The king Lombac's hands trembled as he read the most outrageous missive he had received in his long life. He pushed his hands out and squinted his eyes as he tried to understand why such a message had been sent to him.
"Your holiness, what are we going to do?" His loyal advisor was covered in cold sweat as Lombac crumpled the missive.
He raised his head and frowned, "How do they dare?! We have the demi-human empire to worry about for fucks sake! And now they are demanding submission."
"I understand, my Lord. However, I suspect it is due to the ascendance of the new queen, who is rather inexperienced."
"That makes sense, some child wanting to gain glory by stabbing humanity in the back."
He pinched his nose before he continued, "Not only do they demand submission, they want to dissolve the Church of Chrunus."
"News reached me that the church had already been annihilated in Valar, and the Queen had announced that the Cardinals are dead. However, we have no way to verify that information."
"This is just a disaster." The very fact that Valar had dismantled the church meant that they were now enemies and would lead to inevitable war, a war his kingdom could neither afford nor even attempt to fight.
Valar was by far the most powerful and populous nation of humanity. Their legions were far stronger than anything Zigurat could field, yet the Church would push him to conduct what amounted to suicide.
If it were only the fourth legion, then perhaps Lombac would have stood some semblance of a chance, but against First or Second, as the missive had suggested, they would be flattened.
"I will talk to their general, I am sure Akshan will be more reasonable than to obey a female ruler of all things."
"I understand. It will be done, your holiness."The advisor bowed before he turned and rushed out.
For the next minute, Lombac sat in silence. He had not heard from Cardinals nor any of the higher-ranking members of the church, which gave credence to the rumor that the Queen had killed them.
What was worse, even Chrunus himself refused to answer the communion of anyone lesser than the cardinal recently. The humanity was left alone and without guidance.
Of course, if it were someone other than an enemy of the church demanding submission, he would have accepted; after all, unification would merely mean that they would stand together against the empire.
Yet, when it was someone who aimed to dissolve the mighty faith in Chrunus, he had to sacrifice everything.
He pushed himself off his so-called throne, which was just a more elaborate and fancy chai,r and walked toward the door that separated his throne room from the rest of the palace.
He had no need for luxury; everything a man needed was the faith in Chrunus. Yet unlike some higher-ranking members of the church, he had not been blessed with great powers of chaos and gravity.
The ability to fly was foreign to him; he could not throw the gravity spheres, and he could not surpass the sound in his movement.
Although he had not been worthy of god's gaze, he still revered him. For who else would save humanity from the evil?
Passing through the long, winding stone hall, he made his way toward the balcony that overlooked the capital of Zigurat. Here, he would make announcements, yet he had not planned to tell citizens about the ultimatum just yet.
First, what he needed to do was speak to the Church officials, get their support and advice, and only then decide if the citizens should know about Valar's blunder. He placed his hands behind his back before making his way outside the palace.
As he made his way outside and into a city of stone and wood, he was flanked by two armored guards. The streets were rather sparse when it came to people, unlike Valar's.
What else could one expect from a Kingdom that was both poorer and smaller than Valar? However, the poor conditions his people lived in mattered not to him at this time. He turned his gaze east and toward a large marble building.
The church of Zigurat eclipsed the surrounding city as the majority of the gold was funneled into its operations. There was no better way to spend funds than empowering the church.
Living in poverty in this life was nothing when the promise of eternal life with Chrunus waited for them. The most distinguished of peasants even had a chance to join as priests and Paladins.
Yet despite all of that, Valar's church was many times more powerful. Although it was stronger, it was still destroyed by the Queen, which made him grow wary of her.
Despite being a woman who had no place on the throne, she was still a dangerous entity. The ruler of Zigurat approached the entrance of the church.
"Open the door for me." He ordered calmly.
As soon as the order left his mouth, his two guards lunged forward and pushed the door open. Yet instead of the building being full, it was empty.
Much like churches in Valar, it had two rows of benches with a carpet leading to an altar; however, there was no priest to welcome him. 'Strange.'
He stepped forward to the altar. There was only dried blood and ceremonial instruments.
Admittedly, he had not visited the church in quite some time, but he had always heard it was never empty; one could always visit and see a priest, yet now it was deserted as if it had been abandoned decades ago.
He gestured for the guards to stand as he disappeared behind the altar. He approached an ornate wooden door with carvings of Chrunus.
With a quick turn of the knob, he made his way inside the office of the priest.
Yet just like the church, the priest was nowhere to be found.
"I have a horrible feeling about this." A cold sweat formed on his forehead.