Bringing the Light - The Journal of Bandus Flint

The journal of Brother Bandus Flint on the occasion of the Lightbringing held from late 625 to early 626 ATA...

This morning, word arrived of the murder of Laeria Mikin. A Shadow-Touched mage ambushed her at the carriage station in the River District, not far from Hawk's Aerie.

I hear this. I hear of a plague spreading in the Shadow District. I hear dire whispers of more deadly dragons turning a hungry eye on our realm. And I see our Emperor doing nothing. Nothing. Of course, I suppose he is far too busy planning his wedding to that low-brow commoner courier.

Our Emperor has dabbled in darkness and now he encourages others to do the same. He makes a township outside the Aegis into a protectorate. That is laughable, given that we can barely protect Fastheld from threats both foreign and domestic. Now we want to pretend we can adequately care for some distant settlement?

We stretch ourselves too thin. We will snap.

I fear we are in the dying years of our civilization. The embarrassing revelation of the dragon under the old Church shattered many people's faith in our word. That shattered faith has allowed for what the populace in past years would have quickly decried as heresy. We have lost much of our influence. We have lost much of our power.

And now, with one such as Laeria lost to the Shadow, we are all the weaker.

Darkness closes in. But I will hold this candle against the night. The flame burns strong, though the wind assails it.

The justice of the Light itself has been served.

It astonished me. So swift. So angry. If any doubted the word of the Church's chosen before, let them repent now, for their Lightforsaken idol has tumbled into perpetual shadow.

Talus Kahar XIV is dead.

The realm may cry for the head of Trenton Trast Lark, the man who so blithely brought the dark pox out of the Shadow District and delivered it to those who could pass it on to the Emperor. But I, for one, should be the first to proclaim the man a hero.

It may seem callous, my saying so. I am rarely accused of kindness. But truth is simplicity, even when it cuts so deeply. Maybe especially then. Talus Kahar was a dangerous man, a radical, a destroyer of traditions. Our ancestors built the Aegis to protect us - he sought to break that barrier to traffic with the Wildlands. Our noble houses marry within noble houses - he sought to elevate a commoner to be his bride.

The price of his arrogance: Death by dark pox. Expect no weeping from me. I hold no tears for him. I hold no tears for his almost-widow. I hold no tears for those who call themselves his friends and allies.

Talus Kahar XIV would have seen the Church of True Light extinguished. Now, instead, it is the Light of his own life that has guttered out into darkness.

Good riddance.