Chapter 959: The Beckoning of a Hero

"We’ll submit our report and provide testimony regarding the Demonlings."

Vlad looked toward the streets ahead.

"After that, Solania’s authorities can decide how to proceed."

Vask glanced at the two soldiers. They sounded rather hopeful for men who had spent the journey explaining how seriously the Empire treated demonic activity.

"You’ll probably be asked to remain."

Harven looked toward him.

"For what? We’re soldiers of Lotostra. Whatever investigation they arrange here is their responsibility."

"The destroyed villages are in Lotostra. Your men know the roads, the witnesses, the graves, and the places where you found corruption. If the Holy Order sends a force to investigate, who do you think they’ll ask to guide it?"

Harven started to answer, then looked toward his captain instead. Vlad’s expression suggested the same possibility had just become difficult to ignore.

"They could send people who need to discover everything you already know. Or they could take you."

Vlad sighed.

"He has a point."

"Of course he does. More walking through cursed forests."

"At least this time you’ll know why you’re going."

Harven looked back at Vask, then let the conversation end. Whatever answer he had considered appeared to lose its appeal once he remembered the giant Demonling.

The streets widened as they approached the Sacrosanctum. Vask saw its great structure above the surrounding buildings before they reached the open approach, but Pedri’s attention settled on what no longer stood before it.

The enormous golden statues were gone. Empty pedestals lined sections of the approach, their pale stone showing cleaner patches where the figures had once rested. The elaborate decorations above the entrance had disappeared as well, and the magnificent golden gates had been replaced.

Their replacements were tall and carefully made, with white and silver patterns worked into them. Nobody could reasonably have called them ugly, although Pedri stopped walking as though someone had boarded up the entrance.

Vask slowed beside him. This, apparently, was where Clementine’s patience began encountering real difficulty.

The Sacrosanctum had been designed to overwhelm anyone approaching it. The banners, gold, and towering representations of saints and Heroes had all served that purpose. Now the building itself had become the most impressive thing in sight, which Vask suspected had been Titania’s intention.

Pedri studied the nearest vacant pedestal.

"Where are the statues?"

Harven followed his gaze.

"Most were sold."

"The golden statues?"

"Yes, Father. Those statues."

Pedri turned toward him. Vask lowered his head, pretending to adjust the position of his scabbard.

"Was the Holy Order in such serious debt?"

"Not exactly. The money went toward reparations."

"What reparations?"

Harven’s expression grew more serious as he looked along the empty approach.

"People suffered under the former leadership. Some lost homes or family members. Others were imprisoned or punished for things they hadn’t done. Titania decided the Church ought to compensate them."

"And selling the statues was necessary?"

"It helped. Some went to collectors. Nobles apparently paid ridiculous amounts for them. Others were melted down, and a few were destroyed because people didn’t want to keep looking at the faces of those responsible."

Pedri remained quiet for several steps. His staff touched the paving stones with a steadiness that suggested he was paying particular attention to keeping it that way.

"The proceeds went toward compensation?"

"That’s what they announced. It probably helped convince people they meant it, too. Difficult to promise change while keeping a golden statue of the man who caused the problem outside your door."

Vask looked toward the pedestals again. He could imagine Clementine calculating what had been spent on each missing figure, remembering the commissions, the craftsmen, and the ceremonies held when they were unveiled.

The Church had dismantled years of his work and apparently become more popular for doing so. He was taking it remarkably well, considering that nobody had even given him the dignity of knowing he was being insulted deliberately.

Pedri paused beside another vacant pedestal.

"What about Titania’s statue?"

"She ordered that one removed herself."

"Why?"

"From what I heard, she said the Holy Order wasn’t supposed to worship its own leaders."

Pedri’s expression became still. Vask looked away before his amusement could become obvious, while Vlad cleared his throat and gestured toward the gates.

"We should continue. They’ve noticed us."

The guards were already watching their approach. An armed delegation escorting a priest was hardly unusual here, but the Lotostran insignia drew the gate captain’s attention. Vlad dismounted and handed his reins to one of the men before presenting their documents.

The officer read the first page, then checked the seal.

"Lotostra?"

"Captain Vlad Renor. We have reports concerning demonic activity in the northern settlements."

The officer looked up immediately.

"Confirmed activity?"

