Away from the Village of Ju, placed on a steep hill, one would see a massive building built entirely out of black marble. Dazzling blue crystals were placed in a circular manner at it's centre making out a shape, the symbol of followers of the accursed. The building was pristine yet carried an ancient haunting aura of power that emanated through the air.
This was the Temple Of Nox.
Though it was called a temple, the large building was more a cathedral than anything. A large crowd of people wearing black robes stood outside it, the massive doors had a smaller version of the accursed symbol on it that glowed a faint blue colour. The people were confused, the gathering time had long passed yet the doors had still not opened.
"We've waited here for a long time already, why isn't the door open?" A tall bold burly man looked at the door impatiently, his black robes were noticeably shorter than those of the others. His words resonated with thoughts of many others who also looked impatient.
"Aiii, calm yourself Boreas," began a short old man who sat on a rock few feet away from the burly man. The old man had a gentle air about him, his short thining hair was a strange silver colour and glowed under the moon light.
"The High One must have his reasons, I've lived a long time lad, these things have happened before, so we wait."
"But we have already waited for-,"
"SILENCE."
A powerful voice came from within the temple that shook everyone to their core. Fear filled the hearts of all those gathered as they fell and knelt on all fours.
"High One, voice of our Lord, please forgive our impudence."
Boreas had every urge to run but he stopped himself, the fear he felt almost made his heart explode, bullets of sweat streaked down his face and he suddenly felt cold. He tried to slowly raise his head but soon his eyes went wide.
"Forgive.....me."
Boreas fell to the ground dead, the last memory he ever had was of a pair of black, abyss like eyes gazing directly into his soul.
♤♤♤
Inside a small room within the Temple of Nox. A tall built man faced three hooded figures, the man had a head of long black spiky hair tied with a strange ornament that had the symbol of the Accursed. His black robes were pristine and lined with gold silk giving him a noble look.
The middle figure of the three before him shook slightly, the man had turned to face him. His skin was slightly tanned and pristine, the slight wrinkles revealed his age but he still had the fading handsome features of his youth. What scared the people before him were his eyes.
Those abyss like eyes along with those straight eyebrows, seemed to draw their souls in every time their gaze fell on them. Rumours were these eyes were a family trait, even his father before him and his child had similar eyes.
He was the High One, Voice of Lord Hakai, Master of Nox Temple.
"Souni hasn't contacted me," began the High One. His voice was deep, commanding, one that refused argument, as if every word he spoke was law.
"I trust in his ability but I have had ill dreams lately, the three of you are to meet him and guard the forest, leave immediately."
"As you command High One." The three bowed and disappeared on the spot leaving the High One on his own.
"I hope those were merely dreams," said the High One with a heavy sigh. He made to leave the room, the service had been postponed long enough.
"Why do you worship the Accursed?"
The High One's eyes contracted as he turned quickly with his right hand forming a strange sign. Behind him stood a person wearing purple long hooded cloak, the room grew deathly silent as the two faced each other.
'To have broken through the barrier Lord Hakai had placed, this isn't an ordinary being, however if he could bypass my detection so easily he would've killed me already.'
The High One lowered his hand and continued to observe the person before him, though they were not far apart, he still could not see his face, the hood seemed to hide him in shadows, the only thing he saw were a pair of indifferent, glowing purple eyes.
"Who are you?" After a moment of hesitation the High One spoke.
'He won't answer but I need to buy time and find a way to contact the Shadow Realm.'
"Why do you worship the Accursed?" Asked the hooded figure, the voice was slow and ethereal, no sound other than this voice filled the room, only this voice mattered.
"If you are part of the Divine Council you should already know my answer to that question," the High One spoke in his normal tone, though he knew this being before him was powerful, he would not cower.
"What good does it do to worship an authority that only favours those in the light."
The eyes of the purple hooded figure widened slightly, the High One readied himself in case a fight broke out but the figure simply turned away from him.
"Then you know of the consequences and only you are to blame for your misfortune. This is your fate."
The moment the figure spoke that final sentence, a massively powerful aura filled the entire land as a beam of pure silver light crashed down onto the Village.
"THE DIVINE DECREE HAS BEEN ISSUED, FOLLOWERS OF THE ACCURSED YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES."
The loud voice boomed throughout the land, everyone outside the temple suddenly felt a massive burst of pain in their eyes and fell to the ground screaming in horror, many pulled at their face, etching their fingers deeply into their skin as the pain became more and more unbearable.
Soon many started to pull their own eyes out, breaking their fingers in the process and blood oozed all over, the screams grew louder and louder until suddenly there was silence. The outside of the temple had become a field dyed in red and littered with dead bodies.
♤♤♤
Inside the room within the temple, Fate watched indifferently as Hakai's priest screamed in pain with blood dripping from his now empty eye sockets. This was the price of standing against them.
