Church of the Guardian Dawn

Church of the Guardian Dawn

Prologue

As we walked into the village an overwhelming smell of rotting bodies hit us, making me nearly gag. My master, Ventus, cursed under his breath and started moving towards the church. I followed him, knowing that he was hoping that the protective wards placed on the church had protected at least one survivor. Ventus was a large man with short black hair starting to turn grey and a greatsword larger than me slung over his shoulder with ease. He was starting to approach his 60th year; yet he was still unmatched in skill. Ventus hadn’t chosen an apprentice in two decades before choosing me. Ventus suddenly put his hand in front of me and pointed to the top of the church.

The blessed Window of Protection had been shattered. I cracked my knuckles and asked “do you think there could still be any survivors?” Ventus sighed and replied with “possibly, though the chances aren’t high. The Window of Protection is the churches main holy ward but there are others that might still be active. Come on, there’s only one way to know for sure.” After saying this Ventus moved forth and tried to open the door. “Locked.”, he said as he pulled forth a key from a chain around his neck and unlocked the door. “That’s one good sign at least.” Ventus said as he carefully and quietly opened the door.

The Candles of Eternal Day burned brightly and all the other wards were still up. We quietly moved through the church searching for signs of life, and death. We had reached the altar by the time we heard a sound coming from the churches sleeping quarters to the right of us. We moved to the door to the sleeping quarters and Ventus slowly opened it as I aimed my rifle past him, ready to shoot down anything hostile that came in my sights. Nothing came so I put it back on my back and drew a rapier in my right hand and a handgun in the left. The room was unlit save for a lone short candle left on the floor, casting shadows throughout the room.

It took a moment before I spotted that one of the beds was occupied, though from our position we couldn’t see who or what was in the bed. As we moved closer to the bed we heard quiet breathing and frantic whispering, and when Ventus gently pulled the covers off slightly the girl under them suddenly screamed and thrashed, shouting and babbling for a few quick moments that seemed like agonizing years to me before finally waking up.
When she first awoke panic and concern crossed her face and she started shouting again, asking herself what had happened and quickly saying names and prayers. Ventus quickly grabbed her and clapped his hand over her mouth until she calmed, seeing that we were members of the Order of the Righteous Blade, warriors picked at birth for their blessed blood and trained from the moment they could walk to fight demons and other unnatural creatures. Ventus removed his hand from the girl’s mouth and said “my name is Ventus and this is my apprentice Morsus”, indicating me as he said my name. “We were sent here because the Order had not heard from the Guardian Hunter assigned to this village in nearly a month by now. We can see that there has been some sort of attack here, and were hoping that you tell us what has happened here.”

The girl’s eyes flicked between Ventus and me, obviously trying to remember by the look on her face. She opened her mouth to talk and managed to make one scream of terror before a demon pushed past both Ventus and I and tore the girls throat out with a single swipe of its claws. The thing turned around to face us almost immediately after and swiped its blood soaked claw at us in a sort of warning, before it lost its entire arm to a single swing from Ventus’s massive sword. It shrieked in rage and jumped at Ventus but was stopped partway through the air by the impact of a handgun shot to the side at point-blank range. Before it could move again it was sliced straight in half by Ventus’s greatsword. “Filthy creatures have no right entering our holy places”, spat Ventus as he put the things lone eye in a bottle. “Morsus, perform the Rite of Cleansing Fire on the demon then get ready to move. I’ve never seen a demon like this; we must inform the Luminary immediately.”


Chapter one.


Six years have passed since the day we encountered the new type of demon in the church of that destroyed village. I reached my twenty-fourth winter today and am at the end of my twelve year apprenticeship to Ventus. I was being led by the Sister in Faith who raised me, Sister Angelika, to meet the Luminary herself. “Now remember you, stand up straight, look the Luminary in the eye and be polite!” I sighed and said “Of course Sister Angelika, for the fourth time I know!” At this Sister Angelika frowned and smacked me over the back of the head. “Now don’t you give me sass! I don’t care if you’re a big bad Hunter Guardian, I comforted you when you were afraid of the dark remember?” “I thought you weren’t going to bring that up anymore? Anyway, of course I was afraid of the dark; I knew what creatures could use it to kill!”