"Yes. Physical evidence, several witnesses, and an account of the creatures encountered."

His attention shifted toward Pedri and Vask.

"And these two?"

"Father Pedri, formerly of the Church of Romulus, and his companion, Vask."

Pedri bowed with the modest courtesy of a man who rarely had business at an entrance this important.

"May the Holy Light guide your path."

"And yours, Father."

The gate captain gave Vask a brief inspection. His eyes passed over the practical clothes and the old scabbard before returning to Vlad’s documents. Whatever importance he attached to the report, he clearly saw little reason to attach any to the young man accompanying it.

Vask let him finish. He had spent enough of the journey drawing attention to himself that being overlooked for a few seconds felt almost restful.

"Very well. You may enter. Someone inside will receive the report."

Vlad nodded and began arranging for the evidence and documents to be brought forward. Harven released a breath beside Vask, looking through the entrance as though it might finally mark the end of his responsibility.

"We’ll wait here until you’ve finished speaking with the priests. After that, we’ll see what our orders are."

"Thank you for accompanying us."

"You can thank us when we’re actually allowed to leave, Father."

Vask smiled faintly.

"I’d find somewhere comfortable to wait."

Harven gave him an irritated look, but Pedri had already started through the gates. Vask followed, leaving the knight to consider how long Solania might require his services.

The moment his foot crossed the Sacrosanctum’s threshold, a low hum traveled through the ground. He stopped as the vibration passed through his boots and into his legs. Something deep beneath the building had responded to him, and the Holy energy within his body stirred in answer.

Vask looked up just as light gathered at the highest point of the dome. For an instant, he might have mistaken it for sunlight catching the surface. Then it strengthened, spreading across stone that had been in shadow moments earlier.

Golden lines emerged along the ancient structure. They followed curves and patterns almost invisible beneath the weathered surface, illuminating one after another until the dome shone with pure white light.

People stopped in the courtyard. A priest carrying a bundle of papers turned toward the building, allowing several sheets to slip from his hands. At the gate, the captain forgot the documents he was still holding and stared upward.

A pillar of Holy light rose from the Sacrosanctum into the sky. Its brightness deepened every surrounding shadow, leaving the figures nearest Vask sharply outlined against the paving stones. He could feel the warmth of it on his face, though the force answering within his chest held his attention more completely.

The first bell sounded somewhere inside the building. Another answered before its note had faded, followed by the heavy voices of the great bells across Solania.

The sound reached the markets and the gates, rolling over rooftops toward the outer walls. Conversations stopped as people looked toward the pillar. Healers paused beside their patients, merchants stepped out beneath their awnings, and pilgrims sank to their knees in streets where everyone around them had become equally motionless.

Vlad stared up at the dome.

"What in the name of the gods..."

Harven stepped back from the entrance. Several guards reached for their weapons, reacting to a threat they had not yet identified, while others stood with their hands half-raised and no idea what they were supposed to do.

Vask remained beneath the light. The interface had already named him the Hero, binding him to the obligation stolen with Hiro’s heart. He had accepted that as proof the graft had worked.

Watching the Sacrosanctum respond was something else. Its ancient blessing had reached into him and found what it expected to find. Whatever the priests inside might think of his origins, their own holy seat was announcing his arrival loudly enough for the entire city to hear.

A faint smile touched his face as he looked toward Pedri.

The old priest was smiling too. For once, Clementine did not need to conceal irritation or manufacture humble satisfaction. He watched the light with an unmistakable pleasure that caught Vlad’s attention even amid the ringing bells.

"Father?"

Pedri lowered his head briefly, as though giving thanks for something he had scarcely dared hope to witness. When he looked up again, his attention settled on Vask.

"The Beckoning of the Hero."

Harven frowned, struggling to make himself heard over another peal.

"The what?"

"An ancient blessing of the Sacrosanctum. One that has not been seen for quite some time."

The gate captain looked away from the dome. His eyes moved toward Pedri, then followed the old priest’s gaze to the unremarkable young man he had barely bothered inspecting.

Others began doing the same. Vask stood where he had stopped upon entering, with the old sword at his hip and the Holy light rising above him. Pedri extended one hand toward him, his smile unchanged as the bells continued calling across Solania.

"The Sacrosanctum is welcoming its newest Hero."