Twelve years passed and during that time Frederick, his mentor, became Guardian of Betel first and then Knight of the Guardians. Basil, who at the time was High Priest of Betel, was advised by Frederick to give Urian the chance to become a Vanguard. The Wolf, amazed, didn’t let this opportunity pass him by and accepted the charge which he’d dreamed of since he was a kid. The day of his appointment ceremony he thought back on the path that led him there, and all the sacrifices his family had made that got him there. Urian promised that, once he’d reached a higher station in Betel’s society, he’d take his family away from their village and bring them over to the Citadel he was to serve and protect.

After the ceremony, he went straight home to his family. The village was half a day’s journey from the North Citadel, which he had just been sworn to protect, where he now had a home that would soon be his family’s too.

When he got to the village, nothing was as he’d expected it. All buildings were on fire, entire families lay outside of their homes, dead, surrounded by newly orphaned kids who cried and screamed as they embraced their parents’ corpses.

Urian immediately ran to his own home, which was ablaze like all the others. He stopped on the doorstep and… his heartbeat stopped, the hissing of the flames around him and the screams of the villagers suddenly gone.

He was looking at the end of everything that had ever been good in his life, and all his dreams. Before him lay the lifeless bodies of his loved ones.

Crying in pain, he carried his parents’ bodies outside, to save them from the rising flames. He didn’t hesitate then, and started rescuing everyone he could. Then, he helped put off the fires and at the end of the night, once the emergency had subsided, he asked survivors for information on the attack. The only thing he managed to find out was that a well-dressed Rat was among the hooded attackers. A few days later, once he’d gotten back to the North Citadel, he was visited by Frederick who offered his condolences and complimented him on saving so many lives in such an awful situation.

Frederick told him he was also there for another reason, and that the Wolf had to get ready for an audience with the High Priest.

The next day, inside the big cathedral of the West Citadel, Urian kneeled in front of Basil in greeting – but before he could speak the High Priest said:

“Son, it is I who must salute you and your heroic gesture today. Get up, I should kneel before your selflessness, many in your place would have frozen and screamed in pain in the face of such injustice. But you, Urian, you were exceptional. These values represent the Order well, and no one taught them to you: they are born of your incredible soul. I apologize on behalf of the Order for the suffering you and your family, as well as many others, have had to endure all these years. I promise you times will change. For now, all I can say is that we need you; I, High Priest of Betel, need you. All of Betel needs you. Urian, I am asking you to become a Guardian of Betel: for your family, for yourself and for the good of those who can’t stand up for themselves in the face of such injustice as you yourself have experienced.”

As Basil gave his speech, the Wolf clenched his fist until his rage took over: he smashed his fist on the floor, letting out all the frustration and pain he felt about not getting to his village sooner.

He got up then, and gave a cynical look to the High Priest, saying:

“Forgive my state. Any other time I’d be ecstatic about this offer but now, right this moment, what you’re offering me is a chance to do legally what I will try to do for the rest of my days: eradicate any form of violence, starting with the bastards that killed my family and the other villagers.”

That was the day Urian became a Guardian of Betel.

“Brother,” Percival exclaimed, “your return home is not a polite one.”

Sela, the young Fox, was confused and scared.

“Young lady!” the Vicar said, “You can’t keep living with a loser, this isn’t what you deserve.. Eduard, you’ve outdone yourself since I last saw you, defying my lowest expectations. You have to make a choice now, a final choice, and I assure you: if you won’t choose, the Vanguards downstairs will do it for you. They can’t wait to see you again.”

“She’s staying with me,” Percival continued, vehemently. “She doesn’t deserve this miserable life. Leave from whence you came and you’ll be allowed to keep roaming the lands like the failure you are – but without her. If I see you again, or I find out you were in one of the Citadels, or even worse, if you look for more infants to raise, I’ll look for you, find you and kill you myself. This is a promise, brother, and you know I’m a man of my word.”

The following years went by fast. Though her life now allowed her more peace and all those material things she’d never had before, Sela kept stealing – she couldn’t help herself. The same sense of daring her stepfather Eduard had, now lived on in her.

Sometimes, she thought back to the last time she’d seen her mentor, since Eduard was always more of a symbol of freedom and disregard for society rather than a father to her, and she liked it. It had been eight years since the night they were separated. It felt like a lifetime.

