Night fell, and rain began to fall. The sharp drops stabbed at the earth like needles, bringing cold and deathly silence.
Was the Earth Mother Goddess weeping for the tragedy about to unfold?
Outside the doors of the Earth Mother Goddess temple in Votradnoi, Alanka gazed up at the sky. Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes and mingled with the fine rain, until neither could be distinguished from the other.
His white clerical robe was soaked through and clung to his body, making him look especially frail.
"High Priest..."
Beside him, a blond woman holding a book and wearing a wreath of olive leaves watched Alanka anxiously, her face obscured. Even in her thick padded coat, she was shivering from the cold.
Alanka ignored the woman. His hands tightly clasped the temple emblem at his chest, the symbol of the Earth Mother Goddess, representing protection and peace.
Yet his heart was filled with helplessness and anxiety. He knew Votradnoi faced an unprecedented crisis, and he was powerless to stop it.
Prince Chris's army was not far away. Once they defeated the Minisians, they could reach Votradnoi in just one day.
At noon that day, the Speaker of the Republic had assured everyone at the city meeting that the Minisians would win and the Republic would defeat Prince Chris.
As long as influential figures from Votradnoi's Earth Mother Goddess Church, its chamber of commerce, and other sectors donated money and supplies to stabilize the situation within the city, the Republic could survive.
The Speaker's speech had been stirring, his words eloquent, but Alanka knew better than anyone... these were merely the last delirious mutterings of a dying man.
Alanka understood Prince Chris's terrifying nature better than anyone, and he knew the rot within the Republic better than anyone as