Beginning

"Why are you so invested in a regular, wooden house? Just look at the estate, that's a man's dream right there. Lavish and grand like how a king should live." Arthur said.

"A regular, wooden house has its charm, it's very emotive, alive I guess if I would call it, smells just like home. Can't go wrong with it." Johnny said.

"Until the house gets caught on fire. Yeah, can't go wrong with it can it?" Arthur said sarcastically.

"Please don't use fire and house in the same sentence." Berg said, reminded of the time when his house was burnt.

"M'bad that wasn't a jab on ya. Sorry big guy." Arthur half-heartedly apologized. 

"Well, It's not that big of a deal. I've gotten over it anyways." Berg replied.

"Oh yeah. Berg, you've never finished your story about how you got here. What happens after you saw the beastmen?" Johnny asked.

"He was chained up and sold as a slave. Perfect summary amirite?"

"No shit, look at what I'm doing." Berg replied as he was plowing the field with a hoe under the blistering heat.

"Since when did you learn to cuss, big guy?"

Berg turned his head behind and stared at Arthur. He said nothing, and shook his head in utter disappointment. 

"Alright." Arthur shrugged.

"Frei. When we're done with this, I will show you more of what's inside the diary."

Frei looked at him and nodded.

Mane slept as the sun was setting.and Johnny led Frei towards the same hill where they first met, he showed Frei his diary. The edges of the pages bore yellowish marks and the paper felt coarse and wrinkled. 

Johnny flipped his diary, countless imagery, drawings and writings revealed itselves as the pages unfolded. Symbols were drawn all over the pages and beside the symbol bore written information about said symbol. There were pages dedicated strictly to emblems of different groups and organizations, some were crossed out with heavy brushes of strokes and few had multiple phases depicting their evolution and changes in design. The emblems had dates of their establishment and the crossed out ones had dates of their dissolvement. 

Frei continued to flip the pages until he saw something familiar. Three drawn emblems under an underlined label, the insignias were drawn much more detailed compared to the others. One emblem had three concentric circles and within the three circles held a woman drawn simplistically interlocking their hands, praying. Beside it, there was a big written name, Terra Sancta.

"Ah. The HolyLand. A place where all the ambitious people go. You see the woman in the center of the circles? They say that she is the Goddess of life and that she gave birth to all the people around the world. But I am not so sure about that. We Imperians worship a different god."

Frei looked intently at the figure of the goddess and a question brewed. "If she's a goddess then why is she praying? Who is she praying to? Is there a bigger god?" he asked.

"Good question. I've never thought much about it." Johnny placed his fingers on his chins, thinking of an answer for Frei. "Well, If i have to say. She's praying for her people and as for whom she's praying to, only she knows."

"What's her name?"

"Marie. Goddess Marie. Giver of life, mother to all. The citizens of the Holy Empire worshiped her greatly. I remember vaguely of my time there but one particular memory stood out from the vagueness." Johnny said. "As I was walking on the streets of the capital, the picture of the Goddess was everywhere, on signposts Marie was on it, on entrances of bars and restaurants alike. When the bell rang, people stopped. They closed their eyes, interlocked their hands and then they prayed."

Their collective murmurs thought silent reverberated through the empty spaces of the capital, and for a minute or two, the citizens of the empire became one as they prayed to their one and only Goddess, Marie.

"People of all races, of different origins and statuses were all given a moment equally to have their prayers heard. No matter which God they worshiped, they all collectively prayed under the might of the bell. What's surprising is their unification, to have stopped everything at once so that they can have one minute of prayers for their Goddess. It's a once in a lifetime view."

"Wow." Frei exclaimed in admiration after he imagined the scenery of the city.

"However you won't see anything like this here, in the Imperial capital, before I was forcefully dragged here the capital-, No the entire continent is already at war with each other. No unification to be seen, especially after the fall of Latanna. She was the one who delayed the inevitable war, but after she was sealed by General Ryker, the entire continent fought against one another with the only person capable of halting it, gone."

"Latanna… Arthur talked about it once."

"Oh yeah... He was a big bafoon taking that request, though he was a mercenary so I wouldn't blame him. That place is heavily fortified by Holy Knights. It'd be suicide to try to even have an direct confrontation."

"Oh... She really admire them" 

"Who? Oh you mean the brunette? I wouldn't know. But I can guess why, the holy knights are big monsters, or rather angels. They are a force to be reckon' with. One could even swing a human sized sword, the Zweihander is what it's called if I remember correctly."

Johnny was suddenly reminded of a fond memory of his past. He took the diary from Frei's hands and flipped it to a page filled to the brim with drawn cards. "This is cards, something I'd played when I was little. Now I don't know whether or not you played this before but it might help you regain your memories." He said enthusiastically. "Look at this one, that's a knight on horseback which means he can beat any troop that isn't holding a shield." He points on the two drawing in the diary.

"It's fun. I will teach you so maybe one day when slavery gets abolished and you become free, you'll be able to play with your friends too. You see this one? That's a knight holding a lance that mean he will be able to beat the one holding a sword. Why? Because this one got range and the other don't." Johnny explained as he points at the detailed drawings he drew.

Moments flashed by quickly. The sky turned dark, winds blew by, the stars shined radiantly among the sea of darkness amongst the sky. Frei gazes as the glittering stars as they talk, admiring its beauty all the while ignoring the unending itch from numerous parts of his body.

"Is it that cold? You're shaking." Johnny said, noticing Frei's subtle shaking from the 'injuries' he had succumbed to.

"I-I need to get back. They will beat me up again if I don't." Frei said, his voice shaking from the trauma he'd endured. Inside, he thinks 'Why am I even here?' His thought lingered, but there wasn't even a slight desire. 

"Wait. Before you go. One prayer?"

"A-alright."

They prayed together under the glittering skies. The grass brushed against their legs and the wind caressed their hairs.