The history of the Varion Church was a long and storied one.
Unfortunately, most of the records of this sacred organization had been lost or destroyed during the Age of Chaos and only a few fragments remained.
Scholars had spent centuries researching and translating these fragments and eventually an official version of the church's history was created.
On the continent of Ambrosa where gods and monsters were real, and humanity fought to preserve itself against the forces of darkness….
One God offered his strength to humanity in their time of need.
His name was Varion, and he would come to be known by many names. Some called him the 'Lord of Light' while others named him as the 'All Father'.
There was even a radical sect that claimed Varion was the original creator of the universe who kept the balance between the two forces of order and chaos.
This view was naturally rejected by those in the church who punished such heretics with torture and imprisonment.
Nonetheless, it was an undisputable fact that it was only thanks to Varion that humanity was able to emerge as the dominant force on the Ambrosa continent.
Those individuals chosen by his light were empowered by his holy aura and became supernatural beings capable of performing great feats of strength and endurance.
They were known as the holy knights or paladins.
Only a small fraction of the chosen ones would be able to use his light to heal the injured and cure the sick.
They were known as the high priests.
One group to protect humanity from external threats and the other to save humanity from internal strife.
The other races such as the elves, orcs, goblins and dragons were forced to flee to the outer regions where they competed to survive in harsh conditions.
These fantastic creatures now existed in myth and legends as most citizens of the empire had only learned of them through storytellers and history books.
Although there were rumors that several high noble houses kept some of these legendary races as pets or slaves.
In the modern era, the Imperial Family was growing steadily in power, but the church was a force that they could not afford to ignore.
There was delicate balance maintained between the noble class and the high-ranking members of the church.
This scale would finally be tipped by a prophecy that foretold the arrival of a Saintess…
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(City of Lunarian- Varion Temple)
(West Training Wing- Private Quarters)
A blonde woman slowly got up from a hard mattress and took a look around her new surroundings.
She wore a plain white nightgown that covered most of her body.
She found herself standing in a room roughly the size of a regular bedroom with no furniture except for a simple bed, a closet and a mirror that was hung on one of the walls.
The woman approached the mirror and took a casual glance at her reflection. She saw an attractive muscular warrior who was over six feet in height.
Her face was beautiful with short cropped blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and sharp angular facial features.
The person in the mirror was exactly the same as the woman who Sui Li had met in that strange space.
She raised her right arm and the mirror version of her in the reflection also performed the same action.
"This is so weird," Sui Li muttered as she continued to move her hand up and down.
This body felt different and natural at the same time.
It was hard to describe how odd this experience was. Sui Li raised up the bottom part of her nightgown and whistled appreciatively.
Six pack abs… my goodness she had turned into a hottie!
But what about the mission?
Sui Li had already decided not to follow the main objective and just complete the request from the original owner of the body.
"Okay so I need to become a worthy paladin and not break a vow?" Sui Li whispered to herself.
Wait a moment… what vow?
Sui Li froze in place as she realised that she did not have any memories from Claire.
How on earth was she going to pretend to be a holy knight when she didn't have the first clue about how to fight with a sword.
And setting aside her fighting skills…
Wouldn't the people closest to Claire immediately recognise that she was behaving strangely?
Fuck… she was completely screwed.
Sui Li began to hyperventilate as she could already picture herself being burnt alive at the stake as a witch or a demon.
These religious fanatics would probably think that she was being possessed by the devil. Sui Li returned to the bed and sat down with her head in her hands.
Okay… she needed to breathe and think this through. Maybe it takes awhile for the memories to come in and she just needed to be patient.
As long as nobody came to see her then everything would be alright.
Knock! Knock!
Yep… this was the end.
Sui Li once again cursed her bad luck. Why had she tempted fate by jinxing herself?
The person on the other side of the door was clearly getting impatient and began to slam his knuckles harder against the door.
Knock! Knock!
Knock! Knock!
Sui Li had no idea what Claire's normal personality was like so all she could do was try to mimic the appearance and mannerisms that she had observed in the strange space.
"What do you want?" Sui Li coldly spoke with a no-nonsense attitude. She tried her best to channel authority and firmness into her tone.
The knocking stopped immediately, and a hoarse masculine voice answered slowly,
"My deepest apologies captain… I didn't mean to disturb your rest, but the pope suddenly announced that he is going to hold a grand assembly this afternoon."
"What are your orders in regard to the arrangement for the saintess?"
Saintess? What saintess? Where did a saintess come from?
Sui Li closed her eyes and rubbed her temples furiously. She ran her fingers through her short blonde hair and let out a heavy sigh.
Well, there was nothing else she could do except fake it.
It would have been nice if Claire had mentioned that she was apparently the captain of a squad.
Sui Li gathered her thoughts and a cold expression flashed across her face as she tried to get into the mood.
"All available knights should assemble at the usual spot at least two hours before the ceremony begins. The safety and prestige of the saintess is the highest priority," Sui Li ordered calmly.
"I will discuss the finer details when we meet in the afternoon."
"Understood captain, I will let the rest of the men know," the hoarse voice replied.
Sui Li raised an eyebrow but did not say anything else. At times like this it was better to stay silent.
The less she said… the better.
It would be a mistake to keep talking since that would definitely increase the likelihood of the person behind the door finding out that something was wrong.
A few seconds passed and tension filled the air. Sui Li nervously clenched her fingers into a fist and waited.
Had the person behind the door realised that she was a fake? Was this life already over?
Finally, she heard the sounds of footsteps leaving as the man turned around and left to go to an unknown location.
Sui Li gently exhaled and wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on her brow. That was too close.
If the mysterious person on the other side of the door had wanted to discuss more details about the arrangement, then she would have been caught for sure.
"Arghh!" Sui Li shrieked in pain as she suddenly felt as though something had just exploded in her mind.
She flailed around on the mattress like a madwoman as the pain increased until she could barely think.
Was this the memory transfer process?
It hurts… it hurt so freaking much…
After what seemed like an eternity, the pain eventually dropped to a manageable level and Sui Li could now somewhat compose herself.
Sui Li… no… her name… her name… was Claire now.
Claire gripped her head in pain and desperately tried to deal with the new memories flooding inside her mind.
It was an odd sensation.
She was not two separate people but rather Sui Li had become Claire. A lifetime's worth of memories had now been stuffed into her head.
"The pope's grand assembly," Claire groaned as an unpleasant flashback resurfaced in her mind.
This was the day where she had made the wrong choice.