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A long time ago, the Order of Imperial was well on its way to be an unmatched force within the known lands. Islands were under Imperial rule, and this power extended even to some points of the mainland, however, war was a constant, with battles for domination of land and cities. While complete annihilation of the Order of Law and their tyrannical rule was not yet fully accomplished, it was the common thinking of the people that sooner or later, Imperial flags would be waving everywhere where civilization would be, even in the streets of Britain. Oh!, what a sight it was, to witness, in the lands already part of the Empire, banners, flags, lamp posts, pavements, coats of arms, coloured in shades of orange.

The Church of Imperial strived for a wealthy lifestyle of its people, helping with what they could. They would offer assistance with direct, "mundane" needs, such as money, resources and security. Their towns held pride in having specialized shopkeepers and important thinkers from the empire gave their aesthetical input to be applied into the urbanism thinking, resulting in a more refined layout, one that would heighten the senses. Part of this came from the manual labour and the philosophical development of the people of the Empire.

Surely it is right to give credit and thanks for those that worked to achieve this state of civilization, but this all was, in reality, a reflection of the will of their Goddess. In fact, these people had a very particular blessing, bestowed upon them. When properly channeled, they could imbue people with superior intellect; craftsmen, artworkers, philosophers, scribes... In this state of enlightenment, higher goods were obtained. Alchemists, cooks, woodworkers, metalworkers, all sought this particular blessing, which was considered to be an honour from the Goddess herself. Esuna, they once started to call her, had this desire for those who loved and praised her: that they would live in harmony, prosperity and friendship toward one another.

Such is the state of the world, however: opposite to this way of thinking and living, there were others.
Some saw death, plague, pestilence, disease and darkness to be their light, their god's calling. In their caves, they tortured and sacrificed humans to appease their god, in morbid rituals any sane person would dare not see.
Others dwelled on this world, convinced that they could be in unity with the rest of the creation, with nature. They were fools, for they had to destroy this very same nature for their own purposes. And they would dishonor themselves by putting themselves on the same level.
Yet others, cunningly, used the ideals of justice and law to corrupt the minds of the people, claiming they had their god's mandate to uphold these ideals. In reality they wished to control the people. To keep the people under their rule. But what good purpose came out of their rule?! None!

The last group, while being the sworn enemies of the Order of Imperial, were like their lost brothers. If only they accepted Esuna and came to understand Her word..However with partially good intentions, there was only emptiness in their hearts. Their.. half-god could never fulfill the void. Perhaps he never intended for them to follow them. Perhaps.. perhaps the strength channeled through him came from someone else. Interestingly enough, some of the sins that these men could be accused of, also befell the men of the Church. Divisions, greed, lust for power, corruption.


It was in this moment, when the Empire was gaining strength on the outside, yet problems arose within the Church, that a great darkness came. Men of all the corners of the Empire began to lose faith, doubt arose in the minds of everyone. Even among the clergy, many began to have great trouble, as their power was ceasing to be. Panic struck in the cities, as people gave in to the fear that ultimately, someone would come and destroy everything, since Esuna was no longer protecting them. Yet... no one came. There was no word of raids by other holy powers. Some Imperial scouts ventured, and found out that this wasn't just their concern. Even in the caves where the cultists used to lie, they were not to be found. Some seers say, however, that these men in black cloaks were quite present, just in another dimension, communing with their dark god, awaiting for this period of hiatus to be over, so they could unleash destruction once more.

In this moment, on the way to glory, the dreams of the Empire took a devastatingly blow.
The slate had been wiped clean.
Or so it seemed..

to be continued

Long after these events, many lost their faith and abandoned the Church, but remained in the Empire, given its superior lifestyle and the amount of wealth that was to be found. Some of those that belonged to the Church, those who remained in the Empire's center of power - the glorious city of Moonglow - skirmished for power, with internal conflict escalating to unheard-of levels. There were many theories as to why or how the recent events had happened, but in their hearts, they were all devising plans to be elected as primary rulers of the Empire. It's as if, as they stopped feeling the holy power that came from Esuna, they all abandoned Her word and Her wish and turned to their own desires and selfish interests.