Another voice spoke up, one I easily recognized as Ventus. “Come now Sister Angelika, save your nagging for the demons. After all, it’s probably more effective than any of our weapons! Come on Morsus, it’s time for your graduation. Are you ready?” I stared at Ventus in amused amazement and sarcastically replied “Of course not, why would I ever be ready for something I’ve trained my entire life for?” “Ha! Follow me, it’s time you met the Luminary.” As Ventus spoke he opened a large gold-inscripted reinforced door and then pushed me in as he walked in himself.

I jumped as the door automatically closed itself before realizing it was weighted to do so. The room was smaller than I expected but had doors leading to other rooms at the back and was highly luxurious, with many places to sit and recline and two large bookshelves on one side.
Ventus sat on a high backed chair and indicated to for me to sit on the chair next to him, and we waited a few moments further in silence before the leftmost door opened and two armour-clad men entered. Immediately after a woman wearing silk robes and hood covering her body and head entered and sat on a lounge opposite us as her guards took up position on each side and eyed us warily, especially Ventus who sent a mocking salute their way. The woman uncovered her face and smiled at us, and the light in the room suddenly seemed to brighten. She was the Luminary, the living embodiment of the great angel Lumen, consort to the goddess Celestia Herself. It was rare, though not unheard of, for Lumen to choose a girl as his Avatar, yet the last three, including the current Luminary before us, had been female. Finally, after nearly a minute, Ventus broke the silence and said “My Lady, I, Ventus, Hunter Guardian of the Order of the Righteous Blade and master to apprentice Morsus, deem him ready to graduate to full status in the Order, and request that he undergoes the Last Trial. apprentice Morsus, do you believe yourself worthy and ready? Answer carefully and truthfully, and take as long as you need to do so.”

I knew that the encouragement to take as long as I needed was a hint, and thought for a few minutes before replying with “I am ready, but not worthy Master.” Ventus nodded at this and said “Nobody is ever truly worthy to wield the fire of Celestia, but so long as we are ready to protect her people we will perform our duty. My Lady, what do you think?” The Luminary replied with a simple “He is ready.” Ventus smiled insincerely and said “let us begin then. Morsus, the last test you take will be one of the hardest events in your life. Do you remember being taught how no ordinary human can resist possession if a demon attacks their soul? Well, we’re no ordinary humans. Hunter Guardians are descended from Angels, which makes us able to resist possession; however this comes at a cost. Our souls are easy targets for the creatures, and Celestia’s safeguards on the souls of normal mortals cannot affect Angels, therefore we are not affected. From birth every human with the blood of an Angel is stalked by a powerful devil, even those that are not discovered by the Order. Today is your twenty-fourth birthday, and the devil will strike soon. If it takes control of you it will be able to utilize its full devastating power, and I will be forced to cut you down before it can. Fight well apprentice. You have but seconds before it strikes.”

Before I could possibly reply I felt a sharp, piercing pain from within my head and screamed out in pain, the last thing I saw before losing consciousness being Ventus turning away and a single tear streaming down the Luminary’s face.

When I awoke I was in a plane comprised of hundreds of small, floating islands, and almost overwhelming darkness. The only sound I could hear was the crack of thunder, the only light lightning. I suddenly realized, to no small annoyance, that this was my soul. Wasn’t I meant to be descended from an Angel? Why is this place so dark? After thinking this I felt something at the back of my mind and heard a rasping voice from within my own head saying “Pitiful human fool, this is my domain now. Give in and let me take you, it will be so much easier…” “Shut up and show yourself creature! Fight me!” “Oh, but where’s the fun in that? Do you like games human? I do.” “Show yourself!”

As I shouted, I channeled Celestia’s holy fire and lit up the entire plane, and heard a scream of agony below from the demon. Before I could react two dozen of the sky islands instantly smashed in to the one I was standing on, fusing to create a large round flat piece of land and as the demon landed the ground shook from its weight.

