15 Grand Inquisitor (1/2)

(City of Austriale – Eternia Kingdom)

The king was in a terrible state of rage since the royal assembly, broken sculptures and paintings lay scattered across the room. That stupid woman messed up his whole plan for the kingdom!

A maid was seen quietly exiting the room with her clothes in disarray and tears in her eyes, when the king became upset, he would often vent on the female servants working in the castle, so all the married ladies and senior maids knew to avoid him.

”My lord the archbishop has arrived to speak to you,” a manservant entered the room and bowed carefully.

A strange light shone in the king's eyes and a broad smile stretched across his face in happiness, he hurriedly got up from the bed and headed towards the door.

”Yes! Bring me to him immediately”, he quickly exited the room and arrived at a small audience chamber where the archbishop was seated quietly, flanked by two holy knights.

”May God shine his light upon us”, the archbishop rose up slowly and gave a polite nod to the king.

The king was very impatient and ordered all the servants to leave the room to speak to the archbishop alone as he was hoping for a solution to the problem.

He was very worried, the northern dukedom was surrounded by the 'Forgotten forest' and no armies could pass unhindered without being ravaged by the beasts within and even if they somehow made it through, there was no one capable of facing the Valkyries and duchess Elise in battle.

The archbishop observed the king before him, he was simply another one of the many men he dealt with who were lost in the lust for power and wealth. His eyes were weak and unfocused, his thick build and sweaty frame resembled more pig than man.

He was the perfect tool for the church to expand their influence throughout the lower kingdoms of the continent. No one knows what conversation happened between the two most powerful men in the kingdom that afternoon, but the king exited the audience chamber in a visibly better mood than before.

The archbishop had simply said six words and he knew that all his problems would be solved swiftly.

”The grand inquisitor will be sent”

(Altar of Saints – Fernatea Empire)

”Monster in human skin. Get away from me!”

”No... no... please stop”

”Ahhhh! Kill me! Kill me!”

A holy knight slowly approached the sacrifice chamber beneath the altar of saints, horrific screams echoed throughout the corridor leading to the chamber and a filthy smell surrounded him. He knocked politely on the iron door which was swung open by the attending guardsman.

He walked in the room and fought back the urge the vomit, the walls were caked with blood and body parts and there was a man covered in a robe holding a knife lovingly at something chained to the floor in front of him. The man was slender and pale with a tall lanky build, his arms seemed almost sickly with runes of light pulsating beneath his skin.

He wore a silver mask that covered his entire face except for his eyes which were silvery grey in colour. The man was silent with almost no presence in the room, it was like he was invisible and present at the same time.

”My lord, the Archbishop Belmont has discovered a place with new dark races to hunt,” the knight knelt and presented a letter to the man.

The man seemingly did not hear him and continued to slice his knife across the skin of the creature below him in a calm manner. The knight unknowingly glanced at the thing and trembled with fear, it was a male dark elf or rather what was left of him.

The dark elf's arms and legs were cut off and the stumps were bolted to the floor with iron spikes, his mouth opened hoarsely as he kept begging over and over for death. Shivers ran down the spine of the holy knight, this was the reason many feared the man holding the knife.