Political stability was fragile, with constant changes in the seat of power, and there was no longer a sense of unity and common vision for the day of tomorrow. The Empire, while maintaining part of its former glory, land and power, began to decay. Economy worsened, disputes began to arise, the sense of community started to fade. The wish of the Goddess for the faithful appeared as some long-lost dream, an old tale. Sooner or later a feeble Empire would remain, but the Church would be torn.

Some of those, from clergy and laity, that still believed in Esuna, though not without great doubt and internal struggle, decided they had to preserve their spirituality, and left, roaming the lands, not wearing anything that would identify them as men of the Empire. They used to move from place to place, trying to keep Her word and figuring what they could do to make sure the Church would not disappear completely. Berlinder was among the ones who took this task upon themselves. Yet even among this group there was bickerings, due to what used to be defined as holy truths, commandments, and the history of the Order and how it suffered adaptations and adjustments according to the times and to whomever was leading the church. Some defended these views, some did not. All sorts of questions were put in the table, but ultimately, they all wanted to be in a position of power to dictate what of these things to consider as Her holy truth.

In the heat of these discussions, Berlinder, and a women from the laity used to retreat and try to look and ponder their arguments with the look of an outsider. There was, among those who were passionate about these discussions, a young girl, named Ingrida Humsprit. Everyone used to argument how their view was better, how their idea of what was true and what was not was the best for the Church - and the Empire - they were trying to keep alive. Yet she always reminded them that it was their connection toward one another that marked what was true and what was not. It was in their attempt to keep this spirit that the truth would be revealed.

Hearing these things, Berlinder said to the woman:
-Listen to her..There is something different about her. She talks as if she has no personal intentions, as if she wished only for the future of the Order. And yet she's not particularly fond of spending time in meditation. Could she be one to lead our Church for the future? How am I to agree to this, when I've dedicated my life to be a monk, and she is... like this?
The woman simply replied:
-Why do you think I was never part of the clergy? Despite your time dedicated to meditation, it's easy for you to get sidetracked.

In usual circumstances, this answer would have greatly offended Berlinder, but these were not those times. There they were, outside the Empire, without their security, their wealth, their spiritual comfort. They were like exiles. And this woman always remained calm, showing maturity and prophetic spirit.

-Let's talk to her this evening - she added - I think we should talk to her about some truths we have tried to uphold. But only some of them. You know of what I speak, do you not? You've had this feeling for a long time in your heart. You are faithful to Her, but you are not completely sure what that means. You understand the core wish that our Goddess has for us, and so you are puzzled at the amount of commandments, laws and justifications that our Church has. We need a fresh start. And it starts with this: You call her Esuna, but that is not Her name. She has no name, but she rejoices to be called Esuna, so long as you and your brothers agree as to what that name means for you. Now you have in your heart what Ingrida needs to hear, so she can start her path. Look.. maybe you should talk to her. I need to go now, on my own path. And I need to go now!

As she whistled, an ethereal horse came out of the woods, and stopped next to them. She quickly got on top of it, while Berlinder was still puzzled. She smiled to the old monk, nodded, then ordered the steed to walk. As she got away from Berlinder, she uttered a few words, but she was too far so that he could not listen:
- Farewell, my true friend... My son.

As the woman and the horse went further along the road, the mount began to glow with a very pale shade of orange, which soon became brighter. It was a very specific kind of orange. One that no one had ever seen in a long, long time. At that point, the woman simply disappeared.

to be continued

Later, after they had dinner and sang of the past glories of the Empire, Berlinder called Ingrida aside, and told her what he and the lay woman had been talking about.