The demon was eight foot tall and a quarter as wide, with a wingspan nearly as long as it was tall. Its skin was dark red and its wings were like that of a bat, black and made of skin, not feathers. Its eyes were pure black save for red irises shaped like a cats, and it was hairless. “I have revealed myself human, now satisfy my demand and give in. It will all be over in just a moment if you do, I promise…” “If you long for my soul and body, then try and take it by force. I will not just simply give in. You want me, take me.” The demon smirked and said “very well, that can be easily arranged.”
It then roared, it’s very voice shaking the ground, and flew towards me, conjuring dark energy in its claw. I immediately rolled out of its way as I drew a handgun in each hand, and invoked the protective and ability enhancing prayers placed on my armour and weapons, which had followed me into this plane fortunately. The creature just missed me and turned around suddenly, throwing a ball of dark energy which I jumped over easily as it exploded against the ground, and I fired two shots from each of the handguns, the consecrated bullets burning the creatures flesh, enraging it further. Before I could move after landing from the jump the demon grabbed me in one of its hands, pinning my arms.

It lifted me up in front of its face and said “good effort human, but not enough. Now be still while I feed on you morsel.” “I am a Hunter Guardian of the Order of the Righteous Blade and this is my soul! Begone creature!” As I said this I channeled holy power and directed it at the demon, burning the hand around me to ashes and harming the demon, and as soon as I was free I pulled out a Rapier for my right hand and a holy candle for my left hand, through which my magic and holy powers would be amplified.

The demon roared in uncontrolled rage, shaking the ground again, and lunged at me with its other hand, hoping to claw me open obviously. I easily dodged its clumsy attack and drove my rapier into its shoulder and left the lodged rapier in there, crippling the demon, then broke the candle in half right in front of the demons face, unleashing a wave of holy and magic energy at it. I then clasped its face in both hands and sent magical lightning mixed with holy fire throughout its entire body, frying its nervous system and burning its heart, killing it in less than a minute. The demons body turned to ash under my hands, and I fell unconscious once again.

When I awoke I was back in the Luminary’s guest room. To my amazement the Grandmaster of the Church of the Guardian Dawn was there and said to me “ah, Morsus, I am glad that you survived the Final Test. I can tell you will be a great asset to the Order.” The Grandmaster then cleared his throat and continued with “as Grandmaster of the Church, I deem you a full member of the Order of the Righteous Blade, entitled to all rewards granted to full rank Hunter Guardians. You have two weeks paid leave before being given your assignment.” “Thank you Grandmaster. I will not disappoint.” “I know you won’t Hunter Guardian Morsus. Enjoy your holiday. You’ve earned it.” The Grandmaster then turned and left, escorted by three heavily armoured guards who bowed to the Luminary, Ventus and I.

Ventus then walked over to me and embraced me in crushing bear hug, saying “congratulations Morsus. You’re the best young Hunter Guardian I’ve seen in years, perhaps ever.” “Thank you Master, but is it possible you could let me go? I'm having trouble breathing.” Ventus let me go and said “ha! Of course, now don’t you get too big a head over that, it might make an easy target! The Luminary then said to me “congratulations Morsus. It is good to have met you. Please, go enjoy your holiday.”

Ventus then shook his head and said “nay My Lady, his leave starts tomorrow. Now he has to go and get fitted with new equipment, and his current equipment will go to a new apprentice. Really though, with how many weapons you carry Morsus, that will probably equip four different Apprentices!” “Hilarious Master Ventus, just hilarious. Should we get going now?” “Aye Morsus. But first, thank you for your time My Lady. We will take our leave now.” “Yes, thank you My Lady.” The Luminary smiled slightly and said “thank you both, for it is you that help protect the people of Celestia.” Ventus than said “thank you. Well, come on Morsus, it’s time you got some better equipment.”


Chapter two


One week into my leave, Guardian City, the capital of the nation of Aurora, was having a city wide festival to celebrate the Order of the Righteous Blade and its Hunter Guardians, and Ventus had managed to somehow convince me to go. I asked Ventus “how did you convince me to do this exactly? I thought you told me a Hunter Guardian was supposed to be humble.” Ventus replied “we are, but it’s always good to get some recognition eh? Anyway, this sort of festival helps keep the people in good spirit, which always helps us. So come now, have a drink and eat something! Enjoy yourself Morsus!” “Oh fine, where’s the spiced wine?” “Chilled or warm?” “Are you crazy? Chilled!”  Ventus laughed and said “right over there, next to the chicken. Help yourself, and grab me some too.” “Fine, fine…” I went over and grabbed some chicken and spiced wine for Ventus and me, and then took it back to the table we were sitting at and sat down.

