Light And Darkness

"I think that all of it. Of course, there will also be you and the other adventurers accompanying us. It's quite a mighty force isn't it? I'm sure we will purge those heretics easily !" Leon said joyfully.

His optimism and zeal that he showed after having talked about such hard subjects like the possibility of becoming a "failed one" froze the girls' blood. There was no reason in his eyes... Only blind faith. He also seemed to be quite happy and excited at the idea of slaughtering those "heretics" and made Laena think about her hesitation to obey Jack's orders.

'Now I get why he was happy that we showed off hesitation as a proof of our own will... Taking someone's life is no light matter, even if they are evil... Heck, I still have goosebumps when I remember those bandits' faces...' The elf thought while answering vaguely to Leon's optimism. 'This force is also quite massive, I wonder how we will take them down. Well, teacher will have a plan anyway. Let's believe in him.'

While she was thinking grimly about their future Evelyn kept the discussion going by asking about things she didn't know like who was this "Pope". Her education had been limited by her origins and her isolated birthplace. The only contact with religion she ever had gotten had been thanks to her village's priest who spread Phiteria's faith. This made sense for the villagers and they listened to him willingly in order to gain the favors of the goddess of agriculture.

However, the Church of Radiance was something new for her and she didn't know anything about it's internal structure nor the strife's that it had with the other religions.

"The Pope is the leader of the Church Evelyn. He's like a King but for our order. Under him we have the archbishops, bishops, cardinals and many other titles to create a hierarchy. It's quite complicated but I don't have to worry about that right now since I'm merely an apprentice paladin." Leon explained with a small smile while they were walking through the temple's garden.

The surrounding white and yellow buildings only made the green of the grass and trees more vibrant with the sunlight shining on them. A small path of gravels meandered around and allowed people to cross the garden without stomping on the fragile and delicate flowers and plants which decorated the whole place.

"Aren't paladins and holy knights the same thing?" Laena asked after having fully appreciated the scenery around her.

"No, not really. Holy knight is a much higher position, like the knights of the Kingdom whilst paladin is akin to a soldier. I will do my best to become one in the future though !" Leon answered with hope and determination shining in his eyes.

"Yeah, I hope so too..." The elf replied in a quiet tone while she thought that he would have to die during the expedition.

'It's a shame that we're both from opposite factions... You could have been a good friend.' She muttered in her mind, her smile fading away. She then noticed the harsh glares she received from the other priests in the garden and saw that they were all humans. Curious and a bit uneasy she voiced her doubts :

"Leon, are all members of the Church humans..?" This made Evelyn noticed the glares they were receiving and the young girl backed to safety by staying closer to her friend.

"Well... Let's just say that some of us are... Extreme in their beliefs and think that their standpoint is the only one worth existing..." The apprentice paladin said in an apologetic tone. While he agreed with the other's faith and zeal he couldn't bring himself to accept the way they saw the others as failures if they didn't believe in the same god as them or were from a different race.

After all, this behavior brought many troubles to the Church and gave them a bad reputation. Some rumors in town were saying that their crusade was simply a cover up for a genocide of innocents in order to steal their wealth. Yet, Leon knew that their cause was righteous since he was there when they finally managed to get these evil guy's base's location.

They continued to do some pep talk for a few minutes before the girls excused themselves and left this holy place. Leon felt quite bitter as he thought that they had been scared away by those extremists' glare.

On the other side, Laena and Evelyn were walking in silence in the crowded streets of a market venue. They simply made their way through the people as they thought about their mission and future. The young mage had already made her mind and had decided to follow her teacher no matter what so her mind was quite clear. However, her friend was struggling even more than before as more weight appeared on each side of her morale scales.

They had also learnt more about those "heretics" that Leon had encountered. Apparently, they had made a camp in the forest and captured passerby. Alikio had managed to get the location of those human deliveries out of their throats after having tortured them and broken weird grayish translucent matter which appeared around them. Surprisingly, they were only able to let out a single word or part of it before dying mysteriously.

This had forced the priestess to be even more delicate when she handled her prisoners and led them to a reconstitution of the place's name after having gotten all the parts from the now dead heretics. It had been hard but they got results which were the name of a small village of the outskirts of the Kingdom.

The proofs of dark magic and esoteric arts were more than enough to take this matter seriously, especially after they struggled quite hard against those mere grunts. These news made the girls remember about a certain bandit chief which had faced their teacher's wrath.

"There are some similarities but... Maybe we're overthinking it. Well, let's talk about it with our teacher when he comes back alright?" Laena gently said to Evelyn as they discussed about their day in their room. The gentle moonlight was lighting up the place with a sweet silvery hue which contrasted nicely with the dark brown of the wooden furniture.

"Yeah... It's quieter now that he's busy..." The young girl muttered with a hint of loneliness in her voice. She had never voiced her worries to her teacher since he only came back to sleep and seemed to be exhausted. Yet, she felt alone and didn't really enjoy practicing for the whole day.

"We will see him later, he has a lot to do to prepare correctly our mission." The elf smiled kindly before wishing a good night to her friend. They had also a lot of work to in order to be able to stand proudly alongside their teacher.

