[Demeter] Writings of a Heretic

[main salmon]

I believe the Divine has forsaken us, as proven by the Pale. These poor lost souls roam scarred lands, destroyed by the Divine Wrath, and despite those lands being under Pax Dei, the Divine does nothing for them. 
I also do not believe the Divine cares for its inquisition.

Our real protectors are the Fay and Demira, but the connection has been lost. The Inquisition's churches are ruined by gluttony. And I wouldn't be surprised if their men are also corrupted by those sins.

We reside on layers and layers of broken faith, ruptured lives, and cursed lands. And the curse is not the evil that the Divine fears. The curse is self-inflicted by them, forever seeking perfection and forever displeased by its lacking. The Divine has already given up hope for us, already ready to rewrite us, but their Angels had faith in us.

I do not believe Zebians are to be left alone; their gluttony is devilish. I wouldn't share my space with hellions. But we wield their power. We wield the Divine's power. We wield the Fay's power. And yet, we are agnostic, deaf to them all.

Is this the experiment of Demira? Who is our Creator? I doubt the Divine made us. We, of unknown lineage, of little memories, are not bound by obligated faith. The Fay is in their image, but the Fay doesn't bind itself to the Divine. The Divine has no faith in humankind. It has abandoned its inquisition. Meanwhile, Demira gave up her life for our sake.

But Demira was there for our predecessors. The legal lineage of the Inquisitors. Are we, too, forsaken? Are we blessed by their love? Are we humans?

I have no memories of my past. I have no knowledge of my lineage. I inherit the writings of scribes that are now dead. Their legacy is what makes me a Scion. My goal is to find salvation outside of the Divine. I believe in the kindness and generosity of the angels, must they be fallen or dead. I have the freedom of my faith. I have the freedom of my powers. I wield devilish, celestial, and natural powers. I wield magic without faith.

I am a Scion of Freedom. I seek a life without the Divine. I seek a life where the Divine cannot rewrite us.
It might be hypocrite of me to wish to enter the Fay's world, but it is where Demira resides. One day, I shall be able to communicate with the Fay. Whether I inherit a freedom or a leash, I leave it to their hands, for I believe the Fay and the Angels are more competent than the Divine.```

A Scion of Ulaid, Kidia does not remember much of her past. Some memories are vague, as if they belong to someone else, yet it is under her name. A specialist of divine healing, she is known to be shy and remote, but helpful. She is a seeker of knowledge; she lives near cursed woods, where lost souls fail to recognise her, and Fay flee from her. She looks for answers outside of the Divine; she believes that the Divine has no care for them "Heretics", and seeks desperately to communicate with nature, where the Fay resides. In an older society, she would be a scholar. In this age, she reads what scholars have left behind.

She believes that Angels ― banished creatures from the Creation ― are the only possible salvation. She seeks to wield their power, must it be demonic or divine.

[main salmon]

A letter lost to the winds. Found in the forests of Ulaid.

⁨⁨```My dear friend,

Have you seen the Zebeum? There is one past the cursed pines, north of your iron veins. It is the heart of the corruption in our lands. But have you ever been in there? The Legion marches in there without a worry, seeking the devil magic, but how little of us see what's in there?

Isn't it shocking ― how much art there is? The 'Lord of Gluttony' sure serves buffets to his cultists, but does it need to be so glorious? When reading words of the Papacy, you would expect the most beautiful marble, and challenging arches, but these temples are 'out of this world'. It has been written that these Zebeum are the residences of the servants of Zeb. Of his dukes. It has been said that these locations are the closest to Hell, where the layer between our world and their world is at its thinnest. One could naturally assume that these buildings are not from our world.

They say that the cultists reside in these Zebeum, waiting for salvation from Zeb, trying to prove their worth to their Lord so that they can ascend away from this world. One could imagine that the magnitude of these buildings is their proof of worth, but I do not believe they are the builders. These Dukes wouldn't step so low. But then, who built them?

If Zeb has been around multiple Creations, then how old are these buildings?

I wish I could investigate those buildings in peace. There is so much art there. But I am not fully sure what they represent. It is quite unfortunate that the Zebians are not of sound mind. Would make an archaeology session more productive than asking the pups of the Legion to kill everything there, while I 'take a look around'. Those cultists never stop.

Yours truly,
Kidia```⁩

[main salmon]

A letter, half-buried in mud. Found in the drowned lands of Merrie.

Do you remember those old days? We used to climb all these ruins, searching for adventures and answers, only to find an eternal quiet and calm. There was always a sadness when we visited those places, as if the answer to my questions was a void that lead to nowhere. "There are no answers," those scenes would tell me, "you will not find what you seek", it taunted me. We would watch the sun set over our hopes, and watch the night, hoping to find a different answer.

I tried reading those texts from the Inquisition, the people we inherit from, but all I could read was a void. It lead to nowhere. It lead to me feeling nostalgic. It lead me to go back to these ruins, waiting for an answer, as if I'd magically learn something by standing with them. As if the Divine would suddenly answer my prayers.

I wonder if anyone's prayers have been answered since our times.

But then, I wondered; there were cities before us. Those cities that worshipped the Redeemers. What if this is the place I am```
(The rest of the letter is damaged by the drowned lands' water.)

(On the other side of the page, a scribed note reads as so:)
```How far does the sky go?
Is it flat? Layer? Same as previous?```