“So, how are you enjoying your leave Morsus?”, asked Ventus as we started eating. “Oh, it’s quite fine; I’ve been doing a lot of sparring and training with the city guard. Where did we find them? They’d barely be able to handle an angry housewife with a frying pan, yet alone any real trouble!” “Hah hah! Aye, I wonder the same thing myself honestly. Ah well, we can’t all have trained our entire lives eh?”  “Yes, indeed. So, I heard you’re being considered for the position of Grandmaster for the Order. Quite an honour, if true.” “Ah, it’s true indeed, still got a while until the vote is taken though. I’ve been looking into what village you’ll be assigned to once your leave is up, it seems to be a distant fishing and port village by the name of Seyda. The current Hunter Guardian assigned there is hoping to become a Wonderer.” “Interesting, should be a good assignment. It seems that the parade is about to start. Are you ready?” “Aye, let’s go.”

Ventus, as the foremost Hunter Guardian in the Order, led the way in the parade, and I, as his former Apprentice, accompanied him. Every single Hunter Guardian without an active assignment was in the parade, a total of thirty Order members including Ventus and myself. We walked through the whole city, and past thousands of people, some having come in from nearby villages but most natives to Guardian City.
At the end of the parade we entered the city Arena, to spar for the public’s entertainment. We were paired off against our sparring partners at random chance, and I was paired with a female Hunter Guardian who graduated only a few days after me. The crowd’s cheers grew louder as the fights went on, and eventually it was time for my fight.

The Arena was a large round area with a floor of sand, and we started at opposite areas of the Arena. As soon as it was time to start we both ran towards each other, easily covering an area that would take an ordinary person over a minute to cross in more than half the time. When we met she kicked out with her left leg aiming for the side of my stomach and I grabbed her leg and threw her to the ground, and then was tripped to the ground as she spun her legs out at mine. I quickly jumped back up only to take a kick to face nearly dropping me to the ground, and I replied with half a dozen quick jabs to the stomach followed by tripping her, but as she fell she grabbed my leg, bringing me down with her. On the ground we fought each other viciously, kicking, jabbing and wrestling, till she managed to kick me off, roll away and get up. I jumped up and faced her just as she threw a blunted throwing dagger, designed for practice and sparring; I then pulled out two of my own blunt daggers and deflected her thrown dagger with one then threw them both at opposite sides as I rushed towards her. She managed to dodge one but the other hit her  in the right shoulder, damaging it for a day presumably, and just as I reached her I jumped over her and threw a group of three flash bombs connected together down at the ground in front of her, blinding her as they went off, and landed behind. I then immediately pulled out a small wooden object designed to fit inside my hand and have a round, slightly heavy part of it cover my hand on opposite ends when the hand curls into a fist and smacked it over her head hard enough to knock her out.


Chapter three.


I awoke in the small cabin I had been granted on the ship, dressing myself then going up on deck. It was morning, the sun only recently having rose, illuminating the ocean water and ship with warm tones of orange and red. The sailors were shouting and pointing toward another ship off in the distance. The captain ran up next to me and grabbed a spy glass from a sailor to look at the ship with before handing it back and cursing. "Pirates! Evasive measures men!" The sailors immediately obeyed their captains orders, getting to work to try and avoid the pirate ship. He then turned to me and said "Hunter Guardian! Stay out of the sailors way, and if those pirates get too close, be ready to engage them!" I replied with "Captain, you may want to know that there's another ship coming from that way. I think this is a trap." "What? where? I don't see anything." I handed him a spyglass and pointed of towards a ship in the opposite distance rapidly coming towards us. "By Celestia! Your right, it's a trap! There're other ships coming too! Men! We're surrounded! Combat stations!" More shouting and movement as they prepared to fight off the numerous smaller pirate ships. I pulled my rifle off of my back and aimed towards the man steering the nearest ship, obviously the captain. I steadied my view, and fired, the divinely charged bullet piercing the man's skull in an orgy of blood. The ship's wheel was taken by the first mate, but I was unable to take him out before the ship slammed into ours, and it's crew starting boarding our ship. I immediately put my rifle away and drew my rapier just in time to parry a blow from one of the boarders. The ship was engaged in battle, originally the crew of our larger ship outnumbered the attackers but more pirate ships crews boarded the ship.