The First Legacies Of Zion: Omaye

A Cleric's Quest Of The Moon

ESTHER

The best way to understand this energy was to have a mind that was quite flexible. Clerics are expected to be weak and gentle creature that only know how to heal. However, their faith demands that they, at the drop of a heart can become warriors for their faith. You have to be soft, but be ready to go hard at the drop of a hat.

The first step was to understand the nature of the spell you want to activate, then put yourself in the right mindset to draw the energy from the celestial plane.

Esther took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She shifted the books on the table and set them aside to prevent any sort of damage during her little experiment. And then contrary to what anybody could expect, Esther jammed a wooden fork into her hand.

Her muffled scream resounded through the clustered alcove of the library. It was painful, but it was even more horrifying for Esther as she watched the eating utensil sticking out of the back of her hand. It was safe to say at this point she was regretting going through with this course of action, she was sure there was a better way to do this than trying to mutilate herself. But what’s done is done and she had to make do with what she had.

She painfully pulled it out of her skin and threw the fork far across the room like it was the source of all her misfortunes. Then she covered her injured hand with the other and closed her eyes again. She moved her connection to the brass cross hanging around her neck in a pristine fashion. There was a tiny white crystal embedded right in the middle of the cross, and right behind it, there was a lot of unintelligible engravings and symbols that always seemed to light up in the dark.

Esther was a little anxious due to the wound on her hand, however she knew that was not going to be helpful to her at the moment. A cleric had to be calm when they were healing, because they usually always find themselves in positions where they had to heal somebody under duress, or when the healing is really urgent and you had a panicking and heavily injured patient.

The heal spell could only be performed with a calm heart and steady mind. The power to restore is the power of creation itself, and if a cleric is not careful during the healing, the spell could cause a backlash and the cleric would take on the wounds of the patient among other worse experiences.

Esther took a few deep breaths as she successfully ignored the pulsing pain in her hand and focused on the cross. She felt it grow hotter by the second, but it was not so hot that it was uncomfortable, on the contrary it felt really comfortable and served to sharpen Esther's focus. Then she let out a sharp gasp as she had a sensation of falling and warmth.

She was startled by the feeling and her heart began to beat fast again, at the cost of cutting off her connection to the celestial plane.

The feeling of falling only lasted for a moment, which meant that she had successfully made a connection with the celestial plane, and the feeling of warmth was most definitely the holy energy she has heard and read so much about. She let out a breath and opened her eyes still very conscious of her connection, she looked at her covered hand and whispered the word.

“Heal”.

The effect was instant, which should not be surprising. In Zion unless it was a spell that required an incantation, every skill and spell was instantly cast. There was no cast time, or cool down time. The only thing holding you back will be your Mana or energy pool.

Her hands began to glow a golden white light as she felt a soothing warmth flow through her hands. It tingled a bit and itched a lot, but once she raised her no longer glowing hand there was no wound on it, not even a scar.

“Well that is most certainly impressive.”

Startled, Esther quickly jumped up from the creaky hard chair she had been sitting on for the past few hours. The head priest was standing right behind her, and he seemed happy about something.

“Your devotion to understanding the way of God and the control of holy energy is inspiring. Of course I’m sure there would have been better alternatives than shoving a wooden fork into your hand, but it got you the result you were looking for. So tell me child how does it feel.”

Esther felt apprehensive about saying anything, she did not really have a trust for authority figures, especially when she made it a part of her life to destroy them. But in the end Zion was a game, when things happen like this, it was usually the precursor to a quest. So because of that Esther decided to answer.

“It was different than I expected. At first I felt like I was falling, and then I experienced such warmth and clarity of mind that made me feel somewhat sanctified. Like I was blessed and removed from all the troubles and chaos that comes from reality. I felt peace.”

“Indeed my child, that is how connection with the celestial plane and power of God works. He puts your fears away, and puts into perspective who you really are. But the celestial plane is not just home to the Almighty God alone. There are dozens if not hundreds of lesser Gods and beings who serve the path of righteousness and the good of all.

As a cleric, it is also your duty to understand their ways, to understand their will and learn to use their powers and gifts for the betterment of humanity and every other race of our fair world of Zion. In a little over sixteen days from now we’re holding a special service, a benediction and christening of sorts for the clerics that have shown great promise. I would like for you to be one of them, however you have to prove yourself worthy of such a gift. The service of the moon goddess Artemis always brings great joy and blessings to the people. It would be such a shame if you can not partake in it.

See to it, that you’re strong enough and worthy enough to partake of that service. I will leave you to you’re studies young one. May the Almighty guide you.”

[SYSTEM ALERT: QUEST]

[TYPE: CLASS]

[GRADE: E+]

[In Seventeen Days The Great Moon Of The Goddess Artemis Will Hang Over The Night Sky For Six Hours Before Going Back Into Her Slumber Not To Be Seen For Another Three Years. The Church Has Organized A Benediction Service To Bless And Dedicate The Most Promising Clerics That Have Chosen The Path Of God. You Have Been Chosen As One Of Them, But You Have To Prove Your Self Worthy Of Such A Position.]

[CONDITION: You Must Have Reached Level 10, And Attained Level 2 Or Above In The Skills Heal And Nurse. You’re Required To Keep Yourself Pure And Holy In Preparation For The Service, As Such You Are Not Allowed To Have Any Carnal Activities, You Are Not Allowed To Eat Meat, Or Kill Any Living Thing, Even An Ant.]

[REWARD: +4000 Exp, +10 Skill Points, Rosary Of Artemis(lesser), Moon Light, Moon Guard, Moon Shift.]

The rewards from the quest looked really great. Apart from the rosary, every other thing given was a skill or spell. But the conditions listed however, seemed like torture to Esther. It was why she couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“What the f**k is this!”