PROLOGUE: THE NAILING OF THE THESIS

And so from the North, the disasters will arrive; from where all, in human laws, should abide…

Out of the ones that murder, a king; whom the heavens would shudder, and the earth torn asunder…

Gather, you sons and daughters of Tehmon, witness the black light of your nation and its salvation…

Wipe the tears, stand against your fears, the moment of your restorations nears…

-the Book of the Sword-Magus’ Prophecies

“And you mean to say that this human, this Lord Kuro of Arles, is the one referred to in those prophecies?” a Serpentinus priest from the Snake tribe reiterated that question after the reading of the Book of Prophecies.

Though she held the highest position among the priests of the Beastman Saint, Lady Sebastenerva of the Serpentinus couldn’t help but feel overwhelming tension. This was because she was subjected to scrutiny by the conclave that she had convened. A single drop of sweat that slipped from her forehead down to her cheeks was replaced by another, even though she already wiped it for several times.

“It’s hard to believe that an unassuming commoner from Chersea would be the person of the legends. It’s already stated in the passages that this ‘king’ we are promised will make the heavens ‘shudder’ and the earth ‘torn asunder’. In so far as I’m concerned, nothing of the sort has happened yet!” another Serpentinus member of the conclave, from the Dragon tribe, pointed out, “I mean, the Lord Kuro may have done great deeds back in the land of the humans…but a king of our people? A human? That’s…preposterous!”

“Not to mention, this human is an enemy of our beloved Saint!” said a priest from the Isidus (Fish) tribe, “How can an evil person be the fulfillment of such beautiful prophecy?”

“Honorable Priests…” Lady Sebastenerva replied, “The Lord Kuro is a man of integrity and purpose. I knew him; I saw with my own eyes his sincerity and concern for our people…something that—honestly—I haven’t seen from our beloved Saints before.”

“Are you telling us that our Saints from the current back to the past didn’t love their people more than this man? This human?”

“That’s Her Eminence’s opinion, Priest Horan! We know ourselves how our Saints have sustained the Beastmen through the ages!” the Dragon priest rebuked his fellow conclave member, “Lady Sebastenerva may be our Grand High Priestess, but it doesn’t mean that her judgment maybe clouded as of the moment.”

“What are you implying, Priest Meroque?” the Grand High Priestess rose from her seat.

“Your Eminence, while I do not question your ability to discern given your young age, this Lord Kuro claims to be a man of integrity yet he now stands as the king of a kingdom of Beastmen and Humans. I thought he never desired to rule?”

“Urk…” Lady Sebastenerva froze on her spot as she was confronted by that question. Her mind desperately scoured for answers, yet she found none.

“It was forced on him, if I may say.”

“!!!”

The entire congregation’s attention turned towards the new person who entered the chamber, as well as their conversation. Wearing her all-white attire under her shimmering Paladin’s armor, the Duchess of Henristone made her presence known.

“L-Lady Sylvia!” the priests immediately recognized her and gave their respects, “We didn’t know that the descendant of the Holy Dragon, Lady Terebia of the Bow, was here!”

“Ah, pardon me for entering your talk,” Lady Sylvia Henristone smiled, “It’s just that, I currently represent the interests of the Human Saint, Madelaine Ann Rubinforth as I am her Paladin Captain, and as such, I won’t tolerate any ill words spoken against her servant, the Lord Kuro of Arles. If you just don’t know yet, the Lord Kuro was kidnapped by the Beastman Saint, Ruro of the Wolf, and she forcibly brought him to her lands for unknown reasons. Nevertheless, out of his kind heart and humanity, he rose against the odds stacked against him to lead your people to peace with his race. He never wanted to rule the Beastmen, yet he was made king by the people whom he wanted to free!”

“Isn’t he declared king by that self-proclaimed queen, Ursura of the West Ursus? The Beastman Saint never sanctioned their rule!”

“Indeed, Lady Ruro never gave her blessings,” it was Lady Sebastenerva, “However, while we are purging our people for their apparent ‘sins’, Her Majesty the Queen Ursura and His Majesty the King Kuro are helping the Beastmen survive the circumstances we ourselves had created for them! Can you stop the people from acclaiming them as their rightful rulers? Even the humans agree, and now peace exists between these two races.”

Murmurs then arose among the members of the conclave about what the Duchess of Henristone and Lady Sebastenerva had said. However, it was Dragon tribe priest who returned them to the topic at hand.

“Honorable Priests of the Beastman Saint!” he began, “Again, Lady Sebastenerva convened every one of us to discuss our united position about the matter of whether we will support the Kingdom of the Beastmen or not. Her Eminence claims that its king—a human commoner from Chersea—was the promised savior of our people, while some of us maintain it could be someone else. Since our congregation is vocally divided in its answer, I propose we call a vote to settle this matter.”

At once, the holy beastmen and beastwomen fell silent and returned to their respective seats. Because Lady Henristone was an outsider to the process, she was asked to count the votes to be cast by the members of the divine assembly.

“Those who favor to support the Kingdom of the Beastmen, please raise your hands…”

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It was a long and arduous process before the conclave finally reached a consensus. While the matter of support for the Beastman Kingdom was settled by the voting, there were still some pressing matters that needed to be ironed-out. Nevertheless, by the end of the holy assembly, a young Dragon acolyte could be seen running through the halls of the Grand High Priestess’ palace in the land of the Serpentinus, with a set of parchment in his hands. When he reached the doors that led outside, he shouted…

“Hear ye! Hear ye! The heavens have spoken through the lips of her servant, the Grand High Priestess Sebastenerva!” He repeated that for three times, making sure that his voice was heard by everyone who were passing by the gates of the palace and the Serpentinus’ town square. When he saw that a crowd had already gathered, the acolyte that took a hammer, and nailed the parchment on the wooden doors behind him.

The curious Serpentinus folk then came in and read its contents. As they got deeper into the parchments, the more outrageous the claims became, and so a great uproar happened that moment…

“The Priests of the Beastman Saint stands by the Kingdom of the Beastmen! Lady Ruro has fallen!”

Author's Notes:  About the title...

One of the historical events that made an impression to me was the '95 Theses' of Martin Luther, the German church reformer that caused the Reformation and the subsequent appearance of Christian Protestant churches across Europe (and the entire world as well). According to legend, when Luther read about the true meaning of the biblical passages (the Bible was in Latin back in Middle Ages), he wrote the 95 Theses and nailed it on the door of his church in Wittenburg, in order to call out against the corruption and excesses of the Catholic Church of the time. It was his goal to reform the church, not to actually establish a new religion. However, the Pope excommunicated him and established the Counter-Reformation; what happened next was history.