MANDATES OF DIVINITY

Episode 17

Episode Seventeen

Why have you said this

That I wrestle darkness with darkness

If a house be divided against itself

Can it stand?

-Unknown

In a room that was dimly lit, three figures sat facing each other. The room had no windows, moss grew on the walls and the bricks looked very old. The faint sound of water trickling from the roof could be heard as the three men spoke with whispers.

It was like their lives depended on the secrecy of what they discussed, a fourth person wouldn’t have heard a single thing they said. One of them kept glancing at the door warily like he dreaded an intruder.

“Are you certain of the things you said, Lithur?” One of the figures questioned their wary counterpart, his face marred by fury.

“Be-believe me…” Lithur kept on turning towards the entrance. “He ignored everything I said, even after I had informed him that the children of Hella were within our walls!” His sonorous voice was reduced to a mere whisper.

“Children of Hella?! You disappoint me Lithur. A single order of saints could eradicate the entire cult if we please, their entire lands lay in ruins.” Larry laughed. “I believe Xandar ignored you for this same reason, did you expect him to be on his heels?” Larry looked somewhat disappointed, he no longer held Lithur in regards.

“No Larry! You should have seen his eyes, he doesn’t care. Xandar has an agenda, I believe he intends to e*****e the people. This was what the spirit whispered, he has another mandate.” Lithur rose to his feet, his anger defeated his fear and his voice rose.

“Another mandate?” A shocking voice came from the door, the three in the room turned towards the source in fright. Xandar’s voice had startled the three, his figure stood by the door, casting a gloomy shadow on the room. “And who told you that?” Xandar gave a mischievous smile.

“I refuse to be intimidated, we are both cardinals Xandar. I can tell you are up to something, whatever it is…” Lithur was trembling with anger, he knew something was wrong. A dark cloud hovered around the church, something was coming and Xandar would be the herald.

Lithur had always been this way since he was a kid, right before he was enrolled to be a Priest, his senses had always been sharper than that of his peers. He didn’t just have extra senses, he had better ones. His colleagues feared him, he was a prodigy of high repute and he still believes he is. It was with this heightened sense that he found his own path, his ability to trace magic residue was found only in a few others and they were always held in high regard by everyone else. Right now, more than ever before, he had a foreboding of danger. A terrible hunch he just couldn’t express and he could tell that, somehow, Xandar was at the center.

A faint pulse of energy brushed through the room, lasting for only a moment. The four cardinals instinctively glanced up, like they could see through the bricks to the surface. They could tell the impulse just now wasn’t one of theirs and that it had an incredible range since it could reach them underground.

“I believe we have things to attend to, I will speak to you later.” Xandar didn’t glance at any of the three, he merely turned out the room and disappeared from sight.

The four arrived at the surface the same time, they could see various Priests and Bishops running in various directions. A couple buildings were already engulfed in flames.

“Your grace, a number of high Priests have lost their minds. They are attacking everyone apart from themselves.” A Priest approached the four and knelt before Xandar.

“And what do they have in common?” Xandar’s eyebrows had furrowed, he already knew the response he would get.

“Th-they are all smiths sir. The entire smith force has lost their minds and have gone on a rampage sir. Their battle power is off the charts, they are unstoppable as we don’t want to hurt them.” The Priest was drenched in sweat.

“Must be a curse.” Larry drew a conclusion. “The intruders must be responsible, I think we need to find them to stop the curse.” His tone was urgent.

“I have that under control, some of ours are apprehending the infiltrators as we speak.” Xandar glanced at Lithur, his eyes holding unexpressed thoughts. “We have to engage the smiths ourselves, luckily they are not yet strong enough to combat us or our other elite forces.” The others nodded in agreement and the four head out in separate directions.

A smith levitated above a particular street, his eyes black and his robe torn. His ears resounded with wailing constantly, like a thousand people cried. When the pulse from before ran over him, he had felt a strange presence fall on him and whispers from thin air. It turned out he wasn’t the only one and that every other person in the camp had a similar experience, the whispers increased however, coming stronger. Now they were loud enough to tell they were wails, he couldn’t maintain his consciousness. He was drawn into a realm of anguish and pain, remorse and regret, while he struggled within the prison in his soul, his body had been possessed by another being. This was the case for every smith that was affected.

