Zǎochén never knew how hard some people had it.

  Yes, she was a Mending Sister and it was her duty to listen to the woes of the needy but their words never reached her until she reached the city of Massacre.

  In her fear and dread, she became more attentive and more understanding.

  She knew now that beyond the pearlescent walls of Apollon, her birthplace was a fractured and starving world.

  The succession of Emperors wasn’t a smooth passing of the torch but a gauntlet which brought out the worst in the Houses that had once sworn to protect all of humanity.

  As she had experienced, they gathered whatever power they could for themselves and their cities leaving everyone else to fend for themselves.

  Apollon, home of this age’s Emperor was a grand and prosperous place but Zǎo didn’t even remember what the slums she rode past looked like on her to Qaya.

  She sat hunched over and weary in the small Prism erected just in front of the central stack of homes in the complex that had become her home in the week that had passed.

  She and nineteen other Mending Sisters tended to the fearful and grieving in the city where the sun’s light seemed the slightest bit paler.

  Oddly enough food, water and sanitation weren’t an issue which would have brought relief into any heart but Zǎo was still cautious.

  Why were the living being treated so well in the city of Death?

  She had seen them herself.

  Undead Kudamen who were just as armed as their living kin and whispers among the human population suggested that there were some undead humans in Massacre as well but this was all dwarfed by the rumour that those who had died in Qaya had been dragged into Massacre but no corpses had been seen and hiding forty thousand dead bodies seemed too implausible so Zǎo tried not thinking too deeply on it.

  The day eventually came to an end but, just as Zǎo and her sisters prepared to leave the little parish, Herald entered the building, making them all stand in a neat line by their wooden pedestals.

  “Good afternoon, sir.” They greeted in unison as he approached with his hands crossed behind his back. It was a known fact that he never travelled with a weapon which led the human population to assume that he was just so powerful that he didn’t need one.

  “Afternoon. I come bearing an invitation from Lord Haki himself.”

  The sisters all gasped, whether silently or aloud.

  “He wishes to establish a division of scholars who will study and learn what they can from the past so that we may make more informed decisions in the present. It is not a matter of force so only follow me if you are interested.”

  Zǎo digested his words.

  She could not begin to comprehend why an evil entity would want to study but this was an opportunity.

  If she could get closer to the evil… maybe she could discover some kind of weakness, if he had any.

  “I would like to volunteer.” She stepped forward alongside two others.

  “Then follow me,” Herald said before leading the three out of the Prism and towards the Seat of Death. A building that towered above the monoliths around it.

  They arrived at the stairs leading up to its grand entrance, one which was guarded by two of what Zǎo had learnt were called dragons.

  Herald and the sisters were allowed to enter the dimly lit grand chamber to find, standing around a grand wooden table in the centre of the space, Haki, his father Kutsunga, Dhreen the Kudamen Chief and the Crescent King. Littered around the chamber were stacks of stone tablets, paper documents and maps.

  However, what caught Zǎo’s attention the most was the large bed in the back that was veiled in white smoke.

  Very few people were allowed into the Seat of Death but those who had gotten the chance spoke of a bed where Haki’s supposed wife was supposedly lying in eternal sleep.

  He often spoke of a vision he shared with someone and people suspected it might have been his queen of sorts.

  “Alright, gentlemen. Give them another week and then we’ll knock on their doors like the tax man.” Haki grinned in a way that made Zǎo’s skin crawl. As if the tens of thousands that had died didn’t mean a damn thing.

  “Of you all go now.”

  “I still don’t know why you invite me to these if you are not going to give me a leadership role.” Kutsunga clicked his tongue as he turned to leave along with Dhreen and the Crescent King.

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  “What can I say, I like having you around. Now go help Herald with that thing.” Haki cackled playfully making Kutsunga visibly shudder.

  “Sure. Send me instead to your sea of corpses.”

  Haki waved his council goodbye before turning his eyes to Zǎo and company.

  “Greetings, sisters. Please, come.” Haki smiled prompting Herald to walk to the table, signalling that the sisters do the same.

  They did so and, after deeply bowing, came face to face with Haki for the first time.

  He towered over them, even when they stood and beneath his flowing gown was a body that seemed almost indestructible.

  “I'm sure Herald explained the essence of my plan for you, although-“

  Haki stopped as two people entered the chamber prompting everyone to turn and look.

  Walking towards the table were two Kudamen females who looked almost identical to their male counterparts in that they were two and a half meters tall, had lean muscular bodies, had white fur since they were Death Touched as well and had goat heads. The only difference was that, apart from having smaller horns, they also had a pair of breasts which were now bound in a white binder. Their hips were also now wrapped in white skirts which puzzled Zǎo since what she had read on the Kudamen described them as dark, savage beasts.

  “Greetings, Lord Massacre.” The two bowed before standing next to the sisters.