'But why are mortals always the ones who suffer the most in their sickening game.'
Fate sighed and turned to leave when he felt a hand on his foot. The priest was still alive, his figure once powerful and noble now crawling through the pool of his own blood.
"Please, please, please, please," begged the priest as he clutched onto Fate's foot. For the first time Fate's eyes showed emotion, he looked at the weak mortal before him caught in a battle he was unaware of and now facing the price.
All he felt for him was pity.
"I can't save you."
The priest let go of Fate and slowly lowered himself, he was dying, he was already supposed to be dead but he willed himself to live for one reason.
"My son.....save my son....I beg you."
Confusion filled Fate's eyes as he gazed at the now dead priest. Those final words of his had troubled him greatly.
'The Book is no longer as it was but I was certain of his fate, his son....had died long ago, was he being delusional in a moment of death...no,' thought Fate.
Fate's eyes glowed brighter as he observed the corpse, soon a singular thin purple line appeared, one that seemed connected to something far away. As the purple line materialised disbelief slowly filled Fate's eyes.
"Impossible...."
His eyes turned to where the line connected to, penetrating space itself, the connection ended at a house back in the Village, there a tiny life signature glowing there, what shocked Fate the most was that it wasn't dwindling despite the curse.
Fate vanished from the room in the cathedral and arrived outside the house. He opened the door slowly and looked around, it was a simple house, one messy bed placed in the corner, a wooden table in the centre of the room with similarly designed wooden chairs. There was also a large cardboard near the bed.
Fate turned to look at the unfurnished far left corner of the house, opposite to the bed, there sat a small boy, handled up. Fate slowly approached the boy and as he got closer he noticed that the boy's arms had deep scratch marks and were bleeding badly.
He knelt and observed the boy, he had hair similar to the priest but shorter and wore a simpler version of those black robes. His eyes were still intact but were bleeding heavily, he remained still, not showing any signs that he acknowledged Fate.
"How....are you alive?" Asked Fate, more to himself than to the boy. His eyes glowed brighter looking deeply into the boy's soul, understanding dawned on Fate as the glow in his eyes dimmed slightly.
"I see....your fate was stolen."
Fate stood, keeping his eyes trained on the child, the purple line connected to him confirming he was the priests son but that only complicated things more.
'The curse, it's active but he seems so calm, how?'
The boy suddenly jerked and screamed loudly, more blood oozed out of his eyes as he rolled on the floor. His right hand made to move towards his eyes but was stopped by his left hand.
"I can't die...I can't die....I can't die...," the boy continously said this holding tightly onto his left hand and suppressing the urge to scream.
Fate watched silently, several emotions flashed across his eyes, confusion, awe, respect and finally decisiveness. He teleported outside the house and began speaking in a strange language under his breath, a powerful wind blew across the entire village as if something in the world had changed.
'This is all I can do,' thought Fate with a final look at the house. He slowly walked back towards the forest, his steps were slow and heavy, reflecting his heart.
It began to rain.
As Fate reached the edge of the village he stopped and looked up. There was a flash of silver light and a white armoured young man with large white wings holding a long lance appeared. The young man was beautiful, he had short golden hair with sky blue eyes and a gentle smile on his face, his eyes narrowed slightly as he landed a few feet from Fate.
"Lord Fate, it is an honour," the young man's voice was angelic and soothing to the ear.
Fate was not moved, his eyes became colder as he looked back at the young man.
"Zyren."
"If you were worried about my handling of this assignment worry not, I have properly eradicated all the filthy heretics," Zyren spoke in the same angelic voice but this time a slight hint of coldness could be heard.
Fate nodded and continued to walk towards the forest. The young man's eyes turned cold, he watched Fate silently then turned to the village just as Fate was about to enter the forest he spoke again.
"Though, I only descended because I sensed a remaining life signature nearby, but suprisingly i can't sense it anymore."
Fate continued walking as if he he never heard Zyren's words. He slowly started to fade and just before disappearing he turned to Zyren.
"There was a girl near the path to the forest with a protective charm, she's dead now. I'll await you at the Yron."
Zyren looked on suspiciously to where Fate had disappeared, he never trusted Fate, many in the Divine Council couldn't guess his exact allegiance. He was an unstable variable in the perfect system he served.
Zyren turned once more to observe the village, he spread out his aura three times and after sensing no life signature he rose slightly into there air and with a flash of silver light he was gone.
The once beautiful Temple Of Nox began to burn, the fire spread to the corpses on the ground and kept going until it reached the village. The many buildings soon began to crumble however in one house, though it burned, a small boy lay unconscious on the floor with no fire near him. The flames seemed to avoid him and burned everything else.
All that remained in the Village of Ju was the faint whisper of a boy alone in a fiery world.
"I...."
"Can't.....die."