Shifting her weight gently aside of of left she turned and made her breath deep and rythmic, she dug into her soul trying to get her mind to shift into a docile plane of meditation and yet she was still too emotional to stall her mind.

As she went Anns concentration continued to fail and she would let her eyes linger around the Sanctum until her gaze fell upon the intricate swirls and bold black etchings that adorned an entire half of the sanctum. A black and white mural that stood out starkly against the white marble and golden inlay of gold varnishing’s.

It was a drawing, chiseled by expert craftsmen that always managed to steal her breath away from her. A diagram of Olympic proportions that had been scaled to the length of the walls, and floor, detailing a complete and topographical depiction of the World. Ann had looked upon the images before in an apathetic cloud, but in this moment she couldent help but let her mind flirt with thoughts. Thoughts of the Brotherhood, the Bane...and the alarming feeling like none off it mattered anymore.

The Mann users were taught that the lands stolen from their children and forefathers was sacrilege to them and their Superior bloodlines. They were taught that all land belonged to mankind....and one day it all would be their again. This image was both a declaration and a promise. A reminder of what their destiny would soon give them.

The many continents were spaced out in a topographical depiction. All seven masses of land were there to behold. The Central Continent was the largest of the continents, floating in the center of the Atlantic Ocean. This Continent was awash with forests, and mountains. Lands that blossomed with life and streets that touched the horizons and mortal city’s more glorious then the imagination could believe.

Sitting at half the size of Central, were three other Continents to the far north, south, and west. These bordered Central on both sides.

The Victorian Continent to the north, which was more metal and rock, then anything else.

The Gulf Continent, to the south, which was hotter then lava and twice as scarce of water. Plants grew with spikes, and the mortals and Shifters who lived there seemed born with a fire in their very souls.

The Indian Continent far to the west was twice the size of the Central American continent.

The Mediterranean Continent sat to the far lower South, it was nothing more than a collection of verdant islands, connected a multiple pints by land bridges and rivers.

The last two continents were not separated by the oceans, but instead fused together.

The African Continents and the Baltic Continent. The combined breath of these two lands were as enormous as they were polar opposite. The African Continent was a harsh, dry, rolling, verdant, lush paradise of untapped paragons. A treasure trove.

The Baltic continents was exactly the opposite. A land of frigid marshes, ice, ocean scrubbed soil and roiling howling mountains and ice caps, that had stubbornly with stood the mark of mankind and Shifters alike.

All of this Land was what she had been promised. All of this glorious reward for the price of her servitude. Her loyalty. Her sacrifices. And the sacrifices of thousands of Brothers and sisters before her.

Ann took it all in for the hundredth time...and she knew that the hollow feeling in her chest was the height of revolting appreciation and vulgar selfishness. She hated herself for the hollow sense she felt as she looked upon the map of a world that was promised to her and all of mankind upon a silver platter....and yet she still wanted to cry for her loss.

Choking on frustration Ann finally cut her observation of the Sanctum, and quietly began to descend the steps, leading from the walkway, and down into the masses already gathered and milling about in the hanging Terraces and in the corners of the room.

***

Eyes followed her. People whispered around her. She didn’t pay it much attention. She was too twisted up inside to even notice that most of the glances and whispers were all for her.

All she noticed was the feeling of eyes. She didn’t care, even though she did clock a man across the room who was watching her.

Seeing as the Sanctum was where all the Brothers and Sisters congregated in a flock of white robes and quiet voices. They converged each morning for Divination. A mass prayer to the Scion.

They thanked the Scion for their knowledge, power, and the promise of immortal domination of the future.

A promise that only got closer and closer to reality with each passing year. Each passing day.

Even in the past, when there had been great tribulations in the Brother Hood, and they were culled by the Dragons, or even when the Acris Stone was lost to them after the Abomination escaped.

Hovel had never allowed them to forget the eternal word of the Creed or the Bane.

Because the Creed, as old as time, taught them that they were a chosen people, Mana users were the chosen children. They would be the ones to help the Bane exalt mankind. To give men life everlasting and stamp out the mortal disease. Through the Bane they would achieve this. Through the defeat of the Beasts they would stand on high.

It was their destiny. Their purpose for living. Their purpose for being granted the dark powers of Mana by their God. Through the Acris and through the Bane, everlasting transcendence awaited them all.

Hovel had spoken and they had believed everything he said as if it fell from Gods own lips. He told them that the Acris would return, the abomination, would be destroyed.

And so far, everything was a Hovel had said it would be. The Acris and the abomination, were within their grasp....All promises would soon become a reality.

Ann rubbed at her chest as it thrummed a hollow ache at her personal thoughts.

Fighting the pain she took a slow seat upon one of the Mats at the front of the room. The mats had been laced in such a way to draw the eyes to a giant image, a seven foot and imposing sculpture of the Creed.

The Creed, a book, that held everything of the Brother Hood’s past, present, and future, transcribed in Alchemic runes. Over Seven thousand years of history and dogma was there in the pages. This sculpture was a representation of that magnum opus.

The entire thing was sculpted in marble, and it gleamed in the ever burning candle light. It was nearly tall enough and wide enough to stretch past the first twelve Mats. The stone book was wide open, and written across the surface was the stylized eye of their GOD.

Etched beneath the inlay of the eye, there was a prayer. A prayer that Ann had memorized and no longer needed to read to know the edicts by heart.

The prayer read, once translated from Alchemic Invocation to English said.

I give you my Strength

I give you my peace

I give you my Life

I give you Strength

I give you peace

I give you Life

Scion of Darkness.

Father of the Sun.

I give you my Will.

The Creed had been read sideways, backwards and upside down to Ann, until she no longer questioned her place, or the Brother Hood.

Their destiny was to war with the beast, and their false Gods. The advent of Mans kingdom would come only with the fall of the false Gods, stripped naked of power, in the heavens. And would end with the glorious Bane on High. Their chosen. The children of the Sun elevated to gods at their side.

A truth. A truth that had been ingratiated into her being at her Awakening to Mana and everyday before and after. It was a TRUTH!

But...why did the sickness on her spirit and the memories in her head make such certainty seem as solid as sand sifting away beneath her feet?

The truth was swallowing her. Devouring her, until she wanted to claw, scream, and kick. Escape. Escape this truth that held her bound and so terrifyingly sure.

And do what!?

Ann cried to herself, her eyes planted on the eyes of the Scion all around her.

This is insanity!

She spat inside at her vulgar turmoil, hiding a sudden quake of trembling, she bent down on her hands and knees, and pressed her forehead to the eye on her mat. Then Ann prayed.

I give you my Strength

I give you my peace

I give you my Life

I give you Strength

I give you peace

I give you all my Life

Scion of Darkness. GOD of the Sun. I give you my Will. I live only for your Glory....

She prayed for long minutes...but in the darkness, just as her tumbling heart was finding a semblance in the words....the image of a headless corpse knifed through her mind. A dark cackle kissed her ears.

Stifling a gasp, Ann shot up to her feet, and stepped back into a hard, warm wall of muscle. The pressure of the body was the only thing that kept her from fleeing that room.