“Merciful Father, creator of all,

Please, open your arms and receive this soul,

Forgive the sins he might have committed in life,

And guide him back to the afterlife,

Where his ancestors wait for him,

Where they will rest on endless fields,

Until the day they will be born again.”

“Selah!”

  The aging priest finished the funerary prayer and a large crowd gathered around the funerary pyre to pay their respects to the deceased Lord before it was lit. It was common practice that warriors and other high-status individuals to be cremated instead of buried although the latter was not unheard of. For the occasion, many warriors from the six major Clans were present. The sudden passing of Lord Burgan was a surprise to everyone; despite being old the man enjoyed a healthy life and was loved by his people, during his long life, he gained a rather large number of enemies and rivals, and all of them came to express their respects one last time to the adversary they themselves couldn’t defeat in battle. They might have been enemies in life but a warrior’s sense of honor extended even to his enemies, the boundaries of battle, and beyond the grave.

  Standing next to him there was the priest’s aide, and a priestess herself, a teenage girl named Nina, watching her mentor, the veteran Field Priest Verkan, perform his duties while diligently taking notes for herself. This was her very first trip as Field Priestess, as every priest of the Church must do to advance to the next rank. The experienced priest allowed her to tag along in his journeys through the Highlands for the last few weeks.

  This had to be her first actual service, but the old man offered to do it himself, being an old acquaintance of the late Lord, and that he just noticed how nervous she was after overhearing her practicing her lines, and fumbling with the words a little. The funeral of a Clan Lord was not something that happened often, and definitely not the best time for a first-timer Field Priestess to debut.

  Being a priest was not easy! To qualify, each aspirant had to pass an exam to be accepted as an apprentice. Once accepted, they must study rigorously for the next five years before being given the first rank: Field Priest. Their classes involve how to read and write if the trainee isn’t already literate. After that, they are trained in the church rites, the Sacred Scripts, and first aid. All priests must then complete five one-year-long trips on pagan lands, usually in the company of another more experienced priest, or sometimes by themselves, to qualify for the next rank in the Church hierarchy. Preaching about the Seven Gods and doing their best to guide, and help the people in their daily lives.

  Each priest must have knowledge about a specific field, but all of them have to know at least basic medicine. Although many of them become accomplished doctors after they finish their training, others dedicate themselves to the study of architecture, engineering, history, mathematics, and other sciences. The ultimate purpose of the priest of the Church is to guide his herd and increase their quality of life.

  Nina couldn’t be more thankful that she was assigned to such a caring, and understanding mentor. Among all the priests, Verkan was a living legend; he has completed fifty-two one-year-long trips over the continent, more than twice that of any other priest. He is beloved by the people, and the services he provides are greatly appreciated, even by the proud and stubborn warrior caste, which are not particularly known for their humility.

  Despite having been born among them, Nina knew little about her own people. She was raised in seclusion, in the heart of the respected Valdir household outside the clan territories. Although she had grown hearing stories and read everything that was available about their custom and traditions; there still was a lot that she ignored. But being the passionate student of the history that she was, she hoped to be able to witness, and learn about their way of life during her trips to the Highlands, and write down everything she could about them, their history, and their traditions, a subject that until now seemed to have very little attention from historians and scribes.

  She wanted to write her own book about the subject, and present it to the Head Priest as her thesis for the next rank in the Church’s hierarchy. Nina dreamed about one day earning a place in one of the Empire’s universities, to teach future students about the way of life of the Clans, or perhaps, she would wander the highlands just like old Verkan had done for the last fifty years, and teach the highland people who were mostly illiterate. They were her people after all.

  Nina watched her mentor and friend in awe, as he performed the ceremony. Who knows how many times he has done these rites before? She held a profound admiration towards the old priest, a patient, and serene man with vast knowledge and experience, the people also respected him deeply, he knew these proud, and stubborn people would not change their old ways overnight, but the new religion was spreading fast among pagan lands. He was actually performing an old pagan funerary ritual, instead of those mandated by the Church, but he knew the late Lord well enough to know that he would have wanted to be sent to his ancestors in the old-fashioned way.

  She lifted the urn containing the incense, allowing the old priest to recite the final prayers. The ceremony lasted longer than expected, as there were many people who wanted to pay their respects for the last time before the pyre was lit. Nina left out a sigh of relief, and went towards her mentor Verkan to relax a bit, and engage in some casual conversation, but the man found himself now overwhelmed by the crowd, who wanted to thank him for the service, including some very important people among them, the Lords and elders from other clans.

  Wasting no time, the old priest introduced her to them, many of which already knew about the newest priestess in the Highlands but this was the first time they actually met in person. Just fifteen years ago, her parents led the resistance against the Imperial invasion and expulsed the invading Imperial armies from their lands. Nina felt a little uncomfortable, she wasn’t used to social events of any kind, much less of this importance. They apparently knew a little too much about her yet she knew nothing about them, but Verkan reminded her that her identity could not remain a secret for so long and that she would have to get used to the attention.