The smith yelled and raised his palm, a ball of flames appeared above his head. He was like a silhouette under the brightness of the fire, the heat caused the winds around him to rise. The people on the street below scrambled, glancing above they could see what looked like a mini sun, hovering above them along with the smith.

“Burn!” He roared and let the ball crash downwards, the flame moved with great speed, screams of anguish already engulfed the street.

Like a gold blur, a figure appeared on the streets. Her movements were swift and graceful, she was like a goddess in war. As she moved her palms, a line of bright light traced the edges of her fingers, the lines could vividly be seen on a bright day. She sent a wisp of light, barely large enough to be called a ball and it crashed into the flaming mass that approached the street. Like a black hole, a great suction pulled the entire flaming mass into the light. There was no sound, no explosion.

“What power…”

“So this is an Elder Bishop.”

“That is Bishop Rey, one of the top bishops in the church!” People gave various remarks, some of the observers knew the devastating power the fire ball held. It would have cleared the entire street along with the top soil, she was just on another level.

“Bind! Alpha luminescence.” She waved her palm, the light that engulfed the flame suddenly grew larger and morphed into chains, the chains plunged and bound the smith. He dropped to the ground struggling, he yelled aggressively.

“Isn’t that cute? The more you struggle, the tougher the chains become. Seeing that your body has been taken over by darkness, the effect is even doubled.” Rey smiled.

She was about to turn and leave when something bizarre stopped her in her steps, the body of the smith exuding with energy suddenly stopped moving. The energy signature of the body changed drastically, it was like the smith had control of his body once more. The chain binding him slipped off and he rose to his feet. The two energy signatures exuded together, like the spirit and the smith co-existed.

“What?!” Rey couldn’t hide her shock, she wasn’t scared of the possessed smith, she just didn’t believe such was possible.

Similarly, all over the city the other smiths began to display similar attributes. All offensive skills tailored against the dark side were rendered impotent. Some of the lower Bishops became totally useless, the situation looked more and more dire. Only Higher Bishops and the members of the higher ranks could subdue the possessed smiths.

“Xandar, they are getting stronger with every encounter. So far, less than four have been successfully restrained. They are adapting and the others seem to possess the qualities absorbed by any of them.” A voice sounded in Xandar’s mind, the tone saddled with urgency.

“Tcchhh!” For the first time, Xandar’s calm demeanor was ruined. The situation would definitely get uglier, they had once again underestimated their enemies. The church had no idea that the Hellos cult was still capable of such methods. Although the church had all the power to end the ruckus in a flash, it would mean destroying their own. The smiths were extraordinary people, they were resilient to normal methods.

“Damn Vio, the veil is definitely hindering our full manifestations.” Xandar thought to himself as he levitated up into the sky, the bane to their abilities once again reared it’s ugly head.

The only issue wasn’t about hurting the smiths, in fact that was not an issue if not for a secret limitation on the church. When Vio was elected Pope, a lot of the cardinals were against his move for peace, considering that the Pope before him, Puri had died in an invasion. To ensure that he remained in control of the church's forces, Vio obtained a divine verdict. A divine verdict is one whose support is from the founding powers, it is unbreakable. Vio bounded the full might of the church to his words, literarily! Every single Priest and Knight, down to the greatest Cardinals could only use their true battle powers when Vio gave the order.

His death however didn’t break the verdict, the council of cardinals decided to keep this a secret because the power would be inherited by the next Pope. This meant absolute control. The death of the Pope had left them with only enough power to defend themselves, for high ranked members, this was enough but on a major scale, the church was actually defenseless.

“A lot is at stake, some are beginning to discover a limitation on their powers.” The voice resounded in Xandar’s mind once more.

Xandar understood the risk, the smiths could die, lives could be destroyed and a major weakness of the church could be revealed. He could have ended this in a flash, but he needed the four to do it. He wanted the godling to awaken at all cost, this could trigger the awakening.

“Just a little bit more, just a bit more.” Xandar concluded in himself, his eyes gleaming with confidence. “I will step in soon, just a bit more.” He kept on levitating not moving a muscle. This was the same for all the cardinals; they approached strategic points awaiting a signal.