Syliph looked up at the church, his heart raced frantically in his chest, he couldn't believe he was about the enter an Illumin church. After many years of faithful hate, Nymphae had said he should at least enter one, he didn't have to forgive Illumin, but he shouldnt condemn his followers, and Syliph had reluctantly agreed to come here, he still had a deep seated hatred for all Illumin.

The outside wasn't beautiful, it was breath taking, he'd never seen such architecture, it was mind boggling almost. He reached his hand towards the door, as if the steel knob was hot, Syliph flinched backwards when he touched it. So many years of hate had left him with a nasty taste in his mouth, and bringing himself to go inside would be much harder than opening the door.

Stepping aside Syliph stood next to the stairs, glaring at the doors. He'd have to take this acceptance slowly, hopefully not at all. He turned around, he couldn't bear to look at the building anymore, it was a shame that something so beautiful was devoted to something so evil. The thought of the Illumin brought the zodiac villages into his mind, he wondered if there were any hid here in Baska.

A clenched fist struck down hard against the dark walnut table sending the various bits and bobs that sat on it up into the air briefly, the owner of this fist was none other than the priest that maintained the holy grounds and the hidden secrets hidden deep within it. The Priest was frustrated with the sudden demands that he had been given by someone who he felt ill suited to the position he had been granted. “No I will not hand over this weapon over to you, the church has already graced you with the ability to see be grateful for that alone, few have ever held such a relic for one to have two of the churches most sacred artefacts is almost unheard of since the days of the great war.”

The man he was arguing with cared little for the priests stories and excuses finding them petty and unnecessary, the fact that he would hold two rather than one would only serve to allow him to fight more effectively for the church rather than just as a simple scout. “Father, you are making a grave mistake in your refusal to had over the weapon, I have the request to take it recognised and signed by Midas, don’t make this any harder.”

With a heavy sigh, the priest left his chair looked up into the heavens as if to pray for mercy before leading the man on the way to the underground sect where the weapon was being stored. At the time the man didn’t know what the weapon was completely but he was sure there would be something to help him figure it out, he had only been given clues as to its capabilities such as it could be used to harness his mana in a more destructive fashion through light, fire and even non-elemental based spells. Walking down the steps behind the priest they stopped multiple times with the priest lighting a candle to aid them while they went lower and lower.

Eventually the stairs lead them to a great room full of a variety of items all covered in white drapes which in turn were covered in a thick layer of dust. Rather than asking for his help in looking for the weapon, the priest instead insisted that he stayed where he was and he’d look personally. So as the priest began to rummage around the blonde haired man began to scan over the room with both of his eyes little sparked his attention inside the room outside of the priest who he already recognised when they first met as having a moderate amount of mana. After some time the priest returned dragging along a gigantic cross significantly taller than himself, the cross was bound in a white cloth held in place by leather straps.

A concerned expression took hold of the priests face as he looked at the man’s own stunned appearance. “You do know what this is don’t you?” The priest questioned him. “Yeah of course I do….” He replied with a thinly veiled lie, shaking his head the priest informed him of what the weapon actually was. “This is the punisher, an anti-vampire, demon, lycan rifle, rocket launcher, it is capable of both long and short distance shooting and can also be used as a melee weapon.” As he spoke the weapon was revealed in all of its glory as he removed the straps. “It is incredibly heavy and you will likely need to use both hands to properly use it.” Sighing to himself the priest spoke to him one more time, before letting him go. “Go on take it…”

Looking at the cross for a moment or two, the man decide how best to carry the weapon. Given the huge size of it he would likely have to carry it either on his back or in both hands based on certain circumstances, for now though he would request to borrow a few of those straps and create a makeshift sling so he could support some of the weight by slinging it over his left shoulder crossing over to his right hip while his right shoulder held his satchel crossing over to his left hip. Leaving the room as he had entered up the stairs he moved into the priests office and then into the main hall slinging the heavy weapon onto his back with the cross section pointing downward ignoring the symbolism held towards it. “Hmm I wonder if this “punisher” will live up to its name, I guess I’ll have to give it a test run before doing any hunting.”

Making his way towards the exit, the man plucked out a pair of sunglasses from his satchel and slid them onto his head watching the crowd, winking at those who took note of him to his right. Approaching the exit of the church, a blistering light shone down upon him from behind seeing it as a sign from the heavens he moved with increased vigor. Pulling open both of the doors made necessary from the length of his weapon he immediately recognised the person in front of him as being a moderately powerful mage but what made him significant was the elements that he embodied within himself.

Taking interest in the man, he spoke vaguely to him hoping that the other would be open to further conversation. “Interesting weather, we’ve been having lately wouldn’t you say?, The farmers are loving the rain but the rest of the townspeople and as well as myself not so much, I’m Kon by the way nice to meet you.” Extending his glove hand outward towards the man ready to a pleasant handshake or the less optimal choice of conflict.

