Chapter 1: 1
An old man with a rare gray beard sat on the bench at the stone house. He smoked the pipe and put smoke rings in the night sky, towards the two moons. His anxious thoughts gave out frowning eyebrows, and the point was not what was going on behind him, but the moons.
Crimson Constellation.
The day when you can see two bloody red moons in the sky happens once in sixty years - not everyone will be able to catch such an event twice. Unless, of course, it has the magical power or wealth to cure various diseases that keep pace with medieval life. Speaking of the old man, this is his first time.
During the Crimson Constellation, the magical powers of any creature almost doubled. For example, magical scientists, who are always conducting their favorite experiments, were looking forward to this event. If we talk about the effects on consciousness, the Crimson Constellation did not cause madness, on the contrary, it caused calm and pacification.
The exception was the dark creatures - monsters dreaming of slaughter. Their forces practically did not increase, but their adequacy sharply decreased, towards uncontrollable rage. In many villages and towns, the militia looked carefully into the area to keep an eye on the stray creature; the monsters hiding among the people were releasing claws and gnawing at yesterday's "friends". But the last one, actually, is a great rarity. Truly dark creatures are too few and, being smart enough to hide among people, they are more likely to be alone than to risk revealing their location.
If we talk about Vereden, the city where the old man lived, then there was not a single dark creature hidden here and the residents were under the reliable protection of high walls. It is difficult to hide when there are three churches of a light deity at the side, and one of them set a goal to reveal and destroy any dark creature and in the name of this created a whole knightly order.
The door to the house opened, where the man in the gown of the clergyman immediately came out. He didn't look as calm as the old man, rather nervous, as if he was working the second day without a break for a nap. He had a crying newborn baby in his hands.
"A boy. Congratulations," said the priest.
"The boy..." the old man sighed. " You should have seen him, Lucca."
"Unfortunately, I failed to save Anna," the clergyman said with slight regret.
"It's a pity..." the old man was saddened. " Let Hyunza light up her path."
The priest left, taking the baby with him and leaving the old man alone with the dead body. When he approached him, he couldn't help but be sad - his late son's wife was dead. The magic of clerics is able to work miracles: to heal wounds and diseases, to give powerful blessings, so that even an ordinary man beat with the power of a bear. There are rumors that the highest clerics of the Hyundza deity, who are very few, are able to resurrect the dead at the cost of their lives, but the old man did not believe in it - no one is in control of the kingdom of the dead except Imaginis.
"Anna, Anna..." - The old man closed his eyes and started praying.
Clerics, during the Great Constellations, lost most of their strength. Outside the holy walls, they could do almost nothing but pray and heal lightly. Priests of average and above rank felt better, but they rarely engaged with parishioners who could not pay a fair price for their work. Only the Hyundza ministers provided free help to anyone who asked for it, but their clergy were too few to help everyone. In addition, they were pressured by other churches because of the many differences in doctrine and beliefs.
At this time, if you dive deeply into the ground and go "through" the magic barrier, you can get into the demonic space. Reasonable creatures upstairs call him Ha'af. If on the spiritual part of Ha'afa the situation is quite calm (there are no fools next to sleeping archidemons), on the material side the situation, to put it mildly, is peculiar.
Demons, in the vast majority, had no intellect - they were guided by instincts. And the instinct was yelling - kill it! So they killed each other. No pity or regret. Only the demons of the middle claw could resist the desire to shred their neighbor. They might have been happy to "have fun", but their leadership preferred another time to spend with them.
Ask any demon if he likes Ha'af and you'll hear the only correct answer. Any one of them wants to leave the cage called Ha'af and it is easiest to do so during the Crimson Constellation, because the barrier that prevents the penetration of the world on the surface is greatly weakened. The higher demons are doing it - looking for weak spots from which to penetrate the world of mortals.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to overcome the barrier being in the material body, so it is necessary to change the shell to the spiritual one. Can an ordinary demon make such a transition on his own? No. And the archimandrite? Oh, yes, of course! But he will not be allowed to do it by the Gods, except for the fact that they are asleep at the moment, which is what not only the demons are happy with, but also the Deities themselves.