When she returned home, Percival opened the door for her and gave her a letter with the Order’s seal on it.

“What’s going on?” the Fox asked.

“My dear girl, the Council of the Elders wants to speak with you. A carriage will be here tomorrow to bring you to them.”

But when she appeared before the Council, Eduard was there to greet her.

“We haven’t seen each other in eight years, Sela, but today I can finally make it up to you. Follow me.”

Once inside the Council chambers, they kneeled silently.

Bliant, one of the three Elders, got down from his throne and slowly approached the Young Fox. He put a hand on her head and started caressing her as if she were a pet.

“Eduard! So this is Sela, the girl we should consider as a future Guardian? Stop fooling around, can’t you see she barely weighs 35 kg? How could she serve the Order? Maybe you thought we needed a chambermaid?”

Eduard responded to the Council’s provocation with firmness:

“I humbly disagree with you, I am her father and I’m aware of her age and physical structure; however, that is precisely why she managed to do something you haven’t even realized yet, Bliant.”

“What? How did you do that?” the Elder patted down the satchels attached to his belt, under his tunic, and incredulously asked Sela: “When did you steal the satchel you’re holding? How did I not feel the air moving? Apologies, Eduard, you were right. The girl has a gift. Sela, we’ll help you develop your skills, and in exchange – if we find you worthy – you’ll help strengthen the Order.”

From that day on, Sela started on the path that would, in time, lead her to be named Guardian of the Sigil by High Priestess Elaine, a short time before the Calamity hit Betel.

As he listened to his mother’s lecture, lying on the cot in his cell, the Rat’s expression was one of boredom. He got up, approaching the metal bars with his daily bowl of water in hand and spilled all of its contents slowly on the floor, getting her feet wet, and yelled: “Screw you!”

That was the last time his mother ever visited him. Tristram remained in prison in the South Citadel for the next 3 years.

It was Percival, Vicar of the Citadels, who finally let him out and, on the day of his release, he personally went to pick him up and change his life forever.

“My dear Tristram, if you insist on walking the same path and acting the same way, violent and amoral, you’ll never get any results. The next time you go to prison, it will be for your execution.

If it’s Fame you’re after then trust me. Help me handle the riots shaking the Citadels as of late, specially the West Citadel. I promise that once order is restored I will speak to Frederick about your service for the Order. Maybe, in time, you could become one of my assassins – their reputation is quite well known. People would talk about you and your work, your feats would be on everyone’s lips, minstrels would sing of you – Tristram, the mysterious and feared assassin of the South Citadel.”

The Vicar’s words immediately caught Tristram’s attention, so much so that he didn’t even let Percival – who was still trying to persuade him – finish his speech: he took the hand he was gesturing with and accepted his offer without second thoughts.

Five winters passed since that meeting with Percival and the riots in the Citadels became a faded memory. Tristram was completely at ease with the role Percival had cut out for him: he had his own band of criminals, who served the Vicar by containing and sedating the bouts of violence that often arose in the Citadels.

Tristram’s work quickly caught the attention of the Elders of the Council, who would keep an eye on his endeavors, concerned about his untrustworthiness and moral ambiguity; in terms of service, however, his usefulness was unparalleled.

Seasons kept changing rapidly and so grew the Rat’s fame, until it overshadowed even the Vicar’s. Having Tristram and his crew on your tail meant certain death, and the Order recognized the advantages of this reputation.

The Council of the Elders was disgusted at the idea of meeting with the Rat, so they decided to make an exception and gave Percival permission to offer Tristram the rank of Guardian of Betel. Tristram’s life wouldn’t change that much: unlike the other ranks in the Order, Guardians lived undercover, going about their lives as usual, the only difference being they had to answer every time the High Priest called. Guardians of Betel were ghosts to the rest of the population.

This would be an advantage for Tristram, an useful way to broaden the network of criminals he would use alongside his Crews to eradicate all threats to the Citadels.

Percival’s proposal was accepted before he even managed to utter the word “Guardian”.

Mosh, Victor’s firstborn, was 6 at the time; he spent the next 14 years alongside Roana, and the two were as close as two blood siblings. In her teenage years, Roana started to be interested in the Shamanic rites she would see her father and brother perform, until Mosh insisted that he be allowed to teach Roana the path of Witchcraft.

