The remaining priests of Chrunus that served in Zigurat gathered in a secret location in the underbelly of the capital city. It was isolated from the sewers and the public, and it was very difficult to reach.
It was used for the clergy to conduct the classified business, yet now the four remaining priests gathered to hold an emergency meeting.
They sat at a wooden circular table with a flickering candle acting as the only light source.
"The rumors are true, the cardinals are dead."
The silence was deafening; nobody dared speak. The death of the cardinals was a disaster beyond anything they had ever experienced.
"Something powerful enough to kill Cardinals and dismantle the church in Valar. Who was it? One of the false gods?"
The initial speaker answered, "No. It was the new queen of Valar. She had obtained the power, dwarfing the Cardinals."
"How?! Nobody but Chrunus could grant such power."
"We do not know for sure, but the theory is that the false gods united and granted her all the power they could so she could dismantle the Church."
"That is not possible. No, it's not only not possible, it's blasphemy to even say false gods could grant such power."
They went silent once again; they not only had lost the cardinals, but also Chrunus refused to answer their communions. They were in the dark.
"We had all failed Chrunus by not rushing to the Cardinals' defense when the time came; we are a disgrace to the one true god!" The third priest shouted.
"That is exactly why we must defend Zigurat. We have received a notice that the infidel forces of Valar have started marching toward us. While normally we would never be able to defeat them, we have access to a powerful weapon." The priest rose from his seat.
"The Cardinals had left us one of the greater chaos elementals in case the heretics grew too powerful. This is a perfect opportunity to unleash it."
The murmurs erupted from everyone present, unleashing the chaos elementals was ever only done when the major heresy arose. They were punishment for Chrunus and could not be used without a good reason.
However, the crisis was indeed brewing, for the entire kingdom of Valar had become heretical.
"We will do so; This is our final stand against the forces of heretics that dare threaten the one true faith." With a salute, the priests stood up and bowed.
"Notify the puppet king, he will gather all those who do not believe in Chrunus and use them as a distraction while we prepare the elemental!"
The hooded figures nodded, the puppet will sacriface the heretics in the name of the church.
"Understood!"
Three priests left, only leaving one who, until now, kept silent in the secret hideout. He pinched his nose bridge as he dragged his scrawny fingers over the table.
"I guess it is over. Chrunus had abandoned us, Cardinals are dead, and Valar is gonna trample us." He exhaled loudly. The church did not have many allies; all others were suppressed and dominated, especially in Zigurat.
It was one of the reasons they were weaker. He had not approved of the purging of heretics; he had kept telling everyone that it would weaken them and eventually would get them conquered, despite Valar being ruled by the same church.
Sometimes it felt as if he was the only one with some sense.
His hand slid under his robes and retrieved a small book. It was a journal of a powerful heretic before her church was purged and she was sacrificed to Chrunus.
She was a priestess of Celara, a goddess not many knew of, yet the book spoke about her quite a lot. An enemy to Chrunus, and someone who would do everything in her power to put an end to him.
While he had become a priest of Chrunus out of necessity, he had found the fact that there was a lost goddess fascinating.
She was the only goddess who was actively not even mentioned, as if all her followers were eradicated.
However, she was the most likely culprit when it came to Valar's sudden animosity against Chrunus. The book spoke about rebellion and failure, yet it seemed to leave out many important pieces.
'Yet, how would she create someone powerful enough to kill the Cardinals? It does not make sense.' No priest worth their salt held any respect or delusions that any of the false gods could even compete with Chrunus.
The times have changed; if Valar had sent their army to conquer them, it would have been the end of the church. There would be nobody left to guard humanity.
He had never liked the church, yet he understood that it was the only reason the demi-human empire had not eradicated them all. Without their guidance rest of humanity was woefully weak.
Even Valar's falunted 1st legion was nothing when compared to the elites of demihumans. Before Chrunus the humanity suffered, and only due to his glorious leadership did they gain enough power to take a stand against them.
"Bullshit, that's what this is." He had not believed it for a second.
Why was humanity confined to only three kingdoms?
Why were demi-humans even allowed to live so close to their borders? Chrunus was not as powerful as many considered him.
If one were to ask for his opinion, no god should rule over humanity. They were all leading them into ruin.
If humanity was incapable of surviving against the demi-human empire on its own, and their destiny was to be enslaved or killed, then he would fight but still accept such a fate.
He rubbed the book's rim before stuffing it into his robe. "Let's see what happens."
Zigurat was bound to be devastated, unless the new queen decides to spare them.
He covered his nose with his sleeve as he made his way through the sewers and headed toward the church.
No matter what happened, he would make sure he kept his life.