Heidens knelt before a window on the temple's Ninth Layer. Dust covered his white robes, and the staff he never let out of his hand had rolled off to one side. He raised his head, looking at the bloody light raging across the sky, at Holy Island reduced to ruins, and at the black-haired young man standing amid the wreckage.
Heidens straightened on his knees. Pressing his palms together, his lips moved as he began reciting a long, ancient incantation. With every syllable, his face aged a little more.
His life force drained away, drawn out by an invisible power. A book radiating soft white light flew out of his body-the Radiant Bible, the divine artifact passed down through the Radiant Church.
The Bible hovered above Heidens's head, its pages turning on their own. He bit the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood essence onto the pages. His face instantly turned deathly pale, his eye sockets sinking deep. Yet two beams of golden light shot from his eyes.
"My lord-" Heidens's voice rasped like dry wood scraping together. "Let your glory descend and destroy the blasphemer!"
The Bible erupted with dazzling golden light. It was not merely bright; it carried a sacred pressure that made it impossible to look at directly. Above Heidens, the golden light coalesced into the phantom of a golden flower, its petals slowly unfurling.
A barefoot, bald man stood at the flower's center.
Dressed in coarse linen, he stood barefoot in empty air. He was not particularly large, but his muscles were firm and powerful, his short silver hair standing on end.
He held a javelin, its tip gleaming with a cold light. His features were unremarkable, but the instant he opened his eyes, all of Holy Island fell silent.
The aura