Editing Red Day Dawning (section)

==Chapter 10: In which the true cost of Victory is revealed.==

The Army of the Sun had won the [[Scarlet War]] at a stroke – for though the battle yet was pitched, without the defenses of the Tower at their command, the Masters were weak.  And they fell to a man before Faithbrand, and were captured or slain.

But in the Grand Concert Hall, Lord Marshal Amakiir fell to the stage. Such was the perfection of the Hall that every ear heard his words.

<blockquote>“I have looked upon the face of our god, and He was wroth... His Light shine upon us all.”</blockquote>

And ever more was the Lord Marshal blind, for no mortal can look upon the face of the Sun.  And never more did he feel the caress of the Light, for channeling that much divinity is beyond even the most powerful of mortals, and though he broke it to his will, so did it break him. 

But worse was yet to come.

For word soon came that the [[Holy Temple]] at [[Mt. Daneasus]] had vanished in the very moment that the Light struck the tower.  A fell green light cast itself through the leagues of stone, and surrounded the empty Temple, and the whole of it vanished without a trace. Only minor casualties were reported – less than 100 missing – for nearly all the Temple’s priests had been in the Grand Concert Hall.  But those that had remained were the ones charged with defending the reliquary, where a great many of the Church’s holy relics were stored – [[Malicean]]’s remains, and his armor and shield and standard, and [[Dalende Ster]] and [[Wassen Ster]], and the [[Spirit Stone|Circle of the Elements]], and the [[Scythe of Phealas]], and a hundred other sacred or profane treasures.

Sages now say that the veil of the Moon that had hidden the Sacred Host misdirected the divinations of the Arcane.  For though the Wizards knew the stroke would soon fall, they believed that it originated in Mt. Daneasus, and so there they aimed their counterstroke. By the time they realized their mistake, it was too late, for the forces of Pelor were at their doorstep, and they had exhausted their most potent weapon – the [[Spellpool]], a fountain of Arcane Energy so concentrated as to be given liquid form.