Chapter 2 – One Flame, One Purpose
“Are you ready, Aziel?”
“I am. Try not to burn down anything
this time, Gabriel.”
“I’ll try not to, but when has burning things not been the best solution? You remember that one time that I cooked
us the chicken and turkey that was in the one building we burned, don’t
you?”
“We had to dig those up out of the
wreckage.”
“But they were delicious when we
took them back home. There’s nothing like a good meal after a job well done.”
“I hate it when you bring that up. Let’s get this done.”
Aziel and Gabriel get off their
horses and go their separate ways as they enter a heavily guarded base in the
Anathema region. They each go about their objective in their own way until it
is done and they meet up again just as their support arrives.
“My lieges! You shouldn’t go out on
your own! We’re supposed to be the attack force, not you,” one of their
soldiers says.
“You know how those two are. We’re
just the backup at this point,” another soldier says, “Through that flame, God
has granted them immense power. Remember to be thankful for it.”
Aziel and Gabriel get back on their
horses and travel back to begin their travel to Benevolus for a meeting. These
horses are blessed by their flames and travel nearly five times faster than a
normal horse as it almost appears that the horses are as fast as lightning.
While they travel, priests and purification squads cleanse the lands of the
Anathema regions with prayers, holy flame, and holy water.
“How did you manage things?”
Gabriel asks.
“Like I always do. Arrested those who
still had good in them and executed those who resisted. I already know what you
did with all the blood, body parts, and fire that I saw. You do know that-”
Aziel responds.
“That taking more prisoners and
making them repent is better than just ending them. I know that by now. You
should know by now that we don’t read souls the same way and it doesn’t mean that
I can be merciful sometimes.”
“Only sometimes though.”
“Details, details. We’ll talk more
about our strategies before we go out on our next conquest.”
When the kings come back to Gabriel’s
home, they give out the newly purified territory from the Anathema regions to a
kingdom of Gloria. They don’t attend any meetings with the press or their
people and head straight to Gabriel’s home where they spar and talk.
“Do you think Gloria will
appreciate our efforts in improving our relationship?” Aziel asks.
“It’s a political nation of kings
and backstabbers. I don’t think they can tell the difference between charity
and a bribe,” Gabriel answers.
“But we still must be kind to them.”
“If it wasn’t a commandment by God,
I wouldn’t. You should see the sins that I’ve seen in their eyes.”
“And you should see the virtue they
have. Wh-”
“What is invisible to you is visible
to me yada, yada. I get it. My blessing doesn’t have the option of being
non-lethal like yours. It’s a mace, not an herb. Let me use my blessing the way
God intended and I’ll let you use yours without question.”
Aziel uses his spear to trip up
Gabriel.
“Your ‘hammer’ still cannot match
the skill of my spear.”
“It’s like I said. I can’t use it
non-lethally. If I was fighting seriously, you’d be in pieces.”
“Excuses, excuses. Maybe try using
a more appropriate weapon next time.”
“This is the best weapon I have.
There’s nothing like this heirloom of my kingdom.”
Aziel trips up Gabriel again then
puts the tip of his spear close to his neck.
“If you say so.” Taking practice
weapons from the weapons rack, Aziel throws one to Gabriel while using one
himself. “Now try beating me.”
In their next sparring match, Gabriel beats Aziel.
“Ha! Got you now!”
“You see? Sometimes you need a
different tool for the job.”
“Whatever. I’m not going to give
you credit for my victory.”
“You shouldn’t since the credit is
all your own.”
“Tell me then, why do you credit
both of us for the decisions you make to the public?”
“Do you want to switch roles by
talking to the kings and clergy while I decide the next target we go after?”
“Oh please no. Politics and debate
are a bore. I just question your decision in terms of who you give territory
to. Our families have hardly gotten anything while you’ve been giving our spoils
to kingdoms of Gloria, Ecclesia, and other kingdoms of Genus.”
“We have plenty and when we’re in
need, our allies give in return.”
“If you say so. I still think we
should have more.”
Gabriel’s father enters the training
room and says, “Hello, boys! Who’s been winning your sparring sessions?”
“It doesn’t matter, uncle,” Aziel
says, “It’s just training. How’s my father doing?”
