as well as her own sleeves. It looked perplexed for a moment, and Aryana felt his grip loosening as if slowly processed the situation. With a roar of anger it dashed her against the floor, scraping her soft skin against the hard cobble floor and tearing into her flesh. It reeled from the sudden burst of flame and howled in what she could assume in agony. She let out a small satisfied sigh before her own pain manifested itself in full, her arms and sleeves burning up into a crisp.


    In her own panic, she hastily rolled around on the ground, using her free hand to tear off the burning cloth, though not before it had already seared a mark into her skin. She whimpered in pain and scrambled from the now alight creature, backing herself up onto a corner of the alley when a shadow loomed over her. Before she could register what had happened, a sharp pain rocked her left shoulder once more, her only consolation being that the sword was thrust through the already opened arrow wound, mitigating the damage by a miniscule amount. She gasped in shock to find the furious eyes of the legionary captain staring down at her.


    “You curlish cur, everything. Everything was ruined because of you and your friend. And now you refuse to do the one easy thing and die. I even gave you all our documents out of the kindness of my heart.” He sarcastically slurred, “Stupid. Little. Vi-ugh.”


    The captain stopped his speech as an arrow punched through his skull, his eye embedded onto the tip of the arrow even as blood splattered onto her. Aryana looked on in terror, on the verge of screaming if not for her lack of energy and bruised throat. A roar echoed from behind the captain and she turned to find one figure clad in silver hacking away at the scholar before a battle axe wielding orc cleaved the flaming scholar in two. The agonizing death rattles of the mutant creature echoed throughout the street as the two pulverized what little remained before they shifted just enough for Aryana to spot what looked like two rangers standing at the end of the street. The… gah… it hurts… those are… border guards… why… why… ugh. Above her, the captain slumped from his position and collapsed into a heap, his sword still embedded in her shoulder even whilst his life slowly faded away, his expression of surprise still trying to process that he had in fact, just been killed.


    Aryana tried desperately to pull the sword out from her, but her remaining palm had been slightly burned and the soft skin now radiated pain whenever she touched the hilt of the blood-covered blade. With her energy finally depleted, she opted to just stew in her situation as tears slowly began running down her face as she felt death around the corner. There’s so much I haven’t done… so much to see… damn.


    Her pained rasps were all she could afford to focus on even as the large orcish warrior knelt in front of her. She closed her eyes and awaited death when she felt her head being lifted up and a cool, soothing liquid being forced down her mouth. Against her better judgment, her body instinctively sought relief and greedily gulped what little it could handle down. It took barely a moment before she felt a small semblance of relief and was brave enough to open her eyes again to find the orc examining her. Spirits have mercy on me.


    “Inquisitor Janos! It’s her. The one Mistress Rosengart talked about.” The orc shouted. Rosen… gart? Eva?


    “Blasted hells, Guardsmen!” A gruff voice shouted from the end of the alleyway. Yet, straining her eyes helped no longer as she felt her vision slowly fail her.


    “Lord Inquisitor!” Another voice answered.


    “Treat her wounds until the medicae and healers arrive.” The gruff voice ordered.


    “Yes, Lord Inquisitor!”


    “Sergeant Miccahias!”


    “Sir!” A slightly muffled, helmeted voice acknowledged.


    “Take the rest of the templars and deliver the Goddess’s Judgment upon any cultists or abominations that still roam the streets. Detain any and all Legionaries that you find, kill any that resist. I do not want a single heretic wandering freely here by the time you’re done.” The gruff voice barked.


    “By the will of the stars!” The helmeted voice replied, and Aryana heard a flurry of heavy armoured steps pass her by. Ten? A dozen? At least twenty.


    “Grorok, did you administer the tonic?”


    “Of course.” The orc spoke softly, “Hold on now, little human. It’ll just be a second.”


    Aryana assumed she replied, but the pain held her tongue still besides a few groans.


    She could hear the approach of more softened leather boots, the rangers, as they unwrapped something next to her. Beyond then the more heavy, controlled and rhythmic thud or a heavier boot approached, and soon she felt the presence of something overwhelming stand behind the already intimidating orc.


