A World With/Out Home

Chapter 21: A Regretful Finale. (Part 4)

"You've made a mistake," the voice resounded calmly without aggression. Tied, shackled and locked behind thick steel bars the High Priests of the Church of the sleeping God sat in a cell beneath the temple. The battle for the city had not lasted long. Without the demons supporting the Pro-human armies, against the combined Alliance they quickly fell into disarray as not only did the people of the Holy City rebel but even those in its army. Any notion of victory was swiped off the table the moment Estile and the others came to the field and within several hours the cries of war had been silenced.

Now however the Mercenaries of the Evergarden along with the leaders of the Alliance had an opportunity, to question those that betrayed them. No matter what happened none of them could quite understand why and now they finally could. The High Priests of the Church contrary to their actions were made up primarily of the other races with only Laxus being human. The others, an elf, beastkin and ogre.

Prince Argast of the beastkin snarled towards them, "We caught them trying to flee the city. With Lord Arvel's help it was easy to track them down."

"Good job," Estile and the others stood outside the cell, eyes firm.

"You've made a mistake," again the elfin representative spoke. Her feminine voice rang lightly and clear, devoid of guilt.

"And what mistake would that be?" Estile's usually friendly demeanour had been discarded showing full well her displeasure towards them, "We trusted you and you betrayed us.

The High Priest's eyes met hers, "We did betray you. In truth we should have been honest from the start. What we are doing is for the world."

"It's what you 'were' doing," Lav clarified. "You may not have heard but your God is gone. Just like the people you massacred."

A snarl broke from behind the cell as the beastkin priest showed his teeth, "You fools! What you did was no short of madness, defying the ways of this world!"

"The ways of this world?" King Ardent stepped closer to the bars. "How many millions did you kill? How many millions more would have had to die against those demons? My people, our people, your own kind!"

"Calm yourself Ardent," Estile gently pulled him back. "Your anger won't change anything now."

The ogre man spoke next, "We did so to preserve balance. Our God was dying. You who entered the temple saw it yourselves. Unlike other tales, ours is true."

"Just because your God was real or dying does not justify your actions," even Arvel couldn't hold back his underlying frustration.

Still calm the elfin High Priest asked, "Do you know the origin of the races?" She continued without being told to. "In the beginning there was man and devil. Then arriving from places unknown a God descended. It saw man and devil, the passion, the joy, the conflict and all between. Enamoured the God chose to rest and from it dreamed life to match those he saw. That is our Sleeping God."

Estile frowned. Although she had heard the story before, the one told by the Church usually had their Sleeping God be the creator of all races. It was only in the Pro-human nations that the story was different.

"What's your point?"

"I said before, our God was dying," for the first time she made direct eye contact. "There are too many of us. We races born from the dreams of the Sleeping God draw life from it. As our population boomed with peace, so did we continue to take from our God, and now like a body responding to a disease, the demons were sent to wipe the scales clean. Otherwise our God would perish."

"And you just let that happen? You didn't even call for our help!" Estile glowered. "You didn't even try find another solution?"

Laxus flicked his eyes up only to quickly look back down, "We did try to hold the demons back... to try find another way, but in the end, how could we go against our God? Those that did drew the ire of the demons. At worse, all could be loss."

Lord Devrin sighed, "You disappoint me Artali." He focused on his elf brethren. "For one such as yourself who has reached your age, to make this decision, I can only say you must be mad. You would not only kill all of us but even those of our allied races. The blood of innocents has already drowned your mind it seems."

"Spout your words all you want Devrin, but I did what I believed was right for this world," her response was cold and controlled. She had already accepted her actions.

"And now?" Estile gestured outside the cell. "Your God is dead and the world is peaceful again. The only difference is the destruction you caused. We won."

"Perhaps... and for it I am glad but should I have to make the same choice again, you all know what my answer would be. Now go, punish us with whatever fate you've decided. We will not falter." Although she herself was firm the others beside her were not so much and with quivering eyes they too bowed their heads.

"And there we have our answer," Prince Argus pulled against his furred chin. "All this because some religious fanatics went nuts. Let's leave these fools be for now." Leading the way they exited the prison and returned to the Temple's courtyard. In the much larger space the flow of the night air rejuvenated their spirits.

After a deep breath Prince Argus turned to the Mercenaries and kneeled, "Once more the Beastkin Empire thanks the Mercenaries of the Evergarden. Your sacrifice for us has not gone unnoticed. We offer you all we have."

The two leaders beside him quickly joined, "The Human Kingdoms and Ardentgrad also give their utmost thanks. Without you we would be lost."

"My Queen too offers her most sincere appreciation and commends me to reward you."

For a moment Estile was a little taken aback. It was usually Karen who dealt with these things, and after her it would be Orpheus. The two gone and with their attention fixed on her, a sense of loneliness gripped her heart.

"Please stand. It was our duty and you all have done magnificently. For now we should rest," she looked beside her where Trent, Mori, Lav, Ellen and Arvel stood. "We've all been through much today."

"Of course," the three stood and bowing said their goodbyes.

A gentle hand settled on Estile's shoulder, "We should 'all' get some rest." Lav looked at her with tender eyes, "I know there's a lot we need to do but we're not invincible either."

"Right...," though she gave in, the white haired girl didn't quite know how she'd sleep. It was one thing to die but an unsettled crack had formed in her heart. She truly may never see some of her departed friends again.