  “Oh- yes, I was about to say that this division will be born as a result of all our combined efforts so that we may shed our ignorance, prejudices and other such things that would otherwise shackle us in place.” Haki’s gaze met that of everyone before him.

  “Unfortunately, Mara fell asleep before I could thoroughly rake her omnipresent mind for all it knew but I think this has presented us an opportunity to gain that knowledge ourselves but here’s the thing. I don’t just want you to be scholars and adventures… I want you to be warriors of truth as well. So that the knowledge and insight that would otherwise be held by scholars, priests and sisters alone may grace the minds of all who seek to learn.” He did it again. Smiling as warmly as a brother speaking to his siblings.

  Zǎo wasn’t sure who he was referring to when speaking of “Mara” but it was a detail she decided to temporarily shelve.

  “Feel free to ask me whatever burning questions you may have.” Haki raised both brows.

  “M-may I ask your lordship a… question?” Zǎo found herself struggling to even speak in his presence even though he hadn’t done anything yet.

  “Go ahead.”

  Zǎo nodded while furiously wringing her hands.

  “To what end do you seek this knowledge, my lord?” she felt as though her throat was on fire and her heart felt like it would burst from her chest.

  “I have two answers to that wonderful question. The first is pragmatic. We are at war and it would serve me well if the learned and skilled were readily available. It would be all well and good if I had legions of killing machines but who would feed them, heal them and help me strategize? The second is more idealistic. It would be far too much work to only start educating my citizens after the war ends so I want to begin that process now so that the Massacre of the future is the seat of not only power but knowledge as well.”

  “But… how does the prospering of your people help you, my lord?” Zǎo pressed. It just didn’t make sense. Evil had no desire for any kind of benevolence.

  “If my people are well-fed, well-educated and occupied, then it’s one less thing for me to worry about. Unlike my father, I understand that it is important for any ruling system to keep a majority of its residents occupied and relatively happy lest the seeds of resentment and rebellion. I wouldn’t have turned on my father if he wasn’t a piece of shit, humanity wouldn’t have turned on the dragons if they weren’t assholes and so on.”

  Zǎo nodded although she still needed time to completely wrap her mind around what she had just heard.

  “My lord?” One of the Kudamen spoke.

  "Yes?"

  “Will Kudamen have a place in the new world?”

  “Most definitely, so long as you keep behaving.” Haki nodded enthusiastically.

  “My Lord?” One of Zǎo’s sisters spoke.

  "Go ahead."

  “So… what exactly will we be doing?”

  “Your mission will be long and arduous. It may even be decades before any of you are allowed to rest but in essence, you will amass, document, copy and distribute the knowledge you find to students of your own who, in time will do the same but it will not be limited to what we have behind these walls. Once you are done with all you can study here, you will go out into the world and learn even more!” Haki’s exclamation took everyone but Herald aback a little.

  “And so, before you start studying, you will be trained and made the ultimate warriors because the mind is a most precious thing and your minds above all will be the most sacred. Our dear Herald will provide you with a separate space to train and live. Mara wakes up in two and a half months so I want you to be ready in one. It will be hard, you will be pushed to the brink but it is there, on the verge of death, that we discover ourselves. Now, go. You now have access to almost all of Massacre and its resources and with Herald as your administrator, I expect your training will go smoothly. He’s the one who trained the Kudamen in such a short time, after all.”

  Everyone bowed before Haki and promptly exited the Seat of Death.

  Herald then led the five newly made group towards the edge of the city and as they walked, he asked.

  “What would you like to name yourselves?”

  The women all looked at each other.

  “The Order of the Gathered Word.”

  Everyone looked at the Kudaman who had made the suggestion.

  “That’s… pretty good,” Herald admitted.

  “T-thanks.” The Kudamen said while shyly turning her inexpressive face away.

  The group eventually arrived at one of the super buildings that was right against the Ice Wall and, consequently, the air here was incredibly cold.

  Fortunately, Zǎo and her sister wore wintery clothing since Massacre was generally cold regardless of the time of day it was.

  The fact that winter was approaching didn’t change anything either and the Kudamen were fine thanks to their thick skin and fur.

  Herald walked up to the smaller, human-sized door that had been set up within the dragon-sized doorway. It had been erected along with a wooden wall to obscure whatever would come to occur inside.

  He opened the door revealing a dark frigid space filled with all manner of buildings that were dimly lit by distant lantern light.

  “Each of you will return to your lodgings to get your things and return here where you will spend the next month. This is also your last chance to opt out because once you enter this newly made order, you will be privy to the darkest of secrets and so much more and, to avoid any unfortunate incidents, any who try to leave after this point, will be tortured in manners so excruciating, their screams will echo across time and space. So, I ask, are you ready?”

  The women all gave each other cautious glances.

  Zǎo knew that she would never get an opportunity like this ever again.

  The others seemingly came to similar conclusions and so they all answered in unison.

  “Yes.”