Elaina waited. She was accustomed to being summoned back to the Cathedral wherever it may be, but this time she invited himself. Now the Cathedral lay on the western edge of the Mei Kong Valley. A quite and humble province of the Empire that housed the ancient Shogun temples. After concluding her visit with the remaining masters she learned a disturbing peace of news. The Saint must be told what Zyr is planning.
The stain glass windows filtered multi colored light across the hallway of this upper tower. The doors opened ornate with stone carvings and reliefs of angles heralding trumpets and scales of justice being balanced in perfect wisdom. Behind the doors towered the chief angel -- Exodus.
While many angels started summoned, captured and compelled into the Saints service this angel served by choice and a loyalty that magic could not compelled. A thousand years locked in the tower with the Saint and now his second in command Elaina envied his perfect loyalty. It was no surprise to see the Scion of Justice but the man he was escorting alarmed her.
Elaina waited for the eel to pass and then stepped into the sacred chapel with both awe and reverence. The music of chorus of the Gregorian Monastic Order filled the chamber as she looked upon the man who had given her purpose and resparked a passion for good she thought her father extinguished.
"My Saint and my Lord. I kneel before you with egregious tidings, but first I must understand why that man is being released. He is evil and wretched." Elaina said with passionate humility. The Saint responded in calm but forceful tones, "The judgement of the Saint is beyond question Red Paladin. I pardon or execute according to a higher understanding of justice than you now know. You will see to his pardon of all crimes through imperial channels and reinstate him to his former positions."
"Of course my Lord. But could you teach me why?"
"My perfect prison is lost to us. Robbed by Tyr, the Red Prison took hundreds of years to perfect and lost in the dark Cathedral we were so long trapped in. I need a new prison for those who oppose us and those who deserve punishment beyond normal means."
"And you seek to use Ravenloft as your prison?"
"It is already there and nearly inescapable. At first we will use just portals to send the guilty there to suffer and be punished by the mist. The next stage is to understand and manipulate the mist in such a way a more perfect prison can be forged from it."
It was then Elaina saw the serpent ring on the Saint's hand. "Yes My Lord." She took a breath his logic made sense but... beyond that faith was ultimately about trust and she had made the choice to trust this man. He gave her purpose and passion his works and results in bringing about justice fairness and goodness surpassed any other in so little a time. The wretched deserved to be punished and Ravenloft would do that. It would punish and hold those unfit for a more just world. "My Lord I came to speak with you about Zyr's plan. I've learned from one of the demons we captured the details of Skyfall and I think we can stop it if we move quickly."
"Stop it. My Child why would we want to stop it?"
"Because thousands of people will die if we don't."
"Maybe millions, millions of people who chose Tyr over true justice and supported him after my offer of amnesty. They were shown the greater light and rejected it. I can not save them."
"You will not save them."
"Correct and neither will you. I have different plans for you at this Skyfall. Plans that will ensure Tyr's failure will be complete and it will usher in the new age. As the Elder Gods age ended with rise of the Titans and the age of the Titans ended with the rise of the Gods so shall the age of the Gods end with the rise of the Red Saint and an Age of Justice for all begin."
"Yes My Lord, what do you command?"
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