Syliph huffed and sighed every few minutes or so, he really hated this idea of acceptance.

Oddly enough, someone approached Syliph and stuck out a gloved hand for Syliph to shake. Syliph eyed the glove hand for a moment, a moment long enough to create and awkward sensation in the air. Reaching out Syliph grasped the hand limply, and gave it a limp shake, he wondered how a conversation with an illumin would go. "I guess you could say the weather has been a little odd lately,
but personally I'm enjoying the rain, water has a pleasant feel to it." he responded. And that was true, Syliph wasn't disagreeing on purpose, at least not yet. Giving the man a good look over he watched to see if he had any tells, the most obvious one happened to be the large steel cross tied to his back, this man was either heavily religious or a stupidly good thief. "What's that cross on your back?" Syliph asked. He had gained curiosity of the mysterious steel cross, it just seemed odd to have something so bulky, and rather unattractive in a church of such elegance.

The hesitation from the man towards his friendly gesture almost set him off to attack him, but his instinct to defend himself was eased when he was meet with a weak handshake whether how of disrespect or out of genuine fragility he couldn’t make out. The response he received was civil albeit blunt and straight to the point offering little for him to continue on with the conversation as he still wanted to find out more about him. He really wasn’t very good at this sort of thing and needed to probably explore how to communicate with people he didn’t know. Fortunately the man questioned him instead which would allow them conversation to continue, the topic in question was none other than his rifle a reasonable talking piece with it glaring in the sunlight and sticking out almost a meter from his head.

Given his appearance and the way that he had interacted with the man, there were a few different ways he could explain himself and the relic. Being completely sealed up at the moment and the exterior being concealed otherwise impossible to see without blinding yourself from the reflection, he began to speak. “Despite my odd appearance, I work for the church and at the moment as you can see I’m transporting this cross around the country, it’s a task I alone have been burdened with.” It was true that he was transporting the artefact for what reason was his own, if he was pressured he would not yield only reinforcing his stance as a travelling pilgrim.

“This is going to become rather annoying I suspect.” He thought to himself as he recognised the shape and sheer size of his weapon likely to attract the attention of anyone who spots the weapon as well as giving away his presence quite easily. “I hope I can figure something out to compensate for this something to conceal it?, a spell? Anything else would do little as it wouldn’t hide the sheer size or shape of it.”

The man, whatever his name happened to be, worked for the church, which churned Syliph's stomach, it took all his effort not to turn around and leave or be visibly disgusted by the man, he was barely able to nod his head at that sentence. "its seems kinda odd to carry a single cross, across a country." Syliph said, then following up he said, "What do you do for the church?" he asked.

Meeting someone from the chruch was a blessing and a curse. Syliph had heard rumors of people from the church were typically very powerful, but he also wanted to learn things about the Illumin, so if he ever had the chance to put a dent in their holy knights, he could. He waited calmly for the Man's answer, trying to compose himself. He stood straighter, smiled more and tried to look less glum, but not enough that made his change in persona an ugly stick that read DANGER DANGER. Syliph tried to get some kind of read on the m an, but there wasn't much to see in terms of weaknesses on the man, he had no physical tell or weird twitch, he was almost unreadable.

A smile grew on Kon’s face as his response was met with doubt by the man, it was understandable to believe the task he had been given was far too simple and the cross had underlying note but again he reaffirmed his stance on the matter, while answering his follow up question the man’s follow up question with his own. “Indeed it does seem rather odd and yet here I am serving the church carrying this behemoth of a cross, I suspect I’ve been tasked with it simply because of the sheer weight alone.” Fixing up his straps with them bent and twisted together, he continued. “What about yourself what do you for a living, a man like yourself seemed like an adventurer definitely not a simple blacksmith or farmshand, but perhaps more importantly who do you stand with?” Scratching his chin with his left hand, he retreated his right hand to support it by his left elbow. It was difficult to get a grasp on the man’s allegiances but in time he would help what he needed to know. His eye could only tell him so much about a person but the information he had learnt about this man was sufficient to have him on high alert. “Just how far are we?” “Would I be able to get off a round before he was responded?” These questions and more were running through his head preparing him should the time come.

The man shrugged off Syliph's question by repeating SYliph's question and giving a meek answer. He then pushed Syliph for some more personal information, especially who he was aligned to. Syliph, had Never broken the deal of secrecy, but he wasn't gonna tell a man of the church, "I do happen to be a travelling adventurer, my alignment is not your concern, nor will it be mine in a short time, for in a short time, I will be aligned to no one." Syliph said. Syliph noted that the man seemed to be judging Syliph's threat level more and more as the conversation continued. Syliph mentally smiled, he was glad to have put someone on such edge that they feel the need to monitor him, but unfortunately he didn't want to be attacked at the moment so he decided to reduce the tension in the conversation, "I mean no harm to you or anyone inside the church," at least yet he thought, "I am simply enjoying the view of the beautiful architecture, and meeting you was nothing other than coincidence, there is no need to be on edge." He said reassuringly. Syliph still eyed the cross though, even if it was just a cross, it could still be used as a great club.

