Asher the Insane

56 - The House of Lords Part 04

"The head priest Zedro Diringer gave me the assignment of rescuing an amulet, a relic of the church, from the grasp of the cult leader, Aebshem. I was given a team to work on achieving that objective with. I believed it would be challenging to work with the chosen individuals because I hardly knew them and there were some obvious disparities between us, but I accepted the task for it seemed such a crucial aim for my nation and I presumed to give it my all.

We traveled to the cult's lair over the course of four days- Wait, actually, five. We waited for it to get dark for the latter part of one day and then, over the hours, it must have passed over to the next day.

We approached the entrance carefully, but there were no guards until we had penetrated deep into enemy territory. We reached what had been the main hall of the underground network of the enemy base. At this time, we had dispatched twenty-six enemy combatants, and in hindsight, they were probably just used as bait; as sacrificed puppets to let us feel in command.

We were caught and put in restraints, at which point I made contact with the cult leader himself, Aebshem. He was arrogant and swaggering about. He did not exactly tell us what he had planned, but because of the information we had already received from the head priest, the plan must have had something to do with the relic and summoning the goddess Alexandra.

He flaunted the power of the cult and himself, speaking utter madness until..."

"Until what, General Glory?"

"Excuse me, it is... hard to explain what happened next," once his throat had cleared, Mine Glory glanced once in the direction of his colleagues and said, "till Ms. Burell had arrived. She interrupted Aebshem after he had told a story about his youth. She was unafraid, and he did not restrain her, thinking no threat of her.

Given her age and the way she behaved, it puzzled me as to how she had progressed to this stage. We had already had a difficult time dealing with the cultists, fighting and evading them, so I find it hard to believe she had completely eluded them all.

She claimed to have been sent by Priest Diringer, which was even more difficult to believe and later shown to not be the complete story. And instead of helping us, she and I quote, 'just wanted to see what happens'.

In the end, she convinced Aebshem to lift the restraints on us, but we were still captives because, by that time, other members of the cult had filled the main hall."

"How many were in this cult?" The Lord Speaker asked.

"Ten thousand and one exactly. When the rite they were preparing for commenced, they all started to die and disappear, somehow transferring their strength into Aebshem.

That must have been a skill like [All for Power], which raises the power of the receiver in exchange for a voluntary sacrifice, or [Metamorphosis of the Soul], which accomplishes the same thing but transforms the user into a monster. First, because of the threat posed by other cult members, and then due to his might, we were unable to stop him.

Then he channeled power into the relic, which began to radiate a blinding flash. I had to cover my eyes and then, there was a woman standing on the altar above the relic, she had such a radiant aura, as if the brilliance of the world was contained in her," Mine Glory seemed to be lost in thought, "and- and-" It was hard for him to speak, "And I sincerely believe that- that woman was the Goddess Alexandra herself."

The Lord Speaker shouted loudly, "General Glory, may I remind you that you are under oath," as what he heard was ridiculous.

Mine Glory validated his belief by saying, "As ridiculous as that seems, it is the truth."

"Are you meaning to tell us that you believe that the literal Goddess of Redemption had come down from the heavens?"

Mine Glory paused for a moment before turning to face his companions once again, then declared, "Yes. In my heart of hearts, I really believe that."

The Lord Speaker looked at the other adventurers. "Is that also what you think?"

Then, one after another, they stated:

"Aye," Thakin Forgebreath answered, "it was difficult to feel anything but to rejoice in her presence."

"Indeed, as difficult to accept as it is, I think this is the truth," Asharisralorentanithilgenkian answered.

"Yep, yep," Vethra Nox answered.

"YE, UH, I FINK," Yam Thousand-Hoods answered.

"And what followed that?" Lord Speaker inquired.

Mine Glory went on, "The goddess then welcomed Mistress Burell as though they were old friends before engaging Aebshem in conversation. Looking back, I don't seem to remember what the three of them were talking about." He asked his companions, "Can you?"

Everyone had the same response; none could recall what they had discussed.

"Someone was then sent to us by the goddess. Small, with wings of an angel, I guess she must have been one then.

Aebshem became enraged, and it happened. Focusing his power at Miss Burell and he unleashed it fully. That very moment was when the mountain disappeared, or more accurately, was destroyed. Save for my party members, the goddess and the altar she stood upon, the angel, Aebshem, and Miss Burell, everything was in ruins..

If I hadn't witnessed it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed a story like that. It was hard to imagine that such a force didn't even touch a hair on the old woman's head.

The goddess approached Aebshem, touched his shoulder and then he fell unconscious until we had returned to Aloshir once again."

"And what about the goddess?"

"I-" My Glory started speaking, but it was obvious that he was at a loss for words.

Then Yam Thousand-Hoods took over from Mister Glory and started speaking.

Telling stories was a very unusual thing to do for War-Orcs, "DA LAIDY WAZ NIZE. LIK IN OLD ORK STORI YAM MEAT GOD AND SHE GAIVE ME NAME. YAM GOT NO BEVOR BUT NOA IZ TAUSAND HOODZ."

The Lord Speaker was a little perplexed, so he turned to River Williams, a fellow scribe who was sitting close to the Speaker's side and who, as a result of his well-known research, knew a great deal about orc culture.

River Williams then informed the Lord Speaker that War-Orcs do not have traditional last names and that they search for something meaningful to call themselves throughout their lifetimes.

"So, that woman has given you the name of Thousand-Hoods?" The Lord Speaker asked the orc Yam.

"YEZ, SHE SAIZ 'IZ FOR DA REMEM- UH, REMEMEME- REMEMBRAZ OF DA DED' AN' DAT I BE GUD ORK IN DA FUTCHA."

"Does anybody else have a mythical tale about the goddess to share?" The Lord Speaker asked the rest, and indeed they did.