The two men of Vefol, enemies once, now allies, scoured Nalitha for objects to substitute in the ritual.

  Ashes, salt, leaves, and flowers filled their hands, but little else. For incense and candles, they carved slits from shoots. For a vestment, they hacked a crude length of hide. For blessed water and anointed oils, they drew blood. No replacements existed for the proper Holy symbols or bells.

  When Varko learned what was required of him, what his new faith and Holy Empire required, and that it would save their world, he didn’t balk. Without a moment’s pause, he offered up his life, demanding only that Angar swear to do the same if called upon, and to judge Kondune and its people no differently than Mecia and its own.

  Then Varko spent his sole Skill Point, claiming training in Sacred Rites: Lay Rituals - Battlefield, Neophyte.

  The rite demanded the highest ground to work best, and he settled on the towering Mount Kimo.

  Before enacting the rite, Varko had to perform a ritual of purification and cleansing. He hadn’t eaten since the previous day, and they hoped that sufficed as fasting. He still needed to bathe in the precise act of ablution, a challenge with the corrosive water available, then chant rituals and prayers at length atop the spot he’d martyr himself upon.

  Desiring solitude for his final act, Varko clasped Angar’s forearm. “Kill them all,” he said. “Show them no mercy. Avenge those of us fallen.”

  “I will, unto my dying breath. I swear,” Angar vowed.

  “For God and Empire, young Crusader.”

  “For God and Empire, brother.”

  With that, sack in hand, Varko jogged off, heading to Mount Kimo.

  Spirit broke the silence. “You truly are a doughty folk. It’s as if fanaticism, the kind Theosis labors to forge in every imperial soul, courses through your blood from birth.”

  Angar grunted in response. He didn’t have to meditate to regain resources. He wondered if he should sleep. It was impossible to tell what time it was with all the ash blackening the atmosphere. And it felt disrespectful to even think about resting or sleeping while a man prepared to selflessly martyr himself.

  “The Grim Ordeals of Sanctified Knighthood includes three standard implants,” Spirit said. “One, the Somnoregulator, paired with your Body Attribute and Stats, would nearly erase your need for sleep. Even without it, you require little.”

  “What should I do then? Pray? Train?” Angar asked.

  “Now that you’re able, meditate and let your body heal without further agitating your injuries.”

  Angar thought that was a good idea, but he didn’t want to sit idle. “May I see those protocols I didn’t get to finish reading?”

  Spirit crossed her arms. “We do need to get you caught up with the very basics of Catechisms in case you survive.”

  “Forty reavers shouldn’t be too difficult for me to kill.”

  “You’re getting cocky,” said Spirit. “And I’m not talking about just forty reavers. More will spill forth from the gateway. Thousands. I’m having Theosis show you the Seven Edicts. I think it’s better to start with this than the Parousia Protocols.”

  Words flared into Angar’s vision a moment later.

  THE SEVEN EDICTS

  The First Edict: The Empire of the Holy Trinity is Sanctioned by God and Necessary

  From the moment the abominations of Hell breached the veil and invaded our worlds, a pall of despair and gloom has smothered our galaxy, our very lives. The beacon of hope now gutters in the storm, flickering, and the fate of tomorrow, the very essence of life itself, hangs by a thread over the void of doom.

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  Against this onslaught of unholy oblivion, the Empire of the Holy Trinity stands as an ironclad bastion, decreed by the Almighty to lead us from the jaws of annihilation. In our unity lies our might, our faith in the Three – God, our Lord; the Messiah, our blessed Mother Mi; and Theosis, the Divine System. Like the Trinity itself, threefold yet one, so too is our Empire ordained: our Holy Knights, the spearhead of our Divine wrath; our Ecclesiastics, the keepers of our sacred flame; our Laity, the indomitable foundation of our spirit.

  This Empire binds us in a fervor of righteousness, our hearts burning with the zeal of martyrs, our resolve steeled against the unholy, ready to charge into the very heart of Hell if need be, the direct extension of God's will in this mortal plane.

  Together, we stand as one against the darkness, or we shall all be consumed by it.

