of Sword and Flame

Chapter 14: of Sword and Flame

 The church. Three minutes before midnight. Anika shoved her way through the throng of people, settling at the side of two familiar redheads. They, along with everyone else who was crammed into the church, were adorned with white and gold outfits. Pierre waved at Anika, and as he did, a bracelet with bright red beads shook slightly. It represented Pierre's choice of Saint, the one he wanted to be blessed by and the one he hoped would watch over Azura.

"Temik this year?" Anika raised a brow at his bracelet. She was the Saintess of justice. It surprised Anika, considering Pierre had always gone with the Saint of Health. He smiled.

"I'm switching it up," he said, shrugging. "Don't ask why, but I feel like a lot of change is coming our way."

Anika wasn't superstitious, but most of Azura was, and they showed as much. Everywhere she looked, someone had a beaded bracelet colored for their chosen Saint. Blue for health, green for wealth, purple for wisdom, and so on. Even Andrea adorned a bracelet, hers being a sunset pink for the Saintess of time.

Suddenly, candles started flickering awake, whirling into bright flames that illuminated the darkened church. The ivory walls shone with the reflections of the lights and the stained-glass windows. The lights came on one after the other, leading in the same direction toward the raised platform at the end of the hall. Once the lights were all on, trumpets blared, a strong tune carrying through the crowd. Everyone lifted their hands and drew a four-pointed star in the air. Anika waited for the tune to be over. This was the most boring part, in her opinion.

The trumpets faded out, and as they did so, everyone sank to their knees, Anika beating everyone to it. She was so thankful to have a break from standing.

The crowd murmured to life as the royal priest finally arrived, walking out toward the raised platform through the center of the crowd. Everyone parted around her, eyes full of wonder as her robes of black and gold followed faithfully at her feet.

Following the priest was a familiar man, decorated in a suit with dozens of medals coating his chest as if trying to hide the fabric from sight. His whole outfit was gold, and if it were not for the blue of his eyes, he would appear to be an entirely gold silhouette, almost like a Saint. The king kept his eyes ahead as he walked, chin raised with regality. Anika felt herself smile, her heart swelling with pride. That man was her king, the ruler of her kingdom, her home.

As the priest reached the platform, the final person entered the room, following his father with short yet sturdy legs. Prince Kana marched, head high like his father's, eyes facing ahead. He looked nothing like the chaotic child who ran away from his lessons, but rather, he looked like a true prince. He looked like a boy who would someday run the kingdom just as his father had.

The king reached the platform and took his place to the priest's left. They remained with their backs facing the crowd, unflinching, until Prince Kana took his place to the right of the priest. That was when they stepped onto the platform in unison, turning to face the crowd with their hands folded behind their backs. The priest raised her dark hands in front of her chest in the shape of the four-pointed star once more.

"I will now speak to the Saints!" she cried out, voice carrying throughout the echoing room. All the lights were blown out in the next second, all but one.

As the room enveloped them in darkness, Anika could hear some new citizens whisper in fear. She smiled to herself, recalling how scary it was the first time for her, too.

The priest cupped the only light that remained in the room in her hands where her melanin paled, lifting it up to the ceiling's cut out of a small skylight. The moonlight seemed to shine down directly onto her, but Anika was sure that was a coincidence or an architectural decision.

There was complete, deafening silence. It stretched on for miles, covering the whole of the country. At that moment, everyone in Azura was waiting, holding their breath, whether they knew it or not. The priest's almond eyes were screwed shut. She looked peaceful, almost angelic, with how at ease she was.

The silence continued. Anika saw Pierre and Andrea clutch their bracelets, shutting their eyes as well. Anika slowly closed hers.

The world went quiet. Anika breathed in and out slowly, taking a moment of silence to relax and think about the coming year.

Suddenly, there was a loud, shaky gasp. It echoed once more, ringing throughout every crevice of the church. Anika's eyes flew open, and she looked around to see that the rest of the audience was also looking around nervously.

The priest stood, clutching the candle, her eyes wide with shock. She looked terrified. She was mumbling to herself or to something in front of her that was intangible to everyone else in the room. To her left, King Aptos stood concerned, the corners of his mouth pointing toward the floor. Prince Kana's brows were pinched together to the priest's right.

Something snapped. Not out loud, nothing audible, but everyone felt it. Anika looked back to the priest. She had dropped the candle, hand covering her mouth. A guard hidden in the shadows quickly swept up the candle and signaled for the other candles to be put back on. The whole room was bathed in light quickly, and the king was already at the priest's side.

She nodded to him, and King Aptos backed up into his rightful place.

"People of Azura!" she announced, her voice commanding, yet Anika heard the slight tremor in it. "Your new Saint has taken over. It is..." she took in a deep breath. Everyone leaned forward subconsciously, trying to hear the words before anyone else. "Rita. Saintess of death." The priest looked up again, and suddenly, she lurched forward with an inhuman twist. When she straightened, her face was different; her posture was jaunty and wrong. She seemed like someone else entirely. The priest's voice was no longer there. This was someone different, something different. It echoed through the cathedral with resounding power.

"The flames of justice will burn brighter than ever. They will ignite the sword of freedom, and balance will be restored."

The priest raised a hand to the sky.

"But beware, those too close to the sun will get burned. The liar will pay the price in blood. War is inevitable. The results will be determined by those of sword and flame."

The silence remained for only a moment. The calm before the storm where you could hear a pin drop.

Then chaos.