"By the laws set up by the high council of Sarakyth, I am here to deliver the soul of this condemned man to the Pits of Azerin, where he will spend eternity paying for his crimes." A tall young man who was bald and had a red tattoo of the outline of a flame that had three peeks on it.
Attendants brought a completely naked young man to the post. They kicked him in the ass, and he fell onto the stone floor as he moved toward the bald man.
"For the crime of stealing a loaf of bread and a wheel of cheese from the storehouse of the last city that is standing against the beasts of Azen. For this crime, I will be delivering his possessed soul to the pit by lashing it until this corrupt soul leaves the mortal plane of existence and is cast into the Pits of Azerin." The bald man said as I saw him grab a rope from a black box that was on his right and tested its strength as he pulled it out.
After that I saw a short man that had on a black robe and was carrying a large open black book in his left hand started to chant as he walked through the crowd waving a necklace that was made of silver and had a tringle that had a single open eye in the center of it. As he made his way past me, he was chanting in some ancient language. I watched in fear of what he said could have possibly meant as he was making his way to the prisoner.
I saw that the robed man kneeled in front of the man while he was finishing his chant. Then he started to speak in the common tongue of the land.
"My son, do you understand the magnitude of your crimes?" the robed man said to the prisoner as he continued to move his hand from his book to the forehead of the prisoner.
"I have committed no crime. I just took what was supposed to be mine to eat. If that is a crime, then our system is flawed. I will die proudly knowing that I stood up for myself as an individual." The prisoner said as he looked up at the robed man.
"Since you have spoken your last words, then I hope that Sarakyth, as our goddess of light, will have mercy on your soul." The robed man said as he started to wave his right hand at the prisoner before rising to his feet. "You may take the soul of this tarnished nonbeliever to the Pit of Azerin.
"By the power that our goddess Sarakyth has granted me as an ice paladin in her service I will fulfill one of my duties and remove the dark spirit from this prisoner's body may Sarakyth have mercy on your soul as it lays within the Pits of Azerin." The bald paladin said as I saw him wrap the prisoner's hand with the rope in his hands.
After the paladin stopped talking, I saw that the prisoner was bound at the wrists and he was tied to the post. Then I saw the paladin start to whip the prisoner.
As the whipping began to happen with every swing of the Paladin's whip the rest of the crowd around me began to cheer. With every passing cut into the prisoner's back they got only louder.
"Do you all understand about what is going to happen to anyone that is possessed by a demon and chooses to steal from the storehouse that is used to keep us alive?" the dark-robed man said as the ice paladin was whipping the prisoner.
Then the whipping continued for the next ten minutes, and with every passing second the prisoner screamed louder and louder until he went both silent and motionless.
"The demonic soul that was possessing this human body as a vessel, and now we must place his remains in the holy graves of our goddess so that the demon cannot reposes it and allow him to walk among us." The priest said as he closed the black book and waved his hands towards me.
I saw a group of five men who were all wearing the same robes as the priest, but they were all carrying a closed coffin that had ancient symbols on the side that passed by me as they made their way through the crowd.
When the coffin was brought to the front of the crowd and the lid was removed, I saw the paladin lifted the tarnished body and placed it into the coffin.
Then the coffin was sealed, and I watched all the priests starting to chant their ancient language as they walked the filled coffin through the crowd.
"Now we must bury the body in the divine cemetery to ensure that the demons cannot ever rejoin his dead flesh."
I followed them to the burial site since the person that the priests were carrying was my younger brother. As a member of his family, I have the right to watch them burry him.
The burial site was a massive domed building that had a single entrance that was an archway which had a blue barrier with yellow symbols on it filling the gap in between the sides of the arch.
As I approached the burial building the group of priests were stopped by a pair of paladins that had on the same armor as the executioner but it was a bit different because if the sun symbol on their armor and fact that their armor was also white.
"There is a peasant behind you father. Do you need me to extinguish them for coming to such a strong source of holy ground, and tainting it with their presence?" the first paladin aske the priest that was leading the ones that were carrying the coffin as I saw him draw his great sword and point it at me as if I was the source of an infestation.
"No, I do not want you to do that my son because he is here to observe the burial of his sibling. While we normally do not allow commoners in this building we are allowing him access for this ceremony." The priest said as he put his right hand on the sword to push it down.
"As you command father. The word of the church is law, for without it we would be destroyed." The paladin said as he put his great sword back into its sheath on his back.
Then the barrier was disabled and I was allowed entrance into the building, but not before being given a glare of superiority by the guard that had pointed out my presence to the priests only a few moments ago.
The entire floor of the building was covered with a white title set that shined as light from the torches bounced off it. There was a golden trim along the base of the walls and the walls were all the same color as the floor. On the ceiling I saw that there were banners of different men that all had on white robes and were lifting their hands to the sky.
We turned left at the end of the hallway and as I did, I noticed something that stood out as soon as I looked at it. There was door that had a written seal on it that felt as though it was meant to keep something at bay as I could feel the dark energy leaking out of the cracks around the outside of the door.
I was drawn to it as soon as I saw it. whatever was behind the door I knew that I wanted it to be able to rule of these religious zealots as the true rular of this last human city.
"I hear your plea come down through this door to the basement and you will find what is required for you to gain the power that you seek." A mysterious deep voice said to me as I walked by the door.
Was that voice telling the truth about the fact that it could give me the power that I needed to take over this city. If that was true then I would have to find myself a moment during the ceremony to get away and go down there past the door.
At the very back of the hallway the priests stopped moving and I saw that they entered the last room and carried the coffin into it. I followed them into the back room, and I ensured that the door was still open so that I could slip out when needed.
During the ceremony I watched the priests place the body out of the coffin and onto the table before taking a pot of clear water that seemed to sparkle as I looked at it and pouring it over the dead body.
"I Father Jarvic, will be purifying this man of all his corruption by burning his flesh". The head priest said as he used the torch that was on the wall behind him to light the body ablaze.
Then the rest of priest started to chant in their ancient tongue once again.
As they all walked in front of me to chant in unison, I made my way back to the side room where I heard the dark voice by sneaking out of the room when I saw that all their eyes were closed.