Further Beyond: Ascension

Solsday, 24th of Marcia, 470th year of the 5th Era

The Exile of the King's second son and his wife sent shockwaves throughout the village as no one had expected at all. None were more so shocked by the news than the children of the couple themselves. Though the older children didn't show too much of a public reaction, the younger children were inconsolable.

Parulian had helped with his brother's packing and assured him that the children he had left there would be in good hands. For the first few hours after the sentence of exile, Lamria was still screeching and screaming until eventually she had exhausted herself far too much and had practically screamed herself unconscious.

The younger children, Tiur and Tigor, were almost as equally hysterical as they had to be dragged away kicking and screaming from their home by Parulian and Timotheos. Maria could only silently cry as she had to witness her parents exiled in so shameful and dishonorable a fashion while Timotheos was purely focused on trying to keep his younger siblings calmed.

Parulian's immediate family were equally shocked by the news as they scrambled over to help along with the efforts to take care of the family.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Partogi spoke very little to anyone besides what was absolutely necessary to help with the forced eviction. He didn't talk at all to his two eldest children. The other person who was the most shocked by all of this was Pauli - the only sister of Parulian and Partogi. She had been awoken by the commotion and had to haphazardly be filled in by her eldest brother about what was occuring.

After everything was said and done - just as it was promised to King Parhal - before the sun had truly dawned, Partogi and his wife were on a wagon at the main gates to the village that was fastened to a large and old-looking tiger beast. Without anymore unnecessary exchange of pleasantries, they had left.

Parulian could only stand there along with Josias and Timotheus as the women - Hotma, Pauli, and Maria - were busy taking care of the younger children. Partogi gave a final glance towards his family as sorrow filled his eyes before he looked away to the road and spurned the Tiger along. His hands were shaking as he held the reins and the wagon began to leave the vicinity of the village.

From afar, though he could no longer see his face, Josias could see the back and shoulders of his uncle shaking as well. He could only guess what was happening. As he looked to his side, Timotheus silently wept. Tears were streaming down his eyes at the sight of his father and mother leaving the Realm of Goria seemingly for good. Josias placed his hand on his brother's back while Parulian placed his arm around Timotheus' to comfort his grieving nephew.

Sounds of roosters accompanied the cracking of dawn. Many of the villagers awakened early in the morning to ready themselves for their activities as well as to ready themselves for church. Though due to the earlier commotion, some people had arrived at Parulian's Rumah Bolon where his nieces and nephews were currently staying when they heard the news of what had transpired.

Among those people, Serena and Johannes had come to comfort their friend Maria. When Maria saw Serena arrive, her strong exterior instantly shattered as she broke down crying in the embrace of her friend while Johannes could only silently stand there before Maria had looked up and hugged him as well. The two spent the next moments together as Johannes embraced Maria while she leaned her head on his shoulder, wishing to stay like that while sobbing and crying out for her parents between sobs.

Timotheus - though equally as distraught as his own siblings - shook off all those feelings of regret, distress, and grief as today was still an important day. The day of his ordination in which he was to give his life in service to his God and his church. And if his God had saw it fit for him to be greeted by such a Herculean task at the start of the ministry then may it be so for he truly believed that God was faithful and would not suffer him be tempted above what he was able. And with that newly steeled resolve, Timotheus strived to push onwards.

Maria and Serena finally asked for their leave as they day got brighter so they could help prepare for the Church service. Josias and Johannes had decided to accompany the two women along the way after they all had gotten ready. Unlike the usual attire of men going and walking around usually bare-chested, for church they would all wear fine shirts. mostly with long sleeves and buttons while many wore the more traditional tali-tali cloth on their heads which was basically a smaller ulos wrapped around it. The women also wore similar shirts and for the most part wrapped their cloth around their waists until it reached towards their ankles while they also wore ulos over their shoulders.

The church bells were rung loudly as it reverberated throughout the village, calling everyone who was able to come and join the service. The village had a population of well over four thousand people and while there were a few other smaller chapels in other locations of the village, most people still chose to commune in the main church called the 'Hurianatama' which through enlarging efforts throughout the years could now serve between five to six hundred people a service. Though it was still a fraction of the entire population, the services were usually held three to four times a day depending on the turnout. However, for special events like baptisms or confirmations, the church would usually hold them during the morning services. As it was for today's special ordination service.

The people had gathered in their places and seats. They sat according to their division and communities within the village which was mostly divided among clan lines. Josias and his own family took their seat among the pews at the front of the church as they represented the royal family of the King while the King himself sat at the leftmost side of his pew beside his heir Parulian.

