The sky over Avalon was always overcast. Lightning rippled and struck the bone towers constantly to keep the gi contained. It was not time for the seal on the city’s gi to be released, but Yveth could tell that it would be soon. Her connection to what her father called the towergi was much stronger than anyone before her. It was even stronger than her mother’s, and her mother was the great prophet.
She stood near the top of one tower, watching the lighting roil across the sky and waiting for her father to finish with whatever military mission he had planned. She knew little about the military, and did not really care. Her life was never pointed in that direction. Her life was to lead the people spiritually.
A crack of thunder sounded out as her father opened the door to the meeting room. And she smiled. It was always pleasant seeing her father. The smell of blood wafted past her nose and she could not help but notice a bloody stain on the bone floors of the room. She paid no heed. Her father might be in a bad mood but her information was too important.
“Good evening father,” she said, “I see someone angered you”.
“The fool was suggesting that we give up training for the crusade because it had been generations since the last sign appeared”. He tossed a bag dripping with blood at Yveth. “That is his heart and several of the more manageable bones. You could create some gi piercings with that if you chose, though the man was old. I assume he thought he would be home free because he was over sixty. The fool”.
“Thank you father”. Yveth paused. Biting her lip she looked at the man who had raised her dead in the eyes and then bowed. “Grand Lancelot of the Avaloninan army, I must report this to you so you can strategise correctly. I entered the heretical land as part of a crucible set by the great Prophet herself, and came across something dire. I came across two boys, and I could tell there was something off about them the moment that they showed up, but when they began fighting me, I realised that they were golden children of the Hephaistia clan. They were practitioners of the Book you burned”.
Yveth’s father gritted his jaw as he heard the news. “Are you sure? Are you sure they were not members of the Dominus clan, or something else?”
“Father, I was there when you set fire to the fields of the Hephaistia homeworld. I was young, but I saw the gi of the golden children there. I heard their cries as they realised there was no hope. I know a child of that doomed book anywhere, and I know that both those boys had the gi of Creation around them”.
The Grand Lancelot looked out at the lightning clouds, watching the white, yellow and purple ripples pass across the sky. After about a minute of thought he looked at his daughter and ushered her to follow him. They walked down the stairs of the tower to the hall that connected the bone towers of Avalon to each other and began pulling on the rope that rung the great bell of the city. With each toll of the bell, people began dropping whatever was in their hands and running towards the centre of the city. The bell only rung for momentous occasions, so whatever this was, it would be the highlight of the year.
As the crowd filled the hall, the Grand Lancelot stopped ringing the bell and stood in front of the crowd of people that had presented themselves. He looked out and saw a woman push through the crowd. It was his wife, and he could see that she was not happy. It was understandable, the military never usually took steps without contacting the clergy, but today was different.
He took a deep breath, puffing out his chest and then addressed the crowd. “Citizens of Avalon. You know me. You know I would only call you with the blood bell if it was something of the most dire importance. I am here today to declare a manhunt”. A wave of muttering went through the crowd that only increased as the Prophet arrived at the front of the quickly increasing mass of people.
“Gawayen, what is this all about?” The Prophet said. People gasped and stepped back. There was something very wrong with the situation if even the Prophet did not know what was going to happen.
“I am sorry Prophet Murgaze, but this had to be done immediately. People, there are a couple of heretics that escaped the purge of ten years ago. We must right this wrong, else the path to autonomy will be closed for us forever”. He began shouting, “For autonomy! For Avalon! For freedom from the tower!”
“For autonomy! For Avalon! For freedom from the tower!”