While the man had confirmed his occupation his refusal to reveal his allegiance was just another thing that added onto things that was making his trigger finger itchy. “Just what was he trying to achieve by antagonising him?” He thought to himself. “It was clear that he could recognise I held some form of power within myself regardless of he said.” The way he had back pedaled on his statements had only confirmed this, his choice of words didn’t leave much to the imagination while he claimed to have no intention on attack anyone within the church, the lie quickly fell short.

The need to give such a poor excuse to him only compounded on his comment, “The beautiful architecture, eh?, What beautiful architecture?, The building was made by real pilgrims who wanted to spread the will of Illumin rather than show the wealth of the church seen at the Cathedral. For now though Kon would relax his body slightly allowing his left hand to rest on his satchel and right to be held within a pocket of his pants purely with his thumb.

Though he was tasked with the responsibility of caring for both the cross and his eye, he still felt a duty to care for the holders of the artefacts who held them for so long, because of this he could not leave the man to his own devices especially considering the magic and sheer mana pool he held within him.

So rather than going on his way and leaving the church completely undefended he gave him a simple offer couldn’t refuse which assuming he wasn’t lying. “I have more access within the church how about I show you around some of the areas that aren’t normally open to the public of course I can’t show you everything though, but I think you’ll find that the view from the balconies you can see as you come to the church is fantastic.”

Suliph’s Conversation with the man had become nothing more than the two men antagonizing eachoter one sentence after another. The man clearly didn’t like Syliph, but Syliph ignores it for the time being. The man then proceeded to mock Syliph’s appreciation of the architecture, which struck a slight nerve. Coming a single eyebrow Syliph responded with a bit of sting in his voice, ”Art is subject to opinion, like so many other things in life, and I happen to like where it’s situated and it’s odd construction techniques, this reminds me of where I grew up, which happened to be a rather poor area. “ Syliph responded. He honestly did appreciate the nature of the church, and it did remind him of home in Oberon. The still unnamed man asked Syliph if he wanted a tour of the building, Syliph raised his hands and shook his head. ”My personal faith is a bit wobbly at the moment and I’m judt trying to heal it slowly, and I believe the sudden dunk of entering a church might shock me, I’ll have to decline your offer.” Sylioh responded. His mental face became a face of twisted disgust, The illumin burned his church to the ground. Why should he give them the pleasure of entering their church? he thought. Syliph simply smiled back at the man”I appreciate your offer but I think I’ll keep my healing process outside the church for the time being.” Syliph said

Seemingly without realising it, Kon had spoken out loud what he was thinking and received harsh feedback as a result and rightfully but it gave him the chance to branch the conversation out further learning several things in the process such as the man’s upbring being significantly different to his own, where exactly was an important place to start. “I meant no offense, it just felt odd for someone to come to a church such as this one to explore its unique design, Sorry I couldn’t help but notice you said you came from a region that had similar aesthetic to this building, there are few towns that are entirely made up of this style Marigold town is one that immediately comes to my mind, were you raised there by any chance?”

His question was simple enough, but at this point it seemed the interaction between them was becoming more and more hostile with each response from each-other, he had tried but perhaps he was going about it the wrong way. Even his offer had been declined with the man showing signs of a lingering loyalty to the Illumin and all who prayed towards for the light. Rather than taking Kon up on his offer to show him around he instead opted remain outside while he remained in front of the opened doors in the center with both doors having more than enough space for citizens to walk past him from the stairs that ran up to them.

Things were getting awkward at this point as he had already revealed his plans which would require him to leave without arousing suspicion. With his offer refused and the conversation drawing to a close, he would bid his farewell at least a partial one. “Well it seems our paths have decided to not intertwine perhaps we will meet each-other again sometime, for now I’ve just remembered I need to return to the church and get something signed off, so farewell man with no name.”

His departure was only partial with him simply leaving the conversation, but it didn’t mean he would stop keeping an eye on him. Given the fact that he had been given his new weapon, a rifle, he would pick a spot that would act as a good vantage point. Entering the church, Kon made a sharp right towards a long wooden pillar which ran to the roof from the bottom, positioned in the corner of the room, Pushing the wooden panel in front of him a portion of it fell inward allowing him entry to a small space and a long ladder.