Most of the village congregants had a fresh look on their faces though with some yawns here and there due to the celebrations of the previous night. In contrast, the looks of the Royal Clan and the other head elders couldn't be anymore haggard despite their best attire and makeup for the women. It was obviously due to the incident from earlier regarding the expulsion of Lord Partogi which even within the church was causing people to whisper and gossip in hushed tones.

The interior of the church was designed so that the pulpit and lectern from which the Priest would give his homily was placed at a skewed angle to the front side of the church. This was so the centerpiece of the church remained the great altar which had been designed with a uniquely indigenous Halak flavour. The great wooden crucifix which hung at the center front wall accompanied the altar to focus the people on God's grace and mercy and love.

Upon the altar was already set plates upon plates of consecrated unleavened bread for use during the communion service as well as numerous wooden cups of wine which were reasonably small to accommodate for the large number of people. At the center of the altar was a stand where the bible would usually be placed while in front of it was a special golden ornamented chalice from which the Priest would take communion.

At one side of the church's front were three chairs where the Bishop would take his seat along with the other priests. At the opposite side near the altar were rows of chairs where the 'sintua' or church elders would take their seat. Next to that edge of the church was a piano, specially ordered by Bishop Ludwig from craftsmen in the Newlander Republic to provide music for the church during services. In front of the piano playing it was none other than the quiet yet stern Hesekiel who was playing beautiful accompaniment music while they waited for the service proper to commence.

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Josias couldn't help but smile as he saw his friend playing the Western instrument. Hesekiel played very beautifully and he even caught the eye of many of the younger ladies within the congregation through his playing and naturally good looks. Unfortunately, his usually cold demeanor would normally turn any potential suitors away from him which caused no end of stress to the Elders of the Rapmasari clan. The Rapmasari clan that had also legally and officially adopted the Ephorus Ludwig all those years ago in order for him to marry the daughter of Elder Marasi of the Sinatua. This of course made Serena officially a member of the Rapmasari clan for all intents and purposed.

It was also because of this fact that among all the clans of the Gorian Halak, the Rapmasari were the most fervent and devoted towards the Christian faith with the exception of the single Rapmasari elder whom Josias had caught being amongst the followers of the Old Ways. Although some would argue that the Sigumogo clan would rank a close second to being the most devoted of the clans, but still it can not be argued that for the past two decades, it had been the Rapmasari who have spearheaded the most efforts in regards towards the Christianization of the Halaklands.

But speaking of women who looked to be close to Hesekiel, next to the piano were several chairs where the other liturgical volunteers and servants who were mainly the musicians would sit. Over there were many beautiful young women, all of whom were among the dancers during the celebration the night before.

Josias recognized who they all were as he did with most of the young people of the village given the fact that they grew up together. The one on the chair right next to the piano was of course his cousin and kinswoman Maria who had the Hasapi string to play. She was a strong woman to still be able to serve during one of the lowest points in her life. The one next to her playing the traditional flute was Johannes' younger sister, Helena. Next to her was a girl playing the Western string instrument called the 'violin'. She was Josias' maternal cousin, eldest daughter of the jeweler - Lord Hamoraon Hutabaru -, Safira.

Safira was a very beautiful young woman who like Serena was a 'Malaok'. But unlike Serena, she had very distinct features with tanned skin, wavy dark brown hair, and striking blue eyes. All of which she inherited from her mother who was a foreign slave from the eastern lands of the Moslems. It was said his uncle had received her as a gift from his days as a travelling merchant.

According to Traditional Halak customs, it should've been Safira who was betrothed to him as she was his 'Pariban' or 'daughter of his maternal uncle'. Though he loved Serena with every fiber of his being, only a blind, evil, and resentful charlatan would have the gall to not call Safira beautiful.

Josias clicked his tongue and shook his head as he gave it more thought. Though he could not imagine himself being anything but a christian, he had heard stories that the Kings of Old would frequently take second or even third wives. In fact, his late great-grandfather had done so because his first wife hadn't been able to produce for him a male heir.

As if noticing that something wasn't right in his mind with whatever womanly instinct she had, Serena - who was sitting down next to Josias - noticed the trajectory of his vision towards the musician's area. She quickly noticed that bitch Safira was sitting there. She was sitting at church acting all elegant-like in clothes Serena thought were inappropriate for the church setting.

Serena knew Safira had more ample 'assets' than her and it wasn't necessarily the girl's fault that she was well endowed and no matter what clothes she wore that it wouldn't really prevent the male gaze. Still, despite her wearing a shirt, she could've at least buttoned it up like the men instead of flaunting her cleavage like that! And the ludicrously gorgeous silver sapphire necklace adorned above her cleavage with colours that matched her already striking eyes. And the fact she tied her hair in a way her neckline, earrings, and necklace was clearly seen, it infuriated her.

