97 Unity

Not everyone was happy with the decision to have Graycastle join the church. Some had joined in with the protests, but others were more radical. A resistance group formed in secret to oppose the church. They had to move carefully as they needed to avoid the watching eye of the Intelligence Bureau.

A small army formed in the Southernmost Region. The region was the least accepting of the church. The Sand Nation people had maintained an independent streak and they didn't respect the church who had just went in and taken over. The region was not in open rebellion however as decades of societal change had made the people less beholden to the past. There was still a significant portion of the population who had no desire to oppose the church.

Even so, the primary support for the rebels was in the desert. The rebel army was supplied by friendly locals and as a result they were able to sustain themselves in hiding. Some of the rebels had defected from the Graycastle army and they were in charge of training the others to fight. The army was small and completely incapable of winning in a direct clash, so they needed other tactics.

After weeks of preparation, the insurgents finally struck their first blow. They blew up an oil pipeline that was used to deliver oil to the north. The resistance army was dominated by the Sand Nation people so they adopted a belief that they needed to take back the oil which belonged to them. By this point, the resistance group was less about independence for Graycastle and more about independence for the Sand Nation.

In the aftermath of the attack, Steven and Zero were made aware of the threat brewing in the south. The group would be a large problem because they were threatening the important oil supply. While there were enough reserves to keep everything going for a few months, it would eventually run out. Therefore, it was of utmost importance to crush the threat as soon as possible.

The media in Graycastle soon began condemning the "violent terrorists" and portrayed them in the worst light by showing pictures of all people who ended up being killed by their attacks. The public was whipped up into a frenzy against the fringe group of radicals that were threatening the security of the nation. However, the rebels still had enough support from those in the desert.

The attacks continued and more damage was being done. The army had been unable to chase them down and wipe out the group as they kept running away. However, after one battle they managed to capture a prisoner.

The prisoner was taken to Hermes, where he was expecting an interrogation.

The prisoner was taken into the underground area of the church in Hermes. There, he was dragged into a small room. When he looked up, he saw the pope, Zero, standing there waiting for him.

"Well then. It looks like it is time to figure out where you guys are hiding", Zero said.

"I won't tell you anything", the prisoner yelled.

Zero didn't say anything. All she did was smile.

When Zero exited the room, the prisoner was gone.

"I have found out where they are hiding", Zero said.

"Alright then", said Steven. "Now we can finally wipe them out. Deploy the special forces and the airplanes. Have them surrounded. We don't want any of them escaping."

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Skyflare was a witch who was in the resistance army. Long ago, she had been a member of the Bloodfang Association before it fell apart when Heidi Morgan's treachery was revealed. After that, she had joined with Neverwinter and worked with them for many years.

When she was a child, she had suffered greatly at the hands of the church which had chased them and forced the witches into a life of suffering. The Bloodfang Association had managed to change that and they banded together to fight the church. However, they never managed to do that as the organization had fallen apart and Roland had ordered them to work together with the church. It had greatly angered her at the time but she had no other choice than to obey.

Skyflare had never been happy with the church, but she had suppressed her anger and begrudgingly accepted living alongside them. However, now they had gone too far. The church was now moving into her home and taking over. All of her anger over the years had bubbled to the surface. She was one of the earliest members of the resistance army.

She and her comrades struck several blows against the occupiers. There were also several other witches that had joined up to fight against the church. Most of them were older and lived through the early days of the church's oppression, but there were a few young ones who had bought into idealism about independence.

Their army had been quite successful so far. They had come out ahead in every engagement and the large armies were never able to catch them as they hid too well. Skyflare was confident in their abilities to continue resistance. Eventually, the church will have no choice other than to give up.

Skyflare heard what sounded like buzzing in the distance. She began looking around to see where the noise was coming from. There didn't seem to be anything on the ground. Then she saw some planes in the sky flying away. That wasn't good, it looks like they had somehow been spotted. Then, the camp erupted in flame.

Skyflare awoke with a massive pain on her head. She was on the outskirts of the camp and the bombs hadn't killed her. However, the shockwave had ended up knocking her out. She groaned as he struggled to stand up. Her whole body was hurting.

Around her, Skyflare could see the ruined tents and the dead bodies everywhere. There were sounds of fighting in the distance. It looked like the survivors were fighting with whoever the church had sent to eliminate them. As Skyflare looked around, she saw that they were surrounded.

Skyflare began heading toward a group of attackers, determined to take down as many as she could. Then she felt a pain in her side. As she fell to the ground, she noticed that there was now a hole in her side.

With the destruction of the rebels, all active resistance to the church's takeover had ended. Over the next few years, there would be a few minor incidents, but this would be the last time any major conflict occurred.