Prologue

note: The pronoun "he" will be used to describe the said figure as its identity is still unknown.

"Is it here?" a monotonous voice echoed in the abandoned cathedral located at the back of the imperial castle.

The whole cathedral was barely standing, dusts collected everywhere paired with the cobweb and the moonlight lit the place through the broken windows. And the statue of the once most followed goddess stained with blood didn't help to alleviate the eerie atmosphere that surrounds the place.

If not for its historical value, this cathedral would soon perish and forgotten on the modern times. It was, after all, a cathedral that almost brought down the whole empire to its dawnfall. The dark times of the imperial, the Dark Ages.

However, this supposedly, locked and well-guarded abandoned cathedral has its visitor. After thousand of years, a cloaked figure decided to pay a visit on this long forgotten place. The figure's emerald eyes scanned the surrounding. Hoping to find the thing that he sought after.

"They did a good job ruining this majestic place. What a pity." he uttered with disappointment. After scanning the place, he started to roam in the altar. Looking at every crook and cranny, finding a clue that can help him find "it."

"Preston, you bastard. How much of a meticulous and paranoid person are you that even at your death, you'll still make it hard for me to achieve my goals?" He wants to just blow this thing up. It didn't have any tear-jerking memory nor attachment to this place. Maybe in the past, but not now. Not after this became the graveyard of his fallen friends.

Blowing the cathedral will alert the imperial guards and mages. They might started to the irritating magic circle to try and catch him which would fail, of course, but is nevertheless irritating in his part. He came here to search this place in secret.

So he'll just blow this place up after he find the thing he came for.

After what felt like eternity, he finally found the passage that would lead him to the thing he sought for. How ironic that the passage was in the hands of the goddess' statue. The Goddess this empire betrayed. He wants to think or maybe doubt his thoughts but he shook it off. His friends and members fell because of that traitor. He should not be shaken nor doubt anything.

Without hesitation, he placed his hands on the goddess he once, and still, followed. The large wall in the center of the altar, parted. It shows the hidden stairs that lead to the cathedral's basement. Preston's secret lair, which he only knows. He lit a small fire and started to descend the stairs.

It took him a moment before arriving on the destination. He stood still for a moment, staring at the statues of his friends who was smiling. He stood at the right of the person on the center, smiling happily. Memories of his adventure started to cloud his mind but he shrug it off, again. He is not here to have some flashback. He is here to have revenge.

"It was nice to see you again." he uttered before glancing at the thing he sought after. The necklace carved on his statue. He walked closer, admiring it first before slowly reaching for it. The once stone necklace turned real, the clay that covered it disappear. The silver chain and the glistening emerald stone on its pendant shine. "Finally." He grabbed the necklace. The statues that he admired awhile ago slowly disappear as if it was just an illusion.

After getting what he wants, he stared at the cathedral above, coldness can be seen on his eyes. He then uttered some chants and the whole cathedral collapsed.

Guards and mages soon rushed on the forgotten place, searching who caused the incident, but no clues were found. "Did the cathedral collapsed on its own?" a young imperial mage suggested. Other veteran mages glanced at him, they somehow agreed on his statement. No magic was detected and no sign of force entry.

The cathedral was a thousand year old. Surely, despite standing until today, it would collapse. Which already happen.

This incident was then ruled as a natural phenomena.