    “She’s damned lucky to be alive, more so that we found her on time.” The gruff voice sneered, “Can you stabilize her?”


    “We’ll try Lord Inquisitor.” A human voice replied.


    “Try hard enough until the healer arrives.”


    “Yes Lord Inquisitor!“


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    “Relax now,” The orc’s surprisingly soft voice spoke up, “you’re in good hands now, little human.”


    Aryana mindlessly blurbled something and felt the effects of the tonic wash over her. With one last pained moan, her head lolled forward and she passed out.


    <hr><hr>


    One Day Later


    “Worry not, my colleagues are already on the way to assist your… friend.” The Inquisitor spoke the last words distastefully, almost like the idea itself was strange to him.


    “The-the Inquisition?” Sophie asked.


    “Mmhmm. Seems you two stirred up quite the shit storm throughout the city.” The man answered.


    It felt almost surreal to Sophie, the way the streets were buzzing with activity even though something bad was clearly happening around them. Guards doubled their patrols, squads of templars and inquisitors more active than they ever were, yet the citizens of Arteria continued as normal nonetheless. She had been sequestered inside Fort Clover for an extra day as the strange inquisitor conducted one last series of tests on her.


    “So what happened next?” The man asked.


    “Eh?”


    “You were telling me about your encounter with this… scholar.”


    “R-right. Umm… we… were talking about the Myndir, about why I was looking to learn more about them. We err, we shared some facts that we both knew and he seemed almost… surprised?” Sophie recalled.


    “And?”


    “T-that was it? He proposed that we trade more information as willing parties. Like umm, like a business meeting. So we went to shake hands and that’s when he started going berserk and, and, transforming.” Sophie shuddered at the thought, “You don’t think…”


    “I believe that is exactly where my theory leads.” The man nodded, “Based on what information we can gather so far and having cross referenced his identity with what is present within Arteria records. This ‘scholar’ you went to meet is supposedly over a century or more old, at least that’s what the first known records of it appeared. A damn shame no one noticed this earlier, pathetic.”


    “Century?! Like, a hundred years? Or more?”


    “Indeed. My guess is that it had maintained whatever… form? Disguise? That it had used to blend into human society without detection since the very beginning. To perform a process like that, and to have it constantly be in place…”


    “Requires a regulated amount of mana?”


    “You’re catching on quick, half elf. And this relates to you because…”


    “Ah! Because if I am a… a… mana… sink?”


    A subtle nod from the inquisitor urged her to continue.


    “If I’m a mana sink then the moment I shook his hand or he shook mine, I disrupted his flow of mana so greatly that he broke his spell? But how could that happen? I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever broken anyone else’s spells before.” Sophie asked.


    “Correct on the first count. As for the second part of your question, how can I put it in a way you would understand?” The man clicked his tongue, “Ah! Think of what I told you, the ‘scholar’ had likely been planted a century or more without issue. Are you following?”


    “Yes sir.”


    “Good, then think of it this way. Since it had been here relatively incident free for so long, one might expect that its magicks, rituals or whatever heresy it brewed up to be almost routine, automated even. Simplified mostly due to a sense of complacency. And so the moment something disturbs it beyond the expected limit…”


    “Then it fell apart, even for just a moment. I broke the regulated flow of his magic and so he panicked.”


    “Panicked and attacked, yes. Imagine if it remained calm and simply tried to shrug it off, how different this might’ve all turned out. I suppose you are unlucky, but we as a whole are lucky that it was so reckless. I have full confidence that my colleagues can root out the entire cult soon enough. Or at least hinder their activities enough to set them back years if not decades.” The man nodded.


    “But… Aryana…”


    “Your friend is fine, I assume. Like I said, the two of you had friends in high places evidently. Someone informed the church, who then informed my superiors superiors who then informed my colleagues and me. We have people trailing her as we speak.”


