Hallowed Souls

Prologue

                               70.9.1.3.26

A cold autumn wind blew in from the north. The stars were plentiful and the moon shone brightly. It would've been a beautiful sight had they been in different circumstances.

Ariton held his arm up and traced the flow of his veins from his wrist to his elbow. They were swollen, and his insides felt as if they were going to burst. It felt as if needles were coursing through his veins, thick and solid instead of blood. It was the first signs of the eastern disease, he knew. The strange plague had been trickling in from the east and had claimed many lives already. Of course, the rumors had gone before the disease itself. Strange whispers and tales from the merchants at the harbors.

"Aborea is depopulated, Sanacery, Parbatia, and Basnea are covered with dead bodies as high as mountains." Said the sailors and merchants at the harbors.

Had he known the rumors were true, he would have fled from Aumena as fast as his legs could carry him, sold all his possessions and lived a life as a monk in the mountains of Caphtyre, though he knew that was wishful thinking.

He could remember the ships, ten they were, tall war galleys from the east. Their sails were blue and on them was the crest of some foreign house, a ring with three ears of wheat.

Bong! Bong! Went the bells at the Great Temple.

The streets were in panic. He could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men. Some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices.

But he knew they would be safe. Aumena had withstood countless attacks throughout the centuries. It would survive.

"Ariton! What the hell are you doing? Get in here!" His wife screamed at him.

Ariton did not respond. He stared at her, his mind adrift.

"Ariton!" His wife screamed again.

But he heard nothing. It seemed as if he was underwater and someone was calling him. He saw the world but everything seemed adrift, floating on an unfathomable sea.

"Ariton, please." His wife's voice brought him back to reality. He could see that tears had started streaming down her face.

She looked back at their children before she ran out and pulled him in.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Elene asked him, her face contorted in fury as her tears dried up.

"We will survive. The walls will hold." He said.

"That is not an answer. And, and we don't know that yet." She told him. "Milatha's scared, Soktas is crying and Tikhos doesn't know what's happening, and I, I'm scared too." She told him before tears started falling down her cheeks again. He wrapped his arms around hers and slowly rocked her back and forth, as he would a babe.

"Shh. Shh. It'll be alright." He knew it wouldn't be. "We will be safe." He knew they wouldn't be.

"The children, they're too young yo experience this. All they know is playing games and laughter." She said.

"The governor will protect us, and if not, the emperor will."

"And what if he cannot?" She asked him.

"Then the Lady will. I know she will."

His three children looked at him, their faces uncomprehending yet still afraid, very afraid.

Milatha, their eldest, held Soktas in her little arms, Soktas had been crying but it seemed Milatha had calmed him down. Tikhos sat on the floor, covering his ears, as if drowning out all the noise would make everything alright.