- Chapter One : Sermon

  The sun had completely risen over the eastern mountains when the horse-drawn wagon approached the town from the south. It was pulled by four weathered grey mares, and the driver was a bald, overweight--almost cherubic--man in his mid- to late-fourties. The man's clothes were gaudy in the extreme, mostly red with yellows and greens seemingly thrown haphazardly into the mix.

  The wagon was accompanied by two horsemen, one on each side. The one on the left was a tall, rugged-looking man with a shock of fiery red hair. He had a spear slung across his back as he rode, a sort of cocky grin on his face at all times. The one on the right, in contrast was a small wiry man with closely cropped black hair and sharp, cutting black eyes. He carried a thin rapier on each hip, and had a bow and quiver slung across his back.

  "By the Guardians," exclaimed the fat man, taking in the sight of the grasslands and forests surrounding the village, "we finally made it. And it's every bit as beautiful as we were told! Have you ever seen this much green in your life? Gaia has truly blessed this place."

  The red-haired bodyguard grunted derisively. "Don't look like much t'me. Just 'nother shit-kicker town. Only difference's the shit's greener 'round here." His comrade merely observed the town impassively.

  "That is because you have no sense of gratitude, my friend," replied the fat man. "The Guardians fought long and hard to allow places like this to exist. Places where men such as you and I may make a nice profit. Kya!" The fat man snapped his reins, getting the horses to pull his wagon into the village, the bodyguards keeping close.

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  Karn the carpenter whistled a tune as he worked. It was a bright, energetic tune that meandered this way and that with no real direction. As he whistled, his hands, glowing blue with Talent, moved with incredible speed and steadiness as they moved a hammer and chisel, gradually chipping away at his work in progress.

  All of a sudden, he stopped working and the blue glow faded from his hands. Wiping a few beads of sweat from his brow, he stepped back to examine his handiwork.

  It was truly a work of art, though he would never have claimed it as such. Faceless people gathered around the base of a mountain, some bearing tools or weapons, others simply standing there. All were gazing up at a mountain of yet unfinished wood, but what had been finished was an outcropping from the mountain on which the Guardian Mortanis stood. Though His effigy was only 5 inches tall, it was immaculately detailed, from the stern, fatherly visage that looked down on the people below, to the folds of its robe, it looked absolutely lifelike (provided the Guardians were made of wood). Even the hair looked like it would blow with the wind.

  Karn smiled. All that was needed to finish was to carve in the Guardian Rosalia. He raised his hammer and chisel to the mountain and was about to begin again, when he heard a knocking on the door of his workshop.

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  The black-haired bodyguard knocked on the door of the shack. They had seen little signs of life in the village when they had entered, until his employer had noticed the blue glow of a Talent through the cracks of the workshop. Sure enough, the sounds of someone approaching the door answered, and he stepped back, a cautious hand on one of his rapiers.

  The door opened, revealing a man carrying a carpenter's hammer and chisel. He was about 6'4" in height, and massively muscled. He winced a bit when the full light of day hit his eyes, but once he saw the three men clearly, his face broke out in a friendly smile.

  "Oh, hullo there, travellers! Welcome to Solace."

  The fat man smiled cheerily at the large villager and raised his hand in a good-natured salute. "Good morning, sir. My name is Lowe. Lowe the merchant. I apologize if I was interrupting anything, but my men and I just came into town to trade, and we noticed a certain emptiness to the domiciles of this village."

  The carpenter raised a hand to his face and scratched the side of his nose. "Well, my name's Karn. Karn the carpenter. As for where ever'one is, it's Solsday, so pretty much ever'one's prob'ly in chapel."

  Lowe glanced up at the hill on the other side of town, and the large building that sat atop it. "Indeed? Well, my trade takes me away from such things for stretches of time, but as I consider myself a pious man, I try to attend whenever I can. Do you think your neighbors would mind if I attended services with them?"

