"Your Royal Highness, Lady Felicia was our Saintess and the curse we are suffering under is one of holy magic not demonic prowess! This was documented in scripture since the birth of the first Saintess. The Goddess instilled a failsafe in all of her Saintesses to ensure they would not be met with resistance. The death curse being one of them. This would only be released if the Saintess was murdered. And all those who had a hand in it would be faced with an endless stream of bad luck."
"Sadly, much of the information on the nature of Saintesses has been lost over the centuries. Pope Matthew, in particular took to hiding most of the scrolls which our earlier brothers wrote about the Saintesses of their time."
"You bastard! How dare----" The Bishop's retort was cut off when the Emperor marched over to him and struck him across the face.
"One more word out of you and I'll have you punished for disrespecting the monarch!"
The Bishop gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Still, he remained silent. The Emperor motioned for Casper to continue with his explanation. More people had entered the hall.
"The power within a Saintess is meant to purify and cleanse. But in the event that her heart should be filled with hatred, her magic will take on a dark turn. Should she die, filled with a vengeful spirit, her magic will explode out of her and impact the lives of all those whom she believed to have wronged her. The manner in which her curse takes effect varies, but it will be relentless. And that is what we are facing."
"The red tears are a symbol of Saintess Felicia's blood. The Goddess is informing us that since we spilled the blood of her chosen one, our blood will flow as well. And as the effect of the holy curse grows more severe, the Goddess cries harder. Now it has turned into a deluge. I am not sure what caused the ground to collapse. Perhaps, it's another message. But I know for certain that all those who stood witness during the burning are at risk of death. The Saintess is striking at all of us."
"All of the allegations against her must have been either outright slander, misinterpretations or exaggerations. The Goddess does not bless the wicked. Our assessment of Saintess Felicia's nature was woefully wrong and tainted. We condemned her without checking thoroughly and now we are paying the price for our arrogance. Never before, since the founding of this empire was a holy being executed on charges of witchcraft. Everyone who heard the name of the Duke's eldest daughter had something bad to say about her and yet, it turns out she was the Goddess's chosen one all along."
There was complete silence in the hall after Casper finished speaking. Emotions were running high in some while other felt completely numb. Even the arrogant Bishop had nothing to say. Those who had interacted with Lady Felicia began to reexamine everything they initially believed.
The sense of dread grew stronger as the reality of their actions settled into their minds.
"So what do we do? How do we save ourselves from this? The girl is dead. There is no way for us to apologize to her. Can we apologize to the Goddess, instead? Would that work?" The Emperor's voice was no longer booming. It was weary and withdrawn.
Thinking about his son and the open contempt he had always harbored towards Felicia, he knew that Constantine was doomed. He had certainly earned the dead woman's ire. She struck down her own brother. Why would she spare the fiancé who pushed her into execution?
The Emperor's shoulders hunched and his body suddenly felt very heavy. His mind was spinning.
Father Casper's words made sense. Given the severity of their circumstances, no one doubted that what he claimed was the truth. The weeks of confusion was now made clear.
Many of the priests were wiping away their sadness. Though they did not care much for Lady Felicia, as they had no relationship with the woman personally, they all revered and adored their Goddess. To know that they had betrayed their lord by killing her Saintess was akin to a physical injury being inflicted upon them.
What did this mean for the empire then?
Were they all doomed?
Would the Goddess never grant them her blessings again?
Casper was about to respond to the Emperor's questions when a loud crack sounded from above their heads. All eyes shot up, expecting another disaster. A large red jewel from the crown carved on top of the Goddess's head came loose and fell. It shattered upon impact. The red water surrounding the fragments began to boil and the entire cathedral shook.
Before anyone could run for the exit, agonizing screams resounded out of thin air. Screams they had all heard. A woman's painful cries mixed in with the roar of a blazing fire.
"You will all pay! You will regret the day you killed your Saintess as a witch! I curse you all! With my death, I seal your doom!"
The screams disappeared as quickly as they came and the ground began to shake harder. Frantic voices and footsteps filled the air as everyone evacuated the church. Outside, the earth was still.
But from within the church came a strange red mist.
At first, the spectators believed the bloody water was floating, but then they realized the consistency of it was odd. Was that smoke?
A thick and heavy red haze spread rapidly through the air and up into the sky.
More cries of fear sounded as people scrambled back. The red mist burned their lungs. It was overwhelming and searing! Everyone collapsed to the ground and began vomiting up their food. Once their stomachs were barren, they regurgitated blood. Much like the statue of the Goddess, it was uncontrollable.
