A knight's journey

A tiny speck of arrogance.

The scratching of  a quill against a paper, chants being sang by novice knights and lead by the deep voices of the elder ones. Tales of heroism and unfaltering loyalty to the god-emperor who once faced the greatest of all evils and survived, tales that were supposed to protect the minds and purity of souls of those who both, sang and heard them. But there were those withing the knight-chapel of Ordo who didn't believe. Who thought they knew better. Mostly the librarians and a very few knights that usually stuck together since they cared not about any sort of, to them, religious nonsense. Of course, they never questioned the power of their emperor, they simply did not believe him to be a god of any sort. But that was of no importance.  Among these knights, was one who has already proven himself countless times over and over again in battles against the forces of the desecrated, as they were being called within the empire. A young boy not older than a mere eighteen years of age. Yet, as his comrades described him, a vicious beast on the battlefield against which no heretic stands a chance in fair, or unfair combat. He seemed to always have the upper hand. To always be several steps ahead than any opponent he faced. Arias, they called him. Arias the gentle, the generous. Due to his status, he was quite well taken care of and thus used his wealth and influence for the betterment of all the people who, by his judgement, deserved it. He spent a great amount of his free time in the chapel library, reading about the being he dedicated his life fighting against, and about it's forces. One could say he became a self taught expert on everything when the topic came to mind However. As pure and adamant as his will was, there was a tiny speck of arrogance and a tiny shard of childish bravery. And one fateful night, the two collapsed and a set a chain of events in motion.

One night, Arias sat in silence, a book laid calmly on the table in front of him, seemingly having all of his attention. Then, all of a sudden he got up and closed the book, holding it close to him while walking away fro mthe nicely decorated wooden table. He headed towards the monk dormitories and knocked on the door a few times. The door sooned opened for him, allowing him entrance. Inside was an elderly man who greeted Arias and lead him over to sit by the table.  Arias set the book on the table and pushed it closer to the other man, a stalwart expression on his youtful face.- "Orion." He spoke, his voice refined and soft as satin itself. "I want to try it. I want to take the journey and walk the path of desire." The elderly man called Orion frowned at this, attemptingt o speak but he was cut off but the young warrior. "And I want to do it tonight. I will prove to everyone that there is nothing to fear. That our empire has already been corrupted from the highest of the silver towers to the deepest filth of the undercity. The Dark Prince has no power over minds that are truly pure." The knight mused and Orion sat in silence for a while. Then he stood up and nodded with a sigh, gesturing for the young man to follow him to the door through which they first entered, explaining, or at least attempting to explain the dangers of the venture Arias was about to embark on.- "You see, young Arias. The charms and rabid influences of the raw human mind will find their way inside. No matter how hard your will, you will weaken with every taken step." Arias shook his head and crossed his chest with one arm. "By the fire of my holy blade, the whole empire has my word that the Impure one will cover in fear, unable to tangle me into his webs." Once more the old man sighed, leading the two of them through now silent halls of the dimly lit, gothic styled chapel that seemed to be a truly massive one just from the size of the hallway.

A few minutes of silent walking down the hall, then a sudden turn and twist and the two found themselves in front of a massive gate-like door of solid rock with many delicate and intertwining runes etched into them. Orion touched the otherwise plain gate of rock only for the runes to give out a bright blue flash of light and open with a loud sound of rock grinding against rock as it dragged itself across the floor. Revealed in front of them now stood a room not too spacious, but not too small to become uncomfortable. Inside hovered milky white crystals of various size, there must've been about a dozen of them calmly floating around the room. In the middle of it was a book of chants and a golden dagger with a violet gem embedded within the hilt and in the very back of the room, an apparatus made of metal loomed over whoever entered. Many tubes and warped metalic plates stretched open like a maw of a terrible beast ready to swallow them whole. "Arias, I ask you one last time. Swear in the name of Gaian that you've reached this decision yourself and of your free will." Orion attempted to stop Arias one last time. It was apparent that the old man cared for the boy greatly. Of course, Arias crushed any tiny fragments of hope Orion might have had until now. Crossing his right hand over his chest again, he swore on the emperor's name and proceeded to stand  near the metalic apparatus. Orion let out a sigh, but proceeded with the ritual. Touching the hard cover of the book before grasping for the dagger and swiftly running it's sharp blade across his palm. Letting the crimson stain the book a while before pulling his hand away and wrapping it in his robe to stop the bleeding at least slightly. For a while, the blood on the book lingered, before it seemed to have been absorbed by it.

The book was shaking and vibrating all of a sudden, changing it's appearance as well. From a neatly looking brown book, to a many shades of violet and pink covered growth that spread all across the table, making it nearly impossible to tell this thing used to be a book. Now it looked like a horned head made out of sticky organic material and missing it's lower jaw. The holes where eyes should be were filled with deeply golden glow. A deep, dark and ominous voice rang throughout the small room. "Dost though seeketh the land of the Infinite one?" The entity's voice wormed itself deep into the mind of the old monk, as judged by his warped expression of annoyance and pain. He then shook his head and spoke with newly found strenght in his voice. "I do not. This brave soul in front of me does. Grant him passage, demon!" Orion commanded and the face began deteriorating. As if it was being eaten by some invisible swarm of something. It didn't disappear, however. It merely moved to face Arias who was avaiting the metal straps to close in on him and pull him into their cold and hard embrace. The jawless face then shot beams of golden energy directly at Arias, whose body absorbed it and then, somehow transported it into the apparatus which in turn imbued all the crystals with it. Afterwards, the awful oozing growth simply decayed along with the face, leaving the very same brown book on a completely clean table. The limbs of metal began moving and closing in around the young man like a sarcophagus made of metal. Once he was locked inside, the stone door closed as well to keep the corruption, if there would be any, confined within the room. Orion remained, watching the crystals closely. Their color determined the state of Arias's mind. "I wish you well, my friend."