Katenka was always the kind to trust her intuition, even if she couldn't act on it right away. She hadn't become a knight by chance. As a respected member of the Dragon Cavalry, her own determination and preternatural insight propelled her to her current position. Normally, members must be dragon-blessed to even be admitted into their ranks, but she earned the right through sheer grit and battlefield achievements.
No matter how normal the market looked, her instincts screamed something was terribly wrong. The spectre of catastrophe loomed over the crowd, and she could feel it seep into her skin and make it crawl.
It's her. I know it's her. The source of her terror, the horned woman crouching atop the apothecary, seemed out of place. She eyed her carefully.
Those horns.... Vivid and bloody memories of fighting demonspawn and shadow stalkers in the hills raced through her mind.
"She can't be kin to the Dragonfather.Amidst the crowd, Katenka fumbled inside her satchel for a small glass lens. She closed one eye and held the lens before the other. To others it may seem like an innocuous, cloudy shard of glass, but its latent magic could reveal the aura of fiendish creatures. And sure enough, a faint shimmer of crimson shrouded the conspicuous woman.
"I knew it!"
The color drained from her face when she saw Knight-Captain Theomars exit an alley just under the demoness.
No...When she finally remember to breath, she drew in a large breath and called to him frantically. "Commander! Above you!"
Theomars was already troubled when he left the care of an incorrigible street urchin to a random stranger, but years as a soldier had taught him how to maintain his composure. Seeing his subordinate's face marred by abject fear, however, caught him off guard. His mouth slightly agape and his brow furrowed curiously, he tried to make out her words through the clamor and noise of the crowd.
She pointed finally and his eyes followed. Looking up, he caught sight of Senna. Some may mistake her features for being one of the dragon-blessed, but he knew better than that. Theomars carried a small bit of power from Brightwing the Dragonfather, and could sense it within others. This woman had none.
"Demon...!" he growled venomously.
Only the strongest of fiends could maintain human form for very long. Why it hadn't started massacring the town, he had no idea, but he aimed to stop that from happening at all costs. Cold steel leaped into his hand with one quick maneuver, and he pointed the tip of his blade at the demoness.
His eyes briefly flickered to the boy and Selena. "Take the boy and run!"
Before the last word left his lips a heavy crossbow quarrel whistled through the air at Senna. Katenka, not wanting to take any chances, tried to preempt the fight with a deadly accurate volley. With Senna's head in her sights, the seconds stretched into eternity as Katenka waited for the bolt to reach its mark.
The grand cathedral was a monument to decadence and opulence, lavished by years of pious offerings, charitable donations from power hungry noble houses, and its own sizable treasury. Curious, however, were the poor beggars across the street petitioning for alms, which seemed a bitter and desperate contrast to the cathedral itself.
Ornate stained glass, cut exquisitely to resemble jewels, filled the windows with colorful dancing lights. Each mosaic arrangement depicted a majestic dragon in stunning poses and a wide variety of perspectives. Their Most Holy Monarch and founder was exalted further in long, intricate tapestries that floated gracefully in the air, suspended in place with magic.
A lean priest stood upon the stage behind an altar. Billowing authoritative vestments draped from his shoulders, and a strange bifurcated hat added to his already formidable height and possessed the semblance of prodigious horns. His eyes were a clear and brilliant gold with a slitted, black iris which shimmered like onyx. His presence seemed to engulf the stage with a burning charisma only talented actors and entertainers could project.
"Listen well my brothers and sister! This world has descended into madness beyond anything we could ever imagined. Relentless invasions by the beast men, stirrings of undead flooding the plains, our allies betraying us to serve their own ends.
It is a dark time.
So many things that were right years ago are now wrong."
A tense and somber mood loomed over the gathering. They were hanging on his every word.
"But we are not without hope!
Everything the light touches is our Dragonfather's domain! His mere presence banishes the darkness in people's hearts and gives us courage! As his children, this is our greatest blessing: to have a relationship with the Dragonfather through prayer. His blood is our blood. His strength is our strength.
Seek him out!"
Open your eyes The congregation replied in chorus
"Open your heart to him!" He began again
Open your heart!"Let him lift your spirit!"
Lift us up!"He is the firmament! The holy Sun!"
Praise the light"Rejoice in the Dragonfather's light! Feel his power!"
We are the dragon"We are the dragon!"
We are the dragonLike a conductor guiding an orchestra through a rising crescendo, the priest's flock responded dramatically. The more he spoke, the more exhilarated they became until every member of the congregation was standing with their hands raised and fingers curled to resemble a claw. The voices rocked the windows and made the central chandelier tremble with their glorious sound.
As the chorus grew more fervent, the stone around Lexus Dominiel's neck began to thrum with arcane power. Jolts of energy pulsed through him. A strange magic was at work and Akena's heartstone was reacting to it.
The pale, silvery light radiated from quickly increased in intensity, until the world around Lexus was dyed in its color. The floating specks of light swarmed like a cloud of fireflies and slowly coalesced into a delicate humanoid form. At last, Akena had awoken.
When she finally manifested in full, her deep amber eyes seemed hazy and she looked to be in a daze. "Lexus... Dominiel? Is that you?"
@IceHeart
