A Thousand Lives I've Seen

92 - No Turning Back

The Holy State of Hyzante had never truly known chaos. 

Ever since it rose to prominence, the Holy State had stood proud and tall above the calamities that marred the rest of Norzelia. It was the country impacted the least by the Saltiron War because of the wall that blocked its capital out from the rest of the world. The commoners of Glenbrook and Aesfrost had no choice but to face the darkness of their reality, but the people of Hyzante did not care the same way others had to. Hyzante's people could pretend the war was not happening because they knew it would never come to their doorstep. They were at peace for as long as the Goddess' Shield stood, and no one had ever imagined that would change. After all, the Goddess' Shield would never fall. 

Until the day it finally did. 

Hyzante had already been unraveling at the seams before the Goddess' Shield began to crumble. The uprising at the Source and the escape of the Roselle had frightened the people who had never thought such a revolution as possible. Hyzantians were sheltered by the nature of Idore's tyranny, but the world would not stop to bow to their beliefs of the world. The Roselle were not simply sinners as their faith claimed; they were people who deserved freedom every bit as much as everyone else. The Goddess of Salt did not look after them the way they had hoped; their faith had been false from the beginning, and Idore was the one who created it. 

The people of Hyzante had taken to running around wildly in search of any truth or understanding they could find. Many families had chosen to shelter in their homes and wait until the Saintly Seven could get the better of the situation. Others still had tried to find and seek out the guidance of the Ministers directly, but they found nothing but disappointment due to Kamsell and Exharme's deaths. The Goddess' Shield falling was unprecedented and horrifying, and all the people of Hyzante could do was watch as their faith crumbled along with the wall around their city. 

Serenoa gripped his blade carefully as he started onto the city streets. Civilians were starting to retreat into their homes now as they realized there was no true peace in Hyzante anymore. If there was, then the Goddess' Shield never would have fallen to begin with. A few people screamed and fled when they saw the forces of House Wolffort starting to push up through the gap in the wall. Serenoa wished the people did not need to run from him in such great fear, but he knew this was the best option he could ask for at the moment. If the people of Hyzante feared him, then they would do what they could in order to hide before the battle to come. Serenoa could make peace with Hyzante again once all of this was over. 

He could make peace once Idore was no longer there to stomp all over it. 

"Wolffort!" 

Serenoa looked up with a heavy frown, already knowing who to expect from the voice that had spoken his name. Tenebris stood at the center of the pathway leading up to the castle, his frown the only part of his face visible around the oversized hood. Even so, Serenoa could feel the man glaring through him, but he didn't mind it. He had known this was coming, and he was more than happy to face it. 

"Tenebris," Serenoa called back. "We would ask that you lay down your arms. We don't want to have to fight you." Even though Serenoa felt his ideals were more similar to Exharme's than Tenebris', he thought he had a much greater chance of convincing Tenebris to surrender. Tenebris was one of very few major figures in the war that Serenoa had never had to fight before. Tenebris was a coward and would not fight as long as he did not have to... But today would be the day it all changed. If he wished to emerge on the other side of this battle, then he needed to face it. 

Tenebris shook his head dismissively. "You were the reason for the Goddess' Shield crumbling. You must know that such an act of heresy and destruction cannot be forgiven." He raised his staff, priming it in Serenoa's direction with a glare that emerged effortlessly from the shadows hiding his face. "Especially if it comes from another Minister."