Path of Exile Talent Competition

"

A Dream of Purity

“If my word is a weapon
Then am I a murderer?”

Victario, the People’s poet.


“…My beloved brethren,
With all my aching heart and soul, I do hope that you are reading this for I am writing to you in order that the true reasons of my morrow journey may not be kept secret. For it is not a journey as you might be told. It is an exile.

May the Lord of Light have no mercy on me if I am telling you a word of lie!

I have spent a life with you in the austere stone walls of our cloister, passed my time, decades by decades, in hard labor and even harder learning, mastering my powers and taming my body. And through those years, I did travel a lot therefore the induced journey awaiting for me will not be the first of mine.

Ah, those blessed sleepless nights in the majestic halls of the Great Library… so seemingly silent and yet ever filled with muttering prayers of our brothers-scribes, squeak of their quills and echoes of the distant choir from the Grand Cathedral… On those nights with dusty folios of ancient lore open, I did visit so many places never seen with eyes. The vast savannas of Ngamakanui – the land of the proud and rigorous Karui… the flowered Isles of Skoathe inhabited by bellicose Ezomyte clans… the lush and grazing pastures of the Vastiri Planes of the ruthless Maraketh… and the sharp ice-blazing peaks of the Azmerian Ranges – the land of noble tribesmen and the birthplace of the late Empire…

And not so long ago, on a dark and rainy night like this in the silence of the Library, I heard a whisper. Two brothers-acolytes were conversing in the far end of the hall. I heard nothing of importance in their talk. Nothing but a name – Tears of Maji.

I instantly remembered a passage from a decrepit book once read. It was the name given to some gems of great magical power and of unknown origin. When the acolytes noticed my concerned gaze they hastened away as if ashamed or wanted to stay unheard. Not a few days and nights did I spend later in doubt and contemplation until I finally decided to uncover the mystery.

On one night I caught sight of one of the acolytes and followed him into the lowest and most secret premises of the archives. I sneaked after him through the spider-webbed passages and into so many turns and walkways hardly remembering the way back. At last, in the dim light of a candle I saw the acolyte hiding something in a pile of scrolls on a shelf. Oh, my brothers, if only I had known what secret our Order had been hiding there from us!

When I heard the hallways door clang shut I rushed to the shelves and among old maps and records I found a small feretory. And inside – a gem. A blue piece of an unknown solid yet translucent substance with something reminiscent of a human heart inside.

Yes, my brothers, to that I do confess. I put the gem upon my palm and suddenly – some insuperable force made me clench it hard in my fist. I felt the sharp edges of the object scar my skin, cut it open and drain my blood as if slaking an inhuman thirst. The gem started pulsing under my fingers like a living heart just torn out from a human chest dripping blood on the floor. The gem was pushing its energy up my wrist, up my arm and into my heart – shoving, driving its power through me. And then – the room exploded!

I saw the Light! I was engulfed in blinding, clear shining that was streaming through my body like a boundless river of holy enlightening. It was cleansing my very soul with the essence of Purity!

Tell me, my brothers, what can be purer than the first snows of winter?
I opened my eyes and saw the place around covered with ice and frost: the floor and shelves were bright white and once half-burnt candles turned into sparkling icicles. And I knew what the true Purity meant!

And then I heard voices and saw horrified faces of brothers-acolytes and templars-guardians. I tried to tell them of the godly revelation but they never listened. I shouted the truth. The shameful truth! I screamed of Dominus that had never been our Lord Devine but an arrogant blasphemer greedy for unholy powers of the Eternal Empire! The Empire that was named Eternal for it must have been grounded on the Eternal Faith – not the eternal lust! The Empire betrayed by the blinded and deluded! I screamed that High Templar cannot purify the world in flames for fire leaves only darkness of ashes in its wake! And the Blackguards, the Ebony Legion, all so black of blackness that only devours light!

But they never listened. They grasped me and carried away into the dungeon where I am spending my last night in Oriath.

I beg you, my brothers, in the Name of our Holy Father remember your vow of Tarcus Veruso! Keep your eyes open for evil has percolated into the heart of the Holy Order! Remember our martyr, Archbishop Geofri, slain by the fiends of corruption! Believe not your deceitful masters and mendacious tutors! There is no more justice in the Court of Divine Temperance as there may be nothing divine or tempered in a company of oath-breakers!

And I vow to bear the Holy sign of Descry in my heart and mind and yielding the god-gifted power of the gems, put to rest and have mercy on those perverted and suffering in the claws of corruption!

Faithfully yours,
Templar of the Holy Order…”

"

Dem0ral wrote:

I hope I’m not too late!