  Karn shook his head. "Nah, chapel's open to everyone, so they prob'ly wouldn't mind on account of you bein' a newcomer, but they prob'ly wouldn't care for bein' interrupted in the middle." Lowe's face fell in dissappointment at this, until Karn reassured him, "but Mother Leeda has another sermon in the afternoon you could go to, on account of not everyone can fit in there in the mornin'."

  Lowe seemed cheered by this. "Indeed? Skilled with her orations, is she?" he asked, to which Karn shook his head and replied, "nah, she's not that kinda girl. She just talks real good."

  The red-haired guard sniggered at this, and his companion gave him a harsh glare. Lowe simply gave Karn an appraising look before his grin widened so that it seemed his face would split in half. He burst out in a loud, jolly laugh. "She just talks real good! Indeed! Sir, I had best remember not to enter into a game of cards with you."

  Karn returned the merchant's grin. "'Fraid I don't know what you mean."

  As the merchant continued to laugh to himself, he said, "One talent a man must have in my line of business is to be able to see what is right before him. Well, if we cannot attend services for the time being, is there anywhere we might find lodging?"

  "Sure," said Karn, pointing down the road. "Just keep goin' thattaway 'til you get to 'The Poundin' Headache'. Go inside and talk to Hal. He'll rent you a couple rooms."

  Lowe saluted once again to Karn. "Thank you, sir, you have been most courteous. When I set up my wares, I shall remember to halve my price on anything you buy." To his bodyguards, he said, "come along," and he snapped his reins to start his horses walking down the road to the pub.

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  Meanwhile, in the chapel, Leeda was giving her sermon. She knelt down behind the podium which held the book she read from, as usual. It was on a platform roughly two feet higher than the pews, with the intent of allowing even a shorter-than-average priest or priestess to stand tall in front of his or her congregation. In the case of one such as Leeda, however, it was necessary to minimize her height, so as not to loom over her neighbors as she spoke.

  "With Ragnarok banished, the Guardians looked out upon the world, and saw that their battles had done much harm to the planet and peoples they loved. So it came to be that they gathered those few who had survived and took them to one of the few remaining places where life still thrived. There, the people were taught by the Guardians. From Rosalia, they relearned the ways of farming and craftsmanship. From Mortanis, they relearned the ways of law, as well as how to defend themselves from the many hazards and Gaia-beasts that then stalked the land.

  "The time soon came, however, when the Guardians gathered all of the people together, and said unto them, 'We were summoned to do battle with Ragnarok. Now that Ragnarok plagues this world no more, we are not needed any longer. We must now return to Gaia.'

  "The people were saddened and frightened that they would lose their mentors and protectors, so they pleaded with the Guardians. 'Please,' they cried out, 'stay with us!' Their pleading reached into the hearts of the Guardians, until Rosalia said unto them, 'Fear not, for though we leave these forms behind, we shall always be with you in your spirits.' With that pronouncement, the Guardians faded from the sight of the people as if into a mist."

  Leeda looked out upon the gathered congregation, who were gazing up in rapt attention, and smiled. This had always her favorite part of the tale of the Guardians, and it gave her such a feeling of joy and energy to share it with her neighbors. Even those who she knew gossipped amongst themselves when they returned to there homes would take the message of the Guardians with them as well, even if only for a while.

  "With the dissappearance of the Guardians, the people began to weep. But there weeping did not last long, for soon, each of them heard the voices of their protectors echo in their souls. The voices said, 'We shall be with you always, as a part of yourselves. As we are children of Gaia, so now are you, and all that that entails. You are now the guardians of this world, and it is your duty to live...and...preserve...."

  Leeda's sentence trailed off, and she gasped for air as she felt another attack of dizziness strike her like a physical blow. This one was much worse than the one earlier, and had she not already been kneeling, she would have been driven to her knees. As it was, it was all she could do to hold onto the podium and remain upright. A thick, mist-like haze shrouded her vision, and she could barely hear the sounds of people shouting incoherently, as though from a great distance.

  The last thing she experienced before unconsciousness claimed her was a feeling of constriction, and hearing her own desperate voice rasping out, "pre...preserve...life!"

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