Unlike Mosh and Victor, however, whose blood ran strong with magical force, the first thing Roana had to learn was how to use the Log of Roses to channel magical force inside her blood. Thanks to this arcane item gifted to her by Victor, Roana was able to unleash magic and perform Witchcraft. Mosh was her Arcane Mentor, however the difference in magical force between the two of them was huge, since the Log of Roses didn’t allow Roana to tap into the magical force every time she wanted to – she had to respect the Log’s natural rhythm, and it would only refill with Roses every Nightfall.

Roana did all her training at night, then, to avoid exhausting the Log’s Roses since the young Witch would feed on them in order to channel the magical force in her blood.

On the day of her eighteenth birthday, Roana was awakened at Dawn by Mosh. He didn’t tell her where they were headed, only that he’d found a way for his people to finally remove the Chains of Exile the Order had bound them with.

As they made their way to the Crow Rites Forest, they stumbled onto High Priest Basil’s carriage. Mosh knew that by the Order’s decree they had to stay confined in the mountains, but he didn’t hide.

The carriage went past them quickly. It was obvious it wouldn’t stop, but Mosh – taken over by rage – threw the first rock he saw lying around at the carriage. Moments later, the carriage stopped, but no one got out.

Seconds passed, Mosh was starting to be annoyed, and Roana didn’t understand what was happening – she didn’t know who the man now getting out of the carriage was.

It was High Priest Basil, the highest charge in the Order after the Elders of the Council.

“Boy,” said Basil, “Why aren’t you in the only place you deserve to be in? You and your people are no longer welcome outside of the mountains.”

Roana took a step forward to shield Mosh and apologized on his behalf. She promised they would leave immediately.

It didn’t take long for the High Priest to notice the Log of Roses hanging from her belt, and he asked her why an arcane object forbidden by the Order was in her possession. With no hesitation, Mosh started a rite of Witchcraft – but before they knew it they were surrounded by Vanguards. Basil approached Roana and took her hand, telling her he would turn a blind eye and no one would die if she agreed to follow him.

Without saying a word, without even turning to look at Mosh, the young Witch walked over to the carriage.

Five years went by since that day and Roana became a faithful servant of the Order.

After their first meeting, Basil had taught her all the dogmas and doctrines needed to become an agent of justice and of the Order.

She often thought about her brother and father, but she knew her choice had been necessary to save Mosh’s life.

Every day she thought about her family, and every night she studied Witchcraft in the forests near the West Citadel, where she lived thanks to her mentor Basil’s generosity.

Two more winters passed until the High Priest appointed Roana as Guardian of Betel, and it wouldn’t be long now until she finally saw her brother Mosh again – though not in the way she would have liked.

This recurring memory tormented him, until he decided to go look for the four Hags of the Cult of Shadows. No one had ever seen them. Also known as the Four Black Feathers, in the village taverns people said – aiming to keep people away from the Woods – that, with each new moon, the pathways would become covered in crows feathers and whoever entered would never come back. Mosh was so consumed by rage he didn’t care if he risked his life, and a village legend wouldn’t be enough to change his mind. Though three seasons had passed since he’d left the Exile, with each passing day it was more and more likely the Order would find him. He entered yet another forest, the first night of the new moon, and, sighing like someone who’s given up, for the first time he had to stop in his tracks: in front of him stood four Crows, dressed like panhandlers and full of shiny trinkets, their faces adorned by bones, shrouded in the scent of death and rotting meat. Mosh didn’t speak, he just stared at them taking slow, deep breaths, as if aware he’d finally reached his destination or sure this would be the end of the line.

“We were waiting for you. Follow us…” the crows said in unison.

They silently walked away and he followed, being suddenly enveloped by padded silence and the cold embrace of winter, though it was the middle of spring. They stopped in front of an altar, the Altar of Gifts Ungiven. They took something that resembled a funerary urn, then ordered him to drink from it as if it were a chalice. Mosh tried; as he brought the relic to his mouth, however, the nauseating smell of stagnant and rotten blood made him hesitate. His stomach felt tight and he was paralyzed. He vomited at the mere idea of bringing the chalice near him again, sweaty and shaken. He knelt down and screamed at the top of his lungs, then drank the last sip, desperate. That wasn’t a funerary urn, it was one of the Legendary Relics: the Elders’ Urn. Unlike in Betel’s customs, where the Urn was used to store the ashes of the fallen, this urn was filled with the blood of the Elders themselves, and their blood held information left behind for posterity. The Elders’ Urns were the biggest history books in Betel, which held traces of the deities presence.

