Slow drips of blackened water could be heard falling on the hard stone ground, A trail of cold sweat ran down the unconscious man’s face which lay onto the ground where it had pooled for the hours that he had spent there unaware of his surroundings, waking only to the noises of many footsteps, failing to recall both where he was or what had happened prior to him getting here. Looking around there was little to see or hear for that matter, seemingly alone in the middle of a large hall which is almost impossible to see in, lit solely by a few dim candles here and there. The room itself was humid and freezing worsened by the absences of a shirt revealing his bare, pale, refined chest, causing his hairs to stand up on end.

Attempting to get a better look of the room he was in, he tried to stand up only to find himself unable as his legs were bound to the cold hard stone ground with a thick steel chain. Confusion and concern for his wellbeing were the first things on his mind. “who was responsible for this?” he pondered to himself. “Why?, Was this my brother?, Had he decided to take actions against me and my brothers after all this time?” Wanting to get a clear answer as to why he was here, he called out to anyone. “Hello?, Is anyone there?, Where am I?” Continuing to look around at the small window of view he had, before shouting out. “Answer me!”

His questions were swiftly answered by an approaching voice. "Don't try too hard, you won't break out of it, but don't be afraid as we mean you no harm. You're currently in one of the lower levels of Grand Cathedral of Crocus, to be initiated into the Holy Knights should you wish so." The Holy Knights?, How did they hear about him? This was when he started to recall the very last moment he could remember. The memory centred around an individual who introduced himself as  Midas claiming to work for the divine. He had intercepted Kon in the Sieghart Mountains just as he was leaving that godforsaken place.

The conflict between the two of them was completely one-sided, Midas without hesitation cut down Kon’s undead beasts as if they were butter to a hot knife when he summoned them, all the while breaking through Kon’s defenses and casting aside even his offensive abilities with a flick of the wrist by sending his sword skyward in a matter of moments forcing him to surrender to the man, just as another had submitted to him days prior. As it appeared Midas rather than taking his life as so he would have thought instead put a sleeping spell upon him before kidnapping the knight, hence why the remainder of his memories from then to now were but a blur, a chaotic assortment of colours, with word and numbers here and there, until he awoke where he now lay.

Returning his focus to the offer to join the ranks within the Holy Knights, The blonde haired necromancer needed several moments to consider the offer, for one he knew little about the Holy Knights only that they served the church instead of the state which didn’t mean much to him at the moment with the Rune Knights having proved to be as incapable as what had been rumored. After many wordless minutes only noted by each drip of water against the ground, he accepted the offer given to him, bending down as if to bow to the voice that spoke to him. “The Rune Knights were never my true calling in life merely a stop-gap measure, perhaps you have a greater cause and drive than them, so yes I will join the Holy Knights and leave the Rune Knights.”

This was not the end of the initiation however as the voice continued,  "Very well, we do have a single problem; your magic. There is a method to change it, but the pain is excruciating and chances are that you might even die due to the pain. Do you have enough faith?" The loss of his magic was perhaps the bigger issue with it having been a key component of what made him unique ever since he had begun his journey outside of his families estate. Was this something he was willing to sacrifice? in some ways it was exactly what he wanted. The magic had painted a virtual target on his forehead for any that sought to raise the dead for good, normally a loved one fallen gravely ill before their time or bad, by creating an undead, unstoppable army of zombies. “It seems my capabilities of raising the dead has not gone unnoticed, I can see how this would be an incredible issue for a Holy Knight to have such abilities, therefore yes I will allow you to change my magic, as for faith admittedly I am not a pious man, I am willing to learn the teachings that you follow.”

In his dazed state, he had failed to hear the middle portion of the person’s explanation only that there was a method and whether he had enough faith. Absent to the knowledge of upcoming pain he resigned himself to his own thoughts overhearing another commenting "I told you." as if his decision was predetermined already. The voice itself was familiar to Kon, perhaps it was Midas once more delegated to overseeing the recruitment of him. Before he could start asking questions regarding what the Holy Knights represented and how the process would work, the members seemingly stepped into action immediately and without uttering a single word to one another.