It would seem that the situation is hopeless. But, no, it's not. If the daemon cannot change the shell himself, it does not mean that the shell cannot be changed. For this reason, in a powerful run-of-the-mill circle drawn by demon blood, there was a middle claw demon - a Succubus. There was no fear on her face. The tallest demon, ten meters tall, one meter tall, with winding horns, ordered him to stand still and do not interfere.
Behind the Highest Demon stood a hungry, bony helper, with ashy skin and strong spiky bones. A wavy flagellum was sticking out of his oblong mouth, twitching from side to side. The hungry, if pumped with magic, are able to feel the slightest fluctuations in the barrier, so the highest used them as a warning system.
"Master! A wailing wailer. "I can see that!
The owner, immediately, drove a Succubus into the ground like a nail. Her body fell apart like sand, and the runway circle broke out for a second. The Master's eyes caught on fire, but when he saw that the unstable barrier had increased dramatically, he only growled stronger.
There's a new demon in the runoff circle. This time, a shaking incubus in fear of incubation. He was well aware that the higher demons did not appreciate the lives of their subordinates and his life is worthless, compared to the ghostly chance to send a slave to the upper world - in Ezef.
"Hole!" - ...was screamed by a hungry man.
The body of a superior demon literally exploded with power. Even the one standing next to him, hungry in a flash, disappeared under the pressure of force. The incubus is there, too, though. At the same time, demons of all kinds, which can only be found in the vast expanses of Ha'afa, began to appear in a circle with great speed.
The master's fist was working a runner-up at the speed of a demolition hammer. Some burned before they could feel their fists, others teleported to the run-of-the-mill circle to their fists and were torn from the inside. The reason for this is the tiny chance that the soul of the middle claw demon can overcome the barrier. If the weakened part of the barrier can be sent one "victim", the "hole" had to send a pack of souls at once, in the hope that someone will pass. One in a thousand is already lucky. However, if the demon is lucky enough to get into Ezef, he still has to find the body! And this is almost even more difficult, because only a reasonable creature with magical potential is suitable for the role of a vessel. For example, a farmer who has been smelling in the field all his life and doesn't think he's some kind of "magician", will unconsciously suppress an extremely weakened demon with a soul torn from death. It follows that the body of an adult person is not suitable, and if we continue to talk about people, then only the baby will be quite weak and not any of them.
The demon who took possession of the body in the Purple Constellation, will merge with the baby and after years of restoration of their self-awareness, and after a decade will be able to freely enter into any sanctuary of the bright gods, thus deceiving even high-ranking priests. Except where to find a magically gifted baby? The only chance is to break into Ezef next to him. The odds are dropping dramatically...
The highest demon, still tearing the souls of his subordinates, would be very happy if he managed to pull off the project. Not a single hit in the last ten years. Too many variables must match.
Meanwhile, not everyone on the surface, where the Crimson Constellation went on, was aware of the danger of demonic invasion, but the tradition of keeping babies under close supervision remained strong. The paladins of St. Linus, who had a sense of demons and had a spell in their arsenal capable of finding children with magical gifts, patrolled the city. They had the authority to enter almost any residential building and take their children for the time of the Crimson Constellation.
According to the law, residents must hand over their children under the age of two to the temple in advance. The aristocracy solved the issue differently - they hired magicians, and they could not tolerate clerics. The paladins marched past magically protected houses without breaking the walls.
The cleric, who had recently given birth, shuddered, smelling the smell of sulfur, and then saw the veins on the baby's hand blackening. The filth began to spread in a small body. The paladins, like dogs, smell the familiar smell and trot to him. But the cleric was already in the vicinity of the church and quickly ran across the alley. He didn't want the paladins to kill the baby, and they certainly wouldn't. Cruelty and fanaticism were equally on the shoulders of the paladins.
Almost flying in the door of the temple, the cleric shouted at the rector of the church - Irwin. A high-ranking priest can do a lot of things. Including protecting the baby from paladins, who have already caught up with him and with undisguised hatred looked at the child-demon.
" What? Demonorphus? " - Irwin was surprised. " How long has it been?"
"Almost..."
The cleric who gave birth put the baby on the altar. The paladins didn't dare to come any closer. The situation was too tense and without the First Sword, which was already approaching the church, they did not dare to start a conflict
"Move aside!" - was ordered by Irwin.
And then he waved his hand and yelled: "Purgatory fire!" The baby broke out in white flames, stopped crying. The clerics who were watching it were astonished at the heads. "The Purgatory Fire, a medium rank spell, can burn a dozen unarmed people in a couple of seconds, and then it was used on a single baby, albeit in a very weakened version.
When the fire went out, a bewildered crowd surrounded a living but sleeping child. In fact, not every cleric took demons seriously, they undoubtedly knew about their existence, but having lived a lifetime in peacetime, never met their activities.
Only Irwin guessed how the Higher demons treat their subordinates and that after the correct preparation of the demon of the Middle Claw can "settle" to the baby. The problem was that it was possible to do so only under the Crimson Constellation, when the line between Ha'af and Ezef becomes thin as a thread. In addition, the soul itself needs to be properly "prepared", which is impossible without a passage through the barrier that separates the two worlds.
"He doesn't have... a hand..." said one of the clerics.
"The demon had time to grab a body part," Irwin said in cold blood. " I was able to banish him, but I had to sacrifice my hand."
The cleric who delivered the baby was covered in cold sweat. Irwin, their superior, the most respected man in town... almost killed the baby! The purest Hyundza is resolutely against the killing of any intelligent creature! Not even a demon!
"But... how...? We don't have to..." the clerics protested.
"Yes! " Another cleric agreed.
"The Hyundzes teach us..."
Hyundza teaches that every being with a mind has a right to life. It doesn't matter if it's evil, kind, chaotic or orderly. It has to, no, it has to live. Clerics with open arms received any creature in need of divine help from one of the Gods of Chaos and to see the demon disappear from the body of the baby was a shock to many.
"Silence! " - interrupting all of Irwin's life. " Everybody back to work! The darkness of the Crimson Constellation is still scorching our lands!"
"But, uh..." (sighs)
"Get to work now!"
The disgruntled clerics were scattered, and Irwin plunged himself into thoughts. The Hyundzes consider themselves to be a conditionally "light" deity, so their brethren are allies with the true-light, and this imposes some restrictions. For example, they are forced to publicly refuse to help dark creatures. Luckily, covert operations aren't covered.
"They're standing for the second day," Irwin looked at the paladins of the Order of St. Linus. " And the First Sword's like this. Sniffing out if I did banish the demon..."
If Irwin hadn't shown cruelty to the demon, which is practically murder, the temple would have had a big problem. The paladins didn't notice anything unusual and left in approval. The first sword cast some kind of spell, like searching and destroying demons, but without noticing anything reprehensible, left.
"Demons must be destroyed!" - ...such thoughts were in the heads of the Paladins of the Order of St. Lane.
High rank clerics do not break the covenants of their deities, but if this happens for some unimaginable reason, the inevitable reward immediately overtook the traitors of faith. However, Irwin did not lose his magic or his life. On the contrary, he quietly took the baby and took him to other children, who were under the careful supervision of the Paladins. The very same warriors of St. Lion it is not alarmed, because the demons - it is a monster, and no wonder that one of them has just been destroyed. Each of them felt that demonic emanations completely "weathered" from the baby's body. Everything's fine.
Time passed: night changed in the morning and morning in the afternoon. The Mayor's Office has counted the dead, who were practically absent, dissolved the army and announced the holiday, which is traditionally held by the Church of the Dark Deities. The representatives of Saltilla and Burial lived in Vereden, and they wished to conduct it. Speaking of the gods, Saltilla embodied greed and avarice, she was worshipped mainly by merchants and aristocracy. Buryal is a god of sea disasters, worshipped by sailors who do not want to lie dead on the sea floor. The relationship between the temples of dark deities and light deities can be described as "armed neutrality", but since the light temples had a great influence in Vereden, they could dictate their rules.
The baby was returned to the family from the same old man in a couple of weeks. By that time, the paladins had made sure that none of the children were ill with something dangerous, such as obsession, and that there was no point in keeping them isolated. Seeing a one-armed baby, the old man was very upset and almost cursed the Hyundzes, along with their priests, who mutilated his grandson. There's anger in my heart.
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