Mosh fell to the ground, his body trembling, every muscle in his body locking in. He struggled to breathe, as if his lungs weren’t getting enough oxygen. Plagued by hallucinations and vision, he was screaming in pain. Then, he passed out.

These visions showed him what he had to do, what would happen, and – most of all – what he was destined to accomplish. With the Hags’ help he managed to recover all four Manuscripts the Order had tasked Elaine with finding.

These texts, written in the Non Common language – which he was able to read thanks to the Blood of the Elders he’d drunk – explained that in order to open the portal to the Black Lodge, located in the Monolith at the foot of the Winter Mountain, the four Entries to the Black Lodge had to be summoned. Each one needed a continuous and permanent magic flow; this meant that for each summoned Entry, a sacrifice had to be made. The Hags told Mosh they would serve as the sacrifices to open the doors.

They each went to a different forest around the Winter Mountain, trying to surround it in accordance with the cardinal points indicated by the Manuscripts. The summoned the Entries and then sacrificed themselves, giving their blood until their drained bodies fell to the ground. As the Entries activated, a dense fog descended on their bodies. It was their souls, ready to be forever bound to the Entries.

In the meantime, Mosh went to the Winter Mountain. Once all four Entries had been activated he was able to open the portal and was thus claimed by the Darkest Doom.

Just as Mosh was seduced by the Darkness that started to emerge from the Portal, the Guardians arrived searching for the stolen Manuscripts. Elaine attacked the Shaman without thinking, slave to homicidal rage, though she knew that killing him would be risky – he could reincarnate thanks to the Necrototems hidden in the mountain caves, where the dead were buried according to shamanic tradition. If they had a strong enough reason, the spark of life would come back to their bodies. She grabbed Mosh by the shoulders and, without giving it a second thought, she gripped the Shaman’s horns so tight she broke them. Meanwhile, the portal kept getting bigger and Mosh – during his last moments of clarity – cursed the Guardians with the White Moth. No one realized what he was saying, however. The memory of this curse was lost. Mosh’s skin started to mutate and he was enveloped by a grotesque energy. The amulet rose from Elaine’s chest and started to absorb the Darkness that was enveloping the Shaman. When Mosh was freed, the Crimsonfate shot the beam of Darkness into the Moon. When the amulet went back to Elaine’s chest she pushed Mosh into the portal which immediately closed up in front of them.

Endless minutes of silence followed, punctuated only by the blood dripping from Mosh’s horns, still in Elaine’s hand…

The first threat they were faced with was the Shaman Clan. Their knowledge of Witchcraft worried and fascinated them at the same time. The Order was a symbol of Balance for the people of Betel, and a violent stand wouldn’t be welcomed; the Elders thus went to work to make Witchcraft seen as nothing but a threat. This propaganda worked so well that they were able to veto its usage and establish harsh sentences for whoever practiced it. It was under this pretense that the Shamans were banished and exiled to the Mountains.

Victor, the leader of the Shaman tribes, was caught by the Guardian Tristram has he practiced Witchcraft. This is the official version of the Order and the Shaman even confirmed it, however no one in Betel ever knew the truth: Victor was using Witchcraft to stop criminals from butchering a family in the village he was in at the time, and Tristram was there because he’d ordered the hit. It was the Rat himself who forced the head Shaman to confirm this version and give the Order the seed of the Log, as penance. If he hadn’t chosen this path, Tristram would have exterminated his whole Clan.

Victor took the hand of the only survivor of the family he was unable to save. He didn’t speak, and walked over to the other villagers, who were still terrified about what had happened. He entrusted the young lynx to them and went back to the Guardian.

“A dawn will come when new light will strengthen the just until midday, to eradicate all injustice until twilight,” he said proudly.

That’s how the Order seized control of all Witchcraft knowledge and put the Shaman threat in a paddock.

