Minisode : Guidance
Part of the
IZZURIA
storyline
@house-of-hearts (its ya boi, Epsilon!)
Minor religious and political themes are present in the story below.
Marcello's hands were thrown about as he told the tale of his many victories as a priest of the light flight to Epsilon. The ridgeback seemed proud of how many exaltations he had preformed, the money he earned through his work, and his followers. In the light dragon's eyes, these were things all good light priests earned... Not that it was entirely his fault. Even so, the blue-eyed dragon pulled a sneer.
"-And these dragons do get to choose that they want to serve the Lightweaver, correct?" Epsilon spoke finally. Adjusting his stance to better face the other. Epsilon has always had the belief that a priest should guide their followers to live the life their chosen deity would choose for them. Not to force the priest's deity down the throats of others. Yet at this, the ridgeback raises a giant claw to his snout. In truth, this was a question only asked by this skydancer.
"I... would presume so? I mean... Why live in the Sunbeam Ruins if you have no intention of serving Lady Lightweaver?" A seemingly innocent question, that was met with a growl of annoyance from the water dragon. Though even with his disgust of there being no separation of church and state, Epsilon couldn't be too mad at Marcello.
He didn't know, after all.
So the skydancer would do what he'd done best. He would try to convince the other priest to go to the right path. With that, he would shake his head. "Not all dragons will choose to be served to the deity of the land. By your logic, staying here means you want to serve the Plaguebringer in death. Is that what you really want?"
"N-no... I... see what you mean now, sir."
To this, the skydancer nods. A shame that such a popular patron to light had been kept in the dark by his fellow holy men for so long. Marcello quickly nods, now that the treasure he had acquired felt heavier, he was beginning to wonder how well he was actually serving his deity. "Excuse me, sir. Were you a priest in the past? If not, I think you should try it."
"Hm? Ah, yes. I was a priest to the Tidelord in the past." He nods. "I left the title behind because with the way our system has changed, we have become glorified executioners." Now a grumble would come from the azure dragon. "I wished to do good in name of Father Tidelord, not unlike you. It just seems that I'll have to do so in a more incognito fashion now."
Marcello arched his head back in surprise at Epsilon's words. It struck him hard to hear that the job the skydancer seemed perfectly suited for had become the receiver for such a harsh description. "Ah..." He was actually kind of ashamed, if Epsilon stayed a priest there was a chance that this information would be spread further than the two dragons standing before each other. He brushed a dark claw against crimson horns, something he often did when he had no real clue as to what to say. "I'm sorry you feel that way. If it helps in any way, I will take your words to heart."
Epsilon blinked. Well... He certainly wasn't expecting his change of heart to be that easy. "No, no. This is not your fault. You should have been taught not to tie your god to your land in your training for the job." He clasped his claws together and let out a sigh. "In the end, miscommunication leads to corruption much faster than one would think." Now that he can hope that this will be something remembered in the light priest's future seminars.