-

Meanwhile, in the slums...

"Shit ! Did the lord dispatch his elite dogs to sweep this hellhole or what ! You ! Have you any intel about this sneaky trick they pulled on us ?" A man with a snake tattoo on the neck angrily asked after having slammed his fist on his wooden bench.

He was fairly well dressed and the room around his was luxurious. However, the people sitting in front of him in circle weren't from the same class as him. One of them was seemingly terrified as he seemed to want to hide in his chair.

"N-no sir... I-I mean w-we do have intel a-and it seems t-that everything is n-n-normal..." He muttered before a dagger pierced his throat and his snake tattoo, making him fall back on the ground before passing out.

"I don't need you then ! It's pretty obvious at this point, he must have been a traitor." The man behind the desk roared before fixing his loose tie.

'Tch. Look at these cowards incapable of bearing the sight of blood. Pathetic.' Gregor Heckpohob thought as he glared at his shivering "associates". They had built the biggest drug, prostitution and black market network together and now that shit had hit the fan some of them revealed their treachery.

"Does any of you have a fucking idea of what's happening to us then?" Gregor sighed while looking at his most competent lieutenant. The burly man seemed quite embarrassed as he scratched his neck while averting his gaze.

"I... We don't have any worthy leads sir... However... Have you heard those rumors about the Phantom Reaper...?" The guy finally answered while looking at the ground.

"You are FUCKING KIDDING ME right? " Gregor screamed as he felt like the situation couldn't get any worse. "We're the Heckpohob Society, an underground organisation. Not a god damned kindergarten when we tell each other ghosts stories to scare our littl' cut' classmates !"

"Y-yes but sir... Have you heard those reports about those terrifying screams..?" One of his subordinates suddenly say.

"A-And about those white figures walking around at night... !" Another one chime in.

"Are you kidding me guys..." Gregor sighed. He couldn't believe that his own men believed those stupid reports coming from crackheads who probably took the hallucinogen mushrooms they were selling. "Have you forgotten the meaning of our tattoo..? We're supposed to be sneaky, cunning and deadly when we strike... Not some idiotic kids screaming when they see something move in the shadows !"

"Ye-yeah..."

"You're right boss !"

"We will discipline harder those who dare sent those rep-" His underlings' motivational moment had been interrupted by the entrance of one of his house's guard. The man was covered in deep cuts and heavily bleeding out. Yet, this wasn't what Gregor and his men noticed first. All they saw was the panic and deep terror in the guard's eyes.

"Sir, you need to run away ! T-These things are her-" The guard tried to say before claws grabbed his throat, making him produce a terrified scream instead. Then, there was no scream anymore. Only silence, and the noise of the blood flowing out of his shredded throat as he laid down on the wooden floor at the feet of a monstrous humanoid.

Gregor and his men observed the creature as they felt a primal fear invading them. They were in presence of a true predator which looked like a white skinned man which had stretched his skin to the maximum. The being's hands ended in claws and many sharp fangs could be seen as it opened its mouth to greedily lick the blood on his arm. Its eyes were as dark as the night and those two pearls of darkness stared at them with unbridled hunger.

"W-What is this thing..." The headmaster of the underground society asked while noticing that he was shivering. No one answered but they heard another voice coming from the other side of the door.

"Hmmm? There are still some survivors... Have a feast guys, I don't need them."

Then, the white being leaped toward them and grabbed the closest man's head before biting in his carotid artery. It had happened so fast that no one saw it coming and soon many other being like this one filled the room, rushing toward their preys to eat them alive.

In his last moments after an useless struggle Gregor managed to see a glimpse of the man who seemingly ordered those monsters around. This man's grey eyes were empty and it seemed that this scene was nothing out of the ordinary for him. You couldn't feel any emotions in him as he simply looked tired and satisfied to be done with his task.

-

In the depths of the forest stood a magnificent stone castle which was surprisingly well maintained. A man covered by a thick black cloak entered through the massive wooden door after having showed the heavily armored guards that he was one of them. Then, he walked through many well decorated corridors which showed off the owner's taste in paintings and art as many beautiful pieces ornate the walls. After what felt like hours since he was quite pressured by his surroundings he finally reached the throne's room after another check with the guards.

Then, walked toward it with his head lowered and knelt on a deep blue carpet.

"My Lord, I have come to deliver you information about the human's activity. He said while waiting for his king's words in order to raise his head.

"Raise your head my child. What have you to say to us about this matter?" A deep and dignified voice announced.

"It seems that for once they are busy dealing with monsters my Lord. This time they have decided to go after rogue members of their races and have brought down two of our farms. I fear that this is merely the beginning of something worse my Lord." The cloaked man said as he finally managed to see his leader. His appearance was mesmerizing and the many black feathers loitering around his throne only gave his pale skin more shine.

"Mhhh... You may be right my child. We will give you the authority to take the necessary measures to protect our kin. We can't take the risk to loose one of us and soil the First's legacy. You may go child. Godspeed." The dignified figure ordered with a wave of its hand.