The First Day - Null

The words of her God had guided her back from the front lines as the bright blue tinge to the sky began to fade. It wasn’t the same dark sky as the whirling purple and black that she was used to above the temple she called home, but it was closer.

It had been a day unlike any other in the Priestess of the Void’s life to this day. She had spent a life of quiet contemplation, of meditation, devotion, pilgrimage, and prayer. Today was as far from that as she could have possibly imagined. 

Though, as she reflected, perhaps not so different. Every day, she had prayed to her God for wisdom, and he had responded with words and guidance. Today, she had prayed to her God for power, and he had responded with divine energy, and His glorious void bursting forth from her. Previously, she had marched in Pilgrimage. Today, she had marched across battlefields, heretics screaming at the sight of her. Before this new era, she had lived her life as an act of devotion. Today, she had destroyed heretics to show her devotion. And now, just like every other day, she ended her day in quiet meditation of all that she had seen and done.

It had certainly been a day. She had marched forth at her God’s command, without a second thought, certain of victory. But this day was not the showing of divine faith to non-believers. This, instead, was a trial of faith for the followers of the Great One. To have one’s faith tested in something such as this was not unheard of. The Priestess of the Void had heard of times when the inquisition had gone so far as to have the voice of the Null shut off from followers in a test of their faith.

Today had not been so bad as that though. None of the devout risked being cut off from divinity, merely facing death and martyrdom in service to their God. Truly a worthy sacrifice to any true follower. And as they fell, they had inspired more to take up the command of the Great One, and they had continued to clash against the great metallic beasts.

Though despite their sacrifices, they had lost even their own hallowed ground, forced back from the rift into their homelands. Step by step forced backwards against the great metal beasts. It was a humiliation. But even in this despair, devotion could be found. The faces of the monks meditating around her showed she wasn’t alone in this feeling. Tomorrow they would return to the battlefield and make up for their failings of this day.