-Ahh Ingrida.. you know, it's not very common to see people that put their efforts and arguments for the good of the group, rather than their own good. Even here, among us, it is not common. But you show a combative spirit and fight for this, even though you do not have much reason to do so. Am I right?
-Well.. - said the young girl - maybe not to the eye of an outsider. But I do have reason for it. I'm not much good for anything alone. I never distinguished myself in any craft or form of art. And, you do remember, life in our Empire gave much value to it. It was either that or the clergy. And I have no such desire. Why should I be in any way distinguishable from the common people? I want to take part in their lives! I do not wish to spend time at the temple in mindless prayer. I..I don't know what to believe in. I am not old enough to have lived and understood the spiritual power you talk about. And I cannot witness it now. The power I see, is the power we create.
Berlinder nodded and continued:
-Hmm...yes..well. I have a task for you. One you will not like. There is something for you to learn. You see the power in unity of the people, but fail to see the power in yourself. You need to be alone. If you wish to understand more about the power of many, go, and be alone. Leave us and go on your way. You must expect the unexpected!
To this, Ingrida answered:
--Why do you ask me to expect the unexpected? When you lived your life as a monk and never expected anything else? You are the one who should expect the unexpected.. Twice as much! Besides, there is no point, no reason. And how would I find you again? What good would I do alone, when there'd be one less of us here and the Order can come one step closer to being no more?
But Berlinder said:
-You don't understand. You need to go on a spiritual journey and find..
And when she heard this, she became annoyed and got up suddenly.
-No, Berlinder, I will not. I just... I don't believe in that! I... NO! - and she left him, irritated.

And so Berlinder was left there, disheartened, alone with his thoughts. He roamed through the camp, making sure everyone was ok, but mostly he was trying to have peace of mind, and maybe come up with a solution. At this point there wasn't much to be done. He didn't know what to do, the other woman was gone, and Ingrida didn't want to accept the task.. Looking far to the horizon he saw something approaching, and soon after he was able to distinguish the silhouette of a horse. He thought to himself that maybe the lay woman was returning from whatever she thought she had to do. But as he saw no rider and no one near the horse, he became alarmed. Running to the horse, and since it was dusk, he became obfuscated, because the horse had an orange glow. He quickly fell to the ground, and it became clear that this woman was more than she claimed to be. This was the first sign in a long time that his faith was not in vain. That Esuna's power was still in the world. But most importantly, he saw in this horse a proof to convince Ingrida!

He quickly went to the girl, grabbed her by the arm and said:
-Come, you must see this!
Ingrida didn't even try to argue, given how enthusiastic Berlinder was.
When they came to the horse, Ingrida was sceptic. The horse trotted and stopped next to them, acting friendly. As Ingrida touched it, she felt a shiver.
-You see? - he exclaimed - This is a fortune steed!!It's one of Her gifts!From our Goddess! From Esuna!!
Hearing this, the horse neighed and slowly trotted in circles, as if he was playing with them.
So Ingrida understood what Berlinder was talking about earlier, and knew she had to go. She turned to him and promptly said:
-I am ready.
-Yes, you are! But first pay attention. You have not lived long enough to have been bound by the commandments we had in the past. Keep your spirit, keep the things you already know and feel to be right. For your journey, know only this: We call her Esuna, but that is not Her name. She has no name. What matters is that we get together in Her spirit. Now you are truly ready! Go now, for the future of our Order, our Church, our Empire, depends on you!

As Ingrida disappeared on the horizon, Berlinder realized what he had to do. He opened his backpack and got his tome out, dusting its pages with his hands. He then took a deep breath, and shouted:
-Itum Fanum Divinus

Seconds later he found himself alone in a familiar place.

to be continued

With Berlinder now back at the temple, and with Ingrida gone on her spiritual journey, the old monk knew it was time to prepare himself and others for what was to come. The temple area was more or less abandoned, as it was out of the city, and people had little reason to go there since, after months and months, the power that was once felt there had ceased to be. It was just a building.
Taking care of practical things, such as working a small storage space, cleaning tables, floors, the altar, fixing doors to the old temple rooms, little by little, new life was instilled to this area, which was once a most beautiful place.

The now servant of Esuna was not yet thinking about the next step to take, given that he was so busy with these tasks, and then, a man came to him at the temple. It was a true surprise, given what was to follow. This was the first step, the rebirth of the Church of Imperial. And a most unexpected one.



to be continued