Only God

Bodies lay haphazardly strewn across the ground, the aftermath of a great battle evident throughout Danschel City.

The Great Elder looked around and saw nothing but scenes of despair.

King Nesol had breached the walls of Danschel and sealed all the city’s gates; the aged Great Elder had anticipated that a brutally inhumane plundering was about to commence.

First, they would go from house to house demanding food and money, followed by forceful interrogation with swords, and finally, unspeakable slaughter, as the whole city was reduced to ashes.

The Great Elder had heard of such atrocities from the mouths of refugees, and now, those same horrors were about to befall them.

But the crux of the matter was that they could do nothing.

They couldn’t flee, nor could they continue to resist; tens of thousands of residents within the city faced nothing but encroaching blades, a slow march toward death.

The Great Elder walked dejectedly into the streets, pushing open the gates of a residence, as all eyes projected from the dim light within, converging upon him.

Here, many True Believers were hidden, some who had followed the Sects, others citizens of Danschel who had brought their valuables in flight to this place after the fall of the Royal City, all in search of a faint glimmer of stability.

Catherine watched the Great Elder, hands trembling slightly; she should have been hiding out in the Music Academy but had come here instead, unable to abandon these True Believers.

The Great Elder rasped,