Horizontal slits had been made periodically along the pillar allowing from light to pass though. Eventually though he came to a stop pulling this time a handle allowing him to move onto a stand a few meters from the roof which was used by the caretakers for clean the windows so far up almost 12 meters off the ground. Flicking off the straps to his rifle he laid it on the stand as he unlocked the windows leading out to the church before pushing the top two to either side.

Twisting the handle of the rifle as demonstrated earlier the rifle section was revealed, now he was ready to shoot both inside or outside no matter the situation and the cost he would defend his people, if his work had been for nothing so be it.

The unnamed man quickly apologized after he offended Syliph, but shortly after he dismissed himself and disappeared back in the church, which Syliph found somewhat odd as he had just left the church, but Syliph dismissed it and went back to admiring the church and all its dysfunctional glory. Looking around Syliph decided he wanted to see what the church looked like on the other side.

Syliph would quickly walk over to the other side, presuming he was not fired at he would reach there unharmed. He would recognize that the building looked the same, but the light managed to hit it at a different angle, illuminating its edges giving it a wonderful outline.
Presuming Syliph was shot at he'd duck for cover by a nearby tree examining for ways out, if he had been hit he would also be tending to his wound. Wondering who had shot at him, and where it had come from, Syliph would be able to deduce that it was someone inside the church, probably the unnamed man, he would not be able to deduce that the cross happened to be a weapon. If he was shot at, Syliph's opinion of the Illumin would drop even lower into distaste.

For now the man’s claims had been true with him simple taking the opportunity to take a look at the church. Keeping an ever watchful eye on the man, he observed him walk across almost out of view forcing him to upend himself and his gun, first by withdrawing it from the open window before pulling the windows closed using a pole. Shortly thereafter he changed his gaze looking for the man, going to the left opening the window a small amount to allow his millenium eye to seek out the man and his mana. Recognising his previous location, Kon spotted the man with relative ease, “Was this man a threat?, Could I..., no..., Can I justify attacking this man?” All these thoughts ran through his mind as he prepared his gun for a second placing it slightly out of the window needing to do so as to actually hit his potential target. The issue was that he hadn’t really tested out this gun and the church wasn’t exactly the best spot to try it out. If things went out of his control i.e the man attacked the church instead he would in turn be forced to defend himself and the church be it through magic or his new gun.

After staring for awhile Syliph turned and walked back away from the church, looking at the outside the church, it was beautiful, but on the inside, it was full of those who followed a religion that murdered his family, it made him boil on the inside. Turning around he decided leaving would be the best option, he began to walk slowly away from the church, trying to take deep breaths, he didn't want to do anything too irrational. Though maybe a rock at the wall wouldn't be too noticeable. turning around he picked up a small rock, barely the size of a golfball, with a flick of his wrist, he launched at an outside wall. With a dull thud it would hit the wood,, falling to the ground only leaving a minor dent in the wood. The Mark was Syliph's, a kinda I'll be back for more later mark. Turning around he headed down the path, he'd be in clear view if Kon chose to shot, if not syliph would simply keep on walking until he decided t stop and give the church one more glance, as it was so strikingly pretty, though Syliph remembered to never judge a book by its cover.

From above he could see everything what the man was doing and perhaps more importantly whether or not he was going to use magic as he had picked up a rock to throw it at the building itself. As he did so Kon watched to ensure that the man didn’t enchant the rock to deal more damage to the building as it would other be less than superficial from the throw made by the man. With the man making no real threats towards the church at least yet, Kon felt no need to attack him, needing to find a reason to really engage him. Perhaps he would meet the man once again, for now however he would remove his gun from the window and close it up once more and sealing the cross once more before walking down the ladder just as he had walked up only a about 10 minutes prior.
Reaching the ground floor of the church from the ladder, he left the pillar and threw back on the cross before praying in front of the growing crowd. The crowd quickly occupying the church, the blonde haired mage began to feel out of place because simply because of his appearance. Not wanting to attract too much attention, he opted to leave through one of the back entrances and walked down the hill to Baska town directly.

[Exit]

after satisfying his need and anger towards the church Syliph sighed and turned and left walking down the path back towards the main-street of baska, maybe something finally interesting would happen and he'd be able to do something interesting. He had plans of doing other stuff here in baska than making new connections, he had already met people from far over, there was sage, and whoever this odd man Syliph had met today happened to be. But neither of them knew the other's name so it was very unlikely that interesting would ever happen, or if they would ever meet again. Syliph had plans of going to Oberon eventually, he thought that he was almost ready to return there after years of blocking the place from his mind.
Stopping for a moment Syliph leaned down and smelled a flower, its scent drifted up to his nose, making him feel better about what was going on in his life and what had happened in his life. He needed to find Elexia, maybe he'd do that after he was done here, she was in trouble, but he had to figure out where she was first, he tried to frame what Elexia would look like now but he couldn't do it, standing he left.

[exit]