Their footsteps could be heard from him this time, however, creating an audible circle of people all about a meter from him with one of them finally commenting. “Let's not wait any longer in that case." Drawing their hands up into the air, suddenly pain began to course throughout his entire body and a golden ancient magic circle to appear beneath his feet. The pain was unlike anything else he had ever experienced, it was completely foreign to him. Yes, he had cut himself here and there, even broken a few bones in short time as a Rune Knight but this was different. His entire body felt as if it were both on fire but also being thrown into a pool of freezing water. Confused about the pain, he tried to stop the process but it was too late, he had lost the will to talk properly.

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Unable to handle the pain any longer, he relinquished himself to the ever-comforting black, only to be confronted another type of pain represented in what appeared to be flashbacks to the past, but something was off about them. He seemed to be experiencing memories of him being a starving orphan boy walking through the streets of Fiore in the evening of a long forgotten age. Time seemed grim, words were illegible either as he couldn’t read the strange writing or the memory was too far gone to remember such details. the streets were covered in muck brought in from horse-drawn carriages and citizens throwing out their garbage into the streets.

All around various wrongdoings were occurring matching with the depressing state of affairs in this era. Front of him he watched a middle-aged dishevelled man is getting mugged and beaten by a group of thugs seemingly just for entertainment. An old man to the right was being forced extorted by a dirty guard threatening he'll take away his daughter. A heavy set thug could be seen shanking someone quickly, whispering in their as they did so before disappearing into an alley. Pleading young girls dressed in little but threads of their former attire were being drawn in a thick wrought iron cage on an ox-driven carriage to be sold somewhere. As he was just about to turn his attention to him, someone more than twice his size will bump into him causing his tiny frame to fall down into the muck plastering it all over his clothes.

Looking up a large brute donning a guard's bloody gear came into light. Annoyed that he, a worthless starving child had got in his way, the guard began to kick him in his stomach for bumping against him, he didn’t stop there however as he continued his assault by stomping down, again and again, breaking several of his bones including many of his ribs leaving him gasping for breath. After he was finished he spat on his now almost lifeless frame. A song could be heard being hummed which was both warm and soothing, the singers was soft and gentle and approaching quickly towards him. Placing her hand on his head as she continued easing the pain that he had experienced lying on the ground, attempting to see the girl sing he tried to look up only to have reality set in before he could see her face.

Raising from his hands and knees he looked beneath his feet again looking at the ever present magic circle. He was on knees as a result of the experienced pain from the flashback as well as his current pain and seeking to dull at least a bit of the pain he slammed his head against the ground to try to make it stop and clenched his teeth together almost biting his tongue, which instead of stopping the pain only caused his vision to redden which sent him into the another flashback. This time he was a teenager, once more walking down the dirty streets of his previous flashback in the evening.

A richly adorned crier could be heard screaming about the coming of the beasts who will destroy the world and that all heretics must die to stop them. The crier was especially notable with symbol crudely carved into his forehead causing blood to have coated his face as he spoke. His followers hung citizens from their houses while others were dragged out of their homes before being crucified, while those that resisted had even worse fates as if to demonstrate the brutality of man through how they had been mutilated all while they were still alive not by a beast, nor demon but by man.

Eventually, as he walked to the centre of the town, he came across a man who was being condemned for being a heretic and burnt at the stake by another crier bearing the same marking. The poor are lay on the gutters of the streets either dying of torture or from starvation and plague. Observing the horrors around him, sickness overcame him almost causing him to vomit at least until a burn hot sensation plunged deep below his ribs. Looking at the point of injury he was unable to talk as the source, a dagger promptly left his body. The pain was immense causing him to fall down immediately and swiftly bleed out, the owner of the dagger seeming patted him down to see if he have anything before leaving the dying teenager with the rest of the dead and dying. Once again, A beautiful song could be heard as a soothing voice humming the tune. As the voice comes closer, a gentle and soft touch feel upon his bloody and dirty cheek which removing all the pain and replace it with joy. Having heard the girl once more he guessed she was in her early teens, trying to prove his guess he tried to look up once again, unfortunately, the same situation occurred blinding him from her presence.

The pain previously replaced by joy through the girl promptly returned as he returned back into the normal world, the pain itself had worsened in fact to the point in which his entire body had been stabbed by a hundred swords. Again the pain proved too much causing him to pass out, He was now a middle-aged man wielding a flaming torch in his right hand. Looking around, many townsmen could be seen also holding torches in their hands and they're all facing the same square as before there dozens are bound and tied up to stakes ready to get burned. An executioner screamed that how it was the fault of these heretics and the fact that they worshipped Illumin was the cause for all their problems. From his previous memories, he swiftly realised that the issues were because of the people themselves. Bad people who were doing bad things and they needed a scapegoat, a vulnerable one at that. As this was but a memory Kon could do little but follow the rest so when the executioner commanded their deaths, everyone, including him, threw their torches at the stakes.

