OVERTURE to Nocturn, Second Movement (Part One)

Situated by the desert mazes of Paxia is a city which is untouched, to this very day, by the often warring peoples of the nomadic tribes and feudal kingdoms.

The church is of a soft warm glow that seems to fill the stone and the stale air with a softness, an almost liquid quality, of which memories nest inside of, augmented further by the haze of incense. The glow of a small chapel, not common to be found in the great cathedrals of the capitol, and perhaps this is why the people chose this place as the Holy Seat. Father Aequitas lurches foward in his pulpit, the slackened body seeming to contrast his piercing eyes and gaunt face.

"You have asked, people, why we can have beings of other worlds descend upon us and live in harmony with them, how they may exist, if we and only we have been created in God's image. Such things look nothing human, and so how is it that they worship the same God of all Creation? Because it is not through image of the flesh, but through image of the--"

Not many things can cause a stir in the Holy Cathedral, and certainly during a sermon of Aequitas, but a Paxian officer with a large fool on a leash charging towards the front altar certainly may. Thousands in the pews whisper amongst themselves as they wonder as to what the nature of this visit is.

Roderick, suddenly self-conscious when he realizes the slight inconvenience he seems to be causing, at least politely bows before the altar before he leaps over the railing and charges up the pulpit steps. A few words are exchanged, and under the officer's suggestion, and to the people's bewilderment, all entrances to the cathedral are securely locked by deacons as another priest makes for the shrine, to acquire something the good Father will be in need of.

For this place is to soon be the site of a great war.