  The Second Edict: Participation is Compulsory

  Those deemed worthy shall don the sacred armor of the Crusader or march beside them in Holy War, providing fervent support. But beware, for those who refuse the mantle of righteousness shall be branded Heretic, cast into the outer darkness, and purged without quarter or mercy, their recreant screams silenced by the unforgiving hammer of righteousness.

  By decree of the Holy Trinity, you shall love thine neighbor, be they from Terra's cradle, or be they a lithe Pleiadean, a cold-blooded Reptiloid, or an enigmatic Gray. Those who pledge their undying faith to the Empire’s eternal vigil shall be granted this loving grace, yet mercy shall never be granted to the Heretic and traitor.

  The Third Edict: You Will Obey

  You will submit to the immutable will of Theosis, the Holy System, the coming and the arrival, the Divine instrument of the Almighty, obeying its decrees without hesitation or doubt. The chain of command it establishes is inviolable, with every order from superior authorities being absolute.

  Those who dare defy this sacred hierarchy shall be deemed traitors to the Empire of the Holy Trinity, their souls forever tainted by the stigma of Heresy. They shall suffer the full fury of righteous wrath, their very existence reduced to naught but a footnote in a backup server, their memory spit upon.

  The Fourth Edict: Our Holy War Shall Be Total

  We shall unleash a Holy War of unrelenting ferocity upon the abominable Hellspawn, hunting them down mercilessly and slaughtering them without respite.

  Your very existence shall be reduced to a singular, all-consuming purpose – the eradication of the infernal abyss and Heretic. Every waking moment, every breath, every beat of your heart shall be dedicated to the relentless pursuit and annihilation of these abominations from Hell, and the traitors siding with them.

  The Holy War shall be total and endless, the bloodshed unceasing, until either the spawns of Hell are purged from existence, or the last defenders of our glorious Holy Empire lie dead.

  The Fifth Edict: Cowardice Will Not Be Tolerated

  As we stand on the precipice of unholy annihilation, engulfed in darkness and gloom, those called to arms who are witnessed turning away from the enemy like craven wretches, or shrink back engaging in righteous slaughter, shall be deemed a vile traitor. Their souls, rebuked and denied the light of the Holy Trinity, branded Heretical, worthy only of contempt and the most excruciating death.

  The Sixth Edict: Only Blessed Unions and Births

  In the grips of eternal conflict, those called to devote their lives to sacred battle or to shepherd the faithful must abandon thoughts of matrimony, their only family the sword or the scripture.

  For the sake of forging an army of the righteous and strong, Theosis, the Holy System, with its Divine calculus, shall decree which bloodlines shall merge, and if copulation shall be allowed.

  From these bloodlines, the mightiest progeny will be born, to be nurtured and indoctrinated within the hallowed Cloisteranages of the Ecclesiastic, their faith unshakable, their bodies honed, prepared to serve the Holy Empire, or perish in its defense.

  Only the unbound faithful of the Laity may partake in the sacred rite of matrimony, tithing but one child per two to our Cloisteranages.

  The Seventh Edict: Do Not Question or Seek to Understand the Mind of God

  In the dark times known as the Age of Decadence and Sloth, mankind languished in the abyss of depravity, weakened in body, mind, will, and faith, ensnared by the unholy Nexus, all worthy toil and labor usurped by soulless automatons, and the venerable faiths and traditions of the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, and Others crumbled into the dust of oblivion.

  Yet, under the omnipotent gaze of Theosis, the Divine System, savior of these Holy works, writings, and the true wisdom contained within each, we have reforged a sacred and great new tradition into a blessed and mighty creed reborn from the ashes of the old – our glorious Trinitarianism.

  But heed this warning – Trinitarianism does not tolerate the folly of probing the inscrutable mind of our Lord, nor shall we dare question His Divine will. As the Messiah, the Holy Mi Alcyone, our blessed Mother, once proclaimed with celestial wisdom, “Even I, touched by the light of eons, cannot fathom the thoughts of our omniscient Lord. To venture such is the ultimate hubris. Know only that He loves us, for in this knowledge lies our salvation.”