“You wouldn’t even know that he’s
sick with all the exercise and debate that he’s doing. Speaking about fathers,
why aren’t you with your wives fathering your children?”
“We were going to go back home
after some sparring and talking about recent events,” Gabriel says.
“You both are very gifted, and I’m
glad that you’re using it as much as you can, however, your family needs you. Even
God rested from work, boys.”
Aziel and Gabriel agree with Gabriel’s
father and head out to their homes. In a drastic turn of events, the sky turns
red, and black flame tornados form around certain key buildings in Benevolus
with one of those being where Gabriel’s father was. When the storm calms, Aziel
and Gabriel rush to his location with Gabriel getting there first since he was
closer. Gabriel sees his father trapped beneath the rubble of the building and
does his best to smash apart the rubble to free his father, but his hammer can’t
break apart the rubble well enough without further crushing his father as the
rubble above it falls to replace the broken ones.
“I can free you, father. Just give
me some time.” Gabriel uselessly tries to heal his father with his flames. “Come!
You brought me back from the dead. Why can’t you heal my father?!”
“Gabriel…what can you see inside my
soul? Is it stained with sin?”
“No, father…of course not. Your soul
is as white as snow.”
“Then you have no reason to worry.
I will be waiting and praying for you in Heaven.”
“I am not worthy of your prayers. What
son can’t save his own father? If I had done something to prevent this from happening…I’m
such a failure.”
“You’re not a failure…because you’re
my son…Even now, I have been granted a vision by God of your soul and it burns
as gloriously divine as your flames…I love you…”
Thinking that he can still save his
father, Gabriel keeps trying to use his flames to revive him only to give up
after no longer seeing his father’s soul in his body. He then weeps while
holding his father’s head since it’s the one part of him that’s out of the rubble
while the rest is crushed beneath it. Aziel arrives and begins weeping over the
death of his uncle.
Hearing Aziel behind him, Gabriel tries
to collect himself while saying, “We have to find out why this happened, so it
never happens again.”
“Gabriel, I think we should-”
“I don’t want to hear your
suggestion. Look around here while I remove my father from this rubble.”
Aziel does as Gabriel said since he
doesn’t want to aggravate him while Gabriel is emotionally compromised. He
searches around the area and finds pieces of crates and artifacts that he recognizes
as their spoils from the Anathema region. After digging up his father, Gabriel
finds similar pieces along with the horror of the state of his father’s body
since it seems to have been almost completely crushed.
“It’s a miracle that he was able to
talk and live for as long as he did,” Gabriel says aloud.
“Gabriel, we should investigate the
other sites that were affected by the black flame tornados. I’m not going to
find much just by being here,” Aziel suggests.
“Okay…I’m going to get some people
to take care of my father’s body first.”
“Of course.”
The kings get a group of guards and
medics to take care of Gabriel’s father while they go to the other sites. There
they discover more broken spoils of the Anathema region near where the tornado
first formed.
“We have to find out who made these
and why they formed black flame tornados,” Gabriel says.
“Do we even have enough evidence to
consider that being the reason for them?”
“It’s the only connecting factor
between the locations either than the locations being areas of importance.”
“We’ve been to the places these things
were from and arrested or killed the people who made them already, so they
couldn’t have used them while they were in prison.”
“We still need answers from them.
Of all the times that you’ve taken prisoners, I thank God that you did this
time.”
Following the one lead they have, the
two visit the prisoners they caught from the Anathema region and question every
one of them. Thanks to their ability to read the souls of the prisoners and Aziel’s
ability to get people to follow his command, they find out that the prisoners
saw several clerics willingly ignore the cleansing rituals for the cursed items
that were rigged to unleash black flame tornados that are common to the Anathema
regions. These clerics then took them and told their underlings to bring them
to the places in Benevolus that were destroyed by these tornados.
“Of all the people to be against us,”
Gabriel says to himself.
“We’ll find these clerics and bring
them to justice,” Aziel says.
“We’ll bring them to the judgment
of God for their actions. They deserve more than life in prison.”
“I won’t argue with you on that.”
The prisoners give a description of
the clerics to Aziel and Gabriel so they know who to go after before the two search
Benevolus for them. They find out from the other priests and bishops that these
clerics left for Pietate, a kingdom allied with the kingdoms that comprise Ecclesia.
