Disciple of Madness

The next morning. The day started with a clear sky, bright sunlight and unbearable heat. Players had started pouring in all of a sudden after almost all of them had mysteriously vanished the previous night.

Amidst this...

"What the hell do you think you are doing, straw piss ?! Let go of me! Ouch!"

A man of disproportionate body structure fat tummy and thin limbs was being dragged mercilessly through the mud. He shrieked in obvious pain whenever his captor pulled his hairs. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

This man was the blacksmith of the town. And his captor a certain yellow haired boy who looked to be of around 17 years old.

"Nah, nah, fattie.

You are my golden goose. It’s just that instead of laying eggs, you shall be giving your life. Atleast you are not going through torture. Fair exchange right, right?"

The boy practically seemed to be jumping around as he twisted the man,kicked his abdomen and stomped his hands.

However soon he found something odd. Something was dangling and bouncing along with him, attached to his neck.

"An ID?" He muttered. Squinting his eyes, he was shellshocked.

’Isn’t that my Lord?!! Ahh, the Lord’s kindness knows no bounds, entrusting me with his ID...but when did he give it to me?’

However before he could even touch it, the ID vanished as if it had all been an illusion.

Surprisingly, the boy didn’t look disappointed. Instead, he was more amazed.

"A miracle..." He said.

"Help...someone please...help me!" The blacksmith on the other hand wailed, his screams have already attracted quite a small crowd but none dared to come to his rescue.

And who in their right mind would even do that when a long curved sword hung from the boy’s back.

Guards and saviours soon came to the scene. Seeing this, the yellow haired boy picked up the man with ease and ran towards a specific direction.

Watching all this unfold was Adrian who stood at a short distance away, safely tucked within the shadows of a ruined building.

Seeing as the boy was running in his direction he too turned away.

He took shortcuts, unused alleys, roads which didn’t even exist on maps.

Coming near the slums, he pressed himself against the back of a tree, hidden from view.

He half-closed his eyes, waiting.

An hour earlier....

Knock. No response.

Another knock. Nothing.

"The Seats of the Temple of Truth are the gateholders to Reality. Amen."

The door creaked open, its hinges protesting against the disturbance. A gloomy looking middle aged man came into view. His straw coloured hair covered most of his forehead and a few strands fell on his nose.

"Come in, respected sir."

’Acting all humble and polite...I wonder which Seat does this murderer belong to.’ Adrian felt his lips curl in disgust remembering the recent acts of the lower Seats.

He looked around upon entering the room.

It was in a messy state. A small table sat at one corner, a stool whose one arm looked to somehow hold on lay nearby. A cot was at the other corner and cobwebs hung all over the room.

He quickly took the stool for himself.

The middle aged man seeing this, sat on his cot without any complaint.

He then asked, "To what do I owe this visit, sir?"

"Straight to the point hmm...at least you have manners." Although Adrian couldn’t hold his disgust within himself, he nonetheless continued,"You have a mission from me. Wipe out the target and in exchange you shall get 5000 merit points."

The man’s face contorted in a mixture of simultaneous variations of shock and disbelief; even flashes of greed glinted in his eyes.

However, a thought soon passed through his mind.

"Shouldn’t you be saying ’the church has a mission for you.’?"

Adrian just smiled. He then grasped his palm, squeezing it harder until veins bulged in his forearms.

His eyes concentrated on one particular vein. It rose slowly, its dark-bluish on the verge of bursting out.

But it held.

And what happened next shocked the man to disbelief. Two blood orbs burst through the vein, only to return back a second later.

The man’s face masked into horror upon seeing this and he lifted his face to look at the yellow haired boy with reverence and fear in his eyes.

"S-Second Seat...!!! Y-you are the Second Seat?!"

As if realisation suddenly dawned upon him, he shot up from the cot and immediately kneeled his head at the feet of the young man.

"My Lord, forgive this one for not recognising you."

Unnoticed by him, Adrian quickly slipped the translucent cloak inside the unsuspicious man.

Then in a calm voice, he replied the man."It’s not a problem. Say, what is your name?"

The man stood up and pounding his chest twice he said, "I am Sykes, subordinate to the Eighth Seat."

"Eighth Seat huh?"

"Yes, my lord..." Sykes began as he went on to praise his master.

Adrian however barely heard anything.

’This blindfolded reverence of religious zealots is the foundation of organisations like ours.’

The Temple of Truth had once started as a belief which advocated in NO RELIGION.

They preached religion as a way to improve oneself rather than worshipping and praying deities.

People’s trust in them soared high everytime they exposed the behind the scenes of any ancient religions.

However that caused a dilemma.

All these people since their birth had a religion which they had sternly followed. Now finding themselves with none, they felt lost.

As if to cope up with it, they started looking towards the Temple of Truth as their new faith, their new Messiah.

This was something even Adrian hadn’t foreseen back then.

The top committee of the Temple has 13 members, each of them referred as Seats. Among the public, it was believed that these 13 Seats were the closest to divinity. Originally they called them as ’Seat 1’, ’Seat 2’, etc.

Back then using this very opportunity, Adrian had subtly changed the NO RELIGION policy to ONE RELIGION, which now taught people to only believe in them.

However with the emergence of a malicious organisation which named themselves ’The Seats’, the public changed the way they called the Seats of the Temple of Truth.

Seat 1 now came to be known as the First Seat, Seat 2 as the Second Seat and so on.

Instead the members of ’The Seats’ were now called as ’Seat 1’, ’Seat 2’, etc.

Adrian internally laughed at this farce though. Since, ’The Seats’ were nobody else but rather the 13 Seats of the The Temple of Truth itself!

In fact, the original organisation were The Seats founded by Seat 1 and Seat 2, that is Adrian. They later created the Temple of Truth and as time went on, they exposed the existence of their own organisation.

People of their religion needed some Evil to fight, something epic of which they could be a part, just like those theophanies of the ancient beliefs.

And Evil did they give to them...in the form of their own organisation.

In doing so, they created the false image of a fight between the Good And the Evil.

Now why create such an ingenious plan?

Money!!

In fact, several kingdoms and empires even funded the Temple of Truth to wipe out ’The Seats’.

It’s funny and ironic, really.

As Seat 2, it was Adrian’s duty to have countless enemies...well not exactly his enemies.

Since all of them were the sworn enemies of either one of his masquerades.

The world didn’t know Adrian; only his masquerades.

Or that’s how he had thought until this mysterious organisation sent Nyx after him.

"Your target is the blacksmith. But...you need to put up some act before that. Harass him in front of everyone, and once you see the guards coming, kidnap him and run. Kill him here later, and run away to the nearest base of ours."

The man looked thoughtful as he kept on nodding along with Adrian’s words.

Seeing the man following his words Adrian asked, "Where’s the nearest base by the way?"

"At Woodrock City, My lord." He replied without hesitation.

"I see..."

This mission? A random stuff he made up at the spot, an insignificant event tailored for his own goals.

A pawn’s move might be limited but crucial to the laying of the foundations of the game.

Skyes lowered his head again and said in a submissive tone.

"My Lord, you need not worry about such a menial task. Leave it to this humble servant."

Adrian smiled back.

"Good." He stood up from his seat and continued.

"Then my job here is done."

Saying that, he walked through the door.

But not before he noticed the greedy and dangerous gleam in Sykes’s eyes.

At that moment Adrian knew this man would even give up his life should his mission demand it.