I am sequestered in the safehouse of the Holy Empire of Europe's main base in Venice, up in the top floor's front window. From here, I can see Venice, sprawled out with all its brown canals and waterways, the house faces crumbled and roofs caved in. Some of their boats have been drifting across the waterways, and those that did not drift were sticking out of the muddied waters like impromptu graves and memorials. Rodents sped across the bridges and streets, and crows festered on every rooftop. I can distantly hear Father Ceiar call; he is finishing up his duties, and will be with me shortly.
Father Ceiar brought me here; he has been my sponsor in the Holy Empire, and I owe a great debt to him. There could be no kinder soul in such a situation as the Holy Empire finds itself in, and when I came here from what my people call the Country of Ancient Blood, it was he who chose to step in and save me, when I was under question from the Inquisitors. Despite their belief of my heresy, he saw differently; that I had come to learn, not to teach, and thus under the Savior's word should be accepted.
The truth, of course, is somewhere in between; I hold little interest in accepting the faith, as I have my own, but the Holy Empire... is my ancestry, my blood. I feel called to record these wars as they happen. Is it the work of God? I confess, I do not know. But I am here, with this diary; I will record this war, as close to the front lines as I can.
Father Ceiar... before he comes, let me describe him. A thin, gravely cheerful man clad in a traditional gray monk's robe and bound with a gold-threaded tonsure, with a brutally efficient sense of humor and a far kinder disposition than his stony face appears. He wears four crosses on his right chest - the Red Blessing of the Savior in War, the Spiritual Hammer of the Cross, the Holy Spirit's Waking, and the Honor of the Trial. He does not speak of what these crosses mean, small and made with careful elegance by the craftsmen in the Empire. It was his superior officer, Bishop Ricardio, who explained how he earned these.
Father Ceiar was a lead juggernaught; a holy warrior, talented with both the arts of prayer and battle. It was in the battle to reclaim the Notre Dame, in a battle amongst multiple narrow webs of streets that he managed to break the enemy ranks by himself in a holy fury, shattering the enemy ranks. As he was swarmed, the rest of the Holy Army took advantage of the shift in ranks and pressed the advantage, managing to crack and push back the enemy fully in a rout that cost the Hellenic Theocracy. However, this came at a cost; Father Ceiar was captured and held imprisoned somewhere in the hands of the Hellenic Theocracy.
It was in his ordeal there that Father Ceiar was brutally tortured. He has stayed silent on the details of what happened there, but what he has said is this; at some point, he heard the word of his God through the Spirit. This word filled him with strength and broke his bonds, undoing the trauma of what happened in their cells. He broke free, and made his way back to the Holy Empire.
Since then, he has become a priest, claiming that it was his God's voice that illuminated this choice of paths. He has risen far, and now is the leader of the juggernaught units he was once serving in, a position equal to many generals in all but name. The Savior in War and Spiritual Hammer of the Cross are for his acts in breaking through the enemy ranks and turning the tide of the battle. The Honor of the Trial commemorates his torture, and the Holy Spirit's Waking celebrates his newfound road and capability as a priest.
He comes up the stairs now - I will resume this later.
-Marcus Brokenwing, of the Kizes Nomadics, recorded in his journal
After the Awakening 218, Sun's Dream, Full Moon
In The Year Of The Lord 1990, 21 August
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