The sun rose once more from the horizon signaling the start of a new day in Belnaris. In its capital city, Novelind, the coming of the morning led the majority of the city occupants to once again leave their homes, led farmers to once again leave the safety of the city walls and work on the fields outside the city, led merchants to once again open up their stores or stalls in the city's central marketplace, led city guards on morning-shift to once again occupy their appointed positions leaving the opportunity for the night-shift guards to enjoy an well-deserved rest.
The city was slowly waking up and showing signs of life. The residents made themselves busy with their daily affairs and started to abandon the drowsiness that still trailed behind them after a night of peaceful sleep.
People moved through the streets, occupying every corner of the city, and slowly but surely, the stillness and quiet of the night was replaced by the commotion of a busy city.
And yet… Despite the rising sun, despite the growing number of people walking out of their homes to initiate their day, despite the commotion observed on high-traffic streets, one place in the city, in particular, seemed to ignore this facts or chose not to acknowledged them as signs of the start of a new day, embracing still the calm and silence the night normally brings.
The temple, constructed to allow the worship of the nation's deity, war, was always an exception to the excitement the beginning of a new day brings… It stood in its place, silent, regardless of the number of visitors that walked its grounds, regardless of the number of clergymen and nuns that were doing their duty in maintaining the building… To the people that had never visited it, it looked almost… abandoned. It was an exception to the beginning of the day, and for many residents of the city, who grew up watching the silent temple unaltered for years, and maybe even decades it was even an exception to the passage of time itself.
The temple was a structure located in the upper district of the city of Novelind but at the same time was close enough to the lower district to allow visits from lower social classes.
The main building of the temple, the basilica, stood at a height of 57 meters, and was wide enough to allow the presence of 8000 people although the number of seats present only reached 5000. It was built following an architectural style closely resembling the Gothic style and utilized black, red and gold as its main color scheme.
Parallel to the great double doors that served as its entrance stood two bell towers, one in each of the corners of the basilica standing at each 30 meters of height. The Towers themselves not only supported the weight of the bell but were also the base for a bronze statue of a sword sheathed behind a shield that stood at its top.
From these towers a row of columns extended themselves forming a semi-arc, that enclosed the area in front of the basilica. Following the same trajectory as the first row of columns, but being born from the lateral of the Basilica, was another row of columns that in conjunction with the first row supported a roof that was covering a stone path towards the living quarters of the clergy that maintain the installations.
Walking in the enclosure formed by the colonnade towards the basilica was a 10-year-old Joseph accompanied by his direct maternal family, namely his maternal grandparents, his maternal aunt and his mom. They walked in silence in order to respect the quiet atmosphere present in the temple, maintaining a steady pace.
While walking, Joseph would sometimes avert his gaze from the building that was his destination. He would cast a curious gaze at the many sculptures representative of past war-heroes that decorated the enclosure and were located beside the main path towards the basilica as if guarding it. Besides curiosity, a hint of appreciation for the craftmanship could also be found in Joseph's eyes, at some moments, he would be so captivated by a specific sculpture that he would stop in his tracks and approach it to admire it better, and when he was done observing the sculpture, he would cast his gaze, this time more skeptical towards the "blessed areas" located in far-right side of the enclosure and towards the podiums that were installed in front of the basilica.
Halfway through the path, Joseph broke the silence that had settled in the group.
Joseph: Remind me once again why did you guys had to pull me out of the company building to come here? I would have been more beneficial to me to---
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Stop whining kid. This is not one of our training sessions for me to be hearing your constant complaints…
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Like I told you before, we have come here today to pay our respects to the divine.
Joseph: Oh my! What a matter of great importance, surely it couldn't have waited for me to finish my studies first! It would have been incredibly foolish of me to---
Anne (Joseph's Mother): Don't use sarcasm with your grandfather Joseph… Everyone here knows you would have just gone into hiding after leaving the company headquarters to escape coming here.
Joseph: But I---
Beth (Joseph's Maternal Grandmother): Don't try to argue, you have been doing that exactly same thing for three years now.
Hearing his grandmother's response, Joseph finally understood that there was no way for him to escape from this situation, at least not through the use of his usual course of actions, therefore he decided that if there was still a way to "run away" from this situation, that way was most likely – honesty, and so he finally stopped walking and just stood in the middle of the path looking at the backs of the group accompanying him.
His family, noticing that Joseph had stopped walking for some time, also stopped and turned around to look at him.
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Kid, what are you doing now? If you are going to attempt an escape, give it up now, you can't outrun me.
Joseph: I am not, I just… want to say that I don't agree the principles of war.
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Alright, and?
Joseph: … What do you mean "and"? You are not mad?
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Why would I?
Joseph: Because you are a general?
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Indeed I am. A general that had in his service numerous troops originated from Aquemar, Progretio, Antruterra and the other nations, that, as you know, don't really worship war.
Joseph: …
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Kid, as long as you don't start worshipping gods from the other race's pantheons I don't really care where your faith lays. Your grandfather Mike worships commerce and you don't see me butting heads with him over it.
Joseph: So… Are you fine with it?
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Yes
Joseph: … Alright, so should we turn back and go home now?
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): No
Joseph: What? Why?
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): God. Kid, how can you be so smart when dealing with some things and so dumb when dealing with others? I am not going to ask you to pay homage to war, but you should still pay your respect to it when you inhabit his territory.
Joseph: …
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): In this world there are higher beings than us. Now, you may not like their principles and maybe you may even hate them, but the truth is that they still guided humans towards our present days. It was thanks to them that humans were able to settle down in this land and find enough common ground between each other to create a society.
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): You may not like the principles that the followers of war preach but you still owe the divine for the current life you lead in this country and, at least in my view, that deserves, at minimum, a visit to one of his sanctuaries in the lower world.
Joseph: …
Joseph remained silent, locking eyes with his grandfather, thinking about what he said, trying to find any flaw in his speech that would point to the fact that he was being deceived, but ultimately, he didn't find anything. In the end, he could see clearly that his family was not trying to indoctrinate the principles into him, for them, this visit, served only to accomplish the purpose already stated by his grandfather, and that is to show "respect", a purpose that Joseph couldn't really argue with – He would show respect to an stranger in the middle of a busy street by wishing him a good morning or afternoon, similarly to how he would show respect to someone who was able to help him by saying thank you, it was good manners after all, and this situation where Joseph found himself now, was not that different. His grandfather was right; he should at least thank the deity for the life he is living in the current society.
Joseph: Alright… I understand your point. I am willing to ahead with this visit, and… I am sorry for the inconveniences I have caused over the years…
Hearing his response, Beth smiled and decided to speak before her husband had the chance.
Beth (Joseph's Maternal Grandmother): Apology accepted sweetheart. Now let's keep moving towards the basilica, we are obstructing the path for other people.
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): …
Michael (Joseph's Maternal Grandfather): Yeah, what your grandmother said.
And so, with the discussion finished, this family group of five people resumed their silent march towards their destination, not intending to stop until they reached it.
Well, that was the plan at least. Coming right behind their group, the sudden sound of someone initiating a sprint startled the family who immediately started turning their heads to look behind them. Joseph, however, being the slower to turn around, only had a chance to rotate his body halfway when a pair of shoes hit his head with such force that he went rolling along the ground after falling, only stopping when he had hit a statue that was present besides the path.
Looking at his original spot, Jospeh saw a young girl, probably around his age, dressed in the nun's habit, she had long vivid red hair that was only visibly after her veil had fallen off her head. She was on the ground like him, but different from him, she was rolling around on the ground…Laughing.
This was the last thing Jospeh saw, before his field of vision went dark.