Tales of Astora: Legacy

Chapter 33: Hero

Chapter 33: Hero

Father Maxime's POV

"Spiders??? Where did they come from?" I screamed when I heard the news of a swarm of spiders occupying the city. Not only that, the southern gate has been destroyed by what seemed to be a sorcerer riding a skeletal dragon.

"Yes, Father! So far we have managed to keep the area around the Cathedral secured but we don't know how long it would last!" reported the messenger.

"What about the citizens? Has everyone been evacuated?" I asked.

"We are unable to reach those in the southern and eastern district because of the undeads and spiders. Everyone else has been evacuated to the shelters."

"We can't leave them to themselves like that. Send out our army to save them!" I ordered.

"That won't be necessary!" a voice recalled me where I was, inside the hall of prayers together with the other deacons. "We have summoned the heroes to come back and lend us their aid in this time of need. In a few moments now they will be walking out of those doors and cleanse our city of the foul abominations! Fear not! For God is our side!"

"But those are just heroes only in name. They are not chosen by the Gods. "I retorted.

"Silence Maxime! Are you saying that the Holy Father's chosen are not worthy of being called Heroes?" one of the deacons shouted back at me. These old farts didn't care about the lives of the people out there. They only cared about themselves and their position by sucking up to the pope.

"That's precisely what I am saying! It has been years since the Gods have not given us a sign. Don't you think it was because they saw how we have become and forsaken us? We need to go out there and save the people, not holing up inside like cowards! We are better than this!"

"ENOUGH! Father Maxime, I will not tolerate any blasphemy inside our sacred halls. The army stays!!!" so the old man finally spoke.

"If none of you are willing, then I will go by myself!" with that, I turned my back to the pope and walked away. He and his corrupted idea would doom us all. I could not let this happen.

These spiders couldn't come out of nowhere. The wall of Caelum even extended to the underground, they couldn't dig a tunnel into our city that easily without anyone noticing. The scout has reported that the spiders came from the eastern district. But the eastern gate was left untouched, at least before the spiders invaded. And there was nothing but the..... IMPOSSIBLE! Could it be that they came through the Gate?

That would be the only logical conclusion. But the Gate was supposed to be closely under watch. Even if a few spiders somehow managed to pass through, it would alarm the guards. Also it was supposed to allow only ten to twenty persons to go through per hour. Yet we have seen that more than one thousands have passed through a just few minutes. How could this be?

Anyway now it was not the time to find the cause. The Gate seemed to be my best bet so I should go there first. But what I could do by myself? I could probably handle a few spiders but not this many. Not to mention the undead horde and the mysterious sorcerer. Damn it, if only I had more strength!

As I went to the exit, I spotted two persons sneaking in the corner. I knew them. They were cadets of the special class, the one in which the Church trained their children to become heroes, in hope that one day the Gods would choose someone from that class. Some of them were children who volunteered. You could imagine what an 'honor' it was for a family to have their kid participating. There were even cases where their own parents forced their child to participate. Others didn't have a choice. They were orphans the Church gathered from the streets. If they refused, where would they go?