Role

Chapter 7

The serpents three.
Added Sun Jan 28 06:22:59 2024 at level 36:

The Prelate of the Order of Calatius was a wise spiritual leader, and his
advice rarely lead his congregation a stray. Perhaps it would not always
succeed in curing their struggles, but it at least would not do them harm.

Unfortunately, as with all wisdom, it is rooted in experience. The Prelate
had a great deal of experience with young men and women struggling to
achieve harmony, but Ixen was not like these people, and there was
knowledge within the tomes of Calatius that could sway even a truly devout
to the depths of depravity.

Ixen was born out of darkness and fire, and the Order of Calatius was
anathema to all that his race held dear. Strength. Greatness. Power.
Therefore, it would be unfair to judge the Prelate, for to study the past
is often a way to give worthwhile perspective to a student; and for all his
wisdom, even he did not know the true depths of the horror upon which the
monestary was built.

For there are powers which slumber still within the profaned stone beneath
those hallowed halls. Powers which are ever waiting to sink their claws
into those who stare into the abyss.

Over the following months, Ixen spent long hours in the Order's library. He
read of war. Of strife. Of endless bloody conflicts. The books spoke of
their evils. Of how the order's way was the only cure to the disease of
perpetual violence. Ixen read of these things, and he found nothing of
value; for he'd heard it all before.

Until one day, he, like many before him, stumbled across a different kind
of book. It appeared upon no library catalogue, and it held within its
dread pages a different kind of cure. A different kind of promise.

Ixen read the insidious poison of Zurcon, and nothing would ever be the
same.