Snippet #2408866

The Brown Dragons were driven closer and closer to the point of rage, constantly referring to him as a hypocrite for acting arrogant himself. As if that were not enough to drive them close to the deep end, none of the Silver Backs would do anything about it. That apathy, they would never forgive. The built up anger towards the abuse from Steiner gave way to extra adrenaline, adrenaline which hardened them to endure the increasingly brutal drills and exercises, as well as the sparring between the Brown Dragons which came with all that.

The jabs at the great Davu and Jordiik, the first Grand Abbots of the Old Order that were handpicked by Adarani herself, along with the other early Vitaiim, were the last straw. The Brown Dragons would not stay silent any longer, and they all sent three people from among them that came before Telondris one day and told him of all the abuses of power Steiner committed, not leaving any detail out, even adding that the Captain of the guard was hypocritically arrogant in his slurs and behavior. After they said their piece, they left while giving all the due respects to their king.

Back at the Constabulatory, the Teal Eagles were did not mind the minor work given, though they were disappointed they could not put their skill in martial arts to good use for more serious cases, even those that involved their own brethren. The Constables, in their eyes, were hindering themselves by only letting Valeish do such investigations when a Sacriran's martial arts capabilities could help in the case of dealing with those of their own brethren that could resist arrest if suspected of something, not that very many Sacrirans would commit anything serious. Still, you never know what exception may turn about, which made it critical that someone who knew how to counter their moves was there with the Rusty Ironbacks. But they digressed.

One day, though, they all found Valeish at various locations of the city forcefully taking books away from Sacriran residences and libraries, plus from bookstores. Not even children's books were spared. Many boys and girls cried because of their favorite books to ready being taken away from them forever. Men and Women whom were robbed of books given to them by people they held dear begged the thieves to not take them, but to no avail. Whatever thieves the Teal Eagles found were immediately arrested and furiously interrogated, questioning them on who was the mastermind and what the perpetrators were going to use the stolen books for. When the interrogations failed, the Eagle decided to tighten security by volunteering for even more patrols, even at night, in order to catch the villains who planned the organized crime, once and for all. Each one's reasoning was made clear when they volunteered: "We can't just sit back and let whoever plotted this outrage get away with it! If someone is planning all the literary thefts, we want to know about it and stop 'em, once and for all, and we're not taking no for an answer on this case!"

That night, the patrols went about as planned, eventually spotting the fire and people gathered into one street. What was witnessed was beyond words: these Valeish protestors were burning Sacriran books and profaning all of Sacriran Kind. A sudden rage built up inside the Eagle that first spotted the event. How dare they profane the name of Adarani with this villainous barbarism towards her creations? How dare they insult her with these slurs towards her true disciples, with these blasphemous reamarks on the golden history of the Old Order from before the Cataclysm, with their calling the Goddess of Love's disciples all those erroneous names out of such blatant ignorance and hypocrisy? How dare they betray Adarani with such blasphemous disrespect? These filthy traitors to her shall never be forgiven!

In a rage, the Teal eagle threw down their warning gunpowder to get the villains' attention before shouting in unison, "Blasphemous Traitors to Adarani, you are under arrest for large-scale theft and unruly burning of literary works!" This unified shout was heard from five blocks away, waking up many residents.

What happened next was chaotic: every Expeller gathered dropped everything to make a run for it, yet they were not fast enough, plus they were completely surrounded. Some of the more skilled fighters among the lawbreakers attempted to violently resist arrest, which was a mistake, as Sacrirans are renown for their expertise in unarmed combat. After what appeared to be a full hour, the perpetrators were finally rounded up, the fire extinguished. This one success made it clear: the drills and exercises which were meant to break the Eagles' spirits had the opposite effect, as they paid off for them in this arrest of the book burners.

It was then that Ahuv flew into the middle of the scene in Crane form prior to shifting to his humanoid form. Walking over to the remains of the burnt books, he picked a few and read the titles, one of which caught his eye: the Book of Monks and Nuns, the teachings his mother gave to the early Vitaiim at the dawn of the Old Order. Upon reading it, Ahuv became enraged, as well, as he glared into the eyes of the Expeller that said they were 'cleansing' the place of that 'poison'. Ahuv's tone as he spoke in Valeish displayed every inch of conviction he possessed.

"Burners of these books, hear me! You have destroyed a copy of the Book of Monks and Nuns, the very teachings Adarani herself gave to the Pre-Cataclysmic Vitaiim at the dawn of the Old Order! Even now, she is harboring thoughts of sorrow that she has been disrespected in this manner! To victimize her creations is to victimize her! To disrespect all Sacriran Kind is to disrespect her! Woe to those who do that, for they are looked upon with disapproval by her!

Her blessings are only to people who express compassion instead of hate, charity instead of greed, humility instead of arrogance! You hypocrites claim you are humble while you look down on people that are not yourselves! Shame on you for that! There is no worse anarchy than malice towards those peoples that are different from you! That is why wars are started, that is why people are quick to look upon others with hate, that is why this fallen world shall never know serenity until the vicious cycle is broken! Malice destroys, leaving emptiness in its wake! That is the price to pay for fueling your hatred! There is no future in this! Peace can only be gained and maintained through Peace! It is more than a lack of War, it is a lack of chaos from what Malice brings! Think on all that I said, for this is an era where nations and peoples experience the darkness from themselves in greater magnitude over time, where mortals must step up to break from such destructive paths lest they lose themselves in them!"