Ignite the Sun

"It's heavier than I remember." Calen picked up the strange sword and came back to the group.

The blade was very long, longer than a regular sword would have, and slightly curved - it was also made of rough dark metal, bud despite that it was razor sharp.

"Do you know what kind of material this is?" He asked Alfred as he handed him the sword. "I've never seen anything like that."

The knight weighed the weapon and ran his fingers along the blade.

"It looks a bit like the metal Serakhiin use for armour meant for beasts or some of their siege weapons."

"So they arm monsters as well?"

"That would be the most logical explanation, it's not like the Krakee had a forge, materials or skills to make this. Also from what you said the chieftain spoke common, it had to come in contact with the Blightborn to learn that"

"Why would they give a weapon to a monster that evidently didn't leave its nest very often?" Cassian wondered.

"I don't know, maybe they figured out the temple was important and wanted to protect it better, or perhaps they wanted to encourage the growth of this particular monster into a fully sapient individual "

"Are there many of them?" Isara asked. "Sapient monsters, I mean."

"They're not very common, but they do appear sometimes - fortunately only certain monsters can develop higher cognitive functions, most only grow stronger, not smarter. Even some Ancient Ones aren't particularly bright."

"Do they always cooperate with the Blightborn?"

"No, not always - some of them are actually actively opposing them, although it could because they would like to be the ones in charge, and not for any ideological reasons."

"Have you ever met one?" Elira questioned.

"Um, sort of?" Alfred seemed torn as to how answer the question. "We have one of them at the Order, but he's... not entirely normal."

"Meaning?"

"He's kept inside of a special armour that minimizes the influence Blight has on him, but simultaneously renders him completely mute. We've managed to work out a fairly comprehensive sign language to communicate with him, but having a real conversation with him can be still challenging."

"How did he come to be a part of the order though?"

"I don't know, never really asked about it."

Everyone stared at him in silence.

"You have a sentient monster as a fellow knight and you never bothered to learn his story? Really?" Elira looked almost offended.

"Would you believe me if I told that learning other people's stories wasn't my priority while I was training to survive during an apocalypse?"

"You must have been at least a little bit curious."

"Curiosity doesn't kill corrupted beasts, swordsmanship does." Alfred sighed. "Look, if you want to get all the juicy details you can ask my master once we free him, he knows pretty much everything there's to know about the Order."

"I think think I will." Elira huffed, and returned to treating Isara's shoulder.

"So, what plans do you have for today?" Calen attempted to change the topic.

"I'm going to read, it's not like I can do much else in this state." Isara shrugged.

"I was thinking of planting some stuff in front of the temple, you know to make this place less hostile and maybe give us additional source of food in case of an emergency." Elira said.

"Alfred is going to show me how to use the aura training equipment." Cassian stated. "What about you?"

"I'm going to try to fix some things around the temple, mainly the outer walls - if we want people to stay here like in the first grove then we should make it presentable."

Isara frowned.

"This reminds me, wasn't Lydia supposed to come to the festival in Mountainfall? How come we didn't see her?"

"Alison mentioned that she was late and only had the time to meet with Sylara."

"When?"

"When you were passed out drunk."

"Too bad, I kinda wanted to ask her how was the situation with the first grove."

"You can just ask Sylara when you come back, no?" Alfred pointed out. "That temple was dedicated to her domain after all."

Calen frowned.

"Temples of the old gods are dedicated to specific domains?" I thought champions just claimed the temple for their god."

"Maybe that's how it was later, but according to what my master told me they were initially built with a specific domain in mind - that's why there's twelve of them, two for each god of the old pantheon."

"Which domain is this temple dedicated to then?"

Alfred scratched his chin and thought for a bit.

"Humanity, if I had to guess. The building is very impressive, and a testament to what humans can achieve - additionally there are no obvious references to any other domain."

"Cal, do you think one of the Guardians is in charge of this domain?" Isara queried.

Out of the six gods Sun and Nature were out, so they were left with Stars, Time, Humanity and Moon. In terms of Guardians they had the Queen and the Shadow, but which had dominion over which domain?

In terms of names, the Queen would make the most sense for Humanity, but Calen somehow doubted it - she didn't feel like someone connected to that domain.

As for Shadow... his name didn't really imply anything, so he could be related to any of the domains. In terms of the impression he left on Calen he was very... grounded for a former god.

"If it's one of them then it's probably the Shadow, but then again it could be neither."

"Did you know that one of the Guardians helped form the Order?" Alfred stated out of blue. "And before you ask, no I don't know what they were called, or what domain they were in charge of - master never told me."

"Could it have been Sylara?"

"Very unlikely, back then she had to protect Mountainfall, she wouldn't have had the time to help establish another settlement. Maybe master will tell you who it was if you ask him."

The mysteries had to wait unfortunately, for now the next few days were going to be full of chores and waiting.