Holy Order of the Seven

His heart was pounding so hard he was almost afraid it was going to burst out of his chest. Doran places a hand on his chest and takes a deep breath. Once he calms down he looks around the room, it's a bit small but Doran sees two doors that lead to other rooms.

In the room where he is now there are several shelves with books, the prince flips through them quickly before examining the other rooms. Behind the door with the symbol of an eagle there are several ancient armors. From their crafting techniques, Doran deduces that they are as old as the Citadel, they are seven armors; each with a different symbol.

The prince copies the symbols and looks at the other objects, there are several weapons hanging on the walls and a few chests. Doran tries to open one of them but his magic doesn't work, by touching the metal of the lock he quickly realizes why.

"Ay!" The prince could not repress the cry of pain, he felt as if he had just dipped his hand in lava. He quickly covers his mouth to not make any more noise. After looking at his hand and not seeing any marks he had realized what was going on.

"Holy Steel!" He whispers in shock.

He quickly gets up from the ground and lightly touches the armor and weapons, and his suspicions are confirmed.

"They are all made of that metal!"

Opening the chest using lockpicks, the prince sees several ingots of the same metal inside. The other chests also contain items made from this metal. Doran wraps an ingot of Holy Steel in a cloth and stores it in his backpack.

`I will analyze it later`

At the other door, which has a star symbol on it, he finds many books and scrolls. They contain information on the Holy Order of the Seven, its history and its members. The oldest books are written in Ancient Andal, a language that was the root of the Common Tongue. Only the septons and septas still use this language ​​as the most sacred and ancient books of the religion of the Seven are written in that language.

Doran, like many noble children whose families adore the Seven, had to learn the language from a young age.

`It is the version of Latin in this world, on Earth all the educated nobles in ancient times had to learn Latin and here we have to learn Ancient Andal`

Another similarity with Earth is that, as in his old World, in the beginning all the sacred books were written in Ancient Andal, it was only less than a millennium ago that copies of The Seven-Pointed Star, the most important book in the Faith of the Seven began to be written in Common Tongue. At first there was a lot of fuss about it, it wasn't until the Revolution of the New Lords that it was accepted to write holy books in Common Tongue.

To Doran's horror, the most recent books are written in Common Tongue, in the modern dialect that only came into use less than four centuries ago.

Before he could continue looking at more things he saw that the sand from his hourglass slips to the other side, two hours have already passed. Doran uses this system when investigating hidden rooms so as not to lose track of time and stay too long in one room, the last thing he wants is to be caught red-handed.

After picking up a couple of books he leaves the room and returns to his bedroom.

***

Doran is sitting at his desk reading a book called: Dawn of our Holy Order.

"When Lord Arryn of Highwing announced that after his four and ten nameday he would gather an army to cross the Small Sea, many felt uneasy, for on the other side of the sea lay a land of heathens and savages. The men who inhabit the farthest continent on the Known World map were always feared by our ancestors.

Violent barbarians and lovers of cruel gods. False gods that require them to kill good men at the foot of their demonic trees whose leaves are colored with the blood of thousands of men and women.

But the worst of all were not the men, they, like us, are human, the worst and that aroused the most fear in the hearts of our good men were the short creatures with earthy skin that inhabit the Last Land.

Children of the Forest the men they have enchanted call them, we know them by other names: Dark devils of the Forest. Legends tell us that those men and women were once like us. Good men and women who migrated in search of a new home, fleeing the tyranny of the Ghiscari or another civilization that sought to put the world in chains. They migrated for years with the hope of a new home being the only thing that drove them and finally their prayers were heard and they arrived in a land untouched by man: the Last Land.

But that land was inhabited by dangerous beasts that were controlled by vile and cruel beings. Men fought against these beings, the war lasted generations and much blood was spilled. The blood of men gave life to those demonic trees. The war ended not with the victory of men but with their submission, the diabolical beings used black magic to control their will and turn them into their slaves. Men were no longer men but servants, many of ours fear suffering the same fate.

Escaping from the clutches of the dragons of the east only to become slaves to the devils of the west, that is our greatest fear. But we don't have many options, we are caught between the hammer and the anvil.

To save us from such a fate Septon Hugh the Blessed united six holy men and together they created the Holy Order of the Seven, a sacred organization whose purpose is to rid the Last Land of the devils and their demonic influence-"

Someone knocks on the door and Doran quickly hides the book.

"Enter!"

The door opens and his faithful knight enters.

"My prince, some Northerners are looking for you. They say they are from House Forrester and have something for you."

"Oh!" Doran quickly gets up from the chair. "Tell them to bring it here, I've been waiting for many moons."

`The chest is finally here.`