Of Sinners & Saints

PROLOGUE

"They are all dead," Ahura Rwy'n quietly mused. "The cleansing has begun." Before his watery eyes he beheld motionless bodies, sprawled every which way on the dark flagstone floor. The victims were bathing in a pool of there own blood. Some one had put them to the sword. The smell of death was something that you will never forget. The pungent, irritating and rotten smell of death. "No one deserves this end."

"Who would have done such a thing?" Raziel asked with a look of horror on his face. He looked like he might barf at any second.

Ahura Rwy'n knew all to well who would have done such a thing. He appeared to be a middle aged man, on the wrong side of thirty, but appearances can be so misleading, especially if you were ordained an Enlighted Being. "I can only speculate, call it an educated guess, but I suspect our brother, Draven Leviathan would know for sure. For he is the head of the Cult of Sin."

"Off course," Raziel softly agreed with his fellow brother, he too was an Enlighted Being, though ordained many a year before Ahura. Raziel was older than he cared to admit, but looked the youngest out of the three brothers. Raziel co -wrote the notorious Good Book. His most distinguishable feature was the scar on his face. The tightness around his mouth, the clenching of his fist and the barely supressed anger in his honey coloured eye showcased his loathing toward Draven Leviathan. "What do you think, Dummah?"

Dummah was the mysterious "Master of Shadows" and he too was an Enlighted Being. He was one of the very few who was ordained by the Ninth Divine, Jennifer Esme Mithra, praise be her name. Dummah's eyes would change colour. He even had the sixth sense when his iris turned red. He wore all black just like those who are Enlighted. "I have no doubt this catastrophe was orchestrated by Draven and his Chosen Ones."

"Chosen ones?" Raziel repeated pulling back his hood. Both he and Ahura, as if on que, paid Dummah a perplexing gaze. "Brother, prey tell what you mean?"

"Last time I attended a meeting of the Cult of Sin, I first learned of the "chosen ones." It was a classified project, one in which meant Draven would have intimate relations with those who bore afflicitons. To cut a long story short, these women gave birth to his children. I heard rumours that Draven had three hundred kids and they were all lured to him under a false promise."

"That being?" Ahura Rwy'n hung onto every word that Dummah had spoke.

"Unlimited power."

"Do you feel that?" Ahura Rwy'n felt his legs buckle and he had placed his hand on his chest. He felt a searing pain in his heart. There was no a problem with his aorta, for one of his gifts was cosmic knowledge. He felt many of the great families had been taken out in a similar fashion this night just like the Magia's here in Glendale.

Off course, Ahura was not to know if his kith had a similar ability, as it turned out they did not. "What is it?" Raziel placed a comforting hand on Ahura's shoulder trying his hand at sympathy.

"I think Dummah is right, the chosen one's are responsible for this catastrophe. They act on behalf of Draven, it is the cleansing. The elimination of the great familes all over Talamh. Laying the foundation for The Master of Sin's inevitable return."

"Those in the Cult of Sin want to exterminate all but the pure and they will do anything to achieve their vision and be reunited with there master." Dummah put in with a shake of his head.

"We need to fan out and look for Valerie for she is one of the Key Keepers," Ahura informed his kith.

They entered the grandeur of the cavernous ballroom. The splendour was showcased with the marble floor, the ornate candle chandlers. The panelled walls with richly carved wood. The gallery above the main floor where only an hour or so ago music would have emanated from. tables with drapery over them were dotted around the perimeter of dance floor. Off course the beauty of this room does not mask the massacre that had taken place.