It was dinner time. Tyren and Helena were seated with the Duke in the dining hall. The atmosphere was low and nobody was talking. The sound of cutlery was all that could be heard.
Felicia and Alex were noticeably absent again, but nobody addressed it. The Duke trusted Alex to report to him about Felicia's meeting with the Crown Prince.
Helena was fuming after failing to get into the Emerald Room so she could destroy some of Felicia's possessions as punishment for seducing the Crown Prince.
The sisters were still in the library reading out loud to each other. It was story time once more. Dixie flipped through some pages and read an interesting passage about the day the Cromwell family lost Goddess Kartara's favor.
It was a pivotal moment in the history of the empire. The era when the first Saintess was born.
Generation through generation, the power of the Goddess remained strong within the royal Cromwell family. All members who were a direct descendent of the first Emperor Alfonso Romen Cromwell, enjoyed the privileges of holy magic. The land of Elysium became ever more fertile and the populations grew under the strong and divine leadership.
Suddenly, after 900 years of strength and prosperity the revered lineage of the Cromwells disappeared. The royals no longer possessed any holy magic. This was a revelation quite shocking which worried the family. They attempted to keep the information contained, but a Bishop by the name of Simon Lowell caught wind of it and quickly went to inform the Pope.
Pope Bethoc Grymes III, had expected such a development since he had been receiving visions predicting the royal family's fall from grace. Goddess Kartara no longer favored their bloodline. He spread the word at once, eager to witness the public backlash towards the Cromwells who had become far too arrogant and tyrannical. The royal family had placed sanctions on the church which Pope Bethoc was determined to remove. This was the perfect catalyst to regain control over the sacred ceremonies they performed in order to never stray from the Goddess's doctrines.
This action led to a bitter feud which would grow amongst future generations, stripping away the essence of the church and turning it into a corrupt organization filled with faithless men driven by greed rather than self-service.
The royal family attempted to calm public hysteria as many citizens of Elysium believed the empire had lost the grace of the Goddess and would be plunged back into the harsh environment from the time of Emperor Alfonso. Pope Bethoc held a mass and informed the people, both nobility and commoners that Goddess Kartara had not abandoned them. The only ones who had fallen out of grace were the pompous Cromwells for forgetting the ways of their ancestors and using their holy magic selfishly.
This announcement sparked a sentiment that could not be eradicated. The Cromwells lost the reverence they once possessed. The Emperor at the time, His Royal Highness Callum Travolta Cromwell tried to have Pope Bethoc executed for treason over his outrageous statements.
Unfortunately, Pope Bethoc was well loved and respected causing Emperor Callum's advisors to talk him out of it. During such an uncertain period where the royal family had already lost favor, executing the respected Pope would only escalate the issue. Emperor Callum did not heed his advisers and sent an assassin to kill Pope Bethoc.
This death resulted in a massive public backlash which sparked a civil war. Tempers raged and blood spilled. Emperor Callum was forced to step down in order to avoid complete anarchy. Sadly, it was too late.
His son, Prince Mathias Ravis Cromwell took the throne promising to correct his father's error. He withdrew all sanctions placed on the three factions of clergymen and ensured that the royal family would not interfere with the church's practices anymore. He ordered the Minister of War to put pressure on the Commanders to end the bloodshed as quickly as possible.
Many lives were lost and infrastructure was derelict. Emperor Mathias suspended taxation on the commoners during the process of rebuilding. This angered many of the nobles who's pockets began to dwindle, but the Emperor was insistent that until the food insecurity amongst the villagers was resolved, there would be no taxation. Those nobles who defied him were imprisoned.
As a result of the famine, people grew sick and a plague was birthed. During this bleak period when most had lost hope, the church took in as many homeless as possible, struggling to keep everyone fed and treating the sick. The new Pope, Father Hemswith prayed earnestly in front of the statue of the Goddess. He prayed for the reemergence of holy magic to heal the sick. Beside him, Sister Mary-Ann, a nun of enormous fortitude begged Goddess Kartara to bless her with the magic to save her family, who were all on their deathbeds, futilely fighting the last stages of the disease.
Her prayers were answered. The statue of Goddess Kartara shed tears, which has since then been associated with the birth of a new holy being, and Sister Mary-Anne's hands began to glow with light. She was no longer a Sister, but now a Saintess. She immediately rushed to inform the Pope who sent word to the royal family who in turn announced it to the entire empire.
Saintess Mary-Anne got to work immediately, healing every single person who was sick, bringing countless back from the brink of death. Her healing magic was so immense that all she had to do enter a room full of sick people and her body would glow, sending out healing magic to cure every single person in the room. She became known as a savior as she travelled from village to village, restoring lives.
The Pope was highly protective of her, ordering guards to watch her at all times. He did not want anyone to get ahold of her and try to use her power for selfish reasons. They could not afford to lose this power as Goddess Kartara had made it clear she would withdraw her blessing if it was ever misused.
One of Saintess Mary-Anne's most notable act of service was when she healed a member of the royal family who had also fallen ill: Empress Taran Rheyna Cromwell, who was at the time heavily pregnant. She cured the Empress and helped her give birth to her son, Prince Valentine Ardet Cromwell.
Word of her power reached neighboring kingdoms and requests were sent to ask for her aid in dealing with birth defects. Though Saintess May-Anne wanted to help all, Pope Hemswith would not permit her to leave the kingdom claiming that her duty was to her people and anyone who wanted her help from other kingdoms should come to her.
After decades of healing, Saintess Mary-Anne was depleted of her magic and her aura grew dim. She passed away after informing Pope Hemswith of having received a vision from the Goddess, showing her soul reaching her final resting place.
Emperor Mathias, erected a statue in her name and her death was mourned for an entire month. Well beyond Elysium.
Dixie stopped reading and looked up at her sister who was in deep contemplation. Bonnie held up the open book she had been looking at prior and showed it to her sister.