The Eight Virtues

Jaina raised a hand and pointed at the glass. "Look! The angel is glowing!"

Everyone noticed the hall growing brighter.

The angel depicted in one of the upper panes began to glow! Then another pane lit up, and the knight depicted in it began to shine all over! At last, all eight panes above lit up one after another. Their projections formed eight Mirrors of Holy Light in the void, surrounding Taelan Fordring. His reflection appeared in seven of them.

Taelan Fordring, standing in the center, took his hand off the Holy Emblem and dropped to one knee! Facing the only mirror that didn't show his reflection, he declared loudly:

"I am a Paladin!

I will uphold these virtues for the rest of my life:

Justice, Humility, Honesty, Compassion,

Valor, Sacrifice, Honor, and Soul!

I will devote myself to fighting evil, to protecting the weak, and to defending Azeroth!"

With each word he spoke, one reflection vanished from the Mirrors of Holy Light, and the mirror became an ocean of Holy Light! A sun appeared in the mirror before him! It shone brilliantly, lighting up the void!

Eight beams of light shot from the mirrors and struck Taelan Fordring all at once!

Light's Hope Chapel began to tremble. Deep beneath it, a power that had lain dormant for who knew how long began to boil. In an instant, the entire chapel blazed with light!

Taelan Fordring felt his soul rise alongside the sun in the Mirrors of Holy Light, toward some nameless height. The Holy Light shining from the Crystal Dome in his mind slowly adjusted its frequency to match the light radiating from the sun. At last, their pulses synchronized.

Boom!

Everything in Taelan Fordring's consciousness receded. The chapel moved away from him, then the surrounding forest, then Azeroth. The Blue Child and the White Lady receded too. His consciousness broke through a barrier, and he heard the sound of shattering glass.

A strange world appeared before him. A vast palace with soaring spires, a hall forged of steel, and blood-red stones set into its walls. Two giants stood on a platform. One wore a solar crown and had a handsome face. Taelan's instincts told him this was the Sun God Anser!

Looking at Anser's face, Taelan Fordring couldn't help feeling that something was off.

Anser spoke. "I will never agree to this. Protecting Azerena is our responsibility as brothers!"

"No one but Mother has the right to covet Azerena's power. I'll return to her world and protect her until she grows up!" With that, he turned to leave.

The other giant stepped forward and caught hold of him. "Brother, perhaps there's another way. If only—"

Anser said irritably, "I suggest you abandon that idea."

The giant hesitated, then raised his other hand. A red sword hilt appeared in it, followed by a crossguard shaped like Nathrezim wings, then a long, keen blade with skulls set along both sides.

The sword gave off an ominous red glow. Without mercy, the giant plunged it into Anser's back!

"Ah!"

A pleasant female voice came from beyond the palace doors. "Anser, are you in here?"

Another female voice followed. "Sister, don't worry."

Panicking, the giant tried to hide Anser's slain body. But then he seemed to remember something. Gritting his teeth, he swung the greatsword, tore Anser's soul from his body, and devoured it cruelly.

With the red sword, he hacked Anser's corpse into eight pieces and cast them into a strange magic circle.

Then a twisted, lovesick voice struck Taelan Fordring's soul:

"Offer your blood to the Emperor!"

The vision suddenly shattered, and an endless power surged into Taelan's body. It was a power he couldn't control. His consciousness began to fade.

At that moment, the Crystal Dome in Taelan Fordring's mind blazed with light and absorbed the sun. Then an endless torrent of Holy Light poured down from the heights of his consciousness and into his body.

The giant, the palace, the greatsword, the women's voices, and the sun all vanished, as if they had never been there! Only the Crystal Dome remained, shining with holy light.

Although Taelan Fordring hadn't seen the giant's face, he recognized the sword. The finest weapon in the entire Warcraft universe, the mightiest weapon, and one utterly unlike Quel'razam:

Remornia!

Ding! Congratulations! You have completed the first stage of the quest

Lost Sun! (Legendary)

Congratulations! You have reached level 24! You have gained 15 skill points!

You have gained the Sunwalker's favor!

You have gained 50 World Power! You have gained a total of 100 World Power!

You have awakened a new Nephalem talent!

You have gained a new trait:

Mystic Mastery: As a Nephalem, you are a natural spellcaster. You may designate one mystical magical item, then use it for a limited time.

You have gained a branch ability:

Holy Mastery: All your Holy Spells will be imbued with An'she's Fire, increasing damage against Undead, demons, and Void creatures. Every strike against an Eternal One will be a crushing attack. As one who embraces the Holy Light, your resistance to Chaos Force, Death Force, and Void Force is increased by an additional 20 points.