    Sophie was only marginally more reassured. She had seen neither hair nor hide of Aryana since she had awakened. Only told that her friend had departed a few days prior and was off assisting the Clover Legion and its investigations on the ‘scholar’. Though the inquisitor she was with had seemed off putting and aloof at first, the man’s curiosity at her ‘condition’ had softened his attitude slightly, though Sophie still found it difficult to tell whether he would be an ally or a foe.


    For now, the man was her escort out of the Legion Fortress after almost a full day of experimenting with the mana battery and they were now on their way to the Cathedral of Stars, the church of Astralis'' primary bastion of faith in Arteria. They had just passed through the Noscali gates, entering a more familiar half of town when she decided to broach the subject.


    “Umm, sir. If you don’t mind me asking, why are you helping me out?” Stupid Sophie, what if she turns on you now because he’s offended by that? Idiot!


    The inquisitor stopped mid step and tapped his foot, the very act bringing a chill to Sophie’s spine at the sudden change in the man’s demeanor. “Professional courtesy I suppose.” He spoke without a hint of irony, “I would very much like to experiment on you, to facilitate an examination of your innate ability to be a mana sink without devolving into some fleshy abomination.” Oh… oh.


    “Oh.”


    “Cheer up.” The man smirked with no hint of emotion behind him, “At least for now I’ll only be able to indulge in idle conversation.”


    “Why’s that?”


    “Curious, aren’t you?” He sighed, “Like I said, you, or someone you know has friends in high places, and they were very insistent no harm comes to you in any form. Tsk, such an opportunity squandered. There might be a few more eccentric mavericks in our ranks, but even they aren''t willing to defy the Observatory, much less myself. So rest easy, half elf.”


    Sophie wasn’t exactly disappointed by his reasoning, though she had perhaps hoped for more of an ally rather than potential threat. Still, there was no denying that he had kept his word of not forcing any more experiments on her, and he had convinced the legion to let her go. All’s well that ends well I suppose.


    Her relief however, was short lived. By the time they had passed the Grand Library and entered into the cathedral district, she could feel something was off. Whatever reservations she had were quickly forgotten when she noticed the heavy troop presence around the square leading to the cathedral, and then surrounding the massive building itself. The cathedral stood tall, taller than most buildings and reached up just past the city walls. Two giant rounded towers swept upwards alongside the grand visage of the heavy stone structure, numerous buttresses protruded from the sides of the cathedral and even more statues of saints lined the sides of the buildings.The building itself was dyed a magnificent light airy blue that seemed to inspire a sense of bright wonder despite the heavy stone facade that dominated the outward facing walls. Countless stained glass windows looked out at Sophie, and when she stared back, she found each of them to depict different interactions between the Saints and the Gods of the High Pantheon.


    Attached to the side of the cathedral was what seemed to be a barracks and training yard to its left, and then a more squat but just as imposing block house meant for mages and priests. In front of the cathedral itself was an ornate yet large fountain that sported a surprisingly nude version of the Goddess Astralis, her form half misty and clouded by stars, yet the top half was unmistakably unclothed. Still, there remained a grandiose expression to everything that Sophie couldn’t help but marvel at, if not for the fact that a full company of red cloaked guardsmen stood guarding the surrounding streets. Beyond them two platoons of heavily armed silver clad templars stood at attention.


    “Well it would seem our limited cooperation might be fast nearing its termination.” The inquisitor muttered worringly, “Come on now. Let’s hurry.”


    Sophie needed no prodding and quickly followed along. Though her body was still sore and fatigued, the inquisitor had been right about one thing. After having absorbed the mana battery’s contents, she felt far better than she had. It also meant the inquisition’s use for her as a test subject was nearly over.


    The two of them made their way towards the cathedral, stopped only by a temple guard who exchanged a few secretive words with the inquisitor before waving the two of them through. With a quiet nod between the two, the inquisitor then gestured for Sophie to follow, and together they made their way into the cathedral through the side door of the towers.


    Inside, the first things that Sophie noticed were the intricately decorated walls. Every inch of space utilized to show off Astralian iconography and scripture. The next thing she noticed were the grunts of pain, moans, and shouting that filled the cold stone halls. Where there were once pews, now there were dozens of beds or mattresses and countless healers and clerics running to and fro, tending to a menagerie of wounded peasants, soldiers, and adventurers. Beyond them a small detachment of templars patrolled the halls even as priests offered their blessings and prayers over the wounded.


