832 Lord's Justice

Mathias, Lennon, and Jerma make their way down the relatively untrodden road. They'd prepared three horses and left Bennet to his devices, the old man was determined to kill Mathias for no reason whatsoever so he didn't linger long enough to cause the old man more trouble... He'd already wiped out this seasons harvest by his Fire Tornado, even if he didn't retaliate he suspected the old man would struggle to survive the winter without Lennon and Jerma's assistance.

Jerma "Don't worry about Dad, he's got plenty of gold stored away, he just refuses to spend it on anything apart from the essentials... Maybe us leaving will stop him being so stingy all the time."

Mathias shrugs, "His life matters not to me, he tried to kill me and is lucky to get away unscathed... I'm not usually so merciful."

Jerma "So, from what you said earlier, it sounds like the place you're from is pretty bad?"

Mathias nods, "Yes.. I'm honestly not sure how we'd managed to live so long in those desolate lands, if you took even one step out of a settlement you'd be overwhelmed by thousands of monsters, most able to easily kill one-hundred ordinary people on their own."

Jerma "You sure you're not pulling my leg? Even back before the Holy Empire the monsters were never that bad... Aside from the Vampires obviously."

Mathias shakes his head, "I'm starting to think I'm in another land entirely..." he looks at the near empty fields being tended to by peasants, "You never used to get peaceful sights like this."

They continue along the road for a couple more hours until they reach the humble city of Piana, it was connected to the Pontar and had previously been almost entirely controlled by the Malatius and Grock Company. The business transporting people and cargo along the river for a fee.

However, during the Vampire invasion, the owners of the business refused to bend to their demands. While they were fierce businessmen, they also had honour, honour which was trodden upon when the Vampires tried to force them to transport slaves, bodies, and blood.

After the Holy Empire had taken control of the continent, the children of these honourable businessmen took up the mantle and established themselves as the Transpontar company. Apparently the Holy Empire had even given them a loan to see their potential, a loan that was repaid the next month...

Mathias was surprised at the knowledge of Jerma, having thought she was just a simple farmers daughter... Either he was under a misapprehension or she was very talented.

They enter teh city and Mathias could already feel eyes on him, it wasn't surprising as his clothes made him look like either an incredibly rich merchant, or royalty... It didn't help that they were spotless, their enchantments refusing to let dust or dirt remain on him. Strange, given that he found it in a treasure chest within a desolate hellscape.

The first thing he did was check the town's notice board to check if anyone else had been "Falling from the sky"... Unfortunately, it was filled with requests for workers, updates on official position changes for the government of the Holy Empire, names of people who were executed for unforgivable crimes, and directions from the board to business like Inn's, government buildings, and transport.

The only thing of interest was a piece of paper informing nad inviting people to go visit the unveiling of a statue dedicated to the God King... Mathias decided that he'd like to find out what the supposed "God King" actually looked like, as he suspected he'd end up meeting them eventually. Especially since the fate of the world could very well be at stake.

The trio start heading in the direction of the new statue after leaving their horses at the local stable, one thing Mathias noticed almost immediately when he got here was the fact that he'd seen no homeless people at all... Even in small towns like this you'd expect at least a few, but it seemed homelessness wasn't a problem in Piana, or maybe the entire Holy Empire?

They reach what appears to be the town centre where a huge gathering of people where located, all surrounding a huge statue covered by a tarp that towered over the nearby buildings. A man wearing grey robes gilded in gold inscriptions stood in-front of it with a huge smile.

A few minutes after they arrived the man raises his arms towards the crowd, "People! People of Piana! I'm grateful you've all come to see the unveiling of a statue dedicated to our kind and powerful God King. We at the Two Gods Church welcome you all, no matter your race, gender, or creed!" he shouts as his hands glow golden and a soft warmth covers everyone, healing wounds, calming them, and granting them greater vitality for a time.

Mathias was about to cast shield against whatever magic the man was using, but was stopped by Jerma who simply smiled at him. He allowed the magic to affect him, and was immediately baffled by it... He had no idea what this was, he didn't think it was magic as it didn't function like any spell he knew of...

The small aches he still had from his fall slowly mended themselves under the Miracles affects, the crowd cheers afterwards, their faith towards the empire incredibly strong partially due to them being able to experience actual Miracles. This was unlike all the other religions that'd previously been around, most had almost gone extinct under the power, resources, and abilities of the Two Gods Church.

The man reached up to a rope attached to the tarp and continued addressing the crowd, "Now! Let me present to you all... The Lord's Justice!" with that, he pulls the tarp, revealing the huge pure gold statue to all... It was of a man wearing robes that had armoured plates attached to them, dragons wings extended from its back as both arms were raised in a T-pose... The left hand held what looked like an Olive branch, while the right held the hair of a decapitated head, the expression of which looked to still be screaming.

Mathias was slightly miffed that the God King's face was covered by the robe's hood... He couldn't help but be surprised when two Turquoise glows could be seen under it.