The Sun God Anser watches over you!

Absolution: Nephalem who possess World Power are protected by mystical forces. Your armor type has changed to Holy, and your base damage reduction has increased to 50%. Your physical attributes have greatly improved, and all your resistances have increased by 10 points."

You have mastered a special skill:

Eight Virtues: Summon mirrors representing the eight virtues of Justice, Humility, Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Sacrifice, Honor, and Soul. They will remain until you are killed or choose to cancel them.

These mirrors will seal off everything around the target. You will be granted the right to fight the target on equal terms! No third party may enter this space! Anyone who forces their way in will suffer the same punishment of the Seven Deadly Sins as the target and be banished! Any creature killed in this space will lose its soul forever!

Power currently infused: Justice.

(A blessing from the Sun God Anser!)

Cooldown: 12 months! (Use with caution!)

Denathrius, you're worth 35 Anima, no more!

Quest accepted by default:

Lost Sun (Stage Two).

From the Sun God Anser's account, you now know that the foolish Denathrius thought that scattering his brother's corpse and devouring his soul would put an end to everything, allowing him to claim the inheritance their mother left behind. He won't get his wish!

Find the fragments of the Sun God Anser's body! Continue uncovering the truth about the dawn of creation!

Reward: 100 World Power. 10 skill points.

The Sunwalker's favor has increased!

Your Holy Mastery is now effective against Order Force as well!

Your Holy Armor's base damage reduction has increased to 60%.

The string of system notifications sounded like heavenly music, and Taelan Fordring, who had been on edge the whole time, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This time, he had not only learned an earth-shattering secret, but also gained Holy Armor and 15 skill points.

The most memorable use of Holy Armor Taelan Fordring could recall was in the final battle of Warcraft III—Ragnarok!

Taelan remembered a gifted (and rather masochistic) player who had once pushed straight into the demons' base. But when he finally faced Archimonde, who had Holy Armor, he was at a loss.

Taelan's Holy Armor didn't reduce damage as much as Archimonde's, but a 50% base damage reduction was already ridiculously powerful. After all, armor and magic resistance would reduce the damage even further. It was far more powerful than Hero Armor.

And it could be upgraded further through subsequent quests.

At level 24, he could unlock the core skill in Diablo's skill system: Holy Shield! It would greatly increase his defenses. At last, he had the strength to fight in the battles ahead.

He didn't wait. Eagerly opening the skill tree, he put a point into Blessed Hammer, then another into Holy Shield, which had finally lit up.

Holy Shield

Empower your shield with holy power

Current skill level: 8

Mortal Strike damage: +17–20

Duration: 205 seconds

Defense bonus: +250%

Chance to block: +28%

Mana cost: 35

Holy Shield receives additional bonuses from the following skills:

Contempt: +15% defense per skill level

This chance to block stacked with the Block skill he had learned himself. It would further improve Taelan's ability to survive.

Since everyone who received Baptism would demonstrate their new abilities, Taelan put another point into Purify and one into Blessed Aim.

Purify

When active, reduces the duration of ongoing negative effects on you and your allies

Prayer: +9 life recovery every 2 seconds

Current skill level: 8

Radius: 20 yards

Duration reduction: 67%

Healing: +9

Purify receives additional bonuses from the following skill:

Prayer

Blessed Aim

When active, increases your and your allies' chance to hit

Current skill level: 8

Radius: 20 yards

Chance to hit: +180%

Purify was extremely useful. It had all the effects of Prayer, while also greatly reducing the duration of curses and poison. Most importantly, he no longer had to spend mana to recover health.

Blessed Aim increased his accuracy. Combined with Blessing of Tirion Fordring, it meant he no longer had to worry about missing.

The eight mirrors in Light's Hope Chapel vanished, and the monastery stopped shaking. The panes that had lit up returned to normal. The midday sun streamed down, dispelling much of the chill in the hall. Everything returned to normal, but no one could settle down.

Taelan Fordring activated Cleansing Aura on the platform. Tiny golden dots spread periodically from his feet like stars! Before long, they filled a sphere with a radius of 20 yards, making the entire hall look like a beautiful, starry sky.

Jaina reached out with her little hand to catch the twinkling stars in the air and giggled.

Everyone in the room felt wrapped in warmth. Their old injuries were slowly healing.

Uther's face felt a little hot, but he said nothing. Mograine looked grim, while Renault seemed relieved. He stopped watching his father and began thinking instead about the Eight Virtues of the Paladin.

This was what a Paladin should strive for!

It's a little late today. I'll post this first and revise it later.