And there was no respite.
One by one, they all died after losing copious amount of their precious fluid. Nobody was able to help the other. Collapsing and weakly convulsing, they couldn't see anything but the ground beneath their cheeks and the red haze.
In the distance, there was the sound of crackling fire.
The mist spread higher and further until it blocked out the sun. Some proponents of the mist grew thicker and turned in tentacles. They looked like colossal serpents with their heads raised to strike. They shot through the air and moved across the empire at light speed.
Fueled by Felicia's rage, these tentacles descended upon all those who had been present during the Saintess's execution.
Screams of horror filled the air as those particular villagers who had thrown rotten food at Felicia the day of her execution were swarmed. The tentacles turned into mist once they reached the residence of the condemned souls. Much like at the church, they suffocated their victims with a poisonous vapor.
The homes of nobility did not fare much better. The servants and guards were left unharmed as they were not guilty, but all their masters vomited away their lives. Even the ones already lying sick in bed were not spared from being hit with a second affliction.
Hour by hour, home by home, from one province to another the tentacles killed ruthlessly. Mirroring how Felicia was treated. Screams, cries, wails and prayers repeatedly pierced through the air as Elysium was under siege from an attack that could not be stopped.
After a period of 48 hours, the entire ruling class was dead. The commoners came out of hiding as the red mist slowly began to fade and revealed the bright moon. But the world as they knew it was no longer the same. Their masters were dead. Not a single blueblood was spared. The nobles were no more.
What now? What would become of Elysium now?
Near the northern border, villagers watched as a large group of armed men from the frozen tundra known as Imperium began to make their way into the empire. They moved at a measured pace and were led by their warrior queen.
Empress Matilda Nisili Cromwell Tsdudor was a woman of immense wisdom and power. After the death of her husband, she alone sat on the throne. Her entire cabinet comprised of men and women who were fiercely loyal to her. No one dared to oppose the warrior woman who ruled with an iron fist.
She also happened to be Emperor Robert's older sister. She had long since been estranged from her family back in Elysium, but had always kept an eye on the governance of her former home. She firmly believed her brother was a weak minded and weak willed fool who was unfit to rule.
And now he had proven it!
She remembered receiving a letter from him, demanding her help. That boy had ordered her to send him her highly skilled aura wielders to help him out a mess which he had created for himself! She had laughed heartedly after reading the missive and beheaded the messenger.
Empress Matilda was not surprised by Robert's predicament as she had a powerful Oracle working alongside her Aurors. The aged woman had already informed her that the ruling class of Elysium were going to make a fatal error. One that would result in their own destruction. She prophesized that the Emperor, at the beseeching of the Pope would issue a decree which would backfire. When Matilda had inquired further, the Oracle had not been able to provide more information. She had promised to find the answers and had done so a day before the fool's letter had arrived.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha! You mean to tell me that, that fool executed their Saintess as a witch inside the temple of the Goddess?!" She wiped away her tears. "I knew it! I knew that idiot would make an immense blunder at some point! Hahahaha! If only our father were still alive to see this! He always had so much faith in Robert!"
The Oracle had been upset. She pitied the slain Saintess.
"But what will you do, Empress? Should we not help the people? They are innocent."
Matilda affectionately stroked the old woman's cheek.
"Do not worry, my dear. I have a plan. But for now we will do nothing. Once the Saintess's curse had rid Elysium of it's cockroaches, then I will step in and help the people. It is time for a new era! I will unite Elysium with Imperium and rule over all, as I should have since the very beginning!"
The Oracle bit her lip as she watched the Empress call on her Knight Commander and whisper into his ear. He bowed and walked off.
"Your Highness, Saintess Felicia is a complicated soul. Even after her curse fades, I sense that will not be the end of her. Goddess Kartara will bring her back to life."
Matilda contemplated that for a minute. "Then I will welcome her with open arms. Holy magic is always useful. She can join my Aurors, or...perhaps I will train her to take my place. After all, being resurrected is a powerful persuasion. People will side with her, knowing she has been blessed by the Goddess. Far more than those who came before her."
Withdrawing from her memories, Empress Matilda continued to ride towards the capital city. She was fully armored and so was her horse. Her battalion of 50 soldiers followed.
The royal family was dead, the clergymen were dead and the noble class were no more. Now, before mutiny rose and criminal minded men took control, she would take charge of her homeland.
Her eyes shone with ambition.