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Turning his attention away from the blaze, he watched as a nobleman villainously smirked as he ate a piece of sausage from a knife while looking at the stakes. A single tear fell from Kon’s right eye as he finally saw the teenage girl who stared right back at him, in his eyes as the twigs beneath her feet begin to catch flame slowly. Disgust began to overcome him but instead, she smiled and started humming that song he had heard many times now. Even though he wasn’t hurt, all of his pains soon faded. Meanwhile, however, those around him stood in shock, trembling in realisation for they had all done as if it was the first time in their lives they realised how they behaved to both those they were vindicating now and to themselves.

Whilst all the community were frozen in their self-realization, all the Illumin believers continued to burn, including the girl who was now singing the song rather than hum the tune and taking away the pain inside of everyone. Regaining their senses and understanding what must be done, everyone on the square began to revolt and fight the guards that stood against them instead of helping them in their time of need, the executioner who willed their blood craze to kill the innocent, the nobles that were watching it for entertainment, and all the others in charge that were abusing their power.  It was a complete bloodbath while the guards and executioner had weapons, the community had numbers, cries of women and men, young and old could heard throughout the conflict. Eventually the fight turned south for the guards with one after the other succumbing to the citizens, a swarmed guard fell allowing him to take his crudely forged sword and use that as his weapon during the revolt, eventually he came across the nobleman who he fought albeit with relative ease as he was a smithy for the town meanwhile the nobleman was slender in figure and lacked muscle mass, allowing him to provide swift justice for the community that he had suppressed by driving the sword into the heart of the nobleman who was smiling during the execution, all before his vision began to fade and returning to his true self.

Finally, the ritual had been completed with his legs now unbound and a strong throbbing sensation radiating from his forehead where he slammed it against the ground. Those around him spoke about his recovery. "I told you he'd make it.", "I wonder what he saw." These meant little as soon after hearing them he passed out from the immense stress he had been put under. The stress had proven too much for even him as he required immediate magical treatment with almost all amount of his magic reserves swiftly drained from the ritual. The treatment itself left him bedridden for several days. Upon regaining his senses he found himself now in the Grand Cathedral in front of the altar, kneeling, praying to Illumin, he still wasn’t overly religious however over time he would try and see what they had to offer and play the part of a devoted member.

Having recovered from the most part he pondered about a great deal of things include where all of his belongings had gone to as he had not received any of his former items as of it as well as the more subtle details such as how Alice would take the fact that he was now a Holy Knight rather than a Rune Knight, with the former being religiously related something she seemed to despise meanwhile the latter could prove to be an issue as he was the one that not only encouraged her to join the Rune Knights but encouraged her to despite their shortcomings. “Hmm perhaps I shall recruit her into the Holy Knights, assuming she will still talk to me and if they will have her, they allowed me a former necromancer to join after all I’m sure they will be willing to overlook the lesser transgressions she has committed.”

Forced to ignore this issues at the moment with a series of nuns suddenly coming into the hall to light up the brazier, all humming the song which stuck in his thoughts since hearing them in his flashbacks. The footsteps of a man could be heard moving towards you from behind and before stopping, an outstretched hand on your shoulder. Looking at the hand it could have been anybody's with the person’s identity being revealed from them talking to Kon: "Isn't the Chant beautiful? This Chant was sung by Everesia herself long ago. Anyway, welcome, Holy Knight Constantine.” “Midas.” He thought to himself remembering his voice from both their initial encounter and their continued interaction thereafter. “Yes, I heard it throughout the ritual, there was a teenage girl who sung it in memories, not of my own, is that Eversia you speak of?, I could understand how it could be as she seemed to have healing abilities. But yes Thank you for welcoming me and by the way it’s Konstantin, not Constantine I’m not a saint just yet, besides feel free to call me Kon everyone else does.” Stroking his unkempt facial hair he pondered for a moment as he was still uncertain whether he had chosen the right course of action considering all of his family and many of his friends were within the Rune Knights, however, it was too late and time would be the only true answer to his decision.

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