As the Council shrugged the mud off with avid enjoyment, they didn’t realize they were now walking into quicksand.

The Guardians did everything they could think of to contain the threat, help the villagers and the Citadel’s population. Many tried to run away from Betel, but the black and purple fog that had formed on its borders wouldn’t let them. The Guardians had stepped into the dark vortex of the Eclipse which, before manifesting on Betel, had gotten inside their minds and souls. The Darkness had stripped them of their certainties, their strength, before it even took away their land.

During this time, when everything seemed destined to fade away and die, the Council of the Elders remained lucid and aware. The triad was more worried about the threat High Priestess Elaine posed, rather than the Calamity that had attacked their land.

In their eyes, the Darkness was an opportunity to get rid of Elaine.

The bitter memory of the time Elaine had appeared before them with her new helmet made with Mosh’s horns to confirm he had been stopped and imprisoned inside the Monolith still burned brightly in their minds. On that day, the Guardian appointed herself as High Priestess, staring straight at them through their masks and seeing their fear. For the first time Dinadan, Anselm and Bliant saw a threat they weren’t ready for, and through her words spoken in the Non Common tongue they understood they were no longer in charge of their own fate and – to save face in front of the other Guardians present – they accepted her proclamation, bowing their heads in approval. That gesture reminded them every day of the moment they’d become vulnerable.

Discovering how to stop the owner of the Crimsonfate, who now had the skill to use it, was all they could think about. Those nine days of Darkness were the chance they were waiting for.

With Elaine out of the picture they could move freely, and so started the race against time to reclaim their and the Order’s fate. As Betel was slowly torn apart by the Darkest Doom, the Council managed to find the Sanctuary of Aion. The only hope they had was to present the three Relics of the Elders to the Sanctuary in the hope of receiving the Gift of Tomorrow, and that’s what happened.

The vision of the future Aion granted them allowed the Council to have the two information they needed. Elaine would be able to go back in time thanks to the Crimsonfate and the Guardians, being reborn at the Blood Temples, would lose their recent memories. This way Dinadan, Anselm and Bliant were able to anticipate everyone, sending Alchemists to poison the temples. These were semi-unknown figures, who had always been in the service of the Council but had never received any tasks outside of the Cathedral Tower. The poison contained fake memories which, every time a Guardian was reborn, would remind them of words the Council had never actually spoken to them:

“You’re alone now, our only hope. The Order was betrayed by Elaine and all of the other Guardians. You are the only one we can trust. The Darkness will try to trick you with fake memories, but you have to fight and survive to save Betel. Don’t let the other Guardians’ feats deceive you, their Fame is a lie. Prove that you’re the only one capable of becoming the new High Priest of Betel. We entrust our prayers and resources to you.”

After resetting time and separating the High Priestess’ body to fill it with her extracted soul, Aion gave life to his Herald, his new pawn for the war. He entrusted her with Asmodeus, the serpent of Time. Thanks to the latter Elaine, Aion’s Herald, would be able to move between timelines. The Elder would retain control of the Herald, manifesting his will through Asmodeus.

The audacity and arrogance Aion had when he transformed her made it impossible for him to see Elaine’s true origins. The figure he’d shaped was perfect, if it weren’t for the soul still trapped inside Elaine’s original body on the edge of the Winter Mountain. Just like the Elders, the High Priestess was also from the Cycle before the first Moon.

Life had originated by the implosion of the first Moon, due to the gravitational collapse that gave life to the Ancestral Nebula, from which the Red Giant – now called the sun – was born. From the Red Giant and the remains of the first Moon the first parts of the world originated, which are now known as the Continent of Donama. Thanks to the interconnection of these three elements the first lifeforms were born, the Elders and Elaine, as well. They had extraordinary powers in comparison to the beings that followed, since they were the only ones born with two souls: one given by the first Moon and one by the Red Giant. And so Aion had to accept his partial failure and fight with the Soul of his Herald that kept resisting him.

Elaine, Herald of Aion, started her race against time to defeat all the threats targeting her. The Darkness that was killing her original body, Aion who tried to manipulate her through Asmodeus to make her save Betel. Her mind was a maze of screams, voices, pressure… Perhaps the first threat she’d have to address was the one inside her.