Revenge of the Crimson Shadow

Eternal Cleansing Region, somewhere in the Aries Kingdom, midnight

“Ohmmm~~~!” The sound of chanting was heard as pebbles jumped, buildings vibrated, and the ground shook.

In a huge church, many figures in dark red robes were on their knees surrounding an altar, seemingly praying to a god. There were thousands upon thousands of figures, all chanting the same thing.

The gargantuan church had very tall windows, with which housed stained glass. The church was very caliginous, only having the soft light of the moon to illuminate things through those windows. If one gazed up, a mural could be discerned within a cupola. It illustrated a devil lingering above the land, with which figures with red eyes stood; then, a huge sun encroaching upon the territory of that devil, and burning all that was. Afterward, the mural showed a few survivors, on their knees, worshiping what appeared to be a god floating in the air as the surrounding lands burned to ash.

The robed figures surrounded an altar upon which stood an imposing golden statue of a muscular man, in nothing but a toga, holding out his hand. In his hand, burned a powerful flame. If one were to observe this statue, they would immediately notice the beautiful orange sapphire the size of one’s hand. This statue was six stories tall, reaching just below the cupola.

“Ohmmm~~~!” everything shook once again due to the sheer power of those figures’ unified voices.

All of the figures began to glow a soft reddish-orange holy light, reminiscent of the sun. The light began to get brighter, gradually overtaking the gentle light of the moon. On the altar, in the center, directly below the cupola, was another silhouette.

This silhouette stood with its hands held out, radiating an even greater light than those below.

“Ohmmm~~~!” the statue’s eyes began to shine a similar light.

Moments later, the light from the robed figures began to wane, as if the statue was absorbing it. The silhouette below the statue, however, started glowing even brighter.

Seconds passed. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes, into hours. As every second ticked by, robed figures collapsed one after the other, their state unknown. The statue’s eyes were getting brighter as each fell. After seemingly an eternity, the silhouette’s light began to flicker out of existence.

Just before it blinked out of the world, the statue’s eyes flared up, and the world seemingly stopped.

The silhouette’s eyes began to match those of the statue.

Suddenly, a deep, monotone voice escaped from the shadowy figure, “The boy with the Shadow Dragon Bloodline. Find him. Kill him. Wipe his whole lineage from the face of this region!” it boomed throughout the church, escaping through the walls as if they were illusory. People all throughout the region began to look in the direction of the church in response to some profound power.

As the figure on the altar was speaking, cracks ,glowing the same color as the statue, began to appear around its body.

As soon as the silhouette stopped speaking, it collapsed and the statue’s radiant glow began to fade.

“Ohmmm~~~!” echoed out once more.