The War of Grace

NATHAN

I was starting to feel like confusion had become the order of my day. Those priests geared up like they were about to pray me to oblivion and Winifred lowered her hand slowly.

"Pardon me for that. I was just having an Eureka moment. But Lord Silver is right. I'm being too rash. So, let's consider a more peaceful solution. Consider this an experiment, Bishop Matthew. I want you to use light magic on my arm right now."

"That's a little…"

"Trust me, please."

This was definitely better. It was a small area so it was easy to reverse and heal. It wouldn't affect her too much.

"Well, If you insist. I will use healing magic on the marks on your arm."

I could see he was hesitant. He was so courageous that he was going to prove me wrong before. Where did the cold feet come from? Either way, it would be amusing to see.

His lips moved and his hands glowed. Makes sense. Healing was a higher level spell that most people thought.

He placed it on her hand and it sizzled. She screamed, snatching her hand back. It looked like her skin and parts of her flesh were burnt off from just one contact.

"I-Impossible! How could this be?!"

"She told you, didn't she? It must be the habit of the church not to listen to people. She isn't the type to lie."

Pushing him aside, I knelt before Winifred. I took a look at the hand and it was worse than I thought. But, it was still treatable. I placed a kiss on her hand and the skin began healing up at a visible rate.

"Did you have to do that?"

"I had to maintain contact."

"That type of contact?"

"Any type of contact, really. See? It's almost good as new. Give it a few days to heal naturally and you'll have no scars."

"…thank you, Lord Silver."

I spotted melancholy in her voice but this was not the place to question it. This, was however the place to rub it in their faces.

"So now that we have established that I am better than all of you, what do you say we keep this quiet?"

I cast a spell with my shadow, biding the other priests in a simple covenant. If they spoke about this incident to anybody, their heads would explode. It would be a good shock and an even greater warning to those who wanted to know more.

"Instead of gloating, give them time to process."

"Fine. You're no fun."

"…"

"Wait! I don't understand this! If you're not the Saintess of Oriel, then who is?" Lady Freya suddenly asked. To be honest, we didn't think one existed so we just answered that question in our minds. But now that it was said out loud…

"There is no Saintess, at least not for now."

"What do you mean by that?" The bishop asks her with blood red eyes. Wow, look how fast someone can turn on the other.

"The reason I was chosen was because of my abundance of mana. The possibility of having someone exactly like me but with the affinity for light is very slim. And honestly, this is Oriel's fault. She was the one who kept killing the other Saints and Saintesses. That's why she never got one."

"It's impressive that you know that," say, incredibly curious how she knew that.

"Our goddess would never do that!"

"Bishop Matthew, you can't seriously be turning your eyes away from the truth, can you? Or has history already forgotten about the Purge of Evil that Oriel spearheaded several centuries ago?"

"That story is a myth," he ground out. I smirked and got in his face.

"A myth, you say? Then why are the artifacts belonging to other gods in Oriel's cathedral? According to your religion, shouldn't that be blasphemous?"

"Pardon me for interrupting but what is the Purge of Evil?" Lady Freya asked, raising her hand. Darryl also looked curious and Winifred, well…it looked like she already knew what it was.

"I'm always happy to educate the young ones. The Purge of Evil, also known as the War of Grace, started as a small disagreement between three gods. They were fighting over a small island called Grace. Oriel argued that she was the most influential so she should have the island as part of her territory. Alais argued that the island was on the water and since the water was his domain, it was automatically part of his territory. But there was one more god that was a part of the argument to incite chaos. Yon didn't care much for Grace but he was known for being a troublesome god. He continued to incite the two against each other until a war broke out. The war spread to other innocent gods and their territories were conquered by the greedy Oriel. Alais had no influence on land and since his people lived under the water, they weren't affected. Yon, on the other hand, earned the ire of other gods, was punished and his followers were marked as disobedient to the world. An extermination campaign began until all the children of chaos were killed. Those territories conquered seemed to have formed the present holy empire. So, everyone, quiz time! Who do you think was responsible for the war of Grace? Was it Oriel? Was it Alais? Or was it Yon?"

I looked around. There was only one right answer but people tended to be biased based on whatever they believed in. I haven't been this amused in a long time.

Darryl's hand shot up, surprising me. I didn't expect him to be the first.

"Yes, Darryl?"

"I think Yon is at fault."

"Hmm…that's a typical answer I get whenever I ask this question. Thank you for your reply. How about you, Bishop Matthew? Who did you think was at fault?"

"This is ridiculous. But I'll entertain your stupidity for now. I also think Yon is at fault."

"I'm glad to see you think like a child."

If looks could kill, well, I wouldn't be alive till today. So, I turned to Lady Freya.

"Who did you think was at fault?"

"I think…some parts of the story are still missing. While it is easy to say Yon was the one who incited the two gods, it's plain to see that Alais didn't participate in the war and neither did Yon. But I could be wrong."

I smiled. This woman really knew how to surprise me. It was impressive.

"No, you're right. Neither Yon and Alais were at fault. The island of Grace was just an excuse for Oriel to launch an attack on the other gods and conquer their lands. I didn't mention the fact that the argument of who got the island of Grace was resolved very quickly. Yon, the god of chaos, got the island. This made Oriel angry. But, she couldn't defeat Yon on her own. So, she started to recruit other gods. There were gods who rejected the idea and said it was ridiculous. That was the start of the war. She and her allies began destroying the gods who didn't agree with her until they finally bent to her will and gave up their territories, joining her massive army. Together, they 'punished' Yon and killed his followers, taking over the island of Grace. Alais didn't participate in the war from start to finish, retreating to his kingdom after he lost the argument. I doubt that old guy even knows what happened."

"That story is ridiculous!"

"Why don't you ask your dear pope? The last time I attended chapel, you seemed proud of the Purge of Evil. Surely you can't tell me that you, as a bishop, doesn't know the real history of that war? That," I pushed his chest with my index finger. "…would be ridiculous."

I turned back to Winifred and expected her to say something. She blinked a few times and exhaled.

"It's been a rough morning and we haven't even had breakfast. Why don't we all digest this on a full stomach before another war breaks out right here?"

"You're right. I am starving," I said, walking to the door.

"Come on now. Let's go eat."

WINIFRED

The War of Grace had a cultural significance in the context of the story. It was an important part of the empire because it was its origin story. It was a glorified retelling of a mass genocide and erasure of history and culture. Knowledge of powerful magic was lost because of the war.

Winifred knew about this war when she began asking herself, 'What if there is another Saintess out there?'. She found out a lot of things that further darkened her perception of the land and fueled her drive for revenge.

With her sins, Oriel couldn't have a Saintess. She had spilled too much blood. It was rare that a god would be weighed down by sins but if their transgressions were far too much, even gods could be drawn to hell.

There was only one god who could achieve that; the god of death and destruction. It all made sense to her now.