Chapter 8-239: Living Down Under in the Land (2/2)
Beneath us was a lifeless underwater desert not even sharks would roam, and it was getting bigger.
-Could you mend it?- Master Fred /asked, rather rhetorically.
I just squirted him the math about how many months I did not want to be sitting around here Casting Hallow repeatedly to fix somebody else’s damn problem. He frowned and considered the problem.
-Would the Landbound help?- he had to /ask, as Sleipner, clearly uncomfortable in this area, resumed motion across the waters, heading for the shore and Canberra, the national capital set safely back from the shore... but not too far away from Sydney, which was just over the horizon with its Shroudzone, looming and threatening, reminding others that the undead were there, and of the hate between the living.
Leaders of Good churches and factions were already coming from Brisbane and Melbourne to meet with me. I had no interest in meeting with the national government that had allowed this state of affairs to persist, especially considering how riddled it was with Imprusar and racists. I’d also asked the Clerics to invite at least invite a representative of the Druids to attend, and given that it was the national capital, so there should be at least one mouthpiece sitting around.
Did I expect it to go smoothly? Not really. There was a lot of anger and resentment here, even across the Good Churches. Lack of communication, lack of understanding, lack of unity. They were a melting-pot nation that never got the real opportunity to melt together like they should have with the multiple generations, instead being caught by enemies within and without.
Well, I could only do what I could do. Not everybody could be saved. I couldn’t force people to do the right thing.
But I certainly could force upon them the consequences for their actions!
-No. Landbound cannot Hallow anything and break the Blight. Even Channeling the Land’s power in a Blighted area of that size is going to be a painful process.- He just nodded and we shot away over the waters, while I planned what to say and do.
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There was a loud commotion outside, voices rising louder and louder in opposition and power. I let my words about the Forsaken and how the common folk of the land also had options to gain power trail off as I looked at the doors leading out, and waved off the Holo as everyone else turned to look at the doors too.
The doors were flung open in grandiose fashion, and a cohort of armed and armored men pushed past the guards outside imperiously, striding into the great Hall of Aru as if they owned the place.
The Light filled the air. The men just had enough time to gape at the sheer number of Shards rising up before they plunged forth.
Dozens of men were unceremoniously blasted back the way they’d come, Chained streaks flowing past to the unwanted guests outside. Abrupt screams stopped as they crashed and tumbled, and suddenly there was an eerie, creaking silence.
The balding man at the head of the formation was frozen, staring at me with very wide eyes. He started to turn away, and my eyes opened just a fraction; he became abruptly aware he was about to make a very large mistake.
“What,” I asked the guard there, “is the meaning of this intrusion?”
The air temperature fell twenty degrees. The Aruan Templar there saluted reflexively, swallowing hard. “L-Lady Traveler, these Imprusar forced their way into the building, claiming they had an official remit to close these proceedings...”
I stepped down from the dais slowly, my eyes turning back to the middle-aged man bearing the crowned symbol of an Imprusar Priest. “I see. And who is this supplicant?”
There was a crunch as his knees hit the ground hard enough to crack the tile. He gasped as he stared at me. He started to speak, but no sound came out as my eyes continued on to Luminous Chalker, the High Priest of the Homage of Light, the Temple we were gathered in here.
The Aruan spoke up calmly, his eyes flashing with both schadenfreude and some alarm, “This weasel is Oscar Brevington. He’s an underpriest working for Sceptered Colossmos, the Senator and Imprusar Priest who leads their faction in Parliament.”
“He displays no mark of Allegiance or Oath of Fealty. He is merely a pretentious Six operating on his own cognizance in defiance of the Doctrine Accords, which makes this a Church action against the Temple of Aru. What is the normal punishment for an armed intrusion by a rival Faith onto the grounds of your Temple, Luminous?”
The white-haired, bronze-skinned Aruan sat back thoughtfully, staring at the ashen-faced younger man who was trying to say something and failing. “Hmm. Has anyone been harmed, Captain Jones?” he inquired.
“Only a little roughed up, Luminous. No blood has been drawn,” the templar from before reported quickly, looking at all the unconscious Imprusar laid out in awkward positions.
“Then, I should defer to the wisdom of Tiirith in such circumstances, and say, something entertaining.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Indeed?” I turned around. “Master Fred?” He stepped forward with his normal expressionless face and nonesuch eyes that really unnerved everyone else here, as did his Hellscars. “Please assist the local templars in stripping every intruder to their underwear, deposit all their belongings and vehicles in a central location, and then flame it all to ash.”