What infuriated Serena even more was the fact that she even had the need to feel infuriated. Growing up, Safira being the same age as her, they played together a lot and were very close to each other and the three of them along with Maria were the best of friends. What started to crack their relationship was when on a night a year ago during New Year's, while they were secretly drinking somewhere behind their parents' back, in a drunken stupor Safira had admitted that she had always liked Josias and she even said that she should try to convince her parents to press on the traditional custom of having her be officially betrothed to Josias.

She had argued that because her father actually was Halak that she was truly a Malaok instead of Serena whose mother was the Halak one and that she wasn't really a Rapmasari. This escalated and led to such a huge argument with Serena calling her a half-muslim mongrel daughter of a slave. The fight even turned physical at some point with two drunk girls pulling at each other's hair and scratching one another.

Needless to say, they were caught due to the commotion and they caused quite the embarrassment to their parents. Maria being the lousy drinker that she was and still is, was heavily asleep and snoring throughout the entire ordeal having been carried home by her father. The two had at points tried to make amends with one another but many unfortunate circumstances prevented them from having a proper reconciliation.

But now things were different. What the hell was Josias doing gawking at Safira? This annoyed Serena but the worst part was, Safira had noticed the stares at too and had locked eyes with Josias. The girll even gave a very quick blink-and-you'll-miss-it side glance towards Serena.

As Safira locked eyes with Josias, she feigned like something was wrong with her hair as she motioned to fix it while holding her hair tie in her mouth before tying it up again. All this while never once losing eye contact with Josias who only had a stupid looking dumb-founded face as he didn't even notice he was staring. Safira gave a playful laugh as she smiled and waved at Josias before giving him a quick blow kiss.

Josias only looked like an idiot with his mouth agape in an awkward smile as he waved back. He did not notice the burning flames that were coming out of Serena who was absolutely livid next to him. Despite Serena being a second-circle mage, mages lacked the same innate and automatic aura force that aura-using warriors had. But if she did, the entire pew would've been in cinders with how raging she was.

All of a sudden, Josias could feel a solid hit land on the side of his shoulder as he saw Serena punching him with a look so menacing that while he still thought she looked angelic, it was more so the kind of Angel described in the book of Daniel and Isaiah. As he was still under a sort of stupor, he didn't quite realise what it was that happened.

"Hasian, what..??" Just as the word 'what' came out of his mouth, He finally realised what had happened as the cogs in his brain started to turn as he immediately went in for damage control "Serena, you know it wasn't like that…! I-...!"

"I don't bloody care! Why don't you go and marry that hussy for all I care!" Serena was incensed. "Waving and smiling to every damned woman you see!"

"What? No! What do you take me for? I don't do that to every girl I see..!"

"Yeah, only the very beautiful ones whose name rhymes with 'Safira'!! I'm sure those childbearing hips of hers are capable of giving the house of Sigumogo a hundred bloody heirs!!"

As Serena's tone was getting louder, everyone else on the pew started to notice. Only King Parhal and Lord Parulian were still gazing emptily unto the crucifix due to the incident earlier that day. Jakobus - who was sitting at the other edge of the seat next to his younger cousins Tiur and Tigor who were clutching him close because they still missed their parents - almost couldn't contain his laughter as he gave snickers of laughter at the absurd lover's spat going on next to him.

"Mama.. is Abang in trouble? Why is Kakak Serena angry at him?" Julia said as she tugged her mother who was sitting next to Josias. Noticing the commotion, Hotma couldn't take it any longer as she finally turned towards her son and his lover who were making a fool of themselves in the church for everyone to see but not before pointing at and giving her beloved niece Safira a fierce look for instigating the incident who instantly ceased her laughing at her aunt's terrifying expression and quickly looked away.

"Josias Panuturi Hatigoran Sigumogo! Serena Ulia Boru Rapmasari! I swear to the God who died for our sins on that cross that if you two don't stop embarrassing me right now, you'll see that there are far worse punishments than being exiled and having your children stripped from you!" Hotma said in a very low yet clearly menacing tone which instantly caused the two lovers to cease and gulp at her absolutely intimidating aura despite not being able to even use aura. "And you, Serena. I know you are a proper lady who is so lovely and kind, so act like it with all the grace that affords!... And you, Josi!"

Without even saying anything else, Hotma only gave a walloping smack to his face which went by so fast not even the people sitting in the pew behind them immediately noticed.

"Ma, what was that for?!" Josi protested

"For being a bloody idiot, now shut up and focus back to the altar, we're in a church and the service is about to start."

And just as she said that, the smaller bell at the entrance of the church was rung signalling the start of the Divine Liturgy.