They then travel to Pietate where the clerics they are looking for are waiting
for them in a large public park. The park is populated with other clergymen nuns,
their guards, their servants, some laity, and other business and political figures
who talk amongst themselves unaware of what is about to happen. Statues of saints
watch over everyone in and outside of the park while bushes of flowers decorate
the scene as if preemptively put there by God in anticipation of this event.
Gabriel walks fast to the expecting
clerics with flames already dancing around him as his fury flares up at the
sight of them. Before he can say a word to them, both Aziel and Gabriel are shot
at by a hail of arrows from the rooftops and seemingly killed in an instant.
Some in the crowd are scared and run away while others were watchers and were there
for the front row seats of the execution. The clerics and their conspirators
wait a bit before going to the bodies of the two kings.
“Behold, your saints, your gods. You,
who idolatrize them, be humbled, and look upon their corpses that are riddled with
arrows,” the bishop says.
Flames start dancing around the two
kings as they begin to stand up.
“I was wondering why I couldn’t get
up. I didn’t feel anything when you shot us up,” Gabriel says, “But now I know
because now I know your motives for destroying my home!”
“It was to destroy you and those
that worshipped you,” the bishop tries to clarify.
“We have no worshippers. If we do,
they’re forgettable and deserve to be forgotten.”
“You’ve had every kingdom in all
three Pillars eating out of your hands ever since you were cursed by those
flames. We allied ourselves from everyone who we could from every kingdom, even
your own in an attempt to take you down.”
“Why didn’t you try talking to us?
We were welcoming to everyone who we talked to and open for debate,” Aziel
questions.
“Do you really think I believe you
when you use the golden flame, which was used by a tyrant who used a similar
flame to manipulate the entire world?”
“It’s not a golden black flame like
hers.”
“But it’s still a golden flame all
the same that you can use to manipulate people. The small difference in
appearance matters not especially when everyone has a black flame within them.”
“Why are we even talking to them
when we should be delivering them to God, Aziel? You see the same things I do.
Tell me if there’s any virtue left in their hearts.”
Aziel reads the souls of the people
around him and sees that they all have few virtues in their souls.
“They don’t have many.”
“Then it’s decided.”
“Kill us and the whole world will
know your tyranny.”
“What do you suggest that we do
then? Pretend to die? No, God will not let us die because He has granted us a
power that you and your conspirators are jealous of. You’ve killed many innocents
for your delusions and now you will answer for your crimes!”
Aziel and Gabriel enact justice upon
everyone who attacks them and by the end of it, the entire area in and around
the park is splattered with blood and fire. Most witnesses of this event have a
hard time opening their eyes back up and this number of people is small since a
lot of people have long since left the area.
Gabriel then slams down his mace
before he says, “Let this be a warning to all who think to do evil for good!
Everyone who chooses to stand against God and us, His faithful, will be met
with fire and fury!”
Aziel is unable to disagree with
Gabriel because of what happened and that there was no other way to resolve
this situation. They later explain the situation to the archbishop and the rest
of the kingdoms as they make a promise to route out everyone who is against
them.
During the meeting with the kings, queens,
archbishop, and various leaders, Gabriel says, “Because of what happened, I
will be taking the necessary resources, land, and whatever else I require from the
kingdoms and families that wronged me and mine to repair the damage done and
more as we see fit.”
“That will be until our enemies’ penance
is complete, right? We can’t keep them in indentured servitude forever,” Aziel asks.
“We will see.”
Everyone else in the room with the two
is scared to disagree with either of them since the kings’ scars from yesterday’s
assassination attempt still show as a clear sign that nothing will kill these
kings. Even the archbishop himself is unsure of how to
handle this situation with them. Gabriel can think of nothing more than taking whatever he wants to right
the wrong done to him. His distrust for the other kingdoms, which doesn’t include
Aziel’s, has grown exponentially. This is clear to Aziel who sees that the virtues
of charity and trust in one’s neighbor have decreased in Gabriel’s soul. Aziel
hopes in his heart that Gabriel will one day put a limit on how much he will
take from the other kingdoms, though as of right now, his hopes don’t seem like
they will be coming true anytime soon.