    “What the fuck? Something definitely went down.” The inquisitor swore.


    Now Sophie understood why there were so many guards outside, they were there to keep people out. Her curiosity and concern only rose in equal measure when she found an orc and an inquisitor huddled next to a curtained off corner, the two locked in a discussion. More inquisitors and even an orc, what’s going on?


    Taking advantage of her escort’s current distracted state, she shuffled towards the strange duo, her stomach churning all the while. The two noticed her approach soon enough and she nearly flinched when she felt their gazes land on her. Ignoring the feeling, she pressed on just the same and managed to get close enough for them to speak before her escort finally noticed her absence.


    “This is Inquisition business, civilian. Stay clear, I will not warn you again.” The inquisitor spoke first, the orc only offering a gruff grunt in support.


    “Sorry, I’m looking for a gir-”


    “Hey, get back here!” Her escort called.


    “Looking for a girl called Aryana. She umm, she has green eyes, red hair and-”


    “Hey, quit it, what do you think you’re doing?” The first inquisitor yanked her back, “Sorry Janos, this one is a tagalong. Experimental treatment. Under supervision.”


    Inquisitor Janos frowned and pursed his lips before he held up his hand, “That’s alright Korvin, mind if I say a few words?” Korvin? So that’s his name.


    “Err… of course?” Inquisitor Korvin nodded, releasing his grip on Sophie’s shoulder.


    “Looking for a redhead with green eyes?” Janos asked.


    “Umm, yeah! She’s also got a braid, down to her back. Umm, freckles near her nose, looks a bit like-”


    “Do you perhaps recognize the name Rosengart?” Janos interrupted, cutting her off.


    At that Sophie froze, her mind spinning in circles at the words. Rosen… gart… Eva? Eva?! Calm, calm. What if they’re talking about someone else? Wouldn’t hurt to ask. Gotta ask.


    “Umm, Eva… err, Evaline Rosengart?” She tentatively offered.


    Janos and the orc gave each other a sudden glance before they both stood up from their seats, examining her thoroughly. Sophie just let the silence continue even as her heart raced so loudly that she swore the whole church could hear it.


    “Korvin, experimental treatment, did you say?” Janos clicked his tongue.


    “That’s right sir.” Korvin nodded.


    “Evaline Rosengart huh?” Janos tossed the name around his mouth as if he was contemplating something, “Korvin, we’ll take this from here. Go find Abbot Lionel and debrief. I expect a full report by the day’s end.”


    “Yes sir. But what about her? Shouldn’t we…”


    “We’ll take care of it.” Janos ordered sternly, and now Korvin just nodded before slowly backing away. “And you.” Janos turned to Sophie, “Follow.”


    Sophie half heartedly nodded and steeled herself as they led her past the curtains and down a small side corridor. It opened up to a small handful of rooms but when they moved to open the door to one of them, she already dreaded what she would find.


    Her fears came true when they opened the door and ushered her into the small drafty room where a single healer was. The healer wore white doublet and a soft pointed cap that moved ever so slightly as he acknowledged them. Her stomach dropped when she saw the battered figure that lay within a bed at the center of the room. Aryana…


    The girl was alive at least, if her chest rising and lowering with each breath meant anything. But she was hurt, bad. That much Sophie could tell. Her body was wrapped in bandages and it appeared that the healer had even put her arm in a makeshift cast. A few bloodied bandages wrapping across a wound or two, whilst her palms showed signs of light burn wounds and the soft pink skin underneath was about to be wrapped up under a bandage just as the trio had interrupted. Sophie could only hold her breath as she looked her friend up and now. By the Goddess, what have I done? What did I do? What happened? Sophie sucked in a deep breath and knelt down beside the bed, taking care not to make any sudden noises or disrupt the healer’s work. By the Goddess… no…


    “Take your time.” Janos whispered quietly, “Once you’re ready, we’ll be waiting outside. We have… many things to discuss, you and I.”