Chapter 35
At the heart of the Valderian Empire—past the high inner walls forged from sun-forged marble and veined with glowing celestial ore—stood the Sanctified Grand Cathedral of Elyssira, the highest church in all of Aerithrall.
Its spires reached like divine spears into the heavens, their tips encrusted with radiant crystal that hummed with divine mana. The main cathedral was a monument to reverence, echoing with the solemn silence of faith and the low chants of age-old hymns. Yet today, that silence was fractured.
It was not the storm of wind or flame that shook the hallowed halls, but a storm of voices, wings, and parchment.
Hundreds of magical beasts circled the domed ceilings and spiraled towers—each one tamed and trained to carry messages across the continents. Their glowing eyes flickered with anxious restlessness, and their saddlebags overflowed with sealed letters, scrolls of inquiry, or urgent imperial dispatches. They came from everywhere: from kings and queens, from nobles of all ranks, from adventurer guilds, and from the great cities of the three continents:
Aerithrall. Varnakar. Nytherra.
Each continent had stirred.
Each continent demanded answers.
Inside the sanctum of the Grand Cathedral, in a quiet chamber that seemed to pulse with divine presence, five kneeling figures bowed before the Sacred Statue of Elyssira. The statue, carved from divine luminarite and infused with heavenly essence, depicted the goddess in all her ethereal glory—eyes closed, palms extended, a luminous crown hovering just above her flowing hair.
Yet even the awe-inspiring craftsmanship of the sculpture paled before the memory of the true goddess.
For those who had seen her knew—the warmth of her gaze, the light of her smile, the purity in her tone—no stone, no artist, could ever fully capture.
The five figures kneeling now were the Highest Emissaries, the heads of the Six Light Branches of Elyssira’s Church. Each bore a title, a color, a domain of divine authority. The third, Aurorwen Everleigh, was absent—sent on to oversee an awakening of a very important figure.