A sharp knock echoed against the wooden door, firmly. An old man's voice followed shortly after, his tone rasped with age yet still commanding.
"Come in," he called.
The door creaked open, revealing a young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. She stepped inside with the poise of someone used to being observed. Her long, snow-white hair shimmered faintly under the soft candlelight, cascading past her waist in neat waves. Her eyes, a glowing amber hue, held a peculiar depth—like golden glass catching firelight. Her face was delicate in structure, yet edged with a quiet severity; beauty shaped by discipline.
She wore a dark blue robe that trailed from her shoulders to her ankles, flowing with a weightless elegance as she moved. A contrast against her ivory skin. As she seated herself, the robe parted just enough to reveal tight black leather trousers that clung to her long legs, ending in white boots that rose just beneath her knees. Her white tunic, pulled snugly across her torso.
iris's glowing amber eyes scanned the dimly lit office, eventually settling on the old man seated across from her. Her tone was calm but edged with weariness.
"What is this 'story' you were so desperate to tell me before I could even leave?" she asked, her voice smooth, velvety, and a touch deeper than expected.
The old man released a slow exhale, shifting in his creaking chair. He reached beneath the desk and retrieved a document, laying it gently on the tabletop between them.
"Since your promotion to High Priestess of the 'Order of Restraint,' there are matters we must now discuss vital matters."
His gnarled fingers tapped rhythmically against the oak desk before sliding the document forward.
Iris leaned in with a dry chuckle under her breath. She pulled the chair in and took the document with gloved hands, her eyes lazily moving across the lines of ink.
"Iris," the man said firmly, "pay close attention. Once you've read it, I'll explain the story behind it."
Her expression shifted as her amber eyes flicked over a particular passage. She blinked once, then again—slower this time.
'The Priestess must be wed to a man of her choice but he must be equivalent strength of the priestess, or stronger before the age of twenty-six, or she shall forfeit her title.'
She read the line again. And again. Her lips parted slightly, then pressed into a thin line of irritation.
With sudden force, she slapped the parchment flat onto the desk and looked up. "Get on with the damn story."
The old man nodded solemnly, sipping from a chipped mug before setting it on a small blue mat atop his desk. "Lex Edicts," he began, rising to his feet, "are immensely powerful and dangerous."
He stepped away from the desk, pacing slowly. "The term comes from an ancient language that we managed to decipher. 'Lex' meaning 'law,' and 'edict'—a formal command from an authority. Together, they describe an ability that manifests as a law imposed upon reality. These 'Lex Edicts' are why the Order exists. Their power is world-altering."
Iris let out an exaggerated yawn, leaning back in the chair. "You woke me up for this. I still need to pray twice today and haven't slept yet. Could you skip the lecture and skip to the part where I care?"
He ignored her sarcasm and continued. "Divinities originate from the Gods and Goddesses we serve. They're granted through faith, forged by prayer, and anchored to a divine source. But Lex Edicts… they mimic that structure. They use power without any known connection to a God or Goddess. It's as if they steal the power without respecting the origin."
He paused, his brow furrowing.
"Some claim Lex Edicts are just reflections of true divinity. I'm still uncertain about that. What I do know is that those who wield them follow a strange set of 'rules.' Whether they follow it willingly or are bound by it, we don't know."
He gestured vaguely, frustrated by the ambiguity in his own words. "My research suggests they channel something that resembles divinity, but it's… off. Like a distorted imitation. A counterfeit forged to appear divine while lacking the sanctity behind it. There's so much we don't understand—so many gaps and contradictions. And that uncertainty… that's what makes them terrifying."
Iris glanced at him and rolled her eyes. 'He's not even making sense. What is he trying to say, exactly? They use something like divinity, but it isn't? A clone of it? Couldn't it just be something entirely different that happens to resemble divinity because of the effects? Ugh… I don't know. I'm confused.'
With a wave of his hand, he approached the far wall, tapping it twice. A pale blue aura shimmered outward, dispelling an illusion and revealing a hidden bookshelf stacked with thick, ancient tomes.
"These volumes detail what little we've gathered. For instance 'Terra,' one of the most commonly seen Lex Edicts, grants dominion over earth, stone, and even the subterranean life buried within."
iris exhaled audibly and crossed her arms. "Right. And? High Sequence Arbiters can do that. Contract Holders at high Sequence can reshape an entire city's structure. With a prayer, I can summon a divinity that can cleanse the land itself. What's so terrifying about this?"
The old man's brow twitched. He inhaled slowly, hands behind his back. "We don't fear them for what they do—we fear what they could do. You were meant to be briefed when you accepted the title, but you vanished before the process was complete."
"I'll go into more detail, Lex-"
A thunderous explosion interrupted him. The office trembled. Dust rained from the ceiling. Both turned toward the window of the mansion as shouts rang out in the distance.
The old man rushed to the curtains and flung them aside. Outside, standing amid smoke and fire, was the last priest: Aiden Vines.
Aiden stood silently for a moment, staring at the outpost with blank, unfocused eyes. Then he raised a golden chalice, its surface cracked and etched with unnatural runes. He began to chant.
"Fathers of doom, watch as the soul of thee is bound to the chalices of death. Between life and eternal rest shall the blood flow; the rivers dwell the beings of evil and destroy the gates of all heavens…"
As he finished, Aiden bit into his arm. Blood surged from the wound into the chalice. Crimson sparks erupted from its depths, dancing violently in the air. The blood twisted into a sphere, pulsing with life, and wrapped itself around his body.
Guards ran toward him, weapons drawn—but three droplets from the sphere lanced outward, tearing through armor and flesh like paper. The dead guards' blood joined the floating sphere, which grew larger with every death.
Veins swelled beneath Aiden's skin, turning black. His own life force fed the monstrosity wrapping around him.
"What… what the hell is that?" iris whispered, eyes wide in genuine horror.
Without waiting, the old man bolted from the room, slamming the door open and running down the corridor to raise the alarm.
Back outside, the blood sphere absorbed the corpses, their armor fusing into its mass. A fog rolled out from beneath the construct as the creature grew. A whip coiled within its massive, deformed hand. From Aiden's trousers, a mirror fell—its runes ignited in bright pink aura that enveloped the horror.
It bellowed, a sound so violent the window shattered. The walls cracked. Pink-veined tendrils snaked along its surface.
"The Order must fall!" it screamed—once in Aiden's voice, again in the voices of the guards it had consumed, and a third time in a grotesque blend of all three.
Iris rose to her feet and wrapped her robe tightly around her with both hands. Her golden aura burst around her as divinity flared from around her body. She whispered a prayer—then shouted it.
"Goddess of protection, ruler of all that is good, I pray as your loyal subject to shield me and banish this corrupted creature. Goddess of strength, I call upon a miracle grant us strength to survive this night!"
She repeated the invocation twice more, her voice growing stronger
She dashed down the hallway, her presence like a beacon of radiant gold. She reached a bedroom, burst inside, and spotted a boy, no older than ten huddled beneath a blanket. She ran to him without hesitation, gathering him in her arms with surprising gentleness.
Though her words with the elder had been sharp, there was no cruelty in her now. She was composed, protective, and soft with the young boy.
Cradling the boy against her chest, she rushed to the cells below—the safest location in the outpost. She set the child down, then turned to count every soul within.
'One… five… six… nine… eleven… fifteen… twenty-six. That makes thirty.'
Only the five high-ranking officers stationed at the outpost were unaccounted for—left outside to contain the chaos during her promotion ceremony, which had been moved from headquarters for precisely such contingencies.
From within one of the cells, a man bound in chains with a massive aura-sealing iron collar around his neck let out a sudden, rasping laugh. Tears ran down his face from how hard he laughed.
And the horror outside continued to grow in size.