Duke Volt had taken at least 4 loans from the Church of Chrunus; not only had he taken large sums of gold from the church, but he had also refused to pay it back.
No amount of warnings reached Volt, he had more or less isolated himself.
Bishop was clear, he had ordered them to threaten the duke and, if possible, extract some kind of value from him.
And yet, once Paladins breached his estate, not only did Volt resist righteous punishment of Chrunus, but he also ordered his guards to fight them.
To raise a blade against the faithful of Chrunus was heretical.
And yet they couldn't kill him, no, he had to face judgment in front of Chrunus, at a later time.
The trial would be held once he paid off his debts.
Volt was no ordinary man after all, he was a duke. Head of a major noble house, and someone holding great influence in choosing a ruler of Valar.
Bishop had made it clear: Do not harm the duke.
However, they were allowed to scare him and break his property.
Paladin Ramiz placed his hands behind his back as he stared towards the sky, a gesture of reverence towards the greatest of all gods.
Chrunus.
When one gazed into the sky, they wouldn't revere Nature, Fate, or any similar lesser divinity.
No, Chrunus was the god of Chaos, Space, and Gravity.
He was a force on such a scale that no other entity could match.
There was no greater being than the god of chaos.
"We are 30 Minutes away from the nearest temple!" Ramiz exclaimed.
And then suddenly, Fear.
A divine presence, more divine than what they had ever felt.
Crushing.
Suffocating.
"Prepare to fight! Enemy is here!" He barked the order, his senses screaming at him to run, yet he resisted.
They were ready to fight.
Their blades raised high.
And yet... Sound was gone, light was extinguished.
Existence itself was nowhere to be found, they were surrounded by crimson skies in all directions, decorated by thousands of anguished faces.
They found themselves floating in nothingness, surrounded by the faces of souls, eternally trapped in screaming agony.
In front of them, a woman. Dressed in Gold, radiating brilliance comparable to that of the sun itself.
No, for a mere moment, they witnessed the truth, a being of many eyes.
Wheels of Throne, spinning and gazing, its form radiating a sacred flame.
A scale appeared in her hand, their souls ripped out as they were weighed against the sin.
Tick.Tock.Tick.Tock.
They did not exist, they were nothing but motes of dust in the endless expanse of Space.
Chrunus himself felt insignificant.
How heretical they felt.
How tricked they felt.
How insignificant they were.
They all sat on the scale, their lives nothing but specs of dust upon a scale of judgment.
Being of many eyes observed them, a scale balanced by their sin, and yet darkness pushed down, lifting the plate where they stood.
The clock of Judgment reached noon, and their lives were forfeit.
A spectral sword slashed through them.
The light in their eyes disappeared as darkness surrounded them.
<<[Judgment]???...???...Unfavorable...Welcome to ???...Hell...???>>
They were silenced, deafened, and yet not blinded.
The starless dark sky hung above their heads.
Beneath their feet, a desert stretched as far as the eye could see, endless dunes of salt into the distant horizon.
Illuminated by nothing and yet glowing.
Pearly and fine sand, more akin to salt than actual desert sand.
Paladins prayed to Chrunus, and yet their god was not answering.
Chrunus would never be able to reach this place.
Numerous humanoid statues made of the same salt littered the desert, their faces in eternal agony.
One Paladin took a step forward, his bare fist smashing into the salt statue.
The moment he made contact, his whole body changed; what once was man was merely a pillar of salt. He had become one of many humanoids.
His form became a part of the endless expanse of salty desert.
'What is happening?!' He screamed in his mind, his voice sealed.
He saw panic plastered on the faces of his men, and yet none of them could even utter a word.
He had hoped Chrunus would welcome him into his domain of chalk, and yet, this was far from it.
Was he tricked? He refused to believe it.
Did Chrunus lie to him? It was impossible.
He called upon his power yet again.
His skills did not answer the call.
'We mustn't touch the statues...' He nodded as he took a step forward.
His men understood it too, they had to walk this desert in hopes of finding their way back.
Chrunus would not save them, they were forsaken in a land devoid of his gentle darkness.
While they were surrounded by darkness, it was more akin to a void.
There was no wind, no solace.
They were alone and afraid.
With each step, more of his men became salt statues, forever trapped in this place.
He climbed one of the dunes, and in the distance was a magnificent white temple.
Its pillars rising into the sky, two statues protect the entrance.
Their stone wings hid the entrance of the temple.
He and his men dashed, as fast as their legs could carry them.
They ran and ran.
One by one, they turned into salt.
'What is happening! Why is that thing still so far away!' He panicked, his stamina betraying him as he collapsed.
They ran for an hour, and yet Temple was not getting closer.
He frantically looked around, his men were nowhere to be found, a long time since consumed by the salt statues.
He rushed ahead once again.
It was like the gods mocked him; they had shown him the exit, and yet they pulled it away from him.
His gaze fell on a salt statue, and for a brief moment, he considered the unthinkable.
Letting himself be consumed by the salt.
'I refuse! In the name of Chrunus, I will survive this place!'
It was not the time to